Sussex County, Delaware is perhaps the last place in America you’d expect to find a group of Satanists.

Known among some Delawareans as “lower, slower Delaware,” the still sleepy little county is peopled with bible-believing folk who have been known more for raising chickens and crops than for raising Cain.

Granted, things have changed quite a bit since the days I lived there as a child.  The people who lived near the dilapidated farmhouse my parents rented still ran family farms, raising and killing their own chickens and hogs. The shore town of Rehoboth was a peaceful place geared toward vacationing families. It is now a boom town hosting refugees from the Washington, D.C. scene.  The county itself is increasingly peopled by retirees who enjoy the moderate climate.

But despite the changes over time, Sussex County has still retained its traditional religious conservatism. Who would have guessed the celebration of Christmas would bring out of hiding a number of First State Satanists? The group allied to the dark side describes itself as a “non-theistic Delaware-based modern Satanic group.” 

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We will leave the dissection of the confused description of the Satanists for another time. But apparently, incensed by the sight of Christians performing a live creche scene on The Circle at the center of Georgetown, the county seat, the First State Satanists have applied for and been granted a permit to hold a vigil celebrating winter solstice at the same time the Christians are celebrating the anniversary of their Savior’s birth. It is not yet known whether or not the First State Satanists plan to honor ancient Satanist traditions by sacrificing a child. Perhaps satanic bloodlust of the various devilish denominations has been temporarily satiated by millions of abortions. Perhaps the hope is that the satanic solstice ceremony will merely partly drown Christmas innocence.

One thing is sure. What Christians in America have known for at least two generations is that there’s always someone itching to spoil their Christmas party in the name of diversity, separation of church and state, individual “rights” or some other doctrinal tenet of the Dark Side. There is always the uninvited satanic gate crasher who pops up at the last minute to join the mocking “enlightened” party pooper cynic who wears the intellectual equivalent of a lampshade on his head. 

But perhaps the First State Satanists don’t know just what it is Christians in Georgetown, America and around the world are celebrating at Christmas.  The fact is that for Christians, Christmas is the biggest party this side of glory. That is because for the faithful, Christmas is celebration of a victory with cosmic significance. Christians believe that when Christ was born, the promise of Genesis that Satan the serpent would be crushed under the feet of a savior was fulfilled.  We believe the major battle against Satan and the forces of evil has been won, that victory over sin and death has been accomplished.

Were the Georgetown Christians who are portraying the long-ago scene of Bethlehem to sing, “God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen,” perhaps the Satanists might heed the words:

Let nothing you dismay
Remember Christ our Savior
Was born on Christmas Day
To save us all from Satan's power
When we were gone astray
Oh tidings of comfort and joy
Comfort and joy
Oh tidings of comfort and joy.

The English poet Robert Southwell put the celebration of the defeat of Satan in even stronger terms in his poem, “This Little Babe.” Composer Benjamin Britten would put Southwell’s poem to music, employing the usually sweet-sounding harp to indicate the heavenly noise of battle against evil:

“This little Babe so few days old

is come to rifle Satan's fold;

all hell doth at his presence quake

though he himself for cold do shake;

for in this weak unarmèd wise

the gates of hell he will surprise.

With tears he fights and wins the field,

his naked breast stands for a shield;

his battering shot are babish cries,

his arrows looks of weeping eyes,

his martial ensigns Cold and Need

and feeble Flesh his warrior's steed.

His camp is pitchèd in a stall,

his bulwark but a broken wall;

the crib his trench, haystacks his stakes;

of shepherds he his muster makes;

and thus, as sure his foe to wound,

the angels' trump alarum sound.

My soul, with Christ join thou in fight,

stick to the tents that he hath pight.

Within his crib is surest ward,

this little Babe will be thy guard.

If thou wilt foil thy foes with joy,

then flit not from this heavenly Boy.

Because of Christmas, evil is foiled with joy. Satan and all his followers are ultimately defeated, though intense skirmishes remain. Christians know the battles against evil still must be fought. But they fight, believing that Jesus, the warrior knew full well from all eternity that He would defeat the Serpent.  He spoke of the fall of Satan from power. He declared himself present during the angels’ war against his Father God, saying to his disciples, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from Heaven.”  Christ’s disciple John the Beloved suggests in the book of Revelation that one third of the angels were cast out of the Kingdom along with Lucifer. Christ said that when he returns too earth, the defeat of Satan will be final.

The end of Satan’s power and with it the power of sin and death is what Christians celebrate at Christmas.  It’s why there is so much partying going on in December.

Now the doubting did not and still do not believe the story.  But Christians have for over two thousand years believed the Christmas narrative to be a true story.  That’s why they are called Christians.

They truly believe the angels’ message to the shepherds: ““Do not be afraid! For behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: “Today in the City of David a Savior has been born to you.  He is Christ the Lord! And this will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” They believe the angels’ words that the Babe would usher in “Peace on earth to men of good will.”  

But there’s even more to the message and to the story, which Christians will not allow to be changed to suit any satanic interpretation.  

As it turns out, Christians believe Christ the gracious and merciful Host invites everyone to the celebration. Whosever will may come and receive a welcome from Him who came to seek and to save those who have lost their way. 

Yes, though they don’t believe it, the Son of Man invites even repentant First State Satanists to his Christmas celebration.  All they and any of us must do is accept the invitation and put on the robes of righteousness the sacrificial Host supplies so as not to be cast out by angelic bouncers.

Then? Party on joyfully forever in the presence of the heavenly Boy.

Fay Voshell holds a M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary, which awarded her the prize for excellence in systematic theology.  A regular contributor to American Thinker, her thoughts have appeared in many other online magazines.  She may be reached at fvoshell@yahoo.com