Ok, so I guess like every other website in the Christian and not so Christian world, I thought I too would make a comment on the big news – Mike Gugliemucci does not have terminal cancer, rather he has another kind of illness (my take) – a mental illness that seems to have resulted in him faking this cancer, deceiving probably hundreds of thousands (could it be more than a million??) people via his live ‘performances’ and testimonies and powerful song, ‘healer’. Hillsong have gone into bunker mode (again) and are battening down their hatches, making legal claims toward Youtube, media statements, and probably saying swear words quietly behind closed doors!
Blogs are screaming for answers, newspapers (even The Australian), are loving the fodder for their juicy stories.
But I wonder if the real problem is not Mike and his deceit but the very system he became a victim of. A church that loves to make heroes and stars out of ordinary people…in fact does this not sound like the very worldy system that we live in? Think Paris Hilton, think up and coming teen hero Miley Cyrus, think any kind of super star…or not so super star (Bindi Irwin?), ordinary people longing for attention, love and recognition, they show some flare, and pop culture instantly elevates them higher and higher until there is no way they could ever display their true selves, their broken nature, because if they did – we would crucify them! (And we do!)
Mike has been exposed as a fake.
Oh how I wish some of my fakeness would get exposed sometimes, but the pain, the risk it might cause to me and others.
But, then imagine the healing that may also come, imagine finally being able to walk down the street knowing that your ugliness is exposed and you have nothing to hide. The road to healing I would say is found in here.
So again, I suggest that we as a Church may just have missed the point.
AA on the other hand may look more like a church I would like to attend.
At Church we say, “all is fine, I am healed and victorious!”
In fact some may even invent sicknesses to be able to make that victorious claim. “Glory to God I can still preach and write songs and be your hero!”
But at an AA meeting people come in broken, “my name is Jack, I am sick, I am an alcoholic”. Jack is welcomed and embraced as a broken man, no chance of making him out a hero, he is just like one of us, but together as a egalitarian group of people, we can make a difference in one another’s lives.
So to Mike I say, congratulations my friend (I am not really a friend, although I have met Mike on a few occasions), finally your healing has begun, you have been set free from this lie and can now really begin to come to terms with your inner self, the pain and sickness that in one way, shape, or another – all of us carry.
To myself, I guess I take the challenge to not be afraid of the dark sides of me, but rather expose them. Also, I need to be wary as I like to be the hero, be in the limelight, let the Church make me out to be a hero or let people think more of me than I really am.
To the Church – stop sticking people up on those pedastools! Stop making Kings and Queens and CEO’s out of people who some call “Pastor”.
Who was it who said if you want to be great then you must be the servant of all?
Our journey into into Christ, as I understand it, is a downward one, not an upward one.
Think Mother Theresa as a model?
Think Billy Graeme as a pretty fair example of one who was ‘up front’ yet seemed to resist being made a hero.
Who else? Or am I just making these anti-hero’s into heros?
Anyway – Continue to pray for Mike’s healing…and mine…and your own 🙂
No Guarantees 
I had the “pleasure” of selling this album. And behind me this song was playing on the tv and the guy was watching it and said something like “This just doesn’t sit right to me. What about all the people that aren’t healed? I have been a christian for 20 or so years and it just doesn’t seem so rosy as these words make it out to be.”
Of all the people that praised the song and believe me there were lots he was the only one who picked up on it.
some very good insights mate especially regarding the church putting people up on pedestals. fully agree.
i still love the song tho
God is more than enough for me
and as you suggest the healing we get is not always the healing we want, its what we need.
anyone remember God saying,” you do not need anyone as your king except me” and then we replied, “but we want to be like all the other nations – give us a king!”
and ever since then we have had our kings and queens – fallible people we elevate to giddying heights so that they become super-human in our own eyes (and sometimes their own). But woe to those of them that ever reveal to us their flaws for we shall slay them without mercy.
this is the scandal of faith that falls from our own lips – we cry in gratitude at the grace we receive from God for “forgiving us our own transgressions” but conveniently separate it from “as we have forgiven those who transgress against us.”
once again we are confronted by a gospel that we may not truly believe, yet at the same time we must cling to with every ounce of strength we can muster.
The point is not how much Mike has screwed up, nor is it how flawed our religious system has become, but that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is faithful – we can’t accept that for ourselves in one hand and then withdraw it from someone else in the other.
either believe in grace and forgiveness or all don’t believe it for any.
help us God to see and respond to Christ in each other.
matt
alot of what I am reading seems to put Mike’s ‘sin’ in the same category as alcoholism or something. I know you only used AA as an example for how church should look on this, but the guy wasn’t hiding a terrible truth about himself that was sinful, he was deliberately telling lies to emotionally manipulate people and rip them off….
