For those of you that are not up to date with Kanye West, on Oct. 29 he dropped a new album called, “Jesus is King,” to proclaim his newfound relationship with God.
After releasing the album, West received a tremendous amount of support yet also major backlash specifically from the Christian community. Various tweets, instagram posts, articles and blogs have rejected his faith and criticized West for being a hypocrite. Christians were furious about this and accused West of only releasing the album as a publicity stunt.
Their criticism did not take Kanye by surprise. In fact, his song called “Hands on” discussed how Christians would be the first one to judge him due to his reckless past.
“Told people God was my mission / What have you been hearin’ from the Christians? / They’ll be the first one to judge me / Make it feel like nobody love me,” said Kanye West.
In this song, West talked about how he simply needs love and support in order to help him grow into a holy and Christlike individual. He understands Christians may have their questions and concerns but he asked them to raise their hands up and pray for him throughout his journey.
“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,” said West.
Kanye West admitted that he made mistakes and has struggles and weaknesses but he is ready to hand his life over to God. If you are not familiar with Christianity, the religion says that when anyone admits that they are imperfect and surrenders themselves to God then the Holy Spirit is sent into their soul to help resurrect their life. In other words, when Kanye West admitted that he has done wrong he welcomed Jesus into his heart in order to bring more righteous attributes.
“Jesus brought a revolution / All the captives are forgiven / Time to break down all the prisons / Every man, every woman / There is freedom from addiction,” said West.
As a fellow Christian I think we should be celebrating on West’s newfound religious beliefs. We cannot judge whether West is doing it for the right or wrong reasons. We can only see the outward appearance of humans and not what is really in their hearts. According to Christianity, God is the only one who can see the heart so who are we to judge West if we do not know what his real beliefs are.
Christians are called to earth to spread the gospel and is this not what Kanye West is doing? “Jesus is King” helps bring awareness to God’s name, spreads God’s words, and rejoices in God’s glory. Christians should be excited that someone like Kanye West is using their fame and fortune to help preach the word of the gospel.
Instead of rejection and hatred, we should love. Christians are supposed to love one another and be kind to everyone. Furthermore, we should welcome Kanye West to the Christian community with our arms wide open.