Four Week Series - There is no light in the darkness

I walk past a tobacconist store. It's shelves are filled with cheap statues of dragons, witches, skulls with snakes around them, chalices with daggers in them draped with all kinds of serpentine beasts and all sorts of dark imagery. Demand = supply, so there must be a reasonable trade in those items. I have seen them in the houses of people who tell you stories of strange paranormal occurrences and oppressive forces.

 

A young man listens to a dirge of music, the darker, the heavier the better. The lyrics are angry, dark, anti-christ and anti society. They speak of isolation and loneliness and that no one could ever understand you. He wears black clothes and had black thoughts.

 

In a tattoo parlour, amongst the luridly coloured cheap artwork like dolphins, roses and cartoon characters are some of the darkest images I have ever seen - literally images of demons. "Does anyone ever get those" I ask? "Yeah, all the time" he answers "I'll do them but there's no way I'd ever get one, they are so dark I don't know how you could sleep at night". And that's the tatooist!!

 

A girl watches the twilight series and becomes enamoured with Vampire mythology. She wonders what it would be like to have eternal life in this manner and starts to research it on the web. She finds that there are 'real vampires' and a sophisticated subculture.

 

A young lady comes to Church. Her father is a satanist and her husband is a leader in the satanic church in the local area. She wants out but cant leave because there are real powers at work.

 

For the next four weeks, I want to look at the subcultures that exist and the real impact it has on the lives of people who indulge in them. Are there spiritual consequences that come from involvement in them, from the imagery surrounding them, the music and lyrics and the medium that is used to convey it;s message.

 

As someone who was raised in a family involved in the occult, who was in a heavy metal band and has ministered to people involved in goth and other subcultures, this is a non-judgemental realistic look at how the dark side of culture affects lives and souls.

 

Pastor Baz.