Katy Perry And Her Word From God. . . .

I have no idea what’s going on with Katy Perry. But I do know that over the course of the last couple of days, news of Katy Perry’s Super Bowl “word from God” prior to her halftime performance has spread like wildfire through social media as Christians seem to be celebrating the singer’s return to her Christian roots.

Perry claims that as she worked through her nerves before taking the stage, God told her “You got this and I got you.” Then, as she moved onto stage while standing on the large lion, a random guy with a headset who she had never seen before looked up at her and mouthed, “You got this.” Perry says that this was confirmation from God.

While I certainly believe that God can and does speak to us in a variety of ways, His primary manner of speaking to us today is through His revelation of Himself in Scripture. Any other message from God needs to be evaluated as true or false in light of the Scriptures through which God has spoken.

Perhaps those of us who would be quick to embrace Katy Perry as a role model and icon of the Christian faith, should step back for moment and exercise a bit of caution. Why? Shouldn’t we be jumping up and down with joy, celebrating the return of the prodigal daughter?

First, none of us really has any idea what’s going on with Katy Perry. Seriously. While we might and certainly should hope that she is being drawn to Christ, reality is, the content of a 30-second interview with Ryan Seacrest should not in any way, shape, or form be construed as convincing evidence that Katy Perry is seeking to follow Jesus. What she uttered were mere words. . . words that are very familiar to Perry as she did, in fact, grow up in a pentecostal Christian home.

Second, we shouldn’t be jumping the gun to appoint Katy Perry to the position of Christian celebrity du jour. We do that, don’t we? Reality is, it’s not right and it’s not fair. Our recent Christian pop culture history is full of stories of celebrities and sports stars who come to faith. . . new-born faith. . . and we prop them up on stage, expecting them to act, speak, and teach like seasoned, mature, and thoughtful believers. Then, when they fail through a bad decision, heresy, or even the admission that they were never serious about their faith in the first place, we wind up realizing how foolish that move was in the first place. Shouldn’t be allow all new believers to quietly and deliberately move from milk to meat before putting them in high-profile situations they’ve never been prepared to handle? Shame on us. We should know better.

Third, we need to remember that true test of Katy Perry’s faith and sincerity will be the evidence of a sincere faith in her words, her actions, her music, her message, etc. A true Christian faith is not a faith in a self-made god, even if that god bears some resemblance to the one true God who has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ and the Scriptures. A true Christian faith is a faith that is woven in and through every nook and cranny of life, transforming those nooks and crannies into the image of Christ. Katy Perry is no different than anyone else. Only time and her life will tell.

Finally, we can’t be so skeptical about Katy Perry’s words that we laughingly write them off as misinformed and deceptive ramblings. Rather, we should hope that God is indeed doing something great and grand in Katy Perry’s life. We should be praying for Katy Perry.

No doubt your music-loving Katy Perry-watching kids will be tracking with this story. We need to talk about it with our kids, using it as an opportunity to help them understand what it means to truly follow Jesus with a growing desire to live a faith that is integrated into all of life.

5 thoughts on “Katy Perry And Her Word From God. . . .

  1. This is the first I’ve heard about this “word from God”, but you would think that “word” would convict her not to sing songs about kissing a girl and liking it.
    I do agree with you though Walt. We need to continue to pray that Katy will be brought to her knees in repentance (as all of us should) and understand the saving power of Jesus Christ! Thanks for the article!

  2. An important topic & a substantial response. You are straight forward in the need to be skeptical of such statements of personal revelation. Especially in speaking with youth who take this instant as an example of faith, we should help them discern the spirits in their own lives. I do think there is room to find “nuggets of truth” in this instant though. There is a value of personal relationship which Katy Perry seems to be personifying in this experience, and don’t we believe in a personal God? Doesn’t God communicate, not only through scripture & tradition, but through people around us and our experience? Isn’t God present in our experience as well as our souls? I would contend that these are values we should be encouraging. Again, thank you for the topic.

  3. God loves Katy so much, He gave His Son to die for her. We all have sin and come short of what God has told us to do. Some how though, we forget how wicked and sinful we were when JESUS saved us. I was in the world too. I accepted Christ, but a Godly lifestye did not come instan for me. I have met people who say they were instantly changed, that is great, but I was not one of those people. But, I always heard God speaking to me. He says “My sheep heard my voice.” If you have to be careful, then you do not know Gods voice. His loving and compassionate voice totally tranformed my life. He really does speak, all we have to do is listen. Katy Perry will learn the lessons God wants her to learn. God is in control of her life. There are paths we all go down that will lead us to a close intimate relationship with Jesus. I always wonder why we as Christians will critize someone and comdemned them, and then say, we have to pray for them. Why not just pray for Katy and let God do what he does best, be God.

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