
Satan's Speech A Narrative Poem with Religious Themes Satan stepped up to the podium, cleared his throat, and tapped the microphone to address his legions of demons gathered with each new, human generation to discuss matters of military penetration. "It is no longer necessary to corrupt good for evil," he said. "It's quite satisfactory to distract the mind and heart from mission to resignation, carried away by the slews of sedition, soul-numbed in leisurely pursuits. Preferable, in fact. For who questions convenience? Which one of your clients challenges comfort or inspects the tools built by good intention?" "If there's one thing we know, dear friends, is how given the choice, the allure of sin is stronger than righteousness in even the nicest fellow. But sin disguised as harmless, helpful, fun, beguiled by necessity for modern life... well, that's the Trojan Horse that turns the tides of war - the break we've waited eons for." A light echo of laughter broke out across the room. Abaddon leaned in close to the mic, "If you don't understand the chuckle of your neighbor, you're far too young to understand our plight across the ages and the countless battles we've fought for control of the human heart. For even the wisest sages are penetrable in a world of distraction. We no longer need to trade truth for lies. Just simply plant alibis to embrace the easy and immediate in favor of the important and inconvenient until it becomes buried beneath a pile of endless beeps, dings, and buzzes, and they'll forget Truth was ever there to begin with." He grabbed the mic from the stand and began pacing across the stage, his powerful, intoxicating shadows dancing across the walls, magnified by the candlelight. Lucifer continued, "Could it get any easier, my friends? Remember the centuries when we'd have to convince them to pluck the fruit fully aware of their sin and our whispers slithering out of the bush?" "We now simply need to convince them that the world has grown far too large for them to make a difference, that their lives are too busy for prayer, and that reading is antiquated... far easier to keep that vile book we all abhor out of their hands than convince them it belongs in the trash." "Don't you know 'faith without works is dead'?" Belial said with a smirk. "And modern technology keeps their restless hearts so busy, they don't even realize they're dying inside." A deep, wicked, bellowed laugh amplified from the stage and an applause rang throughout the crowd. Justin Farley
