The Dr. Phil Of The Jerry Springer Crowd

Jerry Springer and Dr. Phil in the same title, tell me it can't be true. Well it is true, and I am sure the contribution today will raise more than a few eyebrows.

I have a confession that runs the risk of gaining a few friends, and losing a few others. I have to admit, on occasion when flipping through the television channels, I stop and watch what some call the worst show in the history of television, The Jerry Springer Show. I could take it a step further, I have actually studied The Jerry Springer Show and while I often have serious issues with the program, I have come to really appreciate Jerry Springer's mastery of how to control an audience, and his ability to interview and create situations that at the very least, in a controversial way, creates riveting television.

On the other hand, I have on occasion also watched Dr. Phil. I have to admit, I am not a big fan of what I call "Junk Psychology" but Dr. Phil is a master at being able to give some resemblance of help to people who need it in varying situations in a short period of time. I actually appreciate what I consider his Gestalt techniques at times and know that for many a viewer and many a guest, he has indeed been responsible in helping make a difference in their lives. Having been a student of psychology and counseling, and a counselor myself, I have also studied the approach of Dr. Phil.

I have often wondered, how in the world would you take an approach like Dr. Phil and address the people who are more in tune with Jerry Springer, after all, it is no secret these are two distinctively different audiences. Recently while flipping through the channels I found myself stopped at a particular program, impressed with someone offering sound, solid, and appropriate advice to the Jerry Springer Crowd. Someone who I felt was filling a niche that hadn't been met.

Steve Wilkos, a former marine and beat police officer stands 6' 3" tall and has a talent that causes him to be what I consider the Dr. Phil of the Jerry Springer Crowd. For fans of the Springer crowd you will simply know him as Steve, the bald headed chief of security for the Springer show. As of recent he has been hosting various shows ranging on various topics. I have to admit, Steve's approach is one I really appreciate, and one completely different than Jerry Springer. In fact, when Steve is hosting a show, one might say it doesn't resemble The Jerry Springer Show, it is totally different, with a different focus and a different approach. Sure there are some of the overt Springer events, the handing out of the Jerry Beads, pole dancers and those types of things, but it is obvious this don't fit so much into the personality of Steve as it does the producers of the television show. In fact, at times, it is obvious Steve is not comfortable with this direction of the show when hosting it.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not endorsing The Jerry Springer Show, even when Steve is hosting, I am saying I find value in Steve's approach and I believe he is helping people, both on screen and off screen who are members of the Springer fan club. Steve in essence, with his background as a police officer, and years of observing Jerry Springer work a room, may have found his true gift in life, being the Dr. Phil of the Springer Crowd.

I am amazed at how people are different. There is the white collar crowd, the ones working Wall Street, involved in investments, living in the suburbs, drinking Heineken and on and on. Then there is the blue collar crowd, the ones working in the factory, living in panel houses or housing projects, those who drive cars more than 10 years old and drink Pabst Blue Ribbon. The sad thing is it seems as if society places a higher value on one group of people over another, which is a shame; it is a shame because in the eyes of God, both groups are of equal value.

The truth is, it is just as important for the fans of Jerry Springer to have sound advice, in their language, and in their world that can offer a glimmer of hope. While ultimately that hope comes from God, it is nice to know that some folks like Steve Wilkos is there at least making some level of progress. Whether he is helping a hooker get off the streets, or offering advice to a pregnant daughter to develop a more appropriate relationship with her mother, the advice can be solid and of benefit. Again, not just to the person on the screen, but to the viewer at home who is attracted to this type of program.

In the Bible, we often read analogies of how Christians are like a family, brothers, sisters, that type of thing. We also hear of an analogy of growing up, being like a baby, drinking milk, and then becoming more mature where you can eat more adult types of food. There is another analogy that fits here though, that is the Church, or people of God being like a body. Here you have a body that has hands and feet, fingers and toes, arm pits and, well you can imagine. All are important parts of the body, all are needed, all are essential to helping the other parts do their jobs. Sometimes that body is dirty from working dirty, difficult jobs, sometimes that body is clean but mentally drained from working on detailed, organizational jobs, but, they all serve each other, and all are needed to truly bring about a complete and perfect body. I find it sad, that often times people ignore the dirty, the so called insignificant, and in return there is little respect for the one who never seems to get their hands dirty. The truth is we need each other.

There are numerous passages in the Bible that help illustrate this, today, I want to close with looking at the entirety of 1 Corinthians, Chapter 12. After reading it, ask yourself, what kind of gifts can I give? What kinds of things can I do to help others? How can I do it in a way that allows me to be who I am? Then after answering those questions, apply and start work towards your answers. I'll tell you right now, if God can use the Dr. Phil of the Springer Crowd he can certainly use you. I don't know for sure, but I would suspect that even Steve Wilkos, Jerry Springer, and Dr. Phil would agree on that point. Here is the chapter to read, think about, and apply.

