Called to God's Standards

You might, or might not, have heard the news about Michael Guglielmucci. Earlier this year, Guglielmucci inspired many of us through his 'fight' against terminal cancer, expressed through his song 'Healer' which spoke of his faith in God to heal him. However, this has been exposed as a fraud.

My first reaction was that of anger, against his lies and deception. But thinking about it, I have also told lies, I have also deceived others. Maybe not to such a large degree, by this world's standards. However, as God's children, we are called to God's standards which are way higher; so high, in fact, that no one can reach it. Matthew 5:21-30 tells us what God's moral standards are like:
  • Verses 21-22: Getting angry is committing murder.
  • Verse 28: Checking out girls is committing adultery.
The chapter then ends off by telling us to "be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect". God's standards are way off any scale we can muster, He is perfectly, infinitely, holy. To God, 'small' and 'big' sins are still sins, there is no difference. Its like putting one drop vs ten drops of poison into a clear glass of water - to the drinker it means death either way. As a result, we are all murderers, we are all adulterers. This is reflected in Romans 3:22-24:

There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

The Bible writes that there is no difference - in my sins, your sins, Guglielmucci's sins! The only way out of it is through God's grace through Christ Jesus.

To end, I should clarify that I am in no way defending Guglielmucci; what he did was utmostly wrong. But we should not make the mistake of pointing fingers, and then neglecting to check on our own sins, no matter how small they are. To the Lord, sins are sins, whether big or small.

9 comments:

Dan Leedham said...

Wow, thanks for highlighting this for us

I was able to use his previous story of sining about God as healer to help talk to non-christians, many of who now are even more Anti-God and Anti-Christian :(

Verse 28 gets me every time

Unknown said...

Wow, you talked about the same thing I did.
My sister was super mad at the guy, and I told her to show mercy first, and I told her how his sin is the same sin we commit, even though he did it differently, but how awsome is that we tlaked about the same verses and all.
All I can say to everyone is pray for the Man, even though he lied, we can see how God is still extending mercy to him, so we must also show mercy.
Lets pray for him.

Anonymous said...

Look
This was very shocking to me as well.
I was like Mike was fighting cancer for two and some years and he's alive to share it with the world.
I was amazed that he came up and performed his single Healer.
Today, I read all about how he faked everything.
Who knows what his motives were?
Fame, riches, greed, some kind of sin in his heart corrupted him and now he's getting help.
I feel really bad about this.
It's up to you guys to say what you want about Guglielmucci and his actions.
That was something he did that was huge.
We do that too, but at a smaller range.
If you can find it in your heart that you will pray for this man, you will pray to forgive him, to bring true healing in his life.
Look, I know he used the God's Word, and that song means a lot to me and possibly others as well.
Pray for Mike, his church, reputation, family, friends, and the world that we Christians can get through this and God will show mercy.
I'm not trying to be hypocrite or anything but let God be the one to judge Mike, and let God decide what his fate will be. Not us, because we have no right to anything like that.

a passerby said...

Whatever the motives, lets all remember that as fallible creatures, man do make mistakes. I believe Mike has taken a very difficult first step in confessing. Even as he takes this first step back into accountability, lets keep praying for him that truly his walk with God would be restored. =)

In these times, we see even more clearly our human frailty and our need for God.

It is a tough time for the church, but God is sovereign. As His people, lets all be found in prayer and intercession.

-Ben Soo- said...

To Dan,

Hey there! =D I can imagine what you're going through there and I know that it must've really been disappointing and hurtful.. heh..

But know that all things happened for a reason and according to God's will! =D Nothing goes out of His plans for all of us! =D

I'm truly glad that you for one is still firmed on your faith and live another day to experience the goodness of God! =D I encourage you to just press on and continue running after God, no matter what people might say, because God is gonna use you to testify about His love and power that truly exists! God Bless ya pal!

Ramon Rivera said...

I was at the Hillsong United conference this past weekend and Pastor Brian handled it very well. He basically said, when someone tells you they have cancer you dont tell them to prove it. And while his motives might have been wrong God is still working through that and other songs.

That night he talked about when Jesus had his disciples go into the town, grab a donkey that had never been rode and bring him back. They then put their clothes on the donkey and Jesus rode the donkey into town.

We need to make sure we put Jesus on our donkey because its all about the one riding the donkey. Not the donkey itself.

I believe we can look at Guglielmucci and his song (the donkey) or we we can look at the One riding the donkey. If we do the latter, God will continue to do his works.

Sunshine said...

We used this guy's story in church just a week ago. Turns out, there is a whole side of the story many people don't know about. Apparently, while Mr. Guglielmucci didn't have any cancer or whatnot, he had a huge porn addiction that became so severe it was quite debilitating to him. Now i am not sure how much of this is true or not, but i have heard that it was so bad he would lose hair and that at times it was so difficult for him to cope when he was away from porn that he actually needed his oxygen mask he was seen with. Be it true or not, he claims that the cancer story was fabricated because he didn't want people to know the true story behind his illness--he was too ashamed to tell that story but at the same time wanted to make a song telling of the power of God's healing.
Again, i'm not sure if this is 100% true, but we can say with certainty that the last thing he needs is people insulting and bringing him down, but rather help from God and our prayers.

Unknown said...

I just wanted to mention that this is perfectly good post...great even :)
but i would like to emphasize that Jesus Christ does not equate getting angry to murder. He never says do not get angry! Jesus Christ understands that we're not perfect so he provides us with the PERFECT solution. He tells us to get up and reconcile with out brothers and sisters.It is impossible for us to not get angry, i mean even Jesus got angry right? But when we get angry, we should take that next step to reconcile and forgive those who have angered us!

DatGnat said...

I agree with much of this post that we shouldn't examine the lives of others in such a manner; however, I would like to point out that we shouldn't get introspective in our own lives about sin. Truly constructive conviction is built upon the leading of the Holy Spirit. Whichever version of the story is true-the actual emotional impact of the testimony of the writer of the song "Healer" doesn't change the message of the song which has great truths about who we can and should depend on for healing in our lives. The truth should lead our faith and our faith should lead our emotions... it doesn't mean we should be emotionless-just not emotion-led.