On Friday, Kanye West officially released his first Gospel album and, surprisingly, it is filled with Biblical references, Bible verses and one song features multiple references to Chick-fil-A and its fantastic lemonade. Recently, The Daily Citizen wrote about Kanye’s turn towards Christianity and Sunday Services while expressing some reservation. Well, based on the songs from his latest album, there has clearly been a significant change in the artist’s walk with God.

Jesus is King, as the album is titled, contains songs that have spiritual references and no explicit language, a staple of his earlier work. The last song in his album, “Jesus is Lord,” features simply the lyrics, “Every knee will bow, every tongue confess, Jesus is Lord, Jesus is Lord.”

That’s definitely not all.

In “God Is,” Kanye’s lyrics include: “From the rich to the poor, all are welcome through the door. You won’t be the same when you call on Jesus’ name. Listen to the words I’m sayin’, Jesus saved me, now I’m sane. And I know, I know God is the force that picked me up. I know that Christ is the fountain that filled my cup. I know God is alive, yeah.” 

Another song, “Water,” features a long list of prayers and requests to the Son of God. “Jesus, flow through us. Jesus, heal the bruises. Jesus, clean the music. Jesus, please use us. Jesus, please help. Jesus, please heal. Jesus, please forgive. Jesus, please reveal. Jesus, give us strength. Jesus, make us well. Jesus, give us wealth. Jesus is our safe. Jesus is our rock. Jesus, give us grace. Jesus, keep us safe.”

Of course, in “Closed on Sunday,” he talks about Chick-fil-A. The song starts with, “Closed on Sunday, you’re my Chick-fil-A. Closed on Sunday you my Chick-fil-A. Hold the selfies, put the ‘Gram (Instagram) away. Get your family, y’all hold hands and pray. When you got daughters, always keep ‘em safe. Watch out for the vipers, don’t let them indoctrinate. Closed on Sunday, you my Chick-fil-A. You’re my number one, with the lemonade. Raise our sons, train them in the faith. Through temptations, make sure they’re wide awake. Follow Jesus, listen and obey. No more livin’ for the culture, we nobody’s slave.” 

There is no doubt, something radical is happening in Kanye’s life—and he’s definitely not afraid of taking a risk and sharing his faith in Christ with the world. He’s also opening up in interviews and sharing about his addiction to pornography and some of his other struggles.

“Playboy was a gateway to full on pornography addiction,” Kanye said in an interview with Zane Lowe of Beat 1. “My dad had a Playboy left out at age five and it’s affected almost every choice I made for the rest of my life from age five to now. It just presents itself in the open like it’s okay. I stand up and say, ‘You know, it’s not okay.’” 

It’s an addiction he’s dedicated to overcoming as part of his newfound faith in God. It’s a complete reversal from statements made last year on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” where he mentioned his favorite XXX website. 

He also asked those assisting with the production of his album to fast and avoid premarital sex.

“This is gonna be radical what I’m about to say,” he said. “There were times I was asking people not to have premarital sex while they were working on the album. … I mean, it’s known when people pray together, families that pray together stay together. When people pray together and fast together, the power is increased.”

That may seem like a stretch for a man who is married to Kim Kardashian West, but it appears like his growing faith is increasing a desire to see a different, more modest wardrobe, from his wife. In a recent episode of her series, Keeping Up with the Kardashian’s, Kanye expressed his disapproval of his wife’s Met Gala outfit because it was too sexy.

“The corset, underwear, all of that vibe, I just feel like I went through this transition from being a rapper, looking at all these girls, and then looking at my wife like, ‘Oh, my girl needs to be just like these girls, showing her body off, showing this, showing that,” he starts. “I didn’t realize that that was affecting my soul and my spirit as someone that’s married and loved, the father of what’s about to be four kids. A corset is a form of underwear. It’s hot. It’s like, it’s hot for who though?”

Unfortunately, although somewhat understandably, his wife didn’t take his comments kindly. She told him, in part, that he built her up as a “sexy person” and “just because you’re on a journey and you’re on a transformation, doesn’t mean that I’m in the same spot with you.”

The couple have also recently shared that their daughter, North who is six, will no longer be allowed to wear the occasional bit of makeup until she is a teenager. A difficult feat since her mother has her own line of cosmetics, needless to say the decision has caused some tensions in the West household. He also admitted that earlier in her life he wanted to dress his little girl like pop star Rihanna, but no more. He said in the interview, “I think and feel differently now that I am a Christian.” 

It seems like as he’s maturing in his faith, he’s disappointed in himself for pursuing and encouraging sexiness of the women in his life.  

At The Daily Citizen, all we have to say is bravo Kanye, bravo! It’s great to see a man who is truly being changed by his faith in Jesus Christ and wanting to see his family embrace that as well. Kim may not be there yet, but the more he pursues his faith then perhaps the more she will change as well. How incredible would it be for one of the most famous women in the world, who’s known to wear extremely revealing clothing, to change her mind and adopt a more modest style as an expression of her newfound faith. We pray Kanye will continue on this Christian path and be emboldened to share his faith more.

 

Photo from Amazon