1 Corinthians 12
Spiritual Gifts
(1) My friends, you asked me about spiritual gifts. (2) I want you to remember that before you became followers of the Lord, you were led in all the wrong ways by idols that cannot even talk. (3) Now I want you to know that if you are led by God's Spirit, you will say that Jesus is Lord, and you will never curse Jesus.
(4) There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but they all come from the same Spirit. (5) There are different ways to serve the same Lord, (6) and we can each do different things. Yet the same God works in all of us and helps us in everything we do.

(7) The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others. (8 ) Some of us can speak with wisdom, while others can speak with knowledge, but these gifts come from the same Spirit. (9) To others the Spirit has given great faith or the power to heal the sick (10) or the power to work mighty miracles. Some of us are prophets, and some of us recognize when God's Spirit is present. Others can speak different kinds of languages, and still others can tell what these languages mean. (11) But it is the Spirit who does all this and decides which gifts to give to each of us.

One Body with Many Parts
(12) The body of Christ has many different parts, just as any other body does. (13) Some of us are Jews, and others are Gentiles. Some of us are slaves, and others are free. But God's Spirit baptized each of us and made us part of the body of Christ. Now we each drink from that same Spirit. (14) Our bodies don't have just one part. They have many parts. (15) Suppose a foot says, "I'm not a hand, and so I'm not part of the body." Wouldn't the foot still belong to the body? (16) Or suppose an ear says, "I'm not an eye, and so I'm not part of the body." Wouldn't the ear still belong to the body? (17) If our bodies were only an eye, we couldn't hear a thing. And if they were only an ear, we couldn't smell a thing. (18 ) But God has put all parts of our body together in the way that he decided is best.
(19) A body isn't really a body, unless there is more than one part. (20) It takes many parts to make a single body. (21) That's why the eyes cannot say they don't need the hands. That's also why the head cannot say it doesn't need the feet. (22) In fact, we cannot get along without the parts of the body that seem to be the weakest. (23) We take special care to dress up some parts of our bodies. We are modest about our personal parts, (24) but we don't have to be modest about other parts.

God put our bodies together in such a way that even the parts that seem the least important are valuable. (25) He did this to make all parts of the body work together smoothly, with each part caring about the others. (26) If one part of our body hurts, we hurt all over. If one part of our body is honored, the whole body will be happy.

(27) Together you are the body of Christ. Each one of you is part of his body. (28 )First, God chose some people to be apostles and prophets and teachers for the church. But he also chose some to work miracles or heal the sick or help others or be leaders or speak different kinds of languages. (29) Not everyone is an apostle. Not everyone is a prophet. Not everyone is a teacher. Not everyone can work miracles. (30) Not everyone can heal the sick. Not everyone can speak different kinds of languages. Not everyone can tell what these languages mean. (31) I want you to desire the best gifts. So I will show you a much better way.

Footnotes:

1 Corinthians 12:10 and some of us. . . present: Or "and some of us recognize the difference between God's Spirit and other spirits."
1 Corinthians 12:13 Some of us are Jews. . . that same Spirit: Verse 13 may also be translated, "God's Spirit is inside each of us, and all around us as well. So it doesn't matter that some of us are Jews and others are Gentiles and that some are slaves and others are free. Together we are one body."
1 Corinthians 12:31 I want you to desire the best gifts: Or "You desire the best gifts."



Now for those that do not know, make sure you check out the numerous articles and blogs by checking out the archives. If visiting The Virtual Pew or MySpace they are archived on the left hand side of the page. Scroll down to where you see newer or older listed under archives and then click there. There are numerous postings, and you will have to go into the archives to see the 100 plus postings over the last months.

Now I also want to remind you that you can visit http://www.thevirtualpew.com/ and on the front page scroll down to the left hand side of the page where you sill see our store. Your purchases through our Amazon store provides needed funds to The Virtual Pew. If you do not see something on the page to buy, you can click on the search engine for the store, (do not put anything in the search box at this time) and you will then be taken to Amazon where you can search for anything you desire. Hopefully you will consider a gift to The Virtual Pew and/or at the very least shop our store. The items on the store page are highly recommended.

