Not too long ago a member of the church I pastor, Vanguard Church in Colorado Springs, asked me a question, she said, my daughter wanted me to ask you, “Why do you hate Lauren Daigle?” Of course, that question is like asking, “When are you going to stop beating your wife?” The conclusion of guilt has already been drawn and now the question was simply, it seemed, just seeking to find out why I hated her.
First off, as a follower of Jesus Christ, we are never given permission by Jesus to hate anyone. Jesus tells us just the opposite in the Sermon on The Mount:
Matthew 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.
God is never okay with us hating anyone, even our enemies. He wants us to bless them, do good to them, and pray for them. With that said, I can’t fully answer the question because it has a faulty premise. I don’t hate anyone, even the man who drove drunk and killed my mom thirty-two years ago, I pray for him. I pray for his soul. As a pastor, I have had people over the years who have despitefully used me to get what they want or blame me for what they don’t want to deal with in their own lives. I love them too.
For a few years now, I have reviewed several of Lauren Daigle’s songs from a biblical and theological perspective. You can check those out here.
I believe from a Biblical and theological perspective I have tried to be reasonable, biblical, and loving.
Lauren has been given a massive platform to represent Jesus. I applaud this. Here is a sampling of the platform Lauren has been given: (Per the Christian beat report 8.29.2024)
Lauren Daigle is a two-time Grammy, seven-time Billboard Music, and four-time American Music Award Winner.
Since the release of her GRAMMY
Award-winning, 2x platinum-certified 2018 album Look Up Child, Daigle has amassed a whopping 9 billion streams and has been a mainstay on the Billboard charts. When Look Up Child debuted at No. 3 on the Top
200 Albums chart, Daigle became the first female artist in history to simultaneously hit the Top 10 on both Billboard’s Pop and Christian Album charts. Her recent GRAMMY Nominated, self-titled album’s debut single, “Thank God I Do,” gave Daigle her 6th Billboard No. 1 and was recently certified Gold.
Lauren is not only the most well-known, popular, and successful Christian artist in the world, but she is also one of the most recognized and accomplished artists in the world in both secular and sacred circles. I applaud this platform and cheer her on for the glory of Jesus and the good of those who are following her.
My concern lies in the theology and her unbiblical perspective of sexuality that fuels and fosters the environment by which she creates the music and advances it in the name of Jesus.
I wrote an article several years ago about her emergence of Baphomets into mainstream Christianity. You can read about that here.
I also wrote about Lauren’s view of homosexuality. You can read about that here in these two articles: Article one, Article two
As a Pastor, I have personally had no problem with Christian music with a positive message that is benign when it comes to the overt nature of the Gospel being the front and center of the song. I love creative approaches to cultivate interest in nonbelievers. As a local church, our mission is to take risks to reach the lost and as a church we have done that by using things like Harry Potter to teach people about the Gospel. I love the book, “Reading for the Love of God” by Jessica Hooten Wilson, which teaches us how to see Jesus in all genres of literature.
My concern with Lauren Daigle’s music is her pro-gay, pro-transgender, pro-love is love approach to the world that is drinking in her music and believing that Jesus is okay with their choice of sexuality independent of what God’s Word says.
Lauren has been asked numerous times to share her view on homosexuality, transgender, and the myriad of other sexual expressions that are unbiblical that are seemingly growing in acceptance among Bible believing Evangelical Christians, and she refuses.
Lauren came to Colorado Springs on August 23rd and hosted a concert for the community. Many evangelical Christians went and see no problem with Lauren’s view of sexuality or her utilization of openly gay Christian musicians who helped her create and make her latest album for her Kaleidoscope Tour. The definition of a Kaleidoscope is, “continually shifting from one set of relations to another.” I have no idea if Lauren intends for the name of her tour to fit a pro-gay agenda. I do know the rainbow has been adopted by the gay community as their symbol of God’s acceptance of their changing view of God’s view of sexuality. And the kaleidoscope and the rainbow are similar in their colorful expression in conjunction with one another.
Sadly because of these sorts of events and approaches, Pastors like myself across the United States and around the world are forced to either look the other way so not to rock the boat with their church members or take a stand and be seen as “hateful, unloving, narrow minded, bigoted, and the list goes on. It doesn’t appear that there is any longer a third option in evangelical circles.
For about fifteen years now many evangelicals have been saying, “God is love,” as a means of supporting and showing love to the LBGQTQIA2+ community. Now that mantra has shifted to “Love is Love.” God is no longer seen as the authority or source on love. I talk about that here.
Many evangelical Christians that I talk to no longer see anything off limits when it comes to sexuality nor do they have concerns about their most popular Christian artist having an opposing view of what the Bible says about it, like Lauren.
To answer the question, no, I do not hate Lauren Daigle and her music. I pray for her often. I pray God would use her as a prophetess in our generation. I pray that she would take a stand on issues that are creating massive confusion in our teens today. I pray that she would rise up and be a clear biblical voice for those looking for the love of God and the truth of God, because without both, neither are true or loving.
Blessings,
Pastor Kelly
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In