NOTES ON AMERICA’S WORSHIP OF CELEBRITY: AMUSING OURSELVES TO DEATH IN THE LAST DAYS

SCRIPTURE. “My fellow believers, do not practice your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of partiality [toward people—show no favoritism, no prejudice, no snobbery].” ― JAMES 2:1, AMP

QUOTATION. “When a population becomes distracted by Trivia, when cultural life is redefined as a perpetual round of Entertainments, when serious public conversation becomes a form of Baby-Talk, when, in short, a people become an Audience, and their public business a Vaudeville Act, then a nation finds itself at risk; ‘Culture-Death is a clear possibility.’” ― NEIL POSTMAN, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business, 1985; edited.

FIRST THOUGHTS

I have been on a more than 40-year journey as a ‘Reform-Pentecostal Christian,’ (I know; deal with it), university professor, and author who happily experienced what I can only call, ‘Real Church’ in a small Assemblies of God congregation in Stockton, California in the early 80s. To today’s largely unrecognizable network of Spirit-filled communities that seem to have gone crazy for “Having Fun” as an objective of attending our Centers of Worship.

When my wife Suzette and I moved to Colorado Springs in the year 2000 as I was appointed to an administrative position at Focus on the Family Institute, we began to attend a church pastored by now-disgraced pastor TED HAGGARD. We settled in for a couple years but noticed that the often laughing, clownish pastor shout every single Sunday morning for years until I could bear it no more:

“Is everybody happy and is everybody feeling good?” As an historical note of warning and for a variety of reasons, that pastor is no longer leading that large church, reduced to driving for the Uber Taxi Service to pay the bills.

The first time I ever read about a time when followers of God wanted to have such fun was in a now-chilling passage from Exodus. Note carefully the Foundations etched in the very real human lust for enjoyment, as I will draw from it to the Present Moment in American Christian life.

“Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, ‘Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ And Aaron said to them, ‘Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.’So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!’ So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, ‘Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord.’ Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; ‘And the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.’” ― EXODUS 32:1-6, NKJV

“PLAY.” Taken from the Hebrew primitive root, ‘Tsachaq’ [צְחַק]: “To laugh outright in merriment or scorn; to make sport of or mock; to make a toy of [some idea, person or activity]; to use any exercise for pleasure or recreation; to do something not as a task or for profit, but for amusement; to frolic; to frisk; to do something fanciful or practice in sarcastic merriment.” DK: In this context, ‘To dare to make sport of Christ and Canon!’

THESIS. This study is therefore going to deep dive into the nearly uniquely American proclivity for ‘Just having fun!’ as part and parcel of the flimsy promises of “American Dream” Christianity. The idea that somehow because we are Christian Americans, and great ones at that, we deserve the very best life has to offer.

And that seditious Idea has increasingly crept into the interstitial tissue of Church life.

I propose to you that the brilliant analysis by MR. POSTMAN in 1985 holds direct and powerful indictment of what has happened to the American Church since he published his prescient work almost 40 years ago. In effect, we have become what I derisively call:

“The First Church of Frivolity.” Please prepare, therefore, to be, well, ‘Un-entertained’ in what follows.

II. THE AMERICAN “FUN CHURCH”

TWO CASE STUDIES. There is a cultural shibboleth bandied around virtually every moderate to large church in America today that makes me want to retch every time I hear it in the introductory remarks of a Pastor announcing the next sermon topic or social event in the church’s agenda:

“We’re going to have a fun time, Church!” So let me give you two contemporary examples of this nonesense exhibited in two famous churches in America that tell the story in graphic, unforgettable terms.

