Season: 10 Episode: 150
Listen to episode 146 in Spanish:
Summary:
The mockery of the Last Supper during the opening ceremonies of the Olympics isn’t suprising. What is suprising is the response of many in the church who scold Christians for defending Christianity. Is everyone invited to partake of the Last Supper? Should Christians remain silent because we will be hated for the name of Christ? Shanda answers these questions, examines some of the posts by pastors and Christian celebrities surrounding the latest event, and tells you the two things you should look for when something like the mocking of Christianity happens in the public square.
Recommended Resources:
Cross Examined Article: Is Teaching Your Kids About God Child Abuse?
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You’ve either seen it or heard about the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. What was your reaction? If you were offended, saddened, or shocked, is it justified? Or should you stay silent because Jesus would have done the same? So many questions, so much noise, and so much to talk about in this episode. I am going to try and do this justice, as I am just one more voice talking about this in the public square. But I can assure you that conversations surrounding these things must be had. Thank you for listening to my podcast and being someone who trusts what I have to say – even though I don’t always get it 100% right. However, I can assure you that I pray over this podcast, ask God to give me wisdom daily, and know that I will stand before God one day and give an account for all of the words I speak, including the ones that I speak here.
This is not a task I take lightly.
People have their own ways of handling the Olympics. Some are boycotting them altogether. Some aren’t. I don’t care about that. I really don’t. My son watches individual events on YouTube and that’s fine with me. What I really want to discuss is both the reaction and the response of the Opening Ceremonies and what is appropriate for us as Christians. I know that boycotting can be part of the response and if people do that – okay.
Some of you don’t want to because you’ve argued that some Olympians are Christians and they’ve worked hard to get to where they are and shouldn’t be punished. I see your point on that too. For that reason, I don’t think this is about boycotting the Olympics or not. It goes further than that. It goes deeper than that. This is an issue bigger than a one time boycott. It has to do with speaking up or not. It has to do with interpreting scripture to defend a point and then asking whether or not it’s interpreted correctly. It’s about the next time this happens – because it will – and whether or not you should speak up about it or shut your mouth.
As I said – there’s a lot to discuss.
I’m going to recap the opening ceremonies and what many are talking about. Before this, I only saw clips but for the sake of the episode I had to go watch all of it myself.
I am going to tell you some of the responses and advice people are saying within the Christian community about how you should react and respond.
Then, I’m going to tell you what the Bible says and put some of these things into the proper perspective.
Opening Ceremony
When I first saw the picture of the opening ceremony, I said out loud that I wondered how people concluded this was a depiction of the last supper. There were twelve disciples at the last supper, as well as Jesus – so 13 sitting at the table. In the opening ceremony, there were more than that – I could see about 18. And for that reason, people, including Christians, said we should all take a chill pill and not get upset. Buzzfeed reported that, “Olympics artistic director Thomas Jolly said the intention was “to have a grand pagan festival connected to the gods of Olympus.” He continued, “It was pretty clear, [it was] Dionysus who arrives at the table. Why is he there? Because Dionysus is the Greek god of festivities and wine, and is the father of Sequana, the goddess of the Seine river.” The argument is: it’s just art, guys.
Stop clutching your pearls and sit down.
The French Bishop’s Conference, according to the Grunge, disproved of the opening ceremonies, saying they did mock Christianity. Even Egypt’s Al Azhar – said the depiction was insulting to Jesus. And he’s a Muslim. C-Spire, a company that had paid advertisement during the olympics pulled their ads and dropped their sponsorship. The people responsible for the ceremony ended up pulling it from YouTube, although some clips can still be viewed of part of the ceremonies. For that reason, I didn’t get the full view of the opening ceremonies. Speaker Mike Johnson condemned it as an attack on traditional values, not just Christianity. And because there was international outrage, apologies were made, videos were taken down, and advertisers (at least one, but I did hear of one other) pulled their sponsorship. Yet, there is debate among Christians as to whether or not we should be so vocal.
Right away, there’s something wrong with this.
Why? Because last supper or not, there were drag queens. It was an attack on traditional values, and basic decency. Men had their packages all wadded up in their nasty looking costumes and they were prancing around on TV in front of children and families. Did we miss the bearded man trying to be a woman who looked demonic and provocative? And what was the excuse of the organizers? They wanted to be inclusive to all. They wanted to display diversity. Here I go again with my simple questions but – what do you mean by diverse? Diverse means different. It doesn’t mean immoral. But to them this isn’t immoral at all. To Christians, it should be.
