For months now, Kanye West has rebranded his reputation as a more spiritual musician after comments about being used by Candace Owens. He has launched a series of concerts he calls Sunday Service. But the concerts contain a plethora of gospel music and a number of collaborations. The Sunday Service has been kept under wraps with leaked videos here and there but little is known about how legitimate the faith message is or wants to be. The Sunday Service has garnered criticism for the accompanying high end fashion line with overpriced merchandise. But on a recent Sunday, we got a taste of whether the Gospel is preached at these events with the release of Rich Wilkerson Jr. preached at Sunday Service.
Listening to the Sunday Service, Wilkerson was quick to argue that this was not a concert, this was an “old fashion worship service.” Rather than resembling “Sinners in the Hands of and Angry God,” it came off as a regular, easily digestible, church service. “Praises go up, blessings come down,” Wilkerson said. He goes on to say “Jesus is the anecdote to your trouble.” It was a solid few minutes before Wilkerson read from the Bible. And to my own surprise, he read from John 14.
1″Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4And you know the way to where I am going.” 5Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ESV
Kanye West’s Sunday Service touched on the exclusivity of Jesus. That’s the Gospel right? Not quite. The theme of Rich Wilkerson’s message was “trust in God.” The result of trusting in God, according to his message was rescue from troubles and hardships. The result of trusting in God, according to Wilkerson was reaching your destination or the destination Jesus has in mind for you. Yet in saying, this he does not assert that trusting Jesus is free of hardship. So what is missing from the message? The need. The need for trusting Jesus is entirely subjective and the result is eternal life, he also read John 3:16.
There’s a great resurrection for all of us, as we put our trust in him, he promises to get us to the other side
Popularity Gospel
Rich Wilkerson Jr. leaves out that which Jesus saves us from. He also leaves out what following Jesus, trusting Jesus, looks like. The Popularity Gospel says you are right and Jesus makes you better. It’s less ambitious than its cousin the Prosperity Gospel and the more adherent to scripture than the Social Justice Gospel, also known as Liberation Theology. For instance the Social Justice Gospel would never have touched upon John 14:6 without a pantheistic premise of Jesus. Similarly the Prosperity Gospel seeks to profit from the congregants. The Popularity Gospels is a marriage of the two heresies, but maintains the main commonality between them: they do not preach about sin.
They do not answer the question: what must we do to be saved? Because there is no saving. Rick Wilkerson’s message at Sunday Service doesn’t save because his message wasn’t the actual gospel. The differences are subtle but therein is the danger of a watered down gospel message devoid of the lifesaving meaning. It’s a brand of Christianity that baptizes believers but does not make disciples. Now, the Holy Spirit is capable of saving even using a watered down Gospel, but that believer is most certainly going to have to take it upon themselves to learn the Bible above an elementary level because a church that preaches a Popularity Gospel will not teach Christianity to the masses.
We have a theologically illiterate society and the danger in not understanding salvation is being led astray. People will claim to prophesy, preach, and cast out demons in the name of Jesus, and he will say “I do not know you.”
Rich Wilkerson Jr.’s Background
He was not a random pastor for Kanye to stumble upon. He was the officiant of the West-Kardashian wedding. Wilkerson is the lead pastor at VOUS Church in the Miami, Florida region. A quick visit to VOUS church website leaves the visitor confused as to what they believe. They list seven core values and the first one labeled “Jesus: is our message” is the only theological value they list. The others are all generic, western cultural values derived from scripture.
The purpose of Vous Church is to share the hope of Jesus. Jesus is our message. We are Jesus people, not religious people. Methods will come and go, yet our me3687iiiissage will remain the same.
There is no statement of faith on their website. His church fails the “website test” test astonishingly, and the likely result of his theological value is embrace of antinomianism, a rejection of morality and repentance. And yet a pastor that has no stated doctrinal beliefs, online, masterfully devoids the exclusivity of Jesus of that which we are being saved from. Kanye West’s Sunday Service did not just host some hack motivational speaker. They employed someone who masterfully preaches the false Popularity Gospel.
We are currently forming the American Conservative Movement. If you are interested in learning more, we will be sending out information in a few weeks.
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Will America-First News Outlets Make it to 2023?
Things are looking grim for conservative and populist news sites.
There’s something happening behind the scenes at several popular conservative news outlets. 2021 was bad, but 2022 is proving to be disastrous for news sites that aren’t “playing ball” with the corporate media narrative. It’s being said that advertisers are cracking down, forcing some of the biggest ad networks like Google and Yahoo to pull their inventory from conservative outlets. This has had two major effects. First, it has cooled most conservative outlets from discussing “taboo” topics like Pandemic Panic Theater, voter fraud, or The Great Reset. Second, it has isolated those ad networks that aren’t playing ball.
Certain topics are anathema for most ad networks. Speaking out against vaccines or vaccine mandates is a certain path to being demonetized. Highlighting voter fraud in the 2020 and future elections is another instant advertising death penalty. Throw in truthful stories about climate change hysteria, Critical Race Theory, and the border crisis and it’s easy to understand how difficult it is for America-First news outlets to spread the facts, share conservative opinions, and still pay the bills.
Without naming names, I have been told of several news outlets who have been forced to either consolidate with larger organizations or who have backed down on covering certain topics out of fear of being “canceled” by the ad networks. I get it. This is a business for many of us and it’s not very profitable. Those of us who do this for a living are often barely squeaking by, so loss of additional revenue can often mean being forced to make cuts. That means not being able to cover the topics properly. Its a Catch-22: Tell the truth and lose the money necessary to keep telling the truth, or avoid the truth and make enough money to survive. Those who have chosen survival simply aren’t able to spread the truth properly.
We will never avoid the truth. The Lord will provide if it is His will. Our job is simply to share the facts, spread the Gospel, and educate as many Americans as possible while exposing the forces of evil.
To those who have the means, we ask that you please donate. We have options available now, but there is no telling when those options will cancel us. We have our GivingFuel page. There have been many who have been canceled by PayPal, but for now it’s still an option. Your generosity is what keeps these sites running and allows us to get the truth to the masses. We’ve had great success in growing but we know we can do more with your assistance.
Thank you, and God Bless!
JD Rucker
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