“HAPPY CHURCH:” MARILYN HICKEY. “Televangelist Marilyn Hickey is a prominent ‘Word-Faith’ teacher. Known for manipulative, deceptive fundraising tactics based on the so-called ‘Prosperity Gospel.’ Sometimes referred to as “Dr. Marilyn Hickey,” but according to Wikipedia Hickey holds a Bachelor of Arts in Collective Foreign Languages from the University of Northern Colorado and an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity from Oral Roberts University … Hickey, much like [ROBERT] TILTON, employs a broad range of tactics to manipulate followers into sending her money. Among her many ploys are anointed prayer cloths, ceremonial breastplates, and ropes that can be used as points of contact. In one of her appeal letters, Hickey promises she will slip into a ceremonial breastplate, ‘press your prayer request to my heart,’ and ‘place your requests on my shoulders’ — all for a suggested donation” [Net Worth, $126 million]. – From Apologetics Index, Feb. 7, 2017; edited

“CELEBRATION CHURCH:” MARK GUNGOR. “Mark Gungor is one of the most sought-after speakers on marriage and relationships in the world today. Celebration Church in Wisconsin is where he is the lead pastor. Mark is primarily known as a comedian who speaks about marriage, and you may have heard of his ‘Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage’ curriculum or ‘A Tale of Two Brains.’ One person described him as a charismatic entertainer who relies on misogynistic tropes both from the stage and online. JULIE ANNE SMITH at Spiritual Sounding Board dissects some of this and shows how his social media is filled with misogynist memes.The audio I’m posting below was recorded by a young woman named LEXI, who was once part of Celebration Church. Roughly four years ago, in December 2016, when she was 17, she was sexually assaulted by another church member. She later found out that one of her friends was assaulted by the same person. They went to their youth pastor, who directed them to talk to Mark. The first thing out of Mark’s mouth when they told their story was: ‘What were you girls thinking?’ The police were called, but charges were not pursued at that time. However, her treatment by her so-called ‘shepherds’ caused Lexi to leave the church and fractured her relationships with many of her friends and family. In early April, Mark Gungor posted on his Facebook Page, which has almost 300,000 followers, that sexless marriages were a cause for separation. SHEILA WRAY GREGOIRE, whom I have written about before when she took on Focus on the Family for promoting the book Love & Respect, left a comment to try to provide some nuance. Mark Gungor wrote a very disparaging post about Sheila and started making fun of her in the comments of his Facebook Page, calling her ‘psychotic,’ saying ‘sadly she’s real,’ ‘disgusting,’ ‘poison’ and ‘arrogant.’ He laughed when others joked about her in sexual terms [Net Worth, $13 million].” – From The Wartburg Watch, May 21, 2021; edited

DK & GUNGOR. About a year ago I watched Mr. Gungor all dressed up on the Fourth of July in a suit festooned with American flags and all sorts of patriotic accoutrement, prodding me to write him a question about Donald Trump and his Maga Nationalist Movement. The sustained mocking responses I got from him included: “You really need a psychiatrist, No, really, you need to seek some help as soon as possible!” Which went on in our online exchanges for several minutes as he continued to ridicule me for daring to ask such a question. I could hardly believe his words, beloved, since disagreement is one thing, but outright, disrespectful slander is quite another thing. Ironically, I used to promote his very funny online seminars. Suffice to say, I no longer do.

Significantly (no surprise here): Both Hickey and Gungor have been passionate supporters of Donald Trump.

MY METRICULATION. As a young Christian educator, I was fast-tracked to give my testimony at larger and larger venues (including Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International and The 700 Club), traveling all around the country and overseas a couple of times. I was beginning to appear with big name Christian leaders and speakers as I began to think to myself along the way something like:

“How cool is this!” More honestly, however: ‘How cool am I becoming!’

But then a loving God began around the turn of the century to systematically whittle me down to size in a series of painful corrections that would leave me and my family nearly destitute between the years 2017-2020. No job. Staggering income and material losses including our home. Reputation shattered alongside the loss of most of my lifelong Christian friends and colleagues who remained with the Entitled Class of American Christians.

Yet today I praise God daily for loving me enough to so wisely ‘whittle’ me, beloved, reconstructing me from the inside out to be more a reflection of Him than ‘them.’ Selah.

AMUSE US! Today I see a generation of American Christians running to and fro searching frantically for ways to make their own mark, excited to make money, build houses, travel, and – wait for it – Have fun!

Seminarian, author, editor and creative director for Moody Publishers, CHRIS MARTIN has summarized The Crisis accurately in a single paragraph from his essay, “Dethrone Entertainment in Your Church” (Bible to Life, March 2, 2023). Addressing both large churches and small, he warns:

“‘Entertainment’ has been invading our daily lives since the television began shaping culture in the middle of the twentieth century. Social media has made Entertainment an ever-present force in the lives of Christians, which has led them to want even their local church experiences to be centered around ‘Amusement.’ Pastors and Church leaders must resist the temptation to give in to this latent demand, even at the risk of losing church members to other, more entertaining church experiences.”

