CHAPTER 12. “NO MORE JAH”: CHRISTAFARIAN APOSTASY?

“I see the Christian church becoming more rasta rather than the rasta church becoming more Christian. Since this concerns me, given my position in the industry I decided to do something about it” 

“I don't expect any true follower of our music to be offended by my challenging them to clarify who Jah is to them. They would boycott us if we refused to use the name "Jesus," or were embarrassed to use the name "Christ" in our songs, but not Jah.” 

“For when I started Christafari and Lion of Zion ent., my primary goal was to see the rasta church become Christian, yet one of the regrettable fruits of my labor, (due to uneducated imitation by other artists) is the Christian church becoming more rasta. This was never my intention. It was not my desire to have a Christian congregation in Trinidad shouting out the name "JAH!" in their church services.” 

Mark Mohr, explaining why JAH is not welcome in his industry[1]

To the spiritual community, one of the greatest signs of Christafari’s apostasy is the fact they announced how they were not not going to call on the Name of the most High anymore.

The announcement dropped into the public domain together with the release of the Christafari album “Gravity”. The album shined through the absence of any referance to the Holy Name of the Most High: JAH!

Did they stop using the Name of the Most High in vain, or was there something else going on?

After the Christafarian had his confrontations with Buju Banton, the Jamaicans, the Reggae Artists, the people of Trinidad, he was completely fed up with this Culture which he so virously imitated to get his position in the Christian Industrial Complex.

It was time to “get original”.

It should have stopped him in his “All Things To All Men” mentality, which he applies in almost every aspect of his life ministry by the way. Mark Mohr was exposed to the true nature of Rastafari and Reggae Culture, again and again. A culture that is diametrically opposed to the Babylon version of Christian Rastafarians which he created with his Doctrines of Christafarianism.

In the previous book we have allready read about Christafarianism and it’s inevitable results or “fruits”. Yesus Kristos said, that you can not pick a good fruit from a bad tree and thus far we have only seen bad fruits. In the Christafarian’s actions, in his words and doctrines, in his connections, everywhere we can see perfect descriptions of what the Bible calls “Works of the Flesh” and “Bad Fruits”.

We have seen how the Christafarian created some bizarre, christian correct charicature of a Rasta/Yesus Dread, and we have read how he defended this justification of a lifestyle as a biblical “method of mission”. We have seen how this was all a facade and in reality was just a “culture we created with our fan base”.

And this became painfully clear and even more clear as years were passing while the Christafarian continued his Mission Trip into the Christian Industrial Complex.

At a certain moment it became clear how Christafari was in fact not at all interested in “Reaching Out The The Rastas”, as they claimed. For wasn’t their whole outward appearance one big “mission approach”?

Well, at a certain moment it became clear to the Christafarian that not all of his followers and imitators, the Christafarians, were quite aware of the subtle demands of the Christian Industry.

It started at the Gathering in Trinidad, where Mark Mohr had some pretty intense confrontations with what he calls “fruits of my labor”. As we recall, he had been teaching seminars on the island about the Musical Branch of the Christian Industrial Complex. The Church he started was patterned after the Sanctuary Church.

In the Gathering, local artists were singing their songs about the Creator. And they called Him by His Name: JAH! All over in the Bible can you see how His Name JAH is very important to our Creator.

Mark Mohr told the Dubroom:

I have not used this name in my recent recordings as an attempt to set a positive example for the plethora of young aspiring artists that I teach at music seminars in places like Trinidad and Tobago or Barbados, who think the best way to start off every song is by singing Jah, Jah, Jah, Jah... Now keep in mind, these guys are not dreads, nor do they know the rasta culture intimately. They are not using this term to reach the rastas, but to stroke the sheep. If they ever do talk about Selassie or rastas, it is in a disrespectful manner that may make Christians laugh, but is at the expense of the ones that I am trying to save. Seen?[2]

Seen allright...

We see how the Christafarian has been teaching these artists, and all they can do is stroke the sheep, as the saying goes. This saying means: “entertain the christians”. But when it comes to praising the Holy Name of JAH, how come that the Christafarian perceives that as entertaining Christians? Who taught them anyway, about “The Christian Indusry”, which is all about “striking the sheep”?

Isn’t it odd, that Mark Mohr calls this worshipping of JAH Name “a regrettable fruit of my labor”?

Not really, when we realize how the Christafarian looks at this Holy Name as a “term to reach the rastas”!

