HIP HOP ALBUMS YOU SHOULD OWN - Kulture Magazinekulturemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Kulture-Issue-8... · Pastor Bankie Are you aware that the Lord does not reward the

KULTURE!

JAN-MAR 2017ISSUE 8

kulturemagazine.com

THE MINISTRY OFA PROPHET

NOLLYCIA

SHO BARAKA R STEVEN CURTIS CHAPMAN R MERCYME

WITH LOVE FROMTHAILANDMake yourself a

plate of PAD THAI

ALL YOU NEEDTO KNOW ABOUT

SANDIE SAYS

30HIP HOP ALBUMSYOU SHOULD OWN

SUPERNATURAL

all BILL JOHNSON cares about is doing

what GOD wants

ANTIBIOTICRESISTANCE

By Arome E. Adah

THE GOSPEL INIGBO NEVERSOUNDED BETTER

ALDGATE CONGRESS HOTEL, PLOT 308, ABACHA ROAD OPP NEXTIME SUPERMARKET, GRA PHASE 3,

PORT HARCOURT

Contents

KULTURE !JAN - MAR 2017ISSUE 8

PublisherCream Valley Media

EditorOnochie Onyekwena

WritersNathan ObinwaforGabriel AkoSandra EnyidaMelvin Otobo

Creative DesignOnochie Onyekwena

[email protected]@yahoo.com

234-706-306-3553234-802-828-6814

kulturemagazine

kulture411

WE CAN ONLY IMAGINEMERCYME have been giving us great music for about 22 years, blessing and inspiring.

F E A T U R E S

8

PACK YOUR BAGSJACOB ZOLLER emphasizes the need to slow it down in a world that feels the need to be busy.

12

SUPER-NATURALNATHAN OBINWAFOR shows us that God’s plan has always been for us to operate like He does.

22

BOOST YOUR LIBRARYYou need to check out some legit hip-hop albums you should own.

26

BACK TO THE RO OTS 16

C O L U M N S

5 Kulture Hub10 Say It Now12 Catalyst14 Sandie Says16 Kulture Desk22 Supernatural Talks34 Sounding Greatness

LIFE ON THE GO www.kulturemagazine.com

With just one click of your mouse you can plug in to the extraordinary life everyday. Get lifted, Get blessed and get inspired wherever you are.

Credits

KULTURE!Jan-Mar 2017 3

HELLO NOTE

Arise! Shine! This is Your TimeHappy New year everyone, we’re finally in the year 2017; isn’t that great? Yes indeed. A lot of people have things to say about 2016 but its obvious that God completely showed Himself faithful. Despite the ‘So-called’ recession faced by Nigeria, God poured out the mighty supply on His saints. It was a good year.2017 is going to be a better year; a year of breaking into things. God has so much in store for us and this is the year we stretch out our hands and take the things He has set out for us. So guys, let’s jump into those open prtals of glory. Let us arise, let us shine.In our first issue of the year, we’ve got a lot of good stuff for you. We sat down in an inter-view with CIA Clique memeber, Nolly. He has some pretty interesting things to share with us. We also have 2 new columns, Sounding Greatness and Supernatural Talks, plus all the regulars.Do enjoy Issue 8 of Kulture Magazine; it was made specially just for you. God bless you.

Onochie Onyekwena

PAD THAI RECIPE

8 ounces dried, flat, linguine-width rice noodles (preferably Annie Chun’s or Thai Kitchen; also called pad thai noodles or stir-fry rice noodles)1/4 cup fish sauce (such as nam pla or nuoc nam)1/4 cup tamarind juice concentrate, or 2 tablespoons tamarind paste mixed with 2 tablespoons water3 tablespoons (packed) dark brown sugar2 teaspoons chili-garlic sauce, plus more for serving3 tablespoons vegetable oil4 large eggs, beaten to blend3/4 pound peeled and deveined medium shrimp1 bunch scallions, green and white parts separated, coarsely chopped2 cups mung bean sprouts (about 1/3 pound), plus more for serving1/4 cup roasted, salted peanuts, coarsely chopped, plus more for servingCoarsely chopped fresh cilantro (for serving)Lime wedges (for serving)

1 Place noodles in a medium heatproof bowl. Add boiling water to cover and let stand, stirring fre-quently, until soft and pliable but not tender, 5–10 minutes (depend-ing on brand). Drain; set aside.

2 Meanwhile, whisk fish sauce, tamarind concentrate, brown sugar, 2 tsp. chili-garlic sauce, and 1/4 cup hot water in another medium bowl.

3 Heat oil in a wok or large skillet (at least 12" in diameter) over medium-high. Add eggs and shrimp

Noodles A’la Sauce

and cook, stirring constantly, until shrimp begin to turn pink, about 1 minute. Add scallion whites, fish sauce mixture, and reserved noodles. Cook, stirring frequently, until sauce is mostly absorbed and noodles are well coated, about 3 minutes. Add scallion greens, 2 cups bean sprouts, and 1/4 cup peanuts and cook until heated through, about 1 minute more.

4 Divide noodle mixture among plates. Top with cilantro, bean sprouts, and peanuts and serve with lime wedges and chili-garlic sauce.

KULTURE! 5

Music

HubKULTURE!Hub

#PADTHAI

Jan-Mar 2017

KULTURE!HubBooks

DESIRING GOD

KULTURE! Jan-Mar 20176

John Piper

Scripture reveals that the great business of life is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever. In this paradigm-shattering classic, newly revised and expanded, John Piper reveals that the debate between duty and delight doesn’t truly ex-ist: Delight is our duty. Readers will embark on a dramati-cally different and joyful experience of their faith

The pursuit of pleasure is not optional. It is essential.

Scripture reveals that the great business of life is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever. In this paradigm-shattering work, John Piper reveals that the debate between duty and delight doesn’t truly exist: Delight is our duty. Join him as he unveils stunning, life-impacting truths you saw in the Bible but never dared to believe.

SO WHO WILL PAYFOR THIS?

Pastor Bankie

Are you aware that the Lord does not reward the volume of your seed but rather the quality of the heart sowing the seed? Many people are throwing away their seeds but are expecting a harvest. It is time to learn the truth!

Greedy giving is not rewarded by the Lord and we must be careful that we don’t try to turn God into a slot machine.

This book is about responsibility and faithfulness. Get ready to hear on the last day, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

PRESENT OVER PERFECT

Shauna Niequist

Written in Shauna’s warm and vulnerable style, this collection of essays focuses on the most important trans-formation in her life, and maybe yours too: leaving behind busyness and frantic living and rediscovering the person you were made to be. Present Over Perfect is a hand reaching out, pulling you free from the constant pressure to per-form faster, push harder,

and produce more, all while maintaining an exhausting image of perfection.

Shauna offers an honest account of what led her to begin this journey, and a compelling vision for an entirely new way to live: soaked in grace, rest, silence, simplicity, prayer, and connection with the people that matter most to us.

Till The SupernaturalBecomes NaturalJohnson is a 5th-generation pas-tor. His father, M. Earl Johnson had been senior pastor at Bethel Church, then an Assemblies of God church, in Redding from 1968 to 1982. Bill met his future wife Beni at Bethel in 1969.

“I would read about revivals,” Bill recalls. “I would read about John G. Lake and pray for people. Nothing ever happened. I just assumed you had to have a special gift for heal-ing and I didn’t have it. I would try for a while and back off and get dis-couraged. I went to a John Wimber conference and heard him teach the same things I had been teaching for a couple of years—but they had the fruit of what they believed. I just had a theory. I realized I needed to take more risks and just not stop. It was the weirdest thing. When I came back, the miracles started.”

Bill pastored in Weaverville for 17 years before moving his family back to Redding, California, in 1996 to take the baton from his father and assume leadership of

Bethel Church. He came with one non-negotiable condition: He was born for revival and would pursue revival. When Bill took the reins, the outpouring started almost immediately in seed form and a har-vest of miracle healings, including multiple cases of cancer, followed in the months ahead.

Today, Bethel has become a true movement in the body of Christ with the local church, the school of ministry, a media group, Bethel Music and a network of thousands of congregations around the world, but Bill is quick to point out that it’s all about a person—and it’s not him. Rather, it’s about Jesus and His heart being revealed in us, to us and through us.

According to Kris Vallotton, senior associate leader of Bethel and co-founder of the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry there is no difference between the public Bill and the private Bill, except that he seems extroverted in the pulpit but is an introvert at heart.

Randy Clark, founder of Global Awakening, met Bill in 1994 at a conference. He said Bill has an “amazing hunger” for God and is “more committed to pursuing revival than anybody I know.”

Banning Liebscher, senior director of Jesus Culture, was on staff at Bethel Church in Redding for 18 years and launched Jesus Culture Sacramento Church in 2014. He was 19 years old when he came on staff and told me Bill “massively shaped” who he is and how he thinks.

When the 65-year-old Bill Johnson was asked what he wants to be remembered for, he didn’t point to the miracles, signs and wonders. He didn’t point to revival. He didn’t point to a sermon. He didn’t point to a megachurch. In truth, he really doesn’t care if anyone remembers him at all—and he didn’t hesitate to offer a simple yet profound answer: “I want to be remembered for being faithful, that I did what He said.” That should be our desire.

KULTURE! 7

HubKULTURE!Personality

#BILLJOHNSON

Jan-Mar 2017

Although praise & worship band MercyMe was founded in 1994, vocalist Bart Millard says that the group’s birth was a process God began in him during high school. He recalls, “My dad and my older brother were both football players. So naturally, that’s what I wanted to do as well. But I broke both my ankles in a high school football game and that ended my career.”

