With Madonna, Christians have fallen to Satan once again

You're probably wondering where I'll go with that one. Actually, so am I!

Let us begin with the latest ruckus Madonna has caused. She is currently on her "Confessions" tour, and evidently the tour is going quite well. She also has a television performance coming up on NBC, where clips from her tour will be broadcast on a two-hour special airing in mid-November. And this is where it gets interesting.

It turns out that part of her stage performance includes Madonna being lowered while appearing to be hanging on a cross. She's actually standing on a small platform, but you get the visual. Well as a result of her using this stage prop, a number of Christian groups are up in arms, angry at Madonna for such a sacrilegious display, and angry at NBC for agreeing to show this blatant mocking of the cross and what it represents. Here's the story:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/10202006/gossip/pagesix/pagesix.htm

This is where I think Satan has once again gained a small victory. Seemingly intelligent Christians are falling into a trap here. We claim to follow God, to place no idols before Him, and what do we do - express outrage that a middle-aged pop-artist is using a cross in a theatrical presentation. Here's the picture - take a look for yourself. It's a silly mirrored cross - it reminds me in no way of what Jesus endured for me.

My problem isn't that we're even paying attention to Madonna and her antics. She has to attempt to be controversial in order to stay in the spotlight. It's all part of a carefully crafted image. You know the adage - "good news or bad news, just so long as I'm in the news." Kind of like her adoption fiasco of the Malawian child. But that's another story.

My problem is that Christians are spending any time on this. Aren't there bigger problems? Shouldn't we be concerned about starvation in Africa? Shouldn't we be concerned with the genocide and war in Darfur? Shouldn't we be concerned that AIDS is still out of control, killing millions every single year? And shouldn't this concern for these true tragedies be displayed by action? This is what James said in 2:14-17 - "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? ... faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=66&chapter=2&version=31
He doesn't say works get you to Heaven, but he does say that if you have faith, truly have faith, you will act on that faith as a by product. But I'm not sure sending a million emails to NBC about this particular topic is what he meant.

I recall a passage in The Screwtape Letters, written by C.S. Lewis. In this classic, Screwtape is one of Satan's field personnel, and is sharing his thoughts in a number of letters to Wormwood, his nephew and apprentice. He is sharing how Wormwood can be more effective in bringing people to Satan, away from God. In one particular letter to young Wormwood, he discusses with the young devil how man will fall into the trap of praying to and worshiping an object. He says, "Whatever the nature of the composite object, you must keep him praying to it - to the thing that he has made, not to the Person who has made him. You may even encourage him to attach great importance to the correction and improvement of his composite object, and to keeping it steadily before his imagination during the whole prayer. For if he comes to make the distinction, if he ever consciously directs his prayers 'Not to what I think thou art but to what thou knowest thyself to be', our situation is, for the moment, desperate." He is telling his apprentice that if you want man to fail in his prayers, get him to direct his attention toward an object, away from the God.

Haven't we fallen into Satan's trap by diverting our attention to a cross used by this has-been entertainer? Shouldn't we be worried about saving lives, and saving souls? Shouldn't our attention be on Jesus and not on an object? Things like this distract from what Jesus has called us to do, to love Him, with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Is that love best represented when we protest a silly thing like this, or when we care for God's children? If we continue to wage silly fights like this, Satan does win, just as C.S. Lewis described.