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Over the last year a myriad of celebrities have started boldly proclaiming their faith and encounters with God to their fans. Among those celebrities are rapper Eminem, actor Shia LaBeouf and rapper M.I.A.
For the stars who are no stranger to limelight and backlash, they weren’t shy about admitting the ways in which God has changed their lives this year. During an interview with Bishop Robert Barron, LaBeouf recounts the deep pit of desperation he was in when God saved him.
LaBeouf was ready to end it all when the script for a movie titled “Padre Pio” landed in front of him. “I didn’t want to be alive anymore when all this happened. Shame like I had never experienced before—the kind of shame that you forget how to breathe. You don’t know where to go. You can’t go outside and get, like, a taco,” he said in the interview.
It was while he was studying and filming the movie, based off the life of a Catholic priest and “mystic,” when he met the loving arms of Jesus. In the poignant interview LaBeouf shares it was his ego that God used to bring him to the end of himself.
Talking about when he arrived at the monastery to study for the film, he says, “”And when I got here, a switch happened. It was like Three-Card Monte. It was like someone tricked me into it, it felt like, not in a bad way. In a way that I couldn’t see it. I was so close to it that I couldn’t see it. I see it differently now that time has passed.”
For rapper Eminem, his proclamation of faith was a little more discreet but shared in his new song. Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Mathers was features on “Use This Gospel” which hit No.1 on Christian charts.
Eminem opened up about his struggles with mental health and fighting against the enemies temptations. “So my savior, I call on to rescue me from these depths of despair. So these demons better step like a stair, because He is my Shepherd. I’m armed with Jesus, my weapon is prayer.”
Mainstream artist M.I.A known for her song ‘Paper Planes’ took to Twitter to share her thoughts on those bashing her Christian faith. “The fact that the biggest back lash in my career and life I’m facing after saying “Jesus is real” is such a revelation to me. People who control these apps rather me be a bad girl, then a good one.”
The fact that the biggest back lash in my career and life I’m facing after saying “Jesus is real” is such a revelation to me. People who control these apps rather me be a bad girl , then a good one.
— M.I.A. (@MIAuniverse) December 28, 2022
In a recent interview with Relevant magazine, M.I.A. addressed her newfound faith and her struggles at finding all of the answers to the questions she receives. “Right now I think the only clear thing I can say is that even when I had no belief in Jesus Christ and Christianity, and even when I was 100% comfortable in Hinduism, it was a Christian God that turned up to save me,” she says.
She stranded, with no one to call when Jesus appeared to her in a vision. In her interview she says the vision didn’t last long, but she met Jesus in a “very physical sense” and was immediately transformed from unbelief to belief.
No matter who you are, Jesus is longing to rescue you. He is a faithful God who always shows up in a time of need.
Second Corinthians 1:3-4 says, “Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble by the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”
Before you judge the authenticity of their faith remember that God tells us not to judge our brother or sister. We will all stand before the judgement seat of Christ one day, let us pray and admonish one another in our faith to bring each other closer to eternal life with Jesus. {eoa}
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Shelby Lindsay is an assistant editor for Charisma Media.
