Keeping Up With Kanye

By Pastor Vinnie MacIsaac 

UPDATE:

Sadly since the writing of this article Kayne’s mental health has continued to struggle and he and Kim have divorced and continue to have public custody issues. Please keep him in prayer and hopefully, things turn around. Jesus is still King. 

Jesus Is King … And it is not just a Biblical truth anymore, but also a best-selling rap album. Jesus Is King is the ninth studio album by American rapper, Kanye West.[i]  It debuted in the Number One spot on just about every chart in the nation. It has boosted Google searches all over the world of Gen Z and Millennials searching the meanings of Bible passages used in his album.[ii] Too good to be true? Yep, sadly, for many Christians.

It seems American Christians have taken up a new sport! I call it Kayne watching. It has become a severe obsession with a particular core group of Christians who seem to be struggling with the idea that a sinner can be saved, give up their old life, and pursue a life of dedication and ministry to Jesus. So they watch, writhe, and are biting their nails on the edge of their seat, eagerly waiting with glee, for Kanye to fall, fail, and be exposed as a fake.

I get it! Kayne is a rapper, pop culture icon, a sinner of legendary portions who has been embroiled in epic level bad behaviors and controversies; he even once bullied poor sweet Taylor Swift! Others point out his wife, in the past, has had a hard time keeping herself even partially clothed on Instagram and that they are hardly role models of living faith. But isn’t that the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Jesus does not come to save those of us who are almost good. He is not interested in shedding his blood for the “We’re OK Corral Crowd.” Jesus is the one who came to save those who know their sin makes them unacceptable, lost, and without hope. And that is the nitty-gritty of the problem. Some people really believed that Kayne West and his famed wife, Kim Kardashian, were beyond hope, lost, utterly unacceptable to God.

INDIO, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 21: Kanye West performs Sunday Service during the 2019 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival on April 21, 2019, in Indio, California. (Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images for Coachella)

They counted them out, while Jesus sought to bring them in. They decried them, “not worthy,” while Jesus cried, “Forgive them, Father, for they do not know what they do.” They feel they have worked too hard to be pious, holy, and pure, to have a gangster rapper and a naked reality TV star just dance into the Kingdom of God, without paying their “dues.” It’s not fair! So they watch and hiss hypocrisy like, “Let’s wait and see.” Or, “It will be bad for Christianity if they are fakes, and we did not predict it.” Or even “How do we know they are not doing it for the money?” Come on, folks! What even Kanye’s “Jesus is King” album makes, it would have made just as much or more being about the gangster life. These Christians are ‘Kayne watchers,’ they are just keeping up with Kayne to catch him, not love him, or care about his new connection to Christ.  They are playing the odds on the “We told you so,” pay off.

I don’t know if Kayne will fall, or if his wife will keep uploading underwear shots to Instagram.  What I do know is, waiting and watching for it, likely means you have already fallen. You have fallen into the trap of the elder brother in the Prodigal Son story. Worse yet, you are working out of the spirit of the “Accuser of the Brethren” (aka Satan). If you are keeping up with Kanye to catch a Kanye slip-up, you likely will find one, if not many. Which Christian does not struggle, does not slip, and does not fall back and need redemption? Can you even imagine the pressure a man, with that much media attention and money, has on his shoulders? And he is just a mere baby in Christ. If we were teaming up with heaven, we’d be praying for Kanye’s power, faith, and endurance and not trying to keep up with Kanye to catch him in his sin.

All I know is both Kanye and Kim confess to having given their lives to Jesus, anew, and my Bible says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”[iii] In October 2019, they were baptized in an Armenian Apostolic church[iv] where their children have also been baptized. Kayne has said of this new faith, “When I was trying to serve multiple gods, it drove me crazy…(the) god of ego, god of money, god of pride, the god of fame… I didn’t even know what it meant to be saved … (now) I love Jesus Christ. I love Christianity”[v]Watch, if you must. Keep up with Kanye, if you doubt. It is true, and he could fall. He could crash his faith yet. But while you’re on the edge of your seat waiting to pronounce the words, “I told you so!,” my lips will be praying the words of Jude for Kanye, “To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy- to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”[vi]

“What have you been hearin’ from the Christians?

They’ll be the first ones to judge me

Make it feel like nobody love me

They’ll be the first one to judge me

Feelin’ like nobody love me

Told people God was my mission

What have you been hearin’ from the Christians?

I deserve all the criticism you got

If that’s all the love you have, that’s all you got

To sing of change, you think I’m joking

To praise His name, you ask what I’m smoking

Yes, I understand your reluctancy, yeah

But I have a request, you see

Don’t throw me up, lay your hands on me

Please, pray for me”

–Kanye West, Jesus Is King, Hands On.

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Footnotes:

[i] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Is_King

[ii] https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/entertainment/2019/november/massive-spike-in-faith-based-google-searches-after-lsquo-jesus-is-king-rsquo

[iii] 1 John 1:9

[iv] https://news.am/eng/news/537976.html

[v] https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/kanye-west-jesus-is-king-album-cancel-culture-christianity-1250025

[vi] Jude 1:24-25