Earlier, I mentioned how Satan attacked the Internet ministry of fearless Christian Ingrid Schlueter, whose former Slice of Laodicea weblog forced me to face the truth on so many ministries that I was loyally supporting and vigorously defending on TBN. Now most of the people that she exposed I had never heard of, and most of the rest I was really not a big supporter of to begin with. But what the main way that her weblog opened my eyes was revealing how these ministers collaborated behind the scenes to promote themselves and make money. It reminds me of Proverbs 1:10-18 “My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause: Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit: We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse: My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood. Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives“. Get what I am saying?
I suppose the main eye – opener for me was when the Southern Baptist megachurch preacher and TV pastor, Ed Young invited oneness heretic TD Jakes to speak at a conference, and when challenged to their actions defended it with the usual “we need to all come together and forget about the things that divide us” nonsense. That caused me to consider not so much what these false preachers were preaching and doing, but how they would work with each other despite fully knowing their abominations and heresies. Since two cannot walk together unless they be agreed and there can be no fellowship between Christ and the world, darkness and light, it caused me to wonder how many of these people were actually following the Lord and how many were following mammon.
Still, I had my disagreements with Schlueter, and would email her and post comments on her blog to let her know. You see, Schlueter is Reformed Protestant, I am charismatic evangelical (especially if I am to believe the results of What Kind Of Christian Are You? Take This Quiz And Find Out!), so my taking grievous offense at some of her pronouncements was inevitable. Now the one that offended me the most was her statement that certain Christians were “worshiping a false Christ.” If you take the case of “Video Vixen” Karrine Steffans, I cannot deny that she was right.
Steffans, by her own admission, used sin for her personal gain by being a sexually provocative dancer in music videos. Her career and lifestyle choices also included many sexual encounters with artists and others in the music industry. Of course, it would be fashionable to portray Steffans as a victim exploited by the rich and powerful men in the music industry. You realize, though, that such is precisely the sort of message of female victimization heavily marketed by male AND female preachers (including the TD Jakes/Paula White/Juanita Bynum “Women Thou Art Loosed” school but by no means limited to them) that just happens to take advantage of the Oprah – ism of popular culture. The truth is that if anything, Steffans made the choice not only to dishonor her own body, but to use it to feed the lusts of these artists and whoever saw her semi – nude gyrating body displayed in those videos … not to mention influencing countless other young females that saw and envied not so much her image but the attention that they so craved that she used her image to get. How many women have been given over to sexual exploitation, promiscuity, and even brutal rape because they saw the choices of Steffans and the many like her?
Well, it appears that now Steffans pronounces herself as a Christian. But wait … if you look at the picture that is included in this link that has the story about her accessatlanta.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/accessatlanta/peachbuzz/entries/2007/10/05/stewing_the_vid.html it is hardly that of a woman that is following the modest humble example of Jesus Christ and also of how the Bible commands her to be. Am I making the mistake of judging her by appearances, especially since that may be an old photo? Hardly, because Steffans is promoting a book that gives all the gory details of her past, including the names of her sexual conquests. Now she claims that this is being done with a Christian aim, but please. “Confessing your faults to one another” does not mean naming names in a book to be read by everyone. Not only is it by definition immodest, but it could cause the people named in the book – and their families – severe harm and embarrassment.
She is obviously doing this for the same reason that she entered her “video vixen” lifestyle to begin with: a desire for fame and money, and she is showing as little concern for the consequences of her current actions to not only the people whose behavior she is exposing but to the cause of Christianity itself as she did in her former life.
But surprise, surprise, the carnal Christian Steffans, who is still playing the flesh game by using BOTH her looks AND dirty sex stories to sell books, has found a theology to justify her current actions. When two former college and professional athletes that are now radio talk show hosts that were none too happy that her book contained her sex stories with professional and personal acquaintances of theirs, and challenged her on what possible good – Christian or otherwise – could be done by her writing and promoting her book and the true nature of her motives, she gave a detailed extensive heartfelt yet disarmingly intellectual exposition of her beliefs. Do you wish to read it? Well here goes: it was “Judge not b*****” and then hanging up the telephone. (I should point out that my information regarding the incident was not based solely on the events as depicted in the Atlanta Journal – Constitution, which heavily favored Steffans … no shock there as the paper heavily backs the female victimization culture in virtually all forms, but also listening to the talk show hosts themselves speak about the incident on their radio show. But please realize that the Atlanta Journal – Constitution has done countless stories on how male music artists exploit females in their videos and songs, but never mentions how female artists, including underage ones, exploit themselves.)
And this is what is meant by how popular evangelical Christianity worships “false Christs.” The TRUE CHRIST requires obedience to His Word as expressed in the Bible. The TRUE CHRIST requires GENUINE repentance of sin. The TRUE CHRIST requires holiness, modesty, meekness, wisdom, knowledge, purity, compassion, sacrifice, and RESPONSIBILITY. But no one wants a Christ like that. What people want is a Christ that will allow you to, upon “repentance”, exploit your past sins for attention and gain, knowing full well that it may fascinate people and cause them to stumble. But she need pay that any mind, because her false Christianity based on a false Christ does not require her to think about anyone else or even God for that matter. Her Christianity is all about pleasing herself … what she wants and needs and how she can get it. And if you have a problem with that, then you are “judging.”
I would not be terribly surprised if this woman, who if that picture is any indication is still all about promoting her sexuality, is feted on the usual Christian circuit – you know, the 700 Club or TBN’s “Praise The Lord and things like that – of people who trade on flesh for money. I wonder if she realizes that these people don’t care about her. They will use her salacious stories to draw ratings – and financial donors – during an appearance or two, and then move on to the next piece of maggot infested piece of meat for their sausage grinder. One day – and soon – it is all going to end, because truthfully none of these people care about her story or for that matter HER. All they want is what they can get from her, which in truth makes them no different from her. (Except, of course, for the fact that a year from now they’ll still be on TV and she won’t be!)
So one day, this poor woman is going to be confronted with the reality that none of these people care about or love her, and that ESPECIALLY includes her false Christ. And you know what? The same is going to happen to everyone that worships at the church of the judge not carnal Christianity. People, let us pray for Karrine Steffans – and others like her – that they be confronted with this reality soon, while genuine repentance is still possible for them. Why? Because a non – negotiable precondition for true salvation is genuine repentance (which cannot be mistaken for merely emotional experiences like guilt, regret, grief, or catharsis)! So let us pray that these carnal Christians face up to what they really are and fall on their knees and beg the true Jesus Christ to come save them from the wrath that is to come.