WATCH! BLACK CHRISTIANITY’S ROOTS: LECRAE AND ERIC MASON CHALLENGE THE TIKTOK THEOLOGIAN’S “WHITE MAN’S RELIGION” NARRATIVE

L: Lecrae. R. Eric Mason. Screengrabs from YouTube / @LecraeOfficial

BLACK CHRISTIANITY’S ROOTS: LECRAE AND ERIC MASON CHALLENGE THE TIKTOK THEOLOGIAN’S “WHITE MAN’S RELIGION” NARRATIVE

Daniel Whyte III, President of Gospel Light Society International, says “Good on Lecrae and Eric for trying to rebuke the TikTok theologians calling Christianity the ‘white man’s religion,’ when tragically they both lost their way a few years ago and contributed to the chaos and confusion of the satanic wokeism revolution. Lecrae did demonic deconstructionism, and Eric foolishly led young Black people into wicked wokeism, which helped bring about the falling away of thousands of young people who name the name of Christ. This podcast is a feeble attempt to stem the tide of the sinful seeds they planted years ago, but at this point, it will not work. For, as Eric closed out the podcast session: ‘With many hot topics in Black culture—from crystals to ancestral masks—Pastor Mason said, “I just want to leave it alone, Bro. I probably just don’t even want to figure out if it’s redeemable…We ain’t got to do all that. I ain’t trying. I DON’T WANT THE SMOKE.”‘ For those of you who do not know the meaning of ‘I don’t want the smoke,’ it is slang meaning ‘I don’t want trouble’ or ‘I don’t want to fight.’ It’s a way of expressing a desire to avoid conflict or confrontation. The phrase implies that someone doesn’t want to engage in an argument or physical altercation.”

On the newest episode of “Deep End with Lecrae,” the Christian hip-hop artist talked to author and Dr. Eric Mason about “misconceptions circulating in today’s Black Tik-Tok theology.” Mason, who leads Epiphany Fellowship Church in Philadelphia, founded Thriving, an organization that develops urban ministry leaders. Lecrae referred to Mason as an advocate for the church and one of the most culturally relevant voices on Black theology.

 

Mason said he came to faith while attending a Black college, when it wasn’t a good time to be a Christian. But being forced to defend his beliefs motivated his studies and his work in urban apologetics.

Mason has a Master of Theology degree from Dallas Theological Seminary and a doctoral degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. His latest book, “Rebranding the Church: Restoring the Image of God’s People in the World” releases on Sept. 30. Mason’s previous titles include “Woke Church: An Urgent Call for Christians in America to Confront Racism and Injustice” and “Urban Apologetics: Restoring Black Dignity with the Gospel.”

Pastor Eric Mason: Christianity Was Never ‘Forced’ Onto Black People

Black influencers who talk about religion often use dated information or don’t really understand Black church history, according to Mason. “It irritates me…that we have such a bad reputation as the church that it’s easy to slander us and nobody will defend us,” he said. “That’s why I’ve been on this whole ‘Rebranding the Church’ thing, because…we don’t just need a facelift. We need an authenticity overhaul.”

Using the example of the recent movie “Sinners,” Mason said Black Christianity usually gets presented with “a negative tinge.” Christians in Africa, he said, have asked him why Americans are “trying to go backward into African spirituality.” Through the genetic-fallacy argument, Mason said, people assume we have to get rid of stuff in the Bible that humans misused but that God redeemed.

Black people often have a narrative that “white people took away our culture from us and gave us their culture—which, part of that’s true, cultural imperialism—but then they add Christianity to it in all of its forms,” Mason said. Pointing to Albert Raboteau’s book “Slave Religion,” he added, “Christianity was never forced on [Black people]. [Slaveholders] were actually scared for us to get saved.”

When the Quakers started sharing the gospel with slaves, for example, the Quakers were persecuted. Black people “wouldn’t be enslavable because the gospel would so liberate them,” Mason said of the slaveholders’ mentality. “[Slaves] would see the hypocrisy.”

Mason said he has “Negro stupidity fatigue” from hearing Black people call Christianity “the white man’s religion.” The Jesus we worship wasn’t white, but he wasn’t necessarily Black either, he noted. “The devil just hates the true gospel,” Mason said.