All the other things, like a disdain for Rastafari found continually in the words of Mark Mohr who is notorious for mislabeling individuals) and knowing jokes which can entertain Christians, are not seen by the Christafarian as regretable fruits either.

Just the one fact that they call on the Name of the Most High, the only good thing we can find in his “fruits of my labor”, the “plethora of young aspiring artists that I teach at music seminars in places like Trinidad and Tobago or Barbados” is being labeled regretable.

And why? Because it made the Christian church more rasta. And yes, we notice how the Christafarian continually spells Christian with a Capital C and rasta with a lower case.

Let’s re-call what the Christafarian said in his book and compare it with his “seperation” from JAH.

“In addition to the name Jah being used by Rastas, it is also a common appellation used within Jamaican culture. Due toits regular use in their dialect of Patois, this name is by no means limited to the Rastafarian culture, but rather it encompasses the majority of Jamaican culture, and other areas of the Caribbean also. For this reason, I have chosen "Jah Yard" as the name for the Churches that I am planting in Jamaica.”[3]

He still calls JAH the Name of the Most High here. But when the Christian Church becomes more rasta, this will have bad results in the sponsorship of the Christafari Ministry. And then the Name of the Most High can be an offense.

For the Christian Industry, that makes a church audience sing “halleluJAH” zillions of times every sunday again, the Name of JAH is a true offense. You can sing about “Jesus” all you want, and the better you can do it the more Christian you will be looked at, but do not call the Creator by His Name JAH for you will get into trouble.

They would boycott us if we refused to use the name "Jesus," or were embarrassed to use the name "Christ" in our songs, but not Jah.[4]

Babylon System has made sure that many Christians today pray to “God”, where this is just a three letter word from a very wrong tribe: the Teutons! No, this doesn’t mean that when Christians pray to God, that they would not pray to JAH. For whoever believeth in Yesus Kristos, is a son of JAH and can call JAH the Father!

It wouldn’t be a wrong move for any Christian to abandon this threeletter name called “God”, and start calling the Creator by His Name JAH. If it was the only fruit of the Christafarians teachings, it would have been a good fruit. But this is not about good fruits.

One could ask, “Is it wrong to call our Heavenly Father God”? But it has nothing to do with that. It’s not about telling people to stop praying to “God” when they pray to JAH. I even talk about God, myself. But in my prayers, in my intimate contact, I do call Him JAH, my Father. So when I talk to or about God, I truly mean the Creator and not the entity that used to have that name “goth” in the tribe of the Teutons.

This might become a little bit more clear when we take a look at the westen sub culture called “Gothic”. This is a blend of heavy metal, new wave and wicca and the occult.[5] This is the “god” that we talk about when we spiritually say: “No More JAH, here is God”.

In ancient times, there was a reason why the Europeans were taught that the name of the Most High was “God”. There was a reason as to why the Rastas preferably not want to call the Most High by that “name”.

There is a reason as to why JAH leads His Children: for HIS NAME’s sake!

So we do have a major problem when people tell us to stop calling our Father by His Name and start using some word that refered to a Pagan idol.

This becomes clear when we follow Yesus’ commands and check the fruits as well as the roots.

The abandoning of the Name of JAH to exchange it for the Pagan Phrase “God” is accompanied by actions and doctrines and roots and connections that all say the same thing too, therefor we can establish the apostacy, the heresy, the antichrist nature of such a move.

The Christafarian truly says: “NO MORE JAH, HERE IS GOD”.

We could say that we have an apostasy here.

But did Mark Mohr ever praise JAH in his life as a Christafarian? For him, it’s a “term” to “reach the rastas”. It’s one thing in the whole Rasta charicature that forms the outward appearance of the Rastaman.

And really, is this outward appearance to “reach the Rastas” anyway? According to Mark Mohr, no. In an interview with the Dubroom, the following can be read:

Christafari will no longer be targeting their music primarily to a Rastafarian and Reggae loving audience. Mohr claims that the Name of Jah is mentioned only once in the Bible and that he wants to “focus my ministry approach on the numerous other names for God that are found far more frequently and would make our message even more clear to the listener”.

DUBROOM: “Does this mean you are also going to change the name Christafari and the usage of Rastafarian cultural expressions such as the flag et cetera as they are installed with the same reasoning in mind as the usage of the Name of Jah?”

CHRISTAFARI: “Absolutely not. The name Christafari means three things in three different languages, of which the primary is the Greek definition for "Christ Bearers." Whether you look at our name in English, Amharic or even Spanish, it is very clear WHO we represent. That is all that I am trying to do—urge artists to clarify. The days too short for enigmatic music that merely entertains and speaks of an ambiguous God that could be interpreted a host of different ways.”[6]

It goes even further. The Christafarian claims how “JAH”, and how chanting down Babylon, is kind of boring and not really original and of little entertaintment value anyway.

