I belong to a couple of groups on Facebook for christians. From the music groups to the prayer groups to the one where we just hang out and identify as christians and share stuff about ourselves. But there's one word I've heard thrown around so much in all of the groups I feel it should win word of the year. It's the word JUDGEMENT.
Judgement. What does judgement even mean? Or it's verb form judge? Well, I checked out the word and I found out that it meant "to pass sentence."
So where does this word come up in those christian conversations? Everyday, a sentence is passed by a christian on another for a couple of reasons. And most of the time, it's normally because they showcase a different opinion from what the Judge Christian has. So Mr Judge Christian comes to a conclusion, howbeit arbitrarily, and passes a sentence on the opinion expresser.
We see this happen all the time on our christian artists. They may be role models and stuff, but they're still human. They still have a long way to go, and they're open for correction and stuff. Like Andy Mineo said once on his song Superhuman, "When I step up on the platform they expecting/Me to be a man without flaws that's false I'm just another rapper that's called to point y'all to the cross... I'm just another beggar pointing y'all to where the bread is." But then, when they make errors and mistakes, the people who are supposed to correct them IN LOVE, are normally the first to pass a sentence and come to a terrible conclusion.
Remember when Lecrae made a couple of different decisions? From featuring secular artists to cutting out the christian rapper label and then finally going mainstream, A LOT of people passed sentence on him. Some online magazine even published an article with this really stupid headline "Sorry Folks, We Just Lost Another One." Just imagine what that headline alone could have done to a new believer, who met Christ through Lecrae's music. After all, most of the people I speak to mention Lecrae as the first christian rapper who had an impact on their lives.
If you listened to some of Lecrae's interviews and even his song on his All Things Work Together album Can't Stop Me Now, you would know he was really hurt by those sentences passed. He was so hurt, it affected his mental health I think. You know, the judging christians are doing wrong yes, but what's worse is when THE UNBELIEVERS are the ones that are there for the christian in his time of need.
Whatever happened to Matthew 7 where Christ told us about not passing judgement? Whatever happened to the fact that prayers should be made by us for all men? We don't know the half of the kind of temptations these artists face, but instead of some of their fans to like pray for them all the time, they just take delight in passing sentences on their actions.
I remember a pastor once talking about the music ministers and he said something that kinda went like this. He said; "As we all know, among other things, Lucifer was the angel of praise. The Bible described him with a lot of precious stones and musical instruments. And then he fell. That is why one of the people who deserve prayers most is our music ministers. Satan constantly brings temptations their way, especially the ones that are always in the spotlight."
As fans of these artists, we shouldn't judge their every actions or even their mistakes. Prayer first should be our ultimate rule. These guys face serious temptations and we must pray for their breakthrough. Paul asked for prayers to be able to properly communicate the gospel. I think that's what he meant by a free course. Fans should be like the Thessalonian Church and our christian artists would be like Paul. Praying for more creative ways for these artists to share the goodnews. And I believe more than any other genre, the hip-hop genre requires these prayers the most. Like, don't some christians already think rappers are hell bound? Just check out what Paul Washer from Shai Linne's Still Jesus album said. He said; "I applaud what's being done here. I came here only to be a spectator to see, "God, are You in any of this?" But in the hearts of the men, and the words of the music, I am greatly, greatly encouraged. I'll only warn you: it is so hard to be a true preacher of the gospel. And it is so hard, to live out the truth that we proclaim to others. But that is the task for every one of you who rap, for every one of you involved in this. You have a special stewardship from God: you must be holy. You must follow Him- don't you know that because of what you're doing, people, even good Christians, are waiting and looking for you to fall? They're looking for you to do something that will prove that this was not a medium chosen by God."
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