This page is for Celebrities only. Celebrities are defined here as the following:
Any Movie Star, News Journalists/ Reporters, Talk Show Hosts, Game Show Hosts, Actors, Actresses, Politicians, Comedians, famous Pastors/Religious leaders, Writers & Authors, famous Entrepreneurs, and any other famous person who cannot go the usual route to obtain private counseling.
I realize that one of the things that goes along with "fame" is the inability to obtain help without the press and the world finding out about it. And just because someone is a movie star, etc. or famous and in the public eye, does not mean that they do not have the same problems that the rest of the population encounters.
Shows such as American Idol, Deal or no Deal, Dancing with the Stars, etc. while very popular, also promote all the wrong things. The costumes worn by the women on Dancing with the Stars are way beyond what is decent. And probably half of the men in American watch the show for one reason. So they can see the women in those costumes. The dancing is excellent, the costumes are not. Many stars on the show are devastated when they are kicked off. Some never recover.
On Deal or no Deal, families are taken to the brink of insanity trying to win a million dollars. I have yet to see anyone ever win it. While the money won does help pay off debts, buy houses and cars, and give people vacations, it also teaches us that money is the answer to everything. Of course we know it is not. But that is the delusion that many people put their faith in.
American Idol while allowing young people to showcase their singing talents, at the same time, can destroy their self-esteem with the unkind and unnecessary comments from the some of the judges. And I feel that many times American votes the way the judges comment, knowing full well that their negative comments can influence thousands to not vote for someone. After awhile it becomes a contest not based on actual talent, but based on personalites, looks and who is the most popular with the teens regardless of whether they can actually sing or not.
I am a firm believer that we are all created equal. Which means we come into this world, naked, and with two eyes, a nose, a mouth, two arms, two legs, two hands and two feet. We are all born from the act of conception between one man and one woman. Some of us are born into poverty, others are born into the middle class, and a few are born into extreme riches. We can not take any credit or shame for the environments that each of us were born into. Nor can we take any credit or shame for the parents and families that we were born into. Our environments are out of our control at birth.
In addition to that, we each come into this world with certain inborn temperament traits, which enable us to deal with our families and environments in different ways. Please see my article on Temperament for an explanation of how each of us are different and therefore we handle identical situations with different reactions.
Some people seem to go through life with ease, with money, fame, and fortune, while others fail at almost everything they try. And then there are other people who go through life without fame, money or fortune and they are content and happy, regardless.
God teaches us that the trials that we go through are common to ALL men and that no one is extempt. Furthermore, the Lord does not allow us to be tempted or persecuted beyond our ability to endure: “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Cor. 10:13).
Some people like to be in the "limelight" and others like "power and control." And in the case of some politicians, it really is all about POWER and CONTROL. And some people absolutely thrive on power and control. Sadly enough, they will do or become just about anything to obtain it. Thus, we have some politicians who will say whatever the particular crowd they are speaking to wants to hear, and then the next day, they will say the complete opposite to a new crowd who has a different opinion.
Interestingly enough, the politicians who do that have lost their own identity. They actually have no identity other than that which the latest gallop poll dictates that they need to have.
Superficiality:
And so we come to the topic that most famous celebrities and famous people deal with Superficialityand the Loss of Self. When you try to become all things to all people, you loose yourself.
And if the emphasis that you put on life is in the realm of material things, fame, power and fortune, or in pleasing others, or getting that part, or that political race won, or becoming the head of a country, etc. .... If your heart is on these things, without God's guidance, and protection, then at the end of the day, you are lost.
I think one of the hardest things for many celebrities to go through is the fact that they go from being the center of attention when they are performing, to coming home at night, to a lonely hotel room, and feeling completely alone. It is the extreme contrast between those two states that causes many celebrities to become depressed. They ask themselves:
" How can I be so loved, and so ignored, all at the same time?" How do I know who I can trust? "If I show attention to a fan, I find out they are a stalker or worse." If I try to go out for a hamburger, I am mobbed. But if I see someone I might want to get to know, no one is allowed to come near me." " While it feels great to be adored, worshipped, and have my picture taken thousands of times, it also feels lousy to go back home and the phone does not ring." The highs and lows of the position are very stressful.
Woman celebrities have it even tougher because in Hollywood looks are everything, thinness is everything, youth is everything, etc. And as they begin to age, the parts get fewer and fewer, the fans get less and less, the invitations get more scare, and pretty soon they are considered "has been's." And so they sell their brand of cosmetics or clothes or jewelery on TV, or they begin exercise tapes, or they get tons of cosmetic surgery to prolong the inevitable.
So we go back to the topic of Superficiality.
1.) being at, on, or near the surface: a superficial wound.
2.) of or pertaining to the surface: superficial measurement.
3.) external or outward: a superficial resemblance.
4.) concerned with or comprehending only what is on the surface or obvious: a superficial observer.
5.) shallow; not profound or thorough, a superficial writer.
6.) apparent rather than real.
7.) insubstantial or insignificant: superficial improvements.
Finding ourselves and our real identities begins at birth.
Remember, you came into this world naked and with nothing. And you will go out of this world the same way, but clothed. It won't matter if you weigh 102 pounds or 400 pounds. It won't matter if you have one cent or a billion dollars. It won't matter if you had one house or several mansions around the world, or lived in a tent. It won't matter if you were the President of a country or a homeless person. It won't matter if you performed, or preached, or spoke in front of hundreds of thousands around the world, or you sat in your front yard, in a trailer and spoke to no one.
What will matter is the condition of your soul.
The world has it all backwards.
If you could draw a large circle and within that circle a smaller circle, and within that circle an even smaller circle and you labeled them as such:
1.) The largest circle is called the WORLD (physical)
2.) The second largest circle within that circle, is called TheSOUL. ( your mind, what you can see, touch, feel, smell andhear.)
