courtesy of Reflections on the Dance website - Debbie Kunesh
His Faith...
No doubt about it, Michael Jackson was a man of faith, a seeker, a man of God. He spoke of God, Jesus and the Bible often. In almost every interview. He lived his life trying to be pleasing to God in how he helped people in the way that, he himself, mentioned that Jesus would want him to. He even made reference to Scripture and his faith in several of his song lyrics.
Here, I'll let Michael tell you about the faith that he had, the faith that sustained him in the many trials and tribulations that he experienced throughout his life, and the curious, inquisitive nature that he held that kept him searching for further truth.
Michael Speaks on Faith:
"...But I will never stop helping and loving people
the way Jesus said to."
God is in Control & We Are All In God's Hands:
"...Look, we don’t have control over the grounds, they can shake. We don’t have control over the seas, they can have tsunamis. We don’t have control over the skies, there are storms. We’re all in God’s hands. I think that man has to take that into consideration."
Michael Jackson in his 2007 Ebony Magazine interview
His Belief In and Love For God:
I believe in God.....I gain strength from God. I believe in Jehovah, God, very much.....I believe in God and love God."
On His Creativity Being God's Work:
"No one can quite say what the creative process is. Because I have nothing to do with it of course. It's created in space. It's God's work, not mine."
Ebony/Jet 2007 interview
I wrote "Will You Be There?" at my house, "Never Land" in California....I didn't think about it hard. Thats why its hard to take credit for the songs that I write, because I just always feel that it's done from above. I feel fortunate for being that instrument through which music flows. I'm just the source through which it comes. I can't take credit for it because it's Gods work. He's just using me as the messenger....
Ebony/Jet 2002 interview
God and Children, Being Childlike and Imitating Jesus:
"When I see children, I see the face of God. That's why I love them so much. That's what I see."
"Children show me in their playful smiles the divine in everyone. This simple goodness shines straight from their hearts and only asks to be lived."
"I think God outdid Himself when He created children."
"I'm trying to imitate Jesus in the fact that he said to be like children, to love children, to be as pure as children and to make yourself as innocent and to see the world through eyes of wonderment and the whole magical quality of it all."
Michael Jackson
Oprah Winfrey interview 1993.
"Like the Bible says. A child should be leader of them all, and to be led by that kind of innocence. Didn't Jesus say 'bring on the children?' Be like the children. Not childish, but child-like. That kind of innocence."
Michael Jackson in the Martin Bashir outtakes
"....I love to do things for children and I try to imitate Jesus. And no, I am not saying I am Jesus, I'm not saying that.... I'm trying to imitate Jesus in the fact that he said to be like children, to love children, to be as pure as children, and to make yourself as innocent and to see the world through eyes of wonderment and the whole magical quality of it all and I love that. And we'll have like a hundred bald headed children, they all have cancer, and they're all running around. And they are enjoying themselves and it makes me cry happy tears that I was able to do this for them, you know. (It) makes me so pleased inside."
"I will never stop helping and loving people the way Jesus said to. He said "Continue to love. Always love. Remember children. Imitate the children." Not childish, but childlike."
2003 60 Minutes TV interview with Ed Bradley
His Love For Animals and God's Creation:
"God created animals. And they’re loving; they’re beautiful. I feel the way (anthropologist) Jane Goodall does or any of those naturalists. I don’t find my interest in animals weird or strange at all."
1999 TV Guide Magazine
The Power of Love, Caring, Faith and Prayer:
"With just a little love and a little caring, I have seen kids totally turn around. Where you can't find any cancer at all anymore in their body. I've done it a lot of times. I'm not trying to say I'm Jesus Christ. We should just give a little more attention to the power of love and caring and faith and prayer."
Michael Jackson in the Martin Bashir outtakes
His Values:
"Caring. And reading the Bible, learning about God, Jesus, love. He said, 'Bring on the children', 'Imitate the children', 'Be like the children' and 'Take care of others.' Take care of old people. And we were raised with those values. Those are very important values and my family and I we were raised with those values and they continue strong in us today."