Sure, the opening ceremonies included Celine Dion, which is really cool because it was her first public appearance in a while. I watched her documentary on Hulu, and she has a rare neurological disorder that has kept her from performing. That was really cool. I saw there were other parts of the ceremony that was entertaining. One could argue and say it was diverse – different people from different parts of the world coming to together. But do religions need to be mocked in order to be inclusive? Because when you show a depiction of gods and goddesses and men dressing like women, and some holding decapitated heads (yes, there was that too), do Christians keep watching and say – eh, it’s the Olympics and we should expect evil in this world? At what point do you turn the TV off and shield yourself from it?
At what point do we say where is the line between being in the world and not of it?
Here’s a view into my personal life – I don’t watch rated R movies if they’re rated R for anything other than violence (like a war movie will be rated r for that reason) or maybe some cuss words (it depends on the cuss words). I don’t want to see naked people. I don’t want to see people doing it on my TV when I’m trying to watch with my boys. So I won’t be watching the Olympics if men who want to be women have their packages bundled up for the world to see.
It’s gross. It’s distasteful.
The TV will go off. And yes, I will be offended at the blatant celebration of immorality and sin because my offense causes me to respond in such a way that I pray for those people and our world and our country. The Bible says woe to those who call evil good and good evil. Do you know what woe means. It is what is said when judgment is about to happen. It is what is said when someone is in anguish over the circumstances taking place or those that will take place. And it is sadness over others.
John McArthurs says this in the McArthur New Testament Commentary: “But Jesus used Woe against the scribes and Pharisees not as an exclamation but as a declaration, a divine pronouncement of judgment from God. . . . As was already noted, it was not His desire that they be condemned but rather that they repent and come to salvation. But He knew that if they did not repent and believe they were doomed to hell under God’s righteous and just wrath. When God utters Woe against evil men He sets divine judgment in motion” (The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Matthew 16—23, ch. 35, Moody Publishers, 1988, p. 375).
A similar response would be: My God, this world is in trouble.
Or, God have mercy on them. Or even the prayer Jesus said we ought to pray, “That we may be counted worthy to escape the things that will come upon this earth and that we will stand before the Son of Man.” One thing the church would do well to remember is that judgment is coming. So how we respond does matter because we know it. And although we know that God is our loving father who gave His son for the entire world, we also know that He is a judge. A just judge who will have the final say. Those who accept Jesus Christ have a debt that is paid in full. Those who don’t will have to pay the debt themselves but they cannot do it. For that, the wrath of God will come upon the entire world. How we respond to the culture matters. We’ll talk about that later. For now, how did some Christians respond?
The Responses
There were plenty of reels and comments from those outside the church who called us names and said we were overreacting. Ok. Who cares? They’re outside the church. But inside the church, there were conflicting messages. Let me tell you what some said:
Candace Cameron Bure said she was appalled at the mockery of the last supper and the drag queens on the world stage with children watching.
Candace is an out spoken Christian and takes a biblical stance on gay marriage and other issues. She had many in her comment section telling her that it wasn’t a mockery of the last supper. It’s just art and history. Candace reposted a comment that said it doesn’t matter. She said, “Since posting, many have tried to correct me saying it wasn’t about an interpretation of DaVinci’s The Last Supper, but a Greek god and the festival of Dionysus; who is a god of lust, insanity, religious ecstasy, ritual madnes etc. I still don’t see how that relates to unifying the world through competitive sports and acceptable for children to watch. In any case, I’m not buying it.”
One of the most circulated posts came to me from a follower of mine.
I didn’t see it myself. It’s from a pastor who said (it’s kind of long): “I’m a pastor, and I have something to say. Christian that get online and spew hate toward nonbelievers angers me much more nonbelievers spewing hate toward my religion.”
Let me stop right there and ask this: What does he mean by hate? Disagreement? I agree that I don’t think believers should spew hate at nonbelievers but what does he mean by hate? If you’re going to say that – you better define what you mean by hate because in today’s culture everyone labels anything you don’t agree with as hate. And he’s adding to the rhetoric when he doesn’t specifically define what he means.
“I have no idea what the table at the Olympics was supposed to represent, as the official statement contradicts the larger opinion. But what I can say is that every single person at that table would have been invited to Jesus’ table. Jesus not only spent His time on earth with sinners, He invited them to the very table everyone assumes the Olympic table represents.”
Then he goes on to give names like Matthew and of course Judas.
Everyone uses Judas and Jesus washing his feet to explain why we shouldn’t say anything about sin. They always talk about the table and Jesus inviting them to the table – even Judas. So we shouldn’t call out sin. We shoudn’t be hateful. We should just stay silent. Is that what the last supper was about? Asking sinners to sit there and eat with the son of God? We’ll talk about what it meant soon and why this is not an accurate depiction of the last supper. Let’s finish his quote first.
