Anna Nicole Smith

Before I begin my post let me say that this is not meant to disparage Ms. Smith because her eternity has already begun, but this is to make some comparisons from the tragedy that was her life.

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What do you see in the life of Anna Nicole Smith? Do you see exploitation? Do you see extravagance? Do you see shallowness? Do you see sensationalism? Do you see sensualism? Do you see these and others that define a life that seemed void of substance and even talent and yet captivated much of the press and ultimately the American public? Yes, I’m sure we see all these things and I hope we feel some sadness, for despite the caricature that she and others had created for her, she still was someone’s daughter, someone’s sister, and someone for whom Jesus died and offered eternal life. To say her life was hollow is being generous and a life that could have been productive and meaningful was little more than a waste. So now they argue about her estate and the tragic little girl she left behind will most likely, unless intervened by a divine appointment, suffer the same fate as her mother. Deeply sad on every level.

But do you know who I saw in Ms. Smith? I saw the American church. The embodiment of entertainment, all dressed up and living as if always on a stage, but lean and without substance in reality. Always posing and primping for the cameras and willing to be a constant source of entertainment for the world without having anything to offer but the caricature that everyone got to know. Like a living piece of cotton candy that was bright to the eyes but carried no nutrition with it, the church is willing to play the entertaining marionette forever dancing but without any eternal value. Extravagant in every way, buildings, theatre, cruises, shows, music, activities, but with precious little extravagance in sacrifice, holiness, and prayer.

And like Ms. Smith to say the church is hollow is being generous for she has been parading before the world for decades compulsively desiring attention and vainglory and always running to the spotlight. Whether its politics, the theatre, global issues, or a host of other issues the church has played the harlot and primped and posing she has gone from one suitor to the next. From the Republican party to Bono to the Pope the church has shown herself easy and like Ms. Smith the church has sought out the partner who afforded her the greatest exposure and monetary gain. Ms. Smith did not care if her husband was well beyond the age of compatibility, his enormous wealth was the important criteria. And the church does not care if the world is outside the parameters of Biblical compatibility, its glamour and wealth is what attracts her.

And so the church puts on the glitz and glamour with its photographic portfolio directed by caricatures of Christian leaders, and the rank and file dance to whatever music is piped by the pied piers of the evangelical world. And like the disproportionate aspects of Ms. Smith’s physical appearance the church continues to exhibit and proudly display its own disproportionate aspects of its Spiritual appearance which attract the flesh not the Spirit. And when interviewed Ms. Smith seemed painfully and embarrassingly out of touch with reality and the church spokesmen of today when interviewed seem embarrassingly out of touch with God’s Word.

And Anna Nicole Smith was the epitome of what the Bible describes as “dead while she lives”. So is so much of the church world. Having gone whoring after the things of this world and openly prostituting her precious truth for the relevant falsehoods of this evil world and now in many ways the church is dead while seemingly engaged in more activity than she ever has before. David Wilkerson once remarked that “Never before in the history of the church has she made so many inroads into the world with so little effect”. The church is now the world itself with some religious talk. And like Ms. Smith, many compete for the affections of the next suitor no matter who he is. So take a walk into the church house, go through the brightly colored and exciting living room, walk down the long hall, stop before the master bedroom and switch on the light and look. There she is, the church, in bed with…oh no…yes it is…

Lucifer himself.
And she is loving every minute of it, trying to please him in every way.

She has become good at it.