Exploring the Bible

Comedian Michael Jr. shares his perception of Christianity and how understanding God helped him develop a better understanding of himself and why he is here.

Questions for Discussion and Personal Reflection

  1. Do you see the value in "reading the pamphlet" before committing to a belief system?
  2. Do your beliefs help you understand yourself and your purpose?

You know what's great about doing these interviews is the cameraman and producers can't laugh. So they're all holding it in, which is weird, right? Because that's really why, you know. But the cool thing is, is I don't need their acceptance because you know what? Um, what's his name? What's his name? Jesus, Jesus accepted me already. It's comedy. I was doing a show in New York City, and um, there's a club there that's really hard to get into, like really hard. It's called the Comic Strip Live. So I go and I do this show, and then George Wallace walks in and he's watching my comedy as well, and he's laughing. Um, so George Wallace says to me, "You're funny. I'd love for you to do a show with me and my best friend in a couple of nights." I was like, "Cool, I'm pumped. Let's do it." I get to the show. It's me, George Wallace, Jerry Seinfeld. I'm like, "Yo, that's who's on the show? This is phenomenal." I do two shows, I get two standing ovations, I rip. I'm the man. Afterwards, my manager says to me, "Hey, Michael, you want to go to church with me tomorrow?" I'm like, "Church? Ain't nobody going to no church. What are you— I got two standing ovations. What do I need to go to church for? You trippin'." Then his fiance asked me to go, and she was fine! And she was beautiful. She had some kind of accent, too. She was like, "Michael Jr, would you like to go to church with me?" And I was like, "Yeah, man. I was just wondering about going to church. I was just saying to myself, 'Shoot, man. you know, I need to find a church.'" So I went to this church for the wrong reasons, and I get there and I can't even find my, my manager, his fiance. I can't find none of them people. So I sit down in this church, and this dude is up on stage talking about Jesus. That's it. He's just talking. He's not screaming, he's not yelling, he don't got no perm. Dude is just talking, and it was pretty cool. Like, I was really, like, I understood what he was saying. Because when I was a kid, I had gone to church and I didn't understand what those people were talking about— screaming yelling, shaking, jumping— stuff didn't make any sense. But this dude was making sense. Then he did this thing. He did an altar call, right? And he said, "If you want Jesus in your life, you've got to believe in your heart and confess with your mouth." That's what he said. And then he said, "You've got to come on down," and I wanted to go down, but I was like, "Nah. I've got to read the pamphlet first. I don't know what this is about." So I told myself I'd read the whole Bible before I go down. I didn't even have a Bible. I'm at the airport a couple days later. I'm at the airport. And this lady who I don't even know goes like this, and hands me a Bible. I don't even know this lady. I'm at O'Hare airport, and I get the Bible and I'm like, "Man, I'm going to start reading this thing." And I open up the Bible, the very first page behind the cover says that the Bible, the copyrights. Like, I read everything. I read the copyrights. It said, "Made in Grand Rapids, Michigan." I was like, "Yo! Me, too! This is pretty hot. That's where I was made at." I'm just telling you what happened. So I go ahead and I start reading the Bible. And I read the whole Bible. I read the stuff at the top, I read the little giblets at the bottom. And at the time, I wasn't a great reader. Like, I read slow. But I started putting in— listen, you don't have to read the Bible to know God, to get a relationship with him. I just wanted to because I didn't know. There's some stuff I didn't know. I wanted to make sure there wasn't no catch or nothing because there's some Christians out there who are a little creepy. I'm just going to be real with you. I didn't want to become one of them. I remember getting to the part in Matthew where it said Jesus died for me— and this is for real— I didn't know 'til I was 27 years old that Jesus died for me. I didn't know. People were talking to me about it, but they were a little creepy or a little weird or some strange stuff, but nobody was clear. I went to church, people yelling and screaming. I didn't understand any of that stuff. I didn't know til I read it when I was 27 years old that Jesus died for me. Right there in Matthew. I didn't know. Then I remember turning to Mark and thinking, "Man, he died again," and then Luke and John. I'm like, "Why they keep killing him? I don't understand. I don't get this. Like four times." I'm just telling you. I didn't know. So I finished reading the Bible. I get to Revelations, and I go to church, and I pretty much run up to the altar during the announcements because I know that I don't know everything. Like, when I read the Bible I probably only retained two maybe three percent of the information but what was happening is as situations would pop up, those situations in the Bible would come alive. Like, that, that stuff would show up and I would kind of know how to respond or where to research or what questions to ask because I had downloaded some truth into my spirit, and then that truth would just show up as opposed to Green Eggs and Ham showing up. So then, I give my life over to Jesus, and I realize even to this day that I'm not just funny. Like, before I thought I was just funny. I'm a funny dude, people need to laugh, that's enough. No, no, no. I'm funny for a reason. Like, there's a reason for me to have the sense humor I have. God knew that certain people would need to laugh around whatever subject, around whatever time, and he created me specifically for that reason. And I'm just excited and pumped about finding out each and every day what he would have for me to do next. And that's how I know God is real.