Oh Yea, here is that contact information again.
The Virtual Pew
P.O. Box 17731
Wichita, KS 67217

Or you van give on line via Pay Pal at: http://www.furches.org/donations/index.html

To become a part of The Virtual Pew, visit, http://www.thevirtualpew.com/ To learn more about me visit http://www.furches.org/ I am also active on MySpace at: http://www.myspace.com/mikefurches I have another blog at http://blog.myspace.com/mikefurches To visit the Hollywood Jesus group at MySpace with membership by numerous Hollywood Jesus reviewers visit: http://groups.myspace.com/hollywoodjesus For a more in depth weekly study and conversation you an visit: http://virtualpewsermon.blogspot.com/ where you can access deeper teaching and ultimately videos for viewing and teaching. You can also subscribe to the newsletter at http://www.thevirtualpew.com/ or see the newsletter on line at http://thevirtualpewnews.blogspot.com/ You can also sign up for the free newsletter from The Virtual Pew by visiting the main page for The Virtual Pew, or you can see the newsletters online by visiting this web site: http://thevirtualpewnews.blogspot.com/ You can contact me via email at mike@furches.org or mike@thevirtualpew.com For those interested in knowing more about my own story, contact me for a free e-copy of my book The Keystone Kid in pre-edit form.

Oh Yea! Porn Baby!

Sometimes I have writers block as was the case yesterday but today, the juices are flowing. I read a friends blog this morning, and checked out a video he had posted from YouTube. The video features a ministry I have respected for some time now, xxxchurch.com. xxxchurch.com simply put, gets it. They get the fact that Christians are to develop relationships with those in the world and love them in then name of Jesus. Unlike so many other Christians, they have decided to get their hands dirty. The truth of it is that getting your hands dirty while doing the work of Jesus shouldn't be something new, in fact, it should be expected.

For far too long many Christians have assumed that being a Christian means you go to church, hear a few songs, maybe, if you’re a really good Christian go to Sunday School, listen to the teacher or preacher, then go about doing your regular thing, whatever that is for the remainder of the week. How unfortunate and how sad that is the perception of many, if not most Christians. Somewhere along the way, the message of loving Him and loving them got lost. Somewhere along the way, the concept of showing love to others unconditionally was lost. While there is the, "You are going to Hell" crowd,that loves to justify their own holiness, I have to wonder if their actions aren't more like the Pharisees than they are the acts and methods of Jesus. While watching the video this morning, I was moved and compelled by the pastors of xxxchurc.com Craig Gross and Mike Foster as they described the need for Ron Jeremy, who they have a friendship and professional relationship with to know Jesus. These two are seen as ones who won't deny the existence of Hell but they also demonstrate the fact that Ron Jeremy can be forgiven for all of the wrongs he has done, and ultimately find salvation through Jesus Christ. The amazing thing about the interview is that while some may take offense to the methods and efforts of xxxchurch.com Jeremy seems to be supportive of it, even saying the Porn industry needs them.

There is a lot that one could get into but there are three basic Biblical principles that I will touch on today. Jesus says in Matthew 16, verse 18 to Peter, "……upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it." There is a concept here that I would touch on, that is, the church is on the attack. It is not sitting back waiting for the evils of the world to attack it, it is instead, attacking the gates of Hell. Hell as exemplified in the city gates of Jerusalem was also referred to as Hades. Hades, interestingly enough wasn’t just a spiritual place. Outside the city gates of Jerusalem it was a real place, a place where the extreme poor, the prostitutes, the lepers and all others were at work. It was in fact, a dirty disgusting place, yet many theologians and archeologists like Ray Vanderlaun believes that these are the very places we saw Jesus and the early church, on the offensive, going to disgusting dirty places, taking the message of love. Christians met together on a regular basis, sharing in each others lives, but they also went out into the deepest, darkest places of their community, sharing the love of Jesus with the very people many found disgusting. What ever happened to the churches efforts to do those things? I wonder about this when realizing that xxxchurch.com's greatest critics are those within the church.

Another Biblical concept is that Christ made clear; the greatest of all commandments was given in Luke 10:27, "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF" Jesus goes on in verse 28 and says, that of all of the commandments none are more important or greater than these two, for when we keep these two, we have kept all of the commandments. Now think about that, part of loving God is loving others, we are to love Him, we are to love them! Isn't it sad that so many churches, so many Christians find ways to not love others? We talk about all of their sin, all of their wrongs, all of their dirt, all of their filth, but we can't find the time or ability to love others. Thank God that some like xxxchurch.com get it. They get it and are taking the love to Jesus to places where many Christians don't accept or tolerate. I have to wonder, how big you think that smile is on the face of Jesus regarding the obedience these people display. I can't imagine, the smile for the joy of obedience, but at the same time the sadness knowing that these are people he loves, yet few go out of their way to show that love. Jesus obviously went out of the way to show prostitutes and those involved in sexual wrongs that he loved them, yet we find excuses not to.

