“But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute; you lavished your favours on anyone who passed by and your beauty became his… But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord his God and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense” (Ezekiel 16:15; 2 Chron. 26:16).
I find the hoopla generated by Tems’ best gospel act award inelegant.
The musician carpeted heavyweight gospel artistes, such as Kirk Franklin, Cece Winans, Shirley Caesar, Naomi Raine & Chandler Moore, Halle Bailey, and Erica Campbell, to win the award for ‘Best Gospel/Inspirational Song’ on the strength of her 2024 release, ‘Me & U’ at the 2024 BET Awards held recently at the Peacock Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles, United States.
Tems’ triumph has elicited mixed reactions and was condemned by those who felt she ought not to have won in the category since, according to them, she is a secular musician. ‘Gospel’ artistes are particularly riled that they were ‘robbed’. However, this is hardly the truth.
I saw a video of Kirk Franklin recently wriggling his waist vulgarly like a demon-possessed in the name of gospel music. That was exactly how Tems twisted hers seductively in her revealing outfit not long ago. So, what is the difference between both artistes being proficient in entrapping twists whether serving God or Satan? Why would Kirk Franklin win and not Tems, seeing they belong to the same fraternity by different hues?
The truth of the matter is that both are serving mammon and that was what confused the judges at BET. They couldn’t differentiate and had no qualms giving the award to Tems. It was not a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul; there were either two Pauls or two Peters.
I even begin to wonder why a gospel artiste should go to the temple of Satan to contest for an award. This hybrid gbagam, gbagam, dim dim din in the name of vacuous gospel music has brought the church to where it is today. It is self-evident that the BET Awards was purely a worldly affair. No true gospel artiste could have expected to win the prize and be content. From the very outset of giving one’s life to Christ, the expectation is to ‘come out from among them’ and be sanctified (separated). How could you be fraternising with Satan and expect him to repent?
I believe gospel music ended with the era of Voice of the Cross and their ilk. Those were men and women who ministered to the souls of men; who brought tears to the eyes of repentant worshippers; who turned sinners into saints by their ministration. The amoebic displays we have in the churches today are making saints sinners. Many Awilos are wielding the mic or dancefloor of many supposed churches where soulless beings congregate.
We now see dogs of men (sorry, ‘men of God’) with fried hair prancing about polluted altars, speaking in affected diction, as they address the pockets of members instead of their souls. We see their saggy Mommy GOs competing with members in a nudist exhibition of putrid flesh.
Christendom has been overrun by ‘Mr & Mrs Penterascal’ scourges, masquerading as churches. General Oversinners with competing cathedrals and street side kiosks replete with miracle seekers being deceived by ‘miracle workers’ and prayer merchants, are leading everyone down the slope to perdition. The Word of God is explicit in Matthew 6:33. All a man needs is the miracle of salvation. However, the messages we hear from the pulpits now urge us to seek every other thing before righteousness. You cannot put a cart before the horse. Ironically, that is the unfortunate situation of the present-day church.
How fat is your offering or tithe? How heavy is your seed? God is not moved by all this showmanship. Nobody is blessed because of them. Rather, obedience to the Word of God is the way maker.
The BET Awards has no business creating a category for gospel music. It is a distraction, which, unfortunately, caught gospel artistes in its net. The parameters for the award are all right for the worldly but only God knows who is making impacting the souls of men and shall reward them in due course.
Those who feel insulted that an Afrobeat singer like Tems was given the award are not in their true elements as Christians. If there is a compromise, as Asu Ekiye alleged, it is the Christian artistes who compromised their salvation in search of money, fame and worldly validation in the house of Satan.
Ekiye has my respect any day. I still get stirred each time his Woekilimo is played. Nevertheless, he should work hard to create content for the Christian artistes. That content should be soul-centred; that is the approved recognition for the saints.
The Christian territory and influence have been whittled. We have been given over to the greed of enemies of the gospel and daughters of the Philistines, who were also shocked by our bawdy and ungainly conduct. Ezekiel 16:27.
I remember in those days of Dapo Adelagan’s Lekki Sunsplash. It made me long for a purely Christian gathering like that but I lacked the money and clout to bring it to fruition. When Pastor Paul Adefarasin of House on the Rock hit the stage with ‘The Experience’, it blew my top. It was an answer to my silent prayer many years before.
I recall this because I believe that Christians have the potential to be who they are without the compromise that puts their identity to question. I also believe we can pull it through if we put our minds to it with the Holy Spirit leading us.
It is worrisome that Christians are arguing over Tems’ award, which we should actually be happy about. It is my considered opinion that Tems’ award has come to tame gospel artistes and the church. It is time we exported the gospel to the world, instead of importing strange cultures into the fold of Christ.
Sadly, nobody has even questioned why and how gospel music became inspirational music? And, truly, the song and the singer; the preacher and the sermon have all become inspirational and motivational, instead of salvation. Souls don’t matter anymore; materialism does.
Check out what the Lord says in Ezekiel 16:26. Particularly, verse 22 says: “In all your detestable practices and your prostitution, you did not remember the days of your youth…”
We need to put an end to our whoredom. We have lost our identity to the whirlpool of the devil. We have forgotten who we are and now trouncing about like a salted earthworm. To whom have we yielded our strengths and talents? When God graced you with the talent of singing, is it for His glory or for Satan? How many artistes now sing for God’s glory without placing unmatchable demands on the church? How many pastors accept invitations as guest ministers without negotiating hefty honorarium upfront and top-class hotel accommodation?
When God graced us with beauty and a good skin, is it meant to be covered or splashed on public display as the prima donna of the hour? How many Muslims do we see in the Little Brother Naija’s House of Horror? Yet the ‘inmates’ come to church to pay tithe and instead of rescuing them from that satanic prison, holding them bound, the ‘pastor’ invites them to the podium to ‘greet the church’ because they have become super stars and celebrities for emerging from the quarantine of unbridled debauchery. Shame on us!
Congratulations, ‘Sister’ Tems; you deserve your award. However, let me add that Jesus is calling you. Don’t be put off by your critics; Jesus needs you to come as you are. There is a cleanser in His precious blood shed for ‘me and you’.