“What if the armies of the Lord, picked up and dusted off their swords, vowed to set the captives free and not let Satan have one more!” The Christian rock band Casting Crowns has many songs that point the finger directly in the face of the church; and rightfully so. In 2 Chronicles 7:14 the Lord clearly puts it on His people to prayerfully intervene in order to save the land. "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” Why then aren’t Christians praying about the issues that our nation face, our local area, the lost who live right next door to us, and even the celebrities that we love to hate?
Intermixed in our nightly news are headlines about celebrities in trouble, but what happens when they recover? Do we hear about them doing better, or isn’t that enough titillation for our nightly consumption of “news”? Put a set of clippers to Britney Spears scalp and it is on the news for days, but now that her life has stabilized, we rarely hear about her.
In the height of Britney’s downward spiral, Christian artist Bebo Norman wrote and performed a song apologizing to Britney Spears and entitled it simply “Britney”. He wrote, “Britney I'm sorry for the lies we told. We took you into our arms and then left you cold. Britney I'm sorry for this cruel, cruel world. We sell the beauty but destroy the girl. Britney I'm sorry for your broken heart. We stood aside and watched you fall apart. I'm sorry we told you fame would fill you up. And money moves the man so drink the cup.” When I heard that song, I realized as the church we have abdicated responsibility.
With the recent suicide of Mindy McCready the heartbreaking thought comes to mind that Satan got another one. For years this very talented artist has been in and out of court, rehab, and the news. While she was very open about her struggles and attempts at recovery, I have to ask myself did I ever stop and pray about her; or did I simply shake my head and wonder when she would get her life together. It seems that gossip and entertainment news has the same amount of viewership inside the church, as out. Yet, the Scriptures are clear about gossip. Proverbs 26:22 says, “The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to the inmost parts.” As Christians those morsels should go straight down to our spirit and spark our heart of prayer.
There are so many people who are celebrity watchers, and the market for entertainment and reality TV is vast. What causes people to tune into these shows is to see people who seem to have it all fall, or carry on in outlandish fashion. Believers love to use as the example of how not to live citing celebrities who are not saved, thus not having the same standard or even more code that we would. Wake up, those who do not subscribe to the Biblical view, will not act like that it! Instead of shaking our head in judgment, we should pray. Years ago when I was praying for direction about a life or death matter, I heard the Lord clearly speak into my spirit that prayer is the best weapon of offense, while silence is the best weapon of defense. In other words, we should shut up and pray. While praying for these lost and out of control people, we should see that if these people got saved, what an impact that could have on their followers. Most assuredly they would reach the people that aren’t concerned about what hat and shoes they wore to Sunday service.
When I first saw the band Korn, I was a bit horrified. Their music was not my taste, their look was unorthodox, and their followers lost. However, what a powerful testimony it is that Brian Welch got saved. In a video testimony, Brian Welch explains how he got saved and how the powerful grip of drugs was loosened off of his life.
When our weekly Sunday school email comes out listing the requests for prayer, we are encouraged to pray over the list and while we are to pray for all of the requests, to take the ones that stand out and specifically pray over that situation for the week. Why can’t we do this for those people who are in the spotlight, who clearly need prayer, and pray for them? There are many that come to mind as I write this article.
Thank you Mark Hall for reminding us, “What if the life that we pursue. Came from a hunger for the truth. What if the family turned to Jesus Stopped asking Oprah what to do!!”
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