“People who don’t believe are walking dead. They are asleep.”
― Kanye West
“When was the last time a Gospel record was No. 1 on the Billboard 200?” my good friend Mike Orren asked. A great point as the media and fans bat around whether Kanye is now officially bat-shit crazy, or has he experienced an awakening of faith.
James Corden released one of his wonderful karaoke segments, this time Airplane Karaoke with Kanye West. There’s a longer 20-minute segment, but the four-minute vignette above captures the meat of the discussion. For one, Corden sounds like plenty of folks, “You actually read the Bible?” Secondly, I love Kanye’s metaphor about being awake or asleep. Or is it a fact?
One of the many reasons the Kanye story is so brilliant in the grand scheme, is he’s such a polarizing figure, exactly like the man-God in whom he now claims to believe. Yes, I do sense sincerity. I also think he’ll continue making mistakes like all us fallible folks, whether Christ followers or not. Will that make me doubt him if he falls off the Jesus wagon and falls prey to a vice like booze, porn, drugs, pick your poison? Not at all, he’s simply reflective of our collective need for the Gospel. The other thing that came to mind is here’s a guy who’s reached the pinnacle of the world: fame, fortune, worshiping fans, plus babe on arm. But from the sounds of it, he was miserable and now has found some level of bliss. Fascinating how Christ consistently delivers the magic.
As always, we have the choice of writing Kanye off as a celebrity kook. What about those joyous Gospel singers on the plane? Are they kooks too? That’s the arena where I love to pick fights. I recently had a conversation with an atheist friend who holds the position that us 2.1 billion Christians are delusional. I’m open to the idea, and state it repeatedly in my book: we may have fallen for the biggest hoax and scandal in the history of mankind. I don’t equate mass numbers as a sign of veracity, group-think doesn’t prove anything. However, a consistent narrative of dramatic heart, mind and soul change, does add weight to the evidence.
What I long for is the atheist who will come to the table and be open to the idea that he or she might also be delusional. Possibly-maybe Christ is exactly who He claims to be in the most historically validated book ever written; and agnostics, atheists and other faiths have missed the boat. Yes, in some ways, that’s tough truth, or it might be a crystal clear, singular path. In my friend’s case, he said no, it’s only us Jesus folks who are hallucinating. That idea is disingenuous at best, and outright jack-assery at worst.
Kanye will likely lose lots of fans, as much as he’ll gain others. For non-Bible readers, even the original King Himself had to deal with “fans” walking away. We often forget that with Christ performing miracle after miracle in living color, He still had people not drinking the grace Kool-Aid. If I were Him, I would’ve riffed, “Sheesh, tough crowd… Raise Lazarus from the dead, cure the blind, heal lepers, what else can I do here? I’m outta rabbits… Actually, wait for it… I have one more big one.”
A friend posted this on Facebook, from a devotional, but I couldn’t locate the title. It felt apropos to today’s Kanye’s discussion with Corden.
“The best reason to give your life to Jesus Christ is because you need Him. You need Him for this life, and you need Him for the life to come. So far in life — whether you realize it or not — you have been following the devil. He promised to give you happiness and peace. But has he kept his promise? No, not at all — nor will he ever keep it. He also promises that you don’t need to worry about what will happen to you when you die — which is another lie.”
What I love is the excerpt has all the hocus-pocus that secularists hate, all that God and devil whackadoo stuff. However, it also touches on a reality that has caught my attention lately — or as Kanye would say, that God has placed on my heart: YOU ARE GOING TO DIE. When we try to dismiss the stone-cold fact of this life, I’m astonished at the hubris involved. How can we not give serious consideration to something that is inescapable? If someone tells me 100% of the oxygen in my room is leaving in 24 hours, do I sit back and grab another beer? Only a moron would not look for a solution. Therefore, logic tells me people have fallen for the lie in the last sentence of the devotional. They assume they’ll be all peachy when they die, as if Willy Wonka automatically gives them the golden ticket to the after-life based on merit.
The Bible is such a rich book because it’s not brimming with bunnies and sunshine. It speaks to how plenty of folks won’t believe, and I empathize. Twenty years ago I was adamant in my position that Christianity was for ninnies, which is why I understand my atheist friend’s dismissal.
John 10:25
Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me.”
Acts 28:24
Some were being persuaded by the things spoken, but others would not believe.
Was I skeptical when I first heard about Kanye? Yep, the same with Justin Bieber, or Charlie Sheen if anyone recalls his dalliance with Christ, before his tiger blood gave him all the juju he needed. Hell, I’m skeptical of my own conversion on some days. However, Kanye’s story has too many of the signs, the consistent story I’ve heard from people I’ve met around the world. There’s a peace to him in the four-minute clip with Corden, a twinkle of comfort that he knows he’s found spiritual gold.
See ya next time. ML