Olympic blasphemy: Opening ceremony mocks Jesus’ last Passover with drag queens–are there any positive Olympic ideals?
(Official Olympic logo for 2024)
The opening ceremonies of 2024 Olympic games hit a new low:
July 27, 2024
Sports spectacles like the Olympics, the Super Bowl, the Commonwealth Games and a host of other events have become increasingly political in their messaging and their pageantry in recent years. Furthermore, the symbology on display during these performances has become more and more bizarre.
As we noted in May, the signs were not good for the Summer Games when it was revealed that drag queens and trans activists would be carrying the Olympic Torch in preparation for opening ceremonies. Olympic torch bearers are supposed to be chosen from a list of people with significant contributions to their communities. It’s hard to say what contributions trans activists have made to any community, but the announced “theme” of the Summer Games held in Paris helps to explain their presence.
The stated tenets for Olympics 2024 are: Community, Diversity and The Collective. In other words, the theme of this year’s Olympic Games is woke.
The event was planned by “queer artistic director” Thomas Jolly …
The ceremony in Paris features strange performances from a horde of drag queens, including sexualized dancing and an LGBT recreation of The Last Supper. …
Make of this what you will, but it’s clear that major national and international games have changed dramatically in the past decade. The spectacle is no longer meant to entertain, but to propagandize. https://www.zerohedge.com/political/olympic-opening-ceremony-features-dancing-drag-queens-and-bizarre-symbology
July 27, 2024
Russian … Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova on Saturday … called the opening ceremony “ridiculous.” https://apnews.com/article/olympics-2024-russia-media-835aabe6cca7cb288dbee07c2f6a2ebd
Drag queens who performed at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics are under fire for mocking The Last Supper — one of Christianity’s most sacred moments.
“Queens everywhere! We couldn’t be happier about this huge moment for drag performers breaking through mainstream and showing their talents to the entire world,” Out magazine tweeted. …
One X user said the act was blasphemous. Another asked, in response to the performance, “What is wrong with the French?”
Drag was also on display as three of the 10,000 torchbearers who held the Olympic flame were drag queens.
Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker responded to the act in an Instagram story, calling it “crazy” before citing Bible verse Galatians 6:7 — “Be not deceived, God is not mocked,” reports MSN. …
Riley Gaines, a former collegiate student-athlete who has advocated against transgender women competing in women’s sports, wrote on X: “Men in wigs front and center at the Olympic games. No one ever tell me this group is ‘oppressed’ or ‘marginalized’ again.” https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/drag-queen-last/2024/07/26/id/1174154/
I did not watch any of the opening ceremonies, but did see the following tweet, which I did not watch the video of:
Is this really happening? Western culture has become a cesspool of filth and perversion, and the “olympics” has become a revolting clown show. https://t.co/YTbXr54XgD
— HealthRanger (@HealthRanger) July 26, 2024
That, of course, is perverse, abominable, and blasphemous.
The Apostle Paul warned:
1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, … 13 … evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. (2 Timothy 3:1, 13)
Men pretending that they are women are functioning as imposters.
The following is applicable to what the Olympics and others have been doing:
9 The look on their countenance witnesses against them, And they declare their sin as Sodom; They do not hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought evil upon themselves. (Isaiah 3:9)
In Genesis 19:24-25, we read that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by God.
And why did it happen?
7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. (Jude 7)
Homosexuality is a form of sexual immorality that involves going after “strange flesh.”
Notice that God turned:
6…the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly (2 Peter 2:6)
Thus, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah were to serve as an example to those who would live as they did.
Yet, those who point out what the word of God says about this are often despised by the main press and politicians.
The Bible warns against the rise of despisers of good in the last days:
20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
And prudent in their own sight! (Isaiah 5:20-21)
Woe to those that do such things–yet we keep seeing that happen.
To be clear, “Cross-dressing”–which is what drag queens do–is condemned as an abomination in the Bible:
5 A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment, for all who do so are an abomination to the Lord your God. (Deuteronomy 22:5)
The Bible clearly condemns cross-dressing.
Yet, the Olympics put them on display.
That said, the Olympics is a mixture of good and evil, though the evil part looks to be increasing.
As far as the good, here is something that the old Worldwide Church of God published:
God’s Word shows us many spiritual lessons we can learn from the Olympic Games.
Excitement is now rapidly mounting worldwide as hundreds of millions of people look forward to viewing, either in person or on television, one of the world’s greatest sporting events, the Summer Olympic Games. …
During the days of the early Church, the Olympic Games were an important and famous event every four years, just as they are today.
The apostle Paul used these Games, with which most everyone of his day was familiar, to help him explain vital spiritual principles. The same principles apply to God’s people today! …
The Isthmian Games took place every two years in Corinth, and would have been familiar to Church members living there in Paul’s time. So Paul pointed out some striking spiritual lessons to the Corinthians by referring to these Games.
