Christians are not fully engaging God’s power unless they discover the “truth of His word” by studying directly from the Greek and Hebrew texts, TV host Kathie Lee Gifford said Friday on the red carpet at the 28th annual Movieguide Awards.
“We have not been taught the truth. And we wonder why we have no power in our lives. We’re quoting Scripture that isn’t true,” she declared in a video interview embedded on The Christian Post.
“If we’re not quoting what it actually says in the Greek, actually says in the Hebrew, then we’re not speaking the word and the word is everything.”
The comments were made when the reporter asked Gifford about her 2018 book, The Rock, The Road, and The Rabbi, which chronicles the intersection of Gifford’s desire to delve deeper into the Scriptures with her “life-changing” visits to the Holy Land.
“I believe that when we start actually quoting the Scripture, properly, learning it properly, then we can apply it properly,” the Emmy Award-winning TV host said. “Imagine the power that’s going to erupt in our lives because we’re doing what God said to do. Speak the truth in a spirit of love.”
While on the carpet at Avalon Theater in Hollywood, Gifford also talked about a “modern oratorio” she recently directed, and her plans for three more.
The God Who Sees was shot in Israel and is based on a song Gifford co-wrote with Grammy-nominated artist Nicole C. Mullen, who is featured in short film. It recounts the “stories of Hagar, Ruth and David during their wilderness experiences, and ending with Mary Magdalene in Jerusalem at the tomb of the Risen Savior, Jesus.”
Upcoming oratorios include The God of the How and When and The God of His Word, which will star Christian recording artist Danny Gokey. The fourth offering, slated to be 30 minutes long, will be called The God of the Other Side. All of them will be filmed in Israel, where Gifford is headed in March.
The conversation was especially fitting as the annual awards show honors films and TV shows with faith and family-friendly content.
During the interview, Gifford lauded the media opportunities Christians are now afforded outside the four walls of the church.
“When I was growing up, Christian kids who wanted to be singers or actors, we weren’t allowed to go into the secular field,” she said. “And I knew I wasn’t supposed to be in the church world. I knew God had called me to something different.
“It was very lonely for a long, long time. There were maybe 10 of us in this town that were trying to make it in this business and we were, we got such, uhh, it was horrible, but nobody has the right to tell somebody what their calling of God is on their life.”
As a host, playwright, producer, singer, songwriter and actress, Gifford said she received her initial calling in a movie theater while watching the Billy Graham film, The Restless One.
“He wasn’t thinking that the devil lived in the movie theater,” she said. “He’s thinking people will come to a movie theater that would never read the Bible, never come to my crusades, but they’ll go to a movie. He never dreamed that a little 12-year-old Jewish girl would be sitting in the theater one night, and now I’m making movies. Only God can put together stuff like that.”
In addition to her comments on the red carpet, Gifford delivered a speech during the award show, which will air Feb. 24 on the Hallmark Channel.
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Paul Archuleta/Stringer
Lori Arnold is a national award-winning journalist whose experience includes 16 years at a daily community newspaper in San Diego and 16 years as writer-editor for the Christian Examiner. She owns StoryLori Media and is a member of the Evangelical Press Association.
