As if by magic, the stage morphed into a massive cathedral with imposing stained-glass windows and a marriage archway. High Priestesses “Material Girl” Madonna and pure “royalty,” Queen Latifah, then appeared on stage to join in marriage 33 couples of numerous sexual permutations, thereby sealing the new religion’s Oneist creed: all religions and all sexualities are One—to the thunderous applause of the thousands present, and to the approbation of millions of television viewers.

The 2023 Grammy’s made a huge splash, while horrifying Christians with its blatant satanic imagery and pagan religious overtones. But this is not so new! As I sat to write an article about the 2023 event, I remembered my reaction to the 2014 Grammy Awards. I wrote the following account:
In 1971, Don McLean sang “Bye-bye, Miss American Pie,” and asked: “…do you have faith in God above, if the Bible tells you so, [or] do you believe in rock and roll, can music save your mortal soul?” Back then there were still options. Asking these two questions in a pop song made sense. No longer. We’ve come a long way, baby. The latest Grammy Awards (January 26, 2014) celebrating the liberating power of music, launched in prime time, with all the stunning technological Hollywood bells and whistles, as THE NEW AMERICAN RELIGION.
Way back in 1988, at the height of his career as a recognized journalist (having made big money ghost-writing Donald Trump’s biography, Art of the Deal), Tony Schwartz went on a journey to understand what was happening to the soul of America. In 1995 he published What Really Matters, an examination of the thought and practice of the leaders of the New Age Movement. He discovered a unique, made-in-America spirituality that joined Eastern and Western practice into “a new American wisdom tradition” that would save the world. On January 26, 2014, that spiritual tradition came out on network television in a resounding worship celebration of a new American religion.
Driven by the “faith” of the leading contemporary purveyors of hip-hop and rap, the moment was enthusiastically sanctioned by the prominently featured elder wise ones—in particular Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and Yoko Ono.
The religious service began with serious “worship,” led by Beyoncé—at 6 pm Pacific, 7pm Central and 8pm Eastern, while children are still watching. Of course, that’s all just fine, since President Obama praised Beyoncé as an important role model for children, including his own. Her outlandishly sexualized dance routine, in a revealing black thong bodysuit over fishnet tights, simulating all the moves belonging solely to the privacy of the marital bedroom, was an act of heterosexual public debauchery. Her hit song, “Drunk in Love” served as an introductory hymn that set the worship tone for the evening. “I’ve been drinking…I get filthy when that liquor gets into me…[I can’t bring myself to type all the words she sang]…Drunk in love.” Beyoncé proudly embraces her sexuality, draping herself in pseudo-ethical notions like “pride” and “self-affirmation,” giving the appearance of moral high-ground while groveling in the gutter.
The order of service continued with testimonies of deliverance. Ex-evangelical Katy Perry (famous for her song, “I Kissed a Girl and Liked It”) celebrated her apostasy, dressed up as a witch with a large red cross on her chest, and was symbolically “burned at the stake.” A sister in rebellion, Kacey Musgraves (who sang in church as a child) won the Country award with her ballad, “Follow Your Arrow.” The arrows were anti-Christian barbs at church-going and traditional ethics. Her song culminated in the exhortation to escape those old-time religion chains:
So make lots of noise, Kiss lots of boys,Or kiss lots of girls, if that’s something you’re into,When the straight and narrow gets a little too straight.
The three-hour service ended on an ecstatic, unholy high note. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis (Grammy for Best New Artist), began the finale with their hit song “Same Love,” which has become an anthem in the gay community. Its religious overtones are easy to see:
America the brave still fears what we don’t knowAnd “God loves all his children” is somehow forgotten.Whatever god you believe in, we come from the same one;Strip away the fear, underneath, it’s all the same love…About time that we raised up!
As if by magic, the stage morphed into a massive cathedral with imposing stained-glass windows and a marriage archway. High Priestesses “Material Girl” Madonna and pure “royalty,” Queen Latifah, then appeared on stage to join in marriage 33 couples of numerous sexual permutations, thereby sealing the new religion’s Oneist creed: all religions and all sexualities are One—to the thunderous applause of the thousands present, and to the approbation of millions of television viewers.
The vacuous marriage sacrament of the “Grammys religion” and its further trivialization as an entertainment stunt, only underlines the spiritually empty gospel that Tinsel Town and its beautiful people were pushing, unopposed, into the homes of people who pay these artists their inflated salaries. There is no competing message, no other opinion allowed from other artists, no apparent way for so many to hear the truth. This is a formula for cultural collapse.
Fast Forward to 2023
At the 2023 Grammys, the religious theme went even further in the promotion of Satanism. Two trans, non-binary, androgynous artists Sam Smith and Kim Petras performed a song entitled “Unholy,” worshiping Satan. Smith was dressed in bright red with horns, surrounded by half-dressed young women twerking him in a highly sexualized manner. All this worshiping of “Satan” was intended to make a non-binary appeal to children to worship Satan and themselves.1 Madonna was still part of the event and this satanic, sexual scene on live TV shows us how far popular culture is falling. It is strange indeed for Pfizer, one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, to sponsor this shocking event.
