CBS "Ready to Worship?"

[Tuur]

In case anyone missed it, CBS may have condoned satanic worship. In the February 5, 2023 Grammy awards, the program aired Sam Smith's video for his song Unholy. Before it aired, Sam Smith tweeted "This is going to the SPECIAL," with a devil emoji. CBS followed with "...You can say that again. We are ready to worship!" See:

CBS tweet about being 'ready to worship' Satanic Sam Smith raises eyebrows: 'Compromised by evil'

CBS has since deleted the tweet.

Now, you can make of this all sorts of things. The bottom line is someone at CBS thought it would be a cute remark.

 

[look4hope]

They meant it as worshipping. There’s no turning back on what they said. For them, could be light conversation, in addition to a deep need to publicly announce they don’t give an care what they say, do or what they
worship.

I hope I made sense

 

[ViaCrucis]

Going purely by what information is provided in the OP, it sounds like someone in charge of CBS's social media that day made what they thought was a cute remark, but it likely caused offense and so got deleted.

Is there any reason to look at it any more deeply than that?

-CryptoLutheran

 

[peaceful-forest]

I think the people in charge have been worshipping Satan for quite some time and there just now getting more bold about it.

 

[ViaCrucis]

I think the people in charge have been worshipping Satan for quite some time and there just now getting more bold about it.

That kind of conspiracy-theory sort of speculation is how we start demonizing and dehumanizing our neighbor, and thus fail to abide in Christ through faith and loving our neighbor. That is of the devil.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[peaceful-forest]

That kind of conspiracy-theory sort of speculation is how we start demonizing and dehumanizing our neighbor, and thus fail to abide in Christ through faith and loving our neighbor. That is of the devil.

-CryptoLutheran

What is your explanation of the things that have been happening?

 

[ViaCrucis]

What is your explanation of the things that have been happening?

That's a broad question.

Could you narrow that down a bit? As far as what was mentioned in the opening post, I offered my thoughts in post #3 of this thread.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[peaceful-forest]

That's a broad question.

Could you narrow that down a bit? As far as what was mentioned in the opening post, I offered my thoughts in post #3 of this thread.

-CryptoLutheran

Sam Smith's Grammy performance. Drag show performances to minors. Gender and sexual ideologies taught in schools. More people practicing witchcraft. I could go on, but those are examples of Satanic things.

This isn't something that happened overnight. Sin is like a seed - it's planted, taken care of, then it grows and matures.

The CBS tweet is just one of those examples. The Satanic people are being more open about their beliefs. It's something that's been going on awhile.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Sam Smith's Grammy performance. Drag show performances to minors. Gender and sexual ideologies taught in schools. More people practicing witchcraft. I could go on, but those are examples of Satanic things.

This isn't something that happened overnight. Sin is like a seed - it's planted, taken care of, then it grows and matures.

The CBS tweet is just one of those examples. The Satanic people are being more open about their beliefs. It's something that's been going on awhile.

Well, let's just say, then, that I disagree with your assessment.

There are a lot of things that concern me in the world, but the things you mentioned are not on the list. I would simply caution that in worrying about so-called "Satanic people" that you don't fall into the trap of failing to take up your cross and follow Christ in loving others and demonstrate kindness, generosity, humility, and the other fruits of the Spirit.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Tuur]

There are at least two conclusions that can be drawn from that deleted CBS "get ready to worship" tweet:

1. That the person who tweeted it thinks there's nothing to any religious belief and thinks others shares that opinion. Therefore, it was intended as a jest.
2. The person who tweeted it meant exactly what was written.

Whether or not the second point was the case, it occurs to me that we are all enemies of God before being saved by Christ. That was the point Paul made: Christ died for us while we were still enemies. Keep in mind that the great majority of us never would engage in even mock worship of evil.

It's not dehumanizing anyone to point out that a good portion of media regards Christians with varying degrees of contempt. I strongly suspect that this holds for followers of any religion. Christians, though, seem to get the greater mockery. This has been the case for most of this old man's life, and has only grown worse. It it good to look at those who do such and to remember that they are sinners like ourselves, and that Christ died and was resurrected for them, too. Yet that doesn't mean we shouldn't ignore that they don't have our interests at heart.

As an example, there is one network show I thought would be fun, but I'm seriously question whether I should be watching it at all. That has nothing to do with the CBS tweet. But if the networks hold Christians and the things of God with varying degrees of contempt, what do they really have to offer?

 

[ViaCrucis]

There are at least two conclusions that can be drawn from that deleted CBS "get ready to worship" tweet:

1. That the person who tweeted it thinks there's nothing to any religious belief and thinks others shares that opinion. Therefore, it was intended as a jest.
2. The person who tweeted it meant exactly what was written.

Whether or not the second point was the case, it occurs to me that we are all enemies of God before being saved by Christ. That was the point Paul made: Christ died for us while we were still enemies. Keep in mind that the great majority of us never would engage in even mock worship of evil.

It's not dehumanizing anyone to point out that a good portion of media regards Christians with varying degrees of contempt. I strongly suspect that this holds for followers of any religion. Christians, though, seem to get the greater mockery. This has been the case for most of this old man's life, and has only grown worse. It it good to look at those who do such and to remember that they are sinners like ourselves, and that Christ died and was resurrected for them, too. Yet that doesn't mean we shouldn't ignore that they don't have our interests at heart.

As an example, there is one network show I thought would be fun, but I'm seriously question whether I should be watching it at all. That has nothing to do with the CBS tweet. But if the networks hold Christians and the things of God with varying degrees of contempt, what do they really have to offer?

Context seems really important and necessary here. I'm not familiar with Sam Smith or the song in question, so I decided to check out the lyrics. So the song is about sex. So that gives me reason to believe the "here to worship" remark was a "cutesy" way of talking about the song being "sexy", it was an attempt at being cheeky.

