I’m rarely interested in television adverts, as I view them as an irritation rather than of value. Every now and again however, one will grab my attention because of the product it’s selling or, more often, because of the clever angle it exploits to get the message across. Last night, I watched one that really overstepped a mark that is very dear to me and which does need to be addressed by the Christian community. It is likely to be aired internationally, as the usual practice of this global company is to create a generic advert and then dub the dialogue into a particular nation’s language. Because of its potential global reach, I believe we need to be alert and have a reasoned and reasonable response when it is flighted in our respective country.
The latest (as far as I am aware) advert for Red Bull has as its story line, Jesus and His disciples in a fishing boat, and portrays Jesus walking on the water. What the disciples regard as miraculous is then shown to be Jesus walking on stepping stones. The link to the company’s product, showing how Red Bull gives Jesus an advantage in mental alertness, energy and overcoming this problem, is obvious to all.
I imagine that no follower of Jesus will be left unaffected by this advert, but the question I want to pose this morning is this: How do we respond to the content of an advert like this? There are obviously a number of ways of doing so.
We can see ourselves as the defenders of Jesus’ reputation and launch a blistering attack on the company unless it apologises. We can go so far as to threaten to boycott the product and to launch mass campaigns to get Christians across our nation (and the world) to stop using Red Bull. We can threaten to bring the company to its knees and, even worse, we can hold them accountable to the wrath of God and His judgement. In our defence of such a strategy, we can reference the good results that other religions have achieved when they threatened such mass action, demonstration and public protest. I can hear some sectors of the church clamouring and saying, in effect, ‘Can you see such and such a religion tolerating this blasphemy, as grounds for us to follow the same path?’ My question is, however, whether this is the right policy simply because others have adopted it? Do we stop to ask what the fallout is from such actions and what already sceptical non believers think of faith communities resorting to such action which seems contrary to the very teachings of the faith?
We can do nothing and hope that it blows over, believing that we do not have to defend Jesus’ reputation and we can argue that He remains an object of fascination for people the world over. Even such apparent blasphemous adverts are, in a strange way, a tribute to Jesus and the place His Word has in modern society, that an advertising company would source from the Bible, a story line to sell its product. Whatever people may say about the advert, the fact remains that Jesus becomes the centre of discussion for so long as the debate rages or the advert remains popular.
I believe the solution lies somewhere between these two extremes. That we respond is good, but How we respond is equally onerous. I do recognise our need to respond, but I also recognise the need for us to do so in keeping with what Jesus taught us when He said that the power we have to convince sceptical people about the truth of what we believe, lies in the fact that we must be wise as serpents yet gentle as doves. So, how does this strategy play itself out in the scenario that confronts us this morning?
Firstly, we need to understand how advertisers work. I spent a number of years in broadcasting and gained some insight into the world of electronic media and its advertising strategies. What happens is that the advertiser creates an advert like this one, with the deliberate intention of pushing the limits to provoke a reaction. Let’s be clear about this – the advertising agency, with the approval of the company it represents, create this story line with the express purpose of getting a massive reaction from the Christian community. They expect us to explode and demand apologies, the withdrawal of the advert, letters to the editor in our newspapers etc. They actually want us to do this because they know that there will be huge debate and discussion in the public arena and that translates into massive FREE ADVERTISING for the company; it ensures that their brand is being talked about by the press, who are only too happy to give publicity to this kind of issue (and the Christians usually fare badly or negatively in such press) and it’s advertising that they could never afford, no matter how successful or rich they are. Then, after a week or two of this furious debate raging, a mandatory apology is offered by the company, usually couched in such terms as “It was not our intention to offend anyone, especially the Christian community …” and the offensive advert is removed. We all rejoice that a victory for Jesus has been achieved, and the makers of the product smile all the way to the bank as the furore has simply seen their product fly off the shelves.
Secondly, we need to verbalise our unhappiness in terms that retain our dignity and show the grace of God. All too often, Christian protest emerges as emotional over- reaction, for all the best reasons, yet over reaction nonetheless. When we argue from a place of emotionalism, we very often suspend logic and reason, and we end up losing both face and the argument. As I read Scripture, I see a picture of Jesus who never shirked responsibility to address the deep issues facing society, but did so with decorum and in a way that left people embarrassed at their conduct, but perplexed about their relationship with Him. For some, His argument caused them to take offence at Him, not His behaviour towards them. For others, they were drawn to Him because of the way in which He addressed the issue but did not destroy them in the process.
