From http://web.archive.org/web/20071105011644/http://www.pulpit-pimps.org/archives/2007/06/13/to-pimp-or-not-to-pimp-only-craige-can-say-for-sure
To Pimp or Not to Pimp? Only Craige Can Say for Sure
You’ve been waiting patiently. For that I thank you. Here is my response.
I don’t believe Mr. Lewis is a pimp. That is, I don’t believe he is trying to get rich by telling you to give him money and by selling you worthless sermons, trinkets, or prayer cloths. And as far as I can verify independently, I don’t see that he does any of the things one generally attributes to the subjects of this web site. Yes, he promotes tithing. And yes, he does say “turn to your neighbor and say [fill in the blank]. But those things do not a pimp make.
I have listened to several interviews and a couple of segments from his presentation. I’ve even looked at several of the PowerPoint slide presentations he uses. They were available for download (free) from his site (click here ). The fact that he gives away anything is a major argument against his pimping.
In at least a couple of his presentations he actually took a shot at the men and women we have identified as pimps and pimpettes. Of course this doesn’t automatically clear him of pimpdom since our boy Manning (here or here ) also attacks the pimps – while doing exactly what he rails against them for.
Yes, Mr. Lewis sells his DVDs. But I don’t really have a problem with that because, strictly speaking, he isn’t presenting the Gospel, he is presenting his reasons for being against the use of a Hip Hop style of music and persona in presenting the Gospel. In other words, he is presenting the results of his efforts to uncover various aspects of the lives of Hip Hoppers, the history of the music, the effects of the music, and other stuff that goes into his presentation. This does take work and if he gets paid for it, it’s only fair.
Churches do indeed pay him to speak to their congregation and anyone else who may be interested in listening. Again, I don’t see that this is a bad thing. There is the idea of the laborer being paid for his efforts. After all, it would be difficult for Lewis to feed, clothe, and house his family if he wasn’t compensated for what appears to be a full time effort.
According to one newspaper article Mr. Lewis gathers in $700,000 in DVD sales. But again, he is offering people information – not about how they can get rich - information that Mr. Lewis perceives to be beneficial to the buyers’ spiritual health. It costs money to buy the equipment and supplies to burn DVDs. It also takes personnel to man the equipment and to keep the business/ministry going. Volunteers can only go so far.
Basically, with respect to the activities, I don’t see Mr. Lewis as doing anything any different than such “conferences” as “Walk Through the Bible”, “Strike the Original Match” and other Christian self-help activities. No better, no worse.
My problem with Mr. Lewis is two-fold. First, he is often very loose with the facts with respect to those things with which he disagrees or disapproves. Second, he’s hard core Pentecostal, with all the excesses that go with Pentecostalism. And often, an unwillingness to look at the facts is one of the excesses.
Apparently, there is some disagreement about the meaning of Hip Hop. He maintains that the phrase means “booty shaking”. The problem, though, is he doesn’t even try to present information that may actually argue in the other direction. For instance, Wikipedia (not always the most reliable of sources) says:
it is believed that Cowboy created the term while teasing a friend who had just joined the US Army, by scat singing the words “hip/hop/hip/hop” in a way that mimicked the rhythmic cadence of marching soldiers (Click here to see the reference ) .
Which one is true? I don’t know. My only point is Mr. Lewis never presents the other information. His motive? I can’t say for certain. But it does seem likely that he wants to make as explosive and as strong a case as possible, leaving no room for doubt about the correctness of his position. Unfortunately, his approach takes the audience for a bunch of sheep who need to be spoon fed and, in essence, told what to think.
Mr. Lewis is not very careful with his facts. He tends to look at the items that support him and ignore the items that don’t. While it certainly isn’t his job to defend Hip Hop, if there are statements that contradict the things he says (e.g. hip hop means booty shaking), these items should be addressed. Doing so can only strengthen his argument. Ignoring them can only weaken his argument.
As I said, Mr. Lewis is very heavily Pentecostal. Ironically, he promotes many of the doctrines and beliefs the pimps use to swindle the sheeple. Specifically, he has no problem with New Testament type Apostles operating now. Along with this is the idea that divine revelation (like that in the Bible) is still coming forth from God.
Additionally, he is very much into experience. For instance, his entire tear against Hip Hop is apparently based on an experience in which God appeared in his bedroom one night. During that visit, God told him to start warning people about the evils of Hip Hop (it’s mentioned at the beginning and again buried fairly deeply in here ).
Overall, I cannot say the man is a pimp. He may be deceived doctrinally, but as I have said before, having bad doctrine is not the same as being a pimp. But of course, all pimps use bad doctrine.
He may indeed have good intentions. But good intentions don’t make your presentation accurate. And bad information hurts your cause more than getting caught with the town floozie.
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Comment by Justin
2007-06-14 06:39:52
Man homie the way you talking it seem like you was waiting and looking for somebody to say something about Mr. Lewis. Wheres the love in that brotha, I hope you praying for him and everbody on the site. But I dont see where you thing this brotha is off at? I mean he told you to look up EVERYTHING he says, in the Word and on the web (because somethings you just got to see to belive).
