Raymond Ayala, the Puerto Rican rapper known as Daddy Yankee, delivered his first sermon on Sunday since announcing in December that he was retiring from the industry to preach the Christian gospel and serve Jesus.
Ayala, who admitted to being “a little nervous” when talking about her personal relationship with God, detailed her struggles with health, pride, depression and other challenges, and said she felt she loved her career more. He said he was moved to give up his career because he believed he was better than God, and if he continued to act like this, he would not have been able to properly follow his faith.
Daddy Yankee is one of the most successful pop music artists in the world, and perhaps one of the most successful artists in the Caribbean music genre. reggaeton.he has sold With over 30 million records worldwide, his 2004 breakthrough hit “gasolina” is currently in the Library of Congress. national register, even reached platinum status in Japan. He has had dozens of Spanish-language hits throughout the Western Hemisphere, and broke into the American charts with fellow Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi with his 2017 hit “Despacito.”
Ayala explained Sunday that she never gave up her faith in God, but she occasionally dabbled in politics, including during the 2008 presidential campaign. approval He supported the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) over former President Barack Obama, but before his retirement he was not known as a conservative or religious person. His music often contained explicit and overtly sexual lyrics.
He announced his retirement in December, advising his fans: “To all those who have followed me, please follow Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life.”
Ayala told the congregation at the Refiados en Su Presencia Evangelical Church in Las Piedras, Puerto Rico, “There can never be anything that exceeds the love of God,” saying he loves God above all else. The first commandment, he added, is “absolutely not.” -Negotiable. ”
He admitted that for years he did not value his faith in Jesus more than his career ambitions.
“I was so honest with God that I said to God in prayer, I love something more than you, I love my career more than you, and “We knew the challenge ahead of us,” he explained. “To follow God, we must sacrifice what we love most in order to receive blessings.”
“I don’t know what you’re going through in your life right now,” he told attendees. The Kingdom men here had to sacrifice something, that’s why we’re here. ”
“If our Lord made the ultimate sacrifice, sacrificed Himself, paid the ultimate price, what more can we do?” he asked. “Because of that, I had to sacrifice my career, the thing I loved most. Maybe you, as I have many times, come here without knowing the Lord. They preached to me and when that part came, I just shut up and thought, ‘Wow, that’s for me.’
“I’m new in the name of the lord,” Ayala declared, describing himself as “once known as Daddy Yankee.”
“Like many people here, I too am a miracle… God was never far away, He was always near. I couldn’t understand it, but yes, He always “I was nearby,” he said. “Today I may be on tour and making millions of dollars, but here I am completely free and have joy that the world cannot give me.”
Ayala explained that her first experience at an evangelical worship event was shocking because she was raised Catholic. He credits his wife of nearly 30 years, Miledith González, with leading him to the faith.
He went on to say that he left worship at the age of 21 after a short stint in the ministry, and that he thanked God for allowing his career to blossom, even when he didn’t get closer to God. Ta.
“You can go far without God, and I am proof of that. God created us in their image and equipped us with talents and abilities that will take us far without Him. It gave me the ability,” Ayala explained. “Believe it or not, there is a very clear example. It is the Tower of Babel. I built the Tower of Babel, I built the tower that reaches to heaven.”
He said his path back to faith began when he was one year old. diagnosed It is associated with several diseases such as high blood pressure and prediabetes.
“One day I’m on the brink of death in Colombia, I’m on the brink of death in the hospital, one foot on this side, one foot on the other side,” he narrated. “I don’t know how many people here have ever been there…but I’ve been a few times…I know what it’s like to see the Angel of Death.”
“I ask God, ‘Please give me a chance. If you bring me back to life and you give me a chance, I will serve you,'” he explained. But even then — in 2016, as he recalls — Ayala wasn’t fully committed. His career continued to soar, but in the absence of God, he said, it was “a success with failures.”
“The life of the chosen one is a life of sacrifice,” he declared. “You have to sacrifice what you love most, knowing it will take you away from God.”
Ayala’s conversion to Christianity reflects the Panamanian rapper’s post-career life edgardo francounder his artistic name El General, he is widely considered the founding father of the world. reggaeton In Latin America. Combining Jamaican dancehall reggae with his Latin American beats, El General was ubiquitous in Spanish-language culture in the early 1990s, but suddenly disappeared.
Franco retired in 2004 and disappeared from public life, but resurfaced in 2016 and announced that he had become a Jehovah’s Witness, citing concerns that his music had sparked conflict with Jehovah’s Witnesses. accused of being [his] conscience. “
At the time, he said, his fame was a “trophy from Satan, who had forsaken Jehovah.”
