The following are the views expressed by Olufemi Oguntokun in the July 9, 2026 episode of the On the Lord’s Side Podcast — Christian perspectives on news and current events.
ON THE AFTER-PARTY CULTURE
Good morning to you once again. It is Thursday, the 9th of July 2026.
I want to begin this morning by engaging with three different reports from X — three different voices, essentially making the same point about how Christians should engage with the culture, and particularly the entertainment culture, today.
The first is a clip from a sermon at City Church, Lagos. The person who posted it did so to commend the preacher for confronting a matter that Christians should not sweep under the carpet — but which many have been sweeping under the carpet. It is about the “after-party” culture. If you attend Nigerian events, you know it has become a staple. A celebration usually begins with a formal occasion — an engagement (what we call the Idáná), a wedding in church, a birthday celebration — followed by a reception with a master of ceremonies, food and dancing. And then, nowadays, comes the after-party. And the after-party is not for the faint-hearted. I recall attending a birthday reception a year or so ago; I always leave receptions early because I often have radio programmes later on Saturdays — a valid excuse I am always thankful for — and afterwards the host told us, “After you left, that is when we started the after-party; you should have seen what happened.” At after-parties, people do all sorts of things — half-clad ladies imported from wherever, strippers, and men and women engaging with them in all manner of ways. This has become the norm, or is becoming the norm. And it grieves my heart — and I promise you, I am not referring to any one person in particular; it is simply something I have seen.
So we now have situations where people hold a Christian wedding — whatever you think a Christian wedding is — they go to church, they love God, they lift their hands, they are grateful to God for their marital life, they take pictures. Then, as the preacher put it: we go to the reception and have a really nice time, nothing bad happens; but once it is 4 p.m., it is as if we say, “Jesus, I remove all my clothes, I remove my shoes, I remove everything that makes me a child of God — now it is time to flex.” Where is that from? This is not about whether you should play a certain type of music. It is about how you can say with one mouth that you belong to Christ and are honouring Him on your special day, and then choose to display it through fleshly indulgences on the most important day of a new phase of life — how brothers and sisters in the house of God, who name the name of Christ, end up removing their church clothes and dressing like people who have gone to who-knows-where. What are we doing? And here was the preacher’s test: at any point in time — in how you dress, how you speak — if someone were about to give their life to Jesus and you were the one brought to preach to them, would you be a stumbling block, or an encouragement on the path of salvation? Could somebody look at you and say, “If that person is a Christian, then I’m fine the way I am”?
That was exactly the topic of that sermon, and we must commend the preacher. Every time we hear people confront such issues courageously and from a biblical standpoint, we thank God for their lives and pray that the generation of such preachers will continue. As I listened, I was reminded of the passage from the epistle of James — where, though he was speaking of the tongue, he painted a picture of an incongruity he observed even in the early church, and which continues today. James 3:9: “With it” — the tongue — “we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God.” Verse 10: “Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.” That is not from my mouth, nor from the preacher’s, but from the Holy Spirit through James. And I fully align with him: it ought not to be so. I have always found it terribly incongruous that you attend events celebrated by well-known, staunch Christians — people you have seen reading the Bible, teaching it, praising the Lord — and then, outside a church setting, they do practically the same things as everyone else.
Some say, “Take it easy, don’t be so staid and uptight; in church we know the Lord, but sometimes we just need to celebrate.” But we can celebrate by praising the Lord as well. I was once invited to chair a wedding reception, and — as is typical at Nigerian receptions — the invitation to the high table was accompanied by singing. The bandleader, whom I happened to know, started with a song that was not ungodly, but not godly either — a secular song simply praising me. If you are familiar with Nigerian parties, you can roughly divide the songs into three categories: godly songs and choruses rendered to appeal to a party crowd; songs that merely celebrate the celebrant or someone present; and secular songs. As he began singing my praises, I signalled to him: could you sing some choruses instead? I feel most comfortable at a party when the song being played glorifies the Lord — that is the only time you will ever find me dancing. I always feel uncomfortable dancing to a song that is not praising God. Some will say I am uptight — well, I will wear that badge of honour. People say I never dance at a party, always seated; if what is being played is not to God’s glory, I will not stand up. That consistency is important.
