Musical artists are using reggae music to reach the Rastafari community, a formless movement that makes it such a major challenge to the church, observers say. The late reggae star Bob Marley is the single most influential figure in seeing the spread of Rastafari from a small, island religion of Jamaica to a global movement influencing millions.
He promoted through his music -- still selling well more than 20 years after his death -- Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie's divinity as the black Lion of Judah, mystical oneness with the creator Jah, and the rejection of Western society as ungodly "Babylon."Espousing peace and harmony, the Rastafringe "fits whatever lifestyle you want to live," said Jamaican seminary lecturer and apologist Clinton Chisholm, an expert on the movement.
"There's no pressure on you ethically," Chisholm told "Charisma" magazine in the June issue, out now. The full article on the Rastafari religion can be found in the magazine.
"It's an umbrella that doesn't put any pressure on you -- you just love and enjoy your music and do your own thing. ... It's significant in that every person who moves towards Rastafari, even if they are not really deep in conviction or commitment, is a harder person to win to Jesus," he added.
Although reggae music continues to spread Rastafari's message of Jah love around the world, a revival of sorts is occurring among artists in the style's island birthplace who are finding true peace in Jesus' love.
"So many musicians and singers have converted to Christianity, it's amazing. The number is growing daily," said Judy Mowatt, revered as a member of Bob Marley's I-Threes backing group and a leading reggae artist in her own right. "He is drawing them. I know God is changing the singers and the players because they can influence the rest of society."
A longtime follower of Rastafari, Mowatt came to Christ a few years ago when a family crisis made her realize she didn't have peace. Now a praise and worship leader at her local "Spirit-filled" church, she still continues to tour occasionally. Although her music was always "God focused," she added that "what I was giving them was not of Christ -- it will have to be done over."
Tommy Cowans -- Marley's former tour manager and longtime emcee of the renowned Reggae Sunsplash tours -- and his singer wife, Carlene Davis, have collaborated on several gospel albums since her conversion in 1996.
Also going back to the concert halls with a different message is Papa San, whose dancehall music -- a blend of traditional reggae and hip-hop -- took him to the top of the secular charts in the 1990s.
The son of "an old-time Rasta man," San began studying the faith for himself but could not accept the idea that Selassie was God. Since his conversion to Christ in 1997, he has burned all his secular music awards and dedicated himself to evangelism through music.
"I'm a fisher of men and music is my bait," he said, acknowledging reggae's power in spreading the Rasta message. "Music is created in heaven, not on Earth. When all this [world] is done, music will still remain because there will be worship in heaven."
