Chuck Colson Article We're More Popular than Jesus

We're More Popular than Jesus
John Lennon: Unwitting Prophet?

October 19, 2010 Chuck Colson

It was one of the most infamous statements an entertainer has ever
made-and the comment is still talked about 44 years later.

During an interview with the London Evening Standard, one of the
Beatles, John Lennon, was talking about Christianity. "It will vanish
and shrink . . . I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more
popular than Jesus now."

Although Lennon made it clear he was talking only about his native
England-a point that may have been lost as the story spread--the comment
outraged many Americans.

But as Robert Hart reminds us in Touchstone magazine, the comment went
"practically unnoticed" in Europe and England; they were neither upset
nor surprised. Why? Because Lennon was simply expressing what they
already knew to be true: Christianity had already begun its long
European decline.

In England at the time, the Beatles really were "more popular than the
Lord himself among youth." So says Hart.

If you think about it, Lennon's comment really should not have been so
shocking. The scriptures warn us that many things will be more popular
than Jesus. As the Apostle John warns us, "He was in the world, and the
world was made by him, and the world knew him not."

As Hart notes, the apostle's words explain the "almost hidden orthodoxy
we can derive from" Lennon's words, "long assumed to have been
blasphemous or boastful." In reality, Hart writes, "they were
diagnostic."

More than 40 years after Lennon's comment, Imagine how Americans would
react if a similar statement were made today about the United States?
Would the church Twist and Shout with outrage? Or would we sadly see it
as an accurate observation? The truth is, Christianity has declined in
America, as well. And along with it has come a substantial rise in
hostility towards all things Christian.

What are we to do about it? First, we should Slow Down and ask ourselves
what is more popular than Jesus in our own lives. Video games?
Television? Shopping? Sports?

Second, as Hart notes, we should look to the lessons of places like
Africa and Asia, where the church is growing stronger under great
persecution.

And we should ask ourselves if the shrinking of the church in America is
entirely a bad thing. After all, as Hart writes, people used to go to
church simply because that's what respectable people did. They don't do
that so much today-which means that those who do attend are more deeply
committed. That's a good thing.

What we need to do is strengthen that commitment and Help them
understand the fundamentals of the faith, which I outline in my book,
The Faith, Given Once For All. Too many of our kids think that "All You
Need Is Love" is the essence of Christianity.

And after they learn the fundamentals, we need to drill into them an
understanding of worldview, Eight Days a Week, if we have to, and how
everything in our culture-including popular music-contains worldview
messages.

And then we need to send them out into the world-including the world of
music-loving youth. It Won't Be Long before they start a godly
Revolution.

[For further reading, click here]
http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/entry/13/15576