Holy Hip Hop, A Cunning Tool of Satan or the Church’s Scapegoat?

It’s hard for me to believe that it has been almost ten years ago that I was driving down the highway in the Bay area in deep thought bumpin the sounds of G.R.I.T.S., no not the kind of grits that you cook and eat, I’m talking about the hip hop duo Grammatical Revolution In The Spirit. The Album was Factors of the Seven, it was one song in particular that caught my attention and made me pause my head noddin and listen closely, the song was titled “Gospel Rap; Parables”

When it started we were bound by Church fallacies /as time went by we took on the appearance of being free/but in reality we’re not! We’re still trapped in this shallow mentality of Gospel rap!” – hook from Gospel Rap; Parables

The song tackled some of the problems being faced by Christian rap artist at the time, as well as some of the misconceptions and incorrect views of Churches regarding gospel rappers. Gospel rappers as they were called then found themselves in an awkward position, not being readily accepted by the secular and mainstream as well as being shunned by the Church. This was in 1998

The current year is 2007 and the hook of that song still rings true. In fact Gospel rappers, now commonly known as Holy Hip Hoppers, face even more scrutiny and rejection from the Church than ever before. Ministers and ministries are being constructed and erected and even finding fame and popularity on a platform of speaking out on the evil of hip hop, and how anyone who is a part of it or associated with it (including Christian artist who use it to preach the gospel) are are participants of evil. In true Salem like fashion conventions and meetings are held with cd burnings and messages that incite people into lashing out and attacking not just a style of music but an entire culture. Ironically you would think that anyone who was trying to spread the message of Christ would be received, even if their method of delivery was different than the traditional method, but that has not been the case at all.

I am not writing solely to defend hip hop or holy hip hop today, but also to point out that before there was even a Gospel Rapper, there were some major problems in the Church, in fact many of which that had been ignored, whereas others were swept under the rug in the hopes that no one would notice or say anything, as the years went on however, regardless of whether anyone said anything or not it was obvious as one couldn’t help but trip over all of the lumps under the rug, and some of those lumps are being blamed on the evil called hip hop.

There has been a lot of claims that hip hop was created by the devil, and therefore it can’t be used for any purpose but evil. We have addressed this claim in other post at this blog, but that claim is does not bear out in actual facts nor in Scripture. In fact, God created everything, there is nothing seen or unseen that exist that was not created by God, to Glorify Himself. Satan (who has no creative power or ability) on the other hand takes the things that God has created and perverts them, meaning he tries to use them and influence people to use them to bring glory to himself in defiance and rebellion to God. Hence the meaning of the word Wicked which means twisted, taking God’s creation and using it for purposes other than what He(God) designed it for is wicked. Scripture declares that Christ has redeemed all things unto himself. Scripture also instructs us that “whatever” we do in Word or Deed(action) be done to Glorify God, it never specifies culture or style of delivery, and yet these ministries play on the emotions and fearfulness of people who have a dislike for and a misunderstanding of hip hop and manipulates them into attacking and shunning those who are working towards the same goal.

What’s amazing to me is the fact that in 1998 at least they felt that they had an appearance of being free, now in 2007 it almost appears to be an all out war and attack on Holy Hip Hop artist. Are there some things wrong within hip hop and even the Holy hip hop community…Without a doubt Yes! But some of those same problems exist within the Church and have been there for years before the birth of Gospel rap or Holy Hip Hop. Before there was Holy Hip Hop the Church was still divisive, unable to agree on both the essentials and non-essentials of the faith, arguing and bickering splitting off new heads and new denominations to suit the preferences of people as opposed to serving God’s Purposes, and yet you ministries that are placing the blame for some of these problems on the backs of Christian Hip Hop artist’. For the Holy Hip Hop artist the term take up your cross and follow me has a whole new meaning, it means trying to reach the masses while the Church is riding your back and grinding you into the ground.

What puzzles me, is the fact that people are so fearful and eager for something to distract them from the responsibility of policing themselves that they eagerly jump on the bandwagon of the these divisive and hurtful ministries, and charged up on misinformation and misguided zeal lash out against fellow believers and cause even more damage to the Body of Christ as well as become an obstacle to many future believers who want no part of the chaos and confusion they see. It never occurs to these destructive ministries that their actions have no resemblance to Christ whatsoever…they engage in slander, gossip, backbiting, encouraging each other to be harsh and hostile toward people…and there is no message from Jesus that supports such behavior.

I can’t help but wonder if Jesus were to address the Church in it’s current condition, if it would not receive the same rebuke that He gave the Pharisees;

“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either.

“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell you yourselves are” -Matthew 23: 13-15

I am still searching for the mandate that replaced the Great Commission, which is to go into all the world making disciples:

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” -Jesus giving the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20

It’s time for us to wake up and smell the Spiritual Coffee, there is a war going on, but it should not be among God’s people. It’s time that we (Christian Community) have a Damascus Road experience and stop operating off of zeal and ignorance and begin pursuing the Kingdom of God, instead of setting up ministries and organizations that don’t serve God’s purposes and cause more damage than good. We are better served working together to fix whatever problems that exist with God’s help than sitting around offering our opinions about what we think is right or wrong and then twisting and bending Scripture to say something that it doesn’t. It’s time that we actually do what our name implies, follow Christ…follow the example that He set for us. -one

da holy rida