First it was Hollywood superstar Chris Pratt, then rap mogul Kanye West. Then came television personality Kat Von D and former OnlyFans icon Nala Ray. Most recently it was stand-up comedian, podcaster, and film actor Russell Brand who made massive cultural waves with his dramatic public announcement that he had abandoned his life of sin and excess and surrendered it all to the Lordship of Christ.
Given his well-known reputation, many believers and non-believers reacted to Brand's revelation with a hefty dose of skepticism. Several accused the notorious womanizer of even fabricating his conversion to distract from the serious charges of rape, sexual assault, and emotional abuse that have been leveled against him.
Only God knows the man's heart, but just like the Kanye conversion turned into a slowly unfolding trainwreck, discerning Christians will note that Brand's latest move seems the fruit of one enamored by the grift rather than the gift of salvation.
This is embarrassing. For Brand, yes. But also for the many Christians who immediately elevated him as some sort of conversion case study. Christian doctrine is straightforward on all this nonsense:
In both the Old and New Testaments, everything that smacks of divination, witchcraft, magic, charms, incantations - even when one was supposedly using them to "do good" or ward off evil spirits - are not of God and violate His will (see: Deuteronomy 18:10 - 16; Leviticus 19:26, 31; 20:27; Acts 13:8 - 10, etc.).
In Exodus, Pharaoh's "magicians" used these tactics to perform sorcery. They used spells, charms, amulets, to do so, as did Elymas the sorcerer in the New Testament book of Acts.
The apostle Paul condemned Elymas a "child of the devil" engaged in "all kinds of deceit and trickery," and accused him of "perverting the right ways of the Lord" (see: Acts 13:10).
The same condemnation was made of Simon the magician by the apostle Peter (see: Acts 8:20 - 23).
There is nothing in Scripture that describes the kind of thing Brand is doing in a positive light. It's not of God.
Is Brand some sort of Wiccan or wannabe magician of white or black arts? Not if I was guessing. I'm much more inclined to say he's a man facing serious legal trouble and looking to raise some money. Could it be that he's working an angle and taking advantage of the historically soft targets of loving and generous Christians? That's not beyond the realm of possibility, which is why any Christian leader who has promoted or praised Brand publicly now has a duty to warn their flocks away from this financial scam.
I think there are two possible explanations for what Brand is doing right now. One is charitable, the other not so much. Explanation one casts Brand as a well-intentioned guy, a new convert, heavily influenced by the New Age lens he has worn for so long. Will Spencer explains:
Explanation two sees Brand as a charlatan and grifter who is playing Christians for his own gain. Atheist Colin Wright sees it that way:
Truthfully, I have my guess as to which this is, but since I don't know, I'll keep it to myself.
What I won't keep quiet about, however, is calling this $300 amulet rubbish out for what it is (the man is promising protection from WiFi signals in the air … all while wearing a WiFi microphone for crying out loud).
I also will beg Christians to be wiser in how we handle high-profile converts. I know we excitedly covered the Brand conversion story here at Not the Bee multiple times. And we weren't alone:
I get the jubilation at the thought of a lost soul coming home; I truly do. But we would always be wise to restrain our emotional impulses, and instead choose to react in a way that is humble, and obedient to Scripture.
Remember, Paul writes to Timothy that when selecting the leaders of our churches we should not choose a recent convert. There's an immaturity there that should be expected. Not criticized unfairly (remember Paul also instructs us not to look down on anyone whose faith is less developed and mature than our own), but not celebrated irresponsibly.
If it turns out the alleged conversion is real, we'll know in time.
