Two Recent Songs Not Even Trying to Hide Satan's Influence: "Counting Stars" & "Come With Me Now"

Turn your radio on in almost any generation and you'll find obvious overtones of sin.  In this generation, however, Satan's seductive powers to pull and tug his followers through music seem more prevalent than ever, especially over the unsuspecting and those not really paying attention to what they're listening to and even singing out of their own mouths.

Here's two songs that have the voice of the demonic, one is even hidden within the idea of prayer, while the other is so in your face with Satan's voice that it cannot be ignored.  (Please comment below!  Also, if you want to read another lyric analysis I did of Cold Play's "Viva la Vida," click here.)

Let's start with the song that mentions prayer.  It's called "Counting Stars" by One Republic.

[Chorus:]


Lately I been, I been losing sleep


Dreaming about the things that we could be


But baby, I been, I been prayin' hard

Said no more counting dollars

We'll be counting stars

Yeah, we'll be counting stars

So far so good.  He's been praying, and decided to stop worrying about money, it seems, but what of counting stars?  Are they just outside looking up into the sky on a clear night, freely counting the infinite number of stars above?  Or is there a hidden, esoteric meaning?  More on that later.




[Verse 1]

I see this life


Like a swinging vine


Swing my heart across the line


In my face is flashing signs

Seek it out and ye shall find

Now, life as a swinging vine: you almost imagine Tarzan swinging on a vine like a pendulum, that the author feels that he's swinging back and forth between two positions. Then he says his heart swings across a line.  Our heart's condition is what's most important to God, it's where we invite Him to enter and dwell within us.  It's also where the issues of life are born out, decisions are made, whether to live for God or not, to do the right thing or not, to love or hate, to give or take.  Which line is our singer's heart swinging across? 

He then speaks of flashing signs.  The signs must be spiritual because he then quotes from Jesus, "Seek and ye shall find" (Luke 11:9), in which Jesus speaks of seeking the kingdom of God and it shall indeed be found. But instead the author/singer is showing that he's questioning the spiritual signs he's been seeing his whole life, that this "seek and ye shall find adage" is not really what he's looking for, much as the same as what Bono sang in U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" from the Joshua Tree Album.

Old, but I'm not that old

Young, but I'm not that bold

And I don't think the world is sold




This mention of being old is also in the next song.  I'm not so sure about the connection.  Perhaps it means he's old enough to know right from wrong now and to have his own mind.  He's not that bold could allude to the boldness of the followers of Christ, that he's just not feeling it.  He doesn't have the faith of confidence in God to be bold. 

Then he exclaims, "I don't think the world is sold." could this mean he doesn't think the world has been sold into sin since the Garden of Eden sin event?  That's where my heart took me as to this line's meaning.  The world has been sold into sin, but the author is saying he doesn't think so.

I'm just doing what we're told

This seems to be an indicator that he's been following along with the idea that the world's been sold, but it's all been because he's been told to do so.  This is how it appears to me in light of the meaning of the rest of the song. Now for the more obvious evidence that this song is about embracing sin/Satan's ways.

I feel something so right

By doing the wrong thing

And I feel something so wrong

By doing the right thing

I couldn't lie, couldn't lie, couldn't lie

Everything that kills me makes me feel alive

So here we have where the rubber meets the road.  He proclaims that doing the wrong thing feels right, and that doing the right things feels wrong, and that everything that kills him (sin is what kills from a spiritual perspective, for the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23) makes him feel alive.  This means that what kills him makes his flesh feel alive.  And as the song builds up to a crescendo at this point, it communicates that it's exciting to live this way.  He doesn't even attempt to fight it now.  He's given in.  Sin has taken him over and that's all that matters.

[Chorus:]

Lately I been, I been losing sleep (hey!)

Dreaming about the things that we could be

But baby, I been, I been prayin' hard (hey!)

Said no more counting dollars

We'll be counting stars

Lately I been, I been losing sleep (hey!)

Dreaming about the things that we could be

But baby, I been, I been prayin' hard (hey!)

Said no more counting dollars

We'll be, we'll be counting stars

So here we have the counting of stars again.  If there is an esoteric meaning derived from the Bible, as this song has already showed a penchant for, stars, from a Biblical perspective, represent angels, as well as demons (Revelation 1:20, 12:4). From the esoteric standpoint, he singing about counting fallen angels/demons.

[Verse 2:]

I feel the love

And I feel it burn

Down this river every turn

Hope is our four letter word

Make that money

Watch it burn

Here I'm not sure if he's going back to the positive love of the relationship the song begins with, but if he's keeping with the theme, he says hope is a four letter word, four letter words are basically known as curse words, but then the theme arises again about the money and watching it burn.  I almost like this theme that hoping in money is wrong.  Might as well give that up, and that's actually a biblical theme as well, "You can't serve God and mammon (money)," (Matthew 6:24), Jesus said, and that's so true.)




Old, but I'm not that old

Young, but I'm not that bold

And I don't think the world is sold
I'm just doing what we're told

And I feel something so wrong

By doing the right thing

I couldn't lie, couldn't lie, couldn't lie

Everything that drowns me makes me wanna fly

This time he says, "everything that drowns me makes me want to fly."  The Bible shows an analogy of drowning in sin in 1 Timothy 6:9, and Jesus said in Matthew 18:6, 

"But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea."

So the esoteric meaning of drowning has to do with sin and offending Christians.  This would be in line with the fact that he's already made the point that sin makes him feel alive, and as well as this song being offensive to Christ and His followers, and perhaps that he takes great pleasure in the persecution of Christ and His followers.  One viewing of the accompanying video for this song and you will Christians mocked for the entirety of it.

