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Elvis grace: A response to By Steve Beard When Elvis Presley and his crew rolled into Jacksonville, Florida, on August 10, 1956, Judge Marion Gooding had prepared an arrest warrant for Presley charging him with impairing the morals of minors in the event that Elvis swiveled his hips. Young people at the Murray Hill Methodist Church heard Elvis denounced in a sermon entitled, "Hotrods, Reefers, and Rock and Roll." Elsewhere in town, the Rev. Robert Gray, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church, offered up prayers for Presley's salvation after declaring that the singer had "achieved a new low in spiritual degeneracy." Rev. Gray went on to say, "If he were offered his salvation tonight, he would probably say, 'No thanks, I'm on the top.'" Despite the feverish objections of religious and community leaders, young fans packed into the shows. Each of the six performances in two days at the Florida Theater were sold out with 2,200 Jacksonville teenagers at each one, separated from the stage by a line of uniformed policemen. The Rev. Gray gained national notoriety after being featured in Life magazine. Elvis later confessed frustration at the Baptist preacher's actions. "I think that hurt me more than anything else at first. This man was supposed to be a religious leader, yet he acted that way without ever knowing who I was or what I was like," said Presley. "I believe in the Bible. I believe that all good things come from God.…I don't believe I'd sing the way I do if God hadn't wanted me to. My voice is God's will, not mine." The
BreakPoint commentary The BreakPoint commentary laments that media reports highlighted Elvis's Christian background but failed to mention that "his primary message was the antithesis of biblical standards." What is offered as the evidence of Elvis's wayward path? From the hundreds of songs that Elvis recorded, the BreakPoint commentary targeted "It's Now Or Never" (with lyrics such as "be mine tonight" and "my love won't wait"), "Almost Always True" ("I resisted tho' my arm was twisted"), and even one of his songs that is currently a radio hit, "A Little Less Conversation" ("a little conversation, a little more action please"). "In spite of media portrayals of Presley's religious roots," Colson said, "his belief system was not the 'true and undefiled religion' that the Apostle James wrote about." In order to drive home the point, he quotes one of the lines that Elvis sang--"to spend one night with you is what I pray for"--and then facetiously states: "Wow! Did he really think God answered prayers to expedite one-night stands?" Charles Colson, the founder of Prison Fellowship, has co-authored best-selling books and his BreakPoint commentaries are widely-disseminated via the radio, e-mail, and the internet. Not surprisingly, Colson has publicly acknowledged that he utilizes a staff of writers and researchers to aid him in his commentaries, admitting that he sometimes recommends movies that he has never seen and books that he has never read. In this case, the commentary was written for Colson by Christian radio veteran Dave Fischer. One assumes, however, that the radio commentaries reflect Colson's views and thereby deserve engagement. In the past, Mr. Colson has utilized the BreakPoint commentary to provide a different perspective to temper what was said by other Christian leaders. For example, he brought a much needed correction to the Revs. Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson when they issued injudicious statements regarding the causes of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Without wanting to put this issue on that level, this essay is offered in that spirit. Elvis's
religious roots "When all night gospel sings became the rage - with crowds of fifteen hundred filling downtown's Ellis Auditorium - Elvis was there. He...gloried in the gospel sings sponsored by Memphis's First Assembly of God church," write Peter Harry Brown and Pat H. Broeske in their book Down at the End of Lonely Street. Elvis's devoutness extended far beyond his love of gospel music. "We used to read the Bible every night, if you can believe that - he used to read aloud to me and then talk about it," testifies Dottie Harmony, who dated Elvis in 1956. "He was very religious - there was nothing phony about that at all." Authors Brown and Broeske observe, "From his childhood in Tupelo-sitting in the open-air meetings of the fundamentalist Assembly of God church-to his final soul-searching years, he was influenced by the Bible and its teachings." In those early days, Elvis was not shy about speaking forthrightly about his religious beliefs and his hopes that God would lead his path. "I never expected to be anybody important. Maybe I'm not now, but whatever I am, whatever I will become will be what God has chosen for me," he told Photoplay magazine in 1957. "Some people I know can't figure out how Elvis Presley happened. I don't blame them for wondering that. Sometimes I wonder myself.