(MN: Places where I believe he is off:
1. The idea of New Testament Apostles
2. His crusade is motivated by God appearing to him as a light in his bedroom
3. His support of Prophecy as additional words from God
4. His willingness to pronounce a person a homosexual without objective evidence
5. His dismissal of anyone not adhering to a pentecostalism
6. A sloppy understanding of Dispensationalism
7. A willingness to make sweeping statements about those he disagrees with
8. An arrogance that says he will not respond to anyone who sends him an e-mail
9. A heavy appeal to emotion rather than the Word of God
10. A loose handling of facts and information (example: A pierced ear was used as a sign of one Israelite choosing to be a life long slave (servant) of another Israelite (Ex 21:6). It had nothing to do with demon worship)
I could go on, but these are some of the highlights of his wanderings. )
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Comment by mrs. maverick
2007-06-17 20:41:15
you see, this is why i call lewis a sensationalist. he ignores the obvious (aaliyah’s plane was over loaded) and attributes her death to the fact that she made a movie called queen of the damned and said in an interview, something to the affect of, she likes the dark side. that was very presumptuous of him to say this is why she died.
he justifies his statement by claiming that every time a horror movie is made, someone directly associated with the movie dies because the devil demands a blood sacrifice. where did he get this information? i wish i could ask him about this “research” but i can’t since he doesn’t allow himself to be questioned.
he also said he believes that God allowed biggie smalls to die because he was getting ready to come out with a 3/6 clothing line and He (God) didn’t want kids walking around wearing the mark of the beast on their clothes. really? well if this is indeed the case, then i wonder why God doesn’t stop the kids that are into heavy metal from doing it. they’ve been doing it for years in some degree or another. beside 3 sixes, they wear goat heads, demons, pentagrams and other representations of evil on their t-shirts or on tattoos. is God more concerned about the hip hoppers than the heavy metalers? again sensationalism.
i just want to know why craige lewis is HELL bent on exposing what SINNERS in the entertainment industry do, say, and sing about? what does he expect from unregenerated man? did aaliyah, biggie, tupac, jay-z, jill scott, erykah, krsone etc ever confess to being Spirit filled believers? i’m not asking, did they ever say they believed in god or thanked god on their albums, but did they ever profess to have repented of their sins, and were now living for Jesus Christ? if they didn’t, then why does he focus on them? maybe it’s because sensationalism sells. look at all the hysteria that surrounded the y2k hoopla. some churches made out like bandits selling survival books and telling people to stock pile food and water. (my former congregation sold books after every service).
i’m of the opinion that although craige may not be a pimp in the same way the tbn crowd are- he certainly has pimpish ways. i think he’s got game and his message is primarily effective within pentecostal and charismatic circles. these denominations for the most part are very accepting of esoteric experiences, demonology, and alot of emotionalism. they’re used to the shock and awe messages and believe that someone must be a man of gawd if they’re coming against some wordly mess. but he only gets over because so many professing Christians are lukewarm and lack a personal relationship w/ Jesus outside their congregations. if they kept their heads in the Bible instead of the tv, gossip columns, music videos and other distractions- they would learn to discern for themselves the things that they should avoid and the things that are pleasing to God.
finally, if parents (noun) would diligently parent (verb) their own children and preachers would teach the whole unadulterated counsel of God- then craige lewis would be out of business- i mean, uh, his “ministry” wouldn’t appear to be so necessary.
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Note by Me: I don't agree with this person's comments about Left Eye Lopez or Aaliyah, so I want to make that clear.
By Timothy
Comment by IndependentConservative
2007-06-18 08:15:43
I asked about the DVDs because I wanted to know.
It’s not enough to just read his site.
If Craige G. Lewis can’t provide enough free materials to make his position understood and what he has freely provided and promotes himself on YouTube has been found to have factual errors, that’s Mr. Lewis’ problem, not mine. If I’ve got to give him money to understand him, that’s a problem and not with me!
He’s a sensationalist, who has painted a style (Hip Hop) into a demon. And you know I’m not even into Hip Hop.
He provides many hours of material for free on his site. Given that (what I’ve reviewed there in text, audio and video) I’ve got issues with the man. He makes many just plain bad statements. He’s really extra-biblical and denounces all who don’t embrace his extra-biblical view. That’s a major problem. That’s how all manner of mess enters the church. I don’t think the DVDs will clear everything up. Unless on the DVDs he admits that these “visions” and “prophesies” pastors have must be in line with scripture. I just wanted to know more about their content. Never mind a word he says about Hip Hop, the man is like an open invitation for familiar and seducing spirits! HIS DOCTRINE IS THE REAL PROBLEM.
We pray for the entire body of Christ and we expose bad doctrine too. Praying for him does not mean we keep our mouths shut. This man has people coming out of Hip Hop mess into legalism and seducing spirits. Thinking they will be closer to God if they are babbling. Encouraging them to follow “visions” because the pastor said he had it and gets upset if someone says the particular “vision” is out of line with scripture. He even denounces people in HHH who say you must stay to scripture, I’ve detailed that in a previous comment in another thread.
Mr. Lewis makes it hard to reach him with criticism, but we know he’s probably reading here. Maybe it will help him. Our discussions help us in our walk and maybe it will help him too.
Regarding Aaliyah and Left Eye, like Mr. Lewis, you’re confusing spiritual matters with physical death. Hugh Hefner looks pretty healthy these days, Louis Farrakhan is still alive, Kim Jung Ill is still alive. If physical death is the measure, why are worse men still alive while those females are dead? Mr. Lewis misapplied scripture. (Based on what was said here, I’m not buying it.) Maybe he makes a lot of other errors on the DVDs, I’m not paying to find out. I’ll give money to some ministers, but not him. He is a minister who is too far into bad doctrine.
I believe many Christians drive into trees and die a physical death, but have eternal life. So Left Eye was not a Christian, drove into a tree and died. Maybe she talked about doing it. Somewhere in the world a Christian might drive into a tree and die today. Hugh Hefner is in his mansion because of his beliefs and physically still alive. Hefner’s odds for physical death today are lower than anyone (Christian or not) who is driving around in a 3rd world country. And especially lower than someone who overloads a plane and has a dope head for a pilot.
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