“Jesus was with sinners all the time. In fact, it’s one of the reason the church people hated Him and wanted Him dead.” – let me interject again. They hated Him because He called them hypocrites, white washed tombs full of dead means bones. He told the crowds to listen to their words but don’t do what they say because they don’t follow the law. He warned them that they were showmen. And he said woe to you Pharisees and Scribes – judgment is coming on you because you confess Abraham as your father but you don’t recognize who is standing right in front of you. And why was Jesus around sinners all the time? Because He called them to repentance and they did. He didn’t just hang out with them and invite them to a table for the purpose of eating a meal. Come on pastor Jacob Whitehead.
Do not twist the scripture and act like Jesus just hung out with his sinner buddies without calling them to repentance.
He goes on: “Please allow this to serve as a reminder that people who are not Christians are not our responsibility to regulate. Jesus gave us an example to follow of welcoming everyone and pointing them toward the love of Jesus. Remember that God’s kindness is meant to lead us to repentance, not the shouting of His angry ‘followers’”. He goes on to say, “Jesus doesn’t need me to shout about sinners sinning. He want me to shout about the hope and the love they are missing out on.”
Tell me this, pastor Jacob Whitehead: if you don’t talk about sin and it’s damning effects, what is the hope and love they’re missing out on? What is God’s kindness if it’s not sending His son into the world to take on flesh and die on the cross for those who need the hope and love of God? You cannot preach the good news without the bad news. Yet, those who throw these words of love and kindness around are trying to do just that.
He has more but it’s all condemning Christians who were outraged over the olympics.
And this guy had a lot of people clapping along. There were a lot of Christians wondering how they should react.
I posted a quote a while back that said there are three steps to a godless society: Call nothing a sin. Where there is no sin there is no sinner. No savior is needed where no sinner is found. That is what happens when the church never wants to call out sin. And this is harsh, but this is why the church is in the mess it’s in. Because the church stopped contending for the faith.
Russell Brand recently became a Christian – I want to say in the last 6 months. But he saw the Olympics and concluded that we are in the last days. He has lost a lot of followers over his conversion to Christianity. He used to be madly involved in the New Age. But over the last few months I’ve seen a lot of growth in him. He reads his bible a lot – or at least he shares the word on his instagram a lot. Russell recognized the irony in what looked like the depiction of the last supper.
He reminded his audience that if they hated Christ they will hate us.
One of his followers said in the comments that he is an atheist and he was offended. He went on to say that he thinks everyone should be what they want – a drag queen, a traditional valued person in a traditional marriage, or a muslim, or a Jew. But he wants to know why the deliberate attack on Christianity? Why the imagery of Christianity where it’s so close to the depiction of the last supper that that is the conclusion the majority of the viewers come to? You can say all you want that this wasn’t a mockery of the last supper but why was it so similar to it, an event in history that most everyone can identify rather than scarcely heard of gods and goddesses, to where you risk offending more than 2 billion people on the planet? You have to ask yourself – why Christianity? I’m with Russell Brand on that question. And I think anyone who has been in Christianity long enough knows that we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood but against powers and principalities. This is a spiritual battle. The only ones who will hold that line are the Christians.
So what do we do?
I think of the word opportunity when I ask myself what I can do. And what I mean by that is this:
- Where is the opportunity to speak the truth?
- Where is the opportunity to share the gospel?
An opportunity is “a set of circumstances that make it possible to do something.”
In regard to the opening ceremony at the Olympics – you have the opportunity to do both. Rather than be offended, which means to be resentful or annoyed, ask yourself how you can share the truth and share the gospel here. One of those ways is by saying, “Hey, regardless of whether or not the opening ceremonies coordinator meant to mock the last supper, let me tell you what it means …” And then you can go on to explain what the breaking of the bread typified, as well as the drinking of the cup.
While we’re on the subject, let me briefly explain why pastor Jacob Whitehead did not go far enough or accurately enough with his explanation of the last supper and the table Jesus invited sinners to.
First, Jesus invited the 12 only.
He didn’t invited the whole neighborhood. Let’s read Matthew 26 starting at verse 17: “17 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”
18 He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’” 19 So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.
20 When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. 21 And while they were eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.”
22 They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely you don’t mean me, Lord?”
23 Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. 24 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”
25 Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “Surely you don’t mean me, Rabbi?”
Jesus answered, “You have said so.”
26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”
27 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the[b] covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
30 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.”
I want to pull out a few points here from the text:
- Jesus addressed Judas that night. He did not let it slide or stay silent about Judas’ betrayal. Yes, he still allowed him to sit at the table, but He addressed Judas’s sin. Notice that Jesus said, “Woe to him who betrays the son of man. The son of man will go just as it has been written about Him. But woe to that man who betrays the son of man. It would be better for him if he had not been born.”
Jesus pronounced judgment on Judas! Was Jesus kind? Of course! Was he loving! You bet! But He didn’t let sin slide. He wasn’t passive.