The Babylon Bee makes fun of the event. “In a rare public statement, the Prince of Darkness has distanced himself from last night’s Grammys performance by Sam Smith, which he denounced as “cringy” and “appalling”: “listen, folks, I enjoy demonic sexual perversion just as much as the next guy, but this is just too much,” said the frustrated Father of Lies. “I’m the god of this world! I appear as an angel of light! It’s supposed to be sneaky and subtle! Has Hollywood lost its ability to be subtle? What on earth happened to this town?” 2
But Satanism is not a joke. Such a way of thinking gives occasion to the most radical kind of conclusion. Maria Molzer, a colleague of Carl Jung, who “analyzed” members of some of America’s most wealthy families, (Rockefellers and McCormicks) boldly expresses Jung’s thinking on the conjuctio (joining): “I too think that God and the Devil are two manifestations of the same principle, and that one necessitates the other…We must learn to value the Devil again. The Christian religion expelled him. He asks for his rights again.”3 In the Jungian therapeutic world, Satan becomes your friend. As the esoteric poet, W.B.Yeats said: “Frater Demon est Deus Inversus” (brother Satan is the other side of God).4
Nine years after my original description of the event, the Grammys has gone farther in its rejection of God and its embrace of the very opponent of God, namely Satan. Of course Christians must make this plain, but my friend Thaddeus Williams shows us the right conclusion, as he directly addresses Kim and Sam, the two young non-binary singers who praised Satan in the Grammys this year. With this gladly I end my text, for the Gospel is God’s love of sinners.5
“Dear Kim, your rejection of religion hasn’t made you non-religious. You are still bowing, only to the finite creation rather than the infinite Creator. Let me be crystal clear for you and Sam: You are loved in a way that no sexual experience can grant. We absolutely want you to be a part of Jesus’s movement to bring healing and redemption to a fallen cosmos. We, like you, have made spectacles of our self-worship. But there is grace for us all. Jesus is infinitely more joyous and meaningful than all the world’s accolades and affirmation. He is where our deepest identity is found. Ever since Jesus’ death and resurrection everything changed. The system of self-glorification is on its way out. Please, don’t find yourself on the wrong side of the future. Don’t spend your career parroting the doomed dogmas of an ancient snake. Repent. Find eternal life in Jesus.”
Dr. Peter Jones is scholar in residence at Westminster Seminary California and associate pastor at New Life Presbyterian Church in Escondido, Calif. He is director of truthXchange, a communications center aimed at equipping the Christian community to recognize and effectively respond to the rise of paganism. Used with permission.

[1] See Thaddeus Williams, https://wng.org/opinions/satanism-on-display-at-the-grammy-awards-1676031920?fbclid=IwAR3K3i5aJc26boES6qJujn5wLxfhgwjQeBGyTMccxg3oaps-LKf3RSS2nDM&mibextid=l066kq
[2] https://babylonbee.com/news/horrified-satan-distances-self-from-grammys
[3] Noll, The Aryan Christ, 197.
[4] http://yeatsvision.com/Esoteric.html.
[5] https://wng.org/opinions/satanism-on-display-at-the-grammy-awards-1676031920?fbclid=IwAR3K3i5aJc26boES6qJujn5wLxfhgwjQeBGyTMccxg3oaps-LKf3RSS2nDM&mibextid=l066kq
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Paul lived every day with the anticipation of going to heaven again. However, until that great day, he was going to live a life that is well pleasing to God. In other words, he lived every day with the goal or aim to be a God-honoring, Christ-exalting person. Regardless of what happened to him in any day, he understood in real terms the future. Whereas we walk in faith having not seen the future, Paul walked in faith and anticipation of returning again.

As you go about day-t0-day living, how often is heaven on your mind? Do you think of it very often? As I have aged, I have found that it is part of the conversation more and getting to heaven is more of a desire than when I was younger. I remember as a young person a man named Bill who talk about heaven most of the time. My brother and I worked closely with him in construction. As we would work throughout the day on various projects, he would talk about heaven. It did not make much sense to me at the time. However, over the years, I have grown to understand his passion for heaven more. In a great conversation just yesterday, we spent some time around the table over some dominoes thinking about heaven. As we talked, it reminded me of this question, “What role does heaven play on your mind?”
