Forgetting What Happened

Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

Christianity Today

Christianity, Documentary, History, Society & Culture, Religion & Spirituality

4.7 • 717 Ratings

🗓️ 21 May 2025

⏱️ 112 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Stay tuned to the end for news from Mike Cosper and Rebekah Sebastian on upcoming Bonus episodes! In the finale of Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, we try to do the impossible: tie the threads together. From criminal cases to political crusades, we retrace the lines between fear, faith, and power that shaped the Satanic Panic—and continue influencing our world today. Mike Cosper and Rebekah Sebastian open with a game that highlights just how absurd things got, then dive into the deeper questions: Why did the Satanic Panic take hold? And how does it compare to modern conspiracies like Pizzagate, QAnon, and the January 6 insurrection? Spoiler: The panic didn’t entirely vanish—it morphed into a tool for grievance, repurposed by conspiracy theorists to target their perceived enemies. Bonus episodes are still to come, so stay subscribed. And if this series made you think, feel, or question, share it with a friend. Resources: The Roys Report: “James Robison Under Fire for Discrepancies Regarding Involvement with Robert Morris in 1980s” by Julie Roys Mike Rothschild, author, Jewish Space Lasers Matthew D. Taylor, senior Christian scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies Mike Warnke Tribunal Board hearing West Memphis Three case Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is a production of Christianity Today Hosted and written by Mike Cosper Produced by Rebekah Sebastian, with production assistance by Dawn Adams Sound Design and Mix Engineer: TJ Hester Sound Design, Animation, and Video: Steve Scheidler Graphic Design: Nim Ben Reuven Music by Dirt Poor Robins Erik Petrik and Mike Cosper are the executive producers of CT Media Podcasts, and Matt Stevens is our senior producer. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a rating and review to help more people find the show. Thanks for listening. Can’t wait for the next episode? Join host Mike Cosper for a livestream every other Monday on the CT YouTube channel or the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea Facebook page. Join our Facebook group for deeper conversations and behind-the-scenes content. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	What if you could see firsthand how God's moving across the globe right now?
0:06.5	Christianity Today's global initiative shares powerful untold stories of faith from Latin America and Africa, Asia, Europe, and elsewhere.
0:15.9	Discover a fuller view of God's kingdom at one kingdom. Christianitytay.com. A note to listeners. This story contains sensitive content including sexual abuse, child murder, and dark spiritual
0:42.3	themes.
0:43.2	It may not be suitable for all listeners.
0:47.0	So you've made it all the way to episode eight.
0:49.2	Our big finale.
0:50.2	Let's not say big just yet.
0:52.3	We don't want to raise expectations too high. Oh, forever the optimist. Okay. Let's tell people big just yet. We don't want to raise expectations too high.
0:54.6	Forever the Optimist.
0:56.2	Okay, let's tell people who we are.
0:58.0	All right, I'm Mike Kaspher.
0:59.1	I'm Rebecca Sebastian, and we're the producers of Devil and the Deep Blue Sea.
1:02.5	And we wanted to start this episode off a little different.
1:05.2	Rebecca and I have each found quotes from both past and present.
1:08.5	Relative present. We're going to read them to each other and guess whether they come from the era of the
1:12.6	Satanic Panic, which is roughly 1981, the 1994.
1:16.9	Give or take a year.
1:18.1	Or if they come from some other time.
1:20.0	Now, some of these are going to be word for word.
1:21.9	Some of these are going to be paraphrased.
1:23.2	That'll kind of make sense as we go along.
	...

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