As if the celebrity Christian lifestyle alone wasn’t enough to cause most Bible-believing Christians to puke, the fact that almost all of them are rank heretics should leave us with no other choice. Yet, despite the fact that nearly every megachurch and nearly every Contemporary Christian artist have no other qualification to ministry than the ability to entertain a stadium filled with goats, our nature is to embrace the clownship of celebrity Christianity because we believe popularity gives us credibility with the world.

This is why the celebrity Christian culture feels like it needs to mimic the world with Contemporary Christian music awards. Annually, TBN hosts the Dove Awards, which is the Christian-themed version of the Pagan celebrity culture’s Grammy Awards. Like the Grammy Awards, the Dove Awards spotlights popular Christian artists and platforms them to receive all the glory and honor for their contribution to the music industry.

Yet, you will be hard-pressed to find a single recipient of a Dove Award to be a biblically sound, passionate Christian voice in the Church. I can’t think of a single one. Dove Awards are generally given to those who approve of homosexuality–or are at least very soft on it, like Lauren Daigle who told Ellen she didn’t know if homosexuality was a sin or not. They’ve also been given to pro-abortion cursing rappers like Kirk Franklin and far-left Bible-mockers like LeCrae.

Why do people like this get these awards? Because they are people-pleasers, not God-pleasers. The Scriptures are clear, the people who love and obey God–who love the things God loves and hate what God hates–are in the minority and the world hates us because they hate Jesus. Yet, these celebrities rise to fame not only among the professing Christian world but also in the secular world.

This year is no different as heretics lined the stage at the 2021 Dove Awards. Among the recipients were rank heretics including Chris Brown of Elevation Worship and Steven Furtick, who each won three awards including Song of the Year for The Blessing.

The entire contemporary Christian music industry is nothing more than an outlet for the celebrity culture to be brought into the Church and baptized with a sprinkling of acceptance and tolerance. As I wrote in a previous article, The Problem With Celebrity Christian Music Is That It Takes the Glory From God:

What purpose would a Christian have in falling for the world? The Scriptures tell us exactly why. 1 Timothy 6:10 says, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.” When professing Christians place their own standing before the world above God’s glory, idolatry ensues.

The commercialized Christian music industry not only enables this idolatry but promotes it to the degree that God’s glory is robbed from Him at many levels, including in churches. The vast majority of Christian contemporary music is produced by celebrity artists who’ve compromised on biblical truths in order to serve their own selfish desires.

Yet, despite the fact that heretics, blasphemers, idolaters, and self-promoting haters of God continue to top the charts of the Christian music industry, we still love them because deep inside of us is a love for the world that we just can’t shake.