Kanye West performs his “Jesus Is King” album and film experience last month at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif.Kevin Winter / Getty Images file
Kanye West’s Christian conversion is less about Jesus than it is about Kanye
Lance Goodall 23 Nov 2019
“Both have baptized their commercial notoriety and their financial gains in Jesus’ name,” Walton said. “The communion table has become a merch table.”
West’s recent album “Jesus Is King” has earned praise in unusual corners of conservative Christianity, but his comments have raised eyebrows over their association with Osteen’s prosperity gospel teachings, the idea that God grants health and wealth to his followers. Some Christians are also questioning whether black hip-hop artists are being used by white evangelical preachers to boost their own brand and falsely signal progressive racial attitudes.
Kanye West performs Sunday Service at Coachella this week in Indio, California.Rich Fury / Getty Images for Coachella
West recently tied his success and wealth to his newfound faith in an interview with comedian James Corden on “Carpool Karaoke.”
“God is using me … to show off,” West told Corden. “Last year I made $115 million and still ended up $35 million in debt. This year I looked up, and I just got $68 million returned to me on my tax returns.”
During a 20-minute interview with Osteen during a regular Sunday morning church service, West said many Christians give Osteen a hard time, but when you turn on the radio, Osteen “keeps showing you how good God is.”
“When you’ve got Kanye defending you, you’ve made it, man,” Osteen said while laughing.
West’s new album preempts criticism from fellow Christians. “They’ll be the first one to judge me / Make it feel like nobody love me,” he sings in the song “Hands On.”
Pastors need to be especially careful when featuring fame and conversion, said rap artist Kevin Burgess (better known by his stage name KB), who attended White’s Without Walls church 15 years ago but now attends a small urban church in Tampa called Living Faith Bible Fellowship.
“What I do bristle at is the tendency superstar pastors have to stake their claim in superstar converts, sort of chomping at the bit to ride this wave of attention for the sake of strengthening your brand,” he said.
During his interview with Osteen, West said that at his lowest point, when he was hospitalized in 2016 after a mental breakdown, God “was there with me, sending me visions, inspiring me.” His own acknowledgment of his recent mental health struggles has raised questions about the reasons behind his heightened interest in spirituality.
“I’m not sure people really love Kanye,” said hip-hop artist Sho Baraka. “They love the idea of him and how they can use him for their particular wars and agenda.”
While some evangelicals have reservations about Osteen’s theological teachings, many have embraced West as a brand since his recent album release. The American Bible Society has given away 11,000 free Bibles because of the high interest since West’s album release.
“Evangelical culture in America is very fame-driven,” said Derwin L. Gray, pastor of the nondenominational megachurch Transformation Church near Charlotte and a former NFL player. “It has the propensity to use people instead of to develop people.”
West and evangelicals hold a mutually beneficial relationship, said Ibram X. Kendi, a historian at American University and author of “How to Be an Anti-Racist.”
“White evangelicals are showering him with attention because they’ve been criticized for years for their racism,” Kendi said. “Anytime they can embrace a person of color, it allows them to present themselves as not racist.”
West has been tied to the Pentecostal tradition for several years and was married to Kardashian by Florida Pentecostal preacher Rich Wilkerson Jr. in 2014.
West’s support for Trump and comments that “slavery was a choice” has shaped many people’s opinions — especially those of African Americans — about his recent conversion. Atlanta pastor Jamal Bryant recently condemned West’s positions as harmful after West appeared at his church in September.
The reaction to West has been polarizing among Christians, said Esau McCaulley, a professor of New Testament at Wheaton College.
“People think he’s either the devil or he’s leading a revival,” McCaulley said. “I think he’s neither. He’s a troubled person trying to find healing in Christianity.”
Some black church leaders are worried that the white evangelical leaders who are connected to West won’t push him to question his support for Trump. “Some black pastors say: We want him to get the right Jesus, not the white Jesus,” said Charlie Dates, pastor of Progressive Baptist Church, a historically black church in Chicago attended by about 800 people weekly.
