The preparation for the 2024 Summer Olympics is not something that happens overnight. The entire city spends hundreds of millions of dollars over a number of years to host the world’s preeminent athletic stage. With the nations of the world watching as the Olympics began, it proved to be more than an athletic ceremony. It was a religious ceremony—one of pagan origins that took direct aim at Jesus Christ.
The LGBTQA+ Agenda
As we watch the world continue to condone and celebrate all things homosexual, it’s clearly more than a movement. It’s a form of religion. In June, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced an initiative to promote the LGBTQ+ agenda in recognition of our cultural “Pride” celebration in the month of June. The IOC published the following on June 2nd 2024:
With Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Pride Month having started on 1 June, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has once again emphasised the importance of inclusion and non-discrimination in sport and in society.
From major corporations to educational institutions, there remains a major worldwide push to normalize the LGBTQA+ lifestyle into a household brand of acceptable human sexuality. Now, with the Olympics joining the push, it’s another worldwide opportunity to normalize the homosexual and transgender agenda especially among nations that continue to criminalize the lifestyle.
The IOC has a longstanding policy of engaging cultural and social issues with their platform throughout the history of the Olympics Games. In the last Olympics, the major emphasis seemed to center on “mental health” issues. However, in 2020 the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests were the rage of the hour and athletes were warned about Rule 50 of its Olympic Charter which states the following:
“No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.”
During the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, athletes stretched and tested the boundaries on numerous occasions as athletes decided to take the knee during the national anthem or hold up a fist for crowds to see their commitment to recognize the BLM movement. In 2024, the BLM movement has taken a backseat to the LGBTQA+ agenda—with a heightened focus on normalizing drag queens in the public square and the IOC is pleased to use their platform to promote it to the world, regardless of what Rule 50 states.
The Blasphemous Attack on Jesus
When Pilate presented the blood-soaked Jesus with shredded flesh to the crowd, they were given a choice (Matt 27:17). Would they choose Barabbas a vile murderer or Jesus to be released? When given the opportunity to choose, the bloodthirsty crowd chose the murderer to be set free and chanted with solidarity to crucify Jesus (Mark 15:15). That’s exactly what they did. They killed the Prince of life and allowed a depraved criminal to be released.
Public mockery of Jesus has always been in vogue and the 2024 Summer Olympics encouraged that anti-Christ tradition once again.
Prior to Jesus’ death on the Roman cross, he predicted that he would suffer and die (Luke 18:31-33). Jesus also warned his disciples that because the world hates him those who follow in his footsteps would receive the same treatment (John 15:20). That same pattern continues to this very day. The anti-Christ spirit is very much alive and well across the world. We witnessed it once again with the opening ceremony of the Olympics on July 26, 2024.
The IOC planned a detailed tableau of the famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” by live actors. In the place of the Apostles stood drag queens and homosexuals and in the place of Jesus stood an obese woman who was scantily dressed with a crown symbolizing the aureole who stood front and center while forming a heart with her hands. What was their purpose in the reenactment? It was more than social awareness and support for the LGBTQA+ movement.
From a theological perspective, I have a problem with any representation of Jesus in artistic form. I believe it’s a violation of the Second Commandment (2CV) regardless of how beautiful the artistic presentation. However, what happened on the stage of the Olympic Games was beyond a violation of the Second Commandment. It was a blasphemous attack upon Jesus Christ on the world’s stage. On social media, there was a wave of backlash from Christians who expressed concern for this direct aim at Jesus which is a clear violation of their Rule 50 in their own code of conduct. Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps was asked about the decision during an IOC news conference on July 28 and she responded:
“Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. On the contrary, I think (with) Thomas Jolly, we really did try to celebrate community tolerance…Looking at the result of the polls that we shared, we believe that this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offense we are, of course, really, really sorry.”
Thomas Jolly (the artistic director) explained his intentions to The Associated Press after the ceremony.
“My wish isn’t to be subversive, nor to mock or to shock,” Jolly said. “Most of all, I wanted to send a message of love, a message of inclusion and not at all to divide.”
