American Idol, Shout to the Lord, and Ben Stiller’s F Bomb
As my wife and I sat watching the “American Idol Gives Back” episode just minutes ago, I turned to her following the Daughtry video, and asked, “Do you think it’s possible to go to Uganda to serve the people there, lower yourself the way Christ did, and then be able to come home NOT changed?”
The next thing we know, Ryan Seacrest is announcing the finale, and the song is “Shout to the Lord,” which is an older, yet very popular worship song among Christians. Honestly, it was beautiful. Sure, I could’ve done without the white suits and the non-stop step touch dancing, but the song was beautiful! As we watched the contestants sing with such passion, it seemed that many of them had a face of adoration and reverence to God.
And then it hit me, though short lived: Imagine what our culture would look like, the influence of Jesus we would have around this globe if that small glimpse of Jesus we saw on Fox tonight was common and was a staple of normalcy in Hollywood.
How would the world look to you if that were true?
At the very minimum, the very poverty in Uganda that American Idol “gave back to” tonight would be unheard of. There’d actually be NO REASON to need to do an American Idol show that “gives back.” Maybe American Idol would be a national broadcast of musicians celebrating how crazy God is about his love for us!
And just as we were all absorbing the glimpse of Christ at the conclusion of “Shout to the Lord,” the enemy was given his cue to open our eyes to the deception. Honestly, did you literally feel it in your gut? It was actually painful; I felt it my heart. It makes me want to fight. It provokes me to take action. Yet, I know that even as Ben Stiler took the stage of an empty theater and dropped a few “F” bombs in a segment that had no meaning or a single amount of resemblance the rest of the show, surely even non-believers sensed the awkward vibe and spirit in the room. I bet even Ben Stiller felt it himself as he sits home tonight and saw the nature the show, watched finale, and then sat in discomfort as he saw his own misplaced “bit” of the show. It was probably like a blow to his heart.
But the awkward feeling and the sense of weirdness seen even on Ben Stillers face gives me yet another glimpse of Jesus as I recall my hope in His victory over death…and yes, even American Idol!
21 comments
Great post! I couldn’t have worded it any better, so I didn’t, linked to this on my blog. Great perspective here!
Amen!
This is awesome. Great job Bart!
We must speak out! Thanks!
Praise the Lord!
Great post! I didn’t actually watch this episode, but it was on in the other room (while I was working away on my computer). I’m sorry I missed the performance (maybe I can find it on you-tube) but not so sorry I missed the Ben Stiller segment. It really surprises me that they would include that as the show was about uplifting and helping people…and I usually like Ben Stiller!
Thanks for posting this!
Wow Bart! Thanks for saying what we were all thinking. Great blog!
Your mom forwarded the website to me and I just read your post . I never watch American Idol, but happened to turn on the TV last night and see the last 15 minutes. You just described my exact feelings! Great to read this!
Thanks to all of you who’ve posted to this blog! Please spread the word about what we’re doing here! You have all the permission in the world to tell those in your churches about our blog dedicated to parents and teens.
Again, It’s great to hear from all of you and I’m grateful that you took the time to stumble upon our site!
BART LEWIS - bart@bartlewis.org
http://www.bartlewis.org
http://www.parentsgeeksandgod.com
Yes, I agree with you on feeling like you hit in the gut with the Ben Stiller clip right after “Shout to the Lord”…how disgraceful! And did you notice on tonight’s show when they sang “Shout” again they sang “My Jesus” instead of “My Savior” ?!
Did you not notice that ‘Jesus’ was taken out of the lyrics? They’re simply pandering to their Christian audience. The show is called ‘Idol’ - don’t be deceived.
Unfortunately, this was an effort by unbelievers to pander to believers to make them send money. If anything, the song was used in praise of the god of this world who is the god of American Idol and its idols. I’m with Sister on this one, don’t be deceived. satan loves to masquerade as an angel of light, and he desires all the glory that is given to the true God. The show took a song that was meant in praise of the God of heaven and used it to praise the god of this world, and to syphon money from gullible Christians. Don’t fall for it.
However, I will add that the true God is still given praise through the words of the song that are only true about Him, therefore may God be praised even through this! Perhaps the display from Ben Stiller will urge many of you to turn off the TV and reject all this garbage, as the light that shines into the darkness exposes the evil and corruption of our media, including American Idol. Christians, remain pure and be separate from the world.
I also want to quickly add that there is a lot of false spirituality swirling around our world today as global religion is emerging from all sides. I would not be surprised if more and more you hear and see these types of things that we would commonly associate with praise toward God, being used by secular world to praise the god of the new age. There are many who are being led to a different christ (the new agers with their “christ consciousness”, and the myriad of other false christs out there), so I would expect increasing amounts of deception where things will look as if they are of God or for God, but if you look at the substance, content, and context of what it’s being used for and examine it through the lens of scripture, you will discover that it is a counterfeit, praising the god of this world and not the true God. Be watchful, Christians, and abide in the Lord. The Bible speaks of a great falling away in the last days, an apostasy, where many will be deceived by what will appear to be of God when it is not. I am sending a loving warning to you to be wary.
God bless.
Don’t you guys think God is big enough to use what they did that night, even if their motives were off, to His glory? Is he not able to do that and MORE, despite what they intended? No matter what “humans” think they are doing, God can make it work for good.