But Dates believes that West’s recent album will transcend “Kanye West” as a brand.
“The gospel message itself has inherent power,” said Dates, who was involved in a private event earlier this year with West. “We should not confuse the potency of the message with the unpredictability of the messenger.”
Osteen’s Lakewood may have been the biggest church West has been in, but he has also made appearances at the Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church on Chicago’s South Side, the Forum in Los Angeles, Howard University and the Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral of New York in Queens. Ahead of his appearance at Lakewood, West also held two services for prisoners at the Harris County Jail in Houston on Friday. Jason Spencer, public affairs director for the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, tweeted a picture of the service.
Say what you want about the man. But @kanyewest and his choir brought some light to people who needed it today at the Harris County Jail.
But others aren’t convinced. Michael Arceneaux from NBC reports;
West’s narcissism, his self-loathing and his politics have been on full display long enough to know that I don’t need to attend Sunday Service or subject myself to a “Jesus Is King” listening session. West’s latest shtick is clearly nothing more than him showing us a Black Pat Robertson in a dumb red hat with a beat machine, with pretensions of being gospel star Kirk Franklin.
Much like Trump, whom he has described as a “brother” who shares his “dragon energy,” West reimagines Christianity in a way that leaves more than a few Christians scratching their heads. During his appearance on “The Late Late Show,” for instance, West bestowed the Lord with high praise for doing more for him than his accountant apparently ever could.
“God is using me as a human being. … As humbly as I can put it, he’s using me to show off,” he explained. “Last year, I made $115 million and still ended up $35 million in debt. This year, I looked up and I just got $68 million returned to me on my tax returns.”
West went on to say: “And people say, ‘Oh, don’t talk about these numbers.’ No, people need to hear someone that’s been put into debt by the system talk about these kind of numbers now that they’re in service to Christ.”
Kanye West is not the first person to espouse a version of “prosperity gospel,” which is more or less Christianity for hypercapitalists and folks who aspire to be rich. To think that God’s great reward on earth is providing wealth to the highly favored is a dubious notion, but perhaps I’ve yet to reach the right tax bracket to be eligible for divine intervention.
What’s more clearly repugnant, however, is how this supposed born-again Christian has continued to antagonize and berate his own people.
First, after wearing a MAGA hat and claiming Trump was “God’s practical joke on all liberals” when asked about his ongoing support of Mr. Two Corinthians this week, West said the Black people who take issue with his conservative stances are stuck on “the idea of victimization mentality,” and claimed we were “brainwashed.”
Geoffrey Grider suggests this is how the One World Religion, which Pope Francis has spent nearly all of 2019 assembling, finally comes together.
Kanye West is the linkpin that connects together the lost denizens of Illuminati Hollywood with bible-deficient Laodicean Christians, mainly Charismatics who number at over 100 million, to form the end times ecumenical horror show the Bible tells us will come. Kind of makes the Pretribulation Rapture more of a rescue operation than anything else, doesn’t it? God will not allow born again Christians to enter the time of Jacob’s trouble, but it’s starting to look like that before we are all pulled up and out, that many will have to be liberated from the One World Religion.
Get ready now, and hold onto your hats, former Catholic priest and good buddy with Pope Francis Jonathan Morris has made a prediction about where Kanye West may land next.
For the past few days, hip-hop superstar Kanye West has been sucking all the oxygen out of the room with his Sunday Service, grabbing every headline there is to grab, dominating the Billboard charts, and riding a wave of popularity among Christians the likes of which may not have ever been seen before. To date his success with ‘Jesus Is King’ has expanded his bank account to the tune of over $150 million dollars, and there seems to be no end in sight. So what could possible be next for Kanye West? The ultimate prize for any Illuminati superstar – Rome.
