The Gnostics Have Risen Again

I must say I’m disappointed with a certain ministry and its recent video about the early 2000s and the emo craze.

Not because I care about what I was doing twenty years ago, but because the plain lack of scholarship in the video wasn’t tucked into the background or hidden under any sort of veneer.

I was just not well-executed.

I don’t really listen to that type of music much these days, as I feel I can’t relate to it as often as I could back then—thank the glorious light of Christ for that.

But to say that a scene of music and musicians was the hell spawn of Satan is in bad taste, and frankly, gnostic.

Here’s the thing.

You can’t sell your soul to Satan. Do you know how I know that? People don’t go to hell when they die. How could they form a contract with him to make that happen as the price?

When we die, we are placed on the “other side” of existence, in a place of rest until our resurrection. There is consciousness to it as shown by Revelation 6.

“When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, ‘O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before You will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’ Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been” (Revelation 6:9-11 [ESV]).

Clearly, there is an afterlife of some sort, but not of the typical understandings of heaven and hell. Our true home is the Kingdom of God. I believe people on the “other side” may affect life in our realm of existence in unusual ways.

But no one is burning in hell right now. All the stories you hear of near-death experiences that describe that scenario are lying or being deceived. Because we have a Bible, and the Bible shows us the second resurrection and not being found worthy to be in the Book of Life sends us to the Lake of Fire, which is dying again forever.

To say that Gerard Way agreed with Satan because he’s interested in occultism and made some statements about Satan being more interesting than God is stretching things, because if Gerard Way really made a deal with Satan, he would understand the correct afterlife eschatology of the Bible and not believe Satan is ruling hell right now.

Satan does not rule hell. Hell is not full of demons. Demons exist on Earth, and some fallen angels have access to Heaven (the area above the Earth).

Many people have a misconception that Satan took a third of the angels to hell when he rebelled. The problem is that war hasn’t occurred yet and is a future event.

If you want me to believe emo bands are trying to send us to hell, then at least get the theology right.

Am I saying we should revel in darkness and only see things negatively?

Of course not!

But pop punk isn’t the gateway to the devil’s domain.

Gnosticism teaches that everything in the world is evil. Anything that gives glee is evil.

“If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations—‘Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch’ (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh” (Colossians 2:20-23 [ESV]).

Paul is calling out manmade rules and traditions, and punishing yourself by denying your body and mind things that God never forbade in the Torah.

Ironically, this ministry is gnostic and in a heretical bent toward the truth.

I’ve outgrown that era of my life, so I have little to say about it other than it was a community of belonging and finding common ground in music that spoke to us.

Was middle-class life really a dark abyss? Hardly. But kids can be melodramatic about things.

If a music genre is born out of this—so be it.

I personally find those years of my life to be an Egypt that I had to leave behind—and my best years are ahead of me.

I don’t dwell too fondly on the past—especially not that far back—because that lifestyle wasn’t healthy or edifying.

But I don’t think listening to Thursday or All Time Low will kill your soul.

Ministries need to do better.

They are instructing people about rules that aren’t found in the Bible.

If you don’t understand something, that doesn’t make it evil.

Besides, these things can be outgrown to make way for the critical issues that crop up in adulthood.

I grew up listening to some of the bands mentioned in the video, and I’m alive and kicking (because they insinuated it’s a suicide cult).

It’s almost like they tore down a strawman or caricature of the music scene instead of genuine issues.

Which is funny to me.

“Whiskey Lullaby” is more of a suicidal song than any I’ve heard out of that scene and crickets on country music (some country songs are WAY sadder than anything out of 2000s emo).

That’s all I must say about this issue.

Let’s do better as Christians and not label everything demonic and stop accusing people of dealing with the devil. That’s not something he does. You’re giving Satan way too much credit.

Blessings and shalom to you. May your life be blessed and enriched with positive experiences and amazing people.