Word: devil
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...Gospel text for the day was familiar enough: Matthew 4, depicting the devil's threefold temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. But the Sunday sermon, delivered last week by New York's John Cardinal O'Connor, quickly became a headline grabber. To illustrate the reality of evil and give the biblical theme a contemporary twist, O'Connor recited what he termed "gruesomely realistic" portions of The Exorcist, the 1971 novel (and later film) that drew upon accounts of hundreds of exorcisms. Moreover, after Mass the Cardinal revealed to reporters that priests had been authorized to perform two exorcisms...
That might have been enough for many preachers, but O'Connor wanted to give the devil his full due. He warned in his sermon that "diabolically instigated violence is on the rise" and asserted that heavy-metal rock music can "help trap people, especially teenagers," into dabbling in disgraceful Satanist practices. In particular, the Cardinal denounced rocker Ozzy Osbourne's tune Suicide Solution ("Wine is fine but whiskey's quicker/ Suicide is slow with liquor . . . Suicide is the only way out./ Don't you know what it's really about...
Lila Mae shuddered anew. It was true. Norma had fallen into the occult. It was just like Ted was always warning on "World of Love"; even worse, because with those atheist affirmative-action laws, Quiet Meadows would be required to keep a Devil-worshipper on the staff or they'd be sued...
...Washington might find itself allocating large sums to a country run by a President who so far has demonstrated neither the vision nor the administrative skills to do her job well. Ortega's election, on the other hand, would signal that the nation's 1.75 million voters prefer the devil they know. In either case, Nicaraguans in search of a brighter future may find little reason to celebrate after the election...
...hire the devil himself as a writer if he gave me a good story...