Unless you want to bury your head in the sand, you know what goes on at those after-parties — things that will definitely not glorify God, things that fall squarely within what the Holy Spirit described through Paul in Galatians 5:19: lewdness, uncleanness, drunkenness, revelries, and the like. These are the works of the flesh, and they should not be named among us. We can have fantastic celebrations while singing the praises of God — so that when people come to a party thrown by Christians and hear only God-glorifying songs, they go away saying, “What a beautiful event,” even though none of those fleshly things happened. The person who posted the clip captioned it, “Finally, someone said it — thank you, City Church, for addressing this.” And I add my support: somebody said it. Another wrote, “The after-party is a new introduction to a wedding ceremony in Nigeria, and it’s all about being wild and riotous.” I love that choice of words — wild and riotous. And when you go to Galatians 5, that is exactly what you find among unbelievers, among those who are of the devil. Read the account of the golden calf: where demons have taken root, where people worship the devil, you find revelry and drunkenness, people letting themselves go. Why would a Christian want to become wild and riotous? The more we are drawn to these things, the more we should examine ourselves and ask: am I walking in the Spirit, who gives us the grace of self-control?
ON “ENTERTAINMENT IS WHERE DEMONS LIVE”
Which leads me to the next report, driving the same point. It says: “Entertainment is where demons live.” This is according to Jim Iyke — and if you were with us yesterday, we engaged with his “school na scam” statement; go back and listen to that episode. On the same podcast, he also said this, and I want to read it: “There is no bigger enabler than the entertainment industry. This is where demons live. Entertainment is totally orchestrated and created to extol the virtues of satanism. Nothing in the industry glorifies God.”
Can you imagine that? Do you agree with it? In the exchange, the interviewer pushes back — “Come on, man, what in entertainment glorifies God?” — and Jim Iyke answers, in effect: nothing, except you intentionally and consciously go for God and find your place with Him. He says, “I come from the music industry; I’m not saying God doesn’t exist in there — I’m saying it’s predominantly created for the other thing. For me, this is where I find God, even in the creative process, because to create is God’s essence; to create is to mimic God.” But the point, he insists, is the output — “What God do you serve?” And when the interviewer says, “The Christian God,” Jim Iyke presses: in the entertainment structure, “you serve self. You can’t serve God and serve self — that’s a conflict of interest. Serving self is satanism in itself; that is what satanism propagates — when you’ve exalted yourself to a God-like status, where you think you should be worshipped, where you think the laws no longer apply to you. I’ve seen people cry just when I walk into a room, and I think, ‘I am special.’ No, you’re not. Once you find your place with God, you understand that what is truly special is being able to find God in a place devoid of His presence.”
Exactly as the Scripture puts it: out of the mouth of babes. I am not calling Jim Iyke a baby — I am saying that from the least-expected sources you will sometimes hear the very voice of God. Somebody commented: “Jim Iyke is not far from the truth. The entertainment industry is predominantly created to promote satanism; you have to be very principled and solid in what you believe to scale through.” When Jim Iyke says there is no bigger enabler than the entertainment industry when people are “going south” — going the wrong, downward direction, spiritually and morally — remind yourself of how wild, riotous entertainment is described in the Scriptures: in the context of people worshipping the devil and idols, the golden calf, ungodly kings throwing their feasts, like the king of Babylon and his great feast. And notice: even if you say, “I’m not promoting God, but I’m not promoting Satan either — I’m just promoting self,” you hit the truth right on the knee. The promotion of self is idolatry. Once the attention turns to you and you are celebrating yourself — not in the innocent sense of a birthday, but turning attention to promote yourself — that is idolatry, because God wants you to promote only Him.
