angelaschmeling

Recently my children begged me to watch this new Netflix movie and if you browse any sort of social media, you’ve probably heard of this one. Now, I love movies, but K-Pop themes aren’t usually my go to, however my oldest really wanted to hear my opinion on it because there was a lot she wanted to discuss and wondered if I would catch the same things she did. Especially from a spiritual standpoint.

Well, I caught several things so let’s talk about it.

First off, the movie had a fair amount of cheesy moments. I mean, it’s cartoon…sorry animation. (I was scolded by my kids for saying cartoon) So that can be expected, but it made it fun. There was humor and the music was incredibly catchy, which is mainly what I want to discuss.

One song called This Is What It Sounds Like is one that I believe we can relate to when we finally break down and see ourselves as Christ sees us and surrender to Him with these beautiful lines:

I tried to fix it, I tried to fight it
My head was twisted, my heart divided
My lies all collided
I don’t know why I didn’t trust you to be on my side.

I may dive into that song at another time, but the song before that one is the one that particularly that stuck out to me because it’s quite amazing how a secular movie can truly portray Satan and his goals so perfectly. That song is called Idol. It’s also very fitting that Lucifer, also known as Satan, was the angel of music.

This song was pretty telling when you think about it in a spiritual aspect and I’ve heard it several times since because it makes me stop and think. I can hear this as things Satan would say as he attempts to speaks to us through our idols and anything that would keep us from the relationship that God wants with us. Before we break down this song, I want to start with this verse in Exodus chapter 20.

³ You are not to serve any other gods before Me. ⁴ You are not to make any idol or image of other gods. In fact, you are not to make an image of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath. ⁵ You are not to bow down and serve any image, for I, the Eternal your God, am a jealous God. As for those who are not loyal to Me, their children will endure the consequences of their sins for three or four generations. ⁶ But for those who love Me and keep My directives, their children will experience My loyal love for a thousand generations.

We are not to have idols. So what is an idol? Anything we are putting before our Creator. God is a jealous God and wants one place in your life and that is the top place. So what in our lives are we putting before God?

It could be our phone, the tv, work, social media, etc. So many things we can put as a priority over what truly matters. Psalms 115:4-8 (The Voice) says it well what idols can be and what we can become when we focus on those idols we hold on to.

Those nations worship idols of silver and gold,
    crafted by human hands:
⁵ They have given their gods mouths, but they cannot speak;
    eyes, but they cannot see.
⁶ They have provided their idols with ears, but they cannot hear;
    noses, but they cannot smell.
⁷ They have fashioned hands, but the idols cannot reach out and touch;
    feet, but they cannot walk.
    Their idols cannot make a sound in their finely crafted throats.
⁸ The people who make idols will become useless like them,
    like all who trust in idols.

And with that, let’s start talking about this K-Pop song.

In verse one it starts with this:

Keeping you in check.
Keeping you obsessed.
Play me on repeat in your head.

What is our obsession? What keeps taking over your mind and as the next line says, plays on repeat? Again, it could be TV, your phone, your job, etc. Let’s keep going.

Anytime it hurts, play another verse.
I can be your sanctuary.

Satan knows that if he can shift your focus off Christ and what Christ has called you to, he can drive a wedge between your relationship. Especially when there is hurt. Playing that hurt over and over again. Bringing bitterness into your heart.

Know that I’m the only one right now

Satan wants you to feel like you are all alone in the issue that you are in. That no one else can help you and build you up. To isolate you. Because when you are isolated, it’s easier to get you to obsess over things that God never wanted you to worry on. Isolation is breeding ground for self-pity and depression.

I will love you more when it all burns down.

It doesn’t matter what happens to you. Satan doesn’t care if you lose family, friends, relationships. In fact, he would encourage that because when it all burns down and if he can get you to continue to obsess on that idol, whatever it is, he knows that you won’t fulfill the purpose that God has called you to.

More than power
More than gold
You gave me your heart now I’m here for your soul.

Satan knows that once he gets your focus off of Christ. Once he can start putting something between your relationship with your Creator, he can then start to increase that wedge and weasel in and get your soul if you’re not careful.

The pre-chorus and chorus then says this to re-iterate the wedge.

I’m the only one who’ll love your sins.
Feel the way my voice gets underneath your skin.
Listen ’cause I’m preachin’ to the choir
Can I get the mic a little higher?
Gimme your desire
I can be the star you rely on (you rely on)

Going to pause there for just a second. Lucifer was called the morning star. He wanted to place himself higher than God. He wanted the adoration of God’s people.

