Televangelist Joyce Meyer got tattoo at 79 'to honor God'

Well-known televangelist across the Atlantic, Joyce Meyer, who turns 80 in June, said she recently had two tattoos done to show her Christian faith. The preacher believes that the meeting with the tattoo artist was guided by God. She and her husband are said to be the professional's two oldest clients.

Last October, Meyer said that reading a Bible verse convinced her she could wear a tattoo as a Christian. The televangelist quoted the verse from the Book of Isaiah saying “Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands” (chapter 49, verse 16). She says she was cheered at a meeting in Australia five years ago when she said: "Since I read the passage that says people had tattoos on their hands I belong to the Lord, I considered getting a tattoo I belong to Jesus.

Meyer says she is all the more convinced that a bipolar tattoo artist confused and convinced of going to hell because of his job had been touched by his message. She discovered that they had a mutual friend in Texas who revealed to her that the professional dreamed of having her in his studio. According to her, this connection was not a coincidence.

The Televangelist got a small cross tattooed on his back saying "I belong to Jesus" and a message on his foot to "remind him to walk in love". She declares that her conscience is clear and asks that no one write to her to criticize her decision.

A controversial decision

If the Old Testament prohibits tattoos (Book of Leviticus, chapter 19, verse 28), many Christians believe that it is only about those representing deities, others that it is necessary to live with the times, then that engravings on the skin are more and more highlighted in films or sports. Various celebrities sport Christian messages on their skin, such as footballer Olivier Giroud. 

In a series of two videos, Brother Paul Adrien, YouTuber and Catholic religious, who reveals his tattoos while saying he doesn't urge anyone to worry about them, offers a framework by asserting that the tattoo is neutral in itself, but that the body is "the temple of the Holy Spirit" according to the Bible and that avoid hiding the beauty of the body.

Last September, the Christian Post had published an article who, if he did not refer to the Book of Leviticus, questioned the growing influence of tattooing, a practice of pagan origin, in society, even among Christians. Evacuating the law from the Old Testament, the author declares however: “we have largely exceeded the stage of a mere passing fad. We are talking about a serious seismic change. “Wondering why so many Christians deface their temples with ink graffiti”, the article considers that this is above all a testimony of a “Me Generation”, a generation centered on itself.

Jean Sarpedon