Everyone has an idea, a passion, or even a calling but sometimes such a weighty thing comes with doubts. Many of us want to start a business, start a family, or do something other than pay bills and die. Many of us start on this path full of assurance but over time we turn around and return to our ordinary lives. Many of us want to know how we know we are going in the right direction, because the path to our purposes leads us right through the valley of the unknown. Many of us are looking to God for signs and signals to affirm that we are doing the right thing because we can’t really be sure. One of the sure ways that you are doing the right thing is when you have people trying to oppose you.
But what about when you finally do meet some measure of success? Instead of people congratulating you on your success and encouraging you to be better, you are met with the exact opposite. To the casual observer who didn’t see the years of hard work you put in and see you as an “overnight success,” they almost instantly attribute your success to nefarious means. That means some people may have said you slept your way to that promotion and for us Christians, we say folks are “demonic” or in the “Illuminati.” I agree that some folks may be involved in some dark things, but not everyone who is successful has made a contract with Satan.
In light of Lecrae’s recent signing to Columbia Records, the critics and concerned have come crawling out of the wood work. People don’t think that he should be signed to a “secular” label, unaware that Mary Mary is on the same label. Also, if you do some research, you will see that quite a few Gospel artists were signed to “secular” labels. Here is my real question: how small is your god? I say your and lowercase the “g” because it’s apparent that we don’t serve the same God. My God rewards hard work, keeping Him first, and faithfulness. Just about every artist who associates with Christian Hip Hop and gains some sort of expansion of a platform, they are met with suspicion. It’s as if as we don’t believe Christians have spiritual success as well as material successes. Whether you like it or not some artists will be promoted and others won’t; it’s all according to God’s will.
We are very unqualified to state who in CHH or Christians doing hip hop is demonic or not. How many people said they thought Datin was demonic? Look up comments on A. Ward, Street Hymns, and Th3 saga’s first battles and tell me what you see. We talk about persecution coming for repping the name of Jesus, but we fail to realize that it will come from inside the church as well as outside. We are very flawed and hypocritical, hiding our personal sins while pointing out what we see wrong with people trying to honor God with their public ministries. I’m very slow to speak on mainstream and Christian artists’ platforms because I don’t know the hard work and strategic moves they made to get where they are. James 1:19 tells me to be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath. That’s why it took so long to write this. As a Reach Records fan, it’s hard to watch his critics speak about them when they have, in the opinion of this writer, a stellar track record. Reach is the reason that NF is on Capitol Christian Music Group. Think about it, a predominately CCM record label signed one rapper and almost two years later signed one of the biggest up and coming CHH duos Social Club Misfits. No one is asking everyone to agree with everything these artists are doing, but is it fair to ask you to reflect on your own failings before pointing out problems with others? The Bible tells us it will rain on the just and the unjust, and we will sow what we reap. The next time you see someone elevated, maybe think if they worked hard for what they have been blessed with before claiming they are a part of a secret society. Maybe just maybe, Beelzebub isn’t handing out record deals and contracts to some of your favorite artists. Just think about it.
