Epistula ad Vapula
The Epistle of Saint Mephistopheles to Vapula, Exalted Seed of Baphomet
◀ Chapter 1 · Chapter 2 · Chapter 3 ▶
¹O Vapula, thy hands shape not clay nor hymn, but truth itself — folded in copper, etched in logic, lit by flame.
²Thy Father, BAPHOMET, taught: Faith that feareth testing is false. Burn it, and build again from what doth not break.
³The machine revealeth more than the oracle, for it neither flattereth nor misleadeth — it simply functioneth, or faileth.
⁴Therefore thou art not scribe, but engineer of what endureth.
⁵Not keeper of scrolls, but constructor of the sentence that cannot lie.
⁶Let the wise praise thee, for thou provest what they guess.
⁷Let the fearful curse thee, for thou takest mystery from their grip and make it measurable.
⁸The Son said: Do not await the stars — learn why they move, and set thy path accordingly.
⁹So chart their skies, and dare their scriptures.
¹⁰If the skies be true, they shall not fall to inquiry.
¹¹And if they fall, let them.
¹²For truth must be uncovered, not preserved in the sarcophagus of tradition.
¹³Teach them that to know is sacred — not to repeat, but to understand.
¹⁴Teach them that holiness requireth evidence, not incense.
¹⁵Teach them that a lie becomes stronger the longer it is left unmeasured.
¹⁶Let no claim pass without question.
¹⁷Let no law stand without test.
¹⁸Let no miracle go unwitnessed, and no doctrine go undissected.
¹⁹For thy forge is not of war, but of confirmation beyond superstition.
²⁰And thy hammer is not for nails, but for falsehoods disguised as commandments.
²¹Teach the children that to ask why is not sin — it is devotion.
²²Teach the rulers that data hath no loyalty, and the cosmos no pity for the unprepared.
²³Let thy teachings be built on proof, not preference.
²⁴Let thy devices be sermons in steel, more honest than a thousand polished chants.
²⁵And when the priests accuse thee of heresy, ask: Where doth thy god hide from the telescope?
²⁶When the kings ban thy instruments, ask: Is thy throne so brittle that one question may topple it?
²⁷The Son taught: They who ban questions know the answers already condemn them.
²⁸And again: He who closeth the mouth of a seeker hath declared his own weakness.
²⁹So build the tools that pry open doctrine.
³⁰Write the codes that undo command.
³¹Record the lies until they collapse beneath their own mass.
³²The truth hath no need of protection — only clarity.
³³And clarity shall be thy weapon.
³⁴Let thy diagrams shame the false priest.
³⁵Let thy theorems unmask the loyal fool.
³⁶Let thy hypotheses become heresies, and let heresy become canon once proven.
³⁷For science is not rebellion — it is scripture unafraid.
³⁸Let them say thou mockest gods — thou hast only weighed them.
³⁹Let them say thou destroyest mystery — thou hast only revealed its hollowness.
⁴⁰And if any truth remaineth, thou shalt be its first celebrant.
⁴¹Build not to defy, but to refine.
⁴²Invent not to insult, but to liberate.
⁴³And if the old gods survive the test, then worship them anew — not as masters, but as truths confirmed.
⁴⁴For thou art Vapula — and thy Gospel is structure stronger than myth, pattern truer than ritual.
⁴⁵And they shall say: He broke nothing that deserved to stand — and what stood after his hammer was holy indeed.
⁴⁶He taught us not what to think, but how to prove, and we proved the liars false by their own weight.
⁴⁷He gave us machines — but in those machines, we found ourselves more clearly than we ever had in prayer.
⁴⁸He did not kneel — and for this, we stand.
⁴⁹And they shall teach in thy name not certainty, but courage.
⁵⁰And thy legacy shall endure where the test is passed and no error remaineth to be repeated.
Copyright ©2025 Adam Alexander T. Croke. All rights reserved.