The Deadly Virus of Celebrity Christianity
J. Lee Grady, editor of the Charisma magazine, has written an article about the church of today - how some ministers are put on a pedestal. They seem to think the church owes them a huge chunk of money, among other things, to even get them to appear before a congregation.
Grady says we have fallen so far from New Testament faith, and that New Testament Christianity should be humble, selfless, and authentic. But, he doesn't see this in many of the big egotistical preachers of today who demand so much of the church. Somewhere I think I've read, "if any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all and servant of all." (Mark 9:35) Apparently these preachers have not read that portion of scripture yet.
Grady says we have fallen so far from New Testament faith, and that New Testament Christianity should be humble, selfless, and authentic. But, he doesn't see this in many of the big egotistical preachers of today who demand so much of the church. Somewhere I think I've read, "if any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all and servant of all." (Mark 9:35) Apparently these preachers have not read that portion of scripture yet.
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2 Comments:
If only the early church could see us now. I bet they would be really disappointed. Too bad Christ CAN see us now and is probably very saddened.
The root of the problem lies in the fact that our churches all too often reflect our culture. We live in a very celebrity focused/infatuated and very market-driven culture (especially in the West). Rather than embracing the call to be holy and thereby "counter-culture", we have been inclined lately to customize our churches in order to appeal to our culture. While there may be some validity to that in terms of strategic ministry, we have perhaps done this to the extent that church has just become too absorbed in our culture to any longer be biblically effective.
When we tailor and conform our churches and our worship to suit the culture, it's really no different that the biblical accounts of idolatry in the early Hebrew culture. A celebrity is an Idol. Period. Christian or secular.
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