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Christian Rapper Saved By Circumcision--Twice

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  • Christian Rapper Saved By Circumcision--Twice

    CHRISTIAN RAPPER SAVED BY CIRCUMCISION--TWICE

    ChristianityToday.com
    May 30 2014

    After a childhood encounter with terrorists, hip-hop artist raps for
    religious freedom.

    Timothy C. Morgan and David Daniels/ May 30, 2014

    Back in the 1980s, a doctor in a remote clinic performed an emergency
    circumcision to treat a young boy's severe urinary tract infection
    in Azerbaijan, on the Caspian Sea. Ruslan Karaoglanov was cured from
    potentially fatal infection that day. But the Karaoglanov family
    had no inkling that five years later, that circumcision would save
    Ruslan's life during a bloody pogrom led by Muslim terrorists.

    Ruslan, a rising talent in the Christian hip-hop world (known
    professionally by his first name), retold the story to Christianity
    Today. It was during the historic period in which the Berlin Wall
    came down and the Soviet empire collapsed. In Azerbaijan, Christians
    lived in daily fear for their lives as Islamic terrorists sought to
    purge non-Muslims from the region.

    Black January

    The worst occurred in the early days of 1990 (today known as "Black
    January"). Over seven days that month, violence between Azerbaijani
    Muslims and the Soviet Red Army left an estimated 220 people dead
    and 1,500 injured in Baku, the capital.

    One day, armed men crashed through the door at the home where the
    Karaoglanov family was living in Baku. They were seeking to find and
    murder any Armenian males. Ruslan's Armenian father and uncles had
    already fled to Moscow for safety. But Ruslan, about 5 years old,
    had stayed with his ethnic Russian mother, Marina, and grandparents.

    As three rebels with automatic weapons prepared to kill him, his
    mother quickly exposed her son's circumcised penis to prove that his
    was not Armenian. "No! No! No!" Marina shouted in Russian.

    "We're not Armenians. Look, my son is circumcised!"

    Armenian Christians traditionally do not practice circumcision, while
    Muslims typically do. The militants were persuaded the Karaoglanovs
    were fellow Muslims. After the harrowing episode, the Karaoglanov
    family was reunited in Moscow at the end of 1990. They applied for
    visas to the United States, and the family landed in San Diego to
    build a new life.

    Growing up on the fringes of American culture, Ruslan turned to
    hip-hop to express himself. As an adult rap artist, Ruslan has opened
    for Lecrae, Mobb Deep, Raekwon, and other top acts. He says his keen
    awareness of God's protection of religious minorities has found a
    place in his music, which he describes as "positive hip-hop."

    Birthed in the late 1970s, hip-hop now generates a $10 billion a year
    in revenue. Surveys show there are 45 million hip-hop consumers, ages
    13 to 34, and 80 percent are white. Christian hip-hop artists, such
    as Lecrae, often place their recordings at or near the top of the rap
    album chart. Billboard magazine recently described Christian hip-hop
    as a "welcome bright spot" for the religious music market, which has
    seen sales decline 31 percent since 2009. Traffic to Rapzilla.com, a
    leading Christian hip-hop webzine, grew fifteen-fold from 2008 to 2013.

    Master of His Craft

    Ruslan believes music is an overlooked way to reach a younger audience
    with a message about the fight for religious freedom. He began the
    first verse of song off his debut solo album, Carry On, rapping, "I
    was supposed to die--no one would've noticed it." Later in a video,
    "Please Pronounce My Name Right," he tells the story of the 1990
    pogrom and how he survived.

    Derek "Fonzworth Bentley" Watkins, a recording artist who has worked
    alongside Sean "P Diddy" Combs and Kanye West, told CT he sees the
    missionary pulse in Ruslan's music. "You cannot influence that which
    you are not in proximity to," said Watkins. "A lot of Christian
    artists . . . will not interact at a deeper level with folks whose
    hearts have not been won by God. [But] Jesus went to those people.

    That's something Ruslan really brings to the table.

    http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2014/may-web-only/christian-rapper-saved-by-circumcision-hip-hop.html

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