Show Note: Idolatrine
Profaner of the vices, a simple charlatan
Inflaming puerile minds with the guilt of sin
Imaginations fed to children, it has served me well
That the bowels of the earth hides the pits of hell
I have no doubt in my mind that the perspective of this song is from a mature anti-christ who is going about his duties of corrupting mankind into his Fathers servitude, however, I would like to point out this is probably Ghost’s most in-depth and damning twist on religion that we’ve seen so far.
This verse is describing an act of evil, an act of a trickster who tricks those naive around him into his way of thinking. But the parallels of this verse with the rise of Jesus and the Anti-Christ in this verse are something else. As such, this entire verse has a dual perspective and double meanings all over. Let’s take it line by line.
“Profaner of the vices”. From the perspective of Christ, “profaner” is a noun in this case meaning to “disrespect” or “irreverence” for the vices of the people, dismissing them as minor things in peoples lives. For the anti-christs perspective, “profaner” is not disrespectful or dismissive, but him stating that vices are irrelevant to religion in general as they won’t be punished by Satan.
“A simple charlatan” line is perhaps my favourite line in the entire song. A charlatan is “a person falsely claiming to have a special knowledge or skill” which, for none believers, is exactly what Jesus is. But it also applies in turn to the anti-christ, who is tricking the population of this world into turning from God and into Satans arms by dismissing the Church of God as ridiculous.
“Imaginations fed to children” is not such much a dichotomy rather than a duality of one subject, that being the general population. In the terms of Christ, in this story a fake, he is the one feeding the imagination and lie of a merciful and all powerful God to “children” which probably refers to mankind as a whole as Gods Children. The anti-christ, as it turns out, is doing the exact same thing.
“It has served me well”. Yes, Jesus was executed at the cross and did not have a very nice end to his human life. But on the way up to that point, he was revered by thousands and treated as a celebrity in town by those who would follow him. Probably quite the step up for a simple charlatan. In the anti-christs meaning, the lies of Christ have served him well, not his own lies. With the population already disillusioned and unhappy with the world God has been ruling and not being the all powerful forgiving diety that was promised, it has been so easy for him to swoop in and corrupt that idea.
“That the bowels of the earth lie the pits of hell” is a continuation of the last line. The fact that Jesus could frighten people into his submission just by the mere existence of hell is an extremely powerful tool and one he used to great effect. The anti-christ is merely stating how lucky he is to be so close to home and how easy it is going to be to relocate pretty much.
Idolatrine for the imbeciles
Idolatrine
Idolatrine for the debiles and the simpletons
Disciples of the watch awaits at my command
According to the Infestissumam Commentary track, this is a made up word which is a combination of Idolatry and Latrine. What is portrayed by this combination of words is the way that the Church, both in real life and in-universe, have treated their followers and the followers themselves for allowing themselves to take it.
By the Anti-Christ using this word and referring to those remaining followers as imbeciles, debiles (weak or feeble) and simpletons, he is pointing this flaw out to those he is convincing/tricking into joining his side, ironically enough by pointing out how weak and lost they would be with God, the same thing the Church of God does.
Disciples of the watch, as far as I can tell, is a reference to the film the Omen which, I’m sure most are aware, is a trilogy of films surrounding the rise of the Anti-Christ. Sound familiar? The disciples of the watch, according to the Omen Wiki, “ were a large cult of Satanists located in Scotland and England, who served and worshipped Damien Thorn, the Antichrist.”
Awaiting my command could also be a reference to the film, as the cults main purpose in the film is to kill every boy born between midnight and 6am on a particular day to prevent the return of Christ. Perhaps the anti-christ is preparing for this to happen also?
Lord of silence
Desolated one
Vengeance is his
In the context of this song, I think this verse is referring to the loneliness of the anti-christ on Earth, in a weird way making him out to be a very sympathetic villain.
I sort of bring this up in the next verse, but “Desolated” means either “Devoid of Inhabitants or Visistors” OR it means “sad and empty”. Sort of fits right? Vengeance is his is more in line with Satan rather than the anti-christ.
An existence as a human
Is leaden monotony
With all desires drowned
Impure sanctimony
This verse is the Anti-Christs way of saying “with the values of God and the moral rules placed upon humanity, what is the point of human life as it amounts to nothing. No excitement, no real joy, simply repeated worship until the day you die”.
Alternatively, perhaps, this could be another duality with Jesus. Perhaps in this verse, unlike Jesus, the anti-christ is complaining about his mission on Earth, quite literally stating “my life as a human is boring and I want to be rid of this sanctimonious world”?
I’m leaning towards the first meaning personally.
Idolatrine for the imbeciles
Idolatrine
Idolatrine for the debiles and the simpletons
Disciples of the watch awaits at my command
Suffer little children to come unto me
Suffer little children grant me sovereignty
Suffer little, little, princes and princesses
This verse is a deliciously bastardised version of a passage from the bible. To quote Mark 10:14: “But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God”.
To fully examine this verse, we have to understand the usage of the word suffer and how it has changed over the years. According to the word detective website, The original root sense of “to suffer” was “to bear or carry.”. When it first arrived in English, it had two meanings. One was “to undergo, endure, submit to”, and the other was “to allow, permit, put up with, tolerate.”
With that in mind, let’s look at the verse because there’s a lot going on here. Yes, it is a bastardised version as I mention previously which is essentially the anti-christ saying he is tolerating the children of God for the sake of his mission and by doing so, also growing himself in power allowing his rule.
It also could be quite a distinct reference to a point I mentioned earlier, which was the Omen. In the film, as I said, the disciples of the watch were ordered to kill children as one of them was to be the reborn Christ. Perhaps then, in this verse, the anti-christ is using suffer in the sense of “bring me the little children and I will destroy them. By doing so my victory is assured”. Backing this up is the usage of princes and princesses, as the reborn messiah would be the “prince” or “princess” of the Kingdom of God.