KULTURE!8

KNOW YOUR

ROCKERS

22 YEARSAnd still rocking

MERCY ME

Jan-Mar 2017

Due to the injury, Millard was left with an elective class to fill and reluctantly joined the only available option: choir. With the prodding of his choir director, he was soon actively involved.

During Millard’s first semester in college, he was faced with the death of his father to cancer. The loss caused him to look for a change and a fresh start.

Millard’s youth pastor, who had recently moved from Millard’s hometown of Greenville, Texas to Lakeland, Florida, invited him to work with the youth praise band. He accepted the offer and moved at the end of his freshman year of college.

It wasn’t long after that Millard be-came friends with keyboardist Jim Bryson. In the summer of 1994, the two traveled to Europe as part of a praise team. The trip caused Millard and Bryson to consider full-time music ministry. In August of 1994, guitarist Mike Scheuchzer made the duo a trio. The three, who had moved to Oklahoma City, formed MercyMe. From there the group began to attract local promoters and found themselves opening for Audio Adrenaline.

MercyMe, with six independent projects to their credit, signed with INO Records and released Almost There in August 2001. The single I Can Only Imagine earned the band a Dove Award in 2002 for song of the year; however, it was not until three years after its release before the song began to gain mainstream success, topping the Billboard 200 sales chart for seven weeks, and peaking at No. 71 on the Hot 100, No. 33 on the Mainstream Top 40, No. 27 on the Adult Top 40, No. 5 on the Adult Contemporary, and No. 52 on the Country Songs charts.

Spoken For, followed in 2002 and also performed well on the charts; it also earned the band three more Dove Awards. The album peaked at No. 2 on the Christian Albums chart. The album’s two singles, Spoken For and Word of God Speak, went on to peak at No. 1 on Christian radio charts, with Word of God Speak spending a record 22 weeks atop the newly created Billboard Christian Songs chart.

MercyMe’s third album Undone followed one year later and again earned the group commercial and chart success; in addition to further action on the Christian and album charts, MercyMe singles Here with Me and Homesick earned play on adult contemporary radio, marking a new frontier for the band. The album itself won a Dove Award for Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year at the 36th GMA Dove Awards, and was certified gold.

The band’s fourth album Coming Up to Breathe earned raves from critics and still charted at number 13 on Billboard’s album charts. Although the band had earned a reputation for being an adult contemporary group with their other albums, the group decided to make Coming Up To Breathe a more rock-oriented album, in the vein of their earlier grunge-influenced albums. It spawned three radio singles (So Long Self, Hold Fast, and Bring the Rain), two of which (So Long Self and Bring The Rain) reached the top spot on the Christian Songs chart.

The church-focused All That Is Within Me appeared in 2007, and also broke into the Top 20 of the album charts. The album contained three singles (God With Us, You Reign and Finally Home), all of which reached the top 3 on the Christian Songs chart; Finally Home also peaked at No. 17 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

10 followed in 2009, a double album consisting of 15 studio recordings (12 of which were previously singles and 3 of which were new recordings) and 11 live or concept videos, as well as several documentaries on the band. The album charted at No. 18 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on the Christian Songs chart, although no singles were released from the album.

In 2010, MercyMe recorded a concept album titled The Generous Mr. Lovewell for their sixth studio LP. It earned critical respect and commercial success, including a debut at number three on the overall album charts and three number one singles on the Christian chart (All of Creation, Beautiful, and Move).

In 2012, The Hurt & the Healer followed, peaking at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 and earning more critical acclaim. Eighth proper album Welcome to the New was released in April 2014, with a dance-able sound.

KULTURE! 9Jan-Mar 2017

The DisciplineI NeedDiscipline! Aaargh! That word makes the body cringe. I don’t like discipline. Discipline isn’t fun, at least not to the body: it is a restrain of some kind, some sort of bridle to get ‘something’ in ‘line’. But you see, there’s still a discipline I need- a disci-pline in spiritual matters.

Our fellowship with God is the journey of a relationship. Sometimes I’d love to sit by and let love work its way through me, but then I may never get

Words by Gabriel Ako

to exercise the authority I’ve been bestowed with in this relationship. Can I ignore the one I love and wish my relationship will blossom into the many lush dreams I have of it? When Jesus walked the earth, He displayed a love relationship with His heavenly Father, setting an example for us to follow. Jesus com-muned. Jesus fellowshipped. Jesus spent time with His Father.

Sometimes fanning the waning embers of the love I have for the one who has loved me unconditionally

is the discipline that seems to elude me. I folly with the excuse of busyness, a fatigue of the flesh, or just slip under the cloak of indifference. But discipline goes beyond a regimented, timetabled lifestyle; I believe it’s deeper than that when it comes to a Father-Son love relationship. Out of an expression of love, ef-fortless fellowship should spring forth. Hence I need to fall in love again and again. At many points during this journey I would have

I

KULTURE!10

SAY IT NOW

Jan-Mar 2017

“When Jesus walked the earth, He displayed a love relationship with

His heavenly Father, setting an example for

us to follow.”

to make an effort, because I’m in love.

The time given to study, meditation, prayer and wor-ship ought to be conscious, purposeful and love-driven. This is the discipline I need- the discipline we all need. It is from this place that we know who we are, who the One we are in love with is, and what has been made available to us through this covenant relationship. We owe everything to this love, and cannot afford to give it second-place. God supplies us the grace we need for the journey- hence, we must constantly ask and receive this grace on a daily basis

especially in times when we can’t find the strength to do what needs to be done.

The struggle to walk the talk buds from a Will that just doesn’t want to submit. The ways of Man inherently skew from the ways of God, but for the one who is in love, there is the joy and peace in laying down my own way, and tak-ing up my lover’s. Knowing I cannot do this in my own strength, I take up that which grace has made avail-able- I ask in prayer, and I receive in faith the ability and the will to love. Jesus exemplified this pattern, constantly returning to the place of stronghold- prayer.

“And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.” Mk 1:35.

In the epistle to the Corin-thian church, Paul compared physical discipline to spiri-tual discipline though with a difference in value:

“Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perish-able crown, but we for an imperishable crown. There-

fore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to oth-ers, I myself should become disqualified.” 1Cor 9:24-27.

It is the will of the Father that we all finally mature into the full measure of the stature of Christ. Certainly, discipline that flows from a heart of love is what I need, and with grace as the fuel for spiritual discipline; I embark on this journey from a place of rest and victory.

KULTURE! 11

MIRACLE OF DESTINYPaperback by Melvin Otobo

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“For everyone who yeilds to God's plan for their life, there is usually a time of isolation...the time of isolation is very crucial to the birthing forth of

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For Booking Contact

Jan-Mar 2017

Go on Vacation Already! Lead More by Being Less Busy

here is an epidemic of unused vacation time in America. More than half of Ameri-can workers left some vacation time on the table this past year. A record-setting total of 658 million days. $223 billion in economic impact. America also lags far

behind other developed nations in the number of of-ficial holidays. So we have less time off to begin with and use less of our available time.

Lack of vacation also contributes to being too busy in the form of maternity leave. The United States is one of only two countries in the world (the other is Papua New Guinea) without any kind of mandatory paid ma-ternity leave. Without this opportunity, many women are forced to continue working non-stop because they must support their family. They simply can’t afford to take time off, even to nurture their newborn child.

Though certainly not facing the same severity or disadvantages, men also often find it difficult to take time to be with their new children. While this and va-

by Jacob Zoller

cation may technically be allowed, there is an unspoken pressure that you would be looked down on for actually using the time.

The reasons for our cultural inability to take a break are many and worth exploring. My concern is that this busy-ness epidemic has infected the church. It is considered normal to skip vacation in the name of serving God. We wear it as a badge of honor to be constantly rushing and occupied.

If being too busy has tainted the church, it is because people learned it from their leaders. And if we want to reverse the trend, it has to start with seeing leaders take time off. Remember paternity leave? A recent NPR piece found that one key factor determined whether or not men took paternity – the article is called, “How To Get Dads To Take Parental Leave? Seeing Other Dads Do It.”

Busyness in the Church

T

KULTURE!12 Jan-Mar 2017

People learn from what leaders do, not what they say. The old, “Do as I say and not as I do,” doesn’t work.

It’s easy to talk a big game about trust-ing Jesus with our work or ministry. But do your actions show it? Or are you guilty of being a preacher only and not also a doer of the word? You can’t say you trust Jesus with your ministry yet act like you are the one running the show by never taking a break.

If you feel like you can’t take a vacation, talk to your leaders, staff, and colleagues. It takes planning and teamwork to cover the practical duties of someone who is taking time off. Begin talking about having a culture of regular rest for ev-eryone. Brainstorm how you can support each other in taking more time off. Encourage one another that nothing will fall apart if one of you is not there for a while.

Lead in a counter-cultural way by being less busy and taking more time off.

Stopping Busyness Here are a few concrete suggestions:

1) Use all your vacation time.

Of any profession, church leaders should be using all their vacation time. Be an example to those you lead. Demonstrate your trust in Jesus by stepping back from your work. This acknowledges that God is in control and we are all just under-shepherds of the Chief Shepherd. Start small by taking one day to be entirely cut off from your work. You might be amazed how the world does not stop spinning when you stop laboring.

2) Talk about doing less and taking vacations.

People follow what you do, but it’s also important to clearly explain what you’re doing. Tell them about the importance of rest in the Bible. Tell them one way to give control of our lives over to God is by stopping what we’re doing. It’s faith, not laziness, that takes time to put away our work and rest.

3) Give your employees vaca-tion.

