British artist M.I.A. has revealed that she has converted to Christianity after having a vision of Jesus Christ back in 2017.
M.I.A., whose birth name is Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam, spoke about her conversion on Apple Music’s The Zane Lowe Show.
“Since then, my head has been in a totally different place. Being a Tamil and being a Hindu, I was very comfortable that I’d arrived finding myself. Which is, I think, going to be weird for America to process,” she explained. “But I had a vision, and I saw the vision of Jesus Christ,” she added.
“It’s very creatively a crazy thing because it turned my world upside down,” M.I.A. noted. “Because everything I thought and believed was no longer the case. And I think that was maybe a sign that something major was going to happen in the world and that people were needing to be introduced to this concept.”
M.I.A., who was born in London to Sri Lankan Tamil parents, shared that before having the vision, she found the concept of Christianity “basic.”
Lowe then interrupted and asked if she is a “born-again Christian now.”
“Yes, I am,” she replied.
“I’m not going to lie. Then when I had this vision, it turned my world upside down. I kind of couldn’t let go of the Tamil side,” the “Paper Planes” singer noted.
As The Christian Post reported, while half of M.I.A.’s upcoming album, MATA, is influenced by her upbringing, much of it is also informed by her newfound Christian faith. She has currently released one single titled “The One.”
“I’m still me. That’s still my language. And those are still my tools to be able to create beats like that or a sound like that,” she told Lowe. “But I think the message was just to get to a peaceful place. Watch the space. The history is, even if it costs me my career, I won’t lie. I will tell the truth, and I will tell you what’s on my mind and my heart.”
“If I’m coming back now saying ‘Jesus is real,’ there’s a point,” she asserted.
“Basically, all of my fans might turn against me because they are all progressives who hate people that believe in Jesus Christ in this country,” she added.
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Kristy Sparow/Stringer
Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer. He is also the co-hosts of the For Your Soul podcast, which seeks to equip the church with biblical truth and sound doctrine. Visit his blog Blessed Are The Forgiven.