…But no matter what I do, I don't forget about God. I feel he's watching every move I make. And in a way it is good for me.…I just want to let a few people know that the way I live is by doing what I think God wants me to. I want someone to understand." That desire is sometimes easier expressed than lived out as Elvis would soon find out. Despite the fame and fortune that he had acquired, he struggled to find his way through the fast-lane living afforded him at such a young age. The Rev. James Hamill was the hellfire-and-brimstone preacher who regularly denounced movies and dancing from the pulpit at the First Assembly of God in Memphis, Presley's home church (and that of the famous gospel group, the Blackwood Brothers). After the Easter service in 1958, Hamill says that Elvis told him, "Pastor, I'm the most miserable young man you've ever seen. I've got all the money I'll ever need to spend. I've got millions of fans. I've got friends. But I'm doing what you taught me not to do, and I'm not doing the things you taught me to do." This struggle would hound Elvis throughout his life. The wrestling match between the spirit and the flesh is not an uncommon phenomenon for Christians. No less than the Apostle Paul talked candidly and openly about his struggle: "For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do-this I keep doing" (Romans 7:19). Spiritual
exploration in the 1960s One man who seemed to tap into that spiritual desire was a 24-year-old hairdresser named Larry Geller. Elvis was in need of a trim on April 30, 1964 for a movie he was making. Geller arrived to cut his hair and ended up becoming a spiritual guru to Elvis. After a few minutes of polite banter with Geller during their first meeting, Elvis said, "Larry, let me ask you something….What are you into?" Geller responded, "Obviously, I do hair, but what I am really more interested in than anything else is trying to discover things like where we come from, why we are here, and where we are going." Geller went on to say "If there is purpose…then my purpose is to discover my purpose. It doesn't matter to me if that takes years or a lifetime. That's what we are born to do." This was the key to unlocking Elvis's attention. "Whoa, whoa, man. Larry, I don't believe it. I mean, what you're talking about is what I secretly think about all the time," said Presley. "I've always known that there had to be purpose for my life. I've always felt an unseen hand behind me, guiding my life. I mean, there has to be a purpose…there's got to be a reason…why I was chosen to be Elvis Presley." The two of them spoke for hours about the superstar's struggles and frustrations. "I swear to God no one knows how lonely I get. And how empty I really feel," Elvis confessed to Geller's amazement. Geller was asking the kind of transcendent questions that Elvis was not getting with the Memphis Mafia-his team of security and advance people. Elvis saw through the shallowness of stardom but was a prisoner to his own success. He hungered for more out of life and became obsessed with his destiny and purpose. "He was always trying to figure out why he was the one picked to be who he was, why he was the one chosen-he was into all these things that you couldn't solve," remembers Joe Esposito, one of Elvis's long time aides. Actress Jan Shepherd, a co-star with Elvis in Paradise, Hawaiian Style, remembers him as being "preoccupied with theology books and seemed to be questioning his role in the scheme of things." Under the tutelage of Geller, Elvis began to devour books on Hinduism, Judaism, numerology, Theosophy, positive thinking, the new-age, meditation, and Christianity. This sent Elvis off into a whole different spiritual direction and it did not sit well with those in his inner circle. "Larry was a total threat to us all. He would spend hours and hours and hours with Elvis, just talking to him and he wasn't anything that Elvis represented, he didn't represent anything that Elvis had believed in prior to that time," Priscilla Presley told Peter Guralnick, author of Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley. She said that Elvis would "read books studiously for hours and hours. He had conversations with Larry for hours and hours-he was going on a search for why we were here and who we were, the purpose of life; he was on a search with Larry to try to find it." Rumors began circulating that Elvis was leaving his religious roots in search of something different. Movie columnist May Mann asked him if he had left his faith. Elvis responded by saying, "I began reading and …became very interested in self-realization-in finding one's true self. Who isn't? [But] I have never left my own church." On another occasion, Elvis told Mann that he wanted to get back to church and was anxious to express his faith through music. "Church was our way of life since I can remember. The last time I went, there was so much confusion, and autograph-seeking, that out of respect I've stayed away.