In the old days, people would call it a conspiracy theory to say some songs were inspired by the devil. “It’s not that deep,” they say. But there is truth in what Jim Iyke said. Do you want to be drawn to all sorts of vices? We are not even talking primarily about the players in the industry — though they must be watchful too. We are talking about Christians who consume these materials, who immerse themselves in these songs and movies and the after-party culture. You have to be very careful that you are not being drawn in by the devil into evil that will harden your heart and weigh it down — to use the language of Luke 21 — with carousing. Often I find that people can sing secular songs by heart from beginning to end, and I think how much time they must have spent listening. I am not burnishing my credentials — but in the same way, many of us Christians can sing many hymns by heart without opening the hymn book, and know many scripture verses by heart. It is a question of where you have decided to pay attention, in what you have immersed yourself.
Some say, “But those songs don’t talk directly about the devil.” I have always said the devil never comes to human beings directly — he is not that stupid; he never comes with horns and a red, scary gown. He comes disguised, as Paul wrote, as an angel of light. Others say, “God wants us to have times to celebrate.” Of course — read the account of Israel in the wilderness; many times the Lord appointed a feast. And I pray the Lord will make the times of feasting outnumber the times of mourning in your life, in Jesus’ name — although Jesus said it is better to go to the house of mourning, because there you apply your heart to wisdom. It is to the glory of God that He gives us occasions to feast: 1 Timothy 6 says God richly provides us with everything to enjoy; Ecclesiastes encourages us to be joyful and merry-hearted. So if God has given you occasion to feast, be thankful. But remember Romans 12:2 — “Do not be conformed to this world.” This is perhaps the third time I am saying it this week; I began at the Readers’ Club meeting on Sunday evening, because the passage was read in church that morning, and my takeaway, looking up at the screen, was simply: do not conform. That should be the title of a sermon or a book. So feast, by all means, if God has given you occasion — that is to His glory. But do not do it the way the world does it. That is the whole essence of Romans 12:2. And 1 Corinthians 10:31 is wide enough to cover everything: “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” — which includes feasting and parties. Here is the key test: does this activity honour God, or does it pull me away from Him? As the preacher at City Church put it: would anyone seeing me do this think I am honouring God? Would anyone watching say, “I want to be a Christian like this person”?
We can propose other tests too — “Would Jesus do this?” That test, WWJD, will never go out of fashion. Did Jesus attend feasts? He did — beginning with the marriage at Cana of Galilee; He even feasted with tax collectors. But in everything He did, did He not do it all to glorify God, and use every occasion to point people to God? So if God has given us reasons to celebrate, let us find a way to do it that glorifies Him, not being conformed to this world by saying, “We’ll do it exactly the way it is done out there.” As Jim Iyke said, the entertainment industry is designed to pull us downward — and that is so true. Everything we come across in the culture is there either to pull us upward or downward. Philippians 4:8 points us upward: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable — if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
And here is where many will debate: they suppose some things are neutral, neither godly nor ungodly. Unfortunately, it is not so — if it is not godly, then it is ungodly; there are no neutral things. Now, I am not saying every song must mention God — there are songs celebrating one’s homeland, one’s independence, one’s ethnic group, and I am not talking about those. I am talking about songs that celebrate self, or celebrate money (and God has said you cannot serve God and mammon), or celebrate beauty in the lewd sense. We do not even need these enumerated: if you have the Spirit of God, you know they are not God-glorifying. Things that do not glorify God, that are not lovely, commendable, pure, just or excellent — do not get it twisted — they are from the devil. That is the point Jim Iyke was making: it is the devil who wants to pull us downward. Do not think, “They are just neutral things.” Anything that pulls you toward the works of the flesh — that enables adultery, fornication, idolatry, dissension, drunkenness, revelry — is from the devil.