Thirdly, we need to address the problem with reason.
-It’s no good coming from the position that everybody is offended, because that’s simply not true. There will be many viewers of this TV advert who do not share our convictions or worldview and who may celebrate the advert’s story line as being a brilliant piece of satire and a good laugh. There will even be those who claim to fall within the Christian tradition, who will not be as sensitive to the issue at hand as I might be. Then too, there are those who regard the very public nature of what we do as Christians - the fact that we have our own TV stations, we have our own ways of publicising what we do, the very nature of our evangelism etc – as being grounds for our faith (and our leader, Jesus) to be lampooned, in the same way as any other public figure is the target of cartoonists and late night talk show hosts etc.
-In an age which pushes for tolerance and despises exclusivism, we cannot appeal to a sense of this being wrong, as one sector of the population being deliberately targeted and our sensitivities being offended. One man’s definition of wrong is another man’s delight at justice being served and we certainly cannot appeal to any privileged position within society any longer as, sadly, so much of the church’s history covers it with shame and embarrassment rather than in glory.
-What we have to do, in my opinion, is to take the necessary steps and use the available avenues to make our objections heard, but to present a compelling case that even the most sceptical official will find difficult to dispute. In the case of Red Bull, I suggest that we petition the respective nations’ Advertising Standards Authority to take a censuring action against the advertising agency and company on the following grounds:
a. That, nothwithstanding the fact that public figures can be deemed fair game for their advertising campaigns, not everything done in the name of freedom of expression is necessarily good for the soul of society. When leaders are constantly lampooned, it breaks down respect and trust in leadership as a whole. When the possibility of miracles and faith are reduced to the level of the ordinary, a very important element of modern life is surrendered cheaply and man is left to try and find reasons to explain the inexplicable. Science may be deemed the ultimate source of explaining how things work, but it is not the ultimate source of all knowledge.
b. The advertising industry as a whole has a responsibility to society as whole, to uphold rather than exploit those things that run deepest in society. In other words, it’s not good for society as a whole when its very deepest values and mores are touched for cheap advertising gains. At that level, the fundamentals of the Christian faith, exemplified by Jesus Christ, play a very deep and important role in the fabric of any society, no matter how secular that state deems itself to be. As such, this powerful industry has a responsibility and is answerable beyond itself, for its actions; it’s answerable to the very society which it is trying to entice to buy its products, a society that takes very seriously, the values that make it what it is and will not tolerate indefinitely, those values being exploited in the pursuit of economic gain.
Christians have a voice, we are a lobby group and we remain committed to being strong, worthy contributors to the welfare of our respective societies. May God give us wisdom to know how best to live out our kingdom call in these days of increasing challenge.
About Keith
Written by COTN Administrator
Keith was born, raised and educated in East London. At school he enjoyed playing sport. He has an outgoing personality and has always been a people’s person. Keith and Shelley were married in 1982 and have two daughters.
They have been in fulltime pastoral ministry since the end of 1982, and today are part of the team at Harvest, Port Elizabeth. As part of that team, they oversee the missions ministry element of the church, and lead the COTN cluster together with John and Jayne Scholtz. Shelley ministers increasingly in her own right, and loves to preachand teach the Word.
They form part of the International Apostolic Council of Church of the Nations. Their greatest delight and fulfilmentcomes from helping Christians understand the power of being correctly aligned, discovering their redemptive purpose and call in God, and then living it out daily.
Keith enjoys sport and loves to travel.
Keith's Blog: Rise and Outshine
I drove past a huge billboard advertising the services of an international airline last week and was struck by two features. Bearing in mind that I had about two seconds in which to see the sign, absorb the message, and connect the message to the company, I believe that the advertisers got it absolutely right. The two features were: the brightness, friendliness, and colouring of the advert, which immediately made me want to fly with them and secondly, the actual message itself which said – RISE AND OUTSHINE. It showed a fresh looking, refreshed passenger jumping into action after a long intercontinental flight and is clearly designed to attract travellers who want to look like that when they land on the other side of the world. What I haven’t told you however, is that it was also very clear from the advert, that the passenger looked that way because they’d travelled in Business Class, and that the person depicted, was jumping up from the comfort of a lay flat bed - a far cry indeed from the upright seat backs of an economy class ticket!!
