Interesting day it has been today. Everything was as usual. During lunch, as I was driving back to work, I heard the announcement on the radio that Michael Jackson was dead, allegedly. My first thought was that it was impossible, the Michael Jackson, dead? He was supposed to be in concert soon.
As I stepped into the office, talk of the singers possible death was everywhere, people asking could it be? When it had been confirmed that he in fact was dead, people in the office were shocked, emotions were mixed, radio stations began to play his music. What a life this man lived. There were ups and there were downs! When he was successful, the people loved him, when he was accused of molestation, the people hated him. One of FOX 11’s anchors Dorothy Lucey, seemed to always get a kick on reporting on his recent woes and weirdness. She’d always refer to Michael Jackson as Jacko, as I believe many of the British people called him (by the way, I DO NOT have a footnote on that!). From the little I have heard, Michael Jackson was raised in a Jehovah Witness family (Uh, I’d have to get a footnote for that one also.). Although that may have been the case, it may not be known what Michael believed exactly.
One of my co-workers, who is a professing Christian, text me earlier and wrote, “even if MJ was a Jehovah Witness..he would still go to heaven because they believe in Jesus. They are just like many Christian religions that have a limited perspective on who God is..like Catholics believin that mary must be the mother of God.” I responded to him by saying, “you’re kidding me right?” His response back was, “Mario…they are limited in their beliefs like Catholics are. Yet they believe in Jesus. Baptist, AME…we all strive for perfection.” My response to him again was, “we need to talk seriously, read Galatians 1.”
What stands out to me is that fact that God is not a respector of persons. He has fixed the number of days in a human’s life, and from there he or she cannot pass! We’ll probably never know who Michael Jackson lived his life for. I cannot say that He lived his life glorifying God, as an image bearer, surely! He was a very talented and influential person in the world, but all that attention was focused on him. He is an idol to many! Some I heard comparing his death to Elvis, the so-called king of rock. Michael was known as the king of pop. All this to what end? That talent brought about tons of money and as we see in the lives of the famous, sadly, money, power, and fame bring about misery! Solomon said in Ecclesiastes the following:
” I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure. So enjoy yourself.” And behold, it too was futility.
I said of laughter, “It is madness,” and of pleasure, “What does it accomplish?”
I explored with my mind how to stimulate my body with wine while my mind was guiding me wisely, and how to take hold of folly, until I could see what good there is for the sons of men to do under heaven the few years of their lives.
I enlarged my works: I built houses for myself, I planted vineyards for myself;
I made gardens and parks for myself and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees;
I made ponds of water for myself from which to irrigate a forest of growing trees.
I bought male and female slaves and I had homeborn slaves Also I possessed flocks and herds larger than all who preceded me in Jerusalem.
Also, I collected for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces I provided for myself male and female singers and the pleasures of men–many concubines.
Then I became great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also stood by me.
All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my reward for all my labor.
Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun.”
The human soul going before Divine Justice without the Mediator Jesus Christ, will face the terror of terrors! Eternal conscious punishment! The Lord Jesus Himself said, “what shall it profit a man, if he gained the whole world, and lost his soul in Hell?”
Michael, Farrah, Ed, they have had their day of Judgment! It came in a moments notice! When the One who sits enthroned in the heavens and is sovereign over al, calls for tbe soul He gave to you, I ask you, what will Jesus do with you? He commands men and women everywhere to repent of sin, turning from useless idols to serve the living God, the King of Kings, the only Rock! There is only one way! Jesus said it Himself, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes to the Father except through me.
To my fellow soldier at work, all roads do not lead to God! There is only one way to eternal life, it is the narrow way, broad is the way that leads to destruction, we will talk very soon my friend! Your thoughts are welcome
{ 35 comments… read them below or add one }
Every catholic should pray for his soul.
Hey, have you seen this news article?
New details about Michael Jackson’s Death Emerge
I was wondering if you were going to blog about this…
Praseeda, praying for his soul at this point does absolutely no good. God calls men to repent while they have breath.
Well put mario. We are all on Fire for christ without the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Our image bearer, Jesus the rock of our salvation!!
And there is only ONE KING AND THAT KING IS JESUS. These singer have no power or authority! “Tito hand me a tissue.”
FYI:
Michael Jackson’s mother IS one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, but his father is NOT, and NEVER was, a Witness. His father was extremely mentally and physically abusive to Michael and his siblings while they were growing up.
According to ones from his mother’s congregation, Michael attended worship services there as a child, and as a young man he made the personal decision to dedicate his life to serve God and forever do His will. At that point he was an active, zealous preacher of the good news and in good standing with the organization. However, a few years later, he strayed from the Christian way of life and left that church. For the past few decades he has NOT been one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and actually converted to Islam.
