Satan Visits The Church

In February 2022, as a supplement to our semester-long study of morality in my Christian club, I initiated a creative writing project that was inspired by some of the events that have unfolded during the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic.

After sitting down and doing some reflection on the pandemic, I remembered a period of time throughout 2020, and the early months of 2021, when the church was undergoing a time of great deception and confusion, mainly in mainstream evangelical churches. After reading Tracy’s publication titled “Are we Being Tested”, I reflected on the false prophecies that have been going around during Covid. In a future post, I will share with you a few purposes that I believe were accomplished during the lockdown. But, one of the main ones I shared with Tracy is that the church is being tested and tried by fire to see if we are truly doing what we are supposed to be doing: Following and sharing the truth of the Gospel. Remember Job’s trials from Satan? Remember Daniel and the lion’s den? Remember the fiery furnace? Remember the persecution of the early Christians? These were all trials to prove the authenticity of their faith, and whether they actually have the capacity to apply what we have been taught to our daily lives: both in the good and the bad times.

Unfortunately, a majority of professing Christians are failing the coronavirus test by chasing after false teachers who tickle their ears with smooth lips who tell them what they want to hear. Some have even turned to atheism, or worse, have started outright worshipping Satan and joining the occult as a result of the uncertainty we have faced. Some have started drinking, and some have participated in protests that accomplish nothing but calamity and chaos. This was foretold in 2 Timothy chapter 4. The following excerpt comes from verses 3-5 in the World English Bible version, which inspired the creation of this project.

3, For the time will come when they will not listen to the sound doctrine, but, having itching ears, will heap up for themselves teachers after their own lusts;
4, And will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside to fables.
5, But you be sober in all things, suffer hardship, do the work of an evangelist, and fulfill your ministry.

Isn’t this the phenomenon we are witnessing today? Preachers claiming to cure the coronavirus while casting judgement on a supposedly “corrupt” voting system that did not elect their golden calf? Even a well-known televangelist claiming to cast judhement on Covid and Satan while spitting at a guillible audience who does not give a SQUAT about rebuking sin? Yet, when Lil Nas X released that Satan video last year, we kicked up an emotional meltdown, as if our puffed-up flesh was getting attacked by “the work of Satan”! Church, we have a lot of work to do!

Take all of the drama, and you get, …. … a dramatic documentary! WOAH! Lay down the tapes!

Backstory Behind The Name

The story behind this written documentary was not actually based on political tensions alone. Rather, it is based on a trend that has been circulating across many evangelical churches in America during the early stages of the Covid-19 outbreak. What I am present is not necessarily an abstract narrative as I have written over the course of the past two years. 

Proir to the culmination of this documentary, I composed three plays based on the 2020 election and the political upheaval that followed the election (details to come in a future post). Quite frankly, “Satan Visits the Church” may be one of the most challenging and emotional pieces I would have created since Covid started. The name of the piece suggests that there are secrets hidden under the scope of televangelism and the quest to obtain knowledge of the spiritual world in a time where a great plague has put us in the position of standing against the wall. I am of the firm conviction that we are living in a time where fear is so prevalent, that it prompts us to examine Biblical prophecy and eschatology through the lens of cultural trends, politics, and the function of the church. If you tie all of these together, we have a mystery we have to uncover. I firmly believe that Satan has been a major figure that has greatly influenced the functioning of the church and a continually evolving civilization in a climate where sin is socially acceptable. The problem is that the fears we associate with the Covid vaccines and other uncertainties cloud our knowledge and understanding, inherently creating a flawed view of Satan and the spiritual realm. Thus, it would inevitably create a flawed view of God. You will hear heart-wrenching, and often sad, chilling, and outright touching testimonies from three Spanish immigrants who face a period of spiritual testing. You will also hear stories from other figures who were a part of the scandal.

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In this documentary, three Spanish immigrants undergo years of tribulation and suffering that has sent the family unit to their knees. For the bioligical mother of two adopted children raised in Catholic school, the search for knowledge and healing have led her to cut corners. After their local church burns down to the ground, a false prophet named Sire Victor, who is a secret high priest of the LaVeyan Church of Satan, is elected as a priest in a different cathedral, where he prophesies riches and financial growth while proclaiming the healing of their gravely ill grandmother hospitalized with Covid.

The family had been homeless for years. The youngest adoptive child, 9-year-old Lee Darwin, lost both her former parents in a tragic house fire. Four years later, he lives with an 11-year-old brother named Eli, who is a Catholic who is led astray by the tribulations that take place, and well as old wounds from religious fanatics. Later in the play, you will notice varouis accounts from witnesses mentioning her future plan to eventually join the Church of Satan if things don’t improve.

Eventually, after being forewarned about Victor’s prophecy, Meredith Darwin, the biological mother of two children, makes a decision to sell her soul for a beautiful, exotic mansion. After a month gambling in the casino to pay for Catholic education, the mansion gets destroyed by a typhoon, leaving her to spend three nights in the hospital.

With two members of the family devoted their lives to the luxury Satan enticed them with, the mission to capture this false prophet goes underway, and Lee is put to the ultimate test to stay on the path of Jesus. After a series of interviews and testimonies given out, the false prophet is charged with fraud, theft, and over 20 counts of extortion and sacrilege.

So, what is this hidden secret Satan keeps from Meredith and the public? Glamor glorifies the eyes of a guillible idiot.

Conclusion

The final, pulished copy of this thought-provoking play should be released by the end of May, or at the latest, the first week of June. The original plan was to have it published to the school’s literature magazine, but that may not happen until next year, since I have a lot of homework to work on, and I have been out a lot these past three weeks. Regardless of what form it is, I pray that the creation and publication of this presentation will challenge me and many others to learn more about the Word of God and mature in their faith.

My Essential Question of Experimentation For This Piece

What happens when the head of the family is led astray, and only the youngest member is still walking in the light?