As I drove on though, I couldn’t get that slogan out of my mind – Rise and OUTshine. I couldn’t help thinking that such a slogan should be typical of every day in the life of a kingdom-minded follower of Jesus Christ. He said that we should so let our light shine, that people will see our good deeds and glorify our Father who is in heaven. This concept of light shining or outshining is found in numerous other places in scripture, so we need to take it seriously. But what does it mean in practice? Well, let me suggest that, whether we like it or not, people read us as they encounter us, so we never remain neutral in our daily walk. My life carries an influence, either positively or negatively; I either shine (or OUTshine) or I create blur. It’s all good and well to talk about being kingdom people, but the truth is that people measure us on the evidence we present to them, and that evidence is found in the way we deal with people consistently, the way we speak to them, the way we do business with them, the way they feel they can trust or mistrust us and so on. That’s all that people have to judge the truthfulness of our claims to be followers of Jesus and kingdom influencers. It’s not our Bible knowledge or ability to sing worship songs like angels, but the things they observe us do, hear us say, receive from us by way of service etc.
The question to be asked then is this: when I claim to be a positive kingdom influence for God, will those who know us best readily attest to that, or is it only Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic Airline that can promise that we’ll face a new day and OUTshine the rest?
Keith's Blog: Step Up
It’s almost inevitable that the beginning of a new year promotes a wave of prophetic words and pronouncements as to what the Lord is going to do in the next 365 days. Many of these words are stated with an authority of “the Lord says…”, so that it’s difficult to believe that it won’t be so. Equally forceful are the projections that are made by market analysts, economists, politicians and political weeklies as they try and read the signs and give directives for the year ahead. Much of that is pure speculation based on certain assumptions which, if they are not place, will completely change the validity of these speculations.
Far be it for me to say that I have a “thus says the Lord word”, but I do have something of a sense of what Father is saying? In short, STEP UP. It’s safe enough to say at the beginning of a year, God is going to stir His people and His church into greater things, or that this will be a year of breakthrough. These words have done the rounds for the past few years now, so much so that we can become quite sceptical when we hear them yet again, especially if we didn’t see tangible signs of breakthrough last year or the year before or the year before that. However, I sense that God is calling His people in 2011 to STEP UP in an area that I’d call AMAZEMENT.
Amazement can mean ‘surprised’ or ‘completely overwhelmed’ and is therefore the perfect fit for what I am describing.
I lived most of my life within denominational circles, where I was taught about the greatness of God and I was left in no doubt that He was way beyond my understanding. As I studied theology or sang some of the great hymns of the faith, there were occasions when I would be left speechless as Father would reveal an aspect of Himself to me that I hadn’t seen before, and I was left overwhelmed by who He actually is. Although stress was placed on the fact that this great God is involved in my daily routine, I was always reminded of how way beyond my understanding this great God was, and how I needed to live my life before Him in righteousness and uprightness. As a result, things like signs and wonders and the power of the Holy Spirit (other than to save me) were looked upon with a degree of suspicion, and were certainly reserved for those “charismatics”. Imagine my surprise then, when I later discovered the reality of the power of Holy Spirit in my own life, the excitement of seeing signs and wonders happening before my very eyes, and I joined the ranks of the “charismatics”.
Now that I have enough of a history within my new home, the words surprised and overwhelmed have taken on another meaning. It may just be me, but it almost appears that we’ve moved on as a “Spirit-filled” people and that our current concerns are way more important and weighty than what was our agenda just 10 years ago. In one sense that’s true of course, and the restoration of the gospel of the kingdom teaching has brought with it a vitally important focus on our call to be involved in every strata of society, and that we’re called not just to build congregations. As a natural consequence, we now place great emphasis on market place calling, involvement in civic affairs, doing business God’s way and so much more, all of it from the heart of God. However, I wonder whether this restoration has not been at the expense of the equally important and necessary part of our lives, an openness to and expectation of, the manifest power of Holy Spirit operating in and through us?
