CELEBRITY WORSHIP SYNDROME: Are you infected?

Celebrity Worship Syndrome

Celebrity worship has been identified as one of the most common ways of idolatry these days. Researchers report that about one third of people (thanks to daily gossip columns in the tabloids and ubiquitous celebrity news in the media) suffer from Celebrity Worship Syndrome, an actual syndrome that can become obsessional, replacing conventional relations.

A fan shows a lively interest in a celebrity at the first stage. Perhaps a fan’s interest gets far too lively since the person becomes addicted to information on his idol’s private life. He begins to avidly pay attention to all kinds of news relating to his idol e.g. wardrobe items or details of the latest fall-out between the star and his producer etc. Fans feel anxiety and tension and may develop depression if the flow of information on a star’s life runs dry temporarily.

About 10% of enthusiastic fans reach the second stage as the syndrome takes shape and people become confident that they form some kind of a “special relationship” with their idols. Manifestations vary. A fan may be certain of his or her close supernatural ties with the idol or his relation by blood.

Fans may suffer from obsessional conditions at the third stage of the syndrome. Criminal behavior on the part of a fan cannot be ruled out in some cases.

Taken from HULIQ. Read the Wikipedia definition of "Celebrity Worship Syndrome" here, since many people these days will only believe information if it's from a major/popular news source. Wikipedia describes CWS as a psychological disease, but know that it is simpler than that... celebrity worship is idolatry, and idolatry is a sin.

Understand that worship is not just about physically bowing before someone or something. It is a matter of the heart. What you give time and affection to is what you worship. True Christians "walk with God" daily and moment by moment. That is worship in spirit and truth. 

QUOTE: Marina Girch, 14, Queens, New York: "I want to kiss Eminem very badly 'cause he's hot. I like short and scrawny guys."
--XXL magazine, 08/2000

The world walks and talks with things of the world. Entertainments and distractions and technological toys. If you don't worship the true and living God, then you necessarily worship something or someone else (maybe even yourself). This is idolatry, and idolatry is sin according to the Bible.

So are you infected with this "disease"... this sin?

Wearing the Crucifix as Decoration 

pledging allegiance...

Curtis Jackson hates the
 Lord Jesus Christ. It's not news.
People who entertain devils are obsessed with the cross.

Mark 5

5 And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.

2 And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,

3 Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains:

4 Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.

5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.

6 But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him,

7 And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.

8 For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.

9 And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.

10 And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country.

"God Forgives: I Don't"... In the battle between light and darkness, entertainer Rick Ross leaves no doubt as to which side he's on.

The idea that we can be godly without acknowledging our sin debt to the Lord is deception. It is the enemy's slickest and most successful lie. It's why our nation is full of religious people with "churchianity," people who have enough sense to act pious at the correct moments... but are ignorant of what the Bible actually says.

When we feel close to God,  some of us like to wear the cross around our necks.

A man must be greater than anything he is able to make or manufacture, said Pastor Dwight L. Moody. What folly then to think of worshiping such things! The tendency of the human heart to represent God by something that appeals to the senses is the origin of all idolatry. It leads directly to image-worship. At first there may be no desire to worship the thing itself, but it inevitably ends in that.

***

"God is my higher power and always has been," Marshall Mathers said. Admitting that doesn't necessarily make someone a man of God. See: James 2.19.

The Bible says to test every spirit, using God's words (the Bible itself) as the standard. Whenever we see people sporting the crucifix, especially in large and gaudy ways, we should see if their words and actions match up.

You always read or hear in celebrity interviews, and from our everyday neighbors, that they believe in God (or a force, or a giant slice of cosmic pizza). But that's a catch-all phrase anymore. The world has become "churchy." Many people call themselves "believers." What does a belief in God really mean in this day?

Eminem (aka Marshall Mathers) has been portrayed, both by himself and by observers, as one of the most godless artists in music history. Yet even he claims some version of God. Talking with Vibe magazine in the June/July 2009 issue, after a difficult stretch during which he lost his best friend Proof and recovered from prescription pill addiction at least twice, he grasps for the Lord:

"Spirituality is definitely a part of that process. They tell you in recovery to pray to your higher power--God is my higher power and He always has been. I definitely pray a lot more than I used to. I don't feel like I'm crazy wacky religious where I'm at church four days a week or anything like that--not to say that that's a bad thing for anyone who wants to do that. But I do believe in God, and I do pray."

2 Timothy 3:1-5 perfectly describes the music of Em and other popular hip hop artists, down to the last word. Don't believe us: Please, look it up and read it. The Bible is amazingly accurate in its dissection of mankind.

We can clearly see that 2 Timothy, chapter 3 has already read Eminem's mail. Verses 1-5: This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. ALL of that describes Mathers' music.

Only the Lord knows a man's heart. Jesus could simply gaze at you and know every detail there is to know. The rest of us would do better to keep examining our own hearts. According to the Bible, we have all fallen short of a holy God.

However, He has gracefully, graciously left a door open for us to avoid our "living death," a way named Jesus Christ. That is the best news the world has ever known!

The fact that Mathers talks about the Lord without mentioning our debt to Jesus is S.O.P. not only for celebrities, but many of the rest of us. Our good works won't get us into the Promised Land. Acknowledging that there is a God won't, either. Getting to heaven (in other words, escaping judgment in a literal, fiery hellfire) means believing on Jesus Christ and nothing else. Thinking anything else changes the word, says Deutoronomy 4:2.

When Eminem says, I do believe in God, fans who don't want to release his self-admitted antichrist lyrics and image then walk away thinking he is simply conflicted... or even Christian. These supporters are deceived. James 2:19 tells us plainly that even the devils (demons) of hell believe in God and tremble.

"I don't believe in that stuff," you might say. But pretty much every rapper and other musical artist does. Most have at least one song in which they are talking to demons, making deals with the devil, and so on. If it is all make-believe entertainment, why would they all use that theme? It's not because musicians are unoriginal. It is because they know the truth in their hearts... they just prefer the world over the Lord Jesus Christ.

***

"The Bible says Judge not," is one of the unbeliever's favorite lies, using the most misquoted verse ever. But the spirit of discernment does allow for judging another man's actions and words. Heart comes out through the mouth. Talking about his progression as a musician under major media attention, Mathers says at one point he thought:

"Well, I'm in the public spotlight. Maybe I should tone it down just a little bit. Nah, f--- that... Anyone who takes my s--- literally has got a f------ problem themselves. When you hear the music, it's not different than what the f--- is going on in South Park or Family Guy. It's just warped. It's dark humor. Because at the end of the day, I just got a f------up sense of humor. I'm a goofball with a warped mind."

We must understand what is actually being said here. Mathers is defending his desire to walk with the world. But James 4:4 declares that a friend of the world is an enemy of the Lord. Mathers compares his mindstate to admittedly lowest-denominator television shows. Birds of a feather flock. He defends these things using defiant language (2 Tim. 1-5 again) and, most importantly, it is a conscious decision on his part. Anyone who is not with me is against me, Jesus said. (Luke 11:23)

***

The "Jesus piece" has been a hip hop fashion statement for years. Jay-Z repeatedly tells us that he doesn't read the Bible or believe in Christ as Lord. Then why not sport a Buddha or Muhammed or Ganesh necklace? Because people influenced by demonic spirits are obsessed with the true God. Open the Bible and read Mark 5:6-7.

Meanwhile, many of the world's most popular people make Him into a fashion piece. It is not that they are "bad people" who don't deserve to wear the cross. The Bible says we are all wicked, notably in Jeremiah 17:9. The Bible reveals that one sin, just one, is the Lord's prerogative and justification to send us to hell. None of us deserves anything when you think about it.

There are going to be some "bad people" in heaven, no doubt, and "good people" in hell... because they believed on Jesus Christ, and did not honestly truly believe, respectively. Not believe in Him--believe Him. We never hear famous people witnessing about Jesus, yet someone is always swinging the cross on a chain.

So when we see these fashion statements, the discerning believer must conclude that our Lord is probably being mocked, not exalted. Pop culture doesn't celebrate Jesus. This is not news, but a lot of people don't seem to realize that. It bears repeating.

LeBron James at age 19.
If Bron was really about Christ, he would have
 name checked Jesus instead of 'the man upstairs', as he did after the 2016 NBA Finals. Think about it.

We need to pray for spiritual discernment. Just because someone says "I'm a Christian," gullible Americans who are at least professed Christians think it's true. 

No matter how many crosses we see on the bodies of Hollywood stars, the world does not love Jesus Christ. And if you truly love Him and contend for His standard, the world hates you, too. (John 15:18)

***

To open your mind in meditation to a series of pagan gods and occult powers is Satanic. This is strictly forbidden in the Bible. We are to trust in God, none other.

Reality television seems to take a particular glee in poking at Christianity. Devout believers get placed into situations where they forget Who they serve. Unsaved observers wipe their foreheads and are glad they don't go to church with "crazy people like that." And the faith suffers, because perception is reality to a media-addicted population.

That's why one of the "characters" popular in recent reality fare usually includes a religious person. Or at least one who appears godly. (Back to 2 Timothy once more.) This is a no-win: either the Christian will be made to look ridiculous in the face of ungodly people and situations... or he will lose his grasp on Christ and show his worldly side. The true believer should never go on these shows, and likely wouldn't in the first place.

Yet the crosses are popular here, too. Worship, mockery, ignorance? The devil is good at confusing us. Entertainer Jim Jones' partner, Chrissy Lampkin, is rarely seen without a crucifix on their VH1 show. Yet on one episode of Chrissy & Mr. Jones, she and Jones are participating in yoga with music mogul Russell Simmons.

Yoga is not of the Lord. One pastor wrote, Yoga and meditation are much different than mere stretching or thinking. The idea is to "extract guidance or information from a pagan god--the mother god." Yoga and meditation are the "means" of extracting that guidance and information. Hence, yoga and meditation are nothing short of pure witchcraft.

Miss Lampkin and others could be simply ignorant of the word of God. But if a cop pulls the driver for speeding, it doesn't matter if the driver saw the SPEED LIMIT sign or not--ignorance will not be an excuse when we are standing before that throne.

Yoga is a cousin to sorcery. In Galatians 5:19-21 we see that participants in witchcraft will not inherit the kingdom. From experience, it's almost certain that if this was pointed out to her (or you, if you claim Jesus but are unknowingly worshipping other gods on a floor mat), she would become indignant at being rebuked. She and the rest of us should be glad when the Spirit corrects, whether through Scripture reading or through someone else. That is proof that He cares. If not, He would simply leave us in our mess.


According to Pastor Moody, Dr. R.W. Dale said worshipping these crucifix decorations  "makes our worship and our prayer unreal. We are adoring a Christ who does not exist. He is not on the cross now, but on the throne. His agonies are past forever. He has risen from the dead.

He is at the right hand of God. If we pray to a dying Christ, we are praying not to Christ Himself, but to a mere remembrance of Him. The injury which the crucifix has inflicted on the religious life of Christendom, in encouraging a morbid and unreal devotion, is absolutely incalculable. It has given us a dying Christ instead of a living Christ, a Christ separated from us by many centuries instead of a Christ nigh at hand."

Reality TV star wears the cross (ultimate humility) with an I'LL ROCK YOUR WORLD shirt (supreme haughtiness)

Much of the world is religious but does not recognize the power thereof. What is that power? Jesus Christ. Most of us are religious, but lost. We want God, but not His son's saving blood. We call on Him, but flee from his loving correction, which is impossible to balance.

He is the Father, and responsible fathers must correct his children from time to time. We should be grateful that the Holy Spirit cares enough to chastise us.

The truth burns away impurities, or it destroys us. Bretheren: Let us gladly take the former.

KING JAMES BIBLE

"It's hard to believe that anyone could sincerely not believe in God, when there are so many famous people attacking the Bible. The very fact that nearly everyone hates the Bible and Biblical Christianity is evidence of its purity, truthfulness and holiness."

--Pastor David J. Stewart

Terminator film plays off of Bible themes by inserting "Genisys" in the title. Searching for pop culture allusions to and pilfering of the Bible would exhaust almost anyone.

Don't you ever wonder why the world mocks the Holy Bible constantly, yet can't keep talk of God, Jesus, and the Book out of their mouths? Why do they have to bring Him into it so much? If that Bible is fake and Jesus was just some man, why give Christ so much attention? Why aren't Muhammed, Buddha, and Shiva being joked about 24-7? These are rhetorical questions, because the reason is obvious.

Look around, and notice, if you haven't already, that popular culture loves to reference the things that born-again Christians hold dear. Even in the blasphemous mocking, they are tacitly admitting the supremacy of Jesus.

In a promo for "Impastor", the star says, "In the words of Jesus..." and then trails off without finishing the sentence. This is a perfect picture of the world.

The reason is: Everyone knows in the seat of their conscience and soul that Jesus Christ is the King of Kings. There are no atheists. The "atheist" is not saying that he doesn't believe in God, even if he believes that's what it is....

What unbelievers are essentially saying is: I reject the God you are presenting me with, and I have chosen another.

Just imagine if this TV show had been titled "Good Jewish Bitches" or "Good Muslim Bitches." There would be huge boycotts making headlines, or war in the streets!

Who are these other gods? Anything that is not the Lord of the Bible. Anything or anyone except the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob. Career, money, sex, romantic love, fashion savvy, arts and entertainment, celebrities and other talented individuals, possessions, physical appearance... the list could go on for hours.

And those things are in addition to other religions outside of Christianity, which, if they do not believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior alone, and faith in what He did on the cross alone, are false beliefs.

The Bible plainly tells us that all who deny Jesus is God is a liar and antichrist. There is no wiggle room for others to share His glory.

"In the most Biblical sense, I am beyond repentence," Lady Gaga sings in her ode to the man of perdition, Judas. Fools sing her lyrics as she worships one of the most wicked men who ever lived.

The world is jealous of Him. These people are ruled by the spirit of the devil, enemy of all mankind whether you love Christ or not. Satan is the original competitor, the first "green-eyed monster" of envy. "If I weren't saved, I would be jealous too," said one pastor. Jesus is perfect, blameless, and has access to all power in existence, holding the universe together. That bothers people who haven't submitted to His authority. Every celebrity in Hollywood, every sports star and politican and power broker and business prodigy rolled into one, cannot equal Christ.

When a normal mortal stands up for Him, and is genuinely, imperfectly living for Him, notice that the unsaved will call that believer "goody two shoes." So multiply that exponentially regarding our Lord. They hate Him. Christians need to understand that and digest: The world hates Christ, because he testifies that its works are evil, and when you walk for Him, they will hate you, too.

The proud blasphemers who create Family Guy have done many, many Christ-hating bits over the years. Do you profess faith in Christ yet laugh at this stuff? God sees it all and will not be mocked. (Galatians 6:7)

"99% of the earth's population will ALL be dead 100 years from now," wrote one pastor. "What will anything matter then? What will all of the money, fame, and pleasure in this world matter when we are dead and gone? Are you willing to risk your eternal soul upon the foolish assumption that the Bible is not God's Word?  For eternity's sake, you had better be right. Have you ever studied the Bible? It is frightening. The Bible has never been disproved. Don't you think you should at least do a thorough investigation into the matter? Are you afraid you might find the Truth?

"Where will you be 100 years from now? You can know for certain (1st John 5:13). You need to get saved friend, i.e., you need to be BORN AGAIN by the Incorruptible Word of God.

"This world is temporal, but God offers to us "eternal life" through Christ Jesus. What a Wonderful Savior! "

Katy Perry

Katy Perry was on Jay Leno's Tonight Show doing her best to pay homage to her gospel past. She talked about moving to Los Angeles at age 17. "L.A. felt like a big ole evil place!" Perry said.

Leno leaned back and laughed a little too knowingly. "Oh, you're right about that!" he said...

Later, she talked about sneaking rock CDs and piercing her own nose to defy her folks. "God bless them," Perry says of her parents (with only a slight eye roll) for putting up with the self-described 'black sheep' of the family...

Proverbs 30:20, “Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.”

To her own conscience (if she have any left) she denies the fault, and will not own that that great wickedness is any wickedness at all, but an innocent entertainment. Thus multitudes ruin their souls by calling evil good and out-facing their convictions with a self-justification. -

Matthew Henry


In 2015, Katy Perry went the distance. She finally said publicly that she was not a Christian. This is a good example for all the other false brethren.

Justin Bieber

At the same time, Justin Bieber sat in David Letterman's guest seat, promoting his latest work, Believe. It was clear that this album meant more than anything to Bieber. Either that, or he is developing a hard sell technique: Well, my mind's REALLY just been on this album, he repeated in various ways.

Later, he got onstage and sang about a hypothetical relationship. The song may have been recycled from 1991 R-n-B. If I hadn't tossed most of my old music I'd go back and check...

Believe. Good title; it fits today's world perfectly. Pseudo-religious, New Age-y, and senselessly inspirational, all in one word. Believe in Justin, eh?

John 12:43: "For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God."

They set these two in the scale one against the other, and, having weighed them, they proceeded accordingly. Many come short of the glory of God by having a regard to the applause of men, and a value for that. - Matthew Henry

Jonah Hill

Jonah Hill tried to be slick about flashing the "I love you Satan" hand signals, during his Saturday Night Live appearance.

In this skit, he's a little Jewish boy with the gift of gab, and wild hand motions. Those hand motions were the vehicle for Hill to repeatedly flash various horn signs.

Remember that very few of us do anything by happenstance. Everything that you do is determined by a number of factors. The bottom line is, by the time someone like Jonah Hill achieves success, he has learned the art of calculation. Each action is chosen within a "big picture" mindset. Andre Agassi summed it up better than he knew: Image is everything.

Celebrities all have the Internet; they all search engine themselves at least occasionally--just as you do. So any famous person who says they don't know what these hand signals mean is kidding himself. The fact that they all continue to flash it, and can get many of us to "love Satan" too, should be like a spit in the face of the American consumer. But most of us just tolerate anything.

Jonah Hill's choice of seemingly random finger movements is clear. It's almost like he had  to pay homage in the viewers' sight, and this was the greasy way to do it.

Hill also played a guy whose groin was a magnet for tennis balls. Hidden inside this head-shaker of a skit, was a ghost-spirit-demon, seen only by special illumination, that hit Hill's character with tennis balls, too. SNL knows better than most that unseen demons can cause us harm. Another skit presented Hill's character as a simian researcher who is far too involved with his study subjects. Enough said.

Any discerning person knows that Saturday Night Live is not for anyone who claims to love Jesus. It is no accident that the show ends early Sunday; Lorne Michaels and associates surely planned this. An unaware churchgoer may go to bed after the closing curtain at 1:00 a.m., then hit the pew bare hours later with SNL's images still in her head.

"The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness." (Matthew 6:22-23, KJV)

There is no way to worship properly, fully in the Holy Spirit, after watching SNL, or most television. People who call themselves followers of Christ are just as sightless as the unsaved over this issue. That's because we are saturated with sex... violence... death. We want to think all of that is normal. The world keeps giving me reasons to believe in Jesus. This is just a partial record of that awakening.

 

A$AP Rocky

A$AP Rocky is focused on money? What a silly question; the dollar sign's right in his name. And according to the co-signing Complex magazine, "A$AP Rocky is quick to let you know he doesn't give a ----... Warped priorities? Perhaps. But it works for him."

The following statement was taken from an article published in February 2003 by journalist Eric Gillin in an interview with The Church of Satan.

Peter H. Gilmore, high priest of the Church of Satan, said:

“America is absolutely a Satanic nation, by our definition... We see the U.S. as being very unique in history, the world's first Satanic republic, and so it is important to many Satanists.”

Eric Gillin makes the following statement:

“What they [Satanists] essentially believe, is that life should be lived in the pursuit of pleasures, and we only get one chance to do it. Sounds like America to us.”

What's that got to do with A$AP Rocky, formerly known as Rakim Mayers? Let Mayers tell it with his own words. More from the Complex interview:

Complex: I'm not sure if it's the... attitude, but something is clearly resonating with the kids.
A$AP Rocky: It's working. I want kids to say, "Yo, I want to do what I want to do. I want to live free." A$AP is a lifestyle. Be young. Smoke some weed. You're going to make mistakes. You're not perfect. I'm not perfect. I'm not a role model. I'm an entertainer--but I'm a cultural figure.

