A Christian pastor from Midland, TX warned members of the city’s community to beware of Swedish band Ghost, calling them a “devil worshipping” outfit who were promoting Satanic messages.

Larry Long was one of a number of people who staged prayer meetings as a protest against Ghost’s planned appearance at the city’s Wagner Noel Performing Arts Center on Monday (Nov. 19).

“What are those people thinking?” he demanded of venue managers in an interview with KWEL (via Blabbermouth). “Are they a part of our community? Do they care what the majority of our community might think about something like that? It's quite remarkable to me that they would even sign a band like that."

He accepted that freedom of religion also meant a “freedom of irreligion and anti-Christian faith” but added, “This is not healthy for our community. I'm sure the band believes the devil's real; I doubt that they're just doing this as a part of their schtick for music and music they produce and so on. And if you were to read some of the lyrics of their songs, they're really quite disturbing."

He cited a song he called “Satan’s Hammer” – which in reality is presumably the group's 2016 single “Square Hammer” – and said, “It talks about the fact that the person singing the song is seeking a relationship with the devil. And if young people go to a concert like this and they think it's all just good fun, kind of like Halloween, so to speak… who knows what in the world they're opening their hearts and lives up to?"

Ghost – ‘Square Hammer’

Long claimed he’d read a report of Ghost failing to record an album in Nashville because “the content of their music is so demonic… they had trouble finding people to sing.” Turning on band leader Tobias Forge and his Nameless Ghouls, he said, “whether or not that's his real name, who knows? And then the rest of them go by ‘ghoulish horde’ or something like that. Of course, you see this kind of stuff and you say, ‘Well, how much of this do they understand?’ I think that they understand all of it.

“I think that they are doing this intentionally, and I think they really do worship the devil… as a biblical Christian, I believe the devil's real. So I imagine maybe some people listening right now would say, 'Oh, you guys are getting overblown with this,' and those kinds of things. Well, you would only think that if you didn't think the devil was real.”

Ghost’s U.S. tour, supporting latest album Prequelle, continues until Dec. 15, with further dates booked across the world until August 2019.

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