Not for a moment am I suggesting that miraculous healings or people being slain in the Spirit or long periods of sung worship are the definitive evidences of His power or presence. Nor am I suggesting that it’s only within a building where the church meets (whatever and wherever that may be) that we can be comfortable for Holy Spirit to reveal His power. Speaking a prophetic word to a group of unbelieving civic officials and setting out God’s requirements for a godly city takes just as much of His power as it does to address a broken body and believe for an instant healing. What does trouble me though, is that it may be becoming easier to do the former and a lot less comfortable to do the latter. Is it even remotely possible that, in our effort to be a kingdom influence in our society, that very society dictates that it’s not acceptable to have tongues, interpretation of tongues, people falling onto their backs as others pray and lay hands on them, words of knowledge etc in our meetings and that our very attempt to influence has caused us to retreat from some of the things that distinguished us as “charismatics” in years gone by?
The irony is that those were the very things that left me wide-eyed in amazement as I was completely overwhelmed by the manifest presence of God when I made the transition out of my denominational roots and convinced me that I was exactly where Father wanted me to be. With the passing of the last few years though, and with it, my becoming familiar and comfortable with the way things are done in our circles, I admit to my shame, that it takes more and more for me to be surprised and overwhelmed by God. It doesn’t help when there is repetitiveness to the usual prophetic word or tongue interpretation in a Sunday meeting, or when the same individuals are always in the prayer line no matter what the call is for. This is still not enough reason for me to become sceptical or dismissive of these things as it may be the very repetition of a word (or messenger) that God is trying to use to get my attention, and, who am I to know exactly what God might be doing in the life of the person who constantly stands before the Lord in the prayer line?
Could it be that God wants to use this year to restore to our churches, a new manifestation of His power? How readily will we make place for that in our church and personal lives? I, for one, am desperately trusting He does and that we won’t be so caught up with the priority of many other good agendas, that we are caught unawares or worse, unprepared to STEP UP.
Keith's Blog - Hypengyophobia
Hypengyophobia is, believe it or not, a word. I’m willing to suggest that not many English speakers would know what it means, less still those for whom English is not their first language. In fact, I was made aware of it only because one of our bigger insurance companies used it in a newspaper advertisement which I saw recently.
In case you are sufficiently curious, hypengyophobia is the fear of responsibility and is not only a mouthful to pronounce, it is also a legitimate, treatable condition. Articles have been written on the cause of this condition and people have been diagnosed as suffering from this problem as a result of some major trauma in their life, which causes them to recoil from any form of responsibility. While not downplaying any legitimate reasons for such action, I began thinking through how much hypengyophobia is evident in modern society, that has absolutely no legitimacy, and whose effect is devastating to the welfare of that society. Let me mention a few examples:
1.In travelling to various former eastern bloc countries, I have noticed an all too evident trend, where individual families are housed in apartment blocks that were built by the former communist governments and, more importantly, were maintained by those governments on behalf of the people. Now that those regimes are no longer in power and a new democracy has taken hold in those countries, where government is no longer directly responsible for the upkeep of everything, an interesting phenomenon has emerged. If you enter the individual family’s apartment within the block, you will encounter an immaculately kept living space and it’s clear to all that the owners take pride in where they live. However, the corporate living space, that shared area such as corridors, gardens, parking areas etc, where the community is involved, is another story altogether. In getting to the front door of the family’s apartment, you can almost injure yourself in the dark corridor, as the light bulb has long been fused, and no one takes any responsibility for its replacement, even if your own safety is compromised because it’s so dark you cannot see.
2.Despite huge sums of money being poured into so-called education of the masses, my own country has had one of the world’s highest rates of new HIV/AIDS infections and has seen whole generations extinguished as a result of this dreaded disease. As I said, huge sums of money have been spent on trying to reach our young people with a message of “responsible sex practices or behaviour” yet, until recently, there has been so little turning of the tide of new infections, largely because of unsafe sexual practices amongst those very age groups that are being targeted. Why is that so? Is it perhaps because of an attitude that says, that might happen to others but not to me, so it doesn’t apply? Or, could it be that the very thrill of multiple sexual partners outweighs any sense of responsibility for the welfare of those very partners?