The way your ministry operates should facilitate people’s abil-ity to trust Jesus. As we have seen, inadequate vacation and busyness are contrary to this purpose. So make sure everyone has sufficient time to rejuve-nate. You can even go beyond normal vacation and encourage extra time off, including mater-nity and paternity leave. What if Christians led the way in taking

time off instead of caving to cultural busyness?

4) Schedule a Sabbatical.

It’s Biblical to stop what you’re doing! Sabbath, which means, “to cease,” is a weekly, yearly, and 7-years ritual. God commands it for our good and we neglect it to our harm. Sunday is our weekly rest and vacation our yearly rest, but church leaders should also

make space for an extended break from work. It takes planning, but the refreshment is invaluable.

People learn by example. So go ahead and lead more by being less busy. Trust Jesus by taking that vacation you’ve been putting off.

“What if Christians led the way in taking time off instead of caving

to cultural busyness?”

Jacob is a pastor in Fort Worth, TX, who writes about productivity and rest at www.jacobzoller.com. He is currently on a year-long Sabbatical, staying home to care for his newborn son.


H

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

ANTIBIOTICRESISTANCEWords by Sandra Enyida

Hundreds of years ago, people died from minor infec-tions. We can call them ‘minor’ now, because we presently have an array of drugs for different classes of germs, ‘unique’ bullets in our arsenal. In most cases, we are no longer scared when there’s a diagnosis of any kind of infection. The medical field has come to rely so much on antimicrobias. Major surgeries are downright risky without them, and even minor surgeries aren’t done without their backup.

The word ‘antibiotics’ is an umbrella word for antibac-terias, antifungas, antivirals, and antiparasitic drugs. The word is used in this article in the form it’s popularly used, referring to antibacterial agents only. With the discovery of penicillin and the dawn of the antibiotic era, the chances of dying from an infection dropped drastically.

With all these benefits, what could possibly be wrong with these drugs?

THE CONCEPT OF ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE

As much as we have come to rely on these ‘super bullets’ to win the war against bad bacteria, we are losing out, because the effectiveness of these drugs is waning. It is particularly heartbreaking considering it takes years of research and clinical trials to produce just one drug. The financial investment is huge. So it isn’t in our best interest that we can trust these drugs to do their jobs. This reduction in effectiveness is what is called ‘antibi-

otic resistance’. How does it happen?

In the simplest terms, these germs are getting stronger than our drugs. This is happening because of inordi-nate exposure to our drugs from flippant prescrip-tions, and lack of control of drug dispensing at the retail level. These drugs are learning to survive in spite of drug therapy, and the ‘machinery’ thry build for survival could be transferred to subsequent ‘off-spring’. New germs ‘born’ now end up stronger than their predecessors, and the cycle continues. We can’t produce better drugs fast enough, which also have to be safe for human use. These germs are adapting faster than we can handle, and it seems we are going back to an era when we will get scared of infections.

This is not thrilling news.

A WELLNESS PERSPECTIVE TO ANTIBIOTIC THERAPY

A growing perspective in health care is slowing down prescriptions. Slowly, we are coming to realize that we need to focus more on how these drugs affect our wellbeing in the long run. Before now, the focus has been how effective the drugs were in killing germs. But these drugs don’t work outside our bodies, they work inside us, so it’s important to be sure they are not wrecking havoc in there.

Unfortunately, this is not the case. In trying to win the war against germs, we have sacrificed our long term health. Drugs have been allowed into the market without proven safety profiles for long term use. It has become such a profitable global market, worth bil-lions of dollars. One good example is the antibacterial agents, trial-and-error. It’s an ingredient in many an-tibacterial soap and mouthwash brands, and research has linked it to heart disease in the long term. It was first registered for use as pesticide, and has finally been banned by the FDA in the US, just this year. But all these years before the ban, millions of dollars have been made from the sale of personal care products containing triclosan.

KULTURE!14

SANDIE SAYS

Jan-Mar 2017

Antibacterial agents in personal care products prove that the use of antibiotics isn’t just for treating infec-tions, and that’s a more profitable market. All these increase the exposure of germs to these agents, making them stronger. One of the worst cases? A drug was released one year, and resistant germs were already detected by the next year!

With the focus being slowly directed to us, rather than drug effectiveness and other factors, like profit, we are beginning to ask these questions:

• Are there better alternatives to these drugs, that these germs cannot develop resistance to?

• How much damage are these antibacterial agents causing in our bodies, in the long term?

• How can this damage be handled or stopped?

If personal interest (due to millions of dollars involved) can be put aside, we can make great advances in shifting our focus to nature. It is quite obvious that man-made antibacterial agents cannot win the battle. Growing research is showing that these germs cannot develop resistance to the antibacterial ability of herbs, essential oils, and other natural products. No evidence of resistance to these products have been recorded yet. Therefore, there is evidence that our hope of winning this battle, and staying dominant, is in nature itself.

ARE GERMS REALLY THE ENEMY?

In recent years, researchers are discovering that germs are not simply ‘bad guys’ to be zapped dead at every opportunity. They are part and parcel of us, and many of our biological processes depend on them. There are billions of bacteria which populate our skin, gut, mouth, and throat. Most of them are harmless, and make their home there. A few of them are ‘bad’ and could cause illness.

Your immune system actually needs regular exposure to these ‘good’ and ‘bad’ bacteria, in other to ‘learn’ and put together effective strategies to defend your body against infections. It may sound ironic, but your immune system needs germs to function properly. Contrary to what has been propagated by mainstream media(under the influence of marketing from compa-nies profiting from the global market for antibiotics), we DO NOT need to be sterile. Basic hygiene is enough, and we only have to be CLEAN, not STERILE. It’s not even possible to be sterile, because germs are EVERYWHERE, and being without germs is not compatible with life. A good balance between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ bacteria is so important to immune system defense, and these antibi-otics disturb this delicate balance by killing both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ bacteria.

Plus, research is showing that natural products with antibacterial activity act in such a way that our im-mune system is not robbed of the opportunity to learn from each bacterial assault. It is analogous with this scenario: A child can’t learn to walk if he/she is always helped to. Antibacterial agents clear up germs and leave nothing for our immune system to learn from.

“Your immune system actually needs regular exposure to these ‘good’ and ‘bad’ bacteria”So what is the best approach to germs? Practise basic hygiene, and seek to be clean, not sterile. Realize that your immune system is capable, and you should help make it stronger by the things you do.

A BETTER APPROACH TO THE USE OF ANTIBI-OTICS

The problem posed by antibiotic resistance may seem huge, but we can help global recovery in little ways, with these action steps:

Use antibiotics ONLY when necessary. Realize that antibiotics do not kill viruses, and taking them for viral infections is completely unnecessary. They are best reserved for serious bacterial infections, which have been confirmed, not just suspected. If you do need to take a course of antibiotics, make sure you re-seed your gut with good bacteria, by eating fermented foods or taking a high quality probiotic supplement thereafter.

Make sure you stick to, and finish, the course of antibiotics prescribed for you, if they are prescribed. Not completing your therapy because you ‘feel well’ is another major contributor to resistance. Let your doc-tor be able to trust that you will finish the regimen.

Reduce exposure of bacteria around you to antibacterial agents, by slowly reducing your use of antibacterial personal care products, like soaps, hand sanitizers, and mouthwashes. Plain ol’ soup is just as effective in removing germs when you wash your hands.

Learn proper hand washing technique, especially after using the rest room, touching dirty surfaces, or handling raw meat. This will reduce the spread of bacteria that may have resistance, as hands go everywhere.

If you are aware antibiotics are used in your area to raise livestock for meat, buy organic livestock prod-ucts you can trust, to reduce your exposure to these drugs which are still in the meat when purchased.

Eat a balanced diet, with lots of fruits and veg-etables. Keep your Vitamin D and K2 levels up all year round, because it boosts your immune system. Also, vitamin C helps the body fight infections, as well as compounds in tea tree oil and garlic.


JESUSNaSUIGBO

KULTURE MAGAZINE had the pleasure of having a one-on-one with CIA CLIQUE memeber, NOLLY. His star is one the rise and the world is taking notice.

INTERVIEW BY ONOCHIE ONYEKWENA

KULTUREDESK

BBorn in Calabar Nigeria, Nolly (real name Nonso Onwuli) began rapping at the age of 15 in SS2. He has come a long way from his first single Born Champion (produced by CIA teammate Kinsu) gain-ing international repute. He has been working behind the scenes doing collaborations with gospel heavy weights like Frank Edwards, Joe Praize, Sokleva (Roof-top Mcs) to mention a few. He also was a part of the award winning Arrival song performed by the BLW Rap Nation which has gone viral.

Hi Nolly. Thanks so much for agreeing to this interview with me on behalf of Kulture! Magazine. Its an honor. Lets start with the ba-sics. How did you come about your stage name?My name is Chukwunonso Onwuli. My friends just started calling me Nolly and the name stuck. The only thing i did was to turn it into and acronym ,Nonso Onwuli Loves Like Yeshua

How did you hook up with CIA?CIA clique started on campus (University of Nigeria Nsukka). We discovered we had the same passion for preaching the gospel of Christ us-ing music as a tool sonwe decided to join forces anf shake the world.

What was your first release?I just have an EP titled Son of the Most High. Working on my Debut album.

Recent times have seen you share the same stage with artistes like Joe Praiz & Sinach; what has that experi-ence been like for you?

Its Unbelievable man...like i look at where i started from and how i started and where i am now,it just humbles me and shows me that God can pick a man from anywhere and place him with Kings.

What is the defining force that motivates you? What is you life mission?The Word of God is my motivation. I have been sent to this world for such a time as this. So i wake up every-day with the mindset of fulfilling purpose,blessing the world from the fullness of the gift of God in me. My life mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world using music as my major tool.

