One night I couldn't sleep and this is what I put down:
It's about 1:32 in the morning. I probably should be sleep, but I couldn't because I kept hearing this in my head. Why are some of us scared of branching out from our comfort zone? Back when T.V. first came out, the world embraced it while the church was afraid so automatically it was a sin to watch it. It was the devil. Besides seeing it as a way to spread the Gospel to people that probably wasn't ever going to go to church, they decided to judge it because it broke away from tradition. In the Bible, Matthew 14:22-33, Jesus walked on water. Verse 26 in the CEV says, "When they saw him, they thought he was a ghost. They were terrified and started screaming." The disciples thought Jesus was a ghost because He was walking on water during a storm. They didn't know how to react so they immediately said that it was evil. I've heard it said that what the devil meant for evil, God can turn it around for your good.
Back in the day, T.V. was considered evil. Now what do we have? T.B.N., The World Network, The Gospel Music Channel, etc that spreads the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. Also back in the day, it was considered a sin to go to the movies, again not seeing the value of telling a story to change lives. We strive to be like Jesus, or we say we do right? Jesus used parables. Parables is defined a short simple story from which a moral lesson may be drawn. So Jesus used stories to bring his point across, right? So why not use movies to preach the Gospel to people that may not walk into the four walls of a building with a steeple? Tyler Perry, T.D. Jakes, and others are doing it. Yet movies are of the devil?
Now to the subject close to my heart, music. Anybody that know me, know that I have a passion for music, and music is a controversial topic in churches. If its not of the "traditional," it's not welcome. I love the so called "traditional" songs. I was raised on them. But years ago a genre of music started called hip-hop. The church is in an uproar about it still today. Hip-hop is different from any other genre, and the church don't know how to embrace it, so they're scared and automatically its of the devil because it's different. They say the origin of hip-hop is demonic, and it can't be used to spread the Gospel, right? There's a person in the Bible by the name of Paul, but before he was Paul, he was Saul. Saul persecuted the followers of Jesus. Acts 9:1-31, Saul got converted to Paul and became a leading missionary. What the devil meant for evil...So Paul's origin didn't stop him. Yet God can't use hip-hop because of it's origin? No, it has to be something else.
So because they don't understand it, it's bad. We are so caught up in what we call tradition, that a generation is passing by because we're afraid of the culture. Lets say you wanted to witness to Japanese people and you only spoke Spanish. That most likely is not going to work. You have to become all things to all men that you might save them, right? Speaking Spanish to a Japanese speaking person is not going to go over because he doesn't understand. This hip-hop generation doesn't understand the C.O.G.I.C. Hymnal. You have to put the Gospel in a way for them to get it. But you don't see Gospel rap in the church because the traditionalist see it as "watering down the Gospel," and the only reason they see it that way is because they're afraid and don't understand hip-hop. They don't understand it so automatically it's evil. It's of the devil.
Acts Chapter 10, Peter was sitting on the roof to pray and he got hungry. He fell asleep and had a vision. Heaven opened up and a huge sheet fell that had animals, snakes, and birds. A voice said to him to rise, kill, and eat. Peter then said, paraphrasing, "How can I when it's unclean?" Peter was raised under the Law of Moses which taught that some foods were not fit, or clean, to eat. But then the voice said, again paraphrasing, "What God calls clean, don't you call unclean." Then you go down to verse 28 (KJV), "And he said unto them, Ye know that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean." Verse 34 and 35 (KJV), "Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons. But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him." Verse 42 and 43 (CEV) say, "God told us to clarify to the people that Jesus is the one he has chosen to judge the living and the dead. Every one of the prophets has said that all who have faith in Jesus will have their sins forgiven in his name."
I hear all the time that there's no God in hip-hop. Back in the day they said there's no God in T.V., or there's no God in the theaters. What the devil meant for evil, God can turn it around for our good. There's nothing new under the sun. What these traditionalist don't understand is that they are doing the same thing their elders did to them. This is where wisdom comes in. Wisdom, or common sense, will tell you that times change. The style of clothing has and will continue to evolve. Music as well. The word of God is the same and will be the same forever. The Word says that only Jesus can judge. The Bible also says, "With loving kindness have I drawn them." Love and kindness. Salvation is not in music, it's not in the clothes. As the late great Bishop G.E. Patterson once preached, "Salvation is an inside job." Search for it on youtube, it'll speak to you, I promise. Anyway, Salvation comes with belief in your heart that Jesus died on the cross for your sins. All this judging we do as the church, and we have no heaven or hell to put anybody in. Jesus saves. Not us. It's that simple. Who are we to say that God can't use hip-hop? He uses you don't he? Because of Adam we were all born into sin. God saved you from your sins, and the same mouth you used to speak death is now speaking life through the grace of God.
Stay Saved,
Daniel Richerson
