By Jessica Lea, CHURCHLEADERS
Author and speaker Jackie Hill Perry has made waves on social media for saying that the music of Beyonce and Kehlani has a demonic influence on people. Perry specifically addressed the singers’ promotion of non-Christian deities in music that celebrates Black identity.
“I don’t know who told us you got to be a witch to be Black,” said Perry in an Instagram clip of her speaking at a Glory event. “You are not more Black by engaging in witchcraft. That is still propagating a white supremacist lie that Black people in Africa didn’t know Jesus.”
“I am angry that the powers that be — in social media and in culture and in music and in Beyoncé’s music and in Kehlani’s music and in whatever the others are,” Perry continued, “like I’m angry that they are really trying to convince us that all spiritualism is the same. And we have digested this impurity. We want so bad not to be legalistic that we actually become profane. We want so bad to have all these freedoms that we are entertaining demons.”
Jackie Hill Perry No Longer Listens to Beyoncé
Jackie Hill Perry is a poet, Bible teacher, and artist. She is the author of “Gay Girl, Good God: The Story of Who I Was, and Who God Has Always Been” and “Holier Than Thou: How God’s Holiness Helps Us Trust Him.”
Perry has partnered with Lifeway to hold Glory events, gatherings where women around the country worship God and study his Word. She concluded her recent Glory clip by warning that items with a demonic influence can cause harm in people’s lives.
“And you wonder why you are depressed,” she said. “And you wonder why you are anxious. And you wonder why you have nightmares. And you wonder why you can’t sleep. And you wonder why you see things in your room at night. It’s because you’re opening up doors to all kinds of demons. Close them.”
Perry concluded, “Whatever you got in your home that’s witchcraft—throw it away. Throw it away. Burn everything you got because we are women who are going to love God with all of our heart and all of our mind and all of our soul. We are not going to imitate the detestable practices of the nations.”
Jackie Hill Perry is not the only influencer who has recently used her platform to warn Christians against the dangers of Beyoncé. In February, a self-described prophet named Tiphani Montgomery warned her followers that Beyoncé is a “witch” and her fans are a “coven.”
Perry has not stated she believes that Beyoncé is practicing witchcraft as such and even explained her concerns about the artist in detail in a video posted Feb. 15.
During the video, Perry emphasized that she has an aversion to expressing her opinion about too many topics. She is more concerned with teaching people how to have wisdom to discern answers to various questions for themselves. However, after pondering her position on Beyoncé for several months, Perry came to believe that God wanted her to speak publicly about her views on the singer.
“I was a self-proclaimed Beyoncé fan, secretly,” said Perry. “I been Team Bey since I was 8. I’m 33 now. Ok? That’s a long time.” A couple of months ago Perry was considering whether or not God might want her to give up anything that had an evil influence on her life.
So, she prayed, “If there’s anything you want me to get rid of that has evil origins, let me know.”
Perry said she expected God to ask her to give up some of her shoes, clothes, or maybe a random book. Instead, what came to mind was Beyoncé. At first, Perry did not think it was actually the Holy Spirit speaking to her. “I refused to believe that Jesus didn’t want me to still, like, be Team Bey,” she said.
Then Perry started thinking about the lyrics to Beyoncé’s song, “Black Parade.” For example, some of the lyrics reference “Oshun energy.” Oshun is a river goddess revered by the Yoruba people of southwestern Nigeria. After doing a deep dive into researching the spirituality behind some of Beyoncé’s lyrics, Perry concluded that ever since her album, “Lemonade,” Beyoncé has “centered false deities. And embodied them.”
Another example Perry mentioned is that there is a scene in the film “Black Is King” where Beyoncé dresses like a cow. The artist, said Perry, is representing a deity called “Apis,” an Egyptian god Perry became aware of through studying Exodus. Exodus contains the famous account of the Israelites creating and worshiping a golden calf, and the reason why they made an idol of a cow, Perry explained, was that “one of the pre-eminent deities in Egypt was Apis.”
“The music made witchcraft beautiful,” said Perry. “And that’s the problem.” After doing her research on Beyoncé, Perry “deleted every Beyoncé album off my phone.” She felt a lot of grief about this decision because Beyoncé’s music had been important to her during key parts of her life. Nevertheless, Perry said, “I have to be willing to trust that protecting my heart from evil is a good thing. I have to believe that there are spiritual realities at play that as a wise Christian, I should not be opening myself up to.”
Perry has issued some strong warnings against Beyoncé’s music, even stating that Christians in the West should learn from our fellow believers in Africa, Haiti, and Jamaica, who have a greater sensitivity to spiritual dangers. But Perry also seemed to acknowledge that there could be room for people to take a different path while still honoring God. She said she has friends who are connected to Beyoncé; in those positions, they have a different role than she does. Their job is to “to influence the influential,” said Perry, while Perry’s “is to influence the influenced.”
Perry acknowledged that, had she heard her own position on this topic only a year ago, she would not have listened, and she said her goal is not to shame anyone who is still planning to listen to Beyoncé or go to one of the singer’s concerts.
The Bible teacher shared thoughts from 1 Corinthians 10 regarding why people should avoid Beyoncé’s music, but she also encouraged her followers to test her words for themselves. Perry’s concern is “bigger than Beyoncé,” she said. More than anything, Perry wants people to learn for themselves how to have wisdom on any issue.
First published May 2, 2023
