Pic: Rapper, Lil Nas X, posing with his new ‘Satan Sneaker.’
I posted this a few days ago on my FB page and it exploded – in a good way. But I still couldn’t’ tell you why. It’s a curious thing. The only reason I’m transferring it to my blog site is because I’ve never had a post from my page shared by viewers almost 400 times. For whatever reason, it connected.
With that said, here you go…
Lil Nas X (real name: Montero Lamar Hill) is a precious young man who, I’m praying, will meet Jesus. He is a gifted artist communicating his mind via art, as well as a dear soul for whom Christ suffered and died.
Social media exploded this past week with the news of his peudo-Nike sneakers honoring Satan. (He’s now being sued by Nike.) Both, his shoes and his wildly popular video, ‘Montero (call me by your name)’, are merely shock-art, a genre in play for centuries. It’s created to get an audience’s attention. Montero’s shoe and video? Mission accomplished.
This brief post contains no attacks on Montero. His worldview doesn’t upset me (he’s far from the first person to portray devil-worship, whether it’s meant to be genuine or to get attention. In fact, I thought his video, although differing from my worldview, was quite creative.
I read one social media post from a young man defending Montero, saying, “Y’all (Christians) are making a big deal about this!”
Wrong: that would be the media making a big deal about this.
So, since so many will view the video, this post is merely intended to offer corrections where the doctrines of hell and Satan are concerned. That’s all. Well, and to let Lil Nas X know that I love him.
1) According to the Bible, hell is nothing like what is portrayed in his video (which I’ve viewed).
85% of what we know about hell came directly from the lips of Jesus. Unlike Hill’s video, there is no pleasure in Hell, no light, but, rather, suffocating darkness. I once read the testimony of a man who experienced a near-death-experience in hell. In addition to other depictions, he described the darkness in hell as ‘a darkness so thick and oppressive it can be felt in pressure-per-square-inch.’
One writer wrote,
‘I know of no one who has overstated the terror of hell. There’s no way to describe hell; nothing on earth can compare with it; no living person has any real idea of it; no mad man in wildest flights of insanity ever beheld its horror; no man in delirium ever pictured a place so utterly terrible as this; no nightmare racing across a fevered mind ever produced a terror to match the mildest hell; no murder scene with splashed blood and oozing wound ever suggested a revulsion that could touch the borderlands of hell. It is a place of impenetrable darkness – a place of unrelieved torment for both body and soul.’
2) Satan not once is depicted in scripture as the red, horned, hooved devil we see in ancient and contemporary art. He is a spirit – a spirit whose hatred for mankind is unparalleled. He is the ultimate psychopath, making Hitler and Stalin look like choir boys. Being the ultimate narcissist, he absolutely loves the attention he’s getting (for now.) Artists attempt to portray him as a greater and more terrifying presence than anything else conceivable. And, this leads to my final correction…
3) I once visited with a former Satanist High Priest, who had been elevated to the rank of 9th Magus in the Satanic Priesthood. He told me he had been assigned, and was able to summon, a demon. As he told me the story of how he finally came to faith in Christ he said,
“Two Christians came to my front door to tell me about Jesus. When they knocked I went to my still-closed door to curse them. It was at that moment I was thrown back against a wall by an unseen Force. Immediately, out of panic, I summoned my demon. But, there is a protocol for summoning a demon. And, due to my momentary desperation, I broke protocol. There are consequences for this. As the demon began to materialize I knew he was there to kill me. So, I did the only thing I could think of to save my life: I cried out the name, ‘Jesus!’ I don’t remember what happened next because I lost consciousness. When I awoke, the demon was gone and I was alive. It was then I first understood that the power of evil pales in comparison to the power of the terrifying, almighty, untamable Lion of Judah, Jesus Christ. I used to think I was powerful. What a joke. I immediately placed my faith in the saving power of Christ. By the way, the demon never returned as he wanted nothing to do with Jesus, whose mere mention of his name terrified the demon.”
James, the half-brother of Jesus, wrote,
“You believe that God is one; you do well [to believe that]. The demons also believe, and shudder and bristle [in awe-filled terror—they have seen His wrath]!” (Spurgeon rightly said, “Atheism is a curious thing. Even the demons believe – and tremble!”)
C.S. Lewis once wrote in a letter to a friend,
“I believe no angel ever appears in Scripture without exciting terror: they always have to begin by saying ‘Fear not.’”
Logic dictates if an angel – a mere messenger of God – instills terror upon its mere presence, can we possibly comprehend the dread and horror awaiting a person unprotected by the saving blood of Christ, before the Almighty God?
Jesus warns,
Further, the Bible offers,
Finally, in Revelation, Jesus proclaims,
“I AM the Alpha and Omega; who is and who was and who is to come; the Almighty.”
Final Thought:
If you’re reading this and believe it’s rubbish. That’s perfectly ok. You can believe what you want about the Bible. But, if I were you, I wouldn’t place my faith in the Bible not being true.
“We have an appointment with death,” wrote the author of Hebrew. “And then comes judgment.”
I’m lifting Lil Nas X to Jesus. He is a precious young man in need of the risen Christ. He is welcome at my table anytime – with or without his Satan Sneakers. We’re gonna love him either way.
nw