[Chorus:]


Lately I been, I been losing sleep (hey!)


Dreaming about the things that we could be


But baby, I been, I been prayin' hard


Said no more counting dollars


We'll be counting stars


Lately I been, I been losing sleep (hey!)


Dreaming about the things that we could be


But baby, I been, I been prayin' hard (hey!)


Said no more counting dollars


We'll be, we'll be counting stars



[Bridge 4x:]


Take that money


Watch it burn


Sink in the river


The lessons I learned

The song's bridge talks about sinking in the river.  I imagine the river to be where a baptism would occur, but the sinking implies falling to the bottom/drowning rather than rising out clean, and that the lessons of life would drown in the river, too.  This is just conjecture on my part, though, but this idea does seem in line with the spiritual references the song makes and also what is reflected in the video for the song, which could have its own analysis as well to show the rejection of God and His people reflected in it.

The song finishes with the chorus:

Everything that kills me makes me feel alive



[Chorus:]


Lately I been, I been losing sleep (hey!)


Dreaming about the things that we could be


But baby, I been, I been prayin' hard (hey!)


Said no more counting dollars


We'll be counting stars


Lately I been, I been losing sleep


Dreaming about the things that we could be


But baby, I been, I been prayin' hard


Said no more counting dollars


We'll be, we'll be counting stars

Overall the theme of this song is to embrace doing the wrong thing while avoiding doing the right.  It's typical sin embracing, Satanic drivel, but sadly, many people, including many Christians, sing this song without a second thought.  I pray in Jesus' mighty name that the revelation of this song's demonic underpinnings will lead many to turn away from doing so.

Now for the song that, to me, is more obviously and directly Satanic.  It's called, "Come with Me Now" by the Kongos.

Come with me now


Come with me now


Whoa, come with me now


I'm gonna take you down 

Come with me now where?  I'm gonna take you down….down where?




Whoa, come with me now


I'm gonna show you how


Whoa, come with me now


I'm gonna take you down


Whoa, come with me now


I'm gonna show you how

Ok, here it's proclaimed that the person saying come with me is going to show us how to do so, and it begins to be wondered, who is the person asking us to come down and what will he show us?

Afraid to lose control


And caught up in this world


I've wasted time, I've wasted breath


I think I've thought myself to death

The implication in the beginning of this song is the same as "Counting Stars." The Bible teaches to have self control and to not get caught up into the things of this world.  "I think I've fought myself to death" implies that the singer is saying, "I'm tired of fighting to do the right thing and to not get caught up in  the world, I'm done with doing that.  It's getting so old!"

I was born without this fear


Now only this seems clear


I need to move, I need to fight


I need to lose myself tonight 

Being born without this fear, that is the fear of doing the wrong thing.  Now he's embracing this idea of letting go and not fearing the consequences of doing what he really wants to do, that is, what his flesh wants to do.  He's going to get lost in sin.




Whoa, come with me now


I'm gonna take you down


Whoa, come with me now


I'm gonna show you how

Now with the chorus and main theme sung again we see that this is where the singer is taking you, he's going to take you down into sin, he's going to show you "how" by getting you to let go of your inhibitions.

I think with my heart and I move with my head


I open my mouth and it's something I've read 

Here again, as with "Counting Stars," he's implying that the things that he's been taught are just automatically coming out of his mouth, and what he read I believe refers to the thoughts and ideas derived from the Biblical scriptures which undergird much of western society, at least to some degree, and that he no longer wants that anymore.


I stood at this door before, I'm told


But a part of me knows that I'm growing too old

Here we have the idea of getting old represented in this song as well, maybe he wants to take advantage of sin before his body can't accommodate it any more, or he's growing to old to stand on the fence.  He must choose a side, either for good or evil, and he knows it.

Confused what I thought with something I felt 

Confuse what I feel with something that's real 

Here he's trying to separate his feelings from his thoughts and his feelings from what's actually real. This is his fight. His thoughts verses his feelings are contradicting each other, and he can't even be sure what he feels is actually reality.  That's the confusion Satan brings because he is the author of confusion.

I tried to sell my soul last night


Funny, he wouldn't even take a bite

Now we have where the real rubber meets the road.  The singer says he tried to sell his soul, of course that means to Satan, but he's saying Satan wouldn't 'take a bite"  Why wouldn't he? Was the singer protected for some reason?  was there something more the singer needs to do?

Far away
I heard him say (Come with me now) 

This is Satan calling to the singer, "Come with me now."  Satan would not take the bite until the singer agreed to come with him, to take that step toward sin and death, and then the soul could be sold.

Don't delay 

I heard him say (Come with me now)


Don't delay, don't wait, follow me, Satan is saying:

Far away
I heard him say (Come with me now)


Don't delay
I heard him say (Come with me now)


And here it's repeated for good measure:

Whoa, come with me now


I'm gonna take you down


Whoa, come with me now


I'm gonna show you how 

Again, the chorus becomes clearer, Satan himself is saying, "Come with me now, I'm gonna take you down.  Come with me now, I'm gonna show you how."

How many people have sung this song not knowing exactly what it was about, but literally are singing a Satanic chant in which Satan calls on us to come down into his hellish world and be his?  How many Christians have sung this song?

It's time we Christians pay attention to what we sing and be on guard, because the enemy publishes way more music than the pure of heart.  We must be careful of what we put in our ears and into our minds and hearts, so that the evil does NOT find a place in us and ultimately find a way to be expressed through our lives.

•      "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of theabundance of the heart his mouth speaketh" (Luke 6:45).