If we take these people at their word, an honest question could be raised. Why did the IOC choose not to dress Muhammad in drag on the world’s stage? What does Jesus have to do with celebrating diversity, inclusion, and love of LGBTQA+ persons? It’s quite simple. Jesus is in the crosshairs of mockery and blasphemy because Jesus Christ condemns sexual perversion. According to the very word of Christ (holy Scripture), all such practices are a violation of God’s original design for human sexuality.
In the New Testament a term porneia appears some 25 different times. This is the term from where we derive the English word pornography. It’s a word that has a general meaning of sexual misconduct or illicit sexual sin. Depending on the English translation, it appears in the Bible as “fornication” or “sexual immorality” or simply as immorality (see also Matthew 15:19; Mark 7:21; Acts 15:20, 29; 21:25; Romans 1:29; 2 Corinthians 12:21; Galatians 5:19; Colossians 3:5; Revelation 9:21). Notice the following ways in which this term appears in the English Standard Version:
“Flee from porneia. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body” (1 Corinthians 6:18).
Porneia on the part of a spouse is noted by Jesus as a legitimate reason for divorce (Matthew 19:9).
“But among you there must not be even a hint of porneia, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people” (Ephesians 5:3).
“It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid porneia” (1 Thessalonians 4:3).
Jesus stated emphatically that he didn’t come to abolish the law. Instead, he came to fulfill it (Matt 5:17). In the Old Testament Scriptures, God’s law forbids any form of homosexual behavior which was worthy of the death penalty (Leviticus 20). Oftentimes people attempt to disconnect Jesus in the New Testament from the God of the Old Testament which was certainly on display during the opening ceremony of the Olympics. Does Jesus merely hold up a heart sign with his hands to the perversion of the LGBTQA+ movement? At this point it would be essential to remember that Jesus in his preincarnate state as very God of very God was enthroned in heaven as the LORD rained down fire and brimstone upon the wicked depraved cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19:24).
If you want to know what Jesus thinks about homosexuality and drag queen dancing, look to Genesis 19.
In short, if you want to know what Jesus thinks about homosexuality and drag queen dancing, look to Genesis 19. The IOC chose to release Muhammad who was a sexual pervert, pedophile, and false prophet and they instead chose Jesus to malign and mock on the stage of the Olympic Games. Jesus came to earth as God in human flesh and any sexual perversion is a slap in the face of Jesus. Sexual sin is a violation of his holy law and Jesus condemns such practices to this very day. In short, Jesus is a threat to the celebration of sexual sin and that’s what the International Olympics Committee wanted to communicate.
The reason why it’s acceptable to mock Jesus and malign Christianity on the world’s stage is because Jesus made it abundantly clear that he is the exclusive way of salvation and that all other world religions are condemned. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). This message of exclusivism literally condemns all other religions and points to Jesus as the King of kings and Lord of lords. One day the entire world will bow to Jesus (Phil 2:5-11), but until then—we should expect the world to spit in his face, mock him, laugh at him, and openly blaspheme him until he returns.
The reason why it’s acceptable to mock Jesus and malign Christianity on the world’s stage is because Jesus made it abundantly clear that he is the exclusive way of salvation and that all other world religions are condemned.
The oldest depiction of Jesus the world has in any artistic form was discovered in a plaster wall in Rome in 1857 during an excavation. It’s known as the Alexamenos graffito. The image depicts a man bowing before a cross with his hands stretched out in a posture of worship. The figure on the cross has the body of a man with the head of a donkey. The inscription beneath reads, “Alexamenos sebetai theon,” meaning “Alexamenos worships his God.” Public mockery of Jesus has always been in vogue and the 2024 Summer Olympics encouraged that anti-Christ tradition once again.
The striking reality of the gospel is that Jesus came to save sinners. In his dying moments on the cross, Jesus cries out to the Father and says, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 25:34). This was said regarding the very people who were mocking him by casting lots for his garments. As we read Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth, the church was made up of people who were once homosexuals (1 Cor 6). Jesus laid down his life for sinners. Even homosexuals can be rescued from their vile depravity. We shouldn’t be amazed that sinners mock Jesus, but the very fact that Jesus saves sinners is still amazing.