Good message, Mario. Surely Michaell, Farrah, and Ed must
have heard about the true Jesus Christ and the true salvation,
but maybe not. ‘For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on
whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I
have compassion.”‘ (Ro 9:15).
“For the past few decades he has NOT been one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and actually converted to Islam.”
From one false system to another…
Charles Taze Russell and Mohammed were not prophets of God. Both spoke words that did not accord to Scripture, and both spoke words which did not come to pass.
According to the authority of Scripture, both had no light and both were false prophets. The Watchtower system and the system of Islam are insufficient in providing what they claim to offer, namely, the truth about how man is made right with God.
So may say that it was just a rumor that he converted to Islam.
Who are we to JUDGE anyone… no one could ever possibly know what Michael or what anyone truly believes or has in their heart. Yeah, sure scripture says this and that but not you nor anyone can ever truly know what is in the heart of any one person to go on and point out all these actions and place judgement on them. Christians are the most judgemental people I have ever encountered in my life. It’s pretty sad.
And to those of you who think a death of ANY person is insignificant. famous or not, SHAME ON YOU!
You should really keep your thoughts and judgements to yourselves… and just focus on YOUR own relationship with Your GOD.
Have a little more respect for others.
My thoughts were: another pervert received the due penalty for his sins. A shame he didn’t repent and come to Christ. He was miserable in life and no doubt is more so in death.
The Brains
I’m pointing out that you have come to this website and stated, “You should really keep your thoughts and judgments to yourselves and just focus on your own relationship with Your GOD.”
In the name of not judging, here you slit your own throat. If you believe that you speak, reserve your thoughts and don’t judge. You can’t help it though. We are in fact to judge a righteous judgment.
I will admit that we claim to be the greatest of sinners! I will concede the point that man cannot truly know the condition of the heart,
And yes sure Scripture says this and that, and Scripture is what we base our judgments on because humanity will face a day of judgment! It is inescapable and the question that must be asked is “what will Christ do with you when your day comes?”
We are not necessarily interested in respect for others. Christ has called us to declare the Truth and that is Christ and Him crucified! He calls men everywhere to repent of sins and turn from idolatry!
Christians are the most judgmental? You are just as judgmental, but it doesn’t sound like your a Christian.
As for the most judgmental, that would be the Triune God of Scripture. We simply declare to the world His message…….
Funny how one can determine who will enter heaven and who wont!!!
What the world needs is love. We have too many indian chielf and not enough indians
Are we taking theology from pop songs now?
It has been stated that just a few weeks before Michael’s passing he meet with Pastor Andrae Crouch. He (michael) was asking many questions about The Lord and The Anointing of The Holy Spirit. Only God knows where exactly Michael’s heart was at the time of his passing. The simple fact he was searching means something. I know his heart still had to be given to The Lord, but it shows us that we do not know what took place.
Hey Mario,
This caught my eye:
“One of my co-workers, who is a professing Christian, text me earlier and wrote, “even if MJ was a Jehovah Witness..he would still go to heaven because they believe in Jesus. They are just like many Christian religions that have a limited perspective on who God is..like Catholics believin that mary must be the mother of God.” I responded to him by saying, “you’re kidding me right?” His response back was, “Mario…they are limited in their beliefs like Catholics are. Yet they believe in Jesus. Baptist, AME…we all strive for perfection.” My response to him again was, “we need to talk seriously, read Galatians 1.”
This view is gaining ground, even within “solid” Christian circles. This is the VERY issue my husband and I dealt with two TMS OT professors who were our elders at our former church.
Basically their claim is that the Muslims, RCers, and cults, while lost (this is where they would disagree with your co-worker), “have” the same God we do, because their religions include the Old Testament.
Their views of God are partially correct, but incomplete. Therefore they need an expansion of who God is. We disagreed with this vehemently and went to Romans 1. 1John 2 states that if a person has not the Son, he neither has the Father nor the Son. Their view therefore is destroyed by Scripture.
So I am not surprised your co-worker holds to this view.
Omg u christians!!! I am so tired of your hipocrisy and religion. We don’t know Michael’s heart u have no right to judge him. If anything i worry about u people within the four walls of the “church” who preach and teach and still have ur demons in ur closet. Stop judging Michael!! He was a good man and did more for poor people and u and I. May he rest in peace. I Love u Michael!!!!! And yes I love Jesus because He paid the price for my sin and therefore I am free and his heiress.
Starlite:
Being a “good” man doesn’t save a man from God’s wrath. God demands perfection. Not more good than evil, not a lot of good works, not a lot of good for others….TOTAL PERFECTION. Nobody is perfect and Michael certainly was not. The only thing that can save us is God’s grace alone that we receive through faith alone in Christ alone. We can’t know entirely for certain if Michael confessed and believed in Christ, but there is certainly no evidence to indicate that he had. Therefore, the poor man suffered the most horrible fate: eternity separated from God in everlasting judgement.
