The Grammys: A Satanic Snooze-fest

Does anybody watch the Grammys anymore? For some time now, the Grammys have suffered lackluster viewership. People are no longer interested in award shows, and the average American certainly doesn’t appreciate being lectured by celebrities about how bad our society is when those same celebrities contribute to our decline. But, seriously, how incredulous, and hypocritical is it when you have a musician decry against women being objectified when their hit single was about doing just that—treating women as sex objects?

To stir media attention, the Grammys are always trying to outdo the snooze-fest from previous years by being provocative and salacious. Whether it is staged wardrobe malfunctions or red-carpet drama, there is an incessant need for more spectacle. This year, what media outlets tout as “epic” was the performance of the song “Unholy” by Sam Smith and Kim Petras, where they both dress up in devil costumes, evoke Satanism, and generally act gross and perverse.

The demonic imagery and treating this performance as a worship service to Satan should disturb us, but it shouldn’t surprise us. For decades, the entertainment industry has been influenced by the demonic and wielded as a tool to shape culture. What happened at this year’s Grammys was just another example of an industry glorying in their depravity and unrestrained rebellion against God’s Law.  And it is all rather banal and underwhelming.

However, the Satanic is like that. It only has one schtick, done over and over ad nauseam. It is never creative. It attempts to be provocative yet comes across as pretentious and infantile. Sam Smith and Kim Petras’s performance was more silly than Satanic.

Please don’t misunderstand me that we do not take the Satanic seriously as Christians. The Apostle Paul reminds us within Scripture that there are cosmic powers over this present darkness and evil forces at work in the world today (Eph. 6:12). The Apostle Peter speaks of Satan in 1 Peter 5:8 as “a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” So, Satan is real, and the demonic influence is pervasive within our world to the ruin of many lives. Yet, as disturbing as it is to see performers parading on stage in devil costumes, gyrating to terribly produced music, and singing lyrics taken from a smut magazine, we must remember that it is all for not. The cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ have defeated Satan and his legion of followers. When the entertainment industry gleefully sides with the Devil, they put their stock in a lost cause and move one step toward their greatest fear: Irrelevance.

Moving forward, it is important to keep things in perspective and not get unsettled by what happens in pop culture. After all, heathens are going to heathe, and a lost world is going to act lost. Instead, we must be driven to prayer and encouraged by the reality that we serve a Christ who smites “the lawless one” with a breath of his mouth (2 Thess. 2:8).

Admittedly, I am no fan of modern-day pop music. I did not even know who Sam Smith was before writing this piece, and as far as naming five songs that are popular nowadays, I couldn’t tell you. But, on the other hand, my taste in music is much older and much more cultured than the synthesized, auto-tuned commercialized drivel they have out now.

One of my favorite songs was written in the 16th century by Martin Luther titled, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” and contains a lyric that we would do well to remember,

The prince of darkness grim,
            We tremble not for him;
 His rage we can endure,
            For lo! His doom is sure;
One little word shall fell him!

The Grammys will always be an underwhelming spectacle, and Satan an uncreative and defeated foe. Those who seek to evoke his name, promote his agenda, and revel in evil will lose in the end. All attempts look silly and clownish because Christ has already triumphed and won over Satan and the forces of evil.  What a mighty fortress in Christ we have!