Meaning of “Jesus He Knows Me” by Genesis

In the early 1990s, the English rock band Genesis released one of their biggest hits, “Jesus He Knows Me”. This song’s lyrics do nothing but attack televangelists and pastors. They mainly attack preachers who deceive their congregations (viewers) and use the name of Jesus Christ to extort ridiculous amounts of money from them.

These lyrics, which are highly satirical, were written at the time when televangelism was becoming very popular in America and various parts of the world. Around that time, numerous prominent televangelists in the United States found themselves in scandals that had to do with conning their own followers. Most of the scam came in the form of the pastors telling their congregations that they would only receive miracles and financial breakthroughs if they gave their monies to “God”.

Interestingly, many of these so called “men of God” enriched themselves with these monies meant for “God”. And as if that wan’t enough, they lived very flamboyant lifestyles with these ill gotten monies.

Is “Jesus He Knows Me” against Christianity or religions in general?

Many think that this classic is an anti-religion song, but it isn’t. The song just speaks out against unscrupulous preachers and their fraudulent activities.

Facts about “Jesus He Knows Me”

• The song was written by all three members of Genesis (Phil Collins, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford), with Collins being responsible for writing the song’s lyrics.
• The song was released on July 13th, 1992. It was the fourth single from the band’s commercially successful 14th studio album We Can’t Dance.
• The music video of the song, which received a Brit Award nomination, parodies the highly controversial American Christian evangelist Ernest Angley and his activities. According to Collins, Angley actually felt flattered by the music video hardly knowing that he was being criticized.
• Contrary to popular belief, the sign “Genesis 3:25” which appears in the music video isn’t referring to the Book of Genesis in the Bible. The sign meant that the band Genesis consisted of three members (Collins, Banks and Rutherford) and had been a band for the past 25 years. It is worth noting that in the Book of Genesis, there’s no such thing as “Genesis 3:25”. And why? Simple. The third chapter of Genesis doesn’t contain more than 24 verses.
• This song was used in the 1996 Belgian film titled The Eighth Day.

Chart Performance

This song peaked at numbers 20 and 23 on the UK Singles Chart and the US Hot 100 respectively.

Did “Jesus He Knows Me” win Genesis any Grammy Awards?

No.

Are there any covers of this classic?

Yes. For example, in 2019, the German band Emil Bulls released their rendition of this song.