- The last supper is more than having dinner. Jesus said the bread would be a reminder of his body that was broken for us. The cup would be a reminder of his blood that was shed for us. For the forgiveness of sins. At the table, Jesus said the word sin. That was the reason he came. Then He told us to do it in remembrance of Him. Every time you take communion at church, you are doing what Jesus commanded that very night and we are coming together as the body of Christ to remember that Christ died for the sins of the world.
The opportunity for us is to share that message.
The message this pastor sent out is, in my opinion, your typical pansy Christian trying to appeal to the culture. It bears no fruit. It throws around the buzz words – kind, love, table. And it doesn’t share the good news because of the bad news.
And the other part is the opportunity to speak the truth. The truth is – the olympics ceremonies was perverted. It was an attack on traditional values at best and a mockery of Christianity at worse. The Bible has something to say about be created in the image of God and being created male and female. We should be telling the culture that they don’t have to try and be something they weren’t created to be. God made them the way they are – with purpose and intentionality. And it is very good.
I said it in a reel last week – Christianity is the largest religion in the world. But it is declining fast. The more people mock it and when Christians don’t defend it, you will see that number continue to plummet. Islam is on the rise. Why? Because people think it’s cool. But they don’t understand the Islamic religion. They also have a strict moral code. There are no homosexuals in Islam. In fact, in many muslim countries they’d be killed. There are no queers for Palestine in Palestine. Let’s get real.
Things to Think About:
When someone tells you to be quiet, Christians should’t say anything, ask them where the Bible promotes silence on these issues. Where does it say we aren’t supposed to contend for the faith? It doesn’t. The problem is some don’t look at it as contending for the faith when you speak the truth on “cultural issues” or “political issues.”
In 2 Cor 10:3-5, Paul tells us what we ought to do when it comes to ideas like those promoted in the Olympic Games. He says, “3 For although we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh, 4 since the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments 5 and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ.”
The first thing that comes to mind here is the kind of battle we are in.
We are in a spiritual battle. I saw one guy post on twitter that he was offended by the ceremony and he dropped a ton of “F” bombs. That is not how you fight. That is not even Christian. He is fighting like Andrew Tate says to fight. He says Christians are weak and no one wants to follow Christianity because of it. Is it weak? Or do we recognize the war we’re in and fight it effectively? My youngest son, who is 14, gets scared over politics and what’s going on in the world. So he was encouraged that people took a stand for Christian values and the Olympics apologized.
Is that a victory? It depends.
I think it’s really a victory when Christians can theologically and philosophically defend our position on why the Last Supper, a sacred and revered event in history that is central to our faith, can tell why it is so special and share the gospel while we do. Boycotting the olympics might be one response. But boycotting the Olympics and sharing why is a better response. Dropping your sponsorship and pulling ads might show them how offended you are. But pulling you sponsorship and reminding the world of what the Lord’s Supper is is better. Now, don’t get me wrong.
As I said, I think we should respond and we don’t have to put our money to people who want to promote things contrary to our beliefs. I don’t shop at Target. I canceled Netflix years ago. And I rarely, rarely – go to Starbucks. But I’m saying this is a spiritual battle and our response matters because the response is an opportunity to preach the gospel and share the truth.
We should fight, as Paul says here in Corinthians. And how we fight matters. Our weapons of warfare are not in the flesh. They won’t be, as Andrew Tate and the Islamic religion promotes, with violence. That is not Christian. But they will be theological and philosophical – with gentleness, with resolve, with strength, with courage, with love for neighbor because we don’t want them to be on the other side of the WOE that is coming.
Conclusion
In conclusion, you guys who listen to me and follow me on Instagram know that I think we should stand for the truth no matter how badly it hurts. But just because the truth hurts doesn’t mean it’s unloving. We need to be careful of the stupid platitudes of “be kind,” “be loving.” I’m sick of those blanket statements. We know we have to be kind and loving. We tell that to our 5 year olds. But it’s so overused in the Christian church we’ve become weak and ineffective. Jesus told us we are to be the salt and the light. A weak church is neither. And that means the world becomes dark and the tasteless when a church refuses to be what God has called it to be.
And after Jesus calls us to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world He asks a question: “If the salt loses it’s flavor, how can it be made salty again?” He answers in a way that means it can’t be – it is good for nothing and thrown into the oven to be burned.
The thing is, salt can’t lose it’s flavor. True Christians are effective.
They do persevere the truth and morality of the culture by speaking the truth and sharing the gospel. But imposters cannot and will not make a difference. If it burns within you to stand for the truth, I get it. And that is good. But remember this – our battle is a spiritual one. Pray. Know the word. And don’t be afraid to speak the truth.
Be encouraged that the darker the world gets the brighter the light shines. Be salty. Stay lit. Defend the faith. I hope this encouraged you. If you have any questions for me, email me at hello@shandafulbright.com and I’ll catch you on the next one.
e next one!
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