Keith Green – No One Believes in Me Anymore (Satan’s Boast)

Jewish Contemporary Christian artist Keith Green began his career at 11 years old, dying tragically at 28.  During his life, he released several albums, including:

• For Him Who Has Ears to Hear (1977)
• No Compromise (1978)
• So You Wanna Go Back to Egypt (1980)
• The Keith Green Collection (1981)
• Songs for the Shepherd (1982)

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Keith-green-no-one-believes-in-me-anymore-satans-boast-lyrics.

Note to new users: This is a different kind of review site!  Read About the Berean Test and Evaluation Criteria prior to reading this review.

1. What message does the song communicate?

Similar to C. S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters, this song is about examining Satan’s methods so that we, as Christians, can learn from it.  Satan (as spoken by Green) boasts his sneaky tactics to lure unsuspecting individuals away from God.  He lies by mixing it with true to make it sound more believable.  He makes good look sinful and evil look awesome, using false teachers to bolster his error.  He makes his existence look foolish to add doubt to spiritual existence.  He influenced people to practice the occult and absorb secular books.

Some of his lies include:

• Nobody believes in him (though could be truthful if taken hyperbolically)
• Heaven is all in your head
• God is dead
• We’ll “win” if we follow him
• We’re not lawbreakers
• The truth is inside us

Satan speaks the truth in everything else he says (in context), serving as a warning to us believers about Satan’s tactics so that we won’t fall for them.

Score: 10/10

2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?

Given the nature of its message, I thought that I would be required to Scripturally review this song differently than other songs.  To my surprise, everything stated is consistent with Scripture in terms of Satan’s lies and tactics.

[Verse 1]

Lines 1 and 2: Satan’s goal is to draw us away from God in rebellion (John 10:10).  When we’re carried away from the enticement of allurement, it makes his “job” easier (James 1:14-15).

Lines 3 and 4: Satan reveals himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14–15), making evil look good and good look evil (Isaiah 5:20).

Line 5: We saw this in the garden and his conversation with Jesus, where Satan mixed truth with lies to entice people to disobey God (Genesis 3:4-5, Matthew 4:1-11, and Luke 4:1-13).  Satan is the father of lies and cannot be trusted (John 8:44).

Lines 6-8: It is not inconceivable that he is behind the teachers who utter doctrine contrary to Scripture and tickles itching ears (2 Timothy 4:3).

Line 9: That is, power over the lives of those enticed by his schemes (Ephesians 4:27).

Line 10: Many people are falling for Satan’s tactics.

Lines 11 and 12: The idea behind disbelief in the devil is disbelief in the spiritual realm.  This includes God, who is spirit (John 4:24).  He boasts that “nobody” believes in him, which is precisely what He wants.

[Verse 2]

Line 1: Lies!  Heaven is eternal life with God (Mark 10:29-30, John 3:15-16, John 3:36, John 4:14, John 5:24, John 5:39-40, John 6:27, John 6:40, John 10:28, John 17:3, John 20:31, Romans 5:21, Romans 6:22-23, Romans 8:18, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Galatians 6:8, 1 Timothy 1:16, 1 Timothy 6:12, 2 Timothy 2:11, Hebrews 5:9, 1 Peter 5:10, 1 John 2:23-27, 1 John 5:10-13, 1 John 5:20, Jude 1:20-21, Revelation 3:5, Revelation 7:16-17, and Revelation 21:3-4).

Lines 2-4: References German philosopher Frederich Nietzche’s book Thus Spoke Zarathustra, where he proclaims God is dead.  Satan takes credit for “writing” this book.

Lines 5 and 6: Satan is the power behind the occult, which God warned us to avoid (Leviticus 19:31 and Leviticus 20:6).

Lines 7 and 8: Anyone who is not a son of God is a son of Satan (1 John 3:10).  They do not trust Jesus as the Truth (John 14:6).

Lines 9 and 10: See commentary on Verse 1, lines 1 and 2.

Line 11: Though God provides the way of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13), yet, we often don’t take it, falling for the Devil’s schemes.

Line 12: Repeats Verse 1, line 12.

[Bridge]

Lines 1 and 2: Satan overpromises and underdelivers, banking on our natural desire to win.  He tried it with Jesus, who fought back with Scripture (Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13).

Lines 3 and 4: An obvious contradiction to Romans 3:23 and Jeremiah 17:9.

Lines 5 and 6: Satan knows that He cannot make anyone sin.  This gives us responsibility to take ownership of our actions (Psalm 51:4), avoiding blaming Satan for our transgressions (Genesis 3:13).

Line 7 and 8: Satan knows his end will be the eternal lake of fire (Revelation 20:10).

Line 9: Repeats line 8.

[Verse 3]

Lines 1 and 2: Essentially repeats Verse 1, lines 1 and 2.

Lines 3-5: Satan is the ruler of this world (John 12:31, John 14:30, John 16:11, Ephesians 2:2, and 1 John 5:19).

Lines 6 and 7: See commentary on Bridge, lines 5 and 6.

Lines 8-10: See commentary on Verse 1, lines 1 and 2.

Line 11: Repeats Verse 1, line 12.

[Outro]

Lines 1-4: Repeats Verse 2, lines 9-12.

Lines 5-8: Repeats Verse 1, lines 9-12.

Lines 9 and 10: Essentially repeats Verse 1, line 12.

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

In a touch of irony, those outside Christianity will probably interpret this song as Satan speaking and will likely not believe it.  The language Green uses eases this interpretation, beautifully mixing everyday language with Biblical terminology palatable to the unbelieving eye.

I must give full credit.

Score: 10/10

4. What does this song glorify?

Green uses this song to expose Satan’s lies and inhibit his deception, implicitly glorifying God.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Keith Green’s No One Believes in Me Anymore (Satan’s Boast) is different than the typical song I review.  Satan (as expressed by Green) exposes himself as a liar and ought not be believed, showcasing his talents in his boast.  His goal is to prevent us from following Jesus, knowing his time will be up when Christ returns, attempting to glorify himself.  Unbelievers will have little problem interpreting this song.

For obvious reasons, I cannot recommend this song for corporate worship; However, let is serve as a warning to believers how Satan’s schemes can draw us away from Christ.

Final Score: 10/10

Artist Info

Track: No One Believes in Me Anymore (Satan’s Boast) (listen to the song)

Artist: Keith Green

Album: For Him Who Has Ears to Hear

Genre: Hot Jazz

Release Year: 1977

Duration: 3:22

Agree?  Disagree?  Don’t be shy or have a cow!  Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.

Updates:

03/25/2021 – Updated per repetition announcement.

08/18/2020 – Updated to perfect score after reading Neal Cruco’s comments and realizing that I made a contradiction in my commentary in section 1.