THE CELEBS ~ PRECIOUS VICTOR AKAH
A lot of Christians today are quick to follow celebrities on social media who publicly professed faith in God or love for Jesus, or identified themselves as Christians, or who they have seen preaching in church, "speaking in tongues" or worshipping with a particular mega church. To them, that simply means they're in Christ and are worth following. But nothing could be further from the truth.
Jesus said by their FRUITS you shall know them, not by their WORDS. Please take note of this because if you deliberately choose to ignore this accurate sign Jesus gave in identifying those who belong to Him, you'll have yourself to blame on the last day and not any celebrity for being misled.
The Scripture says in 1 John 4:1: "My dear friends, do not believe all who claim to have the Holy Spirit, but test them to find out if the spirit they have comes from God..."
There is something many Christians do not know: Every human being on earth is either possessed by the Holy Spirit or by an evil spirit, there is no neutrality. You either have the Holy Spirit or you have an evil spirit. Those who are genuinely born again have the Holy Spirit indwelling them, those who are not born again have an unholy spirit indwelling them (this spirit is not from God but from the devil).
Now, every influential celebrity in the world is either having the Holy Spirit in them or an unholy spirit (evil spirit). The celebrities who have the Holy Spirit in them influence people for Christ, while the celebrities who have an unholy spirit (evil spirit) in them, influence people for the devil. This is why many celebrities tag themselves as "social media influencers". They're not just influencing people to buy a product or use the services of a company they're in partnership with, they're also influencing all those following them back-to-back - viewing their posts, pictures and videos on their social media pages - with their own lives.
You may argue this but the truth remains that any celebrity you're closely following is influencing you; they're influencing you negatively (if they have an unholy spirit) or positively (if they have the Holy Spirit in them) with their lifestyle which communicates their values, with their pictures and videos which communicates their morals, and with their words which communicates their beliefs and principles. So without your conscious knowledge, their principles, values, beliefs and morals is being instilled in you. For instance, you see a celebrity you follow dress certain way, before long, you'll start dressing the same way. You see him or her think, reason, or talk in a certain way, it wouldn't take long (as you continue to follow this celeb) before you start thinking, reasoning, and talking the same way. That is the power of influence.
Several Christians are oblivious of this too: when an influential celebrity is indwelt by an unholy spirit, the devil who is controlling him or her through this evil spirit will make them only do what will bring him pleasure and glory. The devil is smart, he is smarter than any Christian who has refused to operate by the wisdom of God. This is what satan does to lure these unwise and ignorant Christians away from God and entice them to live according to his will: he instigates these celebrities possessed by an evil spirit to publicly identify themselves as Christians and as believers in Jesus. This will immediately make these unsuspecting Christians believe the celebrities are worth following since they believe in God too. As soon as they start following them, the devil begins his work of corrupting their mindset and influencing them negatively to destroy their destiny and to scatter the church of Christ.
The devil uses this strategy to beguile many Christians because, if a celebrity publicly declares that they do not believe in God or deny the existence of God, a lot of Christians will distance themselves from them, because they could easily and instantly discern that they're not believers in Christ (and this does not help the devil achieve his evil schemes). So in his smartness, he rather prods these celebrities (indwelt by an evil spirit) to proclaim that they believe in God, show that they go to church, speak in "tongues", and preach/minister in church, thereby entice many Christians to follow them.
"Whoever you consistently follow, you'll eventually emulate."
I say this once again: Jesus said by their fruits we shall know them, not by their words. If you don't want to be deceived, pay attention to this injunction of Jesus.
When a celebrity says they believe in God or are serving Jesus, yet you can obviously see that their lifestyle does not correspond with the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Bible, don't turn a blind eye to it and just foolishly follow them because of their verbal confession of belief in God or Jesus. That is sheer stupidity that Jesus Himself would be highly disappointed that you're exhibiting as His child.
Jesus said you'll know who His true disciples and believers are by their fruits, not just their verbal confessions. What kind of fruits are the celebrities you're currently following (because they identify themselves as Christians) producing? Can you honestly call a celebrity who is always posting pictures and videos of himself or herself in a nightclub, twerking, spraying money on the buttocks of ladies, drinking and smoking, a believer in Jesus? Can you? If you can, then you too need to meet with Jesus.
Can a celebrity whose social media platforms is filled with her naked pictures or her sexually stimulating photos - be really a believer in Christ - seeing the fruit of sexual immorality she produces? Answer this with all sincerity. A celebrity is preaching in church and "speaking in tongues", yet she is cohabiting with a man she is not legally married to, they're having pre-marital sex and have even given birth to children, is this what Jesus teaches? Does God or the Bible really support such behaviors? These are the fruits Jesus said you should examine to identify His disciples, not their statements or shows they put up on social media for publicity.
The truth has been revealed to you today, what you do with it will determine if you'll realize your glorious destiny in Christ or not. If you choose to treat this truth with contempt, that is your choice, and if you choose to accept it and make the changes required by unfollowing certain celebrities the Holy Spirit has prompted you to unfollow, blessed are you. Henceforth, don't be quick to follow anyone, celebrity or not, find out first if they're producing good fruits.
"Whoever you follow, you consume their fruits (whether good or bad)."
Matthew 7:16-20, Jesus says: "You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they ACT. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their ACTIONS." (NLT)
God bless you.
Comments
Post a Comment