I have taken to calling out such frivolous, inch deep “Christianity”as “Silly Church,” fit more for little children than mature adults who ought to be getting prepared as soldiers and warriors of the Cross for the perilous days ahead. It is long past time for the American Church to simply, ‘Grow up!’ before being ‘Swallowed up’ wholesale by Homer’s Circean Sirens of Ecstasy, tempting them away from the Canon toward the fatal pursuit of ‘Trivial Amusement.’

III. THE TEACHING

KEY TERM: “PARTIALITY.” ‘Prosópolémpsia’ [προσωποληψία]: “Respect of persons, favoritism [toward the rich and famous]; formally, the fault of one who when called on to requite or to give judgment has respect to the outward circumstances of men and not to their intrinsic merits, and so prefers, as the more worthy, one who is rich, high-born, or powerful, to another who is destitute of such gifts.”

COMMENTARY. “‘My brethren.’ ― As the Apostle is about to dissuade from the evil of having respect to persons, this is a very fit introduction to it, and carries in it an argument why it should not obtain; since the saints are all brethren, they are children of the same Father, belong to the same family, and are all one in Christ Jesus, whether high or low, rich, or poor.

‘Have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.’ ― That is, such as have, and hold, and profess the Faith of Christ, ought not along with it to use respect of persons, or to make such a distinction among the saints, as to prefer the rich, to the contempt of the poor. And in this exhortation many things are contained, which are so many arguments why such a practice should not be encouraged. For Faith, whether as a Doctrine or as a Grace, is alike precious, and common to all; and is the Faith of Christ, which, as a Doctrine, is delivered by him to all the saints, and as a Grace, he is both the Author and object of it; and is the Faith of their common Lord and Saviour, and who is the Lord of glory, or the glorious Lord; and the poor as well as the rich are espoused by Him, as their Lord and Husband; and are redeemed by Him, and are equally under His government and protection, and members of His body.

The Syriac Version reads, ‘Have not the faith of the glory of our Lord Jesus,’ &c., meaning either the glory which Christ is possessed of, whether as the Son of God, in the perfections of His nature, or as Man and Mediator … And since this glory equally belongs to them all: ‘No difference should be made on account of outward circumstances, so as to treat any believer with neglect and contempt.’” ― JOHN GILL, An Exposition of the Old and New Testament, 9 vols., 1746-1763; edited

DK. My beloved friends of God, after over 40 years of following Christ and having worked for some the biggest names in American Christendom – Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Jerry Falwell Sr. and Jr. – I have come to some harsh conclusions about this senseless emphasis on ‘Being Big.’ It carries with it so much doctrinal baggage that offends both Christ and Canon that I will use the last section of our discussion to point out the dire consequences of American Christians’ worship of Celebrity and Sensationalism and the Hubris that inexorably travels with it.

IV. LAST THOUGHTS: AMERICA’S TRIVIAL FAITH

I realize that I sound to many of you as a crochety old curmudgeon (an elderly, bad-tempered cynic), but I promise you, I am not! Please let me explain, first quite personally, then theologically.

JOY VS. HAPPINESS. For those of you who know me face to face, I am very often found laughing out loud, telling funny stories (all old folks have plenty of stories that seem to get richer with retelling!), and generally experiencing a good deal of, well, ‘Joy.’

This word carefully selected and distinguished from another word, ‘Happiness.’

I believe this distinction is absolutely crucial and clearly defined by the Biblical Text. Very like the example of the early Hebrews having a party at the foot of Mt. Sinai while Moses was receiving the Ten Commandments on fire-carved stone tablets fashioned by Yahweh’s own Hand.

An excellent essay on this important matter by DR. JONATHAN HUGGINS, College Chaplain at Berry College in Rome, GA offers clarity. He earned graduate degrees from Wheaton College Graduate School, Reformed Theological Seminary, and received his PhD in Theology from the University of Stellenbosch. He is an ordained Priest in the Anglican Church in North America and a member of the St. Peter Fellowship of the Center for Pastor Theologians.