Denise:
It seems a lot of Christians are ignorant about other religions. They think because JWs or Mormons use the same words, that they believe essentially the same things thereby reducing the cults to the same level as Protestant denominational differences. This is especially true with the reasons for the Reformation. I hope to do a series at church on some of those reasons to refresh what it is the differences are.
Thanks for that Denise. It is amazing. We’ll continue to press the truth forward to God’s glory!
I loved michaels music. I didn’t know him personally. There were a lot of things said about him and I am not going to judge that.. God knows his heart and he is the only judge that counts. He knows everything we do or say. we are all sinners and in need of a savior. ultimatly if he was born from above like it says in scripture than he was one of Gods children and if not which none of us know and can’t judge, than he is sparated from christ for eternity like Sir Aaron says.
Badger,
We can know by his life and what he professed. He was a self-proclaimed Jehovah’s Witness for all his life until two years ago when he converted to Islam. He never professed Jesus Christ nor the Gospel.
Here’s a good comment from http://christianresearchnetwork.com/?p=11946 :
“In light of the maddening near incessant coverage of the death of Michael Jackson, why not meditate rather on the death of our dear sister and the testimony she lefts behind? As Christians, we should be holy and separate from the world. I personally find it objectionable when Christians are in mourning over the death of Michael Jackson just like the world. [And don't give the nonsense that we should mourn because he is lost; I don't see many people mourning for the deaths of the multitudes of the lost that die every day without Christ!] . Being called to be separate from the world, we should have tastes and desires that are not of this world, and should treasure godliness above human *talent* and popularity.”
God says we can know who is saved:
1Jn 2:23 No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.
Badger,
Here’s another good article “All Our Idols Go to Heaven”: http://apostasywatch.com/special/idolsgotoheaven.htm :
Quote:
If you can read the above account [see the actual post linked above] without your spirit colored glasses it is clear that the reality is a far cry from the myth. There is no evidence Michael Jackson received Christ. There isn’t even any evidence that he heard the gospel. His good friends Sandra and Andrae Crouch apparently never told him that he was a sinner in need of a savior. There was no call to repentance, no call to discipleship, only some sappy sweet platitudes about spirituality, the “anointing”, and a non judgmental Jesus that’s easy for a worldly man like MJ to embrace. Mr. Jackson had no problem talking and praying about a Jesus who could help him sell more records.
How tragic for all involved that this sort of thing passes for evangelism today.
Singers, actors, politicians, celebrities, all our idols go to heaven. It doesn’t matter how they lived their lives. They can lie and steal. They can commit adultery and fornication. They can live debauched lives of drunkenness, drug addiction and revelry. They can reject the God of the bible and promote damnable lies as the truth all the while engaging in good deeds designed to make you think they are really deep down ‘good’ persons. In the end none of that matters.
They are our substitute saviors.
With our deceased idols safely in heaven we can relax. Their place in eternity serves as a surety to us that like them, we can enjoy all the world has to offer and still attain paradise. There’s really no need to serve God in this life. If God offered them a last minute reprieve surely we’ll get the same chance. We’ve finally found a way to have our cake and eat it too.
End quote.
Mat 7:13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is NARROW and the way is HARD that leads to life, and those who find it are FEW.
Joh 8:24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”… ?58? “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” ?59? At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.
This might prove helpful, as well, Badge and Starlight:
Getting the Gospel Right
http://www.gty.org/Resources/articles/2428
What are the components to the Gospel? Is it merely believing certain facts about Jesus? Is it how one feels about Him? This is a short article but should help sort out some of your confusion.
Badger Mom:
From all legitimate accounts, MJ never professed a faith in the person of Jesus Christ. Anything else is idle speculation and hope. Furthermore, it is generally not helpful because it can leave men and women the notion that they can wait until the end and then profess Christ just before death. The truth is that the choice is before us right now. We can ill afford to wait to choose to follow Christ on the hopes that Christ will draw us to him just before we face eternal condemnation.
Denice.
How do I know that you confess the Father and the Son.
You can say you do via this blog,but what if you are lying.
I don’t know if you are lying or not.
You can give your allegiance to sponge bob but I wouldn’t know.
And if you were rich ,famous and in the total lime light all the time,
you can be a saved person while the media totally trashes your rep…..
Think before you thrash.
Denice.
If that “thrash” was too offensive, I mean, think before you “rebuke…”
Yes, the judgmental tone here is alarming.
Born Dead,
What is your point? In the name of thinking before you thrash, did you?
And please tell us what do you profess?
Greetings Mario.
My point:
There seems to be some judgements made that MJ is NOT a believer and that he is Damned.
Rebukes were given to Badger Mom which I judged as “uncalled for”, that’s all.
