₦airaland Forum

Is Kanye West Born Again?

By: Deji Yesufu

The rave on the internet a few days ago was about Kanye West becoming a Christian. It was all the news; so much that Nigeria’s leading newspaper, the Punch, also published a story on it. On October 14th, 2019, Punch wrote in their online medium:

“American rapper, Kanye West, has declared that he is now a Christian. West said this at the weekend, when he was in Washington DC, where he held his usual Sunday service and also a listening party during which he gave fans a taste of his new album, titled ‘Jesus is King’”.

If this story got the attention of Punch newspapers, which is actually a very conservative newspaper, we should consider it a hot topic.

The person closest to Kanye, his wife, Kim Kardasian, another celebrity, also testifies to her husband’s sudden conversion. She is quoted as saying: “(Kanye) has had an amazing evolution of being born again and being saved by Christ.” That testimony, for me, is something one should take to heart; since it is coming from the man’s own wife. But others, particularly those in the evangelical world, are saying that we should be careful to jump into conclusion regarding Kanye’s sudden conversion. They say that there are many examples of celebrities claiming a salvation experience, they draw a following after them, but suddenly return to their vomit when the reality of following the Lord downs on them. What then should we make of Kanye West conversion? Is Kanye West born again?

In their October 8th, 2019 edition, “Wrath and Grace”, an online radio platform, had Pastor Adam Tyson as guest. Adam Tyson is the gentleman at the center of Kanye West’s discipleship. Tyson had not led Kanye West to Christ; he only met him after the latter had had a sudden and inexplicable encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ. So when he met Pastor Tyson, he sought for Tyson to teach him the Bible. So much that Kanye would fly Tyson from Los Angeles to his country home in Wyoming every Thursday evening for Bible Study with Kanye West and others who attend the Bible Study program. Tyson believes Kanye West has met the Lord Jesus Christ; although he also agrees with the skeptics that all profession of faith should be tested with time. However, Tyson said a lot more which I cannot document here.

My interest in West’s conversion story followed my watching the Wrath and Grace interview with Pastor Adam Tyson. This is why. Adam Tyson is not the regular pastor. He is not one of those guys looking for converts and leading people around to Christ with a “Lord’s Prayer”. Tyson is a Master’s Seminary graduate. The Master’s Seminary is the seminary that was birth by the congregation that Dr. John MacArthur leads in Los Angeles, California. It is a seminary grounded in the reformed faith. Adam Tyson claims to be reformed and even Cessationist. You do not get anyone to be more conservative than that. Yet, Tyson believes that Kanye West has encountered the Lord Jesus Christ.

Tyson says he has spent considerable time going through the fundamentals of the faith with Kanye and has taken time to observe the fruit of his life. He explains that the enthusiasm of Kanye, to let everyone know about his faith, is the normal fruit of a genuine conversion: the usual zeal that accompanies meeting the Savior for the first time. Tyson is not bothered about this; in fact he is rejoicing about it. He believes that God is doing a work in Kanye and it is not his duty to control that work. He gives Kanye freedom to do whatever he feels like doing, while at the same time carefully teaching him God’s word each week at the Bible Study sessions. In fact in recent times, Tyson has been preaching live at Kanye’s events. Bringing the gospel to thousands of Kanye West’s fans. Tyson believes that all these is an open door from the Holy Spirit to reach more and more people for the gospel; and rather than skepticism, he urges the Church to pray for Kanye West: that God will perfect the good work he has started in him.

I am not a fan of Kanye West. I am not sure I have listened to one track he has produced despite my past history with rap music. I just realized that the last rap entity whose work I followed was Eminem. That was 1999/2000. So I am out of date in the rap world. But I am conversant with Kanye West, particularly his relations with Kim Kardashian – the leading reality TV person in America today. So when the story broke that he was now a Christian, naturally it caught my attention.

My initial reaction was that of caution too. There are too many people, both popular and unpopular, who make a profession of faith today and whose lives renounce the faith the next day. I remember Kate Henshaw once coming to say she was a Christian. Somehow she got caught up with the fundamentalist type of Christianity; removed her make-up and dressed down, and all that. A few years after that, she was back to the limelight again. This time, the lipsticks were back and she was looking even flashier than ever before. Jesus Christ was no longer on her lips. Thus, there was a reason to be cautious about West.

But concerning Kanye West, and following the testimony by Adam Tyson, I am a lot more optimistic about his conversion. Reformed Theology, the aspect of Christianity that I profess, is serious stuff. The reformed faith is concerned with preaching the gospel and seeing sinners coming to faith in Christ. Most reformed preachers will not give an altar call. They are convinced that the preached word is enough to convert the sinner, no matter how rebellious they are. They look to God the Holy Spirit alone, not men’s gimmicks, to change a heart of stone to a heart of flesh. Following conversion, reformed theologians are concerned about discipling people to maturity. They care little about healing, miracles and prosperity. In fact, this is an aspect of Christianity that condemns the prosperity gospel wholeheartedly.

So learning that Kanye West is associating with a reformed pastor, my heart was at rest. I genuinely pray that Kanye’s profession of faith will take root downwards and bear genuine fruits in the days to come. I trust that the Lord will lead his career and music in such a direction as to honor the Lord Jesus Christ, even as his latest album professes that “Jesus is King”. Most of all, I pray that the myriad that listen to his song, will hear the gospel in it and be saved. Amen.

