Quote:
Originally Posted by CC1
Do you applaud him for the following?
Right after I moved to Nashville in 1999 Michael English was working his way back to credibility in gospel music.
He had hooked in with the TBN crowd and they were promoting him heavily. In addition to guesting a lot on TBN he was given his own show or was at least featured on a series (I forget which exactly).
With all of this publicity he was primed for his "second chance". He recorded a new CD and just before it was to come out and while he still appearing on TBN as this repented, forgiven saint who had fallen but now had made things right he was arrested by the Nashville police for illegal possession of precription drugs.
The police raided the apartment that news reports said he SHARED with his girlfriend and found something like 400 prescription drugs he was using and abusing with no prescriptions (the number may be wrong I am going from my memory of 8 years or so ago but it was an amazingly large number).
It amazes me that when something like this happens after a person has already done a doozy like committing adultery the TBN crowd get mad at you for suggesting perhaps you don't continue to have faith in the person.
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I'm glad you're perfect . . . Really, I am. I'm glad you've never done something wrong only to turn around and do something else wrong.
Can't say that myself. I've made boneheaded decisions, messed up, got right only to turn left again and had to start all over.
I, too, had the pharisees around me that pointed (as you have) to the faults and inconsistencies in my life. Thankfully I'm blessed to be stubborn. Thankfully I have this way of learning to ignore the ones who rejoice in failures and shortcomings. Thankfully I never gave up, though that would have been so easy to do at times. Thankfully there were some sincere Christians that picked me up, helped brush me off and led me back to the cross.
I knew the drug news would be brought out. Unfortunately artists and people like Michael live in very open, glass houses. Their mistakes aren't just reminded of them by the condemnation they feel in their hearts, but it's the splash on the front page of the paper; the lead story in the 10 o'clock news; the fodder of late-night shows and comedians.
It's unfortunate that one's who profess themselves to be Christians are among the stone-throwers.
Tell me, CC1, are you without sin?
Yes, Michael was addicted to prescription drugs; and yes he obtained a large amount of those drugs illegally - though I don't believe the number mentioned is accurate.
What's lost in this condemning diatribe against him is that he's not alone in this addiction. Others have been addicted to the same thing.
One man we all know, Rush Limbaugh, was addicted and illegally received some amount of these drugs.
I believe it was around the same time that he was going through a divorce and the loss of hearing in his ear.
Imagine this, if you can...though I'm sure your life is perfect and you've never had problems like Michael.
He was on the top as a Christian artist, just having swept several Dove Awards;
Within a week that all comes crashing down with his confession of the affair and pregnancy;
Then Jordan miscarries;
He's dropped from every so-called Christian radio station, retailer and his record label;
There's the no-doubt, ugly divorce; and
Suddenly the man who had it all was left with nothing.
If memory is right, I believe he was legally prescribed these drugs before becoming addicted.
Just as Rush Limbaugh...
Just as some church folk I know...
The drugs weren't illegal; they're used by millions of people, including some apostolics I know.
Several years ago I was hospitalized for over a week and was prescribed the same pills RL was given. I never became addicted, never have needed to get another prescription to them.
At the same time, there's a couple other things that helped me not to become addicted to them: first and foremost is I have something that ME and RL didn't, the Holy Ghost inside me; second is I've never faced the hurt and despair I imagine they've felt during those times.
Don't be so quick to throw stones at the man. Yes, he was wrong. No, I don't applaud or approve of what he's done in the past . . . but it doesn't matter to God how many times a person falls; what really matters to God is how many times that person gets back up.
JMO
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