Yes, this is shocking, especially when you realize how “Pastor Mark” is teaching apostacy in it’s most literal sense here, without him even realizing it because of his spiritual handicap to see the spiritual meaning behind his doctrines and labor (works):

Another point of frustration for me is the overall the lack of originality in reggae as of late, with every dancehall song talking about slackness (sex), violence, burning fire on the enemy (whether they be a batty bwoy or an infidel), smoking the high grade, and their sound being the best. Or there is roots reggae that is even less original with the typical "Jah," Babylon, repatriation, Zion, Conquering Lion, Ethiopia, Rastafari, Marcus Garvey Jargon. There are only so many times that I can hear the same things over and over again. I am exhausted. At this reggae fest yesterday every booth was selling the same red yellow and green merchandise that I saw for sale at reggae shows 20 years ago. Where is the growth? It has become so stale[7]

It is true: for the Christafarian, “JAH” is a “term”, Babylon is part of some “Jargon”. The Christafarian does not want to trod in that tradition, he thinks it has everything to do with originality and therefore worhipping the Holy Name of JAH must stop, Babylon should not be mentioned anymore. It’s so “stale”...

What does the Christafarian have in mind? What is his alternative to doing what JAH told us to do continually?

Let’s take a look:

From this point on, we as Christians have to take this message-music to the next level and inject it with the living and active word of God--not cliche phrases that we have heard a million times over. And further add to our inovations clarity regarding whom we are talking about. We must think outside of the box. It is my honest opinion that it is this type of originating that will garner us more respect then our imitating of the past.

Though I disagree with his belief system, this is why Bob Marley was and continues to be so popular; He set the trends and was a true trailblazer. As Christians musicians we now need to write contemporary parables for this day. As I always say; "You have to be creative with the Creator inside."

Be Blessed

Mark Mohr[8]

Bob Marley never stopped singing about JAH. One of his titles is “Forever Loving JAH”. He never stopped exposing that “Babylon System Is the Vampire”, as another title of a Bob Marley track goes.

He changed his music into a vibe that could enter into the ears of the spoiled western youths who Bob Marley was trying to reach with a message. But he never talked about his lyrics about his faith in JAH as cliche phrases or Jargon. Neither did he ever say how he was only imitating the past.

With the release of his album “Gravity”, the Christafarian really landed on the floor. He fell. And it was right after the twin towers fell, after that day he wrote this letter about clouds of ganja smoke to Messian Dread. He was watching TV and looked at an interfaith religious ceremony about 9/11 and realized how the One World Religion was forming.

Inspired by this, I wrote the chorus "Christ is the Only Way..." If it had been 4 years ago, I probably would have penned, "Jah is the only way," but given the present apocalyptic setting, and the overwhelming tolerance in the world for all religions except "Narrow Minded Christianity," I refused to veil my references of Christ any longer.”[9]

Did the Christafarian have another re-birth experience? Did he “give his life to Christ” again? Whatever it is, when you stop calling on the Holy Name of the Most High because it is so boring and cliche you can be sure that you’re not going to be lifted up. You will be sure to experience the law of gravity and you will fall.

Just a few days prior to that, he wrote to me:

I am adopting to a culture-- in what other ways do you adapt to a culture beyond hair, dress, music and language?  It is not like I am calling God "Allah" in order to reach the Muslims[10]

But a few days later, he appearantly changed his mind for he is saying now that is was like calling God "Allah" in order to reach the Muslims. Calling on JAH for him was veiling my references of Christ!

Which Christ?

The “Jesus Christ” of the Church full of excesses and empty traditions we have identified with the help of JAH’s Revelation to John the Apostle?

Does Mark Mohr really think that being in what he calls the a wide variety of denominations of the judeo-christian faith is the same as being born again through the Divine Saviour Yesus Kristos, JAH Rastafari in the flesh?

We have seen his revering of Yongghi Cho’s New Age “Christianity”, and to his studies at BIOLA. We have seen how the Christafarian is unable to figure out when he was spiritually born again, and adheres to, hopefully unwittingly, some kind of spiritual reincarnation theory...

Spiritually, the Christafarian preaches apostacy from the true Christian Faith. He doesn’t want to call on the Name of JAH anymore, because he doesn’t want to reach Rastas anymore. But his whole Culture We Created With Our Fan Base was built on the claim how the Christafarian was called by “God” to “reach the rastas”.