The Bible
Let me begin with Paul the Apostle. Notice what he writes to the Corinthians:
Fourteen years ago I was taken up to heaven for a visit. Don’t ask me whether my body was there or just my spirit, for I don’t know; only God can answer that. But anyway, there I was in paradise, and heard things so astounding that they are beyond a man’s power to describe or put in words (and anyway I am not allowed to tell them to others). That experience is something worth bragging about, but I am not going to do it. I am going to boast only about how weak I am and how great God is to use such weakness for his glory. I have plenty to boast about and would be no fool in doing it, but I don’t want anyone to think more highly of me than he should from what he can actually see in my life and my message. (2 Corinthians 12:2-6, TLB)
Paul describes an event that happened to him fourteen years prior, which would have been sometime near his return to Tarsus from Jerusalem and when he was sent out as a missionary with Barnabas (somewhere from Acts 9:30 to Acts 13:3). Hardly anything is known from this time in his ministry. However, Paul explains this situation where he was either in the Spirit taken or physically taken to heaven. What he saw he is not even allowed to tell; yet, it was lifechanging for him.
Over the fourteen years, no doubt while being persecuted, when tired, when hungry, or when plagued by his thorn in the flesh, Paul’s mind had gone back to this experience. What he saw could not be unseen. What he experienced could not be unexperienced. This moment fourteen years ago no doubt impacted every day of his life. He saw Christ and experienced a foretaste of heaven by literally being there – whether physically or in the Spirit he was unsure.
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The measure of success for your life this day until your last is that Christ increases and that you decrease. That’s what we’re aiming for. That’s the target. John’s attitude in verse 29, “So this joy of mine has been made full,” shows he lived his life not only out of obedience or deep resolve, but a servant’s joyful heart. Disciples of Christ find their joy not when we are made great, but when Christ has been made great. That is our source of delight and true satisfaction, not the finite things of this world.

Please read John 3:22-36 as a preface to this article
The major religion of our world today is the religion of personal happiness. Our supposed aim in life is to make ourselves as happy as possible as quickly as possible. Financial security, prestige, relationships, and treasures all exists as possible avenues to total satisfaction. Even morality has been subjected to decisions of personal happiness.  If you have what you want, you are told you will be happy.
The problem is that our pursuit of that happiness isn’t going very well. We don’t seem to be good at it. Despite all the available forms of wealth and entertainment, people are treated for depression and anxiety at an incredibly high rate. If you’re not happy, take a pill or talk to a professional. We’re not a joyful society. One needs only a quick look at Twitter or Facebook to find a culture that is discontent, disappointed, and often enraged.
For Christians stuck in a “me first” culture, John the Baptist provides a powerful example of one who has found satisfaction.
Find Joy in Purpose, Not Popularity
For those who want to find happiness in importance, John the Baptist is an ancient example of celebrity. Mentioned in all four gospels, John is a prominent man, and particularly because of his role as the forerunner of the Messiah. John stands out; he’s not in the cities or the prominent buildings. He’s out in the wilderness preaching and people are going out to hear him. He has a thriving ministry and people from all over the region are coming great lengths to hear him.
Within the greater context of the Gospel of John, the text I asked you to read is John the Baptist’s last testimony. In fact, the gospel of John doesn’t even mention the account of John the Baptist’s beheading at the hands of Herod, we simply don’t hear from him again in this book. Yet, in this passage we find modern instructions for joy for those who think ease and popularity are the pathway to happiness.
In Matthew 3, even the Pharisees and the Sadducees wanted to come witness this great man. The priests and the Levites wanted to come see this phenomenon. Herod, himself, who was not a godly man, enjoyed listening to John’s preaching. This is a man of influence. This is a man of popularity.
They were very, very popular, but the disciples to question and worry about this Jesus who was more popular than them. The disciples came to John with concern and anxiety because there were more people coming to Jesus than to John.
Jesus’ ministry was growing in popularity, faster than John’s, giving John’s disciples the well-known fear of occupational obsolescence. With Jesus’ ministry growing, the disciples of John worried they were going the same pathway as the blacksmith, the milkman, and of Blockbuster video.
How would you respond? Ho do you respond when your plans fail, and your importance is diminished? Often our response is to get frustrated, defensive, critical, or bitter. But this isn’t the model we saw in John 3. In short, John’s response was this: It isn’t about me.
He Must Increase, But I Must Decrease
What John begins to do is declare that Christ is greater than he is. That his own popularity is of little consequence to him. 
In verse 27, John begins by taking no credit for his success. He says a man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven. He says to disciples, ‘Friends, we weren’t prominent because we were creative, or smart, or good looking. We were given the position that we were given because God gave it to us.’
Our intellect and skills that put us in a role of influence or respect are from heaven.
Showing deep understanding of his role, his purpose, John says in verse 28, “You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent ahead of him.’” Saying, “This wasn’t about me, this was about making Him look good. I didn’t get into this for my own gain or for my own influence.”
John sees his ministry as a gift, and he sees his role as a setup man, satisfied and joyful when the spotlight is not on him, but focused on Christ.
He gives his summary statement in verse 30, saying “He must increase, but I must decrease.” I’ve been doing this all for Him. The main point of this section is to show that John’s ministry is going to disappear, and Christ’sministry is going to increase, but it also displays John’s burning passion for the greater ministry of Christ as the Messiah, not his ministry as the messenger.
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