I wrote again to say,”Think before you rebuke”,cause I (thought) about what I said earlier and wanted to change my tone.
If I said, “I believe that Jesus is the Son of the living God and that God is a Trinity, and that I am chosen by the Father,purchased by the Son and sealed by the Spirit blessed three in one!” How would you know for certain that I am a believer?
What if I were a “professing” christian who knew all the christian “lingo” but was a deceiver?
Through this blog alone, there is no way of knowing for certain.
My point:
Through the “Media” alone you can’t say, for certain, that MJ is in Hell…
See ya!!
Mario, see I thought about the above statement. I should proof read before I click”submit”(hee hee)
I mean: Through the “Media” alone no human can say,for certain, that MJ is in Hell….
see ya!!
Born Dead,
There are many professing Christians in the church today. Sure, we cannot know the heart of a man, only God can. We can see the fruit one bore from his or her life to see whether or not they lived a life that glorified God.
If one is plugged into the root, then, he will show forth his fruit!
Born Dead, where are you from?
I’ve been doing a lot of research on Michael Jackson for a project I’ve been working on. What I have found out is this….Michael spoke about God, Jesus and the gospels, often.
I disagree with you that all of the attention was focused on Michael. Maybe by the world, but that was not Michael’s wish. He wanted more than anything to be known, loved and befriended just for who God made him to be, not for his celebrity. His mission and vision was helping to heal the world. Was he perfect? Of course not. None of us was. He was often lonely.
He gave so much of himself to charities and helping others and one of his quotes is “I will never stop helping and loving people the way Jesus said to.” He professed his love for God in quite a few interviews and spoke about his talent not being his own, but coming all from God. I believe he was very much a man of God. In a 2007 Ebony Magazine article, he spoke of God several times and mentioned how we are “all in God’s hands.” He spoke often of trying to imitate and be more like Jesus and help children and quoted the Bible. He was also said to have, according to one of his vocal teachers, read the Bible and prayed before and after each vocal lesson. There is a lot more information where that came from….
I think before we speak we need to get our facts straight. God is truth and He wants us to seek truth in all things, and for me, that includes seeking truth in what we speak about Michael Jackson or anybody else. We can’t get all self-righteous on this or any other subject. We have to concentrate on our own relationship with God.
The project I’ve been working on I have prayerfullly considered and have prayed many times for God’s direction and have continually felt peace about my continuing with it and a sense that I am going in the right direction. There is a quote from the 2007 Ebony article where Michael speaks about working with Quincy Jones and how Quincy told him that he needs to let the music “talk to you” to tell him what it needed. Michael said he started taking that advice and learned that in order to be a great writer, that he needed to stop writing and leave room for God to walk into the room. That’s what I’ve been doing with this project. Leaving room for God to walk into the room, and so far God has been blessing my efforts and has given me a sense of peace.
We all need to “leave room for God to walk into the room” in our daily lives. We cannot judge where Michael’s faith was at. I only pray that He was right with God and with all of what I’ve found out so far, I have a feeling of peace that he was.
If you want to know more about the project, you can go to http://www.mjsite.homestead.com and sign on to the mailing list to be notified when the site goes live.
Debbie
MJ has not been a Jehovah’s Witness for years. He celebrated Christmas for the first time before any of his children were born.
MJ quotes:
“In Neverland I’m trying to imitate Jesus in the fact that he said to be like children, to love children, to be as pure as children, and to make yourself as innocent…”
“I pray for peace all the time. And the most important thing I pray for is protection for children…”
“I will never stop helping and loving people the way Jesus said to…”
“”The key to being a wonderful writer is not to write…Leave room for God to walk in the room…You just get out of the way…”
“”I am committed to my art. I believe that all art has as its ultimate goal the union between the material and the spiritual, the human and the divine. I believe that to be the reason for the very existence of art.”
One might be surprised at how many spiritual messages he planted through his lyrics. I personally learned many great Biblical truths from them and the numerous interviews he did through the years, (particularly with Ebony magazine)at least as many as I have from any pulpit preacher.
God once used a donkey to speak His messages, so why not a Popstar that had the ears of the world of people who will never set foot in a church building? He actually quotes the Bible in his song Dangerous, which prompted me to begin to study God’s Word. Most people just get lost in the music as I once did and never really listen to the lyrics.
I believe that he was a Believer and follower of Jesus the Christ.
But what I or anyone else believes is irrelevant. What I do know for certain is that he helped me to cultivate my own relationship with The Father, Son, & Holy Spirit, through his art & life and for that I will forever be grateful.
As for people worshiping Michael, a really good article on the subject is Celebrity Worship or Media Hypocrisy?:
http://mjjrealrealm.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!A679A9B694DD1478!1906.entry
His Peace
Monica @ http://mjjrealrealm.spaces.live.com/