American Bible Society has shipped 8,800 Bibles as part of its pledge to supply a free Bible to Kanye West fans

Kanye West performing at Stockholm Jazz Festival Credit: Marcus Linder/Wikipedia/Creative Commons 2.0

If there is a story from 2019, that proves the commonly spoken adage that God moves in mysterious ways, it has to be Kanye West’s conversion to Christ.

Kanye West is arguably one of the world’s most popular singers and song writers. He has received 21 Grammy’s and is not only one of the most awarded singers of all times with 140 million album sales worldwide he is also among the best-selling singers as well.

Shortly after his decision to believe in Christ earlier this year, Kanye started hosing church services across the country attracting large crowds. An altar call at a recent service in Baton Rouge, Louisiana resulted in upwards of 2,000 people publicly saying they wanted to receive Christ.

As a result of this growing interest, the American Bible Society pledged to give a free Bible to the first 1,000 Kanye West fan requesting one by October 30, 2019.

However, because of the unexpected interest, the American Bible Society is extending its offer of a free Bible to November 22, 2019, and at latest count has shipped off over 8,800 Bibles. To order a Bible, click here.

To say that the entertainment industry has been shocked by Kanye West’s conversion to Christianity would be an understatement and if the American Bible Society is any indication, Christians are equally shocked.

Then came news that Kanye would start producing only Gospel music and on October 25, 2019, Kanye released his first Gospel Album, Jesus is King, with unexpected results. Not only did the album top the Billboard Top 200 Chart, it resulted in Kanye’s biggest streaming week ever.

There were many predicting failure because of the move, but Kanye responded with:

“Number one song, number one album, and they told me I would (inaudible) if I gave my life to Christ, but God is showing out.”
Kanye West, Baton Rouge, LA service

According to Billboard, Kanye’s Jesus is King has been streamed 196.9 million times. Every one of the songs on this album is also on the Billboard Hot 100 list.

But “Jesus is King” has also topped five other charts including:

Billboard 200
Top R&B/Hip Hop Album
Top Rap Album charts
Top Christian Albums
Top Gospel Albums

According to Billboard, it is the first album to top all five charts. Additionally, his songs on the album have dominated all the top Gospel music charts including Hot Gospel songs and Hot Christian Songs.

It is all the more remarkable because there has been a definite upsurge in anti-Christian sentiments from certain elements of American society as emboldened secularists and government bureaucracies try to shut down or limit Christian expression in the public space.

But when people try to turn off the Christian tap in one place, God replaces it with a waterfall in another.

As Jesus was entering Jerusalem on a donkey in Luke 19, on what would be his last trip to the historic city, the gathered crowd started proclaiming “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.”

The pharisees in the crowd tried to quieten the crowd and told Christ to shut them down. In fact, they told Christ to “rebuke” His disciples.

How did Christ respond:

⁴⁰“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
Luke 19:40 NASV

Jesus said if they did not proclaim Christ as King, then the rocks will cry out meaning God would find unexpected and even unusual ways to proclaim Christ.

Is it ironic that while efforts are underway to shut down the Christian message, God is using an unexpected “rock” star to proclaim His message?

What is even more ironic is that the message the pharisees were trying to shut down was the proclamation “Blessed is the King that comes in the name of the Lord” and what is the name of Kanye’s album: