SUMMARY:
By ERIC SMITH IF the world looks at the brand of Christianity that they see on Christian television channel TBN, and decide they want nothing to do with Christ based upon what they see there—I won’t blame them. I have absolutely no interest in that brand of “Christianity” either. In fact as a church planter I have found myself in the position of having to overcome that false perception of “Christianity” in order to reach the “unchurched” population. That’s no surprise considering if your only exposure to Jesus and/or Christians is what you take in from television....well, uh...ouch! Consider some typical fare from the Praise The Lord show on TBN:
Frequent TBN guest and Hollywood actress, Dyan Cannon, often shows up on the Praise The Lord show to share her “love for Jesus”. The problem is her “testimony” clashes with her latest movie, Boynton Beach Club, in which Dyan plays a character who commits adultery, watches pornography and gives gross graphic description of what she is watching, and uses filthy/inappropriate language. What in the world? A better question:
For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has lightwith darkness? (2 Corinthians 6:14).
Or how about Paul’s advice to us:
And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. (Ephesians 5:11).
Next time she appears on TBN perhaps she can give her opinion of 1 John 1:6:
If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practise the truth.
Pardon me if I turn the channel. You might see the bounty hunter otherwise known as “Dog”. You’ve no doubt seen this guy. He’s got the long blonde mullet and chases down bad guys. I’ve personally seen him “testify” on TBN about his “Christianity”. If you’ve ever seen his TV show, he’ll gather his group of bounty hunters together to pray—then he’ll drop “f” bombs all over the place while they chase after a criminal. Maybe I’m old fashioned... .or maybe I just take the Word of God at face value.
Pardon me if I put TBN on channel block. I don’t need to watch any more hypocrites talk about Jesus. I’m not even mentioning the myriad of false doctrine, prosperity preaching, preachers obsessed with money, their image, fancy clothing, telling you to sow your seed (but have you noticed they never tell you to sow it into your local church—it has to be into THEIR ministry if it’s going to work) ad nauseam, that you regularly see on “Christian” TV. And we wonder why the world laughs at us?
The problem lies in the fact that many of these so called Christians have bought into the lie that they can accept Jesus as their Saviour, but not as their Lord. To be truly saved Jesus must be our Lord, as well as our Saviour. He has to be in control. He’s the pearl of great price—we must reject everything to come to Him. Many proclaim their love for Jesus, but do not fear Him as their Lord. The Bible tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Christian TV sure needs a dose of that.
