Reformed. Christianity. Evangelism. Modern Culture.
A recent trend these days in Evangelicalism is to endorse a celebrity and in return a preacher gets publicly affirmed. Another version of this trend is to preach (weak and neutral soppy messages) pandering to people’s feeling and sentiments so as to get recognition. These trends are mostly seen among prosperity and word of faith preachers and broad casters. When prosperity guru T.D Jakes was endorsed by multi millionaire P. Diddy, I saw a few people get excited. They said, “Oh look! Now surely there are going to be multitudes coming to church too after seeing their celebrity in church.” The rationale is usually and sometimes is that the celebrity becomes a draw string to bring people to their church. One ill advised pastor revved up his church by inviting a Hip hop artist to share his pulpit while another mega church pastor invited a popular talk show hostess and on and on the brouhaha goes.
Recently “word of faith” and prosperity teacher Joyce Meyer’s teachings got a public nod from an elated celebrity known for her explicitly raunchy music. Had the message of sin, righteousness and judgement self esteem, health and wealth struck a chord of contention or agreement?
Rihanna’s spiritual beliefs may have raised questions for some in the past, but the 24-year-old singer is not afraid to admit that she is a fan of Christian minister and author Joyce Meyer.
This month, the record-breaking Barbadian singer has been using her Twitter account to spread Meyer’s teachings.
“If Satan can defeat you in your thoughts then he can defeat you anywhere else as well,” reads a message written by Meyer and re-tweeted by Rihanna on June 4.
To underline her point, the singer sent a tweet to Meyer directly.
“@JoyceMeyer you’re awesome,” Rihanna told the minister via Twitter on the following day.
When one of Rihanna’s fans tweeted about Meyer being …Read More!
Best Life Now
When talk show host Oprah Winfrey so much as spits on a book it immediately catches fire. The ashes can so much as sell for a lump sum that can earn you enough money for an early retirement. In 2006 an Australian Rhonda Byrne got much more than she bargained for when she wrote the New Age self help book, The Secret. Her book did not get spat on. No. The book got featured not once but twice on the Oprah Winfrey show and (wait for this) by the Spring of 2007 the book had sold almost 4 million copies, and the DVD had sold more than 2 million copies. Byrne was listed among Time Magazine’s list of 100 people who shaped the world in 2007.
Byrne writes, “Disease cannot live in a body that is in a healthy emotional state.” But be warned: “If you have a disease and you are focusing on it and talking to people about it, you are going to create more disease cells.” The tenet of the book is that an individual’s focused positive thinking can result in life-changing results such as increased wealth, health, happiness and more.
Wait a minute that sounds so much like Word of Faith you say. But There’s More
A Twisted Crown of Thorns ® 