Jesus is King, Kanye West and This Present Revival

By Chidike Samuelson

This book addresses popular culture from a Christian perspective while using Kanye West and his recent Album as a graphic representation of God's desire and work in the world today. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chidike Samuelson
• Release date: Nov 22, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393349204

Chidike Samuelson

Chidike Samuelson is a Christian, a lawyer, and an Entrepreneur. He is also the founder and President of the One Last Revival Movement, (OLAR). He spends half his time writing about business on major online media and the other half teaching on revival and Christian themes as a youth minister. 

Book preview

JESUS

IS

KING!

Kanye West and this Present Revival

Copyright©2019 by Chidike Samuelson

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form on by an electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

First Paperback edition, November, 2019

Book Design by Reddwreck™

Published by AWARE publishers.

Contact Author: [e-mail]

INTRODUCTION

Contrary to what your first thoughts might be, this book is not about Kanye West. It does make heavy references to him as a person as regards his recent conversion into the Christian faith. However, it only leverages that to address grander topics that will help you as a Christian or non-believer to understand what has supposedly happened to Kanye West and how that plays into the grander story that God is writing.

In this book, I go into detail to draw parallels between Kanye’s lyrics and experience as well as that of some biblical and contemporary characters to show how this is not a one-off, but a perfect alliance with what God has been doing for generations. More so, this book draws from Kanye’s story and words to show what God is doing in the present and how that is in tandem with biblical prophecy.

It is also pertinent to note that this book is not an attempt to legitimize Kanye’s claims to have been saved. This book just sees no reason to doubt his claims and so proceeds on its supposed truth to talk about things grander than the salvation of one man or the lack thereof.

This is not a very long book, but one that I hope will open the eyes of many more people in the light of the beautiful times we now live in.

God Bless You

Chidike  Samuelson

TABLE OF CONTENTS

KANYE AND THE WALK OF SALVATION 

Every Hour

Just like Medicine

Every Millisecond

A Universal Need

Selah

Jesus Did the Laundry

What Does Being Saved Mean?

Whatever happened to Yandhi?

Just let it spin!

To be called

Follow God

A Fight With Dad

A Christian Scorecard?

The Grace of God

Jesus Walks

We Walk

His Footmarks

Stretch my Hands To You!

KANYE ON CULTURE AND SYSTEMS

Closed On Sunday

No More Livin' For The Culture

Hold The selfies, Put the 'Gram away

Get Your Family, Y'all Hold Hands and Pray

Make Sure They Are Wide Awake

On God

That’s on God

That’s on me

Everything We Need

Apple Juice

Baby, Let’s Put This Back On The Tree!

Revivals and Apple Juice

Water

It is Water

We Are Water

Take the Chlorine Out Our Conversation

Pure as Water

Water And This Present Revival

KANYE AND THE GOSPEL

God Is

Can't Keep it To Myself

Not a Dead Religion

Hands On

Going On Strike

First one to Judge

Criticisms Destroy Revivals

Use This Gospel

From The Concrete Grew A Rose

Fashionably Late

The Gospel and Revival

Jesus Is Lord

Every Knee Shall Bow, Every Tongue Confess

Jesus is Lord

The Life of Pablo

Revival Route

Ultralight Beam

PRAYER

Kanye and The Walk of Salvation

Tracks:

Every Hour, Selah, Follow God

Every Hour

Sing every hour

Every minute

Every second, Sing each and every millisecond

We need you

We need you

We need you

Oh, we need you!

I DO NOT THINK THAT Kanye was particularly thinking about the theology behind his track list when he chose to place this song first, or maybe he was, who knows. I do find it curiously exceptional to have this as the first song on his album. The lyrics above are the most prominent from the song, ‘every hour’ which is track 1 on the album.

For someone who claims the salvation experience, the sentiment expressed in this song is one that will be all too familiar: the sudden realization of how much you have always needed God even when you were oblivious to it. If you are reading this book as a non-believer in Christ Jesus or as someone who believes but has not yet put your trust fully on him, then this may seem a bit unfamiliar to you. For this reason, I will go a little further to explain this theme. We will not be confined to Kanye’s lyrics because, for all the creative authority that they possess, they possess much less canonical authority than scripture.

Just like Medicine

DO YOU LIKE MEDICINE? Chances are that the majority of you will not respond to this question in the affirmative. Whenever we find ourselves shivering from a fever or having caught the flu, we often find ourselves wishing the ailment away. The problem is that it often takes some form of medication to quell the storm; however, we have no innate desire for medication even though it is exactly what we need at the time.

If we decide to broaden our view a little, we will find that it is a reoccurring theme in humanity’s journey. We rarely find ourselves possessing a real and tangible desire for what we need, but we are always flooded by strong and passionate desires for things that we want.  

The Christian message is old as time itself and addresses every single one of the major questions of life or humanity, starting with the question, Why do I always feel unfulfilled no matter what I do or acquire? The reason is that every human being has a God-sized hole in their heart that can only be filled by God (our ultimate need). However, we often spend so many days of our lives trying to fill it with stuff, marriages, relationships, money, sex, property, jobs (Our desired wants). But Wants, no matter how flashy, can never replace Needs.

Every Millisecond

THE CHRISTIAN CONVERSION experience is such a powerful one that it opens our eyes to our one true need, Jesus Christ himself, who is the exact image of God. The album, Jesus is King is replete with the expression of this sentiment, which only lends credence to Kanye’s experience. The entire album reverberates with the message that Kanye has discovered his one true need and is forsaking the need to pursue what he calls, statues in the song, On God.

This experience is so powerful that it has the ability to change the very countenance of a man and put a certain light in their eyes that has never been there. It is the light of the revelation of this truth. It is kind of like what we feel when we do take that medicine and start feeling better and we are like, "Ah! I should have done that earlier... what on earth have I been waiting for?"

Jesus is the one true need of every soul, he is today and always has been. Perhaps if you are reading this as an unbeliever, this may encourage you to seek Jesus for yourself an turn your life over to him. (There is a prayer you can say at the end of this book, I hope you say it from your heart)

The idea behind the Christian walk is a lifestyle that acknowledges the second by second realization of our need for God. It’s a Millisecond dependence on God. This is the only way that believers can live radically different from the way unbelievers live. It is not just about what religion we believe in, it is about whom, we lean on; the true and living son of God, Jesus!