Televisiongate: We Killed, then Changed
I am 45, so I remember well the video and television wars of the 1990s and early 2000s. In so-called conservative Apostolic circles, we were terrorizing the television watchers; not just the television watchers, but the home movie watchers. We were preaching against taking videos of birthdays and weddings. And we were certainly preaching against using video for church services.
But it’s even worse than that. We were not just preaching against TV as a matter of a local church standard or a personal preference; we were disfellowshipping preachers, pastors, and churches who did not align with us. In Tulsa, circa 1999, a preacher with the passion a Pentecostal can portray proclaimed that if you permit video, then “you are not my brother.” This scenario could be replayed many times over in many conferences all over America. Not only did we disfellowship them personally, but we also demanded that everyone else disfellowship him as well.
If you had anyone preach for you that used video, then we boycotted conferences at your church. I watched a former pastor of mine go through hell from some of his closest friends because he had a long-time friend and elder who used video preach for him. In the interest of transparency, as a teenager I was on the side of those who were opposing him. I watched the personal pulpit attacks. I watched the name-calling. I watched as we maligned their characters and questioned their integrity.
It is one thing to do that to pastors who have a paycheck every week. But may God have mercy on the evangelist that happened to preach for someone who allowed video. If he did not recant and repent, then his entire livelihood was taken from him. Pastors would call other pastors and tell them not to use him. And just like that, his revival schedule would disappear. Whether evangelist or pastor, if you had anything to do with video, you were anathema in that movement.
I wish I could create a montage of every abusive comment that preachers made on this topic. I wish I could capture the emotions of every person that we hurt and damaged by our vitriol. I wish we could compensate for all of the lost offerings because innocent men were “canceled” because they didn’t hold the same view we did. By the way, “cancel culture” existed in the church long before it existed in the culture. Most problems with society do. But we caused inestimable damage by our unchristian behavior over a non-essential issue.
Fast forward to 2020. Many of those same preachers have multiple social media accounts. How often does it happen when watching Fox New live on Facebook that it notifies us that brother so-and-so is watching with you? Many of those men are now on social media recommending their favorite new conservative TV channel (Newsmax, OANN, etc.) and where to watch it online. They are buying the memorabilia of their favorite politicians like they are sports superstars, all the while denying fandom and hero worship. The former anti-TV men are now glued to a TV screen watching pre-election, election, and post-election news.
I remember when it didn’t matter, we were told, whether you are watching TV on a big screen or a computer device. TV is TV no matter where you watch it, right? I remember when we ridiculed people for saying they only watch the news. I also remember the response that, “It starts with the news, but it never stays with the news.” Come on now preachers who are TV news junkies, can you tell us what else you are watching? Because, according to your former logic, people can’t and don’t “just watch the news.”
And here is the tragic part, we (corporately) changed no one has apologized for the damage they caused. We changed and no one has been honest about it. We changed, and no one is explaining why it’s okay to do the things over which we killed others. When ministry assassins begin to do what they killed others for, they need to repent. When ministry assassins begin to do what they killed others for, they owe them an apology. You do not have biblical permission to change as if nothing happened. Preachers who attack and try to destroy other preachers should be held to account. To murder your brother with the weapon of words is a sin against the image of God. We should take it seriously, but we treat it at best as a whoopsy.
I have learned from this, and I pray others do to, to draw both biblical and fellowship lines with grace. I have also learned to mark the assassins among us and to avoid getting too close to them. They can’t and shouldn’t be trusted until they repent and demonstrate a true heart of love and compassion.
