:my thoughts on Mike Guglielmucci:
so i've had a few post on the backburner, but i couldn't decide on what to focus on... then i got an email this morning about Mike Guglielmucci and i've been digesting all this.
i first saw him preach in KL with the Planetshaker team, and i thought he was great. like a REALLY good 'fire me up' type of preacher... like the whole shaker team... very good at hype.
there was one thing that he said that completely did not sit well with me when he preached.. and it was that he said this, "Late last night, God gave me a song... and i believe it's a song for this country..." he then went on to sing a song that basically crescendos to the chorus, "Save Malaysia".
at the time, i was like... did you really write that last night? i've been preaching only for about 6 years now, but i know a slight exaggeration when i hear it.
when i returned to HK, i did some research and found that Mike G. gives that talk in a few places, but then changes the name of the country. Save Malaysia, Save Australia, Save America.... it's on a few of the their albums...
so when i read an email from Tom saying that this has happened... i was upset... hurt... and then i was a bit annoyed... but really, i wasn't at all that surprised.
check out the articles:
Adelaide Now
The Australian News
i've been at my desk for 32 minutes, and i've already seen pages upon pages in the blogger world absolutely kick his ass and rub his name in the dirt... while also i've read pages and pages about how can ANYONE believe in this God...
is there something cynical in me that says, you know what? i can see why he did it. great story... great way to push a song... but that's a HUGE facade... but as they say, when you lie you cover your lies with more lies.. and then you're in too deep...
i've been meditating on this scripture, and i've asked John to preach about this on Saturday...
this is one of the most difficult scriptures for me a pastor and leader... because i hold myself to a standard which i do next expect everyone to live to, because i have to do what i can to live out the words of which i preach on that platform with that microphone... i do not want to stand in judgment one day and have the Lord say to me, you did not follow your own sermon....
but then there are days, that even when i don't want to, or i feel like i'm the biggest sinner in the world.. I STILL NEED TO PREACH.
if i were to loose sight of Grace, and the true meaning of the cross, then i would end up having to make ends meet in my own strength... to keep the hype going, to BE THE preacher and THE pastor that people want and expect me to be.
that's why i believe that Mike G would come to a place where he needs to lie.... because he needed BE that person.... and maybe he lost sight of the cross. think about it for a second. Mike G lead the Planetshaker band, and he writes most of their songs. he preaches all over the world. he leads many youth movements. i believe there could have been a touch of "the show must go on"...
i don't pretend to understand why he did what he did, or honestly to what extent the lie goes. i've already had a disturbing conversation with another Christian that basically wrote Mike G off as a fraud and fake... a believer saying that another believer is a fake and fraud?
i refused to pass judgment on Mike because i have been in a position where i did not deserve to even carry the label of Christian, let alone preacher or pastor... so i have decided that i will not do anything else but speak love and pray.
in that light i do think we should accept this as a personal warning for our personal walks with Jesus, while also accepting that this is an attack on the global Church and we need to pray.
but it still sucks to hear the news though...
i first saw him preach in KL with the Planetshaker team, and i thought he was great. like a REALLY good 'fire me up' type of preacher... like the whole shaker team... very good at hype.
there was one thing that he said that completely did not sit well with me when he preached.. and it was that he said this, "Late last night, God gave me a song... and i believe it's a song for this country..." he then went on to sing a song that basically crescendos to the chorus, "Save Malaysia".
at the time, i was like... did you really write that last night? i've been preaching only for about 6 years now, but i know a slight exaggeration when i hear it.
when i returned to HK, i did some research and found that Mike G. gives that talk in a few places, but then changes the name of the country. Save Malaysia, Save Australia, Save America.... it's on a few of the their albums...
so when i read an email from Tom saying that this has happened... i was upset... hurt... and then i was a bit annoyed... but really, i wasn't at all that surprised.
check out the articles:
Adelaide Now
The Australian News
i've been at my desk for 32 minutes, and i've already seen pages upon pages in the blogger world absolutely kick his ass and rub his name in the dirt... while also i've read pages and pages about how can ANYONE believe in this God...
is there something cynical in me that says, you know what? i can see why he did it. great story... great way to push a song... but that's a HUGE facade... but as they say, when you lie you cover your lies with more lies.. and then you're in too deep...
i've been meditating on this scripture, and i've asked John to preach about this on Saturday...
1 Corinthians 9:27
27No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
this is one of the most difficult scriptures for me a pastor and leader... because i hold myself to a standard which i do next expect everyone to live to, because i have to do what i can to live out the words of which i preach on that platform with that microphone... i do not want to stand in judgment one day and have the Lord say to me, you did not follow your own sermon....
but then there are days, that even when i don't want to, or i feel like i'm the biggest sinner in the world.. I STILL NEED TO PREACH.
if i were to loose sight of Grace, and the true meaning of the cross, then i would end up having to make ends meet in my own strength... to keep the hype going, to BE THE preacher and THE pastor that people want and expect me to be.
that's why i believe that Mike G would come to a place where he needs to lie.... because he needed BE that person.... and maybe he lost sight of the cross. think about it for a second. Mike G lead the Planetshaker band, and he writes most of their songs. he preaches all over the world. he leads many youth movements. i believe there could have been a touch of "the show must go on"...
i don't pretend to understand why he did what he did, or honestly to what extent the lie goes. i've already had a disturbing conversation with another Christian that basically wrote Mike G off as a fraud and fake... a believer saying that another believer is a fake and fraud?
Matthew 7:2-4
2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
3"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?
i refused to pass judgment on Mike because i have been in a position where i did not deserve to even carry the label of Christian, let alone preacher or pastor... so i have decided that i will not do anything else but speak love and pray.
in that light i do think we should accept this as a personal warning for our personal walks with Jesus, while also accepting that this is an attack on the global Church and we need to pray.
but it still sucks to hear the news though...
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