The Christianity Today article, published August 6, 2010, related that Perry was raised in a Christian home “where both parents considered themselves pastors and where speaking in tongues was commonplace for the entire family.”
Perry is quoted saying,
"My mom and dad practice ‘tongues and interpretation’ together—my dad speaks in tongues, and my mom interprets it…That’s their gift. Speaking in tongues is as normal to me as ‘Pass the salt. A lot of religions use meditation or chanting as a subliminal prayer language, and speaking in tongues isn’t that different—it’s a secret, direct language to God. If I felt intuitively that I had to pray for some situation, but I didn’t rationally understand it, I just let my spirit pray for it.”
A commenter to the article wrote,
“It sounds like Ms Perry is exploring through life. With our prayers and her open heart, she will see her life with the everlasting illumination of Christ.”
No, She might be "exploring," but that doesn't mean she has an open heart. In fact, my take on it was that her heart is closed to all the might interfere with what she thinks she wants - stardom. (...Apparently Psalty the Songbook and Charity Churchmouse weren't part of her audio/video library while growing up :)
There is plenty of Scripture urging young people to trust and obey - This is just two of many:
"Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse, who leave the straight paths to walk in dark ways, who delight in doing wrong, and rejoice in the perverseness of evil."
Proverbs 2: 12-14
…"then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me. Since they hated knowledge and would not fear the Lord."
Proverbs 1: 28-29
There is no way to the Father but through Jesus. Some churches and people try to bend that and pretend it isn't true. Well, God had laid it all on the carpet and made his will exceedingly clear. He has also given us the Freedom to make our own decisions - with the understanding that will have to accept complete responsibility for those decisions.
I've raised several children, some of whom went on to "explore." The devastation that came as a result of some of their choices, their turning their backs on the Holy Spirit, is undeniable.
Katy and her family claim to speak in tongues. While I do believe in tongues, I don't believe that most of what we see today is of the Holy Spirit. Tongues is said to be an indication that the person has received the Holy Spirit. We can't judge a person’s heart, but we'd be foolish not to keep our eyes open, discerning fruit and watching for wolves. Scripture is very clear concerning sexual immorality. Yet, Katy apparently feels no shame in posing for this magazine. If the Holy Spirit were active in her heart, she would have felt terrible about exposing herself.
See: "Slain in the Spirt, is it for real?"
My guess - and it's true that I do not know a person's heart - but my guess based on what I see, hear, know of God's Word and have experienced, - is that Katy, an obviously perky actress, (much like one of my daughters) knew how to "act as if." She did what was expected of her while growing up – ie, speaking in tongues. That, or, if she was never filled with the Spirit, she might not be aware of what it feels like to filled with or walk in the Spirit. Therefore, she might not have been aware that she wasn’t actually experiencing it.
I have raised several children, some of whom were foster kids. Some children have known just how to act in church and around me. But their hearts were far from both me and God. It wasn't until too late that I discovered they were leading two lives. I suspect many Christian parents have experienced the same thing. The temptations our children experience are overwhelming compared to what children experienced 50 years ago.
Further, I've seen adults on many occasions push children to speak in tongues - telling themselves and the kids that the Holy Spirit will come if you just "open your mouth" and "do the work." The belief is that by opening your mouth and making sounds, you are "showing your faith" and opening your heart to God and tongues.
Well, I do believe in tongues and I have prayed for them. But after seeing this method used again and again - and noticing the FRUIT of many of those that claim to speak in tongues - in particular the teens and the youth groups, etc, I determined that when God deems it time for me, it will be the Holy Spirit that does the work. Not me nor man.
In all honesty - the promiscuity etc that I have seen in various "tongue speaking" teens has seriously made me doubt the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives as well as the wisdom of the adults pushing these methods.
Having learned the hard way, our family has made changes with the younger children. We don't jump head first into every Christian youth event that comes along. Not all of them are healthy, and not all the adults acting as mentors should be mentors. I am also more observant of my younger kids, talk to them more, and listen better.
No more pretend. My desire is that my children truly, truly learn what it is to honor and serve the Lord and to have the Holy Spirit in their hearts. From that understanding, they can make an informed decision as to whether they want to be Christians or not.
Call me what you will, but the knowledge that Katy's mother called herself a pastor, and all five of them spoke in tongues, but Katy's life does not appear to reflect the Holy Spirit or God's Word, well...'I'm just sayin.'
That evidence is enough for me to have serious doubts that this family really understood God. That's sad to say, because they might have had the best intentions and really believed they were doing the right things. But Scripture says that there will be many who will in the end say, "Lord, Lord..."
So I agree that we need to pray for Katy and her family. But I do not agree that Katy has an open heart, or that all will come out fine in the end. We are not to judge others in a condemning sense, but James 5:19 is clear that we are to confront sin and error out of love and to save lives.
Source:
Christianity Today August 6, 2010
http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctentertainment/2010/08/katy-perry-im-still-a-christia.html
.
No comments:
Post a Comment