Because Vanity is Popular: The Rise of Heather Lindsey

There is a prominent female figure currently on the horizon that has all of the girlies holding their breathe until she breathes her next word.  Her face, her posts, her image and her voice are slathered from thither and yonder on social media.  You never have to wonder what's going on in her life nor in her household.  It is all tracked and recorded via the world wide web.  I've listened to some of her teachings and agree with most of what she says.  While she does not verbally communicate anything that seems detrimental, it is what is not said being (yet seen) that is the most disappointing factor.

I first became aware of this young lady and her husband a couple of years ago when another young lady posted on my Facebook page that my husband and I reminded her of them.  I presumed she was referring to the fact that we were married and shared a passion for the Lord.  Being the kind of person I tend to be, I looked them up in hopes of expanding our circle of nationwide Christian fellowship.  I thought they would have been a couple my husband and I could connect with and form a relationship based on our shared love for Jesus and the Word of God.  The more I perused their pages, I quickly realized they were "out of our league" for lack of a better phrase.  They had already amassed a nice sized following and us reaching out to them would seem to only add to their pool of folks (groupies) seeking to connect with the up and coming Christian "power couple".

Initially, I was not completely put off by them.  As far as I could tell, they were a lovely couple and seemed nice enough, so I requested the wife as a friend on Facebook (to which she accepted).  From there, I just kind of hung back and watched.  Their message seemed primarily focused on relationships as they often told their courtship story and how they saved their first kiss for their wedding day.  I then saw that the wife kept a blog (I've been blogging since 2008 and love to read so this appealed to me) and began to read through her posts.  Again, the messages were not necessarily off putting, but for some reason I just could not connect with her (maybe due to the fact that there was a strategically placed selfie or photo at the end of each post).  The more I followed her on social media, the less of a desire I had to connect with her. 

I began to see how she was being completely idolized by her followers.  There were words of affection being spewed her way that you would think are reserved for the closest of relationships.  Compliments are nice.  I am not opposed to them at all, but there is a difference between paying a nice compliment and salivating over the very object of said compliment.  There is never a word of deflection or correction from her, only emoji kissy faces and "Thanks Love".

Over the years, she has been an often quoted fixture on social media and in high demand on the preacher/speaker circuits.  Her pages are all monuments to her beauty (countless personal selfies) and her words (every quote is intentionally signed and sometimes includes a photo so you will not soon forget its origins).  What she and her family do on a daily basis is the center of many a young lady's universe.  She has a cute enough family and may challenge those that still don't understand why "keeping a random in your bed" doesn't exactly honor the Lord or help you in the long run.  I think she is a beautiful young lady with a nice sense of style.  However, I have young nieces that I would hesitate to introduce to her so as to deter them from indulging in the social media and online frenzy that is Heather Lindsey; lest they be sucked into the matrix of her affectations.  

My hopes of getting to know a couple in Christ were dashed as her star began to rise.  As that star rose, so did the amount of selfies and posts and every other self promoting display; all in the name of Jesus?  Anyone so caught up and enamored with capturing every moment of their lives to share with the public is plagued with grand illusions of themselves or major insecurities.  It also serves as the catalyst by which the public has the opportunity to idolize and worship the person through the images.  The images, posts and other online feedback all serve as means to embolden others into a frenzied excitement about her and not her God.  When this is your modus operandi, it is IMPOSSIBLE to lead people to Christ because they are so focused on Y-O-U.  Many follow her because they want to be her and have what they think she has.  As if being yoked to her and following her life will somehow allow it to attract to them.  Many have allowed an unhealthy soul tie to be created, and when your soul is tied to anything in this way, it will worship whatever it is tied to.  It is the only proper response, and make no mistake about it, you don't need a physical alter to worship.  Worship is a matter of the heart that shows in the things you say and do.

From a business perspective, this is a very clever marketing and branding technique.  The more the public is able to engage with a persona (albeit superficially) and interact with their life in some form, the more likely they are to form an attachment.  You must inundate the consumer with constant images and feedback so they will not soon forgot you because in this day and age out of sight IS out of mind, and social media is THE BEST way to accomplish this.  Have you ever wondered why Heather and her husband are very active on EVERY social media outlet?  Social media also allows you to peer into as much of people's lives as they want you to take in, and assume what you see is true to form.  They can paint a picture of their lives they want you want to see, and display the images and quotes that will further reinforce their brand.  You can feel like you know these people all without ever passing two words with them.  They are MASTER MARKETERS well versed on the best time to post to reach the most online viewers, and the ways in which to present themselves to continue to build and solidify their brand (NOT JESUS).  I invite you to study advanced business marketing & branding techniques and see what you find.  Tell me, when is the last time you saw Heather post a Scripture and a verse instead of one of her own personal quotes?  She is not leading people to Christ so much as she is advancing the Lindsey's Enterprise.  Don't get me wrong, I am all for entrepreneurship, but when you are pimping God's people for a book, a buck and a following; I have a problem.  Instead of assisting people to conform to the image of Christ, the Lindsey's have successfully created a colony of clones across the globe that look, act, talk and even set up their social media taglines and phrases just like who, Jesus?  No, them!

There is an example from Christian history that I would like to point out.  In Acts 14, Paul and Barnabas were visiting areas of Greece to preach the Gospel  of the Kingdom.  As Paul was preaching, there was a crippled man whose faith was sparked to believe what they were preaching.  In response to this man's faith, Paul, through the power of the Holy Ghost, healed the man!  When the people saw this, they immediately began to worship Paul and Barnabas as gods.  While Paul and Barnabas did not have any initial control over the people's response to this miracle, it was their reaction that should be noted.  They took NO opportunity to relish in the glory.  They did not start a P&B healing ministry (or movement as some of the young folks like to call it) or create a strategy to figure out how to use this as a means to bring more attention to themselves so they could use it as a platform to reach more people for Christ.  They refused to feed into the madness and mourned over the fact that the people sought to openly worship them rather than the Christ they were preaching. 

The life we live as Christians should always be I decrease so that He may increase.  No matter how well meaning we might be, Jesus cannot be completely and properly manifested or seen (glorified) through our lives unless we have resolved to divest ourselves of what we think is right and the attention we might garner from others for our efforts.  I am for the untainted word of God, and while you can be stylish and beautiful and have charisma and serve the Lord, you have to always be mindful of that fact that pride and vanity are sneaky sneaky sons of a gun that can creep up on you if there remains even a smidgen of carnality hanging around in your heart.  His glory is not seen because of us, but His glory should be seen instead of us.

Listen, if you really examine the root you will find that many ministries are birthed from people's desires to be somebody in this world; to have mass affluence.  For many of them, their failed efforts to be propped up as the world's next champion caused them to turn to the "church."  If you know like I know, it is an unfortunate reality that many church going folks are the easiest to dupe.  Always looks for a human personality to follow rather than Jesus.  The "preachers" (and I use that term lightly) are usually only content to feign humility in exchange for the future promise of promotion here on earth.  Material wealth/gain and a nice sized following are often misconstrued as God's favor and blessing on their ministries.    These are the ways of the world, but many people want the very same things and are easily enraptured by these people and their ideas.  A lot of them are novices and follow after the example of others, while others more skilled have mastered the art of deception and know exactly how to push just the right buttons to produce the intended result (just name a televangelist).  Either way, its a scheme that will entrap your soul.  

May the Lord have mercy and may we love His life more than our own. 

There are a few pieces of literature I would like to recommend to provide a bit more perspective.  I hope you take time to check them out.

Who is the God of Your Ministry? 

The Lure of Self Promotion by Leslie Ludy

The Real Last Move of God by Charles Newbold Jr