Tim in San Diego, California writes in to ask this, Pastor John, do you believe there's

a difference between a Christian rap artist and a rap artist who is a Christian?

And do you believe that an artist who is a Christian needs to include the gospel into

every song that they make?

Well, let's start with that last question because I think answering that one probably

winds up addressing the concerns in the first one which art is easy to answer because

the terms aren't clear.

But this one is, does the gospel need to be in every song?

And if you mean the full enough doctrinal statement of the gospel that the listener

would have a reasonable understanding of the gospel and know how to come to Christ,

the answer is no.

And I say that because Paul accused Peter in Galatians 2 of a kind of behavior that was

not in step with the gospel.

So there is the gospel and there's life in step with the gospel.

There's the gospel and there's rap in step with the gospel.

There's the gospel and there's music in step with the gospel.

There's the gospel and there's advertising for your music group in step with the gospel.

There's the gospel and there's the clothing and the attitudes and the tone that's in

step with the gospel.

So it's a more biblical test for a rap song to ask is the message, the tone, the aim,

the origin, the spirit in step with the gospel rather than does it contain the four or

five or six points or steps of the gospel.

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