What are your musical influences?Rooftop Mcs, Frank Edwards, Lecrae,Andy Mineo and many more

Spiritual mentors?I’m eternally grateful to my man of God Pastor Chris Oyahkilome for teaching and grooming me in the Word.

So is marriage any-where in the horizon? Found your missing rib yet?Oh yeah sure... Still searching...

Is a CIA album coming anytime soon?Oh yes! Very soon... The boys have been working in the background.

You are planted in Christ Embassy. How important is the local church to the growth of the music minister? It is very important for a music minister to be committed in a local church. This is because the local church is where you will be built spiritually and trained for the work you have been called to do. it is a place you have the opportunity to serve. I really don’t believe in the term “Gospel celebrity”... We are all servants.

I also see the music minister as a soldier and the church is a military base where he/she is trained.

And studying the word of God, that’s impor-tant too right?That’s just like asking if eating ev-eryday is important. Man is a Spirit, he has a soul and lives in a body. The real you is the you inside and what the real you feeds on is the word of God. Jesus said “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”.


“I THINK THEY SHOULD SPEND MORE TIME PRAYING FOR THEM IF THEY HAVE

CONCERNS ABOUT THE DIRECTION THEY ARE GOING.”

Has rapping in Igbo language always been a thing for you? If no, then how did it all begin?Well...i started out rapping in English but was still experimenting with rapping in Igbo,it was in one of the experiments that my hit single “Jesus n’asu Igbo” (Jesus Speaks Igbo ,when translated in English) came about.

People loved it and since I was the only one doing it in the gospel scene as at then people asked for more of it,that’s how i became “igbotic”...lol...but i still do songs in English for the international audience.

What do you think is a rap minister’s pri-mary objective?A rap minister’s primary objec-tive is to pass the message of the

gospel .

What else are you into apart from music?Just music for now.

How do you view music as a ministry?I’m a Christian first before a musi-cian. So to me music is not just an occupation it is a ministry because I use it as a tool for propagating the


“Music is a vessel through which ideals are sold.” - NOLLY

gospel of Christ to the nations.

Music for a believer is much more than just entertainment right?Oh yes it is. Beyond the entertain-ment, as you listen to any song It’s either you’re glorifying God with what you’re listening to or you’re glorifying the devil. When you raise your hands at the concerts, it’s either you’re worshipping God or the devil. Music is a vital part of worship, through music trends are started, music can be used to pass ideals to its listeners in a subliminal way without them knowing. That’s why it is very important to be careful what you let into your ears as a believer. Guard your heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life.

How do you think Believers in Nigeria can impact the nation through music?

Music is a vessel through which ideals are sold.... Believers can make excellently crafted music that talks about the bible’s point of view of what’s happening in our world today,organizing excellent gospel music events. Like The Experience by House on the rock and the Derizo and International Music Concerts by Christ Embassy.

American rapper Lecrae & Reach Records keep getting flack from Christians because of their breakthrough into the mainstream; do you think it’s called-for?Hmm...who were Jesus greatest crit-ics? Religous people (the pharisees and saducees). To me a Christian artiste getting a break through in the mainstream industry is great news because thats like a new opening for the gospel of Jesus to be preached.

I dont think all these criticism is called for biko, someone is out there making impact and some people are behind the sreens of their devices playing Chief Justice. I think they should spend more time praying for them if they have concerns about the direction they are going.

What are your views concerning breaking into popular culture with the gospel, even when it means sharing a stage with artistes like D’Banj & Phyno?My music has never been for the four walls of the church alone. The idea has always been to bring the gospel of Jesus to the average guy on the street in the language he will understand. I’ll take that platform with both hands and rep for my King and when i’m done they wont be able to explain what hit them.

Speaking of Phyno, have you ever imag-ined doing a song with him?Honestly i havent,but i’m sure many people have done that on behalf of me...lol. Some people call me “gospel Phyno” as a complement but really i am not a gospel version of anybody. I am the best version of me,NOLLY aka Son Of the Most High aka NOLLY nwa Jesus.

A lot of Believers speak doom for Nige-ria a lot; should that be

our role as believers in this country?The truth is Words are very power-ful. The world we live in was created by God’s word. We are a result of the words we’ve been saying. So as believers we should be careful of the words we speak concerning our country cos we might just be creat-ing the wrong things. Instead we should say what we want to see.

Thank you for your time sir. Any last words for young rap ministers our there?You’re welcome. Thanks for having me.

Young rap ministers ,if you’re in it for the fame or money biko just go and get a white collar job. This is ministry,get your priorities and intentions right. Be spiritual about your craft and always put in your best in whatever you do. Excellence should be your trade mark.

Remember you are a christian first, dont put your art before the one who gave you the talent. As God lifts you through different stages of your career/ministry remain humble and keep serving others and watch God lift you even more.


SAY HELLO TO THE SOUNDS OF GREENE

Travis has spent the past decade serving as youth pastor, worship director, and national recording art-ist. By living in culturally diverse regions and expe-riencing various church denominations, he embraces his unique gift for adaptability. As a child, Travis was pronounced dead after falling four floors out of a window in Germany. God miraculously revived him back to life after his mother prayed relentlessly.

At just five years old, Travis was given a passion for music by God after the sudden death of his father. In addition to playing several instruments, he also writes and produces multiple genres of music.

His music recording career started in 2007, with the release, The More, that came out on December 4, 2007, from Greenelight Records. The subsequent re-lease, Stretching Out, a studio album, was released on June 8, 2010, by Pendulum Records. This release was his breakthrough on the Billboard magazine Top Gospel Albums chart, where it placed at No. 27. The songs, Still Here and Prove My Love, both charted on the Billboard magazine Top Gospel Songs chart, at peaks of Nos. 17 and 29, respectively.

He released, an extended play, Intentional, on August 21, 2015, with RCA Inspiration, where this placed at No. 3 on the Billboard magazine Top Gospel Albums chart. Its song, Intentional, peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard magazine Top Gospel Songs chart. His second studio album, The Hill, was released on October 30, 2015, from RCA Inspiration.

Travis, his wife Jackie, and a team of passionate leaders launched a new ministry, Forward City Church in the heart of Columbia, SC. “God has really surrounded us with people who are like-minded who sacrifice and go as hard as we do. It’s a huge honor to lead them.” he said.

Through his own broad style of music and ministry, Travis accepts the challenge to continually unify the body of Christ as one. He passionately uses his gift as a tool to inspire, heal and expose others to the transformative love of Jesus Christ.

What’s his mission statement in life? “I think right now, It’s really a chorus that we wrote live in a concert ...’Let your faith rise now as you lay it down.’ What that means is, allow your faith to increase as you lay down all anxiety, all worry, all trouble, and the noise of life–really canceling that out–and living the word of faith of whatever God has spoken to you.” Isn’t that just the way to live? Its not such a wonder that Travis Greene is unique in this generation.

KULTURE!22

MUSIC

Jan-Mar 2017

Born in Canada, but raised in Cali, com-municating a message as an artist has always been a part of who Sho is.

Introduced to Hip Hop at a young age, he grew to love its content and attitude. Living in Southern California during the height of Gangsta Rap presented its chal-lenges to many youth, as well as Sho. In high school Sho and some friends from his neighborhood formed a rap group that began touring with major recording art-ists. But his life took a different turn after the rap group fizzled, and close friends were killed and others incarcerated due to the gang life they led. The message of his life began to change.

He decided to heed his father’s advice and apply to college, pursuing education instead of the streets. At the time, Christ was not a part of his life, but his older brother, his father, and a leader at his church, had always promoted education and having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Sho continued on to Tuskegee University, and it was there, that the seeds that they

planted in him finally took root.

While in college, through the lives of some solid Christians on campus, the Lord rescued him and redeemed his heart. He hooked up with Lecrae and Tedashii and eventually the 116 Clique and Reach Records were formed. He released 2 solid albums Turn My Life Up and Lions And Liars under Reach Records before departing in 2011.

After releasing The Talented 10TH in 2013, he announced he joined the Humble Beast roster in June 2016, releasing the album The Narrative.

Sho Baraka enlisted Lecrae, fellow Humble Beast artist Jackie Hill Perry and more to tell the story of Black America in a timeline format, complete with Kanye West tribute.

According to a press release on The Narrative “The theologian rapper confronts controversial topics in The Narrative including social consciousness, issues of everyday life and the struggles we all face as humans.

“He also shows a softer side, open-ing up about the journey of being a father and the challenges that come

F

KULTURE! 23

AMI-SHOHUMBLE

with raising children, two of which are autistic. No matter what the issue at hand, it is all saturated in a Gospel worldview, which informs how Sho wrestles through each train of thought.

“Sho Baraka’s hope is that his music will serve as a gateway for listeners to engage in conversa-tion with each other, ask ques-tions and draw closer to God.”

You should get it; it’s bound to be a hip-hop classic.

Get The Narrative by Sho Baraka on

Or at www.humblebeast.com

Jan-Mar 2017

The world as we know it is filled with sorrows and pains, such being the result from the fall of man in the begining. Man was designed a Spirit, He was designed to live from Within his spirit and from His spirit rule the earth and all under his rule.

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” Genesis 1:26.

God Is Spirit (See John 4:24), and man was made in his image and form that is man is a spirit as God is. Man was created Spirit who lived in a body and this spirit called man was to rule over the earth and God was to rule the earth through this spirit.