3.You usually don’t have to look too far for examples of people who, in contrast to fearing responsibility, do all they can to shift responsibility – the drug addict who blames everyone but himself for the state he’s in; the headstrong child who claims “it wasn’t me” when it’s perfectly clear it was; the professional sportsperson who feigns absolute disbelief that the referee could possibly suggest he/she was guilty of fouling an opponent, just as the television replay declares to the watching public just how guilty he was.
4.What about a problem that knows no geographical boundary, but has as a common denominator the fact that power can corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely? This no longer seems a strange concept, and very few nations, both developed and developing appear to escape its clutches. Those in power, who have the means at their disposal to wield power, be it economic, political, social or infrastructural to name just a few, are vulnerable to potential abuse of that power, and a consequent lack of fear of responsibility for the way in which that power can impact negatively on others who may be disadvantaged by the abuse of their power. How many political parties have been swept into rulership on the wave of expectation that all of society will finally benefit from their policies being enacted, only to find so often that they are let down by the very revolutionaries who promised them a return to Eden? Why? Because all too often, it’s the small group who get accustomed to the trappings of the empowerment privileges and do not want to cut the pie into smaller slices for the benefit of all. As a result, responsibility begins and ends at the level of personal benefit, and the interests of those who could all benefit from a fair distribution of resources is ignored and, sometimes, fended off with force.
Fearing responsibility because of trauma is one thing, and can be remedied by counselling and mentoring.
A non-willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own actions has to be confronted by the Bible’s very clear evidence that God expects us to not try and shift the blame for our own actions. Beginning right in the Garden of Eden, it’s clear that blame shifting led to isolation and had a devastating long-term effect on society. In the New Testament, Jesus made it quite obvious to those to whom He gave forgiveness, that they were to own up to their failure and not repeat that behaviour or look for scapegoats.
Abusing a position of responsibility draws very severe rebuke from God. An excellent example of this is Ezekiel chapter 22 which ends with God announcing that He will destroy His people following their incredible social sin, where those who had power at every level of Israel’s society cared only about themselves and did everything they could to hold onto that privileged position.
Even more worrisome is the failure to take responsibility for doing anything about that which is known to be wrong and which has a harmful effect on people. Ezekiel 22 verse 30 is a devastating indictment on a whole society that lacks conscience or voice. Not even one person can be found to stand in the gap on behalf of a sinful nation and petition God to stay His warranted justice. Not one person has the courage to stand up for righteousness and a Biblical way of life that is designed to respect human dignity, protect the most vulnerable people in society, and hold up a standard of fairness and justice; NOT ONE VOICE is to be heard. That speaks of either total intimidation or total indifference. Either way, evil is tolerated, and society is devastated.
I was watching a brief video clip in which ex US president Bill Clinton was addressing some major funding agents who had committed millions of dollars between them to support a number of projects close to his heart. He made the following statement: “…you can make a difference and, because you can, you should”. Although spoken within a totally different context, I believe that his words carry within them the necessary motivation for anyone who is sufficiently moved by the plight of the vulnerable, the absence of justice, the exploitation of the weak by the strong, the convenient suspension of fundamental values within their own neighbourhood, city or nation, to stand up and be a voice in that context, no matter how threatening that thought might be.
To those who show indifference to that which is wrong in their society, or who insist on a live and let live philosophy where everyone has rights that must be respected, let Viktor Frankl’s words signal an alarm that rouses us out of our stupor. Himself a holocaust survivor, therefore someone who knew more than most how to appreciate the free society he came into in America, he wrote: "Freedom is not the last word. Freedom is only part of the story and half of the truth. The positive aspect of freedom is responsibleness. That is why I recommend that the Statue of Liberty of the East Coast be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast."
May God find in us a true willingness to not fear responsibility, but to stand in the gap on behalf of the society we are part of.
The latest (as far as I am aware) advert for Red Bull has as its story line, Jesus and His disciples in a fishing boat, and portrays Jesus walking on the water. What the disciples regard as miraculous is then shown to be Jesus walking on stepping stones. The link to the company’s product, showing how Red Bull gives Jesus an advantage in mental alertness, energy and overcoming this problem, is obvious to all.