Does that mean no Christian should work in the entertainment industry? No — it depends on what you are creating. But you have to be very careful, and that is why I have a special love, from afar, for the singer Chidinma. I do not know her personally, nor how truly devoted she is — I pray she is — but I have a soft spot for her because she was discovered with talent and began in secular music, then made the choice to stop and become a gospel singer, and has stuck with it, even though the opportunities to make money must have reduced. From time to time she puts out good music, and I love listening to it — both because it is good and because of that soft spot. She is an example: a Christian with an exceptional gift, whose heart is truly inhabited by the Holy Spirit, says, “I will not use this gift for anything other than to praise my God.” That is why many people in the church — singing, playing instruments — have gifts greater than some who are popular in the secular industry, but have chosen to use them only to praise the Lord, satisfied even if they never make as much money. If you want empirical evidence that Jim Iyke is right, look at the many whose talent was discovered in the church as singers, who then moved into the secular industry and became horrible people, doing things only demons would enable — pulled downward by the forces that control the evil in that industry. So Christians who go into the entertainment industry must be extra careful to have clearly drawn lines and boundaries they will never cross. Without such lines, before you know it you will be pulled downward, no longer known to yourself. I thank God for truths like these, coming even from the mouth of Jim Iyke.
ON WHY THE DEVIL “CONTROLS THE MUSIC”
And then a third report from X, on the same point. This person wrote: “This is why, as a Christian, you’re not supposed to listen to secular music.” The clip is of a popular Nigerian singer — a well-grounded musician who has been in the industry over twenty years — appearing on The Nancy Isime Show, and saying plainly: “The devil controls music. The devil is the choir master. That’s why we smoke, we do all these things. If you are coming into this industry, understand where you’re coming to. I’m not lying to you. Just the way God controls certain things, the devil also controls certain things. He says, ‘Go to the world; let me see how many will follow you. Let me stay here; let’s see how many will follow me.’ He’s the most powerful angel.” The interviewer says, “You look like you researched this a lot,” and he replies, “No, I don’t research anything, I just talk.”
That is a well-grounded musician telling you that the devil is involved in their music. If you doubt me, you will not doubt someone who has been doing music for over twenty years, telling you that the influence of the devil is heavy in the music industry — yet some of you are still listening to music and artists you should not. It is not just about whether the music is clean; sometimes the artists themselves are not clean, so you need discernment. You are buying front-row tickets for demonic musicians; you are singing over yourself what you would never confess over yourself — because when they set it to a nice melody and rhythm, they know you lose your discernment and common sense. These are not conspiracies. In America, everyone knows Hollywood and the music industry are called the devil’s den, and it is the same everywhere else. Be discerning of what you take in. As the poster said: there was a time in my life I loved sad songs; when I was sad I wanted songs to make me sadder, and I ended up depressed. Some of you want to abstain from premarital sex, but you are listening to songs that will not help you achieve that; you want to stay away from crime, but you listen to songs that will not help; you want to serve only Jesus Christ of Nazareth, but you are listening to songs about other gods. What are you taking in through melody?
And what this musician described is exactly what the Bible reveals: the devil, once an angel, fell because he wanted to be like the Most High — “I will be like the Most High” — and now, fallen and in the world, he is in rivalry with God, saying, “You will see that many more will follow me than follow You.” He has created these things to engross and capture the heart and bring people to his side. It is 100 per cent correct. People used to call it conspiracy theory to say these things are from the devil; here is someone inside the industry saying it loud and clear. Somebody else commented, “Agreed 100 per cent — music does reprogram people.” Are you kidding me? What you listen to is what you begin to think about — and the same with movies. This is one warning many of us are not taking to heart, and I too am praying for grace to cut certain things out of my life.
I remember, growing up, that my dad simply would not listen to a particular musician any longer — I won’t name the person, to avoid debate — a person I liked as a young man. If he walked past and saw me listening to that, that was enough. And I am thankful my parents were not the kind to shout, “No, you can’t, stop that!” — they would simply say, “That’s not good,” and leave it, and do more praying for us; and thank God those prayers were answered. That is a good example: do not make it a stick and a cane, because that most likely breeds rebellion. Tell them it is wrong, and then pray that the Lord Himself will open their eyes. We all need boundaries like that.
