An Open Letter to Lauren Daigle

Dear Lauren,

Not long ago, a friend picked me up at the airport in Virginia. Some lovely music playing, and I asked who it was. “Lauren Daigle.” Next thing I know, you are the biggest thing going!

I love your music! You are so gifted; so talented. You have a beautiful voice. You have already touched millions. It seems, that God has raised you up, like Esther, “for such as time as this.” We need your message—we need your music.

This week, many believers have attacked you. This letter is not another assault. Rather, I just want to share some thoughts with you. So my readers know, this letter is regarding your recent comments about homosexuality. When asked if it was a sin, you said you didn’t know—that it was God’s business—that if someone did know, you would want them to tell you. My guess is that you don’t really believe that.

I can’t imagine being thrust into the limelight in my mid-20s and being asked in front of the whole world—a world that says you are cruel if you don’t embrace same-sex unions—what my views are about homosexuality. Many would have crumbled under such pressure—ironically, they are some of the very ones who are attacking you. How easy it is to judge from a position of obscurity.

But I get it. At least, I think I do. You’ve been praised by Hollywood elites from Ellen DeGeneres to Jimmy Fallon. They like you. It feels good. (I wish they liked me!) You are one of the biggest artists in America right now. How do you tell them the truth without hurting them? How do you stay true to the God who got you where you are, without hurting your career?

The question to ask is simple, why has God raised you up? To be praised? To be loved? To be rich and famous? I know that you know those are not the reasons. He raised you up to be a voice. He elevated you, so that you could elevate others into His presence.

But Hollywood is a powerful drug. Fame is dangerous—particularly when you are young. You start questioning. Who am I to tell others how to live? What if two people from the same sex love each other? Who am I to judge? It is a slippery slope. And, before you know it, you start compromising the Word of God before the Ellens and Oprahs of the world.

But let’s get back to the question. Why has God raised you up? I am sure of this: It wasn’t to compromise. I want to encourage you that with your platform, you can speak the truth in love. You don’t have to be mean, in order to be honest. Instead of saying you don’t know, you could say:

I don’t claim to understand everything and it is a confusing issue, but God’s word does call it a sin, just as all sexual relations—even between opposite sexes—outside of God’s order, are sin. It is hard for me to say this because I don’t want to hurt anyone and honestly, I don’t want to be rejected. But I can’t reject the God I have known my whole life just for fame and acceptance. My prayer, for everyone, is that they would find wholeness through Jesus.

I am not saying they will accept this. Some will; some won’t. You will lose money—for sure. Some will stop listening to your music. But you will be an example of both kindness and honest boldness to millions of young people. But again—the question: Why has God raised you up?

Remember that our awesome, loving Jesus said,

If anyone will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever will save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when He comes in His own glory and in the glory of His Father and of the holy angels (Luke 9:23-26).

Denying yourself is not easy. Easy is going with the world’s flow. But that is the call of God. You can have the praise of Jimmy Kimmel or Jesus Christ, but it is hard to have both. Sorry, it’s true. That’s the call. And thousands of years from now, whose praise will you want, that of the world or that which comes from God?

When we fail to call sin, what God calls sin, we are being, “ashamed of His words.” To love the idea of Jesus, without embracing His words is false worship. ” And James says that “friendship with the world means enmity against God?” That doesn’t mean we should not be friends with people in the world. I applaud you for going on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and shining the light of God’s love.

That is why we are here (Ellen, if you want me to preach on your show, you know where to find me!) But friendship with the world is when we embrace the world’s principles and start calling wrong things right and right things wrong. It is when we see nothing wrong with a man losing custody of his son because he will not dress him as a girl. I am burdened for you, my sister, and jealous to see you fulfill your calling!

We are celebrating Hanukkah right now in Israel. It is a perfect story for your situation. The Jewish people were told to worship Greek gods and sacrifice to them. Some did; some compromised. But one fellow named Matiyahu said, “I, my sons and my brothers are determined to remain loyal to the covenant which our God made with our ancestors!”

I don’t imagine it was an easy decision for him. But his courage caused the people of God to rise up all over Israel against their oppressors—who had defiled the temple of God by sacrificing a pig on the altar. They won their independence and cleansed the temple. We read about them today, not because they comprised, but because they took an unpopular stand. I am praying for you, my sister, that you will have the strength to be an Esther, a Matiyahu, a Daniel—who went against the flow and took their stand for God.

One day, when you stand before Jesus, you will be alone. I know you want to hear the words that I do, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” I am rooting for you! Jesus is rooting for you! Just remember why you started singing in the first place.

Your friend,

Ron Cantor {eoa}

Ron Cantor is an Israeli evangelist. He blogs at messiahsmandate.org, and you can get his book, The Coming End-Time Awakening free at roncantor.com. Ron is on the leadership team of Tiferet Yeshua Congregation in Tel Aviv and is also the director of communications for Tikkun Global. He is the author of several books, including Identity Theft: How Jesus Was Robbed of His Jewishness.

This article originally appeared at messiahsmandate.org.