(Click image, news article title, news article date for full article in a new window.)
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, [which is] your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" (Romans 12:1-2)
This is what we are told to be as Christians, focusing upon the fact that we are not to be conformed to this world. Many other passages also address the warnings against getting caught up in what the world gets caught up in, and yet, even among Christians, many were put out by the death of an actor, actress, or other celebrity. This should not be so among Christians.
First, we ought not be entertained by such celebrities to begin with. We should be shunning TV, movies, music of the world. And though it is sad when anyone dies for their destination is now sealed and if sealed or solidified on the wrong side, this was it for them, but to have Christians say, "It's so sad that we lost ________________. They were a great entertainer." is just wrong. Great entertainers only have become great because they promote the ways of the world and not of God. So what Christians are mourning is the death of worldliness in one form or another.
"Love not the world, neither the things [that are] in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (1 John 2:15).
So how many are mourning the death of true Christians? Well, you probably did not read the death list of 2016 because no one, not even of Christians care all that much about such a list. And there is where priorities are revealed.
We have to see everything as God sees it. If it is working against God's way, no matter how pretty of a package it comes in, it must be called evil, wicked, sinful, etc. Instead, we call it entertainment. And entertainment is exactly what has Christians so busy relaxing with instead of picking up the Bible. Entertainment is why we dare not share cutting truth with our friends because we don't want to lose that friendship. Entertainment is what has corrupted society that even Christians cannot recognize that entertainment is evil. Christians actually defend this garbage, which reveals why when Jesus returns, He will say to these, "I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity" (Matthew 7:23).
Can you say, "I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; [it] shall not cleave to me" (Psalms 101:3)?