His article is entitled, “Does God Want Us to Be Happy?” published in the online journal, Pastor Theologians on April 27, 2020 (edited). I resort to Bullet Points once again to review his main ideas efficiently.

DESIRE. “‘Everyone wants to be happy.’ At least, that seems to be the case. Even when people do things that will ultimately make them miserable, one could argue that they are still trying to make themselves happy. The problem is, we often look for happiness in all the wrong places (Isaiah 55:2, Jer. 2:13). But does God even care about our happiness? I mean, is it really that important? Is it just a nice additional quality that one might be lucky enough to experience if you have the right personality or set of circumstances? Or is happiness essential to life, and therefore essential to life with God? Is happiness a constitutive aspect of Christian Faith and living?”

DEFINITION. “We might begin to answer these questions by first asking, ‘What is happiness?’ In contemporary pop-culture, happiness seems to be all about evanescent (quickly passing) and effervescent (vivacious or enthusiastic) feelings (Think Pharrell’s popular song, ‘Happy’). It’s a kind of inner peace, sense of contentment, or maybe even excitement, or a feeling of general well-being. One often hears people giving advice such as, ‘Just do whatever makes you happy.’ or ‘I just want you to be happy.”

DOCTRINE. ”DR. ELLEN CHERRY (God and the Art of Happiness, and By the Renewing of Your Minds) argues that classical Christian Doctrine seeks to help believers flourish by knowing and loving God. Goodness and happiness should result from living into these doctrines. This is the ‘good life’ that Christianity offers. Theology should foster human dignity and excellence in action, affection, and self-appraisal. Good Christian Doctrine, then, is ‘aretogenic’ (virtue producing), ‘sapiential’ (wisdom producing), and finally, ‘asheristic’ (blessedness/happiness producing). Thus, academic and practical theology must always go together for it to be truly ‘Christian’ theology. Because Doctrine helps us understand that God is both ‘good to us and good for us,’ Doctrine is inherently salutary, and encourages our happiness.”

CONCLUSION. “‘[Only] those who seek God, and the things God loves, for God’s sake, can know True Happiness.’ We don’t get happiness by aiming at it, but as by product of worthy pursuits and commitments. The central commitment being ‘the pursuit of God’ … As we walk through these trying times, let’s be reminded and remind others that God is with them as ever before. And that in His Presence, there is blessedness and joy to be had (Ps. 16:11).”

IN SUM. ‘True Happiness is only found in doing what makes God glad!’ As with the Christian missionary and Olympian, ERIC LIDDEL, who famously said: “God made me fast and when I run, I feel His pleasure” (‘Chariots of Fire,’ 1981). Or the admittedly controversial thesis offered by JOHN PIPER and his concept of “Christian Hedonism” (Desiring God, 1986) that posits that our supreme joy can only be found in giving “Our Utmost for His Highest,” in the words of the famous devotionalist, OSWALD CHAMBERS (1924, 1935).

I have found this to be true only in the past several years as I was dragged kicking and screaming into my most prolific and fruitful time in my entire life by entering upon My Destiny and Purpose in Christ. I still have rough days, but my general demeanor is unbridled Joy and Peace most all the time. Summed finally up in Two Words:

‘Joyful Obedience.’

And yet that is the one doctrine that the American Church has largely abandoned in favor of a more frivolous, transitory “Happy” that makes us giddy for a few moments, then vanishes many times the minute we exit through the Church doors. It is Pharell Williams’ delightful feeling that cannot last. It is the triviality of what ALDOUS HUXLEY called “preoccupation with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy” (Brave New World, cited in Postman, 1985).

No, beloved. No! It is, rather, the stuff found in Deep Communion with the Father in my early morning prayer and study of the Word. It is the rich exchange in conversation with true followers of the Messiah in both humorous and difficult circumstances. And it is in reaching out to the hurting in my life space, to offer hope and consolation or just advice that will get help them up from their painful condition.

It is that simple, friends, truly. But though many be called to it, precious few find it. Be one of the few. Or as several of you precious folks like to frequently say:

“Be the Light!”

YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/SZKwZtGGF6M