The Exquisite Corpse: Volume 3 (The Demon Series)

Northampton County, like so many rural areas, is still strongly ruled by Bible-believing Christians. One of the benefits of rural life has always been that the corrupting influence of the big city, with its humanists and moral relativism, was far enough removed that it tends not to taint their society. Satan finds it easy to make inroads in metropolitan areas. There, he has the pseudo-intelligentsia to work with and do his labor for him. When convinced of their own excellence and intelligence, people’s minds are relatively easy to twist inward and away from a spiritual leader. Really, they do the evil one's work for him. All he has to do was a little poke here, and a little direction there, and they merrily race along in any direction that feeds their egos and avarice, and leave a judgmental God far behind. It isn't as easy in rural areas, and that's why Ezkeel and his kind have been sent to work directly and intimately with these folks. His goal is to influence people by directing their minds to abandon their long-held traditions and beliefs -- beliefs based on Judeo-Christian teachings -- and accept the more liberal New Age beliefs that eschewed an established God who established right and wrong, and instead made everything relative. Ezkeel is an expert at this, having labored in this field for years, and he was having a ball in Eastville. These chumps were so malleable. Whispering suggestions, gently pushing, quietly suggesting and watching them grab the thought and take off with it was a real pleasure.