Preacher or Glam King?
By Aldon Cheatham
May 15, 2000
In Jesus’ day, being a Pharisee or a priest was glamorous. The only problem
with the priesthood was that you had to be born into the right tribe (Levites)
to become a priest. Well, that knocks me right out of the line up, my dad sold
cars. In the Middle Ages, to be glamorous, you had to be some sort of royalty.
Again, you have to be born into this elite club or be very beautiful or handsome
and marry into it. Well, so far, I’m a peasant in both Jesus’ day and the
Middle Ages. Well, what about the last 100 years?
In the first half of the 1900’s, gangsters were looked at as heroes just
because they wore nice suits and drove around in the nice cars. The truth is,
they were thugs who knew how to dress. Here’s where I get you mad.
Today, among Christians, preachers tend to be the ones who are glamorous. I
really don’t get it. The Bible specifically says that preaching is foolish.
"For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe."
(I Corinthians 1:21)
You don’t agree with me? Read on.
A preacher in the South has impeccable taste in clothes and pastors a huge
church. Can you name him? Can you name the preacher who started his ministry in
a lesser line of show business? Can’t guess that one? He now speaks his mind
so loosely in the pulpit that you hear "Oh, my goodness, I can’t believe
he said that from the pulpit!" instead of "Amen" or
"Hallelujah" from the audience. I recently heard a preacher that used
"The Gifts of the Spirit" to tell the audience that there were people
who came with pain in their bodies. I could have told you that without God’s
anointing! The same guy watches people watch him worship. Who is this preacher?
Do we have any gluttonous preachers? Oops, I could probably think of a few.
How many celebrities do we have in our midst? Why do we have so many? Why
do we have any?
By the way, don’t think I’m beating up on only one apostolic
organization. Let’s not forget the guy with the big hair who blows on people
to make the disease vanish. Have you ever seen the pink-haired lady? Is she
horrible or what? With people like that on our airwaves, it is no wonder people
look at me strange when I tell them I’m Pentecostal or Christian.
You may think that I’m treading on thin ice, but I’m not. What we
Christians need to be doing, is watching the people who lead us. I understand
that God will take care of the people he sets before us. However, using that
same theory, why do we go to doctors?
Why do we look at the Davidians any differently than ourselves? The Davidians
truly believed that their leader was the Son of God. This may sound far-fetched
to us, but on the same hand we don’t question anything that our leaders do or
say. I think that there is a reason that God gave us (his disciples) the gifts
of the Spirit. We are supposed to discern instead of follow blindly.
Mostly, I think that our own people push the Glam King idea. Our people need
to understand that there is more to "The Church" than preachers and
saints. How often do we have the guy speak at church who won 20 people to the
Lord within the last year? How often do we show appreciation to the Sunday
school teachers? Do we only think about the foreign missionaries once a year at
missions conference? It seems too easy to lose sight of Jesus’ words, "But
many that are first shall be last; and the last first. And whosoever of you will
be the chiefest, shall be servant of all." (Mark 10:31, 44)
When was the last time we did more for God than inviting someone to church?
And, what is that about anyway? "Please come to my church." Instead of
"Did you know that Jesus loves you so much He died for you?" or
"How about you and I go to McDonald’s and I’ll pay for your
breakfast." Now, there’s a witness.
If you’re wondering if I’m proposing a solution to the Glam King problem,
you’re wrong. I have no solution, Jesus had to deal with similar things, and I
guess we must also. I think this problem will perpetuate itself until God comes
back for his true people.
Let’s not forget the words of Jesus, "Not every one that saith
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will
of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord,
have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in
thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never
knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." (Matthew 7:21-23)
Lastly, I would like to say that I, in no way, mean to come off accusatory
towards any of God’s anointed. I’m sure that they are all fine people,
including the pink-haired lady.
ninetyandnine.com
Article © 2000, Aldon Cheatham
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Aldon Cheatham works as a member of a computer support team for a large
insurance company based out of the U.K. whose U.S. headquarters is in Nashville.
He moved to Nashville from St. Louis in the spring of 1999 and to St. Louis from
Shreveport, Louisiana in the spring of 1998. He's obviously a sojourner in the
land of opportunity. Will he ever find a resting place? Write us and let us
know. Did you like his article? Write us and let us know. Will you ever read
another bio again? Write us and let us know. He's also the Assistant Web Master
of ninetyandnine.com. He wanted
his bio to be longer than anyone else's and it is. Good for Aldon.
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