3.) The smallest circle in the middle is called the SPIRIT. ( The REAL YOU ) the one that lives on for eternity.
This is how most people operate in the world. The physical is the most important, ruled by our minds, and our spirits are an afterthought, if we notice them at all. This is called Superficiality.
However, the way it really is, is just the opposite. ( This is the real you)
1. The largest circle is your SPIRIT.
2.) The second largest circle within that circle is your SOUL ( your five sences )
3.) The smallest circle is the WORLD ( physical ) ( your body )
We are really spirits who live in a body which is in the world. Our bodies are merely the vehicle that our spirits travel in. And look where we put the emphasis. We are more concerned about the vehicle than we are the passengers in the car! But when there is an auto accident what is really important, the $100,000 Mercedes or the person in the Mercedes?
Where do most of us put our emphasis? Where does the world put it's emphasis? The biggest circle in most of our lives is the one labeled Physical. And the tiniest circle in our lives is our spirit. Most people are very aware of their bodies, their physical needs and comforts, their material possessions, but they are very unaware of, and not even in tune with their eternal spirits.
Here is a list of some of your friends that have left this world. Jimmy Stuart, Frank Sinatra, Elvis, Robert Young, Jimmy Dean, Rita Hayworth, Princess Grace, Douglas McClure, Michael Landon, Johnny Carson, June Cash, Johnny Cash, Princess Diana, etc. and on and on and on....just like all of us do eventually. Where are they now? Where is their money and their fame? Jack Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, etc. Do you think they are movie stars and Presidents in heaven? NOPE. Do you think there is special treatment in heaven for famous people????? NOPE
They are just people in heaven like everyone else. No one considered any better, or smarter, or prettier, or richer, or more powerful than anyone else.
I realize that there are many famous people who do have their priorities straight, who do believe in God, and heaven and Jesus, and an afterlife, who do contribute to charities, who do help the less fortunate, who do take their immense wealth and make this world a better, safer place. And it is good to see this.
But at the same time there are many many famous stars, and politicians who are spiritually lost. Who are atheists. Who would LOVE to believe in heaven and God and angels, etc. Who would love to think there is something deeper, and wiser and richer, and more pure, and that there are things prepared for us that we cannot even think or imagine with our finite minds. Who are sick and tired of being sick and tired and lonely and depressed, and who are worn out from being something they are not, and who have discovered that all the money, fame, and possessions in this world do not bring them happiness.
Which actually is a good sign that they are noticing that they are STILL NOT HAPPY or at PEACE.
If you are one of these people, and would like confidential counseling and help with any issue that you may be dealing with, whether it is your marriage, or children, or being in the public eye, or drug addictions, or your unbelief, or your fears, or any of any number of difficulties that we ALL face, whether we are rich or famous or poor and unknown, please do not hesitate to contact me by following the directions below:
Because I truly feel that being famous is a HARD, HARD job, that is laden with many difficulties that the average person does not have to face. And while you are providing wonderful entertainment for the rest of us, you are slowly dying inside.
Famous people are hurting in their Spirits which need to be found again and nurtured.
Lee Strobel (also the author of my all-time favorite book, "The Case for Christ," also available at Amazon.com) has written a thoroughly engaging book in which he speculates what Jesus might say to some of the most controversial pop icons of our day -- ranging from Madonna to Bart Simpson to Rush Limbaugh. It's important to point out that the author isn't putting himself in the place of Jesus, but instead going to the Bible for insights into what Jesus might say to these folks. The result is a fast-paced, entertaining, and thought-provoking book that explores many important topics, ranging from success to leadership to servanthood. Like Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, this book is surprising in its unexpected approach. In reading this book, I got a practical course in doing what the Bible says we all should do -- "speak the truth in love." Some reactionaries might not like the idea that Jesus might actually offer forgiveness to the likes of Madonna, but if the Bible tells us anything, it tells us that nobody is beyond hope if they come to God in repentance and faith. Please, read this book; you'll find it refreshing and captivating!
Are Christianity and science incompatible? If there is a God, is he only an impersonal starter force? An introductory high school biology class first propelled Lee Strobel toward a life of atheism. God and science, he reasoned, were mutually exclusive. When the former legal editor of the Chicago Tribune converted to Christianity, he decided to investigate the science he had once accepted as truth. Did science point toward or away from God? As Strobel interviews a variety of scientists on everything from debunking evolutionary icons to the implications of the Big Bang to the existence of the human soul, he builds his case: scientific evidence points toward Intelligent Design.
Although the discussion often veers into the academic, Strobel works hard to make it accessible to those without scientific training. Throughout the book, he salts interview transcript information with interesting personal stories of his own spiritual and scientific quest for knowledge, as well as sometimes over-detailed descriptions of the actual interviews (right down to the type of beverages consumed). Each chapter contains suggestions for further reading on particular issues of science and faith.
Strobel concludes that, when correctly interpreted, science and biblical teaching support each other. He quotes physicist Paul Davies, "…science offers a surer path to God than religion." Open-minded readers will find that this book, and its questions for reflection and group study, invites conversation and investigation.--Cindy Crosby
If you would like advice or counseling from Patricia Jones there are three methods that you may choose from:
1.) Long Question For a fee of $45.00.
A long question should contain background information and list any concerns or questions that you have about a particular issue or issues. It may be as long as
you wish. I will reply back to you via email with an extensive response ( several pages in length ) within 24 to 48 hours. See an example of a Long Question here.
2.) A Short Question: For a fee of $25.00. A short question should give some background information and ask one question about one particular issue that you may have. I will reply back to you via email within 24 to 48 hours.
