Back in May I posted that Tammy Faye Messner was dying from cancer. This past Friday she finally succumbed to her illness after a long battle.

Given her history Tammy Faye was an easy target for cheap shot humor, and she remains so today. I’ve already heard one friend joke about make-up company stock prices and profits falling on hearing the news of her death.

I have no interest adding to any of that sort of thing here (and think Christians really ought to be ashamed of themselves for taking such cheap shots!). Anyone who saw her final appearance on Larry King Live the day before she died had to have been shaken and moved how she looked as she stood on the very doorstep of death.

In all the news reports that I’ve seen and read about her passing refer to her as an “Evangelist.” There’s no doubt that at one point in her life that’s what she was. Whether she remained one during her last decade or so of life is another matter.

In the long run I don’t think Tammy Faye will be seen as an important figure in either American culture or faith. She was a tabloid queen to be sure, she was media savvy and extremely quotable, but I don’t think she made any real, significant or historic contributions to American Christianity.

Her son Jay disagrees with that, as you might expect. Here’s what he said on Larry King Live about the impact of his Mother’s life.

BAKKER: I’ve learned a ton from my mom. She stood up for people when it wasn’t popular. She had one of the first people in the early ’80s on Christian Television with AIDS. I mean Reagan didn’t even mention the word AIDS during the ’80s and here my mom was talking about it on Christian Television.

She had one of the first MCC pastors, which is the first gay denomination. She did an interview with them and always that she might not have agreed on everything with them, she loved them and built a bridge. And I just had a huge conference for MCC and hundreds of people just said, your mom built the bridge between Christianity and homosexuality and we love her and pray for her every day.

And, to me, that’s — you know, she will not be forgotten not just by the gay community but all communities. The people really have loved her because she’s never changed when people tried to make her change. And she always stood up for the underdog and for those who were hurting. [Source]

Tammy might have been one of the first Christian celebrities to dialog with homosexuals, but she wasn’t at the forefront of the movement to make churches accept homosexuality as normal or approved by God.

She did echo the tone of dancing right on the edge of accepting homosexuality as approved by God, if not outright saying so.

But the truth is that none of us know how we’ll be remembered, if anyone remembers us at all!

We have no real control over that, or over much of anything else beyond our own choices, and often enough we aren’t even in control of those!

I always try and learn from the lives of those I know who die. And although I didn’t know Tammy Faye one lesson I’ll take from her life is how necessary it is to cling to the faith now matter how painful and difficult that might be. Whatever may come, as a believer I need to hang in and trust God to work things out.

I think that at least in part she failed that test. She seemed to have caved into the cultural pressure to accept everyone and almost everything as okay. Whether she meant it to be or not (and I’m pretty sure she didn’t) that is a denial of the clear teaching of our Lord in the New Testament.

So today I’m recommitting myself to being true Christ as He’s revealed in the New Testament, not as He feel like to me, or as my culture wants Him to be.

Thanks for the reminder Tammy Faye, and may you rest in peace, and may your friends and family be comforted in this difficult time.