I know we are from all different cultures and religons. So I wanted opinions from all sides. Do you believe hip-hop can be holy? I was reading article on one of my new found websites and I didnt know what to make of it. But anyways ladies the article is below all opinions are welcomed.






Can Hip Hop Be Holy? (PART I)
by Minister J. Newcomb (holinessblackgospelradio)

To properly answer the question ?can Hip Hop be holy?? one must understand where Hip Hop originated. First lets make a proper distinction between Hip Hop and music. Music is an expression of the spirit and Hip Hop is a way of life. Often times within Christendom we confuse music with Hip Hop. Music has only been a vehicle for Hip Hop to express itself and spread its message. Hip Hop comes with a set of beliefs none of which point to Christ. So, where did Hip Hop come from? Dated back to the early 70?s some of the Hip Hop pioneers were DJ Cool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, Cold Crush brothers and Afrika Bambata (Universal Zulu Nation). These men by no means at the time were confessing Christ. These were men who where in a separated place from God and in that separated place they conceived what?s known today as Hip Hop. Just like God needs a body Satan does too. Satan provided the pattern for Hip Hop and man provided his availability. In other words, Satan is the author of Hip Hop and God is the author of Holiness. Cant God take something that is unholy and make it holy?

Making the unholy holy is definitely possible; however there must be a complete sanctification of that which is unholy. It is very important for believers to understand that there is not a merger but a separation. A merger would imply unification and sanctification would imply a casting out of that which does not belong. The bible declares to believers that they are the ?Church? (Colossians 1:18-24). Church is defined ?the called out of God? which means that the Church was drafted from God?s spirit. So, in order for God to make something holy he must separate it from that which is unholy. ?If any man be in Christ he is a new creature: old thing are passed away; behold, all things become new?(II Corinthians 5:17). For example Saul?s conversion to Paul; when Saul was converted he did not keep his name he submitted to the declaration of God. Paul did not hyphen his name (Paul-Saul) as in (Holy-Hip Hop) neither did he follow after Saul?s ways he was completely changed.

Ultimately Christendom must understand that Hip Hop was birthed out of man in a separated place from God and it is not music. Music is only a vehicle for the transference of Hip Hop. Furthermore Hip Hop is a ?Legion? that has its effectiveness in the church because men have a hard time of submitting to the declaration of God.

Firstly, I agree with your statement that Hip Hop is a culture – A way of life. Neither can I deny that music is in fact an expression of the spirit. Sure, Hip Hop is negative. It is filled with everything from sex to violence, drugs, and greed. It glorifies everything that God hates! If it were up to me, it would be removed from every airwave and broadcasting network across this nation and abroad!

However, Hip Hop is still music. Why? Because of what you previously stated. “Music is an expression of the spirit”. It may be an expression of an evil spirit, but it is still expressing a spirit. The problem with Hip Hop is not in its name. How silly of us to waste so much time debating over a genre’s name. The problem with Hip Hop is its message. You see, the instruments, and arrangement of them are not evil. The words are evil. Everything that God created was meant to be used to give Glory to Him. Yes, that includes drums, percussions, pianos, flutes, violins, and the people he has blessed with the gift of playing those instruments.
Psalm 150
1Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.
2Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.
3Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.
4Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
5Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.
6Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.

The Hip Hop artists that you mentioned in “Can Hip Hop Be Holy Part I” were controlled by evil spirits. What else did you expect for them to rap about? God? Of course not! If someone is not living a life of righteousness, how can they speak about a life of righteousness?
Proverbs 15
4A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit.

The “Holy Hip Hop” artists today may have at one time lived a life of secularism. However, when they gave their lives over to Christ, a new man was birthed in them. God purged them of anything unlike Him, and replaced those things with the Holy Spirit. Then, they began to grow in love and humility, humbling themselves under the mighty hand of God, and bringing their carnal selves in subjection to God and His Word. God transformed their minds, and the lives the once lived were no more. Now what? Should they continue to rap about gun, drugs, sex, violence? Of course, not! Then, you’d just call them hypocrites.
But more importantly,
Matthew 7
15Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
16Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

Should they stop rapping altogether? In my opinion – No! God gave them a gift -- A gift to use to glorify Him! It’s no different than the beautiful, soulful voice of an R&B singer who once sang love songs or songs with sexual lyrics, but is now born again. Some of my favorite gospel singers now use what they once used for the devil, for God – Coko and Dave Hollister to name a few! Artist like Mary, Mary use beats that sound like a lot of R&B music played on the radio. But the key is, evil is not in the instruments, it’s in the message.
Proverbs 10:31
The mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom: but the froward tongue shall be cut out.

These “Holy Hip Hop” artists are sinners made just through the blood of Jesus, and now because God has transformed their minds, they bring forth wisdom in their music.
Philippians 2:5
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

Lastly, I think you are deceived, and it is the devil who has deceived you.
The devil has one trick and one only; and he has been using it from the beginning of time. Speak a word to them that is opposition to the Word of God. In the garden, God said, “Eve, if you eat fruit from that tree, you will die.” What did the devil do? He said the exact opposite. "Eve, if you eat from the tree you won't die." He does the same thing today. He speaks a word that opposes God's word. Then we have two words to choose from.

Hmm. Let’s watch and see how this same trick was used on you.

God said
Psalm 50
12If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fullness thereof.

The devil has spoken in Word in opposition of God’s Word to you. “For every Word that God speaks, he has an opposing word.
The devil has somehow convinced you that he owns THE STYLE OF Hip Hop music – By that I mean the musical style and arrangements – and God can’t use it.
That is a lie from the pit of . God owns every instrument, every drum, every cymbal, every piano key, and the sounds that come from them.

