Thank you for going on this journey with me up to this last and final article. I know to most it might just seem that I just vented a lot of frustrations. To be honest, I have. At the same time I realize that the actions recently taken by shai linne and Flame will lead to lots of immature imitations that will destroy any sort of fellowship in this community. If I am even more honest, this series would not have happened if “#1 Spot” and “Fal$e Teacher$” were free downloads and not songs used to promote the sale of a product.
How do we fix everything? We can’t, but we can try to overcome some things with our testimony.
1. Don’t mix correction with your wallet.
This is really simple. Because it will be really easy to hide false intentions for profit if this is not upheld. As you can see through my article that shai and Flame profited majorly. What stops anyone else from doing the same and pointing to some of the most well known faces in Christian Hip Hop? If it is a major issue that is on your heart – do a video blog series. That way people have some fall back to hear how you unpacked your thought process. Doing the video after you release the song is just padding profit. You can make a lot of money off of YouTube hits if you enable commercials.
2. Don’t just shoot for low hanging fruit.
Taking shots at prosperity gospel people or even people trying to reach out to the secular is easy prey. It is almost a lazy man’s sport in our community. No one really talked about Tony Evans’ transdispensationalism that he upheld at one point in time. How about A.W. Tozer’s application of Christ-centered Antinomianism which conflicts with James 2:14-24? It seems that people only see false teaching when it is an easy target or not in their camp. If correct doctrine is a goal then we must examine every teacher that is promoted very carefully. I know that for myself I’ve had to do that frequently in my own life as a supporter of both Pentecostal and Messianic theological movements. I’ve had to correct those who I side with for either being legalistic or not rooted in scripture. You don’t get invited to all the big conventions or parties then. There is no big ups from Twitter either.
3. Take the time to deal with the details.
This series existed because the more I looked at the details the more I found things to be questionable. The more I looked at who supports who, the more I got concerned. You will note that I never said in any of the articles that shai linne or Flame are not believers in Christ or that their salvation is suspect. At same time, I recognize our theological perspectives have dissonance with one another. While they are my brothers in Christ, for either of us to ignore details in favor of a straw man that is easy to attack would be wrong. The Bible gives us a dynamic spectrum of conclusions that can be valid, yet contradict each other and have a myriad of implications. I can’t come to the conclusion that everything can or should be wrapped up in a nice pretty little bow. It is never that simple. There will always be loose ends. We as a community and believers must accept that or we will be overcome by petty fights.
4. Two different measures for people and issues.
I was taught in debate to attack ideas and not people. Ideas are the core the person is a shell. To attack a person directly was seen as a weak debater’s game. I’ve tried to hold to that point as much as I could when I wrote a majority of my articles for DaSouth.com. With this article series a good chunk of me feels like it was made dirty because I had to name names. What has won over a lot of people to the genre is not the people, but the ideas we represent with the gospel being the well spring. Argumentation has its place, but responsibility comes from all in the community to address the ideas presented and not just the shell holding those ideas. 1 Corinthians chapter 13 begins showing fruitless of either spiritual spectacle or intellectual mastery without charity. Attack ideas. Love people.
5. The time of the passive artist in the culture is coming to an end.
I say this honestly. I talk to more artists than you know who don’t know what is going on in the Christian hip hop culture. In all honesty, they don’t care to take center stage on their positions. There are a lot of complaints I’ve heard in private about the discontents with the legalism that is rising up.
I would say to you artists – you can’t sit on the back burner anymore. Yes, your outreach is important. Yes, your ministry time is important. But if you back away from the tough conversations then we will hear only one voice and you will no longer have a place in CHH. We have Flame say on Wade-O Radio that we need to come together and have something like the council of the church and no artists have stood against him and said “No! We don’t need a Sanhedrin.” Apathy will be the harbinger of discontent. When discontent is done schism will be birthed. I’m not saying that we can’t talk as a community but we can’t have something major that has permanent weight in which all should abide by.
Thank you for following me through this series. I know there have been or will be push back. I know that people will say I am causing drama over nothing. I know others will come and pat my back because I did what other did not. Whatever the next steps forward I will doing my best not to be clanging symbol.
To make it clear: I don’t hate Flame or shai. I feel they have committed major errors that needed to be addressed. I dislike and disagree with their theological perspective and its implications, but they still are my brothers in Christ. Please comment below or hit me up on Twitter @speakredwords.