…I've been working on religious songs for an album. I feel God and his goodness, and I believe I can express his love for us in music." The actress Natalie Wood, who had worked with Elvis in movies, explained his view on music: "He felt he had been given this gift, this talent, by God. He didn't take it for granted," said Wood. "He thought it was something that he had to protect. He had to be nice to people. Otherwise, God would take it away." Although Elvis explored and researched many different religions and practices, he never abandoned or rejected his beliefs about Christianity. He was a true believer, but he also had the appetite of a spiritually-starved seeker. In one conversation with Geller, Elvis stated, "All I want is to know the truth, to know and experience God. I'm a searcher, that's what I'm all about." Throughout Presley's life, gospel music was a constant element of solace to man who was burning the candle at both ends in the fast lane of international celebrity. The only Grammy Awards that Elvis earned were with his gospel records and his endeavors recently garnered him a spot in the Gospel Music Association's Hall of Fame. To many fans, he is as well known for "How Great Thou Art" as he is for "Blue Suede Shoes." Elvis owed a lot to gospel music and was stubbornly adamant about showing his gratitude. He was one of the only rock and roll stars who recorded religious music-crossing back and forth over the divide between the secular and the sacred. He insisted on singing "Peace in the Valley" on the Ed Sullivan Show for his mother and even took gospel music into the International Hotel in Las Vegas, despite protests from the management. Glimpses
of the sacred in Vegas "In the latter years he just wasn't very happy," said Esposito. "He couldn't shake the loneliness. The downturn came with the divorce [in 1973]. When Priscilla divorced him, it had to hurt. His ego was so big about that. It killed him to know it didn't work out." As if to reconnect with his childhood faith, Elvis hired gospel groups such as the Imperials, the Sweet Inspirations, and J.D. Sumner and the Stamps to sing back-up for him while he was in Las Vegas. Surrounded by all of the glittery temptations that Vegas had to offer, Elvis seemed to be seeking to provide a glimpse of the sacred--for his audience, as well as for himself. "After the shows he would routinely sing with the gospel quartets that were used as his backgrounders," says Frank Breeden, president of the Gospel Music Association. "It was the gospel music that he turned to for inspiration and consolation. He was a person who appeared to be in conflict; he was not doing what he loved for a living…he had a career that had just taken him captive." It would be a mistake to describe what went on in the Vegas shows as a revival meeting under neon lights. Nevertheless, Presley appeared to be hungering for the security and peace that he found in the faith of his childhood and was persistent to use his stature to ensure that he was able to play by his own rules. According to his childhood friend Becky Martin, Elvis always wanted to be a preacher. Martin was in touch with him throughout the 1970s and recalls Elvis saying, "Becky, just think what I could have done if I had become a preacher! Just think of the good I could have done if I'd lived my life spreading the word of the Lord." This desire would occasionally manifest itself when he read the Scriptures between songs and hushed the audience into an almost reverent silence to listen to J.D. Sumner and the Stamps sing "Sweet, Sweet Spirit." Sumner recalls a woman approaching the stage in Vegas with a crown sitting atop a pillow and Elvis asking her what it was. She answered, "It's for you. You're the King." Elvis took her hand, smiled, and told her, "No honey, I'm not the King. Christ is the King. I'm just a singer." In December 1976, Elvis requested that television evangelist Rex Humbard and his wife Maude Aimee meet with him backstage in Las Vegas. During the show, Elvis had dedicated "How Great Thou Art" to them, but backstage he earnestly asked Humbard if he should devote his entire show to gospel music. "Humbard told him that he shouldn't," recalled Sumner. "He said that by drawing in the multitudes and singing songs like 'Why Me?' and 'How Great Thou Art' he was tilling more soil for ministers like himself than anyone else in the world. He told him that he really would be doing wrong if he sang only gospel." According to Humbard, "I took both his hands in mine [and] said, 'Elvis, right now I want to pray for you.' He said, 'Please do,' and started weeping." The
