When Joy Behar, one of the co-hosts on the daytime talk show, “The View,” likened Vice-President Mike Pence’s hearing Jesus to a mental illness, the Christian blogosphere lit up like a Christmas tree. In time, one Christian leader after another commented on what Joy said and most seemed outraged.
A pastor and mentor of mine once said when confronted with an issue, he often takes time to reflect on it before returning an answer. I follow that advice more as I grow older and hopefully wiser, so I did not jump on the condemnation bandwagon with the others. It was one of two topics I prayed about writing on last week, but both were eclipsed by the passing of Billy Graham.
But what Christians mean when we say we “hear” God, needs to be clarified.
We need some perspective…
We need to put things in perspective. Joy, like fellow co-host Whoopi Goldberg, is a comedienne not a Christian theologian. Based on the things she says, she is not even a genuine believer. In short, she does not know what she is talking about.
I do not watch “The View,” I read about what Joy said in a news report. I was no more offended by what she said than I would be by a blind man that stepped on my foot, or a deaf person who ignores me when I speak to them. I expect worldly people to say worldly things, and not understand what we believe; it’s their nature.
Jesus also said “an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice,” John 5:28.
Knowing that, I do not waste my time watching a program that mocks and demeans everything I cherish and hold to be sacred. So if you claim to be a Christian and you choose to watch a show that offends your Christian sensibilities don’t whine about it, repent. You need to be listening to God and not listening to Joy!
Oprah Winfrey has said she will not run for president unless God tells her to and I think she and Joy are cut from the same political cloth. But if she does “hear from God,” I’ll give odds that Joy Behar will flip-flop on the idea that hearing from God is a mental illness faster than you can say, “Oprah for President.”
Everyone will eventually hear God…
One of the ways God speaks to us is through His word. Seven times Jesus tells the seven churches of Revelation, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches,” Revelation 2:7. Jesus was warning the churches. He tells the church of Ephesus “you have left your first love [Christ Jesus]. Therefore repent and do the deeds you did at first,” Revelation 2:4-5.
Jesus also said “an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice,” John 5:28. Everyone, including Joy, will hear God’s voice on judgment day. What you hear then will be determined by how well you listen now.
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