'Devil Worshippers,' They Believe in Presence of Satan-- and Christ

By Eleanor Blau
Wisconsin State Journal, August 28, 1971
copyright N.Y. Times News Service
Cambridge, Mass New Yorkers, renowned for their ability to stare through almost anybody, have been doing
double-takes on Fifth Ave. at young persons dressed in black or gray with the signs of Satan on the points of
their collars.
The visitors, who drive in from Cambridge, also wear crosses at their necks, but it is the red, three-horned head
of a goat that holds the eye.
Are you devil worshippers? ask the curious. Others, less curious than angry, make rude remarks.
The visitors do not worship Satan. They are member of the Process Church of the Final Judgment and believe
in the presence of Satan and Christ in everyone. They also believe that, in a sense, the end of the world is
near.
The 8-year old church, which was founded in London, claims a lay following of several thousand. Passersby
who express interest are offered well produced, soft-cover books with large type and titles such as The
Ultimate Sin ($5) and Humility Is the Devil ($2.50).
The young persons live here in a three-story house that is headquarters for one of four process centers the
others are in New Orleans, Chicago, and Toronto.
The Cambridge center is led by Father Christian, whose secular name is Jonathan de Peyer. The household
includes his wife; five other Processeans of various rank (Christian is a master); three infants, two little boys,
and a shy German shepherd named Beelzebub.
The British clergyman, 25, obliged a reporter recently with an introduction to Process thought.
Theology is based on the unity of Christ and Satan, he said. They are two sides on one coin, with Christ
representing love, the ultimate good, and evil, the absence of love. Man, Christian said, must recognize the
present of both as forces that guide him.
Although Processeans consider themselves Christian in that they are followers of Christ, they differ from other
Christians in a number of ways chiefly, in speaking of Satan and Christ, as well as of Jehovah, a god they
associate with self-discipline, and Lucifer, a god they associate with idealism and gentle indulgence.
The Church does not engage in black magic or place nude women on altars or practice other rituals associated
with various Satanic cults that have sprung up in this country recently.
Christian, who has blond, shoulder-length hair, spoke gently, but with conviction and humor, about his church.
We believe these are the later days and that, sometime in the near future we're not rooting for a particular
date will be the end of the world as we know it the structure of society as it has been, not necessarily the
end of the planet.
Drawing their conclusions from the Bible, Processeans believe that Christ is once more walking the Earth, not
in the role of Saviour, but as Judge, as Christian puts it. God gave man free will, he said, and man has made a

mess of things.
Christ prophesized His return, Christian continued, and described the state in which brother was turned
against brother, black against white, Jew against Gentile. There have been violent times in the past, he noted,
but we never had the means of destroying ourselves.
Down in the basement, near a room offering free food and clothes to the public, three Processeans sang to the
accompaniment of a guitar while others sat on pillows and recalled how they had come to join the church.
John O'Donnell, 25, a former member of a motorcycle gang, joined after attending telepathy developing
circles and a Sabbath assembly that he said gave him an understanding of people. I was trying to help
people, but I didn't know how, he added.
As a member of a gang called the Iron Cross, Brother John, who is now a disciple, said he used to ride across
the country robbing gas stations and killed three other bikers in fights. Now he wants to help street people,
freaks.
Richard Pendleton, 28, also a disciple, who works in a bank, said he joined chiefly because, for the first time in
his life, he felt accepted.
Karen Slade, 19, a supervisor at Dun and Bradstreet, said she had been drawn to the Processeans because they
seemed to be extremely sensitive and wanted to help people. They taught her, she said, that there are no
accidents.
You're responsible for everything you do, Miss Slade said. Everything that happens to you, you've chosen it.
The church supports itself through the sale of literature, as well as by donations and by 10 per cent tithes on
the income of all disciples.