prayers of Elvis's final days Stanley has one of the more unique perspectives of all those who were close to Presley. He lived with Elvis for 18 years, moving into Graceland at age 6 after his mother married Elvis's widowed father. Presley was 25 years old at the time. Stanley worked for Elvis for many years as a personal assistant and part of his security team. As such, he participated in the behind-the-scenes episodes of drug use and womanizing. Today, however, Stanley is a Baptist evangelist who has been in ministry for 24 years, having preached in more than 4,000 churches. On the day before Presley died, Stanley told Elvis that a friend of his, Robyn, was telling him about Jesus and how she was praying for him. "Elvis Presley, at 42 years old, looked at me and said, 'Ricky, she's telling you the truth.' Then he said, 'People who talk to you about Jesus really care.' I talked with Elvis for a while … then left to run an errand." When he returned to Graceland, he was told by Lisa Marie, Presley's 9-year-old daughter, that Elvis was dead. In his 1992 book, Caught in a Trap (Word), Stanley writes about the days leading up to the close of Elvis's life. On the night of his death, Elvis prayed, "Dear Lord, please show me a way. I'm tired and confused, and I need your help." A few minutes later, he looked at Stanley and said, "Rick, we should all begin to live for Christ." On the previous day, Stanley heard Elvis praying, "God, forgive me for my sins. Let…people…have compassion and understanding of the things I have done." Robyn came to the funeral but Stanley told her that he didn't want to hear about Christianity because he was angry with God about the death of Presley. Stanley says that she "didn't even bat an eye and said, 'He can handle it.'" A few months later, Stanley became a Christian and began sharing his testimony. After hearing his story, Dr. W.A. Criswell, who was pastor for 50 years at the 28,000-member First Baptist Church of Dallas, offered to send Stanley to Bible college. He then went on to graduate from Southwestern in 1986. When Stanley told Vernon Presley about his plans to preach, Elvis's father said, "Now son, people are going to be critical of you and your ministry because you are related to Elvis, but don't let them deter you because Elvis wanted to preach more than anything in the world." Addressing
the critics From the outset, it should be noted that Elvis is not above criticism. He was not a saint, and no one knew that better than Presley himself. However, who would blame Elvis for reading the BreakPoint commentary and reliving the frustration he felt clear back in 1956 with that Baptist preacher in Jacksonville? Elvis was an enigma who touched a nerve in American culture. There is, of course, no one on the planet that can attract 70,000 fans to his gravesite to recognize the 25th anniversary of his death. While there, fans recited the Lord's Prayer, repeated the 23rd Psalm, and joined together in singing "How Great Thou Art." Can 70,000 fans be wrong? Sure, but these fans were not. Granted, there are small numbers of fanatics who decorate their houses with black velvet Elvis paintings and ceramic busts of The King. Nevertheless, the vast majority of fans are simply people who are grateful for the joy that Presley was able to bring into their lives through his movies and music. That is no small gift to be thankful for. "Is the 'king of rock 'n' roll' the role model you want for your children and grandchildren?" the BreakPoint commentary asks. It answers its own question by stating: "Let's be honest: Instead of an idol to emulate, Elvis is an object lesson in the wages of sin." The role model question is a bit unfair. After all, the media driven image of Elvis that BreakPoint has in mind is that of living fast and dying young. None of us would want that for our children. But were there character traits that Elvis had that we should hope our children would emulate? Yes, of course. Elvis had a devoted love for his parents, Gladys and Vernon. He was willing to courageously cross the racial divide that segregated our society. Elvis was generous to a fault, sometimes buying expensive gifts such as Cadillacs for strangers just to see the joy on their faces. He wanted to bring happiness to a culture that desperately needed to be able to dance and sing. Most importantly, Elvis was a seeker after God. Sometimes that journey led him into more confusion, but he hungered to know God and experience his love. Lastly, he prayed with contrition. That should count for something. Did he stumble and fall? Yes, quite often. Like so many other famous men of his era such as Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy, Presley was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. Unlike Jesus, they were not able to resist the lures of the flesh, but do we dismiss