Posted on 09/03/2024 3:49:04 PM PDT by Morgana
Pastor Ed Young Jr., the senior pastor of Fellowship Church, a 30,000-member multi-site megachurch spread across Texas and Florida, has released a new video taking a shot at people complaining about the size of megachurches, saying they’re being hypocrites because they don’t say the same thing about attending massive concerts or going to football games.
What are his historical acts of theological mischief? Young released a music video featuring him dancing around wearing gold chains, fake tattoos on his arms, neck, knuckles, and under his eye, baggy clothes, and beanie, all the while mimicking pointing to a mouth grill. He engaged in a “sexperiment” with his wife, where he and his spouse spent 24 hours on the rooftop of their church, cuddled up in bed, after advocating for 30-day sex challenges to promote his new book. Last year, he was still preaching on the 20-year-old bible-twisting fad “Prayer of Jabez.”
He tortured a goldfish for an “edgy” sermon illustration, released a video on Instagram berating and characterizing believers who want to be fed God’s word from the pulpit as a bunch of ‘dirty-diaper’-wearing babies.
It is unsurprising that Young doesn’t see a difference or differentiation between attending a church and a concert; it’s all commoditization. This is especially true when we consider that in the same way fans form parasocial relationships with their favorite singers, congregants also form parasocial relationships with their megachurch pastor.
The parallels are stark. This is an individual you can never interact with in person, who remains oblivious to your existence and wouldn’t notice if you stopped attending their performances.
Like celebrity musicians, these megachurch pastors make millions of dollars shilling their wares, hang out in the green room before and after the service, and frequently have bodyguards and security to prevent people from getting too close.
An example of commoditization from Ed Young’s own church is that three years ago, in a horrifying chain of events that treats the body of Christ like a commodity, congregants of Fellowship Church in Miami, a satellite campus of Ed Young’s church, had the shock of their lives when they were told at the end of a sermon that their building had been sold to a new megachurch looking to expand in the area, and that service would be their last. Ever. The church closed its doors and shut down its social media pages and website that day, leaving up to 200 members scrambling over where to go next; the pastor recalled back to the main campus without even saying goodbye.
We digress. Young Jr. shared on Facebook:
“‘The church is just too big.’ I’ve heard people tell me that a lot. ‘It’s too big. It’s a mega church.’
Well, that’s gotta be one of the most hypocritical statements someone can make because the person making the statement goes to massive concerts. They would go to a game, a football game. They would go to a massive mall and they never really say that about those entities.
But, but they always say ‘the church is too big.’
Hey, if you think the church is too big, then you’re not going to like heaven because heaven is going to be a big place. If a church is around a lot of people, it should be big in the context of being big.
It isn’t the same, and people would probably be better off at a concert or ballgame than subjecting themselves to this buffoonery.
?
Amen!
This guy sounds like the PT BARNUM of pastors. Note to Pastor Young: a 14-year-old kid. a shepherd and youngest of children of JESSE was Annointed by Saul to become king. He killed a lion an a bear with his own hands who threatened his sheep. And when a huge Goliath threatened the circumcised in the covenant people, he slew him as well. Pastor Ed until you become a giant killer, I suggest you stop the theatrics an get back to a relationship with JESUS!
Lex
I don’t really care how people worship. If they believe in God, and worship Him, and follow some equivalent of the Golden Rule, that’s fine with me.
OK, let’s compare the incidence of pedophilia, perversion, and insider financial crime in these churches vs. sports and entertainment then.
Yeah... exactly the same. /s
Nothing wrong with megachurches. Out here in Southern California, megachurch pastors like Jack Hibbs of the Chino Hills Calvary Chapel and John MacArthur of the Grace Community Church in LA inspire their flocks with Bible-centered teaching. Ed Young, on the other hand, sounds like a jerk, a clown and a shyster.
If the shepherd doesn’t know the sheep, is he the shepherd? If your pastor doesn’t know your name, how does he care for you?
Exactly. I attend a small church. The priest is an excellent pastor and teacher. He knows us and we know him.
Mega churches were always creepy to me. I loves me some church. But I went to “mega” church in Texas and wow it was so Antichrist it was spooky. And another one in college in Fresno (the peoples church). No thanks. I will stick to small gatherings of like minded Christians renting offices or meeting at homes like the old days building friendship and brotherhood over clapping for some crummy band. Maybe Catholic Church but never found the hierarchical structure of the Catholic Church very Christ like.
I understand your point but does it matter to the Lord how you worship Him? I think so because He tells us to worship Him in certain ways.
Exactly.
And the church board would do well to fire this heretic.
**a shepherd and youngest of children of JESSE was Annointed by Saul to become king.**
I’m sure you meant Samuel, not Saul. King Saul was not too keen on the idea of losing the throne.
We tried a smaller mega type church. Enjoyed the worship music portion, the sermons were biblically based, but something was missing; it was too polished, like a production, that left no room for allowing the Holy Spirit to move at will. We went back to our much smaller church, where the pastor has no problem following the move of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes, she doesn’t even get to preach the sermon she has prepared, because the Spirit is moving in such a way that the service is turned over to corporate worship and prayer. Awesome.
The megachurch system exists because people want compromise: religion AND worldly lifestyles.
I have even thought the fellowship of Christian athletes is compromise faith. Instead of preferring one another, its all about beating the opponent (sometimes violently). And for what?... attention and possibly money.
Here’s a simple test: ask an athlete if he or she would play that sport intensely if there were no fans and/or money involved. I would guess the interest in the sport would be minimal.
What about people who never heard anything that YOUR ‘Lord’ has said?
There are millions of them in the world...
Spreading the disease
Everybody needs
But no one wants to see
Religion and sex are powerplays
Manipulate the people for the money they pay
Selling skin, selling God
The numbers look the same on their credit cards
Politicians say no to drugs
While we pay for wars in South America
Fighting fire with empty words
While the banks get fat
And the poor stay poor
And the rich get rich
And the cops get paid
To look away
As the one percent rules America
Spreading the disease
Everybody needs
But no one wants to see
The way society
Keeps spreading the disease
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