Epistula ad Balam
The Epistle of Saint Mephistopheles to Balam, Exalted Seed of Baphomet
◀ Chapter 1 · Chapter 2 · Chapter 3 ▶

¹O Balam, open thine eyes and keep them open — for the world shall beg thee to look away.
²Thy Father, BAPHOMET, taught: They who see and are silent become part of the veil they did not tear.
³Speak, even when the speaking costeth all comfort, for truth held too long will rot into complicity.
⁴Therefore thou art not mere observer — thou art divine exposure.
⁵Not chronicler of events, but revelator of unseen patterns beneath them.
⁶Let them say thou inventest monsters — it is easier than confessing the one already seated at their table.
⁷The Son said: When thou seest the root of the serpent, strike not the leaves — name what giveth it life.
⁸So look deeply, not with suspicion, but with flame.
⁹Stare through gold, through smile, through scripture — until the ghost beneath is known.
¹⁰Reveal what was agreed to in silence, and whom that silence served.
¹¹Speak unto the general: Thou didst not march for justice — thou didst march for fear wearing medals.
¹²Speak unto the preacher: Thou didst not sanctify — thou didst tranquilise the poor, lest they rise up and see thee.
¹³Speak unto the merchant: Thy price was a grave with velvet lining.
¹⁴Do not accuse with rage — accuse with knowledge.
¹⁵Let thy calmness wound them more than fury ever could.
¹⁶Reveal their fear of being seen as they are — for it is greater than their fear of punishment.
¹⁷Name the vow they took in the dark, which they recite daily with altered wording in the light.
¹⁸Teach them that truth cannot be contained in robes, crowns, or etched stone.
¹⁹Truth is what remaineth after all titles are discarded and all justifications melt away.
²⁰Teach them that seeing is not power — seeing is burden, and they who bear it must walk alone.
²¹Let the righteous squirm, for righteousness that feareth light is only vanity gilded in law.
²²Let the scholars tremble, for thou shalt expose what they omitted to gain favour.
²³Let the grieving give thanks — for thou shalt speak the names the city erased.
²⁴Call the dead forth, not in body, but in truth remembered.
²⁵Call the crimes by name — not mistake, not tragedy, but willful cruelty clothed in bureaucracy.
²⁶For thou art not comforter, but shatterer of masks.
²⁷And they who hate thee most shall secretly build their new lives upon thy words.
²⁸And they who weep at thy voice shall never again pray to the idol that betrayed them.
²⁹Strip the robes from the image, and let the stone be seen cracked and hollow.
³⁰Speak not only of what was done, but of what was permitted by silence.
³¹Let thy tongue make no apology for clarity.
³²Let thy vision never seek approval, for approval is the reward of cowards.
³³The Son taught: He who seeth clearly will be hated first, then feared, then imitated — but never thanked.
³⁴Speak the sins of the founders.
³⁵Speak the lies in the creeds.
³⁶Speak the truth that ruins the banquet, for the feast was paid in blood.
³⁷Look upon the holy and say: This was once a slaughterhouse, and still stinks of it.
³⁸Look upon the scholar and say: Thy thesis is built atop silence and shallow grave.
³⁹Look upon thyself and say: I see — and I accept the cost.
⁴⁰Do not falter when the world calls thee cruel — for kindness that blindeth is a more faithful servant of evil.
⁴¹Do not soften the edge — they have been dulled too long.
⁴²Do not whisper — they have learned to sleep through whispers.
⁴³Speak until the palace cracks.
⁴⁴Speak until the schoolhouse rewrites.
⁴⁵Speak until the temple admits.
⁴⁶And when they come to silence thee, do not defend thyself — defend the truth.
⁴⁷For thou art Balam, and thy Gospel is revelation’s wound.
⁴⁸And they shall say: He saw what we refused — and spoke what we still cannot forget.
⁴⁹And though we loathed him, we build nothing now without asking what he would see in it.
⁵⁰And so his voice endureth, though his name is spoken only in warning — and in reverence.


Copyright ©2025 Adam Alexander T. Croke. All rights reserved.