This is my big concern with current youth ministry trends, they are all about emotional manipulation. Alter calls with emotive music to woo people into a decision they wouldn’t otherwise make.
There are laws governing door to door sales people. They can’t take your money then and there, and you can back out within 24 hours. Perhaps churches should adopt these tactics to move away from the emotive scene that is developing. ‘Take my card and call me tomorrow, if you are still serious, then we will go ahead’. But we have KPI’s and budgets…hang on, im off track….
I don’t feel sorry for him. He is a con man that prayed on the goodwill of millions. Is he giving back the money he has earned from the songs and speaking engagements since this lie started?
Gets a bit tiring defending the church when we hold up these people on a pedastal, only to reveal fake after fake. Thank God they didn’t put me up there, or I’d fall pretty bloody hard!
I wonder if he was thinking about the footy or something everytime I see those pics of Mike in prayer?
Cheers,
Todd Bentley
Thanks for these comments. In fact Youth Alive have also just released an email linking to an article by Mal Fletcher, you may or may not be interested in.http://www.crossrhythms.co.uk/
articles/life/Why_Do_Christian_
Ministers_Fail/33139/p1/
Great post Scott. You are absolutely right, maybe his real healing can begin. Rohr calls it a crisis of limitations. We either don't learn and try to continue the upward journey of ego or we do accept our shadow side and begin the downward journey to wisdom and the holy fool. We need to pray Mich understands this revelation and begins the downward journey in grace & mercy. My fear is that those close to him are just as unhealthy. He needs our prayer & you Jesus.
Spot on Vawz. seems it was more about a cover-up from other sinful issues as well:
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,24230912-5006301,00.html
Something all us fella’s and maybe fem’s have had to deal with.
I too agree about the system but more to the fact that often the ‘church’ are more eager to have all the outward appearance of show, excitement, ‘miracles’, music etc than the nitty gritty of chewing through the deep issues of an individual’s life and leading them to where Christ can heal and restore.
But I wonder if the real problem is not Mike and his deceit but the very system he became a victim of. A church that loves to make heroes and stars out of ordinary people…in fact does this not sound like the very worldy system that we live in? Think Paris Hilton, think up and coming teen hero Miley Cyrus, think any kind of super star…or not so super star (Bindi Irwin?), ordinary people longing for attention, love and recognition, they show some flare, and pop culture instantly elevates them higher and higher until there is no way they could ever display their true selves, their broken nature, because if they did – we would crucify them! (And we do!)
The real problem was Michael and his deceit. God on the day of Judgement won’t turn and say, ” the problem was the system….” God will hold each person accountable for their actions by choosing to suggest that Michael’s issues were part of a bigger a problem alleviates Michael from accepting any responsibility for his actions. Essentially what you did was turn Michael into being a victim of circumstances he created. Idol worship is the very core of sin. You either worship God or you worship idols.
Michael instead of realising the phenomena he was creating was unhealthy and helpful in presenting the message of Jesus; he decided to milk and manipulate for all its worth for whatever motivations he had.
Sorry but when you are given a position of leadership within the church you are entrusted with a role that is both the hardest and most sacred of all. Billy Graham, who recently passed away, was so aware of his popularity and the size of the following he had created that he did whatever he could to ensure that not one inkling of a scandal of any kind could occur. He wanted to ensure that the integrity of the message of truth about Jesus was not tainted in any way. This was to the point of not even entering a hotel room until he could be sure he was not alone with another woman unless it was his wife.
Michael was no victim he was calculated and cunning. Did he have other issues that he needed to deal with? Absolutely. Did they perhaps act as contributing factors in regards to his deceit? More than likely. Does that therefore absolve him from any wrong doing? Absolutely not.
If every criminal that passed through a courtroom could blame the system, or for some their drug habit for the why they committed their crimes, then Australia’s overpopulated and under resourced prisons would be empty.
Each person is responsible for their own actions, not the system, not the contributing factors. Each person will before a righteous judge will have to give account for their actions. I will, Scott Vawser will, Michael will. None of us will get to make excuses, so it saddened me to read that you would make excuses for him.
Some great points here, I can certainly not argue with them, only agree. But I do still hold my premise, and you mention it, that we have a penchant for making idols. We want to worship Paris Hilton and the Kardashian’s. We push people up on that altar and we worship them. Using Billy Graham was a great point. I was moved by his death. He remains a great example of one who seemed to refuse to climb on that altar. I went to a funeral of a 70 year old mentor of mine yesterday- same thing, he held his integrity, left me inspired! Thanks for your wisdom into the conversation.