But the pastor told Lecrae he’s encouraged by the number of young people who are becoming more knowledgeable about religious history—and the fact that people of color and women played key roles. For example, at the Council of Nicaea in 325 C.E., North African Christians had a strong presence. “If you look at most of the councils, you had to find the white people there,” said Mason.

Eric Mason & Lecrae Discuss Extremes of Legalism & Syncretism

As for whether certain cultural practices are demonic, Mason said Christians need to discern whether any “redeemable components” exist. For example, hip-hop isn’t fundamentally demonic because we also have Christian hip-hop, and it’s possible to respect your ancestors without worshiping them. “You don’t have to make a Christian version of something that’s in the world to make it redeemable,” Mason added, but “if God says something’s off-limits, it’s off-limits.”

Admitting “the wrestle is real,” the pastor discussed his tension about being involved with a Black fraternity. He encouraged Christians to watch for “a check in your spirit,” noting, “If God is influencing you to denounce anything that’s not necessary in your life…denounce it.”

The modern-day church has two extremes, according to Mason. One side features “super legalistic” people on “witch hunts,” while the other is “syncretism, where they’re trying to say there’s no harm.” Both extremes, he said, “need the gospel.”

Referencing 1 Corinthians 2 and Hebrews 5:11-14, Mason said believers must use discernment about their liberties and be consistent. “Don’t pick and choose what your obedience looks like when you utilize these principles [about] these things being fundamentally flawed,” he said. Otherwise, Christians wouldn’t be able to use the dollar bill, because it features occult symbols.

Lecrae Asks Eric Mason To Analyze Black-Theology Tik-Tok

Next, Lecrae played several social media clips, with Black influencers discussing theology. “We can argue religion after we free…’cause we ain’t even free,” one man said. Criticizing Black men who “get the white Jesus chain,” that influencer continued, “That’s why we teach the Black man…you are God.”

In response, Pastor Eric Mason said, “I think it’s funny that he’s saying, ‘Don’t choose a religion until we’re free, but then he presents a religion.” Jesus wasn’t white, but Master Fard Muhammad [the founder of the Nation of Islam] was white, Mason said, “so who really has the white man’s religion?”

Another clip featured someone saying that many people who claim to be Christians don’t live with “Christ energy.” He and others like him have a “reductionistic view of Jesus Christ,” Mason said. By contrast, “We got a big Christ, and he’s pretty complicated,” the pastor said. “He’s loving and he’s wrath…He’s merciful and he’s mighty.”

Mason added, “We reduce Jesus to the Jesus we like the most…and if we love, then we say Jesus is just love, which he’s way more than that.”

In the final clip, a woman asked:

Why do most Black people have the same religion as these white nationalist, racist, white supremacist-type people? Why do we think that it’s good for us when they stole everything about us, made us forget our languages and our own religions and our own things and then forced us to be Christians? And this is why I believe that Christianity is witchcraft. It is a spell. They told [that] you your religion, your spirituality that you had before you got colonized was demonic. And we still believe them.

The woman added that she doesn’t need Christianity to have spiritual experiences or to tap into her gifts. “I tap into the god that’s inside of me and use the gifts that God gave me,” she said.

In response, Mason reiterated that Christianity was present in Africa “long before the transatlantic slave trade.”

“The whole idea that Christianity was forced on us, they got to stop. That’s a bad narrative,” he said. “Was a false form of Christianity later propagated and controlled? Yes. But Christianity wasn’t beat into [Black people].”

Pointing to Galatians 3:1, Mason said those kinds of notions equate to witchcraft and rebellion. “There’s such a trauma around Blacks in America’s relationship with the way Christianity is perceived and branded,” said the pastor. “So [the faith is] seen as an enemy, not a companion for freedom.”

Many influencers don’t realize that when you’re “illegitimately accessing the spirit realm…you’re bringing things into your life that keep you blinded to the gospel,” Mason added.

Lecrae mentioned inviting a former witch on his podcast, as well as debates about Christians doing yoga. “What I hate about us sometimes,” Mason said about Christians, is that “we don’t want to have no caution.” The two men agreed about the danger of spiritual laziness.

With many hot topics in Black culture—from crystals to ancestral masks—Pastor Mason said, “I just want to leave it alone, bro. I probably just don’t even want to figure out if it’s redeemable…We ain’t got to do all that. I ain’t trying. I don’t want the smoke.”

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