"Halo" singer Beyoncé wowed the audience when she dressed up as Roman, Hindu, and African goddesses during the 59th Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday. But even though her performance drew raves from the secular society, this was not shared by the evangelical community.
Charlie Self, a professor at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary at Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri, told The Christian Post that Beyoncé's performance represents a "triumph of visual captivity over the hearing of the Word of the Lord."
"This was the great struggle for a thousand years of Israel's history," said Self. "The great command was 'Hear, O Israel.' Fundamentally, the LORD God was to be heard, believed and obeyed, and in contrast to the pagan nations around Israel who were captive to visual images as well as nature deities."
Beyoncé's performance that night, according to Self, was nothing but a glimpse of the three-fold struggle with idolatry, immorality, and injustice.
"But what makes today's paganism worse is that at least in ancient times they were for good crops and babies. Now, we kill the babies and have replaced intimacy with God with personal and sexual pleasure," said Self.
Pro-life leader Obianuju Ekeocha, founder of Culture of Life Africa, also voiced her displeasure of Beyoncé's pagan performance. She tweeted (@obianuju) that Beyoncé was "'channeling' a goddess, trying to look like BVM [blessed virgin Mary] & reenacting Last Supper."
As for Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Al Mohler, he said during his programme "The Briefing" that Americans will commercialise just about anything, and Beyoncé is no different when she dresses up like a goddess.
"What delights the eyes, the Scripture makes very clear, eventually also has an effect upon the heart and upon the soul," Mohler said. "The interesting thing here in conclusion on this topic is that it's clear that Beyoncé understands that even if her viewers and those who watch her products and listen to her music do not. You would think that perhaps middle America wouldn't tune in if they were told that the entertainment was going to be a sci-fi fertility ritual."
