| 18.ARGUMENT - Peter saw a vision of living things that he and the Jews deemed unclean. God said that all that he made was clean, so why can't God clean up Hip Hop and make it Holy like he did in Peter's vision? |
Response - First of all, to use this scripture to validate a claim that God can make anything clean that was once unclean is an improper exegesis of scripture. This is a lame attempt to make something manmade equivalent to God's living creation. You cannot compare a street cultural form of expression to animals and living creation. That is absurd. But people will take scripture and use it like a validation of what profits them financially or gives them pleasure. And this scripture is not at all applicable to the use of a street culture or beats and raps. This scripture is talking about what God has created and not what man has created, so unless you believe Afrika Bambataa, KRS-ONE, or Kool Herc them are gods, then this scripture cannot work as a defense for using a culture that glorifies the streets as a tool for ministry. Second, there is no biblical evidence of God using any method that closely resembles these actions to wins souls. The apostles avoided the use of music as a tool of ministry and so did Jesus Christ. Why are we trying to use it? Well, we profit off music and we enjoy dancing, performing, and people recognizing our talents and abilities, so we want to justify it and force people to accept the use of music as a tool of winning souls when, in fact, the apostles and Jesus NEVER attempted to use music as a tool of ministry to reach the lost. Be careful when you hear people saying things like "we are trying to come up with ways to reach the lost" or " we want to use any means necessary to reach the lost". People that talk like this are only looking for ways to include themselves in the process of reaching the lost and they are searching for ways to expand their territory and enlarge their fan base. If they were really concerned with reaching the lost, they would follow the biblical examples of the apostles and just preach the gospel and allow the Spirit of God to do the work. But when they search for ways or look for ways, they are really trying to add themselves to the equation. After all, those that sell music for a living are subject to the governing powers that market and promote them, not God. So why would God allow the promotion of man to be a vehicle for salvation? Does he need men that sell themselves to sell him too? Is this what he did in scripture? The only biblical example of the sell and promotion of oneself using God's music was Lucifer in heaven. And he was not allowed back in his position because God could no longer trust him. After all, when you seek platform, fame, record sells, and self promotion, you are subject to the industry and will do whatever you must to please the powers that be. You can't stay loyal to God and please man at the same time. You must serve one or the other right? Proof - Sure God can take what he will and make it Holy. He takes prostitutes and saved them, sets them free and makes them Holy! He takes drug addicts and crack addicts everyday, saves them, and makes them Holy. Those that belong to the red-light culture, the goth culture, the drug culture, the hippy culture, the gay/lesbian culture, and the streetwalking culture are all able to be saved, set free, and delivered to never return again to what they were delivered from. But when he makes them Holy, are they still what they once were? Are the prostitutes Holy Hoe's? Are the drug addicts Holy Crack Heads? Are hippies, Holy Hippies? Or are they new creations? Gospel Gangsta's, Preachin Pimps, and Holy Hip Hoppers are not new creations, but they are spiritual mutations that retain portions of who they were and thus, they are failed new creations. They are not new, but just amended. They are not hot, but luke warm. They are a mixture of hot and cold. This is exactly what God said he would spew out. Those that desire the world and God. And I'm not talking about rap, I'm talking about the Hip Hop culture! Scripture - 2Cor. 5:17 Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come! |