Britney Spears, Pop Princess of Prayer
WARNING: Stop reading now. Okay, I can’t be held responsible if you ignore the unambiguous admonition. This may destroy our reputation as a serious apologetics web site; then again, we’re too small to have much of a reputation anyway.
It has recently (in the past minute) occurred to me that our current cultural climate can be summed up by two names: Jabez and Britney. While Michael Jordan, Paul-style, buffets his body so that he will not be disqualified for the prize (1 Cor 9:29 NAS), the basketball season must begin before he regains the headlines. No, the Zeitgeist [1] is captured by the mysterious link between an obscure ancient male and a conspicuous postmodern young female.
Scoffers may protest that there is no connection, but here at Contend4TheFaith.org we believe in checking the facts. The Prayer of Jabez is making great money for Christian author Bruce Wilkinson; Britney is making great money after auditioning by singing "Jesus Loves Me."[2]
That would be fascinating in and of itself, but there’s more. Much more. Jabez emphasizes the power of repetitive prayer, encouraging the neophyte that this prayer "can release God's favor, power and protection" and that it "contains the key to a life of extraordinary favor with God." With that in mind, let’s see what Britney told Rolling Stone magazine about her rise to fame:
"Every night, I had a Bible book that I prayed in," she recalls, "and every night, I would pray, 'I hope my song plays on a certain radio station that's really big,' and it would happen. Then I'd be like, 'I hope the video is wonderful,' and it was. Then I was like, 'I hope they play it on MTV.' " Behold the power of prayer. "I am totally blessed," Spears declares. Now she flies first-class and commands teams of people. "It really hit me when I did the video for 'Baby,' " she says. "I was like, 'Oh, my God, all of these people are working for me!'"[3]
Britney used a Bible book—does that mean an actual Bible, or a Biblical book of some sort? This happened before Jabez came out, so that wasn’t it. No matter. She had something spiritual going on. Then she was like hoping to be blessed and stuff, and to like totally have her territory (and maybe more) enlarged, and behold, it totally was! How could a good Jabezite argue against her contented sensation of total blessedness?
Considering that Bruce Wilkinson states that the prayer of Jabez has no conditions, and that you can ask for blessing even if you have sin in your life[4], Britney certainly qualifies for blessing regardless of how you feel about her bare midriff.
The conclusion? An evangelical culture eager to embrace the blessings of Jabez is in no position to deny Britney’s claims of prayer power paving the way to pop star prosperity. And that’s a sad indictment indeed.
Endnotes
[1] Spirit of the age
[2] Rolling Stone
[3] Rolling Stone
[4] Official Jabez web site audio FAQ
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