OPINION:
A version of this story appeared in the Higher Ground newsletter from The Washington Times. Click here to receive Higher Ground delivered directly to your inbox each Sunday.
Many dismiss Hollywood as an immoral, disoriented abyss — and, considering the depravity of contemporary content, such critiques are understandable.
Yet, despite the agonizing debauchery and hedonism spewing from movies, TV and music, recent events and proclamations from mainstream stars show just how brilliantly light can break through even the darkest corners of our culture.
“Big Brother” host Julie Chen Moonves — a popular broadcaster and TV personality — is just one Hollywood figure who is now openly sharing her faith journey, bringing hope to the masses along the way.
Mrs. Moonves was so transformed after becoming a Christian in 2018 that she released an audio memoir last month detailing all that’s changed in her life after embracing God. As culture reels with division and hatred, she recently appeared on “Higher Ground With Billy Hallowell” to remind listeners of a better path: one paved with hope and forgiveness.
“If you don’t forgive, you’re not hurting that person that you’re harboring all this anger towards; you’re hurting yourself,” she said. “If you want God to forgive you for all your sins — and we are sinful … then you have to forgive others. That’s love one another and love thy enemy.”
The TV host is hardly a Hollywood anomaly. Just as we’re seeing stunning moments of revival on college campuses and mass baptisms breaking out and making history, we’re also witnessing a rising tide of actors, singers and entertainers who seem to be experiencing something spiritually profound.
After achieving fame, money and notoriety, many recognize that true worth and value are found in something more eternal. Case in point: “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” and “Melissa & Joey” star Melissa Joan Hart recently described a “born-again” moment she had that helped her better understand her faith.
“I never really understood the Holy Spirit or the Trinity in a sense,” the veteran actor told The Christian Post. “One day, we were in Bible study and it just hit, like the Holy Spirit made sense to me all of a sudden!
“One day, I just felt it and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s the Holy Spirit talking to me. I get it now.’ Like a lightning bolt just hit me and I was like, ‘The Holy Spirit! I don’t know why it just hit me and I got it.’ Then I better understood the Trinity and all that.”
A-list actor Chris Pratt, who often quotes the Bible on social media, responded earlier this year to a journalist’s question about criticisms he sometimes faces over his Christian beliefs.
“That’s nothing new, that’s nothing new, you know,” Mr. Pratt told Page Six, going on to cite Scripture. “If I was of this world, they would love me just like that but, as it is, I’ve chosen out of this world. That’s John 15:18-20.
“That’s the way it is, nothing new — 2,000 years ago, they hated [Jesus], too.”
Meanwhile, controversial tattoo artist and designer Kat Von D released a video this week showing her baptism — a stunning moment that came after she previously said she planned to throw out her occultic belongings.
“I’ve always found beauty in the macabre, but at this point, I just had to ask myself what is my relationship with this content?” she said in a July 2022 Instagram post. “And the truth is, I just don’t want to invite any of these things into our family’s lives, even if it comes disguised in beautiful covers, collecting dust on my shelves.”
Ms. Von D continued, “But right now, it’s never been more clear to me that there is a spiritual battle taking place, and I want to surround myself and my family with love and light.”
The spiritual revival in Tinseltown extends well beyond these stars, with others like singer and actor Carlos PenaVega openly telling me he feels called, like Mrs. Moonves, to spread the Gospel.
“I always tell people that acting, singing all this stuff to me, producing writing, it’s a hobby, right?” Mr. PenaVega recently told me. “My job is to spread God’s love to everyone. … That’s my job. Everything else is to hobby.”
Some, like country singer Granger Smith, are even retiring from music altogether to pursue a higher calling. Mr. Smith is, in fact, planning to go into full-time ministry.
Meanwhile, we’re watching movies like “Jesus Revolution” overtake the box office and send shockwaves throughout Hollywood. Performers are clearly looking for something more compelling than the lies built on culture’s push toward the “gospel of the self.”
It’s unclear whether these spiritual moments are fleeting, and I don’t know each and every celebrity’s heart. That said, the fact that we’re talking about Jesus, Scripture and hope in so many facets of an industry known for its rejection of and ignorance toward biblical truth is notable.
Now is the time to be praying for these stars — and for all of Hollywood — to grow in their faith and help, through their work, sway the culture back to a place of sanity and vertical living.
• Billy Hallowell is a digital TV host and interviewer for Faithwire and CBN News and the co-host of CBN’s “Quick Start Podcast.” Hallowell is the author of four books.
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