Commentary
Outrage over the blasphemous Opening Ceremony at the Olympic games in Paris is being dismissed as a “right wing controversy” created by Catholics and conservatives, even though the debacle is a textbook example of how Satan uses the spiritually naïve to do his dirty work.
For those who were fortunate enough to miss the show, the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics in Paris boasted many beautiful moments of pageantry and showmanship. Olympic teams sailed in boats up the River Seine. Musical performers such as Lady Gaga in pink plumage thrilled the crowd as did Celine Dion who stood on a platform on the Eiffel Tower and belted out Edith Piafs “Hymne a l’amour (“Hymn to Love”) in a way that left the world in tears.
But interspersed throughout the show were macabre moments that seemed as unnecessary as they were dark in contrast with the otherwise lighthearted festivities. For example, viewers wondered about an unidentified torchbearer who wore a fencing mask and a white hood as he/she ran with the torch. The person’s appearance was so similar to a character from a popular video game called Assassin’s Creed, which is ripe with satanic imagery, that the comparisons instantly went viral on X with thousands of posts.
Then there was the headless Marie Antoinette who was depicted holding her severed head which sang, “The aristocrats, we’ll hang them” as the heavy metal band Gojira, with its dark, dystopian lyrics, blasts into song.
The U.S. Olympic Team waves to onlookers during the opening ceremonies July 26 as its boat cruises along the River Seine.
Another questionable addition to the show was a lone rider on a mechanical horse known as the Horse of Death who staged a spectacular gallop along the Seine, which is straight out of the Book of Revelation. The verse, Revelation 6:8, reads: “And I looked, and behold a pale horse, and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.” Not exactly an upbeat message.
The show was also riddled with glimpses of skulls, images of death, bright red lighting and even children trapped in tunnels, leading one to wonder why themes of death, hell, hunger, and killing were injected into this otherwise entertaining show. What purpose did it fulfill other than to “darken the stage”?
This all led up to perhaps the weirdest spectacle of all, which began as a kind of fashion-show featuring French singer and actor Philippe Katerine. Nearly naked with his skin painted blue, he was supposed to represent Dionysus, the Greek god of fertility and pleasure.
Katerine eventually twerks himself onto a giant plate full of fruit and vegetables that is positioned in front of long table. Behind the table is a strange assortment of drag queens and homosexuals who are flanking a morbidly obese woman sporting a halo. It’s an obvious parody of Leonardo DaVinci’s painting of the Last Supper, so obvious in fact that every social media platform on the planet erupted in either outrage or outrage at the people who were outraged.
I’ve seen some bad endings on shows, but this one was epic.
the Horse of Death
However, Thomas Jolly, the artistic director of the Opening ceremony, doesn’t see it that way. “My aim was to create a ceremony that heals and a ceremony that reconciles, but also a ceremony that reaffirms the values which are those of our Republic of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, and absolutely not to mock anyone,” he said. “The idea was instead to have a grand pagan festival connected to the gods of Olympus, Olympism,” he added.
It’s no surprise that the public isn’t buying it. “The idea of the central figure with a halo and a group of followers on either side — it’s so typical of ‘The Last Supper’ iconography that to read it in any other way might be a little foolhardy,” said Sasha Grishin, an art historian and professor emeritus at the Australian National University to The New York Times.
While some people, like First Lady Jill Biden praised the opening ceremony as “spectacular,” religions leaders around the world expressed horror at what can only be described as outright blasphemy.
The French bishops released a statement on July 27 expressing deep regret over “scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity, which we deeply deplore. . . This morning, we think of all Christians on all continents who have been hurt by the outrage and provocation of certain scenes.”
Even some French politicians expressed their disgust, such as Marion Maréchal, who condemned Jolly’s work and claimed he didn’t speak for France but was the product of a “left-wing minority.”
No so fast, says Catholic League president Bill Donohue, who says Jolly is not a “minority” because both French president Emmanuel Macron and Paris Mayor Anne Hildago met regularly with the director before opening night.
“It is hard to believe they didn’t discuss the show’s content,” Donohue remarks.
Of course they knew what was in the show! Perhaps they just don’t care or, like so many other pundits, are blind to the machinations of Satan and somehow missed the demonic overtones in the masked torchbearer who just happened to resemble a figure from a well-known video game full of satanic imagery.
Of course people are going to associate the Horse of Death with the Book of Revelation. Maybe Jolly didn’t intend that, but Satan certainly did and managed to convince him to include it for whatever reason he knew the director would fall for in his quest for wokeness.
Even the fact that Jolly claims the show was designed to be a “grand pagan festival” – as if that’s a good thing – reveals his spiritual naivete. Anyone with half a brain cell knows that paganism is diametrically opposed to the largest religious denominations on earth – Christianity and Islam – which means one must tread carefully when trying to pull off a show praising paganism without offending the residents of half the planet. Let’s face it, if you were truly interested in being inclusive, this would matter to you. Whatever the reason, Jolly’s epic fail proves that he was unable to walk this fine line, but Satan got exactly what he intended to get – a chance to spit in God’s eye while promoting his own agenda.
The lesson to be learned by all this is that Satan is the ultimate spin doctor. He knows how to hide his activity behind something that appears to be benign and even good. You know, like abortion is “a woman’s choice,” the Ouija board is “just a game,” and yoga is “just exercise”. In this case, he orchestrated the creation of what he knew would look like a mockery of the Last Supper even while Jolly was telling himself it was a pagan “love fest” meant to “unify and reconcile.”
And he knows how to get you to gaslight for him, such as those who belittle the people who were justifiably offended by this mockery of their deeply held beliefs by making them feel as if they’re just acting like wild-eyed extremists who need to calm down.
Satan played the French like a fiddle in this debacle, and they still don’t get it! Even while this disastrous opening has been dubbed the worst opening ceremony in Olympic history (because it was), they’re telling themselves it’s just those nasty right-wing Christian conservatives. And they really believe it!
The only hope for these folks is prayer. As Bishop Andrew Cozzens, who served as the chairman of the board of the National Eucharistic Congress, urged in a statement, the faithful must “pray for healing and forgiveness for all those who participated in this mockery,” he wrote. “Let us commit ourselves this week to greater prayer and fasting in reparation for this sin. Perhaps you could attend Mass once more this week or do an extra holy hour? We may also be called upon to speak about this evil. Let us do so with love and charity, but also with firmness.”
Christians are also being asked to express their concerns about this matter to Mr. Thomas Bach, the President of the International Olympic Committee at media@paris2024.org.
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