When we understand this background to these passages, they take on added light and meaning.Strive for the prize
Let’s notice, for instance, Corinthians 9:24-27. “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize?” (verse 24). Only one person in each race at the Games received the victor’s wreath or garland.
“Run in such a way that you may obtain it.” Paul compares our Christian life to a race and urges us to run earnestly, with the comforting knowledge that although only one person in an Olympic race can win, everyone who runs well in the Christian race can win.
In verse 25, Paul shows that every successful athlete at the Games had to exercise rigorous self-discipline. So it is at the modern Olympics, too. The athletes who will succeed at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics will be men and women who have sacrificed many of the pleasures other people enjoy to devote countless hours of exhausting struggle, sweat and toil in training for their events.
It is interesting that the Greek word translated “competes” in verse 25 is agonizomenos, which literally means “agonizes.” Yet these athletes went through all this just to obtain a “perishable crown.” The winner’s crown at the Olympic Games was made up of olive leaves, which began to wither away as soon as they were plucked.
How much more, then, ought we as Christians to discipline ourselves spiritually and agonize for our prize, a “crown of righteousness” (II Timothy 4:8), a “crown of glory that does not fade away” (I Peter 5:4)!
The life of a true Christian isn’t a simple matter of coasting or cruising along effortlessly, merely “believing in Christ” and thinking we are already saved.
Rather, living God’s way is a constant struggle. It’s a continuing effort to keep sin out of our lives, to seek God and be close to Him in a materialistic world that hates His ways and hurtles along in the opposite direction. It’s something we have to strive for with great zeal and energy, something to “contend earnestly for” (Jude 3).
We need to drive ourselves forward with every ounce of spiritual strength and, determination we have, just as an Olympic-class athlete urges and pushes his body on to achievement.
In I Corinthians 9:26, Paul alludes to the boxing events at the Games, and says that he doesn’t fight like a shadow boxer, beating the air without purpose. We know our purpose — we know our goal of entering God’s Kingdom. We need to keep our eyes on that goal and never deviate from it.
The word translated “discipline” in verse 27 (“But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection”) literally means “give a black eye to.” Paul realized he needed to box and “pommel” (Revised Standard Version) his own body, with stringent self-discipline, in order to ensure he stayed on the right track in his personal spiritual life.
Once again we see that a carefree and complacent attitude will not gain us entry into God’s Kingdom. God wants to see that we really mean business in following His way of life. He wants to see us straining and striving to really build tough, resilient spiritual character. Paul realized that he had to discipline himself strictly in this way “lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified” (I Corinthians 9:27).
The word translated “have preached” refers to the office of the “herald” at the ancient Greek Games. The herald had the job of proclaiming the rules of the Games and calling the competitors together and exhorting them. The word translated “disqualified” refers to a person whom the judges would reject as not having deserved the prize. See also Galatians 2:2 and Philippians 2:16.
Similarly, everyone of us is urgently warned, in the message to the Philadelphia church, not to run our race in vain and end up losing our crown (Revelation 3:11).
Consider past champions
Hebrews 12:1-2 portrays another aspect of the ancient Greek Games in order to bring us further vivid spiritual lessons.
Olympic athletes receive added motivation from the awareness that they are surrounded by stadiums full of spectators spurring them on to success.
Particularly in ancient times, when success at the Games was even more highly prized than today, all the principal leaders of the nation, as well as past heroes and champions, would be at the arena, supporting the competitors. Those in the audience would seem like a vast cloud because of the athlete’s blurred vision when running as fast as he could.
Paul comments that we also “are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1). In our Christian effort, we can look to the outstanding examples set by the men and women of faith, the heroes and champions who have preceded us, such as those cataloged in the previous chapter, Hebrews 11. Meditating on these examples, keeping them in our mind’s eye as we run our race, should spur us on.
Cast off the weight of sins
An Olympic athlete can’t afford to carry any unnecessary weight. Heavy clothing is a slowing, hindering burden. Runners in the original Games even went so far as running naked to avoid any unnecessary encumbrances.
Hebrews 12:1 encourages us to “lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” Sin is the heavy burden that holds us back and thwarts us from doing our best in our Christian endeavor. Proverbs 5:22 compares sins to strong cords binding us down. So sins of any sort must be discovered and cast off as we speed forward in our race for God’s Kingdom.
Hebrews 12:2 shows the importance of having a goal to strive for in our life, just as Olympic competitors fix their eyes on the finishing tape or the goal they have to reach. We need to always look to Jesus as “the author and finisher of our faith.”
He was there at the start of our individual race, showing us the way to go, and He will be there at the finish, awarding the prizes to the conquerors.
Jesus Christ is the great champion who endured in His life on earth, striving against sin “for the joy that was set before Him.” He kept His eyes on the great goal of reigning in glory with His Father. Considering the example of Jesus, who “resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin,” helps us avoid growing weary and faint in the strenuous, grueling contest in which we’re engaged (verses 3 and 4).
