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
Here's a full clip of her performance at the Grammy's… Beware.
This is a short clip from a reviewer of the 2014 Grammy's
Here's a full clip of her performance at the Grammy's… Beware.