And all he changes is calling upon the Name of the Most High...

He checked, picked out the bad and threw away the good...

Time and time again, we see how the Christafarian is drawn into spiritually dangerous situations and everytime it is because of some move to please the customers. “The public’s eye”, if you will.

When it’s a superficial issue in the public’s eye, Mark Mohr won’t touch it. It’s not entertaining enough. In Trinidad he redefined the Church and updated it to version 2.0, by importing American post-modernism and calling it “bringing Trinidad’s Culture back to Trinidad”.

And now he speaks of being original in referance to an ancient message from JAH!

Who tought him all of this? Mark Mohr refers, yes revers, to his studies at BIOLA. And indeed we see his actions reflected when we check BIOLA. “Christianity Today”, one of the leading publications in western Christianity, wrote how the university was preaching “a new Christ”:

How can the church reach post-Boomers? Not by emphasizing biblical truth, says Biola exhibit

Fifty years ago, Richard Niebuhr famously identified five different beliefs Christians hold about engaging culture. Now, it seems, two Southern California professors are creating a new Christ and Culture for the postmodern age. And a lot of Christians aren't going to like it.

Biola University sociologist Richard Flory and University of Southern California religion professor Don Miller are the creators of "Recovery of Ritual," a new exhibit at Biola that, according to the Los Angeles Times, "explores challenges that churches face in attracting younger worshipers."

Four categories are depicted: Reactors, which use "nostalgic efforts that focus on the recovery of reason, seeking to roll back the clock on our postmodern culture;" Imitators, who "hijack portions of popular culture and inject a Christian message;" Reappropriators, who thirst for orthodoxy and are transfixed by the smells and bells of liturgical churches; and Innovators, who want to reinvent the church and focus on "intimate community."[11]

Yes, BIOLA teaches Imitators, who "hijack portions of popular culture and inject a Christian message. Something like: “From this point on, we as Christians have to take this message-music to the next level and inject it with the living and active word of God”, perhaps?

And yes, BIOLA teaches Innovators, who want to reinvent the church and focus on "intimate community”, which is a summary of the Christafarian’s many descriptions of his redefined Church on Trinidad.

And no, this is not too far-stretched when we simply realize that Mark Mohr himself refers to BIOLA University as the foundation for his Theology. He bases the legality of for his life ministry on it, even. That, together with his initiation ritual at Bob Beeman’s Sanctuaryan “Church”, form the unbiblical, yet “official credentials”.

This Sanctuary Church has served as a blueprint for the Church Plant on Trinidad. We can simply change the term Satanist and Heavy Metaller in Rastafarian and Reggae Fan, and we have a perfect description of the Gathering, as it was intended by the Christafarian.

We have seen how the Gathering was a perverse attempt to create some gateway to the Christian Industry. It was a literal fullfillment of Petrus’ warning against false teachers who, because of their greed, makes merchandize out of JAH people.

Let’s take a look at the following description of the Sanctuary Church. And let’s simply exchange “metal” for “reggae” and “metal culture” into “Rasta/Reggae culture” and establish the true “vision” for the Gathering:

In the case of Christian speed/thrash metal (Christian Reggae), Sanctuary (The Gathering/STAR Network) became the obligatory passage point for bands. It was important for Christian listeners to know that the bands were serious about their Christian faith, and one way of convincing them was to have ties to a local church. That religion functions as a resource comes as no surprise. Not only do churches provide the networks that allow movements to recruit and mobilize constituents, they also function as sources of legitimation by lending credibility (Morris 1984: McAdam 1988: Smith 1991: Williams & Demerath 1991: Wald 1992). It is much easier for members of the evangelical community to dismiss ideas and cultural styles if they are not backed by a local church that appears theologically sound. It is much more difficult to do so however, if an apparently "sound" church (STAR Network, The Gathering) begins to express a controversial idea or incorporate questionable cultural styles (“reggae”). Many evangelicals will begin to soften their stance if clear evidence against the idea or cultural style is not forthcoming in the Bible. (“It is not that I am calling God “allah” to reach the Muslims”) Hence, it was important for Sanctuary (STAR Network, The Gathering) to first appear as a "sound" evangelical church before it was able to act as a legitimator and become an obligatory passage point.