“And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.” Revelation 18:9,10 (KJV)
Fox News contributor Jonathan Morris was, up to very recently, known as Father Jonathan Morris, a Catholic priest in good standing. By his own testimony, he went in private to Pope Francis and asked for something called a ‘voluntary laicization‘, a release from his priestly vows, which was granted him by the pope. No sooner is Father Morris now Citizen Morris, when he pops up at Lakewood Church for private meetings with Joel Osteen and Kanye West. Morris then proceeds to write gushing op-ed pieces praising Joel Osteen and Kanye West, and helps to promote the ‘good gospel work’ of the Sunday Service travelling road show. But get ready, now, and hold onto your hats, former Catholic priest and good buddy with Pope Francis has also made a prediction about where Kanye West may land next. Former Father Morris says that Kanye West is headed to the Vatican to get the papal blessing on his Sunday Service.
Before we go any further, it would be beneficial to remind ourselves about the connection first between Joel Osteen and Pope Francis. On June 5th, 2014, Osteen flew to Rome for a private meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican, and also attend the Convocation of Renewal in Rome. It was also around this time that other prominent leaders from the Charismatic church were seen working with the Vatican, finding “common ground” on how the two sides could come together. Kenneth Copeland famously offered Pope Francis his entire congregation and declared that ‘the Reformation is over’ in a show of unity. You will also remember how Rick Warren, one of the main early drivers of Chrislam, referred to Francis as “our pope” implying that he is the leader of all Christians worldwide and not just Catholics.
Now, in case you really don’t remember this flurry of ecumenical activity that took place between the Charismatics and the Vatican,
The Charismatics, The Vatican and the Coming One World Religion
Back in 2014, not only did Pope Francis hold ecumenical services in the Vatican where he prayed to the moon god of Islam, Allah, he also held high level meetings with megachurch pastor Joel Osteen and US Senator Mike Lee who was there to represent the Mormon church. The actors have taken the stage, with more still arriving, in the unfolding of what will one day soon be the wildest bible prophecy ever told – the Great Tribulation.
Now that you’re up to speed, let’s turn our attention back to Kanye West and his Sunday Service. Over the past 48 hours we showed you the how Kanye held his Sunday Service show at Lakewood church on a stage set build around the All-Seeing Eye of ancient Egypt, then we showed you the same All-Seeing Eye on his very first Sunday Service at Coachella back in April, just to prove to you this is intentional and not a one-off coincidence. Then we told you that on November 24th, Kanye West will debut his opera based on the life of Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, a biblical type of Antihrist. Now today we bring you the prediction of former Catholic priest Jonathan Morris that Kanye is headed to the Vatican for a meeting with the pope.
This is how the One World Religion, which Pope Francis has spent nearly all of 2019 assembling, finally comes together. Kanye West is the linkpin that connects together the lost denizens of Illuminati Hollywood with bible-deficient Laodicean Christians, mainly Charismatics who number at over 100 million, to form the end times ecumenical horror show the Bible tells us will come.
This is so good! I’m exhausted trying to tell people that he is a false prophet. I’ve lost friends because I believe this.
Hi Katie,
Sorry to hear you have lost friends over it.
The matter of Kanye’s conversion is not an easy one. He has said some great things, which are biblical and his understanding seems high.
However we simply cant ignore the aspect of not knowing when he came to a point of decision (repentance ). Is he born again? He talks about God drawing him.
Whatever is going on presently, he lacks any discernment and maturity and shouldn’t be thrust into the limelight at this point.
You’re Spot On, Lance. Also – there was a few-seconds clip of the Pyramid formed by two hands in one of the early videos – https://twitter.com/MikeLee97381136/status/1195844487471341575?s=20. So it was a brief acknowledgement to the Luciferian elites that Kanye is still part of the Satanic brotherhood – just doing his part to hoodwink Christians and lead them into a different direction. Controlled Opposition. Tiffany Fitzhenry is also Controlled Opposition – https://luciferisreal.wordpress.com/2019/09/29/controlled-opposition/.
Thanks Mike,
Not sure what it all looks like in the end….But it reminds me of the deception during the Jesus Hippy movement of the 70s.
More spurious conversions that bring a dangerous mixture.