Kanye West: From "Born Again" Hero to Blasphemer in a Few Short Years

Back when Kanye West first strutted into the Christian sphere, waving around his so-called conversion like a VIP pass to the kingdom of heaven, I watched in absolute bewilderment as some of the most discerning Christians I knew—people who could sniff out heresy from a thousand miles away—suddenly lost all sense of judgment.

It was as if a hypnotist had snapped his fingers, and they were all chanting in unison: He's one of us now! He's changed! He's born again!

I tried. I really tried. I pleaded with people to pump the brakes, to take a step back, to look at the fruit. Because let’s be honest—when a man claims to have had a radical, life-altering encounter with the Creator of the universe, you expect to see something other than ego-driven theatrics and superficial lip service.

But no, the moment Kanye slapped a Jesus sticker on his merch, the evangelical world, including the Reformed world, opened its arms and wallets, eager to parade him around like a newly minted mascot for Christianity in the cultural mainstream.

The warning signs were there from the beginning, flashing in bright neon. Did people forget that in one of his earliest so-called "Christian" interviews, Kanye sat across from James Corden on The Late Late Show and boasted that he was the greatest artist that God had ever created?

Did that sound like the words of a man who had been humbled at the foot of the cross?

Not to me.

And yet, Christians lapped it up, eager to believe that God had just handed us the ultimate celebrity endorsement.

Then came the Sunday “services.” A bizarre, self-glorifying spectacle where Kanye stood at the center of the stage like a golden calf, a phony high priest presiding over a congregation of hypebeasts and celebrities, preaching a gospel of self-actualization dressed up in choir robes.

And the content? A watered-down, feel-good message with just enough Jesus sprinkled in to keep the seeker circus hashtag holiness swooning. Jesus is King dropped, and suddenly “Yeezy,” or whatever his name is/was, was the new poster boy for born-again celebrity style—a man who had supposedly abandoned his past debauchery, reformed his mind, and was now leading a revival in the industry.

Not all of us were fooled. Look at the fruit.

Because Jesus didn't say, “By their Grammy nominations you shall know them.” He didn’t say, “By their ability to drop an album featuring gospel choirs you shall know them.” No, He said, By their fruits you shall know them.

And what fruit did Kanye bring forth? Was it humility? Was it repentance? Was it a broken and contrite heart, the kind that trembles at God’s Word?

No. It was the same old Kanye, wrapped in a fresh coat of self-righteous grand delusion, a man who thought he could slap the label of “Christian” onto his empire and keep running the same game.