The opening ceremonies of the Olympics highlighted how much the people of France need prayer, and as they’re influencing America for the next two weeks, focusing our prayers on France will help at home, too.

In case you didn’t watch the opening ceremonies or haven’t heard, they encouraged three-way sex, featured a nude man — covered only by a strategically placed vine — who emerged from under the cover of a giant meat tray on a table many are saying mocked Leonardo Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper.”

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They also featured a red, white and blue balloon floating by a bruised and battered Statue of Liberty, as well as a white horse that may have been one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse.

Ironically, the Olympics Charter states, “No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.”

Thomas Jolly, artistic director of the opening ceremonies, denies that his choreography was inspired by the Last Supper or Da Vinci’s masterpiece, saying, “The idea was to do a big pagan party linked to the gods of Olympus.” There is a painting with a similar setting in a painting, “The Feast of the Gods” by Jan van Bijert, in which Apollo has light shining behind his head, but it’s nothing like the halo worn by the woman, Barbara Butch, in the opening ceremonies, which is much more similar to halos of saints and deity in classical paintings. Among those flanking Butch were drag queens and a little girl, watching it all.

In an interview for BFM, a major news network in France, one of the performers during the opening ceremonies, drag queen rapper Piche, defended what they did, saying  “The Last Supper” has been used in pop culture for years.

Even if Jolly is honest about his inspiration, depicting “a big pagan party linked to the gods of Olympus,” is honoring and inviting ancient demons to the games.

Catholic Bishop Robert Barron, from the U.S., posted a video in which he said:

Now a question I would pose, and we all know the answer to it: Would they ever have dared mock Islam in a similar way? Would they ever have dreamed mocking in this gross and public way, a scene from the Qu’ran? And as I say we all know the answer.

It’s not just Christians who are offended

According to a poll taken by the U.K.’s Daily Mail online publication, 73% of their readers found the opening ceremony to be “grossly offensive.” Only 13% voted no, and 14% didn’t watch. There’s been so much backlash that the International Olympic Committee and NBC removed the opening ceremonies from their online platforms and YouTube.

According to the French site www.20Minutes.fr, the IOC is claiming they don’t have the rights to air their own programming in certain regions. Our host in Paris, Rob Plaster, translated this from the article:

The IOC has only retained broadcasting rights in certain global markets. Specifically, the IOC does not have rights in Europe and the UK, among others. As a result, images from official Olympic venues and areas are geo-blocked for these markets, which is why the videos cannot be viewed. They have not been removed.

Our hostess, Nichole Plaster, found the entire opening ceremonies on the web platform of a French television station, so the IOC hasn’t geo-blocked it from France, but it’s not on YouTube here. Also, the entire opening ceremonies are available for London 2012, Rio 2016, and Beijing 2022.

Apology?

The Olympics made a statement about the opening ceremony, but it didn’t sound like an apology. A spokesperson said this at a news conference: “Clearly, there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. [The opening ceremony] tried to celebrate community tolerance. We believe this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offense, we are really sorry.”

The IOC reiterated the non-apology.

The IOC has taken note of and welcomes the clarification given by the Paris 2024 Organising Committee regarding the Opening Ceremony. pic.twitter.com/kEB9zyw3Ue

— IOC MEDIA (@iocmedia) July 28, 2024

We will discuss and pray about this blasphemy at the Olympics and what it means about our world on Headline Prayer Live, Tuesday, July 30, 2024 at 12:15 pm ET. Call 667-771-7910 (access code 2452#) or watch at IFApray.org/watch. We will also share encouragement from Christian athletes competing in the games.

There’s hope for France

The night after the opening ceremonies, the lights went out in the City of Lights, leaving District 18 in the dark long enough to highlight the lights that did not go out: They were shining on the Basilica of Sacré Coeur, which has hosted 24/7 prayer since 1885.

When the Plasters arrived in Paris in 2003 they remember that there were only about about .5% of the French population that was Evangelical.

When I performed here in 2005 my performance was shut down because between dramas I was sharing my personal faith in a public place.

According to Worldometer and the National Council of Evangelical Christians, by 2023 the Evangelical presence had risen to 1.15%. That might not sound like much, but that’s a 15-fold increase since 1950.

The Plasters remember when they could count on two hands the number of French Evangelical Churches in Paris. Now, Rob Plaster estimates there are more than 50.

Take a moment to praise the Lord for this move in the right direction!

Clearly France still needs prayer

The intercessors of Sacré Coeur are being joined by many during the Olympics, including France1Million (www.France1Million.world), which was the idea of Marty Woods. He had a vision to reach a million souls during the Tokyo Olympics, but when lockdowns postponed it, Woods was downcast. Hear how the Lord gave him a vision for motivating a million prayers for Japan, and how they now want to give “a gift of 1 million prayers from the worldwide Christian Church — for France.”

Here’s our interview:

This was Nichole Plasters’ prayer prompted by the opening ceremonies:

Jesus, May they discover your irresistible grace, your unbreakable love, that never faltered while they were yet sinners. Lord, seize the heart of these same artistic designers. May they find salvation this week and boldly testify of their conversion. Make waves in the design scene with a modern apostle who publicly changes his name and branding, as you called Saul to become Paul and proclaim your message to the ends of the earth… and a platform to influence his own leaders. Amen.

Prayers are already bearing fruit! A Christian worship service broke out in downtown Paris after the opening ceremonies.

Post your prayers for France in the comments!

[Bio]: Rich Swingle has presented in 42 nations on six continents, mostly with his own one-man plays. He and his bride Joyce Swingle, another contributing writer for IFA, are currently in Paris sharing his one-man play about Eric Liddell, world-record breaker at Paris 1924: www.BeyondTheChariots.com. The Swingles live in New York City. www.RichDrama.com