The Nature of Man - Michael Jackson
It is the nature of man to need to worship something or someone. The media has worshiped Michael Jackson wall-to-wall since June 25th, and today was the "high holy day."
I watched in extreme discomfort as person after person deified this extremely flawed emotionally arrested man-child who could sing and dance. They started with outright sacrilege. An entire choir sang a song written by Andrae Crouch during the '70s. It was a song written about Jesus Christ, THE King. I had to mute the television not to hear the rest of "Soon and very soon, we are going to see the king..." I apologized to my Lord for their ignorant sacrilege.
I am mindful there were 13 very young soldiers who have died since July 5th, and yet no one has deified them, much less mentioned them. They put their lives on the line for you and I. Michael Jackson put his own life on the line, denying his three children their father for the rest of their lives. He was self-destructive and self-indulgent, spending more than $500 Million on himself during his life. Yes, he gave, too, but not $500 Million!
He cost California - the state that is sliding into the ocean from unbelievable debt - another $4 Million for his funeral. Who is going to pay for the 6,000 police, some even pulled out of major crime departments, for their compulsory service to a man who destroyed himself?
And after all the over-kill hype by the media, when the service was ready to start, there were so many empty seats they started handing out FREE tickets just to fill the seats. It begs the question: Was it only the media who deified Michael Jackson? If so many people idolized him, why were there empty seats - lots of them - that had to hurriedly be filled?
The nature of man is the only reason Jesus came to earth, died for man's sins, and was resurrected. And no one but Jesus should be deified. Not JFK, not Elvis, not John Lennon...NO one.
I am sorry for Michael's kids. They will pay the price for his lifestyle. But it seems to me that everyone else connected to Michael has their hands out for what he accumulated, family included.
The two bright spots in the service were Brooke Shields as she spoke of their childhoods together, and Shaheen Jafargholi, a 12-year-old boy from the UK who had been a finalist on Britain's Got Talent.
I am sorry for those who operate out of the 'if a person is talented, then we excuse whatever they do because it's just their artistic nature.' That is an old lie that will continue to infiltrate the nature of man.
My Perspective (c) 2009 April Lorier
10 comments:
I couldn't agree with you more, April. It was sickening, so I turned it off. MJ was a sick man who had some God given talent. He destroyed his own life. God didn't take him like some of the people said.
I thought the memorial was horrible with every one talking about MJ like he was God. He wasn't God, just a messed up human being with lots of money. I hope he is with Jesus, but I heard he was Islamic.
I didn't see it on tv, but I heard part of it on radio. I'm like you. Why all of this adoration for a messed up man who slept with kids and killed himself with drugs? And another thing. He is not the best entertainer that ever lived. Sammy Davis, Jr. was years ahead of him, and far more talented.
Thank you, smorg, Stephanie and Johnny for your comments. I think I said all I had to say in my post.
I am totally agree with your views April. Jackson had not done anything great for the nation or I think he had never done anything great for the humanity and man kind. The worse part about him that he was not a good human being at all.
I wouldn't go that far. He did quite a few charitable things like building a hospital for them, hospital beds, etc. But he was not a God. Smith, no human being is 100% bad nor 100% good. The Bible says all of us have sinned and come short of God's standards for us. But there is redemption, and His name is Jesus! HE's THE God, not Michael. That was my point.
I'm sorry April, but I really can't agree with you. I thought Michael Jackson was a good human being, even tho he was accused of doing bad things to kids.
My enlish may not be good, but one thing's for sure, no matter what religion you believe in: It's not the money that forms the human.
I hope you didn't get offended by my comment!
I'm not offended, Ramadan. But I think you did not understand why I was so uncomfortable with the funeral for Michael Jackson. "Soon and very soon I am going to see The King" is a Christian song that talks about Jesus Christ THE King. They were using it to call Michael 'The King'. It was sacrilegious to Christians! Michael probably was a 'good person' but he deliberately destroyed his own life, leaving his children as orphans. That is not what a loving father does. I hope you understand what I'm upset about. THE KIDS!
I'm with you, April. Celebrity worship is at its height these days, with celebrity gossip given the same credence as the "real" news. I find it especially unsettling that whenever something worthy of real news reporting happens, there are scores of "journalists" asking the celebs for their opinion.
No, we don't know if Michael Jackson is in heaven. But to say that he has to be because the public loved him and he did some charitable things is just wrong. I remember the same backlash when a couple of clerics in England had the audacity to suggest that Diana may not have made it to heaven because as far as any knew, she had never made any sort of commitment to Christ, and from what we know for sure about her, she lead an immoral life - despite being loved by all and despite all of her charity work.
Whoever you are, I agree with you completely. I think the 'journalists' ask celebs to react because they are trying to fill time while getting a better rating for their station/paper, etc.
BUT the Bible does say we are like sheep, and sheep DO follow, not lead! Those without any self respect tend to try to get it through identification with celebs. And there ARE celebs who use human adoration to fill their own needs.
Bottom line? Without belonging to Jesus, we don't have much to brag about. Jesus is definitely the Answer!