JLeBlanc: Dark Horse

My son, keep my words

and treasure up my commandments with you;

keep my commandments and live;

keep my teaching as the apple of your eye;

bind them on your fingers;

write them on the tablet of your heart.

Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”

and call insight your intimate friend,

to keep you from the forbidden woman,

from the adulteress with her smooth words.

Two weeks ago I was driving back from Jacksonville to Kissimmee and over the 2.5 hour drive I heard this same song four times as I was flipping through the stations. My jaw dropped the first time I heard it, but I shook my head and said to myself that it had to be about something else… Then I heard it again, and again, and again… There was no mistaking the message.

I normally don't listen to "pop" music, it's just not my thing, I usually just find it annoying, but that's a matter of taste. This song was offensive. It was gross, it was vile, it was a picture of evil. I am not one to quickly label things evil. I'm not one to quickly condemn something. But after hearing this song a few times and understanding the message of it, I'm pretty confident in calling it the embodiment of temptation.

I'm a guy. I am a Christian, but I'm a guy. I have and sometimes still do struggle with lust and temptation. Proverbs 5-7 have been very encouraging to me as I have matured and learned to submit myself to Christ even in the situations of temptation. The main message of those three chapters is warnings against adultery, which is any kind of sexual interaction that steps over the line of what God deems holy and good. But what really made my jaw drop is Katy Perry's embodiment of the woman from Proverbs 7.

For at the window of my house

I have looked out through my lattice,

and I have seen among the simple,

I have perceived among the youths,

a young man lacking sense,

passing along the street near her corner,

taking the road to her house

in the twilight, in the evening,

at the time of night and darkness.

And behold, the woman meets him,

dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.

She is loud and wayward;

her feet do not stay at home;

now in the street, now in the market,

and at every corner she lies in wait.

I knew you were

You were gonna come to me

And here you are

But you better choose carefully

‘Cause I, I’m capable of anything

Of anything and everything

She seizes him and kisses him,

and with bold face she says to him,

“I had to offer sacrifices,

and today I have paid my vows;

so now I have come out to meet you,

to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.

I have spread my couch with coverings,

colored linens from Egyptian linen;

I have perfumed my bed with myrrh,

aloes, and cinnamon.

Make me your Aphrodite

Make me your one and only

Don’t make me your enemy, your enemy, your enemy

Come, let us take our fill of love till morning;

let us delight ourselves with love.

For my husband is not at home;

he has gone on a long journey;

he took a bag of money with him;

at full moon he will come home.”

So you wanna play with magic

Boy, you should know what you're falling for

Baby do you dare to do this?

Cause I’m coming at you like a dark horse

Are you ready for, ready for

A perfect storm, perfect storm

Cause once you’re mine, once you’re mine

There’s no going back

Mark my words

This love will make you levitate

Like a bird

Like a bird without a cage

But down to earth

If you choose to walk away, don’t walk away

It’s in the palm of your hand now baby

It’s a yes or no, no maybe

So just be sure before you give it all to me

With much seductive speech she persuades him;

with her smooth talk she compels him.

All at once he follows her,

as an ox goes to the slaughter,

or as a stag is caught fast

till an arrow pierces its liver;

as a bird rushes into a snare;

he does not know that it will cost him his life.

All to me, give it all to me

Temptation is deceitful. Satan starts easy, inviting you, making the place smell lovely, "it's safe to be here, don't worry about what this could mean…" But by the end, it's demanding "give it all to me" even your very life. This song drips of temptation and I refuse to even hear it anymore.

Men, we have so much more to offer to our wives or future wives. Don't toss the best of yourself at just anything or anyone. Love is not supposed to be demanding. True love does not lead to death, lust and temptation do. True love leads to life, selflessness, and more pleasure than a wayward woman ever could.

One final note, I know songs are catchy. I get it, lol I can't help but sing "royals" because it just gets stuck in my head all the time. But be careful what you just sing when you aren't actually thinking about anything… Don't let this song get caught in your head. It's more sinister than that. It's not just a random country song about a truck or a lake, this song is the embodiment of temptation. We have to be careful what we represent to the world. This is not a message of hope and love like that of the Gospel, therefore should have no place in our ears, much less our heart, and God forbid, our mouths.

And now, O sons, listen to me, 

and be attentive to the words of my mouth.

Let not your heart turn aside to her ways;

do not stray into her paths,

for many a victim has she laid low,

and all her slain are a mighty throng.

Her house is the way to Sheol,

going down to the chambers of death.

This is a short clip from a reviewer of the 2014 Grammy's