All humanity in Adam died because of the transgression of Adam in the garden: death in that sense doesn’t mean human cessation of life alone, but a subjection to mortality that is the ability for things and men to be void of Life or void of God’s es-sense which is life. Spiritual Death passed on all men, the supernatural essense of men which was that life

Tfrom God’s presence being that man was created like God.

A little description on the kind of life man had before he fell would show you what He fell from and how low He fell. Now Jesus came to the earth as the Son of man not readily as son of God, although he was Son Of God: He dropped his cloak as Son of God to live as Son or seed of man.

God promised Adam and the devil that the seed of the woman would bruise the heel of the seed and this woman’s seed would crush the head of the serpent. Isaiah comes in Isaiah 9 and prophesies of a vir-gin who would give birth to a Son.

But that had never happened ever before in time this birth gave a supernatural edge to Jesus being not born by a fallen man’s seed but of the word of God to a virgin called Mary. This accredited him for a su-pernatural life from birth but then he didn’t do anything as God.

“Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.” Philippians 2:6-7.

Jesus though in the form of God would not that he was living in that God essence rather lived as man. So every miracle he did was done as a Man empowered by The Holy Spirit.

He came to show us what a Man could do, when he spoke to the winds, spoke to the water to turn to wine, spoke to a tree and spoke money into a fishes mouth. Those were some things man at his un-fallen state naturally lived in.

Adam before the fall didn’t need to look into the see to know what was under the sea, God asked him to take care of the garden and spread the garden, the question I have asked many times is how would he tend a garden without a cutlass or hoe? The answer would be the same way it was created, words.

This picture of Adam speaking to an apple tree to produce apple whether it was season for apples or not or Adam being in desire for a mango fruit and gets to the tree and the tree responding to his desire not because it was the season for mangoes or oranges or any tree of that sort.

How do I know that, you say?

THE SUPERNATURAL ESSENCE

WORDS BY NATHAN OBINWAFOR

KULTURE!24

SUPERNATURAL TALKS

Jan-Mar 2017

“This was how man was to live, animals, plants and the earth responding to man at the desire of man not by design of seasons.”

“And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry: And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.” Mark 11:12-14.

This was how man was to live, animals, plants and the earth responding to man at the desire of man not by design of seasons. You, my brother my sister, were created a supernatural being but much of that supernatural essence isn’t fully functional if you are not yielded to God’s Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ.

All man was created Spirits in contact with their physical through their soul or you can say their

consciousness and conscience. As in Adam all died so also in Christ all men have life.

“The thief cometh but to steal, to kill, and to destroy but I am come that you may have have life and have it more abundantly.” John 10:10.

This Life is God’s Life which He gave you in Christ Jesus.

“For as the Father hath life in him-self; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;” John 5:26.

“And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” 1John 5:11-12.

He who has the Son Has This Life that God has, that means what makes God God resides in our human spirits now making us bonafide sons of God. And we are by default equal with God as Sons that

is whatever God is Capable of he have given us the same capacity to live out our lives as He does.

As you can see we all do not know this side of our lives, the honor of Love God gives us to be called Sons of God is huge. Yet many live their lives subservient to the elements of the world especially among men who have received eternal Life in their Spirits.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” John1:1-4.

The word LIGHT means Develop-ment. The Development of Men is the Life in Jesus that is, man is developed by eternal life. That

development is described by the kind of Life He gets to live both in quality and in quantity. The same expression of God’s Life that Jesus had on earth and more is the same quality of life we ought to have expressed through us.

Man before Receiving Jesus and being born again is dead and destroyed Jesus giving Him Eternal life gives Him Development from His dead and depraved mind to A Living Personality.

Thus, are we equipped to live Supernatural lives by this develop-ment, we come before people as Men sent from God with the ability and supernatural technology to change their lives.

Sicknesses are destroyed just by a touched or a word, devils yanked off of people by a word, the earth is preserved because of our presence, spiritually dead depraved men are Saved by a simple message we

preach and physically dead men are raised from the dead as well, That how developed we have become.

Eternal Life which we have have received never doesn’t hang by itself in the developing of men. The Presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives can never be over emphasized; men who are born of God and neglect the indwelling presence of the Holy Ghost have lived lesser lives than they were designed to live. The Holy Spirit is called the Power of The Highest (See Luke 1:35), Jesus promised that we would receive power After He indwells us (See Acts 1:8).

When we read the Acts of Jesus and the Apostles we see men who have laid sway the world they lived in. They subdued the world under them through the Power of God the simple answer to the

question they did it is the same, the Person of the Holy Ghost which indwelt them. Jesus said:

“The SPIRIT of the Lord is UPON me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the bro-kenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.” Luke 4:18.

Peter spoke of Jesus:

“How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were op-pressed of the devil; for God was with him.” Acts10:38.

Jesus received the indwelling presence of the Spirit and did many wonderful miracles many of which are yet a debate among the sensual folks. Such outstand-ing miracles which men still are amazed at the ease with which he


LIGHT, SOUND, AND MATTER

The speech of a believer hashas nothing to do with ordinary

Words By Melvin Otobo

DDo you know the laws of the uni-verse? Can you use them to regu-late the earth? [Job 38:33, NLT]

The Universe consists of every-thing in existence—physical and spiritual.

The preceding scripture enables us to understand that the universe itself [as a system] and the objects, beings, entities, and sub-systems in it, are controlled by laws. These laws are called the Laws of the Universe. Simply put, the universe operates and is operated by these laws.

In the previous article titled Loud Utterance, we established that one of such law is the Law of [Loud] Sound. Job 38:34. We posited that since everything in the universe responds to sound, if you bellow the right sound code, the system at which the sound is directed would respond with its content.

When you bellow at the cloud [which connotes a system], you essentially release high level energy signals in the form of mea-surable sound waves. The system considers the presented signals based on coding consistency. This is because all creation is intelli-gent--all creation has the ability to process information. However, this intelligence depends on a primordial code-structure.

There are only two fundamental laws that control the universe and in this article we would consider the second law—the Law of Light. Job 38:35.

To reiterate, everything includ-ing Creation, Time, and Faith is dependent on the Laws of Light and Sound.

But how was Light created?

At this point, I would recom-mend you take a few seconds to read John 1:1 and Gen., 1:3.

In the beginning there was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1.

Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. Genesis 1:3.

Now let’s combine and para-phrase both scriptures: In the beginning was Mr Word, and Mr Word was with God, and Mr Word was God. And Mr Word said “Light be!” and there was light.

Now, assuming we replace “Word” with “Sound” we’ll have: In the beginning was Mr Sound, and Mr Sound was with God, and Mr Sound was God. And Mr Sound commanded “Light be!” and there was light.

Evidently, Sound created Light. On this premise, we could say Faith is the resultant Light of God’s Sound [since it comes by hearing].

Each law has its own purpose; Light is for revelation while Sound is for creation.

There is a phenomenon that readily demonstrates the impact of the laws of Light and Sound. That’s Thunder.

I initially mentioned that sound waves carry measurable energy. This is why the impact of sound on nearby objects becomes more noticeable when the volume on the sound system is increased. It is safe to say, every time you speak, you release energy.

Albert Einstein’s law of relativ-

now availableGet your copy today

YOU ARE NOT DULLA JOURNEY INTO EXCELLENCE IN

LEARNING AND LIFE

KULTURE!26

SOUND & IMPACT

did them; and before Jesus left He promised that we could do the same and even greater than these that he had done. And How would we do what that?

“And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.” Luke 24:49.

“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Acts 1:8.

And this promise was fulfilled some days after He had ascended to heaven, the Holy Ghost came on the earth and has never left since then.

“And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rush-ing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Acts2:2-4.

This began the all explosive lives of the Believers in Christ, all Jesus could do they could now by the Presence of the Holy Ghost in their lives. If you have received the Lord Jesus as Lord or you haven’t yet received the indwelling presence of the Ghost and spoken in other tongues then do so for the new birth is an ordination into the realm of unlimited power.

Paperback by Oluwaseyi Fatila

Available for N300 OnlyCall (0809) 283 7689 or (0809) 805 7080

to order a [email protected]

(0810) 973 3248

Contact The Author

Jan-Mar 2017

“Each law has its own pur-pose; Light is for revelation

while Sound is for crea-tion.”

ity is given as e=mc2 where [e is energy; m is matter or mass, hence substance; and c the speed of light squared—a constant]

Essentially, Einstein is saying energy=matter. This means that your utterance [sound] which carries energy, is matter. That means your Word is Matter.

KULTURE! 27

Assuming we decide to subject my phone to intense heat, in a controlled system, it will eventually get molten. If this process continues, the phone goes from liquid to gaseous state [i.e. the molecules move further apart]. However, if these molecules are contained and weighed, the mass will be equal with that of same phone in the solid state. Even when we uncover

the containing vessel and allow those molecules to go into the air, the phone still exists but in a gaseous form.

The words [sound] we release are objects. This is why God spoke and physical things came on the scene, during creation. Be intentional about your utterances [sound].

Jan-Mar 2017

30ALBUMSYOU NEED TOOWN

XCLUSIVE

NO PLAN B4TH AVENUE JONESBack in the Day a West-Coast emcee named Ahmad had a monster single that fostered classic childhood nostalgia. Nearly six years later, he went on to found a multi-dimension-al hip-hop band that eventually signed to Interscope Records.

Although their lyrics were never overtly evangelistic, the group featured Christians (including his wife Tena) who had a heart to enrich the lives of listeners outside church walls.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESCROSS MOVEMENTThis sophomore effort would firmly establish the Cross Movement as a dominant voice in Christian hip-hop for years to come. The al-bum’s theme presented the massive collective of Philadelphia-based rappers as “advocates of the theocratic Rule” and helped return a gritty, East Coast sound to the genre.

