Ecclesiastes 12:10

  We don’t think we have a problem with idolatry today. Idolatry is an Old Testament problem, no one today creates an idol, gives it praise and expects it to be something that will change the world even when deep down we know it is not.   Yet we do. I could give you a couple of examples, but let me talk on one I think is at the top of our populace right now, Celebrity.   We worship celebrity. Stars are the number one followers on Twitter. We devote shows and magazines to them. The pinnacle of success is now defined not by accomplishment or wealth or power but by fame. People follow after it and crave it as much as any religion. We look to celebrities to shape our world. The tell us how to vote, what to accept and the causes we should support. We literally idolize them!    This isn’t just in the world either, it is in the Church. Watch how we respond when a famous person says something positive about Christianity. We put them on a pedestal, eve...

  Recently the social media site Facebook launched Facebook Live. Like other platforms, it offered users a chance to broadcast to the world events from their daily lives. Everyone could be famous. However, the fame that has been garnered has been more infamy than acclaim. Teens abusing a mentally challenged boy. Athletes recording private events. It seems in the desire for fame people will do terrible and foolish things   It reminds me of an actor named John. John came from an acting family. His father was famous thespian, despite a drinking problem. His brothers both made a name for themselves on the stage, especially his older brother Edwin. John was obsessed with fame.  He told his sister, " Fame, fame, fame I must have fame!”   John was able to make a career on the stage. His acting was mediocre but his good looks and physical presence kept him employed. But John longed for something more, he wanted to be known and remember as a hero, as someone grea...

  I’ve noticed over the last several years that world has started placing a great emphasis when celebrities die.  A famous person passes away and it seems the media and the internet go into mourning.  It is treated as breaking news. Then the tributes, the reflections, the stories about them flood the airwaves for the next few days.  It is treated as a national tragedy.      But why?   Don’t get me wrong, I might have like their music, enjoy the films they stared in or appreciated the talent that they had, but it not as my daily life will be changed now this celeb is gone.  People die every day.  Why is it so important that the person was famous?  We have no real connection to the person, but we mourn as if it were a close personal friend or relative.   I think it has everything to do with the new “god” of our time, fame.  While previous generations might have worshiped money or power, this current one seems ...

    To be rich and famous is the new American dream.  In a recent Pew Research Center poll, eighty-one percent of 18- to 25-year-olds surveyed in a said getting rich is their generation's most important or second-most-important life goal; 51% said the same about being famous.  Author Jake Halpern in his research for his book, Fame Junkies , teamed up with several academics and conducted a survey of some 650 teenagers in the Rochester, New York area.  In one of the questions in the survey, teens were given the option of “pressing a magic button” and becoming stronger, smarter, famous, or more beautiful.  As it turns out, boys in the survey chose fame almost as often as they chose intelligence, and girls chose it more often.  And why wouldn't they think that?    Maybe, because celebrity is the most celebrated attribute in our nation.  When famous people testify before congress it makes the news, even if they ...

Crazy hypothetical: Fame is Fleeting * You have a choice between forms of fame. #1. You can be famous for a specific role (like a spokesperson for a national company; i.e. Flo from Progressive, or the Maytag Man) Everyone will know you (recognize) but not know who you are (name, anything else about you) This role will make you a good amount of money and comfortable lifestyle but not super rich. This will be all you will ever do but people will remember you after your gone #2. You will be infamous, everyone will know you but for something negative. (Think Steve Bartman or reality show “villain”) You will have a mark in history that no one will ever forget and everyone will know all about you. This role won’t make you much money and be the sum of your career. #3. You will be “That guy” the person that has lots of roles in lots of movie and shows but is never the lead actor (sometimes referred to character actors). People might recognize you but not know your name. ...