Priscilla Shirer warns against putting people on pedestals in light of Christian leaders falling away
"War Room" actor and evangelist Priscilla Shirer is warning believers against putting people on pedestals in light of a number of high-profile Christian leaders who have renounced or expressed doubts about their faith.
“When they fall, the fall is hard and rough on everybody,” Shirer said in an interview with Faithwire. “No one is perfect except our Lord and we’ve got to take the burden off of people’s shoulders to be what only Jesus can be for us and only what the Holy Spirit can be for us.”
Prominent Christian figures like Marty Sampson, who for years wrote songs for and toured with the popular music group Hillsong United and other Christian bands, recently announced on social media that he was losing his faith. He later clarified that he had not renounced his faith entirely but noted that it was on shaky ground. He deleted much of his original Instagram posts.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Author of the best-selling 1997 book I Kissed Dating Goodbye and former pastor Joshua Harris also revealed late last month that he is no longer a Christian.
Shirer, who stars in the upcoming movie “Overcomer,” which hits theaters on Friday, said the Bible warns believers “that days will come when even our leaders will fall away, and I think we’re seeing the inklings of those times even now.”
She argued that Christians need to focus on passing their faith traditions to their children and grandchildren and avoid “watering down the Gospel and the name of Jesus Christ.”
“My boldness in faith today will make an incredible difference to the reality that [my children and grandchildren] will live in tomorrow,” she said.
Shirer further noted that the best way to welcome back people who have been hurt by the Christian community to the faith is to separate the Gospel from the imperfect humans who preach it.
The Gospel, she said, is “about our Savior and the church is designed to point you to Him — not to people who are speaking about him.”
Shirer and the director of her new movie, Alex Kendrick, as well as his brother, Stephen, agreed in an interview with "Fox & Friends" Tuesday that “Overcomer” has a message “relevant for this generation.”
"I think this movie really is relevant for this generation," Stephen told Ainsley Earhardt, host of "Ainsley's Bible Study" on Fox Nation. "We've got so much confusion concerning identity and people are wondering, 'Why am I here? What's my value? What's my purpose?' and they're putting their value and identity in things that can be taken away."
And identity, said Shirer, is critical.
“If we do not know who we are in Christ, if it's not rooted in something solid that cannot change, that cannot be touched by external circumstances, then we're going to find our emotional stability up one day and down the other,” she said. "We've got to be anchored and solid and secure, and this movie will introduce that to some and reintroduce it for others."