GANG AFFILIATEDGOSPEL GANGSTAS

At a time when West-Coast gangsta rap domi-nated hip-hop, a group of redeemed Bloods and Crips connected with an established Christian hip-hop DJ to produce one of the genre’s most authentic street albums.

It tackled themes that still resonate today: the struggles of the oppressed (“Tears of a Black Man”), the frustration of losing friends to senseless vio-lence (“Y Can’t the Homiez Hear Me?”), and—perhaps most prescient—police brutality (“One Time”).

FACTORS OF THE SEVENGRITS

This is how you drop a classic sophomore album. Here, Bonafide and Coffee seem-ingly abandoned the country rap sounds of their Gotee debut (Mental Releases) and rode the hip-hop-purist revival of the late ’90s that exalted the culture’s four key elements.

The end result is an Outkast-like balance of Southern roots with underground hip-hop beats, concepts and deliveries. Not bad for two former dc Talk backup dancers.

CHURCH CLOTHES VOL. 1LECRAE

Although Lecrae had been releasing “Jesus Muzik” since the early 2000s, this free mixtape co-signed by DJ Don Cannon is what seemed to cement his reinvention as an artist wanting to break out of the church youth group circuit. Its high-profile, mainstream features (beats from guys like S1, Boi-1da, 9th Wonder, and Street Symphony as well as guest verses from the likes

of No Malice (formerly Malice from Clipse), appeared to successfully garner interest from listeners unfamiliar with the Reach Records co-owner.

KULTURE!28

HIP HOP

Jan-Mar 2017

GANG AFFILIATED

BACKBREAKANOMICSMARS ILL

Deepspace5’s Manchild and DJ Dust dropped this sophomore album with toby mac’s Gotee Records, which provided a broader platform for their winning combination of acrobatic lyricism and soulfully, dirty produc-tion. Fuzzy, Black Keys-like guitars and drums abound on this classic that paints various pictures of what an underground rap life looks like when it’s infused with the Gospel.

CHRONICLES OF AN X-HUSTLERTHI’SL

With a booming, gravelly voice and duffle bag full of true crime tales, Thi’sl shares his testimony as a former St. Louis street boss who eventually yielded to the call of Christ. The album bleeds picturesque realism that recalls HBO’s lauded TV series The Wire and offers listeners a look a way of life that was truly repented and redeemed.

GRAMMATICALREVOLUTIONGRITSThe hit single, "They All Fall Down" was the Dove Award's Rap/Hip-Hop Song of the Year in 2000 and it came from Grammatical Revolution, which was described by many as the best grits CD ever.

BETWEEN TWOWORLDSTRIP LEE

Trip Lee spends 16 songs talking to believers about how we should view our world and our lives. Are we to view our homes here as merely temporary or take the more worldly view of "he who dies with the most toys wins?" Lee stays on point, viewing the concept from all sides and staying true to Scripture while doing it.

IT’S PRONOUNCED

FIVE-TWO

KJ-52

2004 saw this release take top honors at the Dove Awards, when it won the Rap Hip-Hop Album of the Year. It’s Pronounced Five Two is KJ's third re-lease and it's filled with humor, (yes - he's funny AND talented), important issues, and most of all ... God.

BON-A-FIDET-BONE

Not only is this album’s production top-notch, it’s also T-Bone’s best release to date. The pioneer of west coast Gos-pel hip-hop brought it and he brought it big in Bone-A-Fide. The album may have been controversial but the dopeness is undeniable.

OUR WORLD REDEEMED

FLAME

The sequel to Our World Fallen, Our World Redeemed is up for a 2009 GRAMMY with good reason. Offering hope and a bright outlook on an eternal future, Flame deliv-ers his best album to date to the delight of fans both old and new. Plus it featured the dope Joyful Noise with Lecrae.

MOMENT OF TRUTH DA TRUTHDa Truth came out so strong on his debut that he caught the attention of legendary gospel artist Kirk Franklin. He was in rare form on this album. Moment of Truth was also the first album released on Cross Movement Records by a non-member of the actual group. The success of this record opened doors for artists like FLAME, Lecrae, J.R., R-Swift, Everyday Process and K-Drama to put out albums via the label.

EXTRA CREDITTHEORY HAZIT

Simply put, Extra Credit is a masterpiece. For people who grew up listening to The Roots, KRS-One, A Tribe Called Quest, Com-mon, Mos Def and De La Soul’s of the world, Extra Credit could be put side-by-side with any of those artists’ albums on music

quality alone. In the era of ringtones and iTunes singles, Extra Credit was clearly made to be an Album. It simply flows. The

beats matched Theory’s rhymes perfectly and ultimately, point us back to Christ.


REBELLECRAE

Rebel completely took CHH by storm. This wasn’t just music for a movement, it became a movement. It was unlike anything I had seen in CHH. It took an artist, with a good re-sume up to that point, straight to the top of the genre. After Rebel, Lecrae became the face of CHH because of songs like “Don’t Waste Your Life” and “Go Hard.”

HISTORY: OUR PLACEIN HIS STORYCROSS MOVEMENT

HIStory: Our Place In His Story is the last album that legendary Christian Hip Hop group Cross Movement released. The Tonic, The Ambassador, T.R.U.-L.I.F.E., and Phanatik were the members of CM that brought the rhymes on this. It was great to see the Movement’s last album get a GRAMMY-nomination.

OPEN BOOKDA TRUTHDa’ T.R.U.T.H.’s third solo album had stellar singles like “Who Am I” featuring Tye Tribbett, “Price Tag” featuring Trip Lee, “Star Struck” featuring The Ambassador, “That Great Day” featuring Donnie McClurkin & Tye Tribbett and “Rose” featuring Lisa McClendon, among others. Open Book definitely had an impact on Hip Hop.

THE ART OF TRANSLATIONGRITS

The Art Of Translation is a Christian Hip Hop album where you don’t want to skip a track. “Ooh Ahh” featuring tobyMac off The Art Of The Translation is one of the greatest Chris-tian Hip Hop singles in music history, if not the best CHH track ever. “Ooh Ahh” has played on MTV and in high profile movies (The Fast and the Furious & Big Momma’s House 2).

GRAVITYLECRAE

Gravity is the only Hip Hop project to ever win a GRAMMY in the “Best Gospel Album” category. The GRAMMY award-winning album featured noteworthy artists like Big K.R.I.T., Sho Baraka, Andy Mineo, Novel, and J.R., among others, and fea-tured improved levels of production from a Creezie album.

EL V. ENVYJ GIVENS

To make a great emcee, you need more than flow, you need to have lyrical ability. JGivens provides plenty of lyrical ability on El v. Envy. He showed all of the traits of a good lyricist throughout the record. He had sharp wordplay, double entendres, and metaphors.

He stayed pretty consistent lyrically throughout the record, and didn’t have too many down spots. He covered a wide variety of topics but never faltered from the Christian message that was pretty heavy on El v. Envy. JGivens accomplished the difficult task of providing a strong Christian message and great lyricism.

INSTRUMENTS OF MERCYBEAUTIFUL EULOGY

It’s really hard to put into words how great this album really is. Instruments of Mercy stretches so far passed any of the regular modes of assessment in music. Calling it a classic doesn’t do it justice. Saying that the lyri-cism and production

were stellar doesn’t sound good enough. This record is more than music. This is a record for that every individual should own.


HEROES FOR SALEANDY MINEO

Andy Mineo’s debut studio album came up with flaming swords. With guest appearances from Lecrae, Trip Lee, KB, Christon Gray, Krizz Kaliko, and for KING & COUNTRY among others, Mineo knocked this one out of the park.

REHABLECRAERehab is the album that pretty much put Lecrae in the mainstream lime-light. Centered on

release and freedoms from inhibiting addictions and habits, Rehab is a highly conceptual album. It was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album at the 53rd Grammy Awards. Unarguably, Rehab was the greatest hip-hop event of 2010.

13 LETTERS116 CLIQUE

13 Letters is easily one of the heaviest doctrine laced albums ever heard in any music style. It’s a great album because it brings so many great artists together and shows that they have great knowledge in what they represent. This record is great for any believer or non-believer because it can challenge or preach. There are not many albums on this level so get it if you don’t have it.

LIONS & LIARSSHO BARAKA

Sho has always been dope, but this album was a defining point in his music. A great blend of humor, rock, rap and R&B, L & L was a delight to listen to The album is packed with references, both cultural & biblical & is bursting with musical styles & lyrical themes.

THE GOOD FIGHTBIZZLE

New Release Tuesday's Mark Ryan called this album "hip-hop evangelism at its finest" and said Bizzle "touches on use of the "N" word and pimp as ways to greet one another". Ryan found it atypical of Chris-tian hip hop artists to "be so blatant in their phrasing ... but is truly refreshing to hear someone come straight out and ask the questions." Enough said.

RAPZILLA.COM PRESENTS:KING KULTUREVARIOUS ARTISTS

This Rapzilla compilation album was a great gift to hip-hop. It gave us great music from Braille, Sho Baraka, GRITS, Eshon Burgundy, KJ-52 and so much more. It also featured that amazing “King Kulture” anthem by the Humble Beast crew (Beautiful Eulogy, Theory Hazit & Lee Green). What more could you ask for from a classic record?

EXCELLENTPROPAGANDAExcellent is the fourth studio album from Prop and he delivered it nicely; spoken-word never sounded so good. Produced by Beautiful Eulogy, the album was a creative pile

of goodness with guest appearances from Kevin Olu-sola, Theory Hazit, Lee Green and Sho Baraka.

