Can You Be a Swiftie and a Christian?
The Destructive Power of Compromise
Taylor Swift is currently the most widely streamed artist on Spotify, boasting over 105 million monthly listeners. She has over 280 million followers on Instagram and nearly 100 million on Twitter. Her YouTube channel has over 56 million subscribers. These are almost unimaginable numbers... something that Elvis Presley could have never dreamed of.
Swift’s growing influence on her fan base is nothing short of remarkable. She seems to have an extraordinary ability to influence their opinions to the point of being able to instantly change the direction of national television viewership. This year's Super Bowl was seen by an average of 124 million viewers... the largest number of people ever watching the same broadcast in television history. Not bad for a league that just a couple of years ago was suffering from a serious rating decline.
But What Kind of Influence?
Taylor Swift has become the de facto influencer of millions of young girls and women aged five to their mid-twenties. But unfortunately, Taylor often posts about supporting abortion, premarital sex, witchcraft, and LGBTQ rights on her social media accounts. Her videos regularly feature her drinking alcohol to excess, occult-type imagery, and witchcraft. In one video, she is seen standing in hell while wearing a devil mask and blowing a kiss to three grim reapers who are giving her the middle finger. Some of her music follows the same bent... The lyrics from her hit song Slut! Include the line... “And if they call me a slut you know it might be worth it for once.”
All of This is Not New News...
But now, her on-camera behavior is going mainstream. During this year's Super Bowl, which more than one-third of Americans watched, Swift appeared to be besties with her guest Ice Spice. “Spice” flashed demonic signs and wore an upside-down cross for the whole world to see while Taylor was chugging a beer...
Taylor Swift claims she is a Christian. It is not my intention to judge her. God
Himself will do that as He will judge all of us. Instead, what I'm talking about is any of us compromising Biblical values for the sake of being entertained for an hour or two.
In Other Words... Who or What Do You Allow to Influence You?
What we put into our minds stays in there and eventually will come to influence our opinions and behavior. That’s what the entire advertising industry is based on... putting words and pictures into our minds often enough to influence us.
Another way marketers do this is with “influencers”... both on social media and in ads, like Jennifer Lopez for Coach or Ryan Reynolds for Mint Mobile. They are paid huge sums of money to influence their target market. Why? Because it works...
There was a television commercial for Hertz Rental Cars that ran for a short while in the late 1950s and very early 1960s that had the tagline “Let Hertz put you in ___ ___ ___”. Almost everyone who is old enough to remember can finish that sentence 65 years later. (See the bottom of this post for the answer.)
If we watch or listen to things even for a short while, they can become indelibly imprinted on our brains.
Maybe it’s okay for someone to be a Swiftie, maybe they have enough discernment not to find themselves on a slippery slope and compromise one’s values. Having discernment protects us from being deceived spiritually. A well-developed sense of discernment shields us from becoming compromised by a spiritually sick culture.
But here’s the thing... Most young people don’t have a fully developed brain until they reach the age of about twenty-five. Because of that, they are often easily misled because they don’t always perceive the negative consequences of their actions. We are not born as discerning babies... we must be taught.
That’s what parents and pastors are for...
Who and what we allow to influence us and who we fellowship with reflects the true condition of our hearts. Is it Taylor Swift, the media-manufactured pop star? Or is it Preston Sprinkle, Kanye West, Oprah, Beth Moore, the Democrat Party, Harry Styles, Barak Obama, Lil Naz, drag queens, or Katy Perry? Is it woke movies like Barbie or Disney’s Wish? Or is it sitting under the spell of known false teachers and celebrities who promote worldly values while claiming to be Christians?
Or is it the Holy Spirit? Those who rely on the Holy Spirit to guide them in thought, word, and action are not influenced by the things of this world...
“In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master because you are not under the law, but under grace.” (Romans 6:11–14)
There is also another element here and that is one of maintaining our testimony. In 1 Corinthians 10:25-32, Paul tells us of one’s liberty as a believer and what should limit that freedom so we don’t cause a weaker brother or sister to stumble. If we do something as a Christian, even if it seems OK for us... what message does that send to others?
Allowing ourselves to be influenced by the “things of this world” can put us on a slippery slope. In the AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) recovery world, the consistent advice is to avoid slippery places, like bars, clubs, and even friends that serve or drink alcohol.
Why? Because of the risk of losing one’s newfound sobriety.
It’s the same for us as Christians to avoid getting caught up in a world that desperately wants to compromise us...
Answer: “Let Hertz put you in the driver’s seat”
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Amen, and... I would submit that it's even simpler than analyzing the world's bacchanal for specifically and blatantly Satanic signs and machinations. (Because, sometimes, the very fixation on such endless analysis is what the enemy is hoping we will do!)
God's command is specific, and His diagnosis, even in the first century, was dire:
"Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For *ALL* that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever. Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour." (1st John 2:15-18)
A great article. I cringe when I see these 5 year old girls liking Taylor Swift so much. They are 5 - what in the world? They should be playing with toys. They shouldn't even know what a Swiftie is. I don't understand it. Our world is so mixed up, the only answer is Jesus.