{"id":500,"date":"2015-02-20T17:07:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-20T17:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mrmushava.wordpress.com\/2015\/02\/20\/secular-influence-in-christian-entertainment\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T08:50:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T08:50:14","slug":"secular-influence-in-christian-entertainment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=500","title":{"rendered":"Secular Influence in Christian Entertainment"},"content":{"rendered":"<table align=\"center\" cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" class=\"tr-caption-container\" style=\"float: left;margin-right: 1em;text-align: left\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.konnectafrica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Frank-1.jpg\" style=\"margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto\" width=\"330\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"tr-caption\" style=\"text-align: center\"><b>Frank Edwards<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"background-color: white;font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;line-height: 20px\">The blending of gospel themes with secular lingo, beats or genres to enhance reception has divided opinion in Christian circles.<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;line-height: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">The development has raised eyebrows among those who fear that the co-opting of \u201coutside influences\u201d compromises gospel purity.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;line-height: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">Whatever the case, code-switching the Bible and secular patterns of expression is in vogue.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;line-height: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">Proponents arguing that to gain broader appeal, Christian artists must unpack their message in the \u201clanguage\u201d that most people understand.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;line-height: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">The question is whether this latest form of artistic license, which gospel ministers are indulgent of in the name of evangelical capital, is good or bad for the message?<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;line-height: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">Does code-switching import valuable add-ons or does it distort the essential import of Christian works of art?<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;line-height: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">There is a danger of approaching the problem from one extreme and readily playing down other views.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;line-height: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">So we will desist from assigning one-size-fit-all interpretations to the phenomenon and painstakingly zero in on each case as it dictates.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;line-height: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">On the question of genre, is it wrong for someone to praise Jesus with rap, dancehall, rock or jazz \u2013 mediums which some have branded as repositories of satanic influence?<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;line-height: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">Let\u2019s face it, some of these mediums have been used to glorify crime, drugs, violence, sex, nudity and profanity in clear violation of the Bible.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;line-height: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif\">Is it fitting when young Tinashe Magacha takes to the podium to \u201crock dem tunez\u201d using the same genre Seh Calaz uses to glorify the abuse of bronco and \u201cchamba\u201d for cheap applause from ignorant youths or the same beat Chibaba\u00a0Chacho uses to chant unprintable lyrics?<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif\">Should we \u201ccycle\u201d along to Pastor Charamba\u2019s gospel sungura or dance along\u00a0to Sabastian Magacha\u2019s rhumba offering, Rovambira?<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">Is Frank Edwards, the genie behind Rocktown Records, then justified to \u201cRock n Roll\u201d for Jesus?\u201d Should Chris Tomlin\u2019s invite to \u201cGod\u2019s Great Dancefloor\u201d or Solly Mahlangu\u2019s call to \u201cPraise Him in an African Way\u201d be heeded?<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;line-height: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">My answer is an emphatic \u201cYes!\u201d Like it or not, art is battlefront. It may not be a magic bullet but its influence can only be gainsaid at our own peril.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;line-height: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">We need custodians of tradition in the form of conservative gospel artists but we also need to reclaim territories currently in the devil\u2019s control through Christian soldiers like Culture T.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;line-height: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">Yes, we need joyful noisemakers in plenty. Only that they must be seen to be \u201cloading every rift with ore\u201d as John Keats puts it.