THE ART OF JOYJACKIE HILL PERRY

THE BIG PICTUREDA TRUTH

What can be said about Jackie Hill Perry? The spoken-word P4CM poet blew ev-eryone’s minds with The Art of Joy. The album was so critically acclaimed that

she was making mainstream lists as a top mcee. Not only should you have this album in your collection, you should have it on repeat.

Legend, Lost, That Great Day, Trumpet Blow, do I really need to go on? This album was Da Truth on another level, touching everything from the fall of mankind to praying for the president to the 2nd coming of Christ. A very enlightening album; it’s a must have.


The Resurrection of Gavin StoneGRANT WARD IS GOOD GUY NOW?

KULTURE!32

FILM!

OUT JANUARY 20

The Lego Batman MovieTHE BAT IN BRICKSOUT FEBRUARY 10

Agents of Shield alum, Brett Dalton stars as a washed-up former child star, forced to do community service at a local megachurch, pretends to be a Christian to land the part of Jesus in their annual Passion Play, only to discover that the most important role of his life is far from Hollywood.

TROGS is yet another ad-dition to the ever-growing faith-based film market. It’s not unsual to see mainstream actors starring in Faith-based movies this day, but its left to be seen how Dalton will carry this role, seeing its a family drama.

The church used in the film is Harvest Bible Chapel in Elgin, IL. There was an open call for extras to be seat fill-ers during a sermon scene. Again, its not the first time we’ll see this in a faith-based production.

There was an actual motor-cycle club on the scene, Take Up Your Cross motorcycle ministry... The President’s bike was used through out the movie and some of the members posed in the poster for the movie

In September, 2016, WWE Studios acquired worldwide rights to The Resurrection of Gavin Stone. Hoepfully that didn’t tamper with creative control.

Well to state the obvious, there will be huge moral lessons to be learnt.

WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT

Director Dallas Jenkins

Starring Brett Dalton, Anjelah Johnson-Reyes, Shawn Michaels, Neil Flynn & D.B. Sweeney.

Ever since we saw The Lego Movie, this one has been teased, buzzed and talked about so much. We are still expectant about seeing this spin-off animation.

In The Lego Batman Movie, Bruce Wayne must not only deal with the criminals of Gotham City, but also the responsibility of raising a boy he adopted.

It’s also exciting to know that the move will feature many villains from Batman’s Rogues Gallery such as, but not limited to, The Joker, Har-ley Quinn, Bane, The Riddler, Catwoman, Poison Ivy, The Penguin and Clayface.

TLBM will be the third animated Batman film to be released in theaters after Bat-man: Mask of the Phantasm

(1993) and Batman: The Kill-ing Joke (2016).

Plus Will Arnett (Batman) and Michael Cera (Robin) will be making an Arrested Develop-ment reunion on this animated feature film.

Animated films are always fun to watch especially the ones like this that promise so much action. Be definitely on it.

With some of the most talented voice actors here, why wouldn’t you want to?


Director Chris McKay Starring Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, Zach Galifianakis, Ralph Fiennes & Mariah Carey.

Jan-Mar 2017

The ShackA WEEKEND IN THE WOODSOUT MARCH 3

After the abduction and assumed death of Mackenzie Allen Phillip’s youngest daughter, Missy, Mack receives a letter and has the suspicion it’s from God asking him to return to The Shack where Missy may have been murdered. After con-templating it, he leaves his home to go to The Shack for the first time since Missy’s accident and encounters what will change his life forever.

The Shack is based on an incredible novel written by William P. Young in 2007. Fans of the book have been massively looking forward to seeing a movie adaptation to a story that completely portrays God in ways we’ve never seen.

Forrest Whitaker was originally signed on to star and direct but pulled out for

whatever reasons. It boasts an impressive cast for a faith-based movie.

The screenplay was written by John Fusco, Andrew Lanham and Daniel Cretton. Great performances are ex-pected from this drama, and there is a high possibility it will deliver.

Its got great performers committed to a great story, so it should be quite an experience.


Director Stuart HazeldineStarring Sam Worthington, Octavia Spencer, Radha Mitchell, Aviv Alush, Sophia Braga, Sumire Matsubara & Tim McGraw.

The FounderOUT JANUARY 20

The Founder is a biopic that chronicles the story of fast food franchise, McDon-ald’s owner, Ray Kroc. Micheal Keaton plays Kroc (A role Tom Hanks turned down), so do I hear Oscar nominations ringing? Maybe, Maybe not. As we’ve seen over the years, biopics aren’t always a sure bet.

Keaton is joined by Laura Dern as Ethel Kroc, Patrick Wilson, Nick Offerman and B.J Novak. Like every biopic, I’m sure there will be lessons to learn from Kroc’s life.

Joel Coen and Ethan Coen liked the script for The Founder very much and wanted to direct the film, but they had to turn it down because of schedule conflicts with Hail, Caesar! So I guess there’s a lot of good stuff to be expected.

It’s directed by Saving Mr Banks helms-man, John Lee Hancock, so it’s obvious this one will be fun to watch.

Rock DogOUT FEBRAURY 24

Bodi (Luke Wilson), a wide-eyed Tibetan Mastiff, is expected to become the next village guard to a group of fun-loving, country-side sheep, but fears he doesn’t have the passion to assume the role from his dad, Khampa (J.K. Simmons). Everything changes when a radio literally falls out of the sky and Bodi hears a song by rock legend Angus Scattergood (Eddie Izzard), opening his heart to a musical world he must explore.

Leaving home to chase his destiny in the big city, Bodi attracts the attention of Khampa’s nemesis, Linnux (Lewis Black). Leader of a hungry wolf pack, Linnux believes that Bodi is his ticket back into the village and closer to delicious sheep. It is up to Bodi to save his family and friends from harm without giving up his newfound dream.

Also starring in voice roles in Rock Dog are Kenan Thompson, Mae Whitman, Sam Elliot and Matt Dillion. Also this is Ash Bannon’s first director’s gig since 2007’s Surf’s Up.

The Great WallOUT FEBRAURY 17

In the battle for humanity, an elite force makes a heroic stand atop the Great Wall of China to combat an army of monsters. The monster is identified as the Taotie, a beast of great greed from ancient Chinese mythology. A horde of monsters creep up on the wall every 60 years forcing the army to defend it.

So its official, The Great Wall is a monster movie that’ll have Matt Damon rolling with bows and arrows instead of guns. The Great Wall also stars Pedro Pascal (Game of Thrones, Narcos), Willem Dafoe, Jin Tian and Andy Lau.

For a little trivia, it would interest you to know that Andy Lau and Matt Damon played the role of the gang member working as a mole in the police force in Infernal Affairs (2002) and The Departed (2006) respectively. Andy Lau played a tri-ad member & senior inspector working for the Hong Kong Police Force. Matt Damon played his American counterpart, a staff sergeant of the Massachusetts State Police and member of the Irish mob.

Beauty and the BeastOUT MARCH 17

Belle is a young woman who is taken pris-oner by a Beast in his castle in exchange for the freedom of her father Maurice. De-spite her fears, she befriends the castle’s enchanted staff and learns to look beyond the Beast’s exterior to recognize the true heart and soul of the human Prince within just as a hunter named Gaston is on the loose to take Belle for himself and hunt down the Beast at any cost.

Truly, like Cinderella recently, Beauty and the Beast is just a live action remake of the 1991 Disney animation of the same name. This one stars Harry Potter alum, Emma Watson as Belle, Luke Evans as Gaston and Dan Stevens as The Beast.

Beauty and the Beast also stars Kevin Kline, Josh Gad, Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ian McKellen and Emma Thompson.


pon finishing high school, Steven Curtis-Chapman enrolled as a pre-med student at Georgetown College in Kentucky. After a couple of semesters

he transferred to Anderson Col-lege in Indiana. However, he soon dropped out and went to Nashville to pursue a career in music. While in Nashville he briefly attended Bel-mont University. He began working a

U

STEVEN CURTIS

HALL OF FAME

music show at Opryland USA while dedicating time to songwriting.

In the 1980s, Steven wrote a song called Built to Last, which was recorded by prominent gospel group The Imperials. The strength of the song prompted him to be signed to a songwriting deal with Sparrow Records, where he rose to prominence. As of 2007, artists like Sandi Patty, Billy Dean, Glen Campbell, the Cathedral Quartet and Roger Whittaker have

recorded Chapman’s songs.

In 1987, Steven Curtis Chapman released his first album, First Hand. The album included the song Weak Days, which peaked at No. 2 on the Contemporary Chris-tian Music chart. The following year his second album, Real Life Conversations, earned him four more hits, including the No. 1 song His Eyes.

After that, Chapman followed with more albums like More to This Life and For the Sake of the Call.

CHAPMAN


All of these albums featured several No. 1 singles and were awarded several GMA Awards. The latter also gave Chapman his first Grammy in the Best Pop Gospel Album category. These achievements strengthened his position in the Christian music scene.

In 1992, Chapman made a success-ful shift into a more mainstream audience with his album The Great Adventure. The album garnered Chapman two more Grammys, for the album and for the title track video. Chapman continued to enjoy success with albums like Heaven in the Real World, Signs of Life, and Speechless. In 2001, with the release of Declaration, Chapman got more attention in the Top 200. That album, along with 2003’s All About Love, peaked in the Top 15. The follow-up, All Things New, made it to No. 22.

Chapman has also released three Christmas albums, beginning with 1995’s The Music of Christmas. In 2005, he released All I Really Want for Christmas, and this was fol-lowed by a re-release of The Music of Christmas in 2004, distributed only at Hallmark Cards stores.

He also hosts the Gospel Music Channel show, The Best of the Dove Awards.

