EXPOSING THE SATANIC LULLABY

Devine, in his nonfiction debut, argues for the Judeo-Christian ideal of forgiveness over the “principle of self-interest.”

The author’s motivation for writing this book-length essay stems from the anger he “feels towards evil, and a desire to expose deception and the satanic agenda”—namely, the frivolous, earthly preoccupations that have eliminated humanity’s need for God. In eight chapters, using a “combination of economic theory and Socratic logic”—and a painstaking reading of the Old and New Testaments—Devine asserts a number of theories and points of debate. He writes that the world was created with an emphasis on symmetry and a universal duality; as a result, he understands good and evil as absolutes. God’s decisions, says Devine, “are black and white; therefore our choices are black and white”; gray areas and confusion are the work of fallible humans. Although the author is personally opposed to abortion, he acknowledges that a woman’s right to choose “remains available, legally or otherwise.” The logical course of action for vehement anti-abortion advocates, he concludes, “is to pray for the woman to know God’s will.” At one point, Devine presents a striking metaphor, asking the reader to imagine that God is a mother bird, human beings are nestlings and Satan is gravity. However, Devine’s arguments become muddled by odd tangents, such as a paragraph on a “global monolithic conspiracy” supposedly responsible for President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Generalizations abound, and many purported facts are either accepted on faith or cited from sources such as “economic studies in mental institutions,” documentaries on the Discovery Channel or the author’s friend’s girlfriend who works in a children’s hospital. Some readers may also find it difficult to accept the author’s assertion that “every biblical prophecy will come to pass.”

A Christianity-infused work that begins as a moral argument but devolves into exhaustive proselytizing.