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American rapper and actor Earl Simmons, better known by his stage name DMX, has hosted a Bible study on Instagram and urged thousands of viewers to accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.
He noted that this pandemic shutdown is an opportunity to turn to God.
“God is giving you the time; he’s giving you the time, to get closer to Him, to become familiar with Him,” he said on Friday.
According to the Christian Post, the rapper has had many public mishaps, from a drug overdose to various arrests – and in his short sermon he said tragedy is in fact what has brought him closer to God.
The media outlet says DMX, now 49, has never shied away from sharing his Christian faith and that he has turned from ‘vulgar’ music to recording songs talking about his Christianity, including “Lord Give Me a Sign” and “Damien.”
DMX said he woke up earlier in the day with “chills” and felt led to talk to his fans about the Bible.
“God put it on my heart to speak,” he said. “This is new to me. This is not what I do.”
He read from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, Ecclesiastes 3:16-17 and parts of Ecclesiastes 4.
“The best thing that we can hope for – the most important thing we can hope or pray for or ask for – is that our desires coincide with God’s will,” he said.
He urged his fans to learn to pray and not rely on the prayers of others: “Your own prayer will do a lot better than someone else praying for you.”
He encouraged them to receive Christ: “Whoever hasn’t given your life to Jesus yet, whoever hasn’t surrendered all the way … I’m going to walk you through that right now.” He then led his fans in a prayer.
By not living for Christ, DMX said, people “miss out on so many blessings that He has for you.”
“Get into the Word,” DMX said. “It will make whatever you go through a lot easier to deal with.”
The Instagram Live video has since disappeared from his account, although copies of it are circulating on YouTube, Christian Headlines reports.
News Agencies Contributed to this report.