And that is the danger with movies today. There are now rules — perhaps unwritten — in Hollywood and elsewhere, whereby the movies promoted and put front and centre are those with plots celebrating what Christians should not celebrate: homosexual relationships, transgenderism, the rivalry of the races and genders. In such movies, it is the homosexual person who is the good, morally upright hero, the transgender person who is the sympathetic victim — so that, more than being told these people are not bad, you are subtly reprogrammed to see it all as normal, forgetting you are merely watching a made-up story told by someone with an agenda. Many people argue about where the culture should go based on what they saw in a movie — “Why are you so convinced?” “I saw it in a movie.” But every book, every story, every song, every person behind a microphone — including me right now — has an agenda. Some have the agenda to proclaim the mind of Christ; some to promote themselves; some to promote the work of Satan; some to reprogram you to think these things “are not that bad.” And we are almost scared stiff for our children in the culture they are growing up in, so exposed to these things, on the internet, where they also have school assignments to do. The horse has bolted, as I have always said. We cannot simply stop the access; we have to keep moderating it. May the Lord help us to help our children — teach us to teach them, lead us to lead them, and help us to moderate ourselves too.
So I agree with what one person wrote: music reprograms people, entertainment reprograms people, anything you read has the capacity to reprogram you — which is why the Bible says, “Guard your heart with all diligence,” because what you consume can reprogram you. That person added: “As a Christian, it’s better to stick to authentic gospel music, psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.” Is that not exactly what Scripture says? Ephesians 5:19: “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit; sing and make music from your heart to the Lord.” So if you find me dancing at a party, it is because the music is from the heart and to the Lord. There are so many songs that can be sung at parties that will glorify God, and if you make up your mind that at your own party it will be only God-honouring songs, I can tell you people will still have a wonderful time and will dance — because the Lord has blessed His people with the gift of making music that makes our hearts merry and glad, sung from our hearts to Him.
This is a call not to run out of the world — not to lock ourselves in a monastery, as many have tried, only to find that the corruption of our own fallen nature follows us everywhere. But the things we can control, we should control. I am very big on this: not immersing ourselves in, and certainly not dancing to, songs that do not glorify God. Sometimes we cannot entirely escape it — you are invited to a party, and you celebrate with the celebrant by joining them on the dance floor, wanting to be a good sport, as they say in London. But let it be your motto that whenever you have total control over it, that is not what you do — that you are not conformed to the patterns of this world.
I will mention, to laugh at myself, two things my best friend and I saw as dangers from afar. When BlackBerry messaging became a thing in Nigeria in the early 2000s, we said, “This is horrible; once we are married, nobody will touch a phone in the bedroom to chat with someone else — there must be rules.” Well, ask me how that is going now. And later, another friend was adamant: “I’m not going to have a Facebook account, no email, no social media, no WhatsApp.” Then he became company secretary of a firm listed on the Nigerian stock exchange, where every project has a WhatsApp group — so he had to install WhatsApp to do his work. He was trying to be rebellious against the culture, but these are dangers of a nature you cannot fully escape, because we are in the world. It reminds me of what Scripture predicts about the tribulation — a time will come when you can neither buy nor sell unless you take the mark; which is why every Christian’s prayer must be to escape that time of tribulation. The point is, you cannot escape these tools: you must be on WhatsApp to communicate with friends and clients, to send documents in real time. But the same device and platform that let you do legitimately good things — and listen to edifying programmes like this — also give you the opportunity to do otherwise. So we have to be discerning, so that the Lord can keep us unsoiled even in this fallen world.
Every time you have the opportunity to feast — and may those times be multiplied to you, in Jesus’ name — let it be that you are making music from your heart to the Lord.
I want to thank you so very much for joining me this morning on GospelBells Radio, On the Lord’s Side — Christian perspectives on news and current events. I hope to be with you again tomorrow by the grace of God. Whatever you do today, please remain firmly on the Lord’s side. God bless you. You are listening to GospelBellsRadio.com, the Christian internet radio with a mission to engage the culture with the mind of Christ. Keep listening, and invite others too. God bless you.
