Oh to be fishers of men like this…
Proverbs 30:7-13
Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die: Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain. Accuse not a servant unto his master, lest he curse thee, and thou be found guilty. There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother. There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness. There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up.
I got myself in a big way of thinkin’ this morning as I read a post about Oprah Winfrey who had once attacked a Christian woman on her very well-known talk show because she said Jesus was the only way to Heaven. And then when one of my favorite preachers, T.D. Jakes, invited her on the platform with him, my heart sunk a little. I feared that it was a ratings ploy. ‘Hello’ self-righteous judgment. But that’s the truth of where my heart was.
On this same post a Christian woman said that Oprah had supposedly repented and turned back to Christ and I hope that’s true. It would make my heart leap in absolute joy if I witnessed her praising the Lord Jesus Christ as the only way to Heaven. Do I think that’s necessary, Yes Amen! The scripture is truth from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22, every word, period, comma and semicolon is truth and there are no secret servants in the Lord’s army. If it’s real, it should be vocalized every bit as much as her railing of the dear woman of God on her show. Oprah has been given much by God and Luke 12:48 lay it out pretty clear on what God expects: But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
Solomon’s words in Proverbs, the wisest man to ever live convicted my heart on Oprah this morning. The same self-righteous vanity that over took Oprah when she verbally attacked the Christian woman is the same self-righteous vanity that is within me when I say Oprah has no place on the platform of TD Jakes church. What do we have in common: The Judgement of God. When I stand before Christ in Glory, He will not call me to the Judgments of TD Jakes and Oprah, and allow me to weigh in on their salvation or service, but He’ll have plenty to say to me about my own. How many times have I failed to defend Him or His honor? How many times have I damaged His cause with my critical spirit? How many times have I failed to witness to a lost soul because it wasn’t a convenient time?
When someone lies about the Lord I feel it’s my responsibility as a Christian to correct their error to the unsaved who may take it as fact and may remain unsaved because of it, but it’s not my job to tear down the person who lied, they need to be saved too. As for what I spend my time vocalizing, should it not be every bit as loud and as long as those who talk against my Lord? If we spent as much time talking about Jesus as we spend talking about the people who talk against Jesus we’d see more people saved.
I need to be less interested in the platform of TD Jakes and more focused on the platform of Shari Johnson, the Jesus Chick. Amen?