Should Christians Support Kanye West's Continued Immersion in Celebrity Lifestyle?
The thing that nags at me, is seeing a person at this level of celebrity still immersed in their celebrity as a new convert. The New Testament frowns upon novices taking center stage at all, to say nothing of it being because of their life of sin.
I couldn’t name one of Kanye’s songs and couldn’t care less. To me, he’s just another man who needs Jesus. This country is pickled in the idolatry of celebrity and celebrity status is an intoxicant that rivals any drug.
This can turn into a huge discussion of sprawling topics, but what makes a man powerful for the cause of Christ is not his position in the pagan world, but rather his unwavering commitment to the Word and will of the living God. Jesus' own hand-picked disciples are exhibit A.
For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.”
1st Corinthians 1: (NASB)
I don’t say any of this to disparage Kanye in any way, but only as a call to remember that celebrity status means nothing to God.
I do hope and pray for this man that he is found to be good soil in which the Gospel finds a firm root bearing fruit an hundredfold. I just don’t find a biblical model for that being an immediate continuation of his celebrity. Almost all of those bearing the most fruit by God’s standards throughout the bible and church history have not been idols to the world.