No ‘Gangsta’ In This Rap

When David called for the singers and instrumentalists to make a joyful noise to the Lord in the Temple, I’m not so sure he had in mind the rapping and scratching of hip-hop in the House Band. For that matter, I’m not sure Paul envisioned the felt-needs-based, market-driven, seeker-friendly ministries emerging all over the modern landscape either. But, hey, I’ve been wrong before.

Which is why this post: when I happened upon this jaw-dropping testimony of a modern-day Christian rap artist, I had to rethink the David thing. The sweet singer of Israel may have given this guy a go on his worship team after all. Believe it or not, one of today’s most respected conservative pastors did.

Curtis (a.k.a., “Voice”) Allen, itinerant preacher and rapper, has found a way to propagate his Calvinist theology with the thumping baselines of hip-hop. One of the lyrics he belts is, “I been exposed to bright lights, the doctrines of grace, I’m elected, imputed perfected, becuz of the power of God resurrected and his gift of faith, that when we see his face we’re not rejected.”

And you thought you’d heard it all…

Don’t judge a book and all that, because Mr. Allen’s (‘scuse me: Voice) true heart for Christ is seen all over this article he wrote for Boundless Webzine. I may just become a fan of the rap genre after this. “I’m a get-down preacher and a true God seeker, rollin’ with my wife cuz you know that I need her, been paralyzed for twenty-five years but ain’t no lie that He’s always been here…”

Am I white, or what?

Okay, okay, I won’t give up my day job…or maybe I’ll tackle the Arminio-Calvin genre of heavy metal, or bluegrass…yeah, bluegrass…

(if you want to see some of the actual performance at Piper’s church, with a cameo of Piper introducing Voice, go here)