their contributions? Of course not. Admittedly, it is sometimes easier to judge someone according to an offending snapshot of their life than to view it as an entire movie, filled with triumphs and failures. "In spite of media portrayals of Presley's religious roots," stated the BreakPoint commentary, "his belief system was not the 'true and undefiled religion' that the Apostle James wrote about." The Bible defines that as, "To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world" (James 1:27). One assumes that Elvis is being chastised for not keeping himself "unspotted from the world." Of course, he is an easy target on that count. It is, however, simplistic to point to Elvis's sins and summarily cast him aside as a failure. Pill-popping and womanizing are certainly not the extent of spots that can be acquired from too much living in the world. Each one of us, who are not afforded the smorgasbord of temptation that a man like Elvis faced, must endeavor with fear and trembling to be in the world and yet not of it--no small challenge. The first part of that passage in James refers to acts of mercy. The message speaks of walking in grace, charity and love. When Jesus was confronted by a devious crowd who had caught a woman in the midst of adultery he told her, "Go and sin no more"--acknowledging her wrong doing but offering her grace and telling her to stay out of trouble in the future. But in that same story he looked to her accusers and said, "Ye without sin cast the first stone." While Christianity does not teach us to cast a blind eye to sin, it does caution us about the way that we condemn others. The Bible says to be wise as a serpent and as gentle as a dove. For most of us, that is easier said than done. When he died, Elvis had 14 different drugs active in his system. There are plenty of lessons to be gleaned from Elvis's tragic life but they should be taught through the prism of sorrow and grace. In order to prove our point, we cannot forfeit all sense of compassion for a man who--according to those around him during his last days--sought help and forgiveness from God. If one looks at Elvis as a prodigal son, there is good reason to believe that he died on his journey back to the Father's House. At the funeral for Elvis Presley, the main address was given by the Rev. C.W. Bradley, minister of the Wooddale Church of Christ in Memphis. He spoke of Elvis's determination, decency, and his love of family. Bradley also acknowledged that Elvis was a "frail human being" and that "he would be the first to admit his weakness. Perhaps because of his rapid rise to fame and fortune he was thrown into temptations that some never experience. Elvis would not want anyone to think that he had no flaws or faults. But now that he's gone, I find it more helpful to remember his good qualities, and I hope you do too." The way in which a person dies is not always the best way to remember the contribution he or she made while they lived. All of us have seasons of our lives that we would sooner forget- whether we were on drugs, in prison, or living the life of a prodigal. It is a worthwhile endeavor to work on extending a little more mercy to others in the same way that we trust the good Lord will extend it to us. We could all use a little trip to "graceland," even when we are remembering Elvis. Steve Beard is the editor of Good News magazine and the creator of Thunderstruck.org, a website devoted to pop culture and spirituality. Sources: "Sequins, Suits, and Sunglasses: Shall we emulate Elvis?" BreakPoint with Charles Colson, August 20, 2002 Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley, by Peter Guralnick (Little, Brown and Company, 1994) Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley, by Peter Guralnick (Little, Brown and Company, 1999) Down at the End of Lonely Street: The Life and Death of Elvis Presley, by Peter Harry Brown and Pat H. Broeske (Dutton, 1997) Life magazine, August 27, 1956, pages 108-109 Caught in a Trap, by Rick Stanley with Paul Harold (Word, 1992) Elvis Aaron Presley: Revelations from the Memphis Mafia, by Alanna Nash, Marty Lacker, and Lamar Fike, with Billy Smith (HarperCollins 1995) Hungry for Heaven: Rock 'n' Roll & the Search for Redemption, by Steve Turner (InterVarsity 1995) If I Can Dream: Elvis' Own Story, by Larry Geller and Joel Spector with Patricia Romanowski (Simon and Shuster, 1989) Elvis and the Colonel, by May Mann (Drake, 1975) Elvis, by Albert Goldman (McGraw Hill, 1981) Elvis in Private, by Peter Haining (St. Martin's Press, 1987) "The King's brother comes to Boutte," St. Charles Herald-Guide, April 1, 1998 Phone interview with Rick Stanley, August 23, 2002 "Elvis' stepbrother now evangelist," Baptist Press, October 24, 2000 "At Graceland, alone among many," MSNBC, August 13, 2002 "Gospel music and Elvis: Inspiration and consolation," CNN August 14, 2002 |