This was not always easy. As one journalist suggested, Sanctuary was "notorious among a small group of vociferous critics who condemn(ed) it to hell" (parenthesis mine. Rabey 1992:10.)[12]

This is being acknowledged on the Lion of Zion website, where the following remarkable conversation took place:

Visitor: Hey, I just have a little doubt. Ive heard so many times that Mark Mohr is a pastor or was a pastor. I just wanted to know if he had a church and where. Its just something i was wondering about...

Christafari Moderator: You don't have to be preaching at a church to have the title Pastor. In bible school he passed the course earning him the title. He was then later ordained as a reverand.

Visitor: Thanks, Thats all I wanted to know.[13]

Pastors are allways connected to a church and there are allways more then one in a local Church. At least when you want to look at it from the biblical perspective. In the Bible you do not find schools that make you earn a title and rituals that make you someone to be revered. In Babylon, however, this whole school titles degrees and reverends is day-to-day living from ancient times.

Talking about being original...

Mark Mohr is simply applying ancient techniques developed by the Babylonian Mystery Religions. But he doesn’t realize this, as he is allready initiated and brainwashed into the thought that the Body of Kristos is a sum for all denominations within “Christianity”.

It’s all about creating a movement. Christafarianism! Sanctuaryanism! By establishing some credibility in a man-made/Babylonian power structure, and subsequently creating some sub culture in the Christian Industry they create some life ministry.

A life ministry it is, allright.

The Christafarian surely ministers. After all, that word means: To Serve. But the Christafarian is a minister to the Christian Industry!

So does the Christafarian know JAH? Does he know the Creator? Does he know the Gospel of Yesus Kristos, or is it a style in an industry for him? When he would know the life saving Gospel of Yesus Kristos, he would know what it is to be born again in Yesus!

His studies at Biola, his ordination at Sanctuary, his continuous urge to be all things to all men, for the foundation of his modus d’operandi or working methodology. He calls it Mission Approach.

And what is his mission? To make the Rasta Church more Christian, to Plug The Gap In The Christian Industry. For that, he uses cheap marketing methods to create an audience for his products. When these people then become Christafarians, they become slaves of the Christian Industry.

The only reason why Pastor Mark Plants Churches, is to create an audience or artist base for his products. His “gospel”. When you “buy” his Gospel, you will need him to be “re-fueled”.

You plant a church to create a record label and apply religious rules to keep your audience depending on you. And when you, in the meantime, have established some monopoly position in some industry, you’re “in”!

But when you make merchandize out of the Church of Yesus Kristos, you are a false prophet and a false teacher.

And the Christafarian claims to be a prophet and a teacher. He claims how he teaches about the Christian Industry to a plethora of young aspiring artists. He earned the title “Pastor” in a Bible School and uses it to teach doctrines which you can’t debate when they hit the Christian Truth in the core, because it’s a boring, superficial issue in the Public’s Eye.

We don’t know if the Christafarian ever was born again in Kristos. Only JAH knows. But he is literally going all over the world to make disciples of himself which are admittedly even worse then the Christafarian himself!

There are no “fruits”, just works of the flesh and Christianes Correctness. Behind the veil of “Christianity”, something spiritually very dangerous is going on!

Mark Mohr claims how the Name of JAH was for him a term, a witness tool, to “reach the Rastas”. So he only called on His Name in front of an audience as a matter of principal. For you can not reach out when you are by yourself.

Now it’s “Jesus Christ” because his current audience would boycott us if we refused to use the name "Jesus," but not Jah.

Equally, he (paraphrased) said about his previous so-called “Mission approach”, where the Target Audience was “Rastas”: “The Rastas would boycot us if we refused to use the term JAH”!

He was all things to all men to win these people. He tried to “win” me, even though he knew that I am a born again Christian myself. He tried to “win” the Rastas, even though he knew that there are many of who he would have to call Born Again Christians in the movement of Rastafari. He tries to “win” everyone who allready knows the Creator and who allready knows Yesus Kristos but is not present in his Christian Industry of Wide Variety Of Denominations In the Judeo christian Faith.

And so, you could say that the Christafarian’s call to stop worshipping the Creator by His Holy Name JAH illustrates a call to apostasy: a Gateway into Babylon instead of a call to step out of her.

TAKE HEED, CHILDREN OF JAH!

We are not for sale. We are bought by Yesus kristos and called out of Babylon. We are called not to please men, not to sell the Gospel but instead to give it away freely, which is not so difficult when the Gospel you believe in is not some product in some industry, but the life saving Truth about the Works of Yesus Kristos to set the Children of Man free from sin when they become born again through Yesus Kristos.

FOOTNOTES

LINK

PDF

PRINT