{"id":22824,"date":"2023-01-17T10:32:39","date_gmt":"2023-01-17T15:32:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=22824"},"modified":"2023-11-08T11:45:15","modified_gmt":"2023-11-08T16:45:15","slug":"musician-m-i-a-shares-details-about-her-vision-of-jesus-that-changed-her-life-vows-to-spread-the-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2023\/01\/musician-m-i-a-shares-details-about-her-vision-of-jesus-that-changed-her-life-vows-to-spread-the-truth.html","title":{"rendered":"Musician M.I.A. Shares Details About Her Vision of Jesus That Changed Her Life, Vows to Spread &#8220;The Truth&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_29831\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-29831\" style=\"width: 768px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2023\/01\/MIA-v03_credit-miamatangi-Instagram-scaled.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-29831\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2023\/01\/MIA-v03_credit-miamatangi-Instagram-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"768\" height=\"576\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-29831\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">miamatangi \/ Instagram<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Mainstream artist M.I.A. recently opened up about her newfound Christian faith and shared details about the vision of Jesus that turned her life \u201cupside-down\u201d and compelled her to use her platform to share the \u201ctruth\u201d she refuses to \u201ccensor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In an<a href=\"https:\/\/relevantmagazine.com\/magazine\/how-m-i-a-found-jesus\/\">\u00a0interview<\/a>\u00a0with Relevant magazine, Mathangi \u201cMaya\u201d Arulpragasam, also known as M.I.A., shared more about a vision of Jesus Christ she had in 2016 that convinced her to become a Christian despite years of pushing back against tradition.\u00a0The \u201cPaper Planes\u201d singer told Relevant that her vision of Jesus took place \u201cin the middle of nowhere. No cell phone service, et cetera.\u201d \u201cI wasn\u2019t asleep,\u201d she says. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a dream. It wasn\u2019t a hallucination.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy first reaction was to laugh,\u201d she says. \u201cI couldn\u2019t believe that\u2019s what was happening. I just couldn\u2019t believe it was real. I didn\u2019t believe Jesus was real. I always thought He was made up, or not even made up, but I just always thought it was a silly story.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI literally got saved in a very physical sense,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd I think that\u2019s what it is. When you need saving, the person who turns up \u2014 no matter who you are and no matter what religion or no matter what status or what you are \u2014 if you are in need and you need saving, the person who turns out to save you is Jesus. That is what He\u2019s known for.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Though born in London, M.I.A.\u2019s family moved back to their native Sri Lanka when she was a baby. There, her father fought against Tamil oppression, moving his family from Jaffra to Madras in India. When M.I.A. was 10, her family fled to London as refugees, where her mother became a Christian. Her father was an atheist who saw religion as a \u201cform of control.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>M.I.A. said that though she always maintained an affinity for Hinduism, her mother\u2019s Christian faith never interested her \u2014 until she saw Jesus, an experience that she told\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/music\/2022\/oct\/14\/mia-on-vaccines-vindication-and-her-visions-of-jesus-people-fear-me-for-some-reason\">The Guardian\u00a0<\/a>gave her an \u201cexistential crisis.\u201d She said, referring to one of the many deities in Hinduism, \u201cIn my time of need, the God that turned up to save me was not Shiva. It was Jesus. That is the truth, and I have to say that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Though she\u2019s still figuring out the details of her faith, the artist said, \u201cthe only clear thing I can say is that even when I had no belief in Jesus Christ and Christianity, and even when I was 100 percent comfortable in Hinduism, it was a Christian God that turned up to save me,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I think there is truth in that. I\u2019m so new to it,\u201d she added. \u201cIt\u2019s not like I can recite all the verses of the Bible and stuff like that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>M.I.A. first opened up about her vision of Jesus and her newfound faith in an interview with\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/music.apple.com\/us\/curator\/the-zane-lowe-show\/990050553\">Zane Lowe on Apple Music<\/a>\u00a0last year.\u00a0\u201cSince then, my head has been in a totally different place. Being a Tamil and being a Hindu, I was very comfortable that I\u2019d arrived finding myself. Which is, I think, going to be weird for America to process,\u201d she said at the time. \u201cBut I had a vision, and I saw the vision of Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She revealed on the Apple podcast that before her vision, she found the concept of Christianity to be \u201cbasic,\u201d but she now considers herself a \u201cborn-again Christian.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mainstream artist M.I.A. recently opened up about her newfound Christian faith and shared details about the vision of Jesus that turned her life \u201cupside-down\u201d and compelled her to use her platform to share the \u201ctruth\u201d she refuses to \u201ccensor.\u201d In an\u00a0interview\u00a0with Relevant magazine, Mathangi \u201cMaya\u201d Arulpragasam, also known as M.I.A., shared more about a vision&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":29831,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7,8,4],"tags":[3263,5376],"class_list":["post-22824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrities","category-entertainment","category-music","category-pop-culture","tag-born-again-christian","tag-m-i-a"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Musician M.I.A. 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