Beyoncé: Power or Bondage?

Bold, black, and beautiful, Beyoncé took center stage at halftime of Sunday night's Super Bowl. Commanding the stage in a black leather swimsuit (?) and boots, she strutted as she sang several familiar pop tunes.

She certainly grabbed attention. But what was the message? Writing for the Progressive Christian channel of Patheos, David Henson argued, 

"If what you saw was an offensive, inappropriate hypersexual display of legs and barely covered unmentionables, let me suggest you saw only what you were staring at, not what actually happened on that stage." So what really happened? He writes:

Beyoncé's performance Sunday night in New Orleans wasn't about sex. It was about power, and Beyoncé had it in spades. In fact, her show was one of the most compelling, embodied, and prophetic statements of female power I have seen on mainstream television.

I agree that she powerfully embodied strength and boldness as the world would see it. But I could no longer ignore the sexual suggestiveness of her performance when she licked her finger, drug it down her body, and wrapped her hands around her head. However you interpret such an act, we can't deny that Beyoncé's performance carried a message that sexuality and sensuality are powerful and attractive.

Women say they want men to stop objectifying them, yet I wonder. Are we helping our cause with hyper-sexual performances such as Beyoncé's? I do not fault her alone. I believe she is a product of her environment, the pop music industry. Sex sells, and she's a smart businesswoman. I don't deny Henson's general premise, either, because sexuality is also powerful. Beyoncé wields power in her decision to use only female performers and musicians and celebrates it in her song "Run the World (Girls)."  Even so, I can't help but ask: How are we supporting women by celebrating when they flaunt their sexuality in public?   Continue at Trillia Newbell

Into The Schmutz With Neil T. Anderson

(A Brief Review of Rough Road to Freedom: A Memoir by Neil T. Anderson; Monarch Book, 2012, $14.99)

Yiddish is a language developed by the Jews in Europe. Yiddish has some interesting sounding words. One of those Yiddish words is the word schmutz. The word schmutz has a range of meanings and can be described as soiled, icky, a mess as in “I have schmutz all over my face”. It is also used of something of inferior quality. If one is having lots of serious problems they might say they have fallen into the schmutz.

Author Neil Anderson is known as The Bondage Breaker from the title of one of his books (see our article “Cure All Bondages” beginning on page 4) . He recently published his biography entitled, Rough Road to Freedom. His forte is deliverance from demons but in a gentle low keyed style euphemistically called by Anderson, “freedom encounters.” There is not a lot of freedom felt when a Christian is told they have a demon inside of them. It is a case of saddling you with a problem that you did not know you had simply because Anderson says so. He eschews being thought of as an exorcist and is against the rambunctious, hollering commanding type of exorcist. Though there is a stylistic difference it is the same game with a different name.

Drawing from his new bio and other of his writings I would like to summarize Anderson’s extreme views in capsule form hoping that it will stir reader’s to their own biblical research to “find out if these things are so”, (Acts 17:11). This compilation of some of his major presuppositions is rather startling and can be viewed as religious schmutz. If the average pastor claimed to believe these things he would be looking for a job or given medication. Anderson is applauded by many of the big names in the Christian world. Publishing some books can do amazing things in a celebrity culture.

Departing from Dave Letterman’s list of 10 and observing the number 13 (considered very important to Anderson) I will list 13 of the most extreme and egregious views of Neil Anderson without comment. The extended and detailed research on these teachings can be easily gotten from Anderson’s own biography, Rough Road To Freedom, his books, namely, The Bondage Breaker and an extensive heavily documented article and critique generated by Personal Freedom Outreach in St. Louis Missouri . The following then is the schmutz we would be in if we accepted what Anderson says. These are all his ideas and one would be hard pressed to find them anywhere in the Bible.    Continue at G. Richard Fisher

By Grace, We Are Free in Christ

In John 8:34 Jesus underlined the bondage in which we are held by nature. On the other hand, He spoke about the freedom into which He brings sinners by grace: “If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).

How could the Son set them free? Because of who He was. He was the Son who has been sent into the world by the Father. He knew the Father’s plan. He had the most intimate relationship with the Father. He had heard everything the Father had said, and He came with this message of good news: “The Father has sent Me in order to set you free” (see John 8:28).

How, then, does Christ set us free?

John had answered that question earlier, in the most famous verse in his Gospel. This God, this Father, so loved the world, this world in its sinfulness and bondage, that He sent His only Son into it. He had only one Son, but He sent Him to die on a cross in order to save everyone who believes in Him (John 3:16).

The Son would be “lifted up”—lifted up on a cross, exposed in public shame, hanging between heaven and earth, under the judgment of God against our sins—so that those who believed in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 12:32; 3:16).

Jesus Christ is able to set us free because He has dealt with the sin that enslaves us. Continue at Sinclair Ferguson

Christian Liberty and Entertainment

Principles For Living God’s Glory 

1.  The Edification Principle: Will this activity produce spiritual benefits?

 

In 1 Corinthians 10:23, Paul explained that “all things are lawful, but not all things are profitable.  All things are lawful, but not all things edify.”... So based on this verse, believers should ask themselves, “Will doing this activity enhance my spiritual life and the spiritual lives of others?  Will it cultivate godliness in me and in them?  Will it build us up spiritually?”  If not, then is it really a wise choice?

2.  The Enslavement Principle:  Will this activity lead to spiritual bondage?

 

...Don’t allow yourself to become addicted or enslaved to that which is sinful or even just potentially destructive.  If what you are considering can be habit-forming, why pursue it?  Don’t allow yourself to be in bondage to anything or anyone.  You are a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ, and Him alone.

3.  The Exposure Principle:  Will this activity expose my mind or body to defilement?

 

Speaking specifically of sexual immorality, Paul commanded the Corinthians to avoid anything that might defile them.  “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?  For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).  Elsewhere, he told the Ephesians to reprove and avoid the sensual deeds that characterize the wicked, “for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret” (Ephesians 5:12).  Instead, believers are to dwell on those things that are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, excellent, praiseworthy, and of good repute (Philippians 4:8).  So ask yourself if the decision you are about to make will expose you to the sinful, lewd, and debauched elements of fallen society.  If it will, then stay away from it. ... Thus, anything that defiles your body or pollutes your mind ought to be avoided.  Continue at John F. MacArthur

 

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Satan the Proud and Powerful (Part 2)

In our day there has been a renewal of interest in the work of Satan. Hollywood has given us The Exorcist and The Omen and a host of other films to whet our appetite for the occult. Within Christian circles there has arisen a new concern for ministries of deliverance. Some of these deliverance ministries have developed a bizarre and radically unbiblical view of demon possession and deliverance.

For example, we hear that we can recognize the departure of a demon from a human soul by a manifest sign that is linked to the particular point of bondage. We have people saying that particular demons cause particular sins. There is, they say, a demon of alcohol, a demon of depression, a demon of tobacco, and so on. I have listened to tapes from well-known deliverance ministers (whose names I will not mention, to protect the guilty) in which they teach the signs of departure of the demon. A sigh, for example, indicates the departure of the demon of tobacco. Since the tobacco demon enters with the inhaling of smoke, he leaves us with an audible exhale. Likewise vomiting may be the sign of the departure of the demon of alcohol. There are demons for every conceivable sin. Not only must each one of these demons he exorcized, but there are necessary procedures to keep them from returning on a daily basis.    Keep Reading...

Martin Luther on the Bondage of the Will