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;line-height: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">In as much as the problem with most secular performers is their wrong message, Christians must weigh in with the right message \u2013 even the gospel, which is \u201cthe power of God unto salvation.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;line-height: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">One of the problems with code-switching is that it sometimes brings along the unwanted baggage. There are so-called Christian movies, for example, which accommodate nudity and profanity for the purpose of giving sin a more graphical or empirical demonstration.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;line-height: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">Such works often appear to tell their message inversely. They ostensibly point to what is right by harping on sin hours on end just to show its ultimate wages in the denouement. From such turn away!<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;line-height: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">Why should viewers be forced to scrounge for a few morsels of food in a garbage dump? Whether the food is wholesome or palatable is neither here nor there once it is laced up with toxins in the garbage dump.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;line-height: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">Going through lewdness, blasphemy and nudity in a movie just to get to the \u201cHalleluiah moment\u201d in the closing scenes is a self-negating formula.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;line-height: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">It inadvertently promotes some sins to decampaign others which makes mockery of the biblical math: \u201c10 -1 = 0.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;line-height: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">The same goes with appealing to popular but desperately compromised secular works to reinforce or endorse a Christian message.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;line-height: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">A respected pastor recently came under fire for quoting from Chris Brown\u2019s \u201cLoyal\u201d \u2013 a song whose lyrics are not only dirty but also grossly derogatory of women.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;line-height: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">While the pastor was preaching a biblical message on relationships, his resort to the song was a negative game-changer, wrong spice for the right dish, because what is wrong cannot endorse what is right without insinuating justification for both.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;line-height: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">We come to the issue of influence. Without doubt the domineering influence imposes its language, just as we are stuck with English from a historical mistake called colonialism.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;line-height: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">Few weeks ago, a charismatic denomination called swept a crusade across my neighbourhood under the banner \u201cBatai Munhu Jehovah Revival.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;line-height: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">The catch-phrase was of course popularised by Suluman and Jah Prayzah\u2019s duets. Acquaintances known to me as party animals attended and possibly had life-transforming experiences.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;line-height: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">Some of the songs which were belted from the distant-booming public-address system included a reworked political song by Cde Chinx, in this context rendered \u201cVaporofita vakanganisa? Aiwa havana kukanganisa!\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;line-height: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">In the run-up to Judgement Night 2, Sulumani remixed his father\u2019s song into a Judgement Night jingle.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;line-height: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">While there is nothing wrong in all this, my attitude is that Christians can be more influential than that.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;line-height: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">Why should the church adopt and adapt a song when \u201cthe world\u201d has exhausted the flavour out of it in pubs and rallies? These things ought not to be so brethren.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;line-height: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">It is alright for patrons in Chikwanha bottle-stores to dance along to Mathias Mhere\u2019s sungura-like psalms and think carefully about what \u201cNumber Busy\u201d means when they are alone in moments of conviction.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;line-height: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">But it is unbecoming for Christians to \u201cspread butter\u201d or \u201cchicken dance\u201d in church lest they end up considering the less orthodox dances which I tremble to mention in a family paper, let alone these sacred columns.