Frank Gil

Probably the biggest Christian rapper in the world currently, Lecrae, is coming out with a mixtape in a few days called church clothes. The first single that came from the mixtape, “Church Clothes” was released a few days ago and the video came out yesterday. The song, at least from my perspective, is a third person point of view of a person reflecting on their view of Church and Christianity. I personally love the song! The beat is crazy, the lyrics and concept is provocative, and his delivery was nice! I think it is on par with any Hip Hop song in the secular market from a production stand point. Even the video is nice. Great concept and editing. The only thing I felt was kind of awkward was the close up shot in the beginning when he had his eyes close and his hands in a praying gesture. But this song in my mind is a 5 out of 5. But I am a Lecrae fan, if he puts it out, there is a high probability I am going to like it. Not everything, but most of it, I will probably love.

But there is something that has been going on for years now that really bothers me. It’s a problem among younger evangelicals with internet access.

Our opinions!

Hear me out! The internet is great. We can access information faster and put out content faster than we have ever been able to before. But if I can be honest. Some opinions don’t matter, The reason some opinions don’t matter is because some people don’t know how to form rational opinions. The internet with all its benefits can be the most divisive and devastating tool that the Christian has at their hands. We can make blanket statement’s that are not true. Draw conclusions from incomplete information. Throw grenades at people while staying behind some from of anonymity. Understand this, I have done this too. I have drawn conclusions about pastors and people solely based on facebook posts, youtube videos, and tweets. Let me give you an example:

I used to hate Paul Washer. I thought he was a hateful man with not even an ounce of grace in him. I could spend hours if I wanted to finding video after video on youtube of him just making statements about why people are going to hell or calling out specific Christians or types of Christians for their sins. Here was the issue, I made this opinion based on 4 minute clips of sermons he preached. It wasn’t until I saw the video “Come to Christ, He is Mighty to Save” that I started questioning this opinion I had of him. Then I began to speak with people who met him and spoken with him. Turns out that Paul Washer is not how I have characterized him. I based my opinion of this brother from youtube clips that didn’t show the full context of his sermons. It was wrong of me to do this and Paul Washer, if you by chance are reading this, I apologize. We can’t make opinions of a person from youtube clips.

Another time I have done this was with Pastor Rick Warren. I let “watch-dog” websites and other people tell me how I should view him without letting him speak for himself. I didn’t care to watch his sermons or read his books. I know about Purpose Driven Life. My thought back then was, you can only be on the New York Times Best Sellers list if you were of Satan (I am exaggerating a little). But then I saw John Piper reach out to Rick and do this interview with him when I realized, Rick isn’t a heretic. He isn’t some big wolf in sheep’s clothing. He is a brother in Christ who loves the Lord and wants to see God glorified. I let peoples opinions invade my perspective and for that Rick, I apologize to you too.

A major Christian Hip Hop site called Rapzilla posted this on facebook:

234 comments. Crazy right! Most of it was this: “Lecrae is hypocrite”, “Lecrae is a false profit”, “Lecrae is an antichrist”, etc. This was not Rapzilla’s fault. This was people who had an opinion based on loose facts of Lecare and decided that it was their duty to let everyone know how they felt about Lecrae. This isn’t new, he has been blasted on twitter, facebook and youtube probably for as long as he has been a popular artist. He has even been associated with the Illuminati.

My brain hurts when I think about this. I don’t know Lecrae personally and chances are neither are any of the people who are calling him out on the social networks. I have met Lecrae twice. He probably wouldn’t recognize me if he saw me. I don’t know him personally at all. However, I know people personally who do. People who have done life with him and can vouch for him. It is funny to read tweets or comments on youtube about my friends who are successful hip hop rappers. The day my friend KB got associated with the Illuminati I congratulated him for joining such a historic club with Jay-Z, Kanye and Lil Wayne. Apparently if you only blink one eye there is a high chance you are in the Illuminati.

With social media becoming more and more invasive everyday. We think we know people when we actually don’t. If you only know me because you read my blog or follow me on twitter then you honestly don’t know me. My beard has grown since the last time I change my profile picture on Twitter. I have a more complex life than what I share on the internet. And so do these artists. So do pastors, teachers, athletes, and any other celebrity.  Should we as Christians be on guard for wolves in sheep’s clothing? Yes! Should we also get to know the heart of a brother or sister before casting kilobyte stones at them? Yes.

When I worked in the kitchen at my college there was a saying that my head chef told us frequently. “Perception is reality.” How people perceive you is their reality of you regardless of what the truth really is. However, people are more complex than how you perceive them. We also have this thing called grace that we should filter our opinions through before we claim reality on any perceptions. A reality is that we were all sinners deserving of hell and that wasn’t just perception that was truth. But God, in spite of us, showed us grace to change who we were and our reality. Now the Lord’s perception of us is that we are righteous because of Christ righteousness on us. Through that He has given us the ability to show grace to others and look past our possible false impressions of people based on 140 characters in the internet and strive to know the heart of a person. A person who is a brother or sister in the Lord. If I let my initial perception of a person prevent me from really getting to know them I don’t know if I would have many friends. The inverse is probably true as well.

Moral of the story: Be careful how you use social media. Especially when making blanket statements about people and their ministry. You are basing your opinion of a person from a computer screen and not life on life contact and that is dangerous. As for Lecrae, I hope I get to meet him again and maybe spend time with him to talk. I believe he is doing major things in the Kingdom and penetrating a godless culture with the Gospel that it needs so very badly. So please support this brother. May 10th his mixtape comes out. Get it and give it to a friend.