Parasites For Jesus
It’s no secret that the evangelical subculture has given me hives for most of my adult life.
One of the chief allergens has been the constant desire for evangelicals to attach themselves to celebrities, as if celebrity conversions somehow counted more than that of a plumber or a school teacher.
If I have to endure one more article about the faith of Alice Cooper I may go mad…
This morning, however, I stumbled across the ultimate celebrity parasite…except this one is hinting that he had a place in the conversion of one Jerry Lee Lewis.
“Celebrity evangelist” Dylan Novak shared this story on churchleaders.com.
“Novak shared some of his favorite stories from over the years. One of them was when he met singer Jerry Lee Lewis. Novak discovered that Lewis would wake up every night worried that he was going to wake up in hell. “I got to have a very intimate conversation with him after, what ended up being his final concert,” said Novak. “And he admitted to me right there that he was not ready to die. And he ended up having to hurry and leave [because] he was afraid he was gonna miss his flight.”
“I said, ‘Well my contact information is in the material if you need to reach out to me, at any time, you’ve got that info,’” Novak said. Lewis then passed, but a week later, Novak shared, “I got a letter letting me know he had accepted Christ.””
Sorry, Dylan, but you are as full of it as a Christmas goose.
First of all, anyone familiar with The Killer knows he was haunted by the Holy Ghost..he has said so in numerous interviews and all his biographers have noted it.
He was no stranger to the Gospel…he preached for a while and went to Bible college where his left hand wasn’t appreciated as much as it was at Sun Records.
His cousin was Jimmy Lee Swaggart, you blithering idiot.
What anyone with any connection to Lewis was also aware of is that he had been on the straight and narrow road for years before his death…refusing to curse in any songs and basically being homebound with his seventh wife.
He had been tithing regularly to his cousins church and had resolved his religious issues as much as fervent Pentecostals are able to do so…which is with constant fear and trembling.
As to meeting him after a concert…I doubt it.
Seriously doubt it.
For one thing the only walking Jerry Lee did was between his wheelchair and the stage…and he returned to the wheelchair quickly when the show was over.
Once in his chair he was quickly moved out… to get to him you would have had to get past his road manager and his wife…good luck with that.
Finally, there were years between his last concert and his death. Jerry Lee left us in 2022…he had a stroke that left him unable to play piano in 2019. His last recorded appearance was in 2018.
So, Dylan…go ahead and suck fame off people who actually had talent as parasites often do…make a name for yourself by using famous people’s names…but keep Jerry Lee Lewis name out of your mouth.
Thank you for your consideration of this matter…
The only celebrity conversion I remember really sticking might have been Glenn Campbell, and i may have been wrong. ( And in no way do I know which celebrities have been converted). I remember all the noise about Bob Dylan, who then went on to other spiritual things (we had his album in our apartment collection when I was in college). if the conversion is real, there is a verse for that-“by your fruits you will know them.” Unless it’s a death bed conversion, I want to see some fruit!
Good observations.
More than at any time in my 70+ years on earth, I think we really need to
conduct our due diligence when someone purports that something is true.
“He speak with forked tongue” is sadly true way, way too often these days.
The hype over celebrity conversions has always bothered me. In many cases, the Christian public puts so much pressure on them, without giving them time and space to grow in discipleship, that they burn out and eventually turn away from the faith. BJ Thomas comes to mind.
Unfortunately, evangelical culture often apes popular culture, with wannabe rock stars leading worship using derivative rock music and third rate actors making a living on faith based films in the shadow of Hollywood. Celebrity adulation comes with that kind of culture.
Evangelicals also have a weird obsession with honorifics, Dr.This and Professor That, and listing academic accolades — from Christian institutions of course, but are especially pleased by those of converts to Christianity from esteemed secular institutions — even as they criticize the influence of experts and specialists in secular culture! Evangelical culture is little more than a pale imitation of secular culture, nothing original.
Evangelical celebrity culture is how I learned Jeff Fenholt was a great rock vocalist for Black Sabbath, just like Ozzy and Dio.
I’ll see myself out… 🙂
(Not that I watch Christian TV anymore — much better content on YouTube — but at least Matt and Laurie stick to their roster of Bible teachers and megachurch pastors)
Coming back inside…
Steve Brown told a story on his 1-minute podcast this week. Some golfer got saved, and said he was going to win a tournament because Jesus needed to be glorified. Steve said he told the guy Jesus did just fine before him and would do just fine after the guy was gone.
We need Christians who seek to live like Jesus and are filled with and led by the Holy Spirit. We don’t need Christians who get their facts wrong or outright lie to build their brands, or live in their bubbles safe and secured from the world.
Hey Michael, I came across this article that was written just a few days ago. Thought you might be interested. 🙂
https://premierchristian.news/us/news/article/alice-cooper-i-know-i-will-have-to-answer-to-jesus
I believe that was the equivalent of the Will Smith b**ch slap of Chris Rock. Facts are always in the way of our ‘great’ stories. However, we were already at peace because you’d already eulogized Jerry Lee.
Oscar Dread
I have a long-time, close friend who said that at a Reformed conference
back in the 80s, he looked down the row and there was Alice Cooper.
Corollary to this is when christian publications post a story about so-and-so big-shot athlete gives glory to God after winning the Super Bowl.
Why do we need celebrities to validate our faith? To make it “cool” or “hip”?
What about us run-of-the-mill everyday believers who never win the big game, never make #1 hits, never achieve noteriety?
Yes, I know…lots of rhetorical ?s there.
I wrote a letter once to a well known celebrity actor when he was in jail to share the gospel with him. I have to assume he got it because it didn’t come back undelivered and I saw something in the news where he was going on about God. Only the Lord knows what really had happened as he didn’t reply, but I can have hope for the best knowing that he has consistently turned away from his destructive behavior.
Let’s face it folks, there’s money to be made in the Jeezus Bizz.