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: white;line-height: 20px;margin-bottom: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif\">On a summative score, Christians must always remember that influence diffuses from the region of higher concentration and roars from top to bottom like a waterfall. We must run the sector and drop the firsts, not the other way round.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Frank Edwards The blending of gospel themes with secular lingo, beats or genres to enhance reception has divided opinion in Christian circles. The development has raised eyebrows among those who fear that the co-opting of \u201coutside influences\u201d compromises gospel purity. Whatever the case, code-switching the Bible and secular patterns of expression is in vogue. Proponents arguing that to gain broader appeal, Christian artists must unpack their message in the \u201clanguage\u201d that most people understand. The question is whether this latest form of artistic license, which gospel ministers are indulgent of in the name of evangelical capital, is good or bad for the message? Does code-switching import valuable add-ons or does it distort the essential import of Christian works of art? There is a danger of approaching the problem from one extreme and readily playing down other views. So we will desist from assigning one-size-fit-all interpretations to the phenomenon and painstakingly zero in on each case as it dictates. On the question of genre, is it wrong for someone to praise Jesus with rap, dancehall, rock or jazz \u2013 mediums which some have branded as repositories of satanic influence? Let\u2019s face it, some of these mediums have been used to glorify crime, drugs, violence, sex, nudity and profanity in clear violation of the Bible. Is it fitting when young Tinashe Magacha takes to the podium to \u201crock dem tunez\u201d using the same genre Seh Calaz uses to glorify the abuse of bronco and \u201cchamba\u201d for cheap applause from ignorant youths or the same beat Chibaba\u00a0Chacho uses to chant unprintable lyrics?Should we \u201ccycle\u201d along to Pastor Charamba\u2019s gospel sungura or dance along\u00a0to Sabastian Magacha\u2019s rhumba offering, Rovambira?Is Frank Edwards, the genie behind Rocktown Records, then justified to \u201cRock n Roll\u201d for Jesus?\u201d Should Chris Tomlin\u2019s invite to \u201cGod\u2019s Great Dancefloor\u201d or Solly Mahlangu\u2019s call to \u201cPraise Him in an African Way\u201d be heeded? My answer is an emphatic \u201cYes!\u201d Like it or not, art is battlefront. It may not be a magic bullet but its influence can only be gainsaid at our own peril. We need custodians of tradition in the form of conservative gospel artists but we also need to reclaim territories currently in the devil\u2019s control through Christian soldiers like Culture T. Yes, we need joyful noisemakers in plenty. Only that they must be seen to be \u201cloading every rift with ore\u201d as John Keats puts it. In as much as the problem with most secular performers is their wrong message, Christians must weigh in with the right message \u2013 even the gospel, which is \u201cthe power of God unto salvation.\u201d One of the problems with code-switching is that it sometimes brings along the unwanted baggage. There are so-called Christian movies, for example, which accommodate nudity and profanity for the purpose of giving sin a more graphical or empirical demonstration. Such works often appear to tell their message inversely. They ostensibly point to what is right by harping on sin hours on end just to show its ultimate wages in the denouement. From such turn away! Why should viewers be forced to scrounge for a few morsels of food in a garbage dump? Whether the food is wholesome or palatable is neither here nor there once it is laced up with toxins in the garbage dump. Going through lewdness, blasphemy and nudity in a movie just to get to the \u201cHalleluiah moment\u201d in the closing scenes is a self-negating formula. It inadvertently promotes some sins to decampaign others which makes mockery of the biblical math: \u201c10 -1 = 0.\u201d The same goes with appealing to popular but desperately compromised secular works to reinforce or endorse a Christian message. A respected pastor recently came under fire for quoting from Chris Brown\u2019s \u201cLoyal\u201d \u2013 a song whose lyrics are not only dirty but also grossly derogatory of women. While the pastor was preaching a biblical message on relationships, his resort to the song was a negative game-changer, wrong spice for the right dish, because what is wrong cannot endorse what is right without insinuating justification for both. We come to the issue of influence. Without doubt the domineering influence imposes its language, just as we are stuck with English from a historical mistake called colonialism. Few weeks ago, a charismatic denomination called swept a crusade across my neighbourhood under the banner \u201cBatai Munhu Jehovah Revival.