2005 At Large with Geraldo Rivera TV Interview
The Source of his compassionate nature:
"I truly think it comes from my mother and God. The way we were raised. The values my mother instilled in us in youth. She was always with the Bible teaching us - we’d go to service all the time. Four times a week, and I’m so glad we did that because those values are very important. I don’t know if I could have done as well without them."
2005 At Large with Geraldo Rivera TV Interview
How he views himself:
"I try to be kind and generous and to give to people and to do what I think God wants me to do. Sometimes I pray and say "where do you want me to go next, God? What do you want me to do from here?" I’ve always been very spiritual in that way. It’s nothing new."
2005 At Large with Geraldo Rivera TV Interview
His Purpose of God's Choosing:
"I really believe that God chooses people to do certain things, the way Michelangelo or Leonardo da Vinci or Mozart or Muhammad Ali or Martin Luther King is chosen. And that is their mission to do that thing. And I think that I haven't scratched the surface yet of what my real purpose is for being here.
I'm committed to my art. I believe that all art has as its ultimate goal the union between the material and the spiritual, the human and the divine. And I believe that that is the very reason for the existence of art and what I do. And I feel fortunate in being that instrument through which music flows .... Deep inside I feel that this world we live in is really a big, huge, monumental symphonic orchestra. I believe that in its primordial form all of creation is sound and that it's not just random sound, that its music. You've heard the expression, music of the spheres? Well, thats a very literal phrase. In the Gospels, we read, "And the Lord God made man from the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul." That breath of life to me is the music of life and it permeates every fiber of creation.
In one of the pieces of the Dangerous album, I say: "Life songs of ages, throbbing in my blood, have danced the rhythm of the tide and flood." This is a very literal statement, because the same new miracle intervals and biological rhythms that sound out the architecture of my DNA also governs the movement of the stars. The same music governs the rhythm of the seasons, the pulse of our heartbeats, the migration of birds, the ebb and flow of ocean tides, the cycles of growth, evolution and dissolution. It's music, its rhythm. And my goal in life is to give to the world what I was lucky to receive: the ecstasy of divine union through my music and my dance. Its like, my purpose, its what I'm here for."
Ebony/Jet 2002 interview
"What can I do but bring forth the talent that God gave me? That's all I wanted to do. To share the love and gift of entertainment. That's all I want to do. I don't want to hurt anybody."
Michael Jackson
2002 Radio interview with Steve Harvey
"I’m just a person who wants to be honest and do good, make people happy and give them the greatest sense of escapism through the talent God has given me. That’s where my heart is, that’s all I want to do. Just let me share and give, put a smile on people’s faces and make their hearts feel happy."
1999 The Daily Mirror Magazine
"I think…to give. In the best way I can, through song and through dance and through music. I mean, I am committed to my art. I believe that all art has as it's ultimate goal the union between the material and the spiritual, the human and the divine. I believe that to be the reason for the very existence of art. And I feel I was chosen as an instrument to just give music and love and harmony to the world. To children of all ages, and adults and teenagers.... I love people of all races from my heart, with true affection."
1993 TV Interview with Oprah
"It's been the children. I am holding on for them or else I wouldn't have made it. I really wouldn't have made it.....God gave me a mission, I feel to do something for them and they have given me the support and the belief and the love to hold on, hold on. When I look in the mirror I feel healed all over again. It's like being baptized. It's like God saying, "Michael, everything will be okay," when I look in the eyes of a child."
The Michael Jackson Tapes
Winning God's Smile of Approval:
"I’ve traveled the world over 8 times. I do as many hospitals and orphanages as I do concerts. But, of course, it’s not covered (by the press). That’s not why I do it, for coverage. I do it because it’s from my heart. And there are so many children in the city who haven’t seen the mountains, who haven’t been on a carousel, who haven’t pet a horse or a llama, never seen them, so if I can open my gates and see that bliss, an explosion of screaming laughter from the children and they run on the rides, I say "Thank you, God." I feel I’ve won God’s smile of approval, because I’m doing something that brings joy and happiness to other people."
2005 At Large with Geraldo Rivera TV Interview
His Mother and the Faith She Instilled in Him:
"My mother knew her polio was not a curse but a test that God gave her to
triumph over, and she instilled in me a love of Him that I will always have.
She taught me that my talent for singing and dancing was as much God's work
as a beautiful sunset or a storm that left snow for children to play in.
Despite all the time we spent rehearsing and travelling, Mom would find time
to take me to the Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah's Witnesses, usually with
Rebbie and LaToya.
Years later, after we had left Gary, we performed on "The Ed Sullivan Show",
the live Sunday night variety show where America first saw the Beatles,
Elvis, and Sly and the Family Stone. After the show, Mr. Sullivan
complimented and thanked each of us; but I was thinking about what he had
said to me before the show. I had been wandering around backstage, like the
kid in the Pepsi commercial, and ran into Mr. Sullivan. He seemed glad to
see me and shook my hand, but before he let it go he had a special message
for me. It was 1970, a year when some of the best people in rock were losing
their lives to drugs and alcohol. An older, wiser generation in show
business was unprepared to lose its very young. Some people had already said
that I reminded them of Frankie Lymon, a great young singer of the 1950s who
lost his life that way. Ed Sullivan may have been thinking of all this when
he told me, "Never forget where your talent came from, that your talent is a
gift from God."
I was grateful for his kindness, but I could have told him that my mother
had never let me forget. I never had polio, which is a frightening thing for
a dancer to think about, but I knew God had tested me and my brothers and
sisters in other ways - our large family, our tiny house, the small amount
of money we had to make ends meet, even the jealous kids in the
neighbourhood who threw rocks at our windows while we rehearsed, yelling
that we'd never make it. When I think of my mother and our early years, I
can tell you there are rewards that go far beyond money and public acclaim
and awards."
Michael Jackson in "Moonwalk"
Leave Room For God To Walk In The Room:
"We would work on a track and then we’d meet at his house, play what we worked on, and he would say, ‘Smelly, let it talk to you.’ I’d go, ‘OK.’ He’d say, ‘If the song needs something, it’ll tell you. Let it talk to you.’ I’ve learned to do that. The key to being a wonderful writer is not to write. You just get out of the way. Leave room for God to walk in the room. And when I write something that I know is right, I get on my knees and say thank you. Thank you, Jehovah!"
Michael talking about working with Quincy Jones and how God was behind his creativity, from the Ebony magazine 2007 interview
Believing in the Bible:
"I avoid using the term 'religion', because many people say 'my religion' this and 'my religion' that. Why should it be 'my' religion? I just believe what’s in the Bible with regard to which religion is involved. I simply believe.... I believe in it and I get down on my knees every night and thank God and ask Him to lead the way."
1979 Ebony Magazine interview
An excerpt from a 1977 interview Michael did with Timothy White. Michael was 19 at the time. It was published in Rock Lives (1990) and republished in the Q/Omnibus Press Rock N' Roll Reader (1994).
But there's a lot of ugliness in the world, too, a lot of cruelty. Did God create that?
No! That's because of man! Man is because of the fallen angels. It says in the Bible that all this would happen, and it's all coming true.
It's easy to judge the world from the privileged safety of America If you'd been to India and seen the ugliness there...
I can't wait! I that's what I want to see!
I've seen the very rich and the very poor, but I'm mainly interested in the poor. I don't wanna think the whole world is just like what's around here. I want to appreciate what I have , and try to help others.
I know what the rich are like. I've studied that country India so much, and when I go to other countries, people say, "You wanna see the ugly part of it?" [Nods] That's what I want to see!
What are you looking for?
[Smiling] I want to see what it's really like to starve. I don't want to hear it or read it. I want to see it.
Why?
It's a whole different thing when you see it! All the things I've read in my schoolbooks about England and the Queen were OK, but my very eyes are the greatest book in the world. When we did the Royal Command performance over in England, and then after it I actually looked into the Queen's eyes, it was the greatest thing! And it's the really the same thing with starvation! [Dreamily] When you see it, you just receive a little more.
On studying the Bible:
"Each day I take time out to study the Bible, no matter where I am. The teachings of the Bible have added a new dimension to my life. It, somehow, makes me whole."
Michael Jackson
1976 "Black Stars" Magazine interview
Appreciating God's Beauty:
"Wherever you go, man-made things are man-made, but you’ve got to get out and see God’s beauty of the world."
1979 JET Interview
"I pray a lot. I see a beautiful sunset and I say "God, that’s beautiful…Thank you”, or a baby smile or butterfly wings or anything like that.”
1987 Ebony/JET TV Interview
On remaining humble, despite his stardom:
"I never have felt that people should feel that they are better than others, simply because they just happen to possess a larger share of material items and monetary wealth than others less fortunate. I believe in sharing, assisting, and just lending a helping hand to people."
Michael Jackson
1976 "Black Stars" Magazine interview
His Philosophy for staying at the top:
I think, being humble and believing in yourself and having true love in your heart for the world, and really trying to help people through lyrics and the love of music and dance, because I truly do love people very much."
1996 TV Interview with Ian "Molly" Meldrum
On Breaking Down and Crying on Stage:
"It's always real and I take that moment and I pray not to cry and I usually, you know, do, because everything goes back to me from conception to us when we were little babies and children and now to see all the adulation and notoriety and it's just a work from God and it all goes through me real fast, you know? It's a blessing. I just break down and I cry at that moment, but I try not to show it to the audience, but I can't help it, you know?
Michael Jackson talking to Steve Harvey in a radio interview, 2002 in regards to his getting emotional on stage when performing with his brothers at his 30th Anniversary Special. Michael, in other concerts, would often get emotional during "I'll Be There", the song he sang with his brothers at the 30th Anniversary Special, and also while singing "She's Out of My Life." For why "She's Out of My Life" makes him emotional, see On Shyness and Being Lonely" on the "Michael In His Own Words" section of this website.
Coping with Fame and Respecting & Having Time for His Fans:
"I cope with it in a way - and I’m not calling myself Jesus, because I would never even look at myself on the same level - , but I’m comparing it to Jesus, because what God gave to Him was for a reason, and he preached, and people came about him and he didn’t get angry and push them aside and say leave me alone, I ain’t got time."
1984 Ebony Magazine
Faith in God Sustaining Him and Giving Him Strength Through The Tough Times:
"I gain strength from God. I believe in Jehovah, God, very much. And I gain strength from the fact that I know that I am innocent. None of these stories are true. They are totally fabricated. It's very sad and it's very, very painful. I pray a lot and that's how I deal with it. I'm a strong person. I'm a warrior, and I know what is inside of me. I'm a fighter, but it's very painful and at the end of the day, I'm still human, you know? I'm still a human being, so it does hurt very, very, very much."
Michael Jackson in his interview with the Rev. Jesse Jackson during the 2005 child molestation trial
"Know, in the end, I'll be vindicated, I pray, because I know the truth. I am an innocent person and I believe in God and love God."
Michael Jackson speaking to Rev. Jesse Jackson during his 2005 child molestation trial on what he wants his fans to know.
Love Your Neighbors:
"It's important to love your neighbors. I truly think it comes from my mother and God. The way we were raised. The values my mother instilled in us in youth. She was always with the Bible teaching us - we’d go to service all the time. Four times a week, and I’m so glad we did that because those values are very important. I don’t know if I could have done as well without them."
2005 At Large with Geraldo Rivera TV Interview
How he views himself:
"I try to be kind and generous and to give to people and to do what I think God wants me to do. Sometimes I pray and say "where do you want me to go next, God? What do you want me to do from here?" I’ve always been very spiritual in that way. It’s nothing new. I always have been."
2005 At Large with Geraldo Rivera TV Interview
On Forgiving Those Who Have Hurt You (and for Michael, that also meant the press, other celebrities who made fun of him, etc.):
"Yes, because I was taught to be Biblical: "Forgive them for they know not what they do." And you do it.....You know, "They know not what they do." Words of Jesus. They (those who come against him) don't even know me. It has no foundation what they are doing. How can they say it....they don't even know me? Do you believe something you have read?"
The Michael Jackson Tapes
On God Being In His Heart
"Although I once believed God is in a Church, I now believe that God is everywhere, he's in my heart...I now find God in those moments I spend with my children, I find God in the innocent."
The Michael Jackson Tapes
On Having a Relationship With Jesus:
SB (Shmuley Boteach):. ...Do you have a relationship with Jesus?
MJ: Jesus, yes. Absolutely. But you believe in Jesus, don’t you?
The Michael Jackson Tapes
On His Sundays: Worship, Dance and being "normal"
"Sundays were sacred for two other reasons as I was growing up. They were both the day that I attended church and the day that I spent rehearsing my hardest. This may seem against the idea of "rest on the Sabbath," but it was the most sacred way I could spend my time: developing the talents that God gave me. The best way I can imagine to show my thanks is to make the very most of the gift that God gave me.
Church was a treat in its own right. It was again a chance for me to be "normal". The church elders treated me the same as they treated everyone else. And they never became annoyed on the days that the back of the church filled with reporters who had discovered my whereabouts. They tried to welcome them in. After all, even reporters are the children of God.
When I was young, my whole family attended church together in Indiana. As we grew older, this became difficult and my remarkable and truly saintly mother would sometimes end up there on her own. When circumstances made it increasingly complex for me to attend, I was comforted by the belief that God exists in my heart, and in music and in beauty, not only in a building. But I still miss the sense of community I felt there, and I miss the friends and the people who treated me like I was simply one of them. Simply human. Sharing a day with God.
On His Inquisitiveness, Searching, Questioning and The Church:
Excerpted from "The Michael Jackson Tapes"
Faith, Moonwalking and Thriller:
(On the Jehovah's Witness faith disapproving of his dancing)
"Er (long silence). When I did certain things in the past that I didn't realize were against the religion and I was reprimanded for it, it almost destroyed me. Certain things taht I did as an artist in my music that I didn't realize I was crossing a line with them and when they chastised me, it really hurt me. It almost destroyed it. My mother saw it.
When I did the Moonwalk for the first time, Motown 25, they told me I was doing burlesque dancing and it was dirty and I went for months and they said, "You can't dance like that again." I said 90.9 percent of dancing is moving the waist. They said, "We don't want you to do it." So I went around trying to dance for a long time without moving this part of my body. Then when I made "Thriller", with all the ghouls and ghosts, they said that it was demonic and part of the occult and that Brother Jackson can't do it. I called my lawyer and was crying and I said, "Destroy the video, have it destroyed." And because he went against my wishes people have "Thriller" today. They made me feel so bad about it that I ordered my people to destroy it.
On performance as divine:
"It is divine, it is pure, it is revelation, without making it sound spiritual or religious, but it is a divine energy. Some people call it the spirit, like when the spirit comes into the room. Some people look down on it. Religions sometimes look down on it because they try to say it's demonic, it's the cult, it's the devil. It isn't; it is God-like. It is pure God-like energy. You feel God's light.
On Biblical Stories He Finds Inspiring
"I love the Sermon on the Mount. I love the story when the Apostles are arguing amongst themselves about who is the greatest and Jesus says, "Unless you humble yourself like this little child, be childlike..." I thought that was the perfect thing to say. Return to innocence.
Adam and Eve:
"Of course. Of course. (on if the story of Adam and Eve has special meaning for him). Yes, I wish I could have seen it. Was it symbolism? Is it real? Did it happen? I'm confused sometimes that there is a loophole. I had questions that sometimes even the elders (of the Jehovah's Witnesses Church) couldn't answer. I'm the kind of guy who used to grab the microphone and say, "Well, what about this and what about that?" They would say, "Brother Jackson, we will talk to you later." They would come up with this other funny kinda answer that wouldn't drive the point home.....But (what doesn't make sense to me is that God) tested them (with the forbidden fruit). And if you are God you should know the outcome. And if you are God, why test if you create a perfect being that should not be able to do any wrong? And why judge and thrust such anger on them and run them away and tempt them with a snake?....I am not here trying to judge God or criticize Him in any way. But sometimes I think it is a symbolism to teach us certain lessons
Justice and Discrediting Karma
"...I think justice is important because there are many injustices in the world and I hate injustice. 'I am tired of injustice" is the opening to one of my songs on my last album, called Scream. That's the first line I say. There's a line where Janet says, "Oh my God I can't believe what I saw on the TV this evening. I was disgusted by all the injustice,' because I wanted people to know about that and people get away with it and I don't believe in karma. I think that is a bunch of crap, because so many mean-spirited, evil people are on top of the world and doing well and people love them, no matter how evil they are.....Well, I'm sorry, it's crap. Karma is a theory like any other theory that some human made up.
On Creation vs. The Big Bang
The question asked of Michael: Did you ever have Eastern spiritual gurus who came to you and said "Michael's children get hit by trucks because they fornicated in a previous life?
Michael's answer: "No, and if they did I would be furious and I would give them all the reasons why that is a bunch of crap. That's doodoo. That's a theory like any other man's theory about the universe. Some people believe in the Big Bang, which I don't, and some people believe in the Creation, that story with Adam and Eve, that this universe isn't an accident. To say this universe was created by a Big Bang or an accident is to say, 'Okay, I want you to take a car engine and we are going to take each piece apart and we are going to put it in a bath tub, and I want you to shake it up.' You can shake that tub 100 years and it will never become the perfect engine. All the pieces to come together and make an engine, that is like saying the Big Bang theory, and there was a big explosion and we got children and trees, and plants, and the air we breath, and oxygen. Somebody had to create this, a designed had to create this. From our lashes to our mouths to our digestive system. Don't you agree?"
"When I used to go door to door (Witnessing for the Jehova's Witnesses Church) and people would say, 'We are athiests,' (I'd think) what? They don't believe in...I heard it a lot and I had a brother who was an athiest for a while but I think he isn't now. Tito was an athiest even after being raised as a strict Jehovah's Witness....I tried to bring out the miracles of life, the children, look into their eyes, our bodies, how it all works just right, this can't happen on it's own, come on, no way. Then there are the questions I have about why we are here and why we are allowed to destroy each other. Because we are the only species who destroys their own....I don't understand how all that injustice takes place.
Justice and Cruelty:
"....I think evil is in people's hearts.....I think the devil is man himself."
"Follow the Golden Rule. Be kind to your neighbors, love them as much as you would love yourself, do unto others...."
"I get angry, yeah. But I know that is the way of the world. That's the theme of my world show: Be kind, heal the world. Let's walk out of here a different human being. Let's love. It's like going to church, but I do it without preaching. I do it through music and dancing. Marilyn Manson says onstage, "Kill God....take your Bibles and tear them...." Yet the press doesn't attack HIM! And he has got breasts on just like a woman...."
"I believe there are some good people in the world and I do believe there is a God. I don't believe that God judges. I don't think that He is upstairs going, 'You are alright. But I am going to tear you up...."