Is there a musician whose career you're envious of?
Elvis was the first man to really introduce the world to swag... His pelvic gyrations were a vulgar movement... It took balls to do that in the 1950s.

It's clear that you do things your own way... Do you consider yourself a rebel?
Of course. I'm doing everything I want to do, the way I think it should be done... And I ain't scared of ----, like I'm God. So, of course I'm a rebel... A$AP stands for its own anarchy. We are rebels. [emphasis added]

The Complex article makes note of Rocky and crew praying before shows. "Please let it be a safe show. Thank you for putting everyone I love together." Maybe it should be obvious, but who are they praying to?

According to the King James Bible, the Lord is no friend of the rebellious. Any rebellion against authority will end badly.

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud." Proverbs 16:17-19.

A$AP Rocky is no more guilty than any of us. The Bible condemns all of us, and it's Jesus alone who can save us from what we deserve. But that salvation only comes when we recognize our own rebel nature. 

"Do as thou wilt" is the law for Satanists. It's not about worshipping a guy in a red full-body leotard, holding a pitchfork. The devil doesn't really care if you don't believe in him. Why? Because as long as you worship anything other than the Lord Jesus, you are on the enemy's side of a spiritual battle. True Satanism is about worshipping yourself.

Padma Lakshmi

Years ago, I admired the multihyphenate Padma Lakshmi. But one day I finally realized: Beauty and talent aren't everything, even though young men are bred to chase those qualities in females. The Playboy-Maxim mindset can be deadly.
 
Prov. 31: 30: Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. 
 
No way could I pine from afar, not over someone who professes love for the Halloween holiday. Acording to Lakshmi during a Late Night With Jimmy Fallon appearance, she arrived in America at age four on Halloween night. Long story short, that day has a special place in her heart.

Halloween is a filthy "celebration" of death.

Lakshmi's little girl picked entertainer Nicki Minaj as costume inspiration. That alone is scarier than any horror movie.

Chelsea Handler

Chelsea Handler was on Leno's Tonight Show, doing her usual filthier-than-thou schtick. It's difficult to shock anyone these days, but she tried, bless her heart.

In the unsaved world, blasphemy is always a favorite weapon of comedians, and of people who want to be funny in general--it's like the "lost" version of a major league fastball... a weapon to fall back upon when no other pitch is working. "The only time I want to be screaming oh God is in the bedroom," she said at one point. It got a big laugh, of course.

What do we mean by "lost"? In short: A lost person is anyone who does not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He died for our sins. This is really the only thing you can do to miss out on heaven... that is, to get sent to hell... yet 90% of people don't truly believe that Jesus is the Lord of all creation. We say this with great sadness. The main reason for this article is to reach that random person who may be convicted when he or she reads these words.

 Sometimes TV studio audiences remind me of paid sycophants. In the remake of Bedazzled starring Brendan Fraser and Liz Hurley, there is a scene in the devil's nightclub.

The devil (Hurley) leads Fraser's character past smiling and fawning people, but the party is an illusion for his sake. These people are actually demons and hellbound humans, writhing and screaming in pain beyond Fraser's vision. There are scenes like this in other films.

When I see and hear some of the TV and pop music crowds, being hip and  mindlessly laughing at wickedness... when I hear a crowd of young girls screaming with some mixture of agony and glee at the sight of a flavor-of-the-day celebrity... that's what I think of--people who are like the proverbial frog in a slowly-heating pot of water.

***

Exodus 20:4-5 (the second of the Ten Commandments) couldn't be any more clear... "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God..." Did you see that word... JEALOUS? Do you think God isn't jealous when you think about movie actors and rock stars all day? But you say, "Wait a minute, I don't worship any celebrities as a god."

Oh really? Women all across America are rushing to get plastic surgery and breast implants so they can look like their favorite celebrity on TV. Everything from the clothes people wear to the cars they drive nowadays are affected by Hollywood. People's minds are absolutely saturated with celebrities! I'd call that idol worship. 


People's minds are consumed with celebrities of all sorts, from music to movies. Does anyone care about the Word of God anymore? A lot of people SAY they care about God, but then hypocritically despise, reject, and loathe God's Word... Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me" (Mark 7:6).