\u201d The catch-phrase was of course popularised by Suluman and Jah Prayzah\u2019s duets. Acquaintances known to me as party animals attended and possibly had life-transforming experiences. Some of the songs which were belted from the distant-booming public-address system included a reworked political song by Cde Chinx, in this context rendered \u201cVaporofita vakanganisa? Aiwa havana kukanganisa!\u201d In the run-up to Judgement Night 2, Sulumani remixed his father\u2019s song into a Judgement Night jingle. While there is nothing wrong in all this, my attitude is that Christians can be more influential than that. Why should the church adopt and adapt a song when \u201cthe world\u201d has exhausted the flavour out of it in pubs and rallies? These things ought not to be so brethren. It is alright for patrons in Chikwanha bottle-stores to dance along to Mathias Mhere\u2019s sungura-like psalms and think carefully about what \u201cNumber Busy\u201d means when they are alone in moments of conviction. But it is unbecoming for Christians to \u201cspread butter\u201d or \u201cchicken dance\u201d in church lest they end up considering the less orthodox dances which I tremble to mention in a family paper, let alone these sacred columns. On a summative score, Christians must always remember that influence diffuses from the region of higher concentration and roars from top to bottom like a waterfall. We must run the sector and drop the firsts, not the other way round.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-essays"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Secular Influence in Christian Entertainment | Blockspace<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=500\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Secular Influence in Christian Entertainment | Blockspace\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Frank Edwards The blending of gospel themes with secular lingo, beats or genres to enhance reception has divided opinion in Christian circles. The development has raised eyebrows among those who fear that the co-opting of \u201coutside influences\u201d compromises gospel purity. Whatever the case, code-switching the Bible and secular patterns of expression is in vogue. Proponents arguing that to gain broader appeal, Christian artists must unpack their message in the \u201clanguage\u201d that most people understand. The question is whether this latest form of artistic license, which gospel ministers are indulgent of in the name of evangelical capital, is good or bad for the message? Does code-switching import valuable add-ons or does it distort the essential import of Christian works of art? There is a danger of approaching the problem from one extreme and readily playing down other views. So we will desist from assigning one-size-fit-all interpretations to the phenomenon and painstakingly zero in on each case as it dictates. On the question of genre, is it wrong for someone to praise Jesus with rap, dancehall, rock or jazz \u2013 mediums which some have branded as repositories of satanic influence? Let\u2019s face it, some of these mediums have been used to glorify crime, drugs, violence, sex, nudity and profanity in clear violation of the Bible. Is it fitting when young Tinashe Magacha takes to the podium to \u201crock dem tunez\u201d using the same genre Seh Calaz uses to glorify the abuse of bronco and \u201cchamba\u201d for cheap applause from ignorant youths or the same beat Chibaba\u00a0Chacho uses to chant unprintable lyrics?Should we \u201ccycle\u201d along to Pastor Charamba\u2019s gospel sungura or dance along\u00a0to Sabastian Magacha\u2019s rhumba offering, Rovambira?Is Frank Edwards, the genie behind Rocktown Records, then justified to \u201cRock n Roll\u201d for Jesus?\u201d Should Chris Tomlin\u2019s invite to \u201cGod\u2019s Great Dancefloor\u201d or Solly Mahlangu\u2019s call to \u201cPraise Him in an African Way\u201d be heeded? My answer is an emphatic \u201cYes!\u201d Like it or not, art is battlefront. It may not be a magic bullet but its influence can only be gainsaid at our own peril. We need custodians of tradition in the form of conservative gospel artists but we also need to reclaim territories currently in the devil\u2019s control through Christian soldiers like Culture T. Yes, we need joyful noisemakers in plenty. Only that they must be seen to be \u201cloading every rift with ore\u201d as John Keats puts it. In as much as the problem with most secular performers is their wrong message, Christians must weigh in with the right message \u2013 even the gospel, which is \u201cthe power of God unto salvation.\u201d One of the problems with code-switching is that it sometimes brings along the unwanted baggage. There are so-called Christian movies, for example, which accommodate nudity and profanity for the purpose of giving sin a more graphical or empirical demonstration. Such works often appear to tell their message inversely. They ostensibly point to what is right by harping on sin hours on end just to show its ultimate wages in the denouement. From such turn away! Why should viewers be forced to scrounge for a few morsels of food in a garbage dump? Whether the food is wholesome or palatable is neither here nor there once it is laced up with toxins in the garbage dump. Going through lewdness, blasphemy and nudity in a movie just to get to the \u201cHalleluiah moment\u201d in the closing scenes is a self-negating formula. It inadvertently promotes some sins to decampaign others which makes mockery of the biblical math: \u201c10 -1 = 0.