Damian Velarde from Speaking Louder Ministries is lamenting "the destructive lie" at the heart of today's pop culture.

He says that the pop industry has sold the world an artificial happiness "wrapped in the garments of beauty, wealth and popularity".

Writing in the ministry's blog, Velarde said that the world is now unravelling the deep levels of hopelessness and brokenness of mankind, and yet people are still searching for the solution in all the wrong places. Instead of pursuing happiness in the Creator, people have been looking for it in the creation.

"It's pseudo-happiness at the expense of one's soul," he said. "As it turns out, the further we pursue happiness, the more broken we become and the more calloused our hearts grow. The pursuit of happiness, however, is not the problem."

The more people seek for happiness in creation, the more broken people's lives become and the more they wallow in hopelessness. But Velarde stressed that there is still hope.

In death and darkness, the light of Christ shines even more brightly. "The saddening reality is that we are all slaves in need of good news. The good news that we are all in need of is news of deliverance," he said.

God's word does just that - delivers people from hopelessness and brings them joy. Velarde added that God's word changes a life forever, as Jesus came into this world to take the fate of mankind and died for man's sins.

"He lays down His life so that we might have life. The righteousness that God requires can only come from God through Jesus Christ, by faith in the finished work of Christ. Only then do we experience the joy, happiness and satisfaction that we were created to experience," he said.