Justin Bieber Throws Shade At Celebrity Pastors

Justin Bieber has called out celebrity
pastors who elevate themselves and act
like they have special access to God.
His comments to GQ magazine follow the
firing of Carl Lentz, his former mentor
and close friend, as lead pastor of Hillsong
NYC last November for “leadership issues”
and moral failures.
Bieber was just one of the many celebs
that Lentz was pictured hanging out with
over the years.
The pair formed a close friendship when
Bieber left his bad boy days behind and re-
committed to his Christian faith.
But after the scandal last November, Bieber
and his wife, Hailey, reportedly unfollowed
Lentz’s Instagram.

Although Bieber didn’t mention Lentz by
name, in his interview with GQ the “Holy”
singer said he had seen “so many pastors
put themselves on this pedestal”.
“And it’s basically, church can be
surrounded around the man, the pastor, the
guy, and it’s like, ‘This guy has this
ultimate relationship with God that we all
want but we can’t get because we’re not
this guy.’ That’s not the reality, though. The
reality is, every human being has the same
access to God,” he said.
But he’s grateful for his best friend,
Churchome Pastor Judah Smith, who he
credits with helping him find answers to
some of the big questions he was wrestling
with.
“I came to a place where I just was like,
‘God, if you’re real, I need you to help me,
because I can’t do this on my own. Like,
I’m struggling so hard. Every decision I
make is out of my own selfish ego,'” he
recalled.
“So I’m just like, ‘What is it that you want
from me? You put all these desires in my
heart for me to sing and perform and to
make music—where are these coming
from?
“Why is this in my heart? What do you
want me to do with it? What’s the point?
What is the point of everything? What is
the point of me being on this planet?'”

After laying out all these questions before
God, he received the clarity he was longing
for.
“If God forgives me and He loves me and
He set these things in motion, if He put
these desires in my heart, then I’m going to
trust Him,” he said.
Smith has been a big part of Bieber’s
Christian life, baptizing him and Hailey in a
lake last year. Bieber also recently
livestreamed a sermon by Smith to his 170
million Instagram followers and the two
have worked on prayer podcasts together.
Smith also features in Bieber’s new gospel
EP , Freedom.

Bieber also told the magazine that Smith
had modelled a healthy family life that he
hopes to emulate with his own wife.
“It was something I always dreamed of
because my family was broken,” he said.
“My whole life, I had a broken family. And
so I was just attracted to a family that eats
dinners together, laughs together, talks
together.”