Scarlet wings cover his scaly back. Sharp claws protrude from his feet, and from his reptilian forehead two pale horns jut upwards threateningly. There he sits with his wicked grin, straddling a tormented naked woman crawling on all fours across the fiery ground. Here in the church, the frescos stretch ominously above the heads of the village congregation. The frightening pictures on the vaulted ceiling add punch to the candid words of the priest in the pulpit.
War upon war, disease, gnawing hunger and devastating floods – all this misery is a sure sign that the Day of Judgment is near at hand – as it says in the Holy Bible. People are living in the end times – on the very edge of doom.
Now is when everyone must choose a side – choose to live by the word of God, to live a Christian life and so enter Heaven after the Day of Judgment. Or choose to follow a path of sin and so be forever lost to an afterlife of fire and brimstone with the Devil wielding the whip for all eternity.
But this is no easy choice, because the minions of Hell walk among them unseen. In the streets, in people’s homes – even here the Devil may have corrupted the seemingly good and upright members of the congregation sitting here in church on a Sunday. There are witches and sorcerers everywhere.