Back in the 1970s, when I attended a Baptist church, the pastor’s sermon always followed worship songs. The minister’s wife crooned a couple of songs and then the congregation belted beloved hymns like “Amazing Grace,” “Mansion Over the Hilltop,” and “How Great Thou Art.”

The emphasis was on the lyrics that extolled the saving power of Jesus, and the music was just an appetizer before the meat of the Word of God delivered by the pastor.

Today most evangelical churches have replaced hymns with praise music. Praise music induces a meditative, transcendent state of consciousness, by using repetitive patterns and phrases.

These techniques prepare worshippers to have a spiritual experience, which has nothing to do with the traditional Gospel or communing with the Almighty. Evangelicals may repeat “Jesus, I love you” ad nauseum and then exclaim “Amen,” when the MAGA pastor praises Donald Trump, who anyone with a smidgen of spiritual insight would recognize as a steaming pile of human shit.

Christian nationalist worship leaders, like Sean Feucht, are frequently the opening acts at MAGA rallies. Adolf Hitler idolized and obsessively loved the music of German composer Richard Wagner, and Donald Trump loves praise music, and features contemporary Christian worship leaders in his rallies.

Praise music is the soundtrack of the Apocalypse, and whenever I hear praise music I pray that God will smite the fucken somnambulists.