Do you have a “Hollywood” relationship with God?

Ever notice that “celebrities” rarely ever mention “God”? If they do, it’s always some weird or flippant remark such as, “May you be richly blessed by whatever your concept of God is”; or Oprah’s nonsensical statement that “all paths lead to God.”

Judging by the bizarre movies about God and the Bible generated by Hollywood with its unabashed and flagrant use of “literary license,” they truly have NO clue! Every movie with a biblical theme is completely off the mark; and even documentaries about the Bible reek with rampant ignorance of Scripture.

Fact is, none of them actually “know” יהוה (Yahweh) or His Divine Son, Yeshua who martyred himself and became our "blood redemption." If any of the Hollywood types (and those who idolize them) ever actually READ the Bible, they certainly didn’t “get” it.

Unfortunately, Hollywood has a huge impact on every facet of our society; and the undeniable truth is that Hollywood’s lukewarm, anemic, hypocritical concept of “God” has permeated the lives of many (if not most) who honestly feel that “belief in God” can be accomplished without the Bible and all its “archaic” rules, most of which they insist “pertain only to the Jews.”

A large majority of the people I have ever known (including most of the people I know today), were/are “lukewarm” toward God, with an irritating tendency to “put God in a box.” (Hollywood has done a great job of that!)

Truth be told, I never discerned any real difference between atheists, agnostics, humanists and those who claimed to be “Believers” (whether Jew or Gentile). They all (including the Believers who ran to church every Sunday) lived whatever lifestyle they wanted to live, doing whatever felt “right” in their own eyes.

Most of the Christians I knew, never mentioned God; and the very few who did, went overboard in their zeal to let me know I was going to Hell if I didn’t “believe in Jesus.” (While it’s true that the half-hearted and unbelievers are eternally separated from ADONAI, it makes NO sense to tell someone who is Bible illiterate, to “believe in” an entity they can’t see, feel or communicate with, who plans to HURT you if you DON’T believe in him…)

Anyway, because there was normally no discernible difference between the Christians and the “worldly” people I’d ever known, I decided I never wanted to be a Christian - because I just plain don’t like hypocrites.

Of all the Christians I had ever met until I was almost 30 years old, only one sticks out in my memory, because he actually LIVED his faith. I distinctly remember that he was a MAJOR pain in my backside … a well-meaning, Bible-thumping, tongue-talkin’ Sergeant I knew while stationed in Stuttgart, Germany with the US Army, who once gave me a “biblical concussion” that literally brought me out from behind my desk in a demonic rage that caused him to back out the door in fear for his life.

(I’m pretty sure he realized that day, that it’s not wise to employ pressure tactics on everyone you meet; and that it wasn’t “man” but the Ruach (Holy Spirit) who convicts someone about God! All the preaching and screaming, yelling and Bible pounding do no good UNLESS the Ruach opens one’s “spiritual eyes.”)

Be that as it may, I also recognized this particular man as being “different” BECAUSE he “lived his faith” - and it sowed a seed that left me wondering what it was that had attracted him to God so much that he felt compelled to constantly talk about Him....

The Ruach opened my “spiritual eyes” several years later, at the “ripe ol’ age” of 44. Unlike most who either grew up disillusioned by their respective faiths, or were somehow touched by the Hollywood idea of God, I was never confused by any particular theology, denominations or dogma.

Yahweh placed me in a tiny Baptist church where the “right pastor” at the “right time” who used the "right wording" and made the “right statements” that tore me out of my slumber and literally opened my eyes to a whole new world I never knew existed!

What I’m trying to say is that, unbeknownst to us, we all have that “little hole in our soul” that only God can fill. But, unless you are TRULY seeking Him, and until the Ruach opens your eyes, you CANNOT possibly understand – no matter how much some well-meaning person tries to make you understand.

You can even read the Bible a million times, but until the Ruach is actually present within you, it’s all just words on paper; stories that really make no sense, peppered with a string of endless commands from a seemingly “bossy” Creator who appears to expect people to perform impossible tasks.

The thing is that the Creator KNOWS who is serious and who isn’t. You can’t fool Him. He made you! He already knows whether or not you will accept Him; or whether you’re among the countless many who only want "a" god with no rules they can tell what to do, and whom they can “put in a box” and take out whenever they need something.

Make no mistake - He KNOWS whether you want HIM, or whether you're seeking the feel-good, nonsensical Hollywood “god”….

Matthew 7:7-8 tells us, "Keep asking, and it will be given to you; keep seeking, and you will find; keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who keeps asking receives; he who keeps seeking finds; and to him who keeps knocking, the door will be opened." (CJB)

From what I can see in the “Hollywood-type” of worship around the globe, most seem to be “seeking in all the wrong places” – looking everywhere EXCEPT in the Bible where Yahweh’s TRUTH lies.

Where are YOU seeking?