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Sad Day.... for Christian Music

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Well, what can I say? It's another sad day for Christian music! I would normally say that a sad day for Christian music occurs when the "Dove" award goes to Point of Grace instead of a musical group who write their own music and make music, to which I can actually sing along. All joking and ribbing aside, it is a sad day for Christian music. As of Saturday, the world has started to hear that the wonderful worship anthem, "Healer", by Planetshakers Pastor Mike Guglielmucci was promoted as a fraud. Saturday the Executive Committee of the Australian Christian Churches (a member of the Assemblies of God) met with Mike and he told them that he did not have cancer. For those of you who know, 2 years ago Mike wrote a song called "Healer". This song started gaining momentum, when Mike told people that he had a rare form of cancer and that had been the inspiration for him writing the song. Since that point, Mike had been all over the world, singing his song, telling people about the reason that he wrote the song. Mike had become a huge inspiration to all those who heard the song and to those who were afflicted with any type of illness. Listening to the song took on a whole different meaning.

This was a huge shock to me, as I had been using the song is worship sets for the past year or so. I used it at Evangel University Chapel, 20Twenty and at countless worship sets since then. I love the song! It has a message that no matter what, God is still God and He is the ultimate Healer. In fact, this past Monday, I introduced the New Life Community worship team to the song and shared the story behind the song. Little did I know that the back story is a fraud! It makes me sad.... and at first, very angry!!!! How could someone weave a web of lies so thick? In fact, Mike performed "Healer" with the Hillsong worship team and recorded a live album/dvd that has since been released. The song hit #2 on the Australian charts. It has become a huge success and all because of a lie. Whether or not the song would have been as popular as it is without the back story, is hard to tell. All I can say is that I am having a hard time comprehending the whole thing.

That isn't the real reason I am writing this blog. The real reason is to talk about the way "we" need to deal with this situation and others like it. I can already tell that people across the world are going to come down real hard on this guy. That might be a fair response, seeing as he made a lot of money off the song and the donations that people made for him and his disease. I did at first! Then I had a second to think about it....

Mike was wrong... plain and simple!! He lied and took money from people on false pretenses. It is ridiculous how many people will and have been affected by this. BUT let's understand something. Mike sinned and he has to pay for his sins. That doesn't mean that we are judge and juror! He will have to explain all of this and pay back lots of money. He will have to do deal with the humiliation of being "that guy" for the rest of his life. It's going to be hard and very trying and he can't do it all on his own. Personally, I am going to be the hand of grace. I've made some mistakes and had plenty of moral failures in my life. They may have not been as large in scale as this one and may not have affected as many people, but I've still failed. I've fallen short of the Glory of God. I've given in to the flesh and fulfilled my own desires. So I know how it feels to be the one who falls short. So I'll be the first to say this:

Mike I forgive you! I know this isn't a proud moment for you. I know that people are going to
send their disappointments and anger to you in the form of letters, emails, phone calls and such. You are going to be tried in your faith and in your patience, but it's your time to step away and be with God and your family. Take some time to evaluate who you are and why
you are doing what you are doing. Spend time with God and truly repent. If you do that, God
will forgive you, and everyone else will eventually forgive you. I just want you to know that I
am praying for you and your family. Praying that restoration and healing will take place in an
instant, and that this situation will make your faith stronger! Please remember, that I love
you as a brother in Christ and you are not alone! Hold strong brother!

I know that Mike may never read this blog, and no one will probably care that I've forgiven Mike, but I want to start exercising the grace that God has extended to me. I want to be the agent of grace to those who might not normally receive it. I've been given several chances and plenty of grace, so it's time to start giving back. I pray everyone else will follow suit!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I read this story a few days ago on another blog, and was curious to see if you'd post something of your own, since the first time I heard this song, you performed it. The person who was writing the blog entry I read a few days ago originally planned to introduce Healer to his church this coming Sunday, and was having second thoughts. As horrible of a thing as the back-story is, the song is still just as true (as you said).

God is still our Healer, and you're not singing Mike's testimony when you sing the song. You're really singing your own. So I tell you what I told him. God's light can be seen in the deepest of dark places, and I believe that although this guy's motives weren't so honest, God was still at work there. So if the words of the song touch you and it's something you and your church believe in, continue to perform the song.

Brady said...

Hey Geoff,
Not sure how I stumbled across your blog, but I thought I would introduce myself. My name's Brady, I am also an EU grad (04 undergrad, 07 grad), and I also lead worship for my church in Rolla, MO. Just stumbled upon you and thought I shouldn't just "blog lurk", but say hey. You've got some good stuff on here-keep it up!
http://bradyspot.blogspot.com/