There is a third Biblical concept I will conclude with. There is a passage I love that is one of what I call the hard sayings of Jesus. Luke 9:23 is one of the hardest sayings in the entire Bible, but Jesus gives some very clear instruction here. He says; "If any of you want to be my followers, you must forget about yourself. You must take up your cross each day and follow me." All too often we hear about how hard it is to be a Christian like Jesus wants us to be. It is easy for many Christians to stay in their little cubby holes, having nothing to do with anyone but their friends, and not take the work that Christ has called us to seriously. That is a shame, and I believe a sin. Jesus never promised that it would be easy; he even compares the work here to taking up the cross. I will challenge, Jesus knew full well what it meant to take up the cross. He knew his own future in this regard but it didn't change the work he did. Neither should it change the work we are expected to do. We are commanded to reach our friends, neighbors, family and acquaintances with the message of Jesus love. It is the one and only thing that we can't do once we get into Heaven. In fact, Jesus stated himself that he came to this earth to seek and save the lost, which are those that have not experienced his love. We are told Jesus is the only way to experience that love, he went so far as to say that no one would know the Father in Heaven unless they first knew the son, or himself. Jesus knew these things, the Bible is very clear; we are to love the lost, the last, and the least. Jesus even tells us in Matthew that when we love the least of them, it is as if we have loved him.


I personally get excited when I watch someone like xxxchurch.com fulfilling the message and work of Jesus. Taking the love of Jesus to people caught up in unbelievable wrongs, while at the same time, realizing they must go through a great level of sacrifice and criticism when doing it. They are attacking an area and life where many people get hurt, and often ruined, with the message of love and change that Jesus provides. Who in our communities are we reaching? I’m not talking about those in the porn industry; maybe God hasn't given you that burden. But to the Christians, have you prayed asking God to give you a burden for someone who doesn't know him. Have you been willing to develop not relationships of judgment, but relationships of love for those people God has given you? The truth of it is, I know many hasn't done that, many don't care about sharing the love of God with others. Then there are those who want to share the love of God, but for whatever reason you don't know how or are afraid to do it. To those, who don't know how or are afraid, learn, I'll be glad to teach you. I'll share with you a way to share the love of Christ that won't be difficult; in fact it will be natural. For those that know me, you know that while I may on occasion be slow due to the large number of responses that are required, I do follow through with responding to each pm, each email, each phone call. There is nothing better you can do than love God with all of your heart, while at the same time, realizing that one of the best ways to love God is to love others. I would be glad to help you with that if need be. Find your niche; find the people just on the other side of the gates of hell to go after. They need you, and God expects it, now let's get ready to attack.

Here are some great videos featuring the work of xxxchurch.com. Watch them; listen to the innovative ways they are reaching this community with the message of Jesus. From debates at institutions of higher learning to pancakes and porn breakfast meetings they have found their niche.

Feature on Nightline


Feature on CNN


Music Video


Porn & Pancakes


Porn Confessions


For more videos from xxxchurch.com click here.

Now for those that do not know, make sure you check out the numerous articles and blogs by checking out the archives. If visiting The Virtual Pew or MySpace they are archived on the left hand side of the page. Scroll down to where you see newer or older listed under archives and then click there. There are numerous postings, and you will have to go into the archives to see the 100 plus postings over the last months.

Now I also want to remind you that you can visit http://www.thevirtualpew.com/ and on the front page scroll down to the left hand side of the page where you sill see our store. Your purchases through our Amazon store provides needed funds to The Virtual Pew. If you do not see something on the page to buy, you can click on the search engine for the store, (do not put anything in the search box at this time) and you will then be taken to Amazon where you can search for anything you desire. Hopefully you will consider a gift to The Virtual Pew and/or at the very least shop our store. The items on the store page are highly recommended.

Oh Yea, here is that contact information again.
The Virtual Pew
P.O. Box 17731
Wichita, KS 67217

Or you van give on line via Pay Pal at: http://www.furches.org/donations/index.html

To become a part of The Virtual Pew, visit, http://www.thevirtualpew.com/ To learn more about me visit http://www.furches.org/ I am also active on MySpace at: http://www.myspace.com/mikefurches I have another blog at http://blog.myspace.com/mikefurches To visit the Hollywood Jesus group at MySpace with membership by numerous Hollywood Jesus reviewers visit: http://groups.myspace.com/hollywoodjesus For a more in depth weekly study and conversation you an visit: http://virtualpewsermon.blogspot.com/ where you can access deeper teaching and ultimately videos for viewing and teaching. You can also subscribe to the newsletter at http://www.thevirtualpew.com/ or see the newsletter on line at http://thevirtualpewnews.blogspot.com/ You can also sign up for the free newsletter from The Virtual Pew by visiting the main page for The Virtual Pew, or you can see the newsletters online by visiting this web site: http://thevirtualpewnews.blogspot.com/ You can contact me via email at mike@furches.org or mike@thevirtualpew.com For those interested in knowing more about my own story, contact me for a free e-copy of my book The Keystone Kid in pre-edit form.