Deji Yesufu is the author of the books Victor Banjo and Half a Millennium. He can be reached one newdejix@gmail.com

Source: http://mouthpiece.com.ng/is-kanye-west-born-again/

If he doesn’t walk away from the mtv/ Hollywood circle of friends...I doubt if his case will be different from R.kelly or DMX...they see the light truly but the pleasures of the world won’t make them rooted for too long..
I saw a video recently where Kanye has started to really become bothered about the way Kim dresses...I was shocked a bit...Kim was trying to tell him not to use his spiritual awakening to disturb upset her..that she ddnt complain when he started...so he left angrily...it might be possible he’s truly born again...

like I said being born again isn’t so hard....God promised the out pouring of his spirit on all flesh in Joel 2v28..of course this will lead to conviction even of men with stone-cold heart.. as he promised he doesn’t want anyone to perish......
but look around u...so many born again everywhere...It’s staying born again and retaining the spirit that was received at salvation/ conviction that’s the issue...

1StopRudeness:
If he doesn’t walk away from the mtv/ Hollywood circle of friends...I doubt if his case will be different from R.kelly or DMX...they see the light truly but the pleasures of the world won’t make them rooted for too long..
I saw a video recently where Kanye has started to really become bothered about the way Kim dresses...I was shocked a bit...Kim was trying to tell him not to use his spiritual awakening to disturb upset her..that she ddnt complain when he started...so he left angrily...it might be possible he’s truly born again...

like I said being born again isn’t so hard....God promised the out pouring of his spirit on all flesh in Joel 2v28..of course this will lead to conviction even of men with stone-cold heart.. as he promised he doesn’t want anyone to perish......
but look around u...so many born again everywhere...It’s staying born again and retaining the spirit that was received at salvation/ conviction that’s the issue...

Being born again is hard... Hard stuff.

It will mean a change of heart. It could wreck both his career and marriage. That's Christ for you. But only time will tell whether or not Kanye has met the Savior.

Kanye is a business man,na today?.

I believe he has repented, and not just the shallow kind of repentance but the deep one, because his music career was one that I closely followed at the beginning because of the extent to which he took the gospel of Christ even though at the time he wasn't truly repented but just a Christian who appreciated what God had done for him, especially after he miraculously survived a nearly fatal accident, and felt the burden to use the stage and opportunity of life he was given to do what hardly other hip hop musicians could do like "Jesus Walks".

It was sacrificial because he was rejected solely because of that gospel aspect of his music but he stuck with it and I believed God rewarded him for that by making him the most relevant hip hop artist of that period.

It was not until he completely drifted after his mum's death that I stopped following him as i used to before, and I was able perceive that it was mostly because of because of his mum's death because she was very close to him, so i felt he was really devastated by that.

However I just kept an eye on him because of his history, so wasn't completely surprised when I got news that he had repented, because I knew God was actually trying to take him through a process and make him better vessel for His own purpose but he took it the wrong way.

I heard some of his utterances in his message during the church service which I thought were very deep, and are even similar to some of the things I say here in Nairaland, about how God deserves the most not just the least from us, hence i was able to perceive that there was something really serious going on there even before i heard that he was now all for gospel music.

I know it's definitely not going to be easy for him, because I expect the devil to fight him hard because of his influence, especially if you add that of his connection to the Kardashians who have been used mostly to advance the devil's interest. But i know that God who brought him to this point would see him through.

God bless.

jesusjnr:
I believe he has repented, and not just the shallow kind of repentance but the deep one, because his music career was one that I closely followed at the beginning because of the extent to which he took the gospel of Christ even though at the time he wasn't truly repented but just a Christian who appreciated what God had done for him, especially after he miraculously survived a nearly fatal accident, and felt the burden to use the stage and opportunity of life he was given to do what hardly other hip hop musicians could do like "Jesus Walks".

It was sacrificial because he was rejected solely because of that gospel aspect of his music but he stuck with it and I believed God rewarded him for that by making him the most relevant hip hop artist of that period.

It was not until he completely drifted after his mum's death that I stopped following him as i used to before, and I was able perceive that it was mostly because of because of his mum's death because she was very close to him, so i felt he was really devastated by that.

However I just kept an eye on him because of his history, so wasn't completely surprised when I got news that he had repented, because I knew God was actually trying to take him through a process and make him better vessel for His own purpose but he took it the wrong way.

I heard some of his utterances in his message during the church service which I thought were very deep, and are even similar to some of the things I say here in Nairaland, about how God deserves the most not just the least from us, hence i was able to perceive that there was something really serious going on there even before i heard that he was now all for gospel music.

I know it's definitely not going to be easy for him, because I expect the devil to fight him hard because of his influence, especially if you add that of his connection to the Kardashians who have been used mostly to advance the devil's interest. But i know that God who brought him to this point would see him through.

God bless.

Well said

VBCampaign:
Well said

MuttleyLaff:
Lol, among other similar ones, I remember the above track "Jesus Walks" by Kanye West recorded 2000–2003 but released as music, under his "The College Dropout" album in 2004. Kanye is no stranger to gravitating towards his believers' roots, spirituality and late mum's gospel influence, nobi today yansh don tay for fowl's back ooo. Kanye West with Che Smith co-wrote "Jesus Walks"

Kanye always meant business. He's got a foot in heaven's door, while you jesusjnr, havent got a sniff of any of the twelve pearly gates of heaven

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuOCvKvrwI8
VBCampaign, you really need to watch this over 1-hour interesting interview
Kanye is a funny guy sha, with his jokingly conversation line "... someone is about to lower my christian scorecard"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t568Nd7k_Yk
VBCampaign, another, you really need to watch this other almost 1-hour interesting interview too.

Thanks MuttleyLaff