They say that ‘things come in threes’. That was so true in Christian circles this past week as we saw the bizarre, the frivolous, and the outright greed manifest.
We saw three ‘prominent ministers in the Christian ministry’ make national headlines:
Juanita Bynum was assulted (domestic violence is wrong) by her estranged husband (come to find out that they had been seperated for three months) during a meeting trying to reconcile their marriage in Atlanta.
Randy and Paula White announced from the stage of their church last Thursday that their marriage was ending in divorce with Randy overseeing the church and Paula leaving and going ‘elsewhere’ (later revealed to be San Antonio, TX) to continue her ‘life coaching’.
Ted Haggard had the nerve to ask their supporters for money to survive because it would take them two years to ‘have earning power’ after being fired over his admission of drug use and encounters with a male prostitute.
What do these three have in common?
A Theology of Self Empowerment
Juanita Bynum is the symbol of the “street smart’ and ‘angry black woman’ who rose from two failed marriages and careers ranging from a flight attendant and hairdresser to become a nationally known ‘prophetess’ via a famous sermon entitled ‘No More Sheets’ made public by T.D. Jakes who focuses on ‘overcoming’ and ’sexual purity’.
Paula White is the symbol of the country girl (and victim of childhood sexual abuse) who got out of the small-town America trailer park, rose above it all and became nationally known after Paula and her husband moved to Tampa and started one of the fastest growing churches in America by reaching out in the streets to become a ‘life-coach’ and a pastor who focuses on ‘being healthy and wealthy’ because you can have it all.
Ted Haggard is the symbol of the Christian who feels ‘robbed’ by the ACLU, secularists, and the Democrats and became ‘the champion of the cause’ to ‘take America back’
All three in their quest for empowerment for destiny via mentorship and lifecoaching, ran a common thread.
This is available for you, however you must do something to obtain it
With Bynum and White, it was high-dollar seminars consisting of lectures, prophecies, and ‘Jenny Jones’ makeovers. With Haggard, it was voting in the Republicans in order to eliminate the ACLU, Democrats, the gays and ‘anyone else’ who disagrees in order to ‘take America back’ to a ‘magical time’ that when history is revisited ‘never happened’.
However, we see something else at work here that may be the driving force of ‘empowerment’ instead of Jesus giving us ‘power’ via the Comforter
Bynum in the past couple of years went away from ‘prophecying’ and eventually became involved with her (third) husband Thomas Wesley Weeks III, in promoting marriage seminars designed to encourage and build up marriages. White in the past couple of years went away from street / homeless ministry and eventually became involved with the health and wealth prosperity teaching implying that Christians who did not have this ‘must have something wrong in their lives that holds God back from providing health and wealth to them’. Haggard, went away from being an Spiritually ‘inspired’ evangelist to being a politically motivated evangelical believing that God saves people by voters saving the nation.
Empowered with the Holy Spirit / pentecost experience was replaced by Self-Empowerment via the pragmatic realm. What happened in the long run that manifested this week? We saw the beginnings of the end to the self-empowerment movement and we saw the continuance of the ending of the theopolitical mindset and we learned something about these Christian Celebrities this past year….
Bynum seems to have a history with men (being married for the third time) and it appears (per one commenter on my original Bynum blog that her “self-esteem and self-worth is dependent on whether or not she has a man committed to her in covenant” wondering if “her view of love can only be found ‘between the sheets’ with a man (aka the sexual realm)”. I would like to ‘theorize’ this much further. I really wonder if Bynum (so influenced by Pentecostal theology and ‘Finneyism”) feels and equates that her “self-esteem and self-worth is dependent on whether or not she has a man committed to her in covenant” is the same implication spiritually where her having a man or not in the realm of physical marriage and covenant is directly parallel to having God (or not) in her life in order to be a part of ‘His Bride”? I wonder if this was ‘at inner work’ within her when she and husband number three (and many Internet sites state that He left his wife number two for her) established a relationship and ended up having the ‘mega wedding’ on TBN? I really wonder if she drew a subconscious conclusion that ‘having no man in the physical realm IS not having God in her midst in the spiritual realm” and “having a man in the physical realm IS having God in her midst in the spiritual realm”?
One can wonder about what happened when Weeks allegedly walked out on the meeting first and Bynum allegedly followed him out the door with verbal words between the two before the ‘incident’ took place if the statements in the paragraph above was ‘at inner subconscious work’ within her fearing repeating a ’self made and deceptive’ cycle of Weeks III leaving her being equated to “God leaving her’?
In the long run, it appears that the one holding the marriage seminars of success had such a dysfunctional marriage that did not survive.
White (as beautiful, sexy, and ’seductive’ she is) has now showed us that the ‘lifecoach’ who taught that you can have it all somehow ‘didn’t really have it all’ and failed to follow ‘Coach Jesus’ instructions on having a successful marriage. She had the money, the condos, the sphere of influence, the time, the retreats, etc. but she appeared to not have the successful marriage. Also, wondering how two ministers who are married to each other can just say that we are divorcing and resume with “ministry” “business” as usual without any sings of remorse if she really had Jesus at work within her life?
Haggard showed us many months ago that the moral crusade he was trying to eliminate via politics was the same moral failures he was wrestling with spiritually. Haggard made a ‘gross error’ and believed that if he could eliminate the sin politically, that he would have overcame with victory spiritually because he would have political clout to be set for life.
Theopolitics, self-empowerment, and a ‘husband named Jesus’ will not deal with the problems of a frail and sin-scarred humanity. The one thing that will bring us to our knees in confession and at least bring lasting change in our own individual lives is the one thing these three ‘Gospel Gurus’ quit preaching on years ago.
The Wondrous Cross….
When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?His dying crimson, like a robe,
Spreads o’er His body on the tree;
Then I am dead to all the globe,
And all the globe is dead to me.Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.[Added by the compilers of Hymns Ancient and Modern]
To Christ, who won for sinners grace
By bitter grief and anguish sore,
Be praise from all the ransomed race
Forever and forevermore.[Added by Chris Tomlin and Matt Redman]
O the wonderful cross, O the wonderful cross
Bids me come and die and find that I may truly live
O the wonderful cross, O the wonderful cross
All who gather here by grace draw near and bless Your name
“Infomercialanity” has damaged us in many ways. We now believe that we can get anything for one low price with easy installment payments to procure ’services’ instead of salvation and ‘product’ instead of the power of God. What Robert Tilton ‘pioneered’ (and I am at a loss of words here) in the 1980’s with his “Success In Life” television programs patterned after the famous Dave Del Dotto “Cash Flow Expo” infomercial has now become the norm instead of the condemned. Orthodox Christianity has been reduced from a lifestyle to a style of life where retreat from life instead of the ethic to fulfill the call is now commonplace. We can not give enough money, motivate ourselves via positive thinking, and refuse to speak out against a televangelist in gross sin thinking that we have empowered ourselves with anointing. We have to constantly go to the cross daily and crucify the flesh to receive His power and give Him the glory.
There is no other way………