Paul gives another vivid description of the intense effort we need to employ as we drive ourselves toward the goal of God’s Kingdom in Philippians 3:13-14: “Brethren I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Instruction to Timothy
Paul makes frequent references to the Olympic Games in his epistles to Timothy.
In I Timothy 4:7 he tells Timothy to “exercise yourself rather to godliness.” The Greek word rendered “exercise” here is gumnaze, referring to the gymnastic exercises used by the Greeks of Paul’s time in preparation for the Games. Paul goes on to show in the next verse that physical exercises only profit the body for a little while, but the dedicated spiritual training we undertake — the exercising of our bodies and minds after godliness — living God’s way of life — is “profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.”
In I Timothy 6:12, Paul refers again to the boxing and wrestling contests at the Games, and to the crowd of witnesses in the on-looking audience: “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”
Yet another allusion to the Games is in II Timothy 2:5: “And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.”.
Athletes have to strive and work hard, to “endure hardship” (verse 3), for their success, and they have to abide by the rules of the contest.
In the same way, we as God’s people must labor diligently to enter God’s Kingdom, and we must be obedient to the laws of the greatest judge of all — God (Genesis 18:25).
Nearing the end of his life, Paul used an Olympic Games analogy to graphically sum up his life’s endeavors: “I have fought the good fight [the Greek words refer to a wrestling bout], I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (II Timothy 4:7).
Paul was able to look back with satisfaction that he had run the race right to the finish and had kept the rules. Are we able to look at our spiritual lives with that feeling? Are we putting out as much effort as we can in our bold bid for the glorious prize of God’s Kingdom?
In verse 8, Paul concluded, “Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness,” not just a wreath of fading leaves or a gold medal subject to tarnishing (see Matthew 6:19-20), “which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
Will you be numbered among the group of conquering heroes who mount the dais along with the apostle Paul to receive the glorious reward of entrance into the universe-ruling Kingdom and Family of God?
Run to win in your personal spiritual “Olympic Games”! (Morgan RJ. Your Spiritual Olympics! Good News, June-July 1984)
So, while many of organizers of the 2024 Summer Olympics have perverse propaganda objectives, there are still some positive ideals we can glean from the Olympics.
The New Testament says that bodily exercise can help (1 Timothy 4:8), yet most Americans do not get enough physical activity. The Continuing Church of God (CCOG) has the following video on our Bible News Prophecy YouTube channel:
A 2019 report shows that Americans are becoming sedentary. Since it is a physical thing, should Christians be concerned about exercise? Could not exercising possibly be a sin? What did the ‘Plain Truth’ magazine report about exercise? What is the US CDC reporting about exercise? Can exercise help prevent diabetes, heart disease, and obesity? Can exercise help sleep, endurance, and aging? Are there scriptures about exercise and health? What about laziness? What are some of the risks and benefits of exercise? Dr. Thiel addresses these subjects and more.
Here is a link to our video: The Plain Truth About Exercise.
Anyway, while there can be some good from the Olympics, it is terrible how perverse the world has become.
Some items of possibly related interest may include:
Should Christians Exercise? What does the Bible teach? What are some of the benefits and risks of exercise? Here is a link to a related video: The Plain Truth About Exercise.
Obesity, processed foods, health risks, and the Bible Does the Bible warn about the consequences of being obese? Is overeating dangerous? Is gluttony condemned? What diseases are associated with eating too much refined foods? Two related videos would be: Is Obesity OK with Scripture? and Eating Right, Eating Too Much, and Prophecy.
Ten Simple Rules that Lead to Health Herbert Armstrong gives his opinions on this.
Christian Health Matters Should Christians be concerned about their health? Does the Bible give any food and health guidelines? Here are links to three related sermons: Let’s Talk About Food, Evil is Affecting the Food Supply, and Let’s Talk About Health.
Cross-dressing and other assaults against your children. What should you do? Is there an agenda to turn your children and/or grandchildren away from biblical morality and towards practices promoted by homosexuals? What does the Bible teach about cross-dressing? What should parents do? If there is an agenda, what has been going on? There are also videos related to this, titled Transgender ‘Woe to those who call evil good’, Cross dressing and Other Assaults Against Your Children, Disney’s abominable promotions!, USA pushing gender confusion, and New Transgender Study.
The Bible Condemns Homosexuality “Same-sex marriage” for “gays” and lesbians is becoming more acceptable to many. What does the Bible teach about homosexuality and the LGBTQ agenda? Can homosexuals change? A related video sermon is titled: What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality? A short video is available titled: Gay Gene? Born That Way?
Building Character: Going on to Perfection Once you have accepted Jesus, do you need to strive for perfection and build character? Two related videos sermon are available: Believe Jesus: Obey and Build Character and Going on to perfection and building character.There is a Spanish language video on this titled E Construyendo el carácter: avanzando hacia la perfección–here is a link: https://youtu.be/WzIpouooGE4.
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