{"id":8231,"date":"2020-08-07T20:51:14","date_gmt":"2020-08-07T20:51:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=8231"},"modified":"2022-01-12T17:24:39","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T17:24:39","slug":"the-gospel-of-magic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=8231","title":{"rendered":"The \u201cGospel\u201d of \u201cMagic\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Views: 3<\/p>

[Note<\/strong>:\u00a0 <\/strong>This MS is available in larger font on our Brief Articles 2<\/strong>\u00a0 page.]<\/span><\/p>\n

In the 1980s, \u201cMagic\u201d Johnson obtained great fame and wealth by his basketball exploits with the Los Angeles Lakers. He has been named one of the fifty greatest basketball players of all time. In 1991, he contracted the HIV virus, which forced his immediate and premature retirement when he was at the top of his game. He tried a comeback later, but never achieved his former level of play and soon gave it up for good. While I am sorry for him, the implications of this matter cause me much deeper sorrow. He became an HIV\/AIDS advocate, preaching what he termed his \u201cgospel.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. He had heretofore kept his name free of scandal relating to gambling, sex, drugs, or violence in which so many professional athletes become involved. His broad, natural smile made him likeable even to strangers. He presented himself as an unusually wholesome hero for young people who idolized him. Now he has freely admitted his sexual promiscuity as the source of his infection, and his wholesomeness has been forever shattered to those who still have any moral standards. Worse, however, in spite of his sexual immorality, he remained the hero and role model for millions of youngsters.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. His \u201cgospel\u201d (as he terms it) will be one of \u201csafe sex.\u201d Loosely translated this means go ahead and behave like an alley cat in satisfying your sexual passions, just take the \u201cnecessary precautions\u201d to decrease the chance of infection. Go ahead, commit fornication any time, and with anyone anywhere as long as you do it \u201csafely\u201d! You see, it is not that he sinned in committing fornication with perhaps several hundred women, but his fault was in failing to protect himself against disease!<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. I sorrow over the corrupted and flawed view of God, of marriage and the family, of the Bible, and of moral standards that are indicated by the public\u2019s ready\u00a0<\/span>acceptance of \u201cMagic\u2019s\u201d immorality and the quick praise for his \u201cgospel\u201d of \u201csafe sex.\u201d The news media have almost made him a new Messiah. What a golden opportunity for \u201cMagic\u201d to influence millions with a sorely needed message concerning abstinence and control of one\u2019s lusts somewhere in his \u201cpreaching,\u201d but we have not heard the slightest hint either from him or the news media that he has sinned or done wrong. However, God\u2019s Word still declares that fornication is sin and that fornicators will be eternally lost (1 Cor. 6:9-11, et al.).<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n
    1. \u201cMagic\u201d is now reaping what he sowed (Hos. 8:7; Gal. 6:7-8). The price for sin must be paid, and often sinners pay dearly even in this world. Not only do sinners pay, but they bring tragedy upon the innocent. Not all who have contracted AIDS have done so through their own sins. Many will die from this merciless killer because they innocently (on their part) were infected by a medical professional, a polluted blood transfusion, or some similar means. Sin indeed has terrible, far reaching consequences!<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      [Note:<\/strong> I wrote this article for and it was published in The Lighthouse, <\/em>weekly bulletin of Northpoint Church of Christ, Denton, TX, March 22, 2015, of which I was editor.]<\/span><\/p>\n

      Attribution:<\/strong> From thescripturecache.com<\/em>; Dub McClish, owner and administrator.<\/span><\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Views: 3[Note:\u00a0 This MS is available in larger font on our Brief Articles 2\u00a0 page.] In the 1980s, \u201cMagic\u201d Johnson obtained great fame and wealth by his basketball exploits with the Los Angeles Lakers. He has been named one of the fifty greatest basketball players…<\/p>\n

      Continue Reading… The \u201cGospel\u201d of \u201cMagic\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[499,474,495,77,188,145,94,391,108,33,498,496,440,51,497],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abstinence","category-drugs","category-fame","category-fornication","category-gambling","category-immorality","category-influence","category-lust","category-marriage","category-moral-issues","category-promiscuity","category-sex","category-sexual-desire","category-sin","category-violence","wpcat-499-id","wpcat-474-id","wpcat-495-id","wpcat-77-id","wpcat-188-id","wpcat-145-id","wpcat-94-id","wpcat-391-id","wpcat-108-id","wpcat-33-id","wpcat-498-id","wpcat-496-id","wpcat-440-id","wpcat-51-id","wpcat-497-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8231"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17469,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8231\/revisions\/17469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}