Kanye West and the Great Celebrity Revival

Don’t be surprised if revival comes from a born again Kanye West. The Holy Spirit has come to shake the skeptical, religious spirit off our bones.

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Human beings in a mob
What’s a mob to a king?
What’s a king to a god?
What’s a god to a non-believer?
Who don’t believe in anything?

What a glorious day when that non-believer starts to believe in something. That is what I believe has happened to rapper Kanye West.

You may have seen all over social media that Kanye recently delivered a 10-minute sermon at a church in Atlanta. It was in the middle of a worship service when he got the microphone and started sharing his heart.

“You sent Your Son to die for us, and all You ask is for radical obedience to You.

“I’ve seen him work miracles in my life. You know, the devil presents so many flashy, shiny objects. I’ve seen everything that the devil could’ve showed you via TV, videos, car dealerships, jewelry, houses, and I’ll tell you… Nothing beats God…and a sound mind

“Let’s not be concerned with the opinions of men at all. Only the opinion of God. I know we say this is the culture or that is the culture. To be radically in service to Christ is the only culture that I want to know about.

“Thank You for saving me, for replenishing me, for delivering me.”

Honestly, when I heard that last line, I wept. Because I know that very same feeling. When you personally feel like you can’t be near God because of His holiness but, in His goodness, He calls you beloved. For me personally, I believe this is genuine repentance.

I think, a lot of times, we equate repentance with justice. We want Kanye to answer for the things he has done. Then maybe, just maybe, we’ll consider praying for God to help him. Friends, that is not how it works. But I know that is some of your mindsets. The literal translation for repentance is the word Metanoia which means “To change your mind,” and I believe Kanye’s mind has been changed. And from the changing of the mind comes the changing of the heart.

Consider some of his old mindsets in his song “I Am a God”

I am a God, ain’t no way I am giving up on my God”

That was back in 2013 when his ego was through the roof, but what I see here is something deeper than seeing himself as an almighty deity. What I see is him not yet knowing his beloved identity as a son of Yahweh. In these lyrics, I see his expression as “I am the only good I know and I am not giving up on myself.” How many times have we thought that very same thing? Or better yet, go even deeper: “please don’t give up on me because everyone else has.”

I believe the church at large has given up on Kanye West. Whenever he said something outlandish, we secretly rejoiced so we could justify ourselves when we distanced ourselves from him. Whenever he made a public mistake, we shared it on social media to warn others not to follow his lead. When he called himself a god, we raced to defend God’s name instead of interceding on his behalf. Honestly, I bet most American Christians don’t even know God’s name. It’s Yahweh, and He doesn’t need defending. Your reputation does.

Are you more concerned with defending Yahweh’s name or your own? Will putting Kanye West down bring you up? Because, honestly, he is risking everything, including his reputation on this. If the world no longer accepts him and the Christians never will, then all he has is the opinion of Yahweh. I know I’ve used this word a lot already, but to be completely honest, we’ve treated Kanye like shit. I’m sorry for using that ugly word, but it’s a fair comparison to our hearts toward him. Religion wasn’t prepared for this one, but Yeshua was waiting for this one.

He must increase, I must decrease.” John 3:30

I keep using the words “us” and “we” because we are one Body. Christ is the head, and we are the living Church. And some of our members have been stuck. Stuck in a mindset that God can only use the clean people, the ones with rock-solid theology, the ones who never miss a Sunday, the ones who are free of tattoos and blemishes. We have been stuck thinking that God can only use the perfect Christians.

I think, sometimes, we can forget where our favorite Bible heroes came from. We adore Paul the Apostle for all the Kingdom work he did, yet we hardly focus on his persecutions of the Kingdom. We don’t focus on it because that was such a small part of his life compared to the glorious things he accomplished through Christ over many, many years. He led a transformation of the Christian world, so why can’t Kanye? His story is not over yet; this could be his defining moment that shifts the tide of the celebrity culture. I want to be a part of that.

One of the reoccurring visions I see people having is that of a great celebrity revival. I’ve heard dreams of many prophetic men and women saying things like they’ve seen Ellen DeGeneres leading an LGBTQ revival. Justin Bieber bringing back the heart of Worship to the music industry, and Donald Trump leading a nation into prayer and fasting. Personally, I have seen, in my dreams, Katy Perry fully restored and leading in a sound of worship never before heard on this earth. I pray for her so often.

I honestly think that celebrities are the most forgotten people group. We see them all day every day, but we are too busy to stop and pray for them because we are planning our third-world mission trips and church potlucks. Those things are not at all bad, but what I’m saying is I’ve been in a lot of church services praying for our nation but completely ignoring the public influencers of it.

Famous people are killing themselves more rapidly each new day. How tragic is it to be fully seen but never known? I am convinced we will see a breakthrough in this world we have forgotten. And for all those who have been begging day and night for a revival, don’t be surprised if it comes from a born again Kanye West. The Holy Spirit has come to shake the skeptical, religious spirit off our bones. The system didn’t plan for this, but Jesus has been waiting for this!

I know this whole concept is wild. And I think some Christians might be scared of this because it has never been seen before. But just like the disciples had never seen a man walk on water, we must trust the voice that made everything possible. Consider where your life was before you made Jesus your everything. If you put anything else before Him, you made an idol. If you put yourself before God in any way, you made yourself a god and committed the same sin as Kanye. He just had the bigger platform. With that platform comes responsibly and accountability that I genuinely hope he seeks out.

No matter what you think of him, he is a son of Yahweh, and he is in process. We all are. The good news is that Jesus is not on the other side of the process. He is the process. He will be with us every step of the way. I would rather my love believe the best for him and pray over him during his setbacks than just dismiss him and never have hope. If we all took on this radical love, we may truly start to see a church in the wild.

Love is large and incredibly patient. Love is gentle and consistently kind to all. It refuses to be jealous when blessing comes to someone else. Love does not brag about one’s achievements nor inflate its own importance. Love does not traffic in shame and disrespect, nor selfishly seek its own honor. Love is not easily irritated or quick to take offense. Love joyfully celebrates honesty and finds no delight in what is wrong. Love is a safe place of shelter, for it never stops believing the best for others. Love never takes failure as defeat, for it never gives up. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 TPT

 

Featured Image By Leo Wieling

This is an updated edition of a post originally published on anthonygurrolafireblog.com

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Writer, artist, and artisan for the King.