The Trap Called Christian Rap- Part 6

The Trap Called Christian Rap- Part 6

It has honestly been my pleasure up to this point to have given insight on such a topic dear to my heart, now with the knowledge of something that the Holy Spirit has illuminated from my time in the Word of God, it is imperative that I continue to teach as instructed. As the norm with most people who shed light on areas to which the traditionalist church isn’t familiar with, people such as myself get ridiculed, slandered, and even talked about as being a backslider, one that has compromised, or one trying to manipulate the Word of God in such a way to benefit myself or make an excuse to do what is already in my heart. Kirk Franklin wasn’t completely accepted at first, but now is largely recognized internationally. The charismatic movement followed the same pattern. Holy Hip Hop went down the same road as well, but the results change as time goes on. My prayer is that you will have hearts to accept this message as I’m obedient to share what the Lord has put on my heart.

Previously we’ve ended on the fact that in 1 Corinthians 2 unbelievers do not have the ability to discern spiritual things. Because of the fact that we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, we have the ability to understand the things of God. I will attempt now to shed light on a few things that were going on in this particular section of the Word in order to further illustrate my point and solution to this humongous error that not all, but some christian rappers partake in.

The two books, 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians are letters written from the Apostle Paul to the church at Corinth. The city of Corinth is noted to be similar to the United States today as far as mindset, ways, and practices. The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians covers various topics but initially starts off with a problem within this church which we still deal with today called division. This particular church was divided because of two reasons. These reasons were because people liked to associate with who they were lead by such as Peter, Paul, Apollos, etc and also because of the fact that they were a city very close to Athens, which was the center of philosophy. Philosophy was huge in Corinth and it proved to still have a strong clench on the people. Philosophy simply put is man’s wisdom. Whats crazy about philosophy is the fact that it is pointless. If philosophy agrees with the Word of God, then why have philosophy? The Word of God is enough. Philosophy does nothing but divide the church, confuse the Body, and allows us to feel comfortable in our sin. Philosophy unlike the message of the cross, hasn’t helped society at all. With its existence we still have faced the same problems as in the past, haven’t become a better people, and don’t have the ability to change, nor know God. I’m not saying all philosophy is terrible, but in reference to achieving ultimate knowledge such as the where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going can’t be answered outside of the Word of God.

Whats amazing is the fact that Paul makes sure to emphasize the fact that he didn’t use any excellency of words being that the Jews were big on signs, (supernatural things taking place) and the Greeks were big on intellect (a person of great knowledge with excellent speech was well honored.) Knowing these things, Paul made it a point to separate his message by using neither of the things of that time. With philosophy being so big in that day and time, the message of the cross was complete foolishness to the Greeks and a stumbling block to the Jews. Reason being was because with all the philosophy present, to say that our mere existence, purpose for living, and resolution to our eternal doom points to something as simple as a man dying on a tree was absolutely crazy. It was so simple of a concept that even a child could understand it and the fact that it was accessible mentally by even the dumbest people, it was hard to be taken seriously as the pinnacle of what they failed to figure out themselves. Also the Jews considered it a stumbling block because of the fact that they believed that whenever the Messiah would’ve came, He would’ve set up His Kingdom on earth immediately. To say Jesus died on the cross for our sins wasn’t believable to them because they held tight to the book of Deuteronomy that if a man be hung from a tree that he was accursed. This couldn’t be their Savior.

What I want to drive home is the fact that Paul made it known that with all the deepness of thought, the mysteries of God can never be figured out by man. It is completely impossible without the Spirit of God. Paul stabs us right in the heart in 1 Corinthians 2 when he states that with all man’s wisdom they crucified Jesus Christ. This clearly destroys any speculation that any man could be smart enough to figure out the mysteries of God on his own. Rapping spiritual things with the intent to save souls carries the same affect. As a matter of fact, rapping spiritual things with the intent to evangelize is also a contributor for being trapped as I stated in the previous sections. Most christian rappers rap within the confines of the church. The ones that are called outside of the church use lyrics that are for inside of the church. Because the lyrics are for inside of the church due to the ignorance of the rapper not knowing they are being disobedient to their calling, is now confused unbeknownst to him or herself. The reason being is because the lyrics being used erroneously are for the church, and being that they are for the church, the church understands the spiritual lyrics and applauds it. The rapper is now comforted that his or her lyrics are correct because it gets the great response from the Body, but fails to realize the reason it does is because it is designed only for them. Now once the rapper has done enough shows and has his or her ego is stroked enough or confidence is at an all time high, this person tries to carry this exact same message to the world. This message is not accepted nor understood and then the rapper becomes discouraged. The rapper returns back to the comfort zone, the safe zone, the head quarters, their home, which is the church. This cycle never ends. THE TRAP CALLED CHRISTIAN RAP (I am not going to finish my complete thought in this section, so before anyone goes off on a tangent or gives a mouthful of me being incorrect, stay tuned for my next section as I continue my complete point and then transition into a solution)

To Be Continued: