Oct 25
TV Couple Seeks to Put God First, Network Edits Out References to Him
Kate Gosselin and her husband, Jon, can’t stop TLC from editing prayers and references to God out of their hit reality TV series, Jon & Kate Plus 8. But the couple still manages to share their faith with viewers.
“There are many times that we pray, and there are many times we make reference to God,” said Gosselin, whose book, Multiple Blessings: Surviving to Thriving With Twins and Sextuplets, released Tuesday. “It is many times edited out, which is [TLC’s] prerogative. We had a really hard time with that at first, and challenged them about it. “But then the e-mails starting coming in where it would say, ‘We knew you were Christians when we went to your Web site, and we were right.’”
Debuting in April 2007, the Gosselins’ show is the most watched program on TLC and chronicles their atypical life in central Pennsylvania, raising sextuplets—Aaden, Joel, Leah, Alexis, Collin and Hannah—plus twin daughters—Cara and Mady—who are now 4 and 7-1/2 years old, respectively.“We don’t have editing rights one way or another,” said Gosselin, 33, whose family attends an Assemblies of God church. “If you edited all of our faith out of it and just saw a family—who through thick and through thin is sticking together in marriage—we always say that is so much better than what you’re going to see on TV anywhere else nowadays.”
She noted that God has used the show to make a spiritual impact on fans, including a woman who contacted her family earlier this year because her daughter had ovarian cancer and her dying wish was to talk to Gosselin.
“I felt very insecure about calling her,” Gosselin recalled. “She was a young mom, same age as me, and she had two young kids. I fought it for a few days. … I knew that God was telling me, ‘You must call her, you have no choice, you need to.’
“And so one night, I talked to her,” she added. “I was so inspired by her. She was an amazing woman who found humor in everything. … As she laid on her deathbed, I was able to lead her to the Lord that night. I knew I needed to do it and she was very accepting. She went to heaven less than 24 hour later.”
Gosselin stayed in touch with the woman’s mother, who ended up taking care of her daughter’s small children. “A few months later, the grandmother called me, and the 7 year-old found out that he was dying of cancer,” she recounted. “It’s so horribly awful, and he passed away this summer.
“I was able to lead him as well as the grandmother to the Lord. I never would have met them any other way, and that is how God chooses to use us. Three people coming to the Lord through our show is all worth it.”
The Gosselin family are media darlings, appearing on Dr. Phil, the Today show, The Oprah Winfrey Show and Good Morning America. Zondervan released the Gosselins’ book, Multiple Blessings: Surviving to Thriving With Twins and Sextuplets. Meanwhile, the couple speaks in churches—a ministry that has increased with the growing popularity of Jon & Kate. But having a reality show also means the Gosselins seem to live in a fishbowl.
“If you’ve seen our show, anytime that I lose my temper, I just don’t like to see it,” Gosselin said. “It’s hard, but we’re being real, and that was the goal of our show. … It’s an amazing story that we have eight healthy, beautiful children, but it’s not all hearts and flowers and happy, smiley, giggly all the time. I don’t care what family you are. That is not real. If that’s what you’re seeing, it’s not real all the time.”
Having up to eight TV crewmembers filming at their house for sometimes 12 hours also presents spiritual challenges for the family. “The greatest challenge is putting God first all the time, our family second and not allowing work or the demands of the show to tear us apart,” said Gosselin, who has been called “the busiest mom in America.”
“I firmly believe that the enemy’s main goal is to rip us apart as a family,” she continued. “We have felt ourselves being pulled that way because critical people—Christians included—will say: ‘[The show] will tear your family apart. Why are you doing this?’
“And our answer to that is, ‘We believe this is where God wants us to be, what God wants us to do.’ It is a daily struggle, but any job would be. We assess each situation, asking God for His help in each decision. We will keep our eyes on Him, although we are not perfect.”
- From Prophecy News Watch
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October 26th, 2008 at 1:24 am
I’m truly saddened every time I watch the Gosselin family on television
or read of them in a magazine. These parents are exploiting their minor
children for the monetary benefit of the parents. There are no laws protecting the minor children. Itheir Instead, the Gosselin parents are shopping for a multimillion dollar house.
The children ‘work’ 3-4 days a week up to 12 hours a day. The parents are
gone most weekends on speaking engagements with the children being
cared for by hired help since no family members are allowed contact with the
children.
There are many other TLC programs that illustrate practices of personal
religious choices such as the Duggar and the Harris families.
I urge you to learn more about these families by watching their programs
and witness for yourselves the ways TLC/Discovery shows how these Christians
live their lives (nothing edited from their shows), deal with life’s temptations and
family struggles with love, dignity, faith, and God’s help - all without
exploiting their children to do it.
The Gosselin family may talk a good story, but watch the other families
show you in their shows how they practice living good Christian lives and
truly putting God before everything else. The Gosselin’s put themselves
first. The Duggar and Harris families put God first and TLC allows it to
be shown on their shows. It’s refreshing to watch and I urge you to witness
it for yourselves. I do each week and feel renewed each time I do.
October 27th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
I find this article depressing. If the Gosselins were truly
putting God first in their lives, then no amount of money and
no television producer would be able to stop them.
I also don’t believe the story about the mother dying from
cancer and having a deathbed wish to talk to Kate Gosselin.
Sorry, but that doesn’t ring true to me. Sounds like Kate
is trying a little bit too hard to justify “their means to
an end.”
October 27th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
I totally agree with the last two comments. The Gosselins remind me of Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker. I can’t understand why TLC continues to let Jon and Kate Gosselin do this to their children. Those parents are exploiting those kids for monetary benefit. How sad and sick. The Duggar and Harris families are a good example of parents really caring for their children and not caring about the money.
October 29th, 2008 at 6:23 am
Oh they show plenty of Kate and Jon pretend Christian faith with the index cards and tee shirts but when it comes to representing in daily actions they sadly fall very short. Treat your spouse with respect, honor your parents, a man should support his family though it is okay if in this day and age they reverse roles it still should never be the minor children supporting the family, the list goes on and on with this pseudo Christian family. They are an embarrassment to those that actually walk the walk.
And I agree that story about the dying mother then boom son dying and sure she lead them to the Lord, wow, talk about blowing your own horn. I think that is also something that Kate needs to review in the real Bible because I think the one she uses is missing some vital information including the ten commandments.
November 19th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
I found your blog via Google while searching for first avian flu, thank you for posting le Seeks to Put God First, Network Edits Out References to Him | Command the Raven!