2Co 4:2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God.
Wade Burleson wrote a good article on Celebrity Idols and the need to turn to the Gospel itself.
Ergun Caner's lies and fraud have finally caught up with him. And quietly Liberty University revamped his biography. Caner has lost his integrity both within the Christian community and those outside.
Liberty University has also lost its integrity: first by ignoring the issue, secondly but not
repenting, and thereby removing their President. What does this say to the students? You CAN get by with lying on your resume? I mean, if the PREZ of a Christian University can do it and keep his job, why not the students when they graduate and look for jobs?
To continually lie (including trying to skirt the issue or back pedal when the issue has come to light) without repentance, shows a dark and hard heart. To ignore it instead of dealing with it, especially publicly because it was publicly done, is to partake of those wicked deeds.
Psa 26:4 I do not sit with men of falsehood, nor do I consort with hypocrites. 5 I hate the assembly of evildoers, and I will not sit with the wicked.
Eph 4: 25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
Will he be disciplined at his church? The lies have been known for a while now--what has his church done? With no repentance, his church needs to step in and start disciplining him without partiality.
As for the idol of Christian Celebrities (be they academic or entertainers, etc.), consider the Word:
Act 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.
1Co 3:1 But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? 4 For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not being merely human? 5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
Gal 2:6 And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)--those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me.
Jas 2:1 My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory... 3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, "You sit here in a good place," while you say to the poor man, "You stand over there," or, "Sit down at my feet," 4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?...8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
1Co 1:20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?...23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles...26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
What are Christians relying on when it comes to evangelism? Men of great fame and influence? Or the power of the Gospel and the Person and work of the Holy Spirit? At what price will they covet and cover men of "Christian" fame?
Will they rely on the Famous Christians who really can get people saved or really get them to see the Truth, because there's no one else of equal repute or influence? We'll just leave the REAL ministry of evangelism to the Professionals?
Where is the faith and conviction in the power of the Gospel and the Holy Spirit? After all, men aren't saved by appealing to their fleshly minds and hearts. They are saved by the Holy Spirit using Scripture to remove that veil over their minds. It is not just the heart, but the mind and whole man, that is totally depraved and hostile toward God.
Rom 8:7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot.
Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."
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