JESUS is Still King. And I am Still Black. By Nicole Webb

Hmmm...?

That was my first response when I first heard Kanye West was going to start doing Sunday Services. Truthfully, I thought it was another social media joke or something, but then I saw a video of one and was like, "OH! That choir is LIT! They remind me of my youth choir back in the day when we used to remix every song under the sun for our Friday Youth Nights."

The art of flipping a Hip Hop or R&B song and adding some scriptural relevance to it has been a key many youth churches, youth pastors and Christian youth movements have used since the 90's, all thanks to Good Uncle Kirk Franklin!

Y'all remember "Stomp!" featuring Salt from Salt-N-Peppa? Uncle Kirk has been really taking over the 99 and the 2000's for Jesus for a while now.

And I can't forget about "You" featuring all of Bad Boy & Hezekiah Walker! When that song made it onto the WOW Gospel 2002 album and VHS, I probably bugged my mother out with how many times I rewinded both the CD and the VHS. I was like 9 and super hyped!

Anyways, back to Kanye and Sunday Services. 

I was and still am very cool with Kanye's Sunday Services, especially if young people who may have never walked into a church are getting the opportunity to encounter not just a lit singing choir, but the actual message and Savior that lit singing choir is talking about.

But there's one part of it all that was conflicting to me and still is––and that's Kanye's message.

My confliction isn't tied to the fact that 'Ye is a Hip Hop rapper. Salt, Diddy & Bad Boy were secular artists, too, when they recorded with two of Gospel music's biggest legends back in the day.

This confliction isn't tied the fact that 'Ye was flipping secular music to gospel messages. Like I said, my youth church used to do the same thing. In 2004, my church school teacher actually played "Jesus Walks" the weekend after it dropped and my saga as a Kanye West fan began (it came to a close around 2013 when he dropped Yeezus). Again, like I said, the message of Christ is getting out to a different audience and I'm hyped about that.

My confliction also isn't the fact that 'Ye had a past that was full of controversy and vulgarity. Newsflash: we've all got one––that's why we need Jesus.

My confliction is actually tied to something deeper than a past or gospel verses secular; my confliction is tied to identity.

I am a black Christian woman and at all times, I am all three of these identities––no one more than the other. And I weigh them all equally because I believe GOD made me all three fearfully and wonderfully (Psalm 139:14). As a spirit being operating in this human flesh as all three identities, it is conflicting for me how often the church overlooks the atrocities happening against black and brown bodies. It is conflicting when we have these huge churches of very diverse makeups and pastors––both black and white––tip-toeing around the topic of race or ignoring it completely. 

It is conflicting for me that we have churches and pastors who call themselves "conservatives" and say that this country's current President is the "most Christ-like President we've ever had" or that he is for Christians, when this country's current President has spread hate speech about people––men, women and children––who look just like me, or my friends, or my neighbors whom the Bible calls Christians to love like we love ourselves (Matthew 22:39).

It is conflicting for me...because the church is supposed to lead by example; it is supposed to be a healing place. But how can we heal if we are not talking about these issues?

It is conflicting for me to be hyped about one of my old favorite rappers dropping a Gospel album declaring Jesus is King when his rhetoric in real life conflicts with what the King of all Kings has preached.

For me, Kanye's past has nothing to do with this, but it's his present that is causing a stirring in me. 

How can we say we love GOD, but support a President that clearly does not love all of His people? How can we say we love GOD, but not all of us as Christians stand up for all of His people? How can we say we love GOD, but we're hyped about a rapper's Gospel album after he said that black people chose slavery?

Soooooooooo...did the Israelites "choose slavery" when they were under Pharoah and the Egyptians' captive, too?

To be clear: when you're kidnapped from your home, taken to the docks of your motherland to be shipped off to a foreign land that you know nothing about, and you have no idea how to get back home, that is not a choice. And for those who knew they were free in spirit just in bondage physically, they either tried to or successfully escaped––praying to the GOD of the ancestors whom they remembered freed their ancestors out of Egypt (Exodus 6:6, Exodus 12:31). They believed that same GOD would do the same for them.

I cannot say that the Jesus who Kanye declares is King, who is, too, my King––with his bronze skin and wool hair (Revelations 1:14), born in a Middle Eastern land, persecuted by Jews because he spoke up against the atrocities of persecution, would have any problem with Kanye making a Gospel album.

But may I ask would the Jesus it seems we all declare as King of all Kings and Lord of all lives be okay with the rhetoric projected about communities of His people––being persecuted?

I cannot say that I believe Jesus would co-sign that.

I've seen a lot of debate over the weekend over this album––more division than unity, especially among Christians. The debate has definitely been more about Ye's past and the authenticity of Ye's salvation than the root of my confliction.

In case some haven't noticed, there is a Savior who came to save the world and His name is Jesus, and whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16)––that should NEVER be up for debate. Someone's salvation should never be anyone's business but the Lord's.

Kanye's salvation has never been a question for me. And not because "he made 'Jesus Walks,' he's never going to hell" as he once rapped, but I believe (which the Word says as well) if anyone confesses with their mouth and believes in their heart that Jesus is Lord and that GOD raised Him from the dead, they are saved (Romans 10:9). Again, that should never be up for debate.

Pushing forth the Gospel should never be a matter of why or what vessel GOD (read GOD––not man) chooses to use to bring forth His message; He can use anything (Luke 19:40). The truth is the world is groaning and dying, people are in need and in search of a Savior and they don't even know it. They need a message that is digestible to them––and it may be from their favorite rapper.

But what do we say to the fans of that rapper who are no longer fans because of his rhetoric about their black bodies or the President he supports who pushes forth divisive rhetoric?

Can Jesus still be King for them if they are still Black?

The answer is yes, but we––the church––must be willing to accept them, willing to bring Jesus to them, and willing to have a healthy dialogue about what Jesus has to say about the racial divide happening in this country.

And for those that have been critical of fellow believers not wanting to jump on the bandwagon to be so hyped about this album, let me say that GOD has gifted us the ability to discern what is for us and what is not for us. That means that while some of us support the message of Jesus Christ being preached, we ain't gotta be Kanye fans or stream the album...especially if we think it lacked lyrical delivery and we don't have to settle for that (OPINON, not biblical...I know!).

The point is...we are allowed to reason with our conflictions. We are allowed to and supposed to have healthy dialogue about how Christianity is being portrayed in the culture because we are the hands and feet of how the message of our Savior is received––we are Christ's representatives. We are called to go out and make new disciples (Matthew 28:19-20). We are called to preach the Gospel of our loving King Jesus––who loved all people, and never doubted if black lives or brown lives mattered...because He was their Savior, too.

Grace & Peace, fam.
Nic.