In August 2012, Chapman an-nounced his departure from Sparrow Records and his signature to Sony’s Provident Label Group. He released the Christmas album, JOY, on October 16, 2012. Sales were disappointing for a new release, ending the week after Christmas stood at 36,382.

In September 2013, Reunion Records released Chapman’s eighteenth album (the second with Reunion Records), The Glorious Unfold-ing, which was also his first studio album in seven years that features completely original material. The album received critical acclaim, with many critics ranking it among his other chart-topping albums. The album peaked at No. 27 on the US Billboard 200.

Beginning in September 2014 until April 2015, Chapman hosted

the Sam’s Place: Music for the Spirit concert series at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville and featured performances by the likes of MercyMe, Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith and Third Day.

In 2015, Chapman released War-rior as the official song for the soundtrack to War Room.

An outspoken advocate for adop-tion awareness, Steven and his wife Mary Beth adopted three daughters from China, Shaohan-nah, Stevie Joy and Maria Sue. In 2008, Maria was killed when she was accidentally run over in the family’s driveway.

Steven channeled the pain from that tragedy and his ultimate hope in God into his album Beauty Will Rise, which featured Heaven is the Face, a song written in remem-brance of his daughter. Describing the songs as his “personal psalms,” Steven was able to share his and his family’s story of hope in the midst of sorrow in mainstream me-dia outlets including Larry King Live, Fox News and People.

His reflections continued in his album Safe In The Arms, as Steven worked with fellow Christian artist Matt Redman. The release was coupled with a tour with his wife Mary Beth entitled A Night with the Chapmans, where she showcased her new book Choosing to See. The book discusses the journey of the Chapman’s over the past few years, and the role of their faith and hope in God to get them through.

From a place of suffering and surrender and now hopefulness Steven began writing songs that illuminate the promises of God and declare truths from scripture resulting in his first worship album Worship and Believe.

“I thought maybe I could be the guy who is not in a particular worship camp

KULTURE! 35

community,” Steven says. “I’m not a Passion artist or Bethel artist or Gateway. I thought, ‘What if I were to bring all those different com-munities together musically - in a way - to create this project?

“For me, some of the greatest worship music maybe wasn’t even called worship music at the time,” Steven reflects. “Rich Mullins’ ‘Step by Step’ is probably the song I sung before I even knew what those songs were called ... if I’m going to make this kind of music, I want to draw on some of the influ-ences that have most inspired me.”

Steven’s music is hopeful. It’s also a call to and celebration of unity, as Christians rally around who and what we worship and believe, declaring it together, as one body.

Jan-Mar 2017

SOUNDING GREATNESS

WORDS BY REV AROME E. ADAHGENERAL OVERSEERSAVANNAH MINISTRIES INT’L

The ministry ofa prophet

In 1986 in a vision, the Lord told me that I was going to be a prophet. At that time I knew nothing about the office of a prophet. As a matter of fact, we had people in church we were attending then saying that the pro-phetic anointing no longer existed.

“And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, govern-ments, diversities of tongues.” 1 Corinthians 12:28.

“And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evange-lists; and some, pastors and teachers.” Ephesians 4:11.

According to these scriptures, there are New Testament prophets set by God in the church today.

“(Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to enquire of God, thus he spake, Come, and let us go to the seer: for he that is now called a Prophet was be-foretime called a Seer.)” 1 Samuel 9:9.

A prophet is a seer. He sees and knows things supernaturally.

“Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.” 1 Corinthians 14:29-32.

Paul, writing to the church says, “Let the prophets speak two or three…” This means that there are prophets in the New Testament church today who are to be permitted to minister to the saints. While speaking about

the ministry of the prophets to the saints, Paul said “…if anything be revealed…” The life of a prophet is characterized by visions and revelations.

Every ministry gift is primarily a preacher and/or a teacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So a prophet is primarily a preacher and/or a teacher of the gospel. He has at least two of the revelative gifts of the Spirit plus the gift of prophecy operating regularly in his life.

The revelative gifts are:

1 The Word of Wisdom

The word of wisdom is the supernatural manifestation of the Spirit whereby God’s plans and purposes are revealed. It’s usually a revelation of what will happen.

2 The Word of Knowledge

The word of knowledge is a supernatural manifestation of the Spirit whereby facts are revealed about people, places or things. It’s usually a revelation of what has happened or what is happening.

3 The Discerning of Spirits

It’s a supernatural manifestation of the Spirit whereby one sees into the realm of the spirit. It’s a seeing of spirits.

A New Testament prophet will have two or more of these three gifts operating regularly in his life plus the gifts of prophecy. The gift of prophecy is a supernatural manifestation of the Spirit where-

by one has an inspired utterance in a known tongue. A New Testament prophet speaks from the impulse of a sudden inspiration. He speaks from the light of sudden revelation; on the spur of the moment. He speaks by di-rect divine inspiration; by immediate revelation, not necessarily something he thought of.

He does not teach or preach like other ministerial gifts do, rather he preaches or teaches by direct divine inspiration; something he did not think of or plan beforehand. Earlier on in my ministry, I would teach God’s word occasionally I would preach, but then a time came when after I had taught I would go home feeling something was wrong. As the impression of something not being right got stronger and stronger, I began to wait on God for answers and He began to deal with me about the office of a prophet.

God showed me how a prophet teaches or preaches by direct divine inspiration; from the impulse of a sudden inspiration and revelation. As I began to yield to the prophetic anointing, doors opened into a deeper realm of ministry; revelations and visions like ‘Great Days’ and ‘Mighty Supply’ have completely changed, not only my life and ministry but that of many others too.

“And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy…And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Where-fore hast thou rent thy clothes? Let him

In 1986 in a vision, the Lord told me that I was going to be a prophet. At that time I knew nothing about the office of a prophet.

I


come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.” 2 Kings 5:3, 8.

The miraculous goes along with the office of a prophet. He has at least one of the power gifts operating in his life. The power gifts are:

1 The Gift of Faith

This is the supernatural manifesta-tion of the Spirit whereby God’s ‘All faith’ comes upon someone at a par-ticular time to remove mountains.

2 The Working of Miracles

This is the displaying of power- the supernatural manifestation of the Spirit whereby God’s power is

displayed.

3 The Gift of Healing

This is the supernatural manifesta-tion of the Spirit to heal.

In the life of a prophet, the power gifts will operate usually through the revelative gifts. It may not be all the time but usually.

Some years ago in Zaria I was min-istering and I saw in a vision some-one’s spinal column. So I called out for anyone with a problem with the spinal column to come up to the platform and a lady came out who had a curvature of the spinal

column. As I moved forward to lay her hand on her, the Lord told me to ask her to bend over. So I did and the Lord asked me to hit her back seven times. As I did, she fell over, under God’s power. She later got up with her back completely straightened out. Glory to God! Let’s cooperate with the prophetic anointing today in the church and enjoy the fullness of God’s grace given to us. Enjoy grace and glory.

It’s important to note that Old Testament prophets have differ-ent a stand from the New Testa-ment prophets. While the Old Testament prophet tend to point

and reveal sin in people hence bringing judgment on them; the New Testament prophets point and reveal God’s righteousness in people hence bringing The Blessing on them.

“And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?” 1 Kings 17:18.

‘Call my sin to remembrance’ means to constantly pointing to it; constantly putting it before them.

“Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake

“the New Testament prophets point and reveal

God’s righteousness in people hence bringing The

Blessing on them.”

within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.” Luke 7:39.

But a New Testament prophet will call God’s righteousness to remem-brance; he points constantly to the finished works of Jesus not our own performance.

“And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Revelation 19:10.

The spirit of prophecy is the testi-mony of Jesus. The office of a prophet today is about revealing Jesus; it’s about revealing what He did for us; it’s about revealing the righteous-ness of God. It’s not about revealing sin or man’s performance. It’s not about bringing judgment on people. Jesus came to take away judgment from the people; hence if the office of a prophet is about revealing Jesus then it should be about taking away judgment.


Jackie Hill-Perry is a writer, speaker, and artist whose work has been featured on the Washington times, the 700 club, desiring god, the gospel coalition and other pub-lications. Since being saved from a lifestyle of homosexual sin and the like, Jackie has been compelled to share the light of gospel truth through poems that have reached over one million views on YouTube. She is also becoming an influential voice on the various topics impact-ing culture. She is signed to humble beast records and released her debut album The Art of Joy in 2014. At home, she is known as wife to Preston and mommy to Eden.

Jackie Hill-Perry considers herself not merely an agent of change, but its embodiment as well..

She once was a lesbian; about that,

she says “God not only changes your affections and your heart, but He gives you new affections that you didn’t have.”

Jackie’s experience runs counter to pronouncements by gay rights groups that exclaim sexuality as an inherent, immutable characteristic. What’s more, her assertions come amid wide-ranging reports about the psychologi-cal dangers of so-called “reparative therapy,” which aims to change the orientation of homosexuals.

But she remains steadfast in her belief that anything is possible with God as she meets criticism — and outright contempt — for speaking out about her experience.

“The word of God itself, apart from Jackie Hill, testifies that people can change,” she said. “I think we’ve made

God very little if we believe that He cannot change people.”

“I think we’re moving toward a time in our society when, in the next 20 to 25 years, Christians are going to see a massive amount of persecution when it comes to the topic of homosexual-ity, and there will be no such thing as tolerance for Christianity,”

“The true church of Jesus Christ will still stick to the Scriptures. Now, those buildings that have people in them where the authority of God doesn’t trump their own feelings and emo-tions, I see a whole bunch of turning away from the faith — turning away from truth.”

QUICKIE

JACKIE HILL-PERRY


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