So this whole "controversy" seems to be manufactured, and claims of anything satanic is sounding even more "moral panicky" then it already did.

So I'm just going to leave this Scripture here:

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of sobriety of mind." - 2 Timothy 1:7

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Ignatius the Kiwi]

That kind of conspiracy-theory sort of speculation is how we start demonizing and dehumanizing our neighbor, and thus fail to abide in Christ through faith and loving our neighbor. That is of the devil.

-CryptoLutheran

How is dehumanizing to suspect our elites are into weird Satanic stuff? Do you approve of Sam Smith's grammy performance?

 

[ViaCrucis]

How is dehumanizing to suspect our elites are into weird Satanic stuff? Do you approve of Sam Smith's grammy performance?

When we begin to view our fellow human beings as our enemy, rather than our neighbor, we are failing to abide by Christ's commandment. For our contest is not with flesh and blood, says the Apostle, but with the powers and principalities.

I have no doubt that the rich and powerful are often up to no good. But I think that's just human sinfulness. Is the devil involved there? Sure. Just as the devil is there whispering his lies at us, tempting us, and trying to trip us up through many sins and other spiritual pitfalls. The idea of some grand satanic conspiracy is, in my opinion, just silly.

The devil masquerades as an angel of light, not as a goat-horned baphomet.

It's the subtle lies of the devil that I think are often the most dangerous. Those subtle lies that turn our focus away from Christ and toward ourselves, to our own systems of moralities, to our own ideas about holiness. Those spiritual delusions that lead us away from repentance, away from trusting in Christ, toward false spiritual ideas, false righteousness, false holiness, aka prelest.

The kooky celebrity that paints pentagrams on their arms and does weird things isn't what concerns me. What concerns me is when we become so distracted by that spectacle that we lose sight of what it is we ought to be doing and how we ought to be living. I don't care about the kooky celebrity, I care about the Faithful keeping our gaze upon Christ.

It's not the sinner over there that I'm concerned about. It's the sinner right here, namely myself, for I am the one who needs to repent and cling to Jesus, and to love my neighbor.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Ignatius the Kiwi]

When we begin to view our fellow human beings as our enemy, rather than our neighbor, we are failing to abide by Christ's commandment. For our contest is not with flesh and blood, says the Apostle.

-CryptoLutheran

Except we do have enemies, Christ and Paul said we do. Love thy enemies is not the same as have no enemies. An enemy is one in opposition. If Sam Smith is going to have his Grammy performance, why do I have to go out of my way to be especially charitable to him? When he offends every sensibility I have? Would Christ approve of Sam Smith's performance?

 

[ViaCrucis]

Except we do have enemies, Christ and Paul said we do. Love thy enemies is not the same as have no enemies. An enemy is one in opposition. If Sam Smith is going to have his Grammy performance, why do I have to go out of my way to be especially charitable to him? When he offends every sensibility I have? Would Christ approve of Sam Smith's performance?

Why go out of your way to demonstrate charity? Because Jesus Christ, your God, commands you to do so.

If you don't want to listen to my thoughts on any of this, fine. Go and study what the ancient and holy fathers had to say. And if you don't care about what they have to say either, then go and repent, and may your eyes be filled with many tears and sorrows as you prostrate yourself before the Lord of Mercy, who loves you, and gives Himself for you.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Ignatius the Kiwi]

I have no doubt that the rich and powerful are often up to no good. But I think that's just human sinfulness. Is the devil involved there? Sure. Just as the devil is there whispering his lies at us, tempting us, and trying to trip us up through many sins and other spiritual pitfalls. The idea of some grand satanic conspiracy is, in my opinion, just silly.

Whose engaging in a conspiracy? If the elites are going to display this stuff out in the open, why can't I take what they do as literal or a metaphorical expression how they actually feel? Why defend them? They've demonstrated with their actions they hate you and your values. Yet you love them regardless and defend them while repudiating your fellow Christians for finding fault with them. Whose side are you on? Theirs or ours?

The devil masquerades as an angel of light, not as a goat-horned baphomet.

So we should be more opposed to angelic performances then?

It's the subtle lies of the devil that I think are often the most dangerous. Those subtle lies that turn our focus away from Christ and toward ourselves, to our own systems of moralities, to our own ideas about holiness. Those spiritual delusions that lead us away from repentance, away from trusting in Christ, toward false spiritual ideas, false righteousness, false holiness, aka prelest.

Is Sam Smith's performance holy?

 

[Ignatius the Kiwi]

Why go out of your way to demonstrate charity? Because Jesus Christ, your God, commands you to do so.

If you don't want to listen to my thoughts on any of this, fine. Go and study what the ancient and holy fathers had to say. And if you don't care about what they have to say either, then go and repent, and may your eyes be filled with many tears and sorrows as you prostrate yourself before the Lord of Mercy, who loves you, and gives Himself for you.

-CryptoLutheran

So when someone insults Christ and Christianity I am to be obsequious to them and especially charitable? I should let blasphemous and sacrilegious performances go without opposition and instead just be passive? This is the Gospel according to you? How weak do you expect us to be in the face of this stuff? Who benefits by Christians being passive, accepting and loving of someone like Sam Smith and his performance? Does Christ? No. Does Satan? Yeah.

Having read the Church Fathers I find it difficult to imagine any of them tolerating a performance the like Sam Smith gave. Or that they would enjoy Satanic imagery like you seem to. They would not be charitable, they would not seek understanding with Sam Smith. They would call him out, say he's openly Satanic and Christians should have nothing to do with him and his evil.

I mean the Fathers were pretty harsh on Pagan sacrifice, how harsh do you think they would be on things like this?