The chorus continues:

You can’t look away.
Don’t you know I’m here to save you
Now we runnin’ wild
Yeah, I’m all you need. I’ma be your idol.

Like I said, Satan wants all our worship. All our adoration. And it’s very fitting that the former angel of worship would put a song that describes it so eloquently. It also adds that he’s here to save you. Only Christ truly saves, but he wants to bring confusion thinking you don’t need Christ to save you. The idol that you cling to, that can save you.

Romans 1:21-23 MSG says this:

People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn’t treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand.

Even if we know the Father, we need to caution our hearts to not trade in that knowledge for something that is cheap or made by human hands. We need to make sure our priorities are straight.

And with that we come to the second verse:

Thank you for the pain cause it got me going viral
Fever, makin’ you a believer
Don’t let it show, keep it all inside
The pain and the shame, keep it outta sight
Your obsession feeds our connection
Give me all your attention.

Satan doesn’t want you to connect with others. He doesn’t want you to go near people that can help you overcome. Because he knows if you connect with the right people, those that can bring you closer to Christ. That can uplift and encourage you, he will lose his grip on you. He wants you to cling to your idols.

But Idols are useless as Habakkuk 2:18 describes:

What use is an idol shaped by its maker?
    It is nothing but an image cast in metal; it teaches deception.
For a foolish idol-maker puts faith in his own creation,
    a god that cannot speak

The song continues with this line again.

You know I’m the only one who’ll love your sins
Feel the way my voice gets underneath your skin

Two things with this that were revealed to me.

First – notice the wording with the “I’m the only one who’ll love your sins.” Satan knows that sin separates you from God. God wants you to turn away from your sin. Satan wants you to feel like it’s okay to do what you want. He’ll still love you. Because he wants the love that was reserved for our Creator. But here’s the truth. Satan does not love you. He doesn’t care about you. He only wants you to feel that way so that you can stay separated from Christ. His motivation is to keep you from knowing the true peace and joy and love that only Jesus can provide.

Second – much like the verse earlier. He wants his voice to get underneath your skin. He wants you to listen to him. Hear his words. Not the words of a Father that loves you, but one of idols that want your attention focused off the only One that truly loves you.

I have told my kids at nauseum to be careful to what music they listen to and to pay attention to the words. Because Satan was the angel or worship and he knows how to make catchy music that you will get under your skin and you won’t even realize what you are singing. There are some songs with incredible beat to it, but if you stop and listen to the words. Whoa. It can be a very different story!

Look at this verse in Galatians 4:8-9

During the time before you knew God, you were slaves to powers that are not gods at all. ⁹ But now, when you are just beginning to know the one True God—actually, He is showing how completely He knows you—how can you turn back to weak and worthless idols made by men, icons of these spiritual powers? Haven’t you endured enough bondage to these breathless idols?

We’ll end this with the bridge and the ending chorus line.

Living in your mind now
Too late ’cause your mine now
I will make you free
When you’re all part of me

Preaching to the choir
Can I get the mic a little higher?
Gimme your desire
Watch me set your world on fire
You can’t look away
No one is coming to save you
Now we runnin’ wild
You’re down on your knees – I’ma be your idol

It ends with what the true goal is. The reality. Just like Satan – living rent free in your mind and giving you the promise of freedom, but it’s really bondage. Bondage to idols holding you captive.

Hey, I get it. It’s easy to be tempted by the things of this world. The things that can draw us from the Lord and who He’s called us to be.

¹⁹ It’s clear that our flesh entices us into practicing some of its most heinous acts: participating in corrupt sexual relationships, impurity, unbridled lust, ²⁰ idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, arguing, jealousy, anger, selfishness, contentiousness, division, ²¹ envy of others’ good fortune, drunkenness, drunken revelry, and other shameful vices that plague humankind. I told you this clearly before, and I only tell you again so there is no room for confusion: those who give in to these ways will not inherit the kingdom of God. – Galatians 5:19-21

So what can we do? How can we keep ourselves off the idols that temps us on a daily basis?

We need to mindful and intentional to make God a priority in our lives. The first priority. We need to pay attention to what is taking over our time. We need to spend time in the Word so that we can guard ourselves when the enemy attacks and tries to shift our eyes and our focus on something else.

1 Corinthians 10:14 says it perfectly. “So then, my beloved friends, run from idolatry in any form.”

Take inventory of what you are worshipping and if it rules your life more than your creator, if it’s the first thing you turn to in the morning once you wake up, run from it.

Renew your mind daily to the things of God and the calling He has on your life. Put God at the center of all you do and let everything else flow from it.