I drove past a huge billboard advertising the services of an international airline last week and was struck by two features. Bearing in mind that I had about two seconds in which to see the sign, absorb the message, and connect the message to the company, I believe that the advertisers got it absolutely right. The two features were: the brightness, friendliness, and colouring of the advert, which immediately made me want to fly with them and secondly, the actual message itself which said – RISE AND OUTSHINE. It showed a fresh looking, refreshed passenger jumping into action after a long intercontinental flight and is clearly designed to attract travellers who want to look like that when they land on the other side of the world. What I haven’t told you however, is that it was also very clear from the advert, that the passenger looked that way because they’d travelled in Business Class, and that the person depicted, was jumping up from the comfort of a lay flat bed - a far cry indeed from the upright seat backs of an economy class ticket!!
My life carries an influence, either positively or negatively; I either shine (or OUTshine) or I create blur. It’s all good and well to talk about being kingdom people, but the truth is that people measure us on the evidence we present to them, and that evidence is found in the way we deal with people consistently, the way we speak to them, the way we do business with them, the way they feel they can trust or mistrust us and so on. That’s all that people have to judge the truthfulness of our claims to be followers of Jesus and kingdom influencers. It’s not our Bible knowledge or ability to sing worship songs like angels, but the things they observe us do, hear us say, receive from us by way of service etc.
Far be it for me to say that I have a “thus says the Lord word”, but I do have something of a sense of what Father is saying? In short, STEP UP. It’s safe enough to say at the beginning of a year, God is going to stir His people and His church into greater things, or that this will be a year of breakthrough. These words have done the rounds for the past few years now, so much so that we can become quite sceptical when we hear them yet again, especially if we didn’t see tangible signs of breakthrough last year or the year before or the year before that. However, I sense that God is calling His people in 2011 to STEP UP in an area that I’d call AMAZEMENT.
I lived most of my life within denominational circles, where I was taught about the greatness of God and I was left in no doubt that He was way beyond my understanding. As I studied theology or sang some of the great hymns of the faith, there were occasions when I would be left speechless as Father would reveal an aspect of Himself to me that I hadn’t seen before, and I was left overwhelmed by who He actually is. Although stress was placed on the fact that this great God is involved in my daily routine, I was always reminded of how way beyond my understanding this great God was, and how I needed to live my life before Him in righteousness and uprightness. As a result, things like signs and wonders and the power of the Holy Spirit (other than to save me) were looked upon with a degree of suspicion, and were certainly reserved for those “charismatics”. Imagine my surprise then, when I later discovered the reality of the power of Holy Spirit in my own life, the excitement of seeing signs and wonders happening before my very eyes, and I joined the ranks of the “charismatics”.
Now that I have enough of a history within my new home, the words surprised and overwhelmed have taken on another meaning. It may just be me, but it almost appears that we’ve moved on as a “Spirit-filled” people and that our current concerns are way more important and weighty than what was our agenda just 10 years ago. In one sense that’s true of course, and the restoration of the gospel of the kingdom teaching has brought with it a vitally important focus on our call to be involved in every strata of society, and that we’re called not just to build congregations. As a natural consequence, we now place great emphasis on market place calling, involvement in civic affairs, doing business God’s way and so much more, all of it from the heart of God. However, I wonder whether this restoration has not been at the expense of the equally important and necessary part of our lives, an openness to and expectation of, the manifest power of Holy Spirit operating in and through us? 
Could it be that God wants to use this year to restore to our churches, a new manifestation of His power? How readily will we make place for that in our church and personal lives? I, for one, am desperately trusting He does and that we won’t be so caught up with the priority of many other good agendas, that we are caught unawares or worse, unprepared to STEP UP.
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To those who show indifference to that which is wrong in their society, or who insist on a live and let live philosophy where everyone has rights that must be respected, let Viktor Frankl’s words signal an alarm that rouses us out of our stupor. Himself a holocaust survivor, therefore someone who knew more than most how to appreciate the free society he came into in America, he wrote: "Freedom is not the last word. Freedom is only part of the story and half of the truth. The positive aspect of freedom is responsibleness. That is why I recommend that the Statue of Liberty of the East Coast be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast."