And as far as a “ploy” or whatever to make Christians send money to relief. WE SHOULD ANYWAY! It was GOD who told the Christians to take care of the sick, poor, and widowed. How DARE we sit back and think of excuses NOT to GIVE GIVE and GIVE some more! We don’t have to give to these charities sepcifically, but it definetaly wouldn’t hurt one bit.
Forget American Idol’s reason for any of this; as Christians, it is our duty to do all that anyway. We should be glad to have a way to give back to God’s people whom he loves. And we should be grateful that his glory is sung on national tv. Whether people singing it or hearing it believe what we door not, God is still getting the glory. How can we say he’s not? He IS still God, right? American Idol may be big, but it’s still not big enough to take anything away from God that which is already his.
Did you notice that they sang “Shout to the Lord” by editing out “Jesus” (and instead used the word “Sheperd”) when they sang the song on Idols Give Back evening? (I think some comments here have pointed it out)
What’s even more interesting is that they sang the song the next evening in the Results Show WITHOUT editing out “Jesus”. I wonder if its something to do with the copyright that they were forced to do it one more time with the correct lyrics.
Sorry, I just don’t understand. I don’t really think God cares what they sing on American Idol. While it is right to be on the lookout for the snares of the evil one, I gotta take Smyers argument one step further. The shameful thing, the crime, the sin is that God had to use American Idol to get help to people. Say what you will about “pandering” for one night they were “doing the work of the ministry” while the church sat back and groused about song lyrics. And we wonder why people have no use for Jesus.
Bart, you so beautifully expressed what multitudes have been feeling. Isn’t it amazing what the Lord can use to plant a seed! Love you & miss you!
To Ubah and Smyers - stop creating straw men by claiming that “all us Christians” aren’t helping people and good ol’ American Idol steps up to the plate as usual to do the “work of the Lord” while we sit back and do nothing. Sure, there are probably some who do, in fact, sit back and do nothing, but it is ridiculous of you to make comments like that. I would recommend supporting a Christian ministry that is helping people, both spiritually through the preached gospel, and physically, through food, shelter, caring for the poor and the needy. That IS our work, just as you said. And God IS bigger than what they may have intended- I totally agree with you there. I love that song and it was awesome to see people singing it! However, Christians need to be smarter than this. Just because you hear a Christian song sung on a fund raising night does not necessarily mean you should go and send all your money in to American Idol!! We should help the poor AND preach the gospel to them. We all know American Idol will NEVER preach the gospel, so it would be better to find a different ministry to support, or to just get out there ourselves and start preaching and caring for the poor ourselves! Either way, I am tired of these pathetic straw men that people like to create, these caricatures of lazy, uncaring, unloving Christians who do nothing to help anyone etc. ad nausem. It gets REALLY old. So grow up, and start discerning better. This isn’t something we should be fighting over, yet anytime a Christian discerns something, the straw men start appearing, and the attackers come in full-force to defend the world. We absolutely could, and should, do a LOT better as Christians, which is part of the reason that I come and post THESE things, to help people to wake up spiritually. We need to be on guard, always defending the faith, always preaching the gospel, always sharing the love of Christ, and obeying all the commands of our Lord, including helping the poor.
Andrew–
Sorry that you felt I was creating “straw men” or that I was in anyway attacking anyone “in full force” . Actually, straw men are sham arguments that are set up to be defeated — that would imply dishonesty in my discussion, and I while you might disagree with my take I hope you would believe that it was my honest feelings.
I was more concerned with the misplaced focus that the discussion (not only here but web wide) was taking. If you feel that sending money to American Idol is wrong, then for you it is wrong You are correct, that are numerous Christian organizations that would gladly take your dough. However, I think the argument (and I hate that word) is larger. I think we are so trapped by the way we define words like spiritual, preach, gospel, and discernment. Our world and how we relate to it, is so limited by the way we interpret these words.
Remember what Jesus said when told by his followers that others where casting out demons in his name (and they weren’t part of the group}? Remember what Paul replied when told that others were teaching about Jesus just to spite him? It didn’t matter, in both cases what was of importance was the ends. Were demons leaving, yes. Were people hearing of Jesus, yes. With the charities sponsored by AI (or the Red Cross or whoever), will the hungry be feed and the naked clothed, yes. That sounds like God to me.
In Him — Ubah
It’s nice to see American Idol’s tribute to EVERY type of music, not just rock, pop, and country. Being so close to Memorial Day, I think about how this country is about the freedom everyone has to worship as they choose, and seeing something this distinctive and positive that encourages so many people, and uplifts so many to do good and amazing things is really a poignant indication of what this show is all about…to inspire. People don’t call it “inspirational music” for nothing. Too bad they caved and change the lyrics.
So what if Ben Stiller showed the cruddy underbelly of a rotting corpse that Hollywood is today? They’re all about money, and they know how to make it….and lose it. It says “every knee shall bow and every tonge confess.” Either you belive it or you don’t.
I would say that contrast between the soaring moments during the praise song performance and Ben Stiller’s moronic ravings was a prime demonstration of the choice we make every day: either let Christ live through us, or do our own thing.
Ben Stiller is Jewish…
Mortgage Calculator Currency Conversion Financing…
I didn’t agree with you first, but last paragraph makes sense for me…
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