Billy Ray and Miley Cyrus

Billy Ray Cyrus blames the Disney Channel TV show Hannah Montana for destroying his family. He believes that the show that launched his daughter, Miley, to pop stardom caused his divorce and sent his daughter spinning out of control. He wishes that the show had never happened. He says, “…I’d erase it all in a second if I could.”

Billy Ray had his own success as a country singer in the 1990s after his huge hit Achy Breaky Heart, so he knew about the temptations that go along with fame and fortune. He says that his entire family was baptized before leaving Tennessee for Los Angeles, in order to protect themselves from evil. Yet his family still fell apart.

It seems that even baptized believers can be seduced by what the world has to offer. That’s why the Bible warns: “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” (1 John 2:15-17).

Let us all be aware that we are not immune to the misfortune that Miley Cyrus and her family have experienced. People who are not rich and famous have sold out their values chasing money, popularity and anything else the world has to offer. Many have exchanged their professed beliefs for a bigger house, a more expensive car, nicer clothing and the approval of people rather than the approval of God.

“What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?…” (Matt.16:26).