When God’s grace pours, it rains with blessings. How do you handle those blessings? Oooh, they can also lead to your downfall.
What levels
are you willing to go to stand by the Christian values and beliefs that you subscribe
to? What sacrifices are you willing to make?
This is the
story of my favourite gospel Music Group, the Maverick Music City, and the
expulsion of one of their lead singers – Dante Bowe.
First, who
is Maverick Music City? They are a worship collective that has taken the
Christian music industry by storm with songs like "Jireh," and
"Promises", which have 106 million and 92 million views on YouTube
respectively. They are a group from the famous Elevation Church that is led by
Pastor Steve Furtick.
The group has
got four Grammy nominations and won one. This is a very great fete if you
consider that the group was just founded in 2019. If you put in the covid19
pandemic that shook the world in 2021, then they have been here just for 2
years.
Early this
week, the Christian community and many of the group’s fans were shocked to wake
up to an official statement by the group announcing that they will
"pause" their relationship with singer Dante Bowe after a display of
"inconsistent" behavior.
Now,
understand that Dante Bowe is extremely talented and graced he writes and sings
some of the leading contemporary Christian songs, for example, he got a Grammy
nomination for his song Joyful, under the Best Gospel Performance/Song
category.
He has also written
and taken lead in some of the group’s songs. For instance, if he is the lead
singer on the “Wait on You” mega song that gave them a Grammy nomination for Best
Gospel Performance/Song. The song has over 50M views on YouTube in just 1 year.
Wait On You
has been one of those songs that speak to you and give you hope, especially if
you are trusting in God, for some doors to open or to overcome some life challenges.
If you go through the comment section on YouTube, its full of testimonies on
the impact this song has had on their life – That’s the grace Dante Bowe had
will leading and also contributing to its lyrics.
One person says,
“Doctors diagnosed my sister with blindness and said there was nothing that
they can do. She stood on her faith in God. Guess what? She worshipped every
day and in two weeks, she regained her sight!”
Yet another
one says, “I feel weak, tired, dejected, hopeless But I’m gonna wait on the Lord
cause He’s my strength 😊, while I’m waiting I’d be praying,
I’d worship Him in the middle of the storm”
And this one
says, “I'm sad and feel empty. I feel nothing but when I listened to this song.
I can't stop myself from crying because I can feel the love of God for me. I'm
still awake and overthinking everything. I don't even know the purpose of my
life. I'm a shy person so, I don't usually talk to other people about my
feelings. That's why I'm happy because I found this song and it helps me to
express myself by sharing how I felt.”
The big
question is, with such a talented team member and brother Christ, what crime
would he have committed that has necessitated being expelled from a such
wonderful Worship music group that seemed to have all working for them?
Although the
group did not specify what exactly prompted the pause in their relationship, Dante
Bowe, has come under strict criticism recently because of his actions that have
been described as contravening the Christian faith.
First, he
shared an Instagram video of himself and friends partying in a bus singing
along and dancing to a song titled "Despues De La Playa" by Bad
Bunny, which contains overtly sexual lyrics. The singer also came under fire at
the Grammys after saying he hoped to see openly gay rapper Lil Nas X perform at
the awards show.
I have also said
that God’s grace is like rainfall, when it falls on you it pours. Every time,
God releases His grace on you, things begin to work for you magically. All of sudden,
you get that dream job, house, car, you get that good life partner, you raise
and raise on your career/business, and your bank accounts are never empty – He fulfills
His word in Deuteronomy 28:5, by ensuring that your basket is never empty for
its blessed.
Often than
not, the grace that is supposed to be a blessing, turns us to be a disgrace. We
are now bigger and larger than life, we see no essence in remaining in that grace
that lifted. This is our major undoing. And, so slowly, God’s grace is removed
and taken away from us, all of a sudden, we find ourselves going back to where
we came from – some of us can’t take that decline and decide to do the unthinkable.
Maverick
City Music is urging fans to continue to support Dante saying, “Each of us needs God's grace and our hope is
that we all pray and give him the same opportunity to grow in Christ as we give
ourselves”
Dante later
apologized to fans saying
This platform
of success I enjoy is a blessing that is both gifted to me and shared with YOU,
my faith community, family, friends, supporters, and fellow artists, I
sincerely apologize for the impact of my behavior and that it has offended many
people on the platform we share together. This experience has been a very real
reminder of the importance of being incredibly intentional with how I utilize
and engage with the tools social platforms provide.
Throughout
this process, I have received wise counsel which influenced my decision to take
a step back and reflect about my actions so that I may recommit to living in
the purpose God has for my life.
I want to
say thank you to Maverick City Music for their continued support now and
always. Throughout this process, they have remained by my side and for that, I
am truly grateful.
The apology
has since been deleted.
The biggest
problem with the current crop of some Christian musicians is that it’s all
about business it’s all about connections, it’s all about trying to be cool and
we’ve gotten away from standing on what the word of God says as US pastor and
social media star Marcus Rogers puts it.
That, just
because you sing good, just because it looks like you’re blessed, just because you
got followers, and millions of views, doesn’t mean they’re right with God. You
must always live by the true values and beliefs of the Christian faith; your behavior
must be Christ-like. You can’t present a facade, while still living a more
worldly lifestyle in secret
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