Apparently, a famous tattoo artist has renounced her occultic practices and converted to Christianity. Various Christian leaders have celebrated Kat Von D’s inclusion in God’s kingdom, which is fine with me.
These leaders then lamented the hatred that Kat claims to have received from professing Christians. I agree that hatred should not be tolerated among God’s people. (If you’re keeping count, that’s two points of agreement between me and Christian leadership.)
These leaders then told me that I must welcome Kat as a new sister in Christ and I immediately thought of Kanye West. When Kanye announced that he was a Christian, we just believed him. We didn’t require any evidence of a changed heart. I was told I lacked faith for merely suggesting that it might be prudent to withhold judgment until he displayed some fruits of the Spirit.
It would be easy to avoid the accusations of cynicism and just take Kat at her word. Unfortunately for me, I can’t shake one of Christ’s pesky parables:
(Mark 4:16) And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.
Have you checked in on Kanye (Ye) lately? You should do that before pointing to him as your example of a brand new creation in Christ.
What on Earth could Jesus have been talking about when he said tribulation or persecution might cause a famous tattoo artist to fall away? I’ll leave you to ponder that question on your own.
Finally, these Christian leaders proceeded to accuse me of being the reason that more pagans haven’t converted to Christianity.
One particular pastor (who lists his considerable ministry credentials on his Facebook page) said, “The sad truth is that the biggest deterrent to people knowing Christ is the very people who say they follow him!”
What a bizarre thing for a person with a lot of ministry credentials to say. The biggest deterrent to people knowing Christ is their own sinful pride. When He knocks at the door of pagan hearts, it’s not Christians preventing it from opening.
Last question. This is for you people with ministry credentials (and anyone who is impressed by them). If the big problem faced by pagans is people in the church, why are you trying to turn pagans into church people?