\u201d The same goes with appealing to popular but desperately compromised secular works to reinforce or endorse a Christian message. A respected pastor recently came under fire for quoting from Chris Brown\u2019s \u201cLoyal\u201d \u2013 a song whose lyrics are not only dirty but also grossly derogatory of women. While the pastor was preaching a biblical message on relationships, his resort to the song was a negative game-changer, wrong spice for the right dish, because what is wrong cannot endorse what is right without insinuating justification for both. We come to the issue of influence. Without doubt the domineering influence imposes its language, just as we are stuck with English from a historical mistake called colonialism. Few weeks ago, a charismatic denomination called swept a crusade across my neighbourhood under the banner \u201cBatai Munhu Jehovah Revival.\u201d The catch-phrase was of course popularised by Suluman and Jah Prayzah\u2019s duets. Acquaintances known to me as party animals attended and possibly had life-transforming experiences. Some of the songs which were belted from the distant-booming public-address system included a reworked political song by Cde Chinx, in this context rendered \u201cVaporofita vakanganisa? Aiwa havana kukanganisa!\u201d In the run-up to Judgement Night 2, Sulumani remixed his father\u2019s song into a Judgement Night jingle. While there is nothing wrong in all this, my attitude is that Christians can be more influential than that. Why should the church adopt and adapt a song when \u201cthe world\u201d has exhausted the flavour out of it in pubs and rallies? These things ought not to be so brethren. It is alright for patrons in Chikwanha bottle-stores to dance along to Mathias Mhere\u2019s sungura-like psalms and think carefully about what \u201cNumber Busy\u201d means when they are alone in moments of conviction. But it is unbecoming for Christians to \u201cspread butter\u201d or \u201cchicken dance\u201d in church lest they end up considering the less orthodox dances which I tremble to mention in a family paper, let alone these sacred columns. On a summative score, Christians must always remember that influence diffuses from the region of higher concentration and roars from top to bottom like a waterfall. We must run the sector and drop the firsts, not the other way round.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=500\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Blockspace\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-02-20T17:07:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-10-26T08:50:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.konnectafrica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Frank-1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"hardsouth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"hardsouth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blockspaceballads.com\\\/?p=500#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blockspaceballads.com\\\/?p=500\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"hardsouth\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blockspaceballads.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a336a678f28eacb341ce63c6b84b17d0\"},\"headline\":\"Secular Influence in Christian 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\/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Secular Influence in Christian Entertainment | Blockspace","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=500","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Secular Influence in Christian Entertainment | Blockspace","og_description":"Frank Edwards The blending of gospel themes with secular lingo, beats or genres to enhance reception has divided opinion in Christian circles. The development has raised eyebrows among those who fear that the co-opting of \u201coutside influences\u201d compromises gospel purity. Whatever the case, code-switching the Bible and secular patterns of expression is in vogue. Proponents arguing that to gain broader appeal, Christian artists must unpack their message in the \u201clanguage\u201d that most people understand. The question is whether this latest form of artistic license, which gospel ministers are indulgent of in the name of evangelical capital, is good or bad for the message? Does code-switching import valuable add-ons or does it distort the essential import of Christian works of art? There is a danger of approaching the problem from one extreme and readily playing down other views. So we will desist from assigning one-size-fit-all interpretations to the phenomenon and painstakingly zero in on each case as it dictates. On the question of genre, is it wrong for someone to praise Jesus with rap, dancehall, rock or jazz \u2013 mediums which some have branded as repositories of satanic influence? Let\u2019s face it, some of these mediums have been used to glorify crime, drugs, violence, sex, nudity and profanity in clear violation of the Bible. Is it fitting when young Tinashe Magacha takes to the podium to \u201crock dem tunez\u201d using the same genre Seh Calaz uses to glorify the abuse of bronco and \u201cchamba\u201d for cheap applause from ignorant youths or the same beat Chibaba\u00a0Chacho uses to chant unprintable lyrics?Should we \u201ccycle\u201d along to Pastor Charamba\u2019s gospel sungura or dance along\u00a0to Sabastian Magacha\u2019s rhumba offering, Rovambira?Is Frank Edwards, the genie behind Rocktown Records, then justified to \u201cRock n Roll\u201d for Jesus?