Sunday, 16 June

From Islam, Rastafari to Christianity: Blakk Rasta tells fascinating conversion story, reveals Kaywa, El Bernard's prophetic roles

Entertainment
Blakk Rasta

Blakk Rasta has told a fascinating story about how he went from being a bitter crusader against Christianity to being an ordained pastor of the faith.

On Accra 100.5 FM's midmorning show Ayekoo Ayekoo, Thursday, May 23, 2024, Blakk Rasta confirmed his parents and siblings are all Muslims, and he was born same, and when host Nana Romeo broached legendary record producer Kaywa revealing he led him to Christianity, he exclaimed: “Praise the Lord!”

According to the renowned radio personality, his conversion to the Christian faith “is a very long story” but offered to “cut it short”.

He first declared: “Once a Muslim, always a Muslim,” adding: “God took me through a lot of things to prepare me for these times.”

Volunteering more information about his family, he said they were of diverse Muslim faiths: “Ahmadiyya Muslims, and the other sects of Islam [like] Sunni and all that, so I was born into a rich home of religion.”

He clarified there were Christians also in the family, “and so I will say I grew up knowing God from the start”.

Blakk Rasta stated his “profound love for Ramadan,” explaining he fasts during the annual Muslim fasting ritual and otherwise.

Noting he once “went through” the Rastafari faith, too, he observed “it was all in preparation for this day”.

“When I was around 41-years-old,” he narrated, “I began seeing some things and I will explain what those things were. I remember I went to Kaywa with my Serwaa Akoto project. Zapp Mallet worked on it and I was taking it to Kaywa for mastering. While in the process, he stopped suddenly and asked if I was from a certain town in the north of Ghana with a name starting with ‘t’.”

Blakk Rasta said he asked Kaywa to forget about that and focus on the work, adding he coming from a city called Tamale was no news.

“Little did I know he was also going through a spiritual journey and could see unknown things. In other words, he had the gift of the prophetic. I don’t know if you’ve encountered him and what he has told you from the spirit but he is one of the people you can trust when it comes to the prophetic,” the Kuchoku Legend proceeded.

He admitted, with a hint of regret, at the time, “I didn’t believe him, I didn’t believe the Bible even though as a Muslim you’re supposed to believe the Bible. I [rather] believed the Bible was corrupted, so I used to attack the Bible, attack that faith, so on and so forth. So when he said what he did, I tried to brush him off and asked him to mix and master the song and go away. I wasn’t interested”.

“Suddenly, he mentioned the town’s name. I was shocked, I was stunned. No one knew this except close family members, and we don’t even mention this name because the conversations don’t even come up. So how did Kaywa know this?” he said, he wondered.

Blakk Rasta solemnly remembered Kaywa “telling me some things about my life” including mentioning the name of a “mallam around me who had his lens on me wherever I went, trying to protect me – I was shocked – and it was true; there was such a man in my life, whom I still love and honour”.

He said he vehemently challenged Kaywa, asserting “knowing the history of the Bible and its many contradictions,” there was no way he was going to be a Christian. However, the encounter filled his thoughts, including Kaywa telling him God had called him for a special purpose.

“I went home, slept and I saw myself reading the Bible [multiple times] and I was seeing books that I never knew were in the Bible,” he added. “And when I woke, I'd check the Bible for those books. I’d exclaim, ‘Eii! This is what I saw: Chapter 1 verse 5’ and when I’d go there, I’d see exactly the same thing there.”

Blakk Rasta categorically explained his visions, saying: “God was telling me he was the one that took me through Islam, passed me through this, and passed me through that, [but] now this is what he wants me to be.”

“I want you to be a follower of Christ, I want you to be a mentee of Christ,” he recalled God telling him, and showing him Jesus Christ “four different times”.

To clarify these were no hallucinations, he emphasised he does not smoke, drink, nor use any intoxicant.

“I wish I was not saying this because I have fought this [faith] for many years,” he said, asserting he was being sincere, if for nothing, for sincerity sake.

Even more mysterious was when the star Reggae singer-songwriter recalled being in public, during this time, and hearing people’s names “in my head” without knowing them personally.

“So I started asking people and I was told it was the prophetic,” he said, revealing he quickly sought help and Rev Bernard El Bernard was recommended to him.

He phoned the church leader, who, according to him, was welcoming, and went to visit his church, on invitation, and later his house, where he found himself in the middle of other young prophets of the church who took turns to prophesy to him.

“It’s one of the best days of my life,” he proclaimed.

Blakk Rasta then disclosed Rev El Bernard revealed a secret incident involving him when he was only 2-years-old, which was confirmed by his mother and uncle.

It was a story about a time his mother visited his sister and when he was let down from his mother’s back after a struggle, he was later found having a conversation with an old man in a chamber. The old man, he said, apparently told his mother he was meant to be great, and cautioned his mother to care for him passionately.

The Kuchoku Legend said this revelation which was news to even him clearly “meant I could not run away from this calling, so that is where I am”.

On Friday, October 21, 2022, Blakk Rasta was ordained a pastor, after successfully completing Bible school training at Breakthrough Family Chapel under the auspices of Bishop Samuel Osei-Tutu.

Source: classfmonline.com/Prince Benjamin