Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan has issued a stark warning about the spiritual forces at work in modern pop music. This warning aligns eerily with biblical truths many ignore in this ongoing spiritual war.
On his podcast “The Magnificent Others,” Corgan told writer Conrad Flynn that pop stars embody a form of deception he calls satanic. “In many cases, the most satanic representation in music over the last 20 years has been the pop stars because they are creating, they are knowingly creating a false image, and they’re servile to the false image to the point of jacking up their faces and jacking up their voices,” Corgan said.
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He described how these artists deliberately mislead fans: “And deluding their audience that there’s somebody that they’re not. And they’re all doing it in plain sight.”
Corgan warned of the inevitable breakdown: “At some point, you’ll see the audience reach a point of cognitive dissonance where they know that the person that they want to believe in an idolatrous way isn’t that person. And they force the people to double down on the idolatry. Because that’s the only thing they can do.”
Christian ministries have warned parents for decades about the spiritual dangers in mainstream entertainment, yet far too many remain unmoved, treating these alerts as outdated or extreme. Now, even a secular rock icon like Corgan is sounding the alarm, labeling these practices “satanic” and exposing the idolatry baked into American culture. The deception is no longer hidden. It is broadcast in high definition, yet most scroll past without a second thought.
This widespread indifference plays directly into the enemy’s hands in a spiritual war raging all around us, one far too few seem concerned about. Scripture prophesied exactly this chilling reality.
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As Matthew 24:12 declares, “because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” This means that as sin and deception multiply unchecked, people grow increasingly unmoved by truth, developing a coldness in their hearts toward the teachings of God’s Word. They no longer care about what is right or holy; spiritual warnings fall on hardened, indifferent ears.
And in 2 Timothy 4:3-4, Paul warned of a time when people “will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”
When fans idolize surgically perfected, auto-tuned illusions while rejecting raw truth, hearts grow cold and ears itch only for what feels good. If voices from inside the music industry itself are exposing this darkness, how much longer can we afford to stay asleep?
James Lasher, a seasoned writer and editor at Charisma Media, combines faith and storytelling with a background in journalism from Otterbein University and ministry experience in Guatemala and the LA Dream Center. A Marine Corps and Air Force veteran, he is the author of The Revelation of Jesus: A Common Man’s Commentary and a contributor to Charisma magazine.