You see, in these last days, God is reclaiming what is and was originally meant for Him. And He is using his people to do so.

So, what did the devil do? He saw two men using a web broadcast to draw souls to Christ, and called a meeting with his demons to stop you.

Now I will address quotes from your post.

“men can put Holy in front of Hip-Hop it still doesn’t change the assignment. Believers can even try to use Hip-Hop as a tool to evangelize but they must realize that the embrace of Hip-Hop is associated with strongholds.”
“In conclusion Hip-Hop is identified by many styles, characteristics, and genres combined into one unit. It cannot be separated from its assignment to exalt Satan.”

You said, “So, we opposed this question to God why would you birth what we call today "Holy Hip Hop?" We then took a journey through the bible and came across scriptures like
Ephesians 4:22- “That ye put of concerning the former conversation (conduct) concerning the old man", Ephesians 4:24 “ and put on the new man.”’

Well, let’s look what led up to 4:22, for it is not wise to take a verse and use it out of context to prove a point. That is a trick of the enemy. You remember… The same trick he used to try to get Jesus to jump off of the mountain.
Matthew 4:6
And Satan saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Do you see that? Satan twists and tangles the Word of God to trick us into doing what he wants us to do – never in the correct context.

What God really said and meant was, “Make me your Lord and refuge, and I will protect you.” NOT, if you jump off a mountain, I will have angels appear out of nowhere and catch you.
Psalm 91
9Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;
10There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
11For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
12They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Now back to your reference to Ephesians 4…

Ephesians 4
17This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
18Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
19Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
20But ye have not so learned Christ;
21If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:
22That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
23And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
24And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

The interpretation of these verses is directed toward your way of life. He is saying…

Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity. But that isn’t what you learned about Christ. Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.

He is telling us to abandon our old way of life. It has nothing to do with the type or style of musical instruments you choose to use your voice over to glorify God. Because God has renewed their minds, and hearts, there is now life, testimony, and wisdom spoken over hip hop styled music verses death.

You see secular rap artists rap about what they live just as Holy Hip Hop artist do. The only difference is that they live two different lives, therefore, two different Words come out of the mouths. And because Satan is the father of lies, some of the secular artists rap about things they don’t even live or experience. This is how Satan flirts with our youth – then they attempt to live out the lies he feeds them through secular artists.

So, would God really birth Holy Hip Hop? Yes. Would he birth Christian Rock? Yes. Why, because it was His to begin with. The devil knew it was coming. His method was to destroy it before God’s appointed time to birth it.

But his trick won’t work. God has initiated a plan to redeem Hip Hop to give glory to Him, and he’s using us to do so. The devil has been defeated. Game over.

What is my unsolicited advice to you? Recognize your cross. The devil had one plan. That was to stop Jesus from making it to the cross. And he was willing to accomplish that at any cost, including twisting God’s Word to do so – (Telling Jesus to jump off of the mountain, the angels will catch Him).

How has he tangled God’s Word to stop to get you to do what he wanted you to do concerning your broadcast?

I leave you with these questions. If God is the author of our lives, and He wrote everything that will ever occur at the beginning of time when he created the universe, wouldn’t that include Holy Hip Hop? Wouldn’t that mean that God did birth it first, and that Satan merely tried to destroy it before God’s appointed time to introduce us to it?

Here is a chapter I relate to secular artists.
Psalm 12
1Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.
2They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.
3The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things:
4Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?
5For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.
6The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
7Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.
8The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.

Wow, what a load of complete turd.

Hip Hop isn't music? Please. Using that rationale practically no music is "music". Dance music is spawned by the devil and because its about an idea it's not music.

And slightly more on-topic, I've heard christian rap, and ironically, even though I disagree vehemently with christianity it is some of the better hip hop I've heard.

I agree that it's not the best art-form, and that it can be negatively influential to people and doesn't really make a lot of black kids grow up in the right way, but to start questioning its musical validity and bringing god into the equation is a complete waste of time. God made the earth, god made humans, therefore god made gays and hip hop. It wasn't all some big accident.

And secondly, what's with all the necroing going on recently. Why do people bother creating accounts to respond to threads that havent been looked upon for years? What's the point?

Because Anon, if it's interesting for one person who read it, it may be for someone to answer, you did I am ......

Actually, it annoys me somewhat.

Here in Australia, we had a Church open a few years back, maybe even 10? Gospel music, hip hop dancing, Hally luya, and it grew so fast that a TV commercial was made about it and a second one opened?

If that's not "the best money making scheme " i have ever heard than what is?

Whilst the basic Churches continue with their small crowds and beliefs and don't receive enough money to do what they would like to do back into the community.

To spend $10,000 an ad on TV, to gain more people to provide more money?

MMM....

CW

Interesting topic....Just confirmed everything that I had thought at the beginning about Hip Hop.....Knew another woman that really liked this...D*m she was good......She could sing and dance any tune that she wanted to.....She was a master of disguises but she could dance....

I always felt sorry for her as she was such a lonely woman.....Sad and lonely.....But she did have her Hip Hop.....

Yea, that comes off as weird.

Here in the US there is this big named preacher who is less a preacher and more of a motivational speaker than anything else. And he draws MASSIVE crowds. The dude fills up arenas. But even tho I am not very religious. He doesn't strike me as being an actual Christian.

The dude says that he doesn't know much about the bible. And was onced asked if you have the be Christian to get into heaven. And he responded by saying that he didn't know.

Yea.........He strikes me as a tad odd.


I always look at these massive churchs with suspision.