That was the title of Religion Today’s feature article that appeared in my email this morning. The testimonies included the following.
“Her faith is a source of strength and inspiration for the times when she feels like giving up.”
“. . .placed his faith in God at age 13, after losing his father to cancer. “God used the worst experience in my life—losing my father—to bring forth the best experience in my life—knowing my Heavenly Father.”
One athlete talked about how hard the journey to the Olympics was, and it was said that she shares Bible verses on twitter with her 370,000 followers.
I’m sure that God just might use these testimonies, just like the recent Seattle Seahawks’ player testimonies, to point to Christ for salvation. What I long to hear from a celebrity Christian is something like……”I realized that Christ died for my sin when I was 18 , Knowing that, I repented and believed. God has gifted me as an athlete and now I can share the message that saved me with both other athletes and a whole lot of fans.”
It’s great to share how God has gifted us, strengthened us, and that God is a Father who will never leave us, At the same time, Knowing that Christ died for our sins is the gospel message with the power to save. Why is the ‘main thing’ not part of all these celebrity testimonies?
Food for thought.. . .
The Battle Cry 
It is not a part of these testimonies because it has been largely missing from pulpits for decades. It will continue to be absent as long as preachers make the issue human satisfaction instead of divine satisfaction. It is not whether we will accept him that is the issue but whether he will accept us.
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I tend to agree, Randy. A tremendously sad thought is that what has been missing from pulpits has resulted in a lot of false conversions. On the other hand, it is a great comfort to realize, due to the doctrines of sovereign grace, that God will bring his elect children to salvation in spite of bad preaching.
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I’m sure that you believe that God has already predestined who is going to win the Superbowl? Gray’s Sports Almanac (Back to the Future)! We have God believers on both teams, right? What is the good that will come out of the losing team? Or, did God say, “I put Seattle on the list of losers for so long that I figured it would be a nice gesture to let them win one…for the gipper…oh, wait…that was baseball. My bad.”
Ed
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Ed, that has absolutely nothing to do with this post, but I’m going to let it slide. Otherwise, you’ll start complaining I’m not being fair.
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I received an email from a friend that contained a testimony from the Sehawks’ QB, with a link to two more ‘testimonies’. printed in the Pentecostal Evangel. All three missed the gospel. Heavy sigh…….
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It’s not just sports…it’s sad to see this phenomenon (tendencies) among those who are Christians in the entertainment industry, music industry, and even in politics. But good food for thought
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You’re right, and it’s likely not to change on a measurable scale. So I’m praying for a celebrity ANYWHERE to tell “the rest of the story”, as Paul Harvey would say. 🙂
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While Dr. Brown and Dr. Waldron differentiate between the ‘power/sign gifts’ and those for the general building up of the church, Dr. Brown believes that they all continue, while Dr. Waldron ties their continuance to the roles of prophets and apostles to the foundation upon which the church is built. I thought that Dr. Waldron’s argument to be the most logically consistent, irrespective of my personal opinion.
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What is disturbing to me is how quickly people go gaga over any celebrity who just talks about their faith in God. Suddenly they are placed on a pedastal. Then we seem to have nothing to say when their behavior/conduct seems to deny their profession (and our conclusion) that they are Christians. The recent exploits of Justin Bieber come to mind.
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