A #ChaleWoteDistin… Culture, art, religion… Strictly my opinions…

Hey everyone,  it has been a long long while…  Too long😁😁😁 Yh I know I’m brown and I’ve promised a lot of stuff,  they’d all come in due time.  This post is very very unplanned( I’m just coming to flow my mind and sleep💤😪) Im actually typing from the convenience  of my toilet seat…

Okay…  So basically I’ve been seeing a lot of posts on the Chale wote festival.  A few of them got my attention, the authors spoke on the festival from a Christian religious  perspective. Yhup, I’ve seen write ups literally condeming Christians who attend the festival.  And I say a big nonsense  to that… (I’m in my house, if you like come and beat me😂😂😂) 

As to why some folks might say this is pretty simple.  Over the years the themes to the chale wote festival have not been christian. Last year was spirit robot, this year is wata mata(wata Mata happens to be a local goddess of creativity of some sort), it is evident that these themes are related to spiritism. 

The issue Is plain simple, you don’t just pick up some verses that suit your perception and interpret them to suit your distin…

When Jesus charged us with the great commission he sent us into the world to go and engage culture.  Now over the years I’ve developed a strong faith in Jesus Christ and I’d faithfully  stand up anywhere anytime and proclaim Romans1:16. Aside this I’ve completely lost my religion as I found God.  I’ve learnt to take of my religious, social, cultural, political and personal lenses from time to time, and see the world as it is.  This is what certain scholars describe as a biblical world view.  Seeing the world through God’s eyes, not as good and evil. The truth is everything we see was all initially part of the perfect creation of the one true God of the universe. The Bible says for all things (including chale wote 😂😂😂😂) were created by God, for God and through God.  

I’m not saying it is perfect and all that,  naahhh.  Everything was created by God, to be perfect and It is man’s sinful nature that destroyed them.  Now the thing is this.  Every single immoral act we condemn is actually a corrupted version of a beautiful creation of God.  And our goal is to understand the culture and change it not condemn it.  Now I would want to give some biblical examples of people who actually showed a biblical world view and engaged the culture and did not condemn it. 

Jesus Christ 

Christ himself is my first example. Now,  Jesus was Jewish by birth.  He grew up under Jewish laws and customs.  My example is taken from his encounter with the mad man at Gerasene(Im currently writing an album and I used this piece of scripture for a case study… Dope tinz😂😂)

So everything was culturally off about Jesus in this passage. He was ministering in a gentile community where they were heading  a herd of swine(over 200 pigs…  A galaxy of domedo😂😂😂😂😂). Jesus then interacted with a man who had been living among the tombs. Now according to Jewish religious laws which Mosses received  on Mount Sinnai everything Jesus was doing was unclean.  But the fact is that God was working something good. 

Daniel 

Daniel was an old testament prophet who served in Nebuchadnezzars government. He did not refuse to serve in Nebuchadnezzars government. Because it wasn’t Jewish. He availed himself and God used him mightily. 

Ezra and Nehemiah 

These men had all served Deligently in the palaces of foreign rulers before they came back to rebuild the walls and the temple respectively.  In the end the foreign kings ended up sponsoring their course. 

Paul

Paul is the man who is famous for spreading the gospel to the gentiles.  Now something struck me about Paul a while back while I read through the book of acts.  Paul was in a gentile city and was brought before a council of thinkers to explain the teachings of Jesus. He started by making reference to an altar dedicated to an unknown god,  and described the God of the Universe as an unknown God.  

All the nonsense  I’m trying to say is this…  God has called us to be salt and light… And it is a serious distin…  We can’t decide that since something appears so dark we should not shine our light there,  that’s a very coward(goatward,pigward, emergency ward okay now I’m blowing😅😅😅last one maternity ward😂😂😂😭😭) thing to do. This an eternity distin. (eternity rhymes with maternity😂😂😂). As a follower of Christ and an artiste, I used to think my purpose was to stay active with my talent in the church…  Well I’ve been sidelined several times by a lot of Christian factions, because of what I look like,  because I don’t have the hype( I don’t  hunderstaaaaand😱😱) because of my genre,  some have referred to my art which was inspired by my maker, as evil machinations all just because they don’t associate with the genres I choose to express myself with(can you himaaaagine😨). 

After taking off my earthly lenses I’ve begun to see the church as bigger than a building, bigger than a faction of people,  the church refers to that universal body of people past, present, future, globally who are united together through the believe in Jesus Christ as the risen son of God.  We are all different branches of the same vine( one day we’d all hold hands and say I am Grooth😂😂😂😂 chale that long time I’ve finally watched Guardians of the galaxy 2)I  realized that I could go anywhere I want with my art and still make a difference. Whether I was standing under a steeple behind a pulpit or on the streets of Jamestown spitting bars in an open mic,  I’m still Fulfilling my purpose, and Imma keep my game so tight and keep grindin my distin to glorify my maker. One of the places that really accepted me is the Ehalakasa art community which is obviously not Christian.  But the number of Christian dudes who pass through  is sick.  I’ve learnt a lot from most of my brothers there,  Faiba, Hondred, Jewel, Amaze. Ehalakasa is why I’d keep going to chale wote every year.  Hopefully one of the passerbys who happened  to hear me spit some dope punchline like “Christ died on a cross so my Soul, he would console like an xbox360, because of 1st Thessalonians 5:17 I’m now operating  a pray station… ” would prolly go home with that on his heart,  despite all the chalet wote distin.

I’ve come to realize one thing, where two or more are gathered in His name he is there… I’m talking of The God who heard the cries of Jonah from within the belly of the whale, the God who joined Shadrack Meshack and Abednego in the fiery furnace to dab!!!!  I’m talking  of the God who covered Pharaoh’s army and told Him to sit down,  be humble. Life is like a jolly boat ride,  sometimes things get real(Madrid) and then we’d see the sea roll(C. Ro) but our God is like a Barcelona coach,  he’d always show us Mercy(Messi).

Last year I watched young people grab a mic to spit bars at an open mic, and instead of the usual popular garbage, we had people talking about real stuff,  we had Li and Jewel King spit some Christian vibes, we had Amaze talk about relationships,  we had people  speaking  on social issues and this is basically a step in the right direction.  This year I grabbed the mic and performed the exact pieces I’d perform before a church congregation anytime,  and I trust that the spirit of God ministered to somebody’s soul someway somehow.  This year I met a group of young Christian women by name Rubies by virtue.  These Christian women had set up a snack bar to raise money they use for their charity events…

Someway somehow we would change the culture, And we can’t do that by neglecting our culture.  I don’t believe In Christianity being a foreign religion,  I’ve come to realize that Christianity isn’tabout being religious and neither is it foreign. According to history,  the son of God walked on African and Eastern soil and was not just a western construct.  Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth… 

Sit Down!!!! Be Humble…  A very humble distin….