\u201d Should Chris Tomlin\u2019s invite to \u201cGod\u2019s Great Dancefloor\u201d or Solly Mahlangu\u2019s call to \u201cPraise Him in an African Way\u201d be heeded? My answer is an emphatic \u201cYes!\u201d Like it or not, art is battlefront. It may not be a magic bullet but its influence can only be gainsaid at our own peril. We need custodians of tradition in the form of conservative gospel artists but we also need to reclaim territories currently in the devil\u2019s control through Christian soldiers like Culture T. Yes, we need joyful noisemakers in plenty. Only that they must be seen to be \u201cloading every rift with ore\u201d as John Keats puts it. In as much as the problem with most secular performers is their wrong message, Christians must weigh in with the right message \u2013 even the gospel, which is \u201cthe power of God unto salvation.\u201d One of the problems with code-switching is that it sometimes brings along the unwanted baggage. There are so-called Christian movies, for example, which accommodate nudity and profanity for the purpose of giving sin a more graphical or empirical demonstration. Such works often appear to tell their message inversely. They ostensibly point to what is right by harping on sin hours on end just to show its ultimate wages in the denouement. From such turn away! Why should viewers be forced to scrounge for a few morsels of food in a garbage dump? Whether the food is wholesome or palatable is neither here nor there once it is laced up with toxins in the garbage dump. Going through lewdness, blasphemy and nudity in a movie just to get to the \u201cHalleluiah moment\u201d in the closing scenes is a self-negating formula. It inadvertently promotes some sins to decampaign others which makes mockery of the biblical math: \u201c10 -1 = 0.\u201d The same goes with appealing to popular but desperately compromised secular works to reinforce or endorse a Christian message. A respected pastor recently came under fire for quoting from Chris Brown\u2019s \u201cLoyal\u201d \u2013 a song whose lyrics are not only dirty but also grossly derogatory of women. While the pastor was preaching a biblical message on relationships, his resort to the song was a negative game-changer, wrong spice for the right dish, because what is wrong cannot endorse what is right without insinuating justification for both. We come to the issue of influence. Without doubt the domineering influence imposes its language, just as we are stuck with English from a historical mistake called colonialism. Few weeks ago, a charismatic denomination called swept a crusade across my neighbourhood under the banner \u201cBatai Munhu Jehovah Revival.\u201d The catch-phrase was of course popularised by Suluman and Jah Prayzah\u2019s duets. Acquaintances known to me as party animals attended and possibly had life-transforming experiences. Some of the songs which were belted from the distant-booming public-address system included a reworked political song by Cde Chinx, in this context rendered \u201cVaporofita vakanganisa? Aiwa havana kukanganisa!\u201d In the run-up to Judgement Night 2, Sulumani remixed his father\u2019s song into a Judgement Night jingle. While there is nothing wrong in all this, my attitude is that Christians can be more influential than that. Why should the church adopt and adapt a song when \u201cthe world\u201d has exhausted the flavour out of it in pubs and rallies? These things ought not to be so brethren. It is alright for patrons in Chikwanha bottle-stores to dance along to Mathias Mhere\u2019s sungura-like psalms and think carefully about what \u201cNumber Busy\u201d means when they are alone in moments of conviction. But it is unbecoming for Christians to \u201cspread butter\u201d or \u201cchicken dance\u201d in church lest they end up considering the less orthodox dances which I tremble to mention in a family paper, let alone these sacred columns. On a summative score, Christians must always remember that influence diffuses from the region of higher concentration and roars from top to bottom like a waterfall. We must run the sector and drop the firsts, not the other way round.","og_url":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=500","og_site_name":"Blockspace","article_published_time":"2015-02-20T17:07:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-10-26T08:50:14+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.konnectafrica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Frank-1.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"hardsouth","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"hardsouth","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=500#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=500"},"author":{"name":"hardsouth","@id":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a336a678f28eacb341ce63c6b84b17d0"},"headline":"Secular Influence in Christian 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