reply to post by LazarusTsiyr
Yes, and no.
The first thing that we often fail to take into account in these matters is the fact that these are entertainers. No less, they are top-drawer, and
possess a kind of brilliance. The nature of this brilliance is embodied in the capacity to call attention to themselves and keep audiences focused
upon them and wanting more.
Identifying the symbols - which are absolutely present - in these performances, brands and images actually serves to further popularize them. When we
create a polemic, we are dividing the audience into those who agree and those who disagree. Presenting this information in the format you have chosen
and with the intent you move from only serves to encourage some people to embrace the message of your opposition.
Occultism is not automatically evil, incidentally. There are Christian mystics and there are mystical traditions within every faith. Sufism in Islam,
Kabbalah in Judaism and mystery cults among the ancient Greeks and Romans are only the most salient examples. Some of what Jay-Z and Beyonce are up to
appears to me to have to do with a cultural theme of increasing significance in the American Black communities. There are many firmly Christian
African Americans, but the Biblical morality and traditions are not very much fun from the standpoint of the American mainstream entertainment
culture. In addition, many black intellectuals (Huey P. Newton and Malcolm X among them) have correctly identified that Christianity was utilized
throughout much of the Antebellum South to support slavery. This is also a complaint among some Native Americans: Why would a people much oppressed
and much afflicted by a culture in turn adopt the religion of that culture?
No less, the rising popularity of occult-related symbols - outside of their context and with almost no understanding of their true meanings - has
caused them to become incorporated in the entertainment culture promoted by American film and music. We should not be surprised: The wealthy and
powerful are always decadent. ALWAYS. This is an unavoidable function of the corrupting influence of being able to do whatever one wants. What comes
to be encouraged by Lord Acton's wisely identified "corrupting" influence is a kind of hyper-realized individualism and selfishness. This fuels
increasing narcissism, already inevitably present in most of those who set out to become powerful, wealthy and famous. Such persons hold internally
that they deserve things and that they are equally deserving of an unjustified degree of respect and even worship.
While your research is good and the video from "Good Fight" is delightfully well done, all of this entirely misses the point: The very nature and
form of any of these performances - from Kiss & Queen to Maroon 5 or Beyonce - is fundamentally anti-Biblical. All staged performance of this sort,
including also presentations in a more conservative style, utilizing the symbols of faith or state, focuses the viewer upon a very human individual or
group in a position akin to the divine. The guy or girl on stage is the focus of worship and undue adulation. Beyonce could have come out in angelic
attire singing about Jesus' mission to deliver us all from sin, and she would be engaged in an equally blasphemous undertaking. The content is less
important than the form.
Even religious observance in a church or temple has this same problem, and we cannot afford to forget - since we are discussing essentially Biblical
themes - that the Prophets of Israel very frequently did not find God in the Temple and did not work with or on behalf of the political powers or the
sovereign. They found God in the wild places and challenged the rulers directly at the behest of God. Consider
Elijah,
Nathan,
Samuel and
Isaiah. Remember those "40 days" that Jesus spent in the wilderness?
The rising culture of "Satanism" that is so feared by many of a Christian religious outlook may or may not exist as a function of "Illuminati"
conspiracy; in the end, this doesn't matter. The very systems by which we live and are ruled (including "mind-control" via entertainment media) are
already in violation of much of Biblical commandment and divine intent. If the Bible is right, we are probably all in a lot of trouble.
And at any rate, who knows the mind of God? It may be in the End that even ATS offends the Lord.