Joke's On Us

Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

Christianity Today

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

4.7 • 717 Ratings

🗓️ 22 April 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Remember Mike Warnke, the world’s #1 Christian comedian from Episode 3? We’ll revisit his story with a little fact-checking, but first, we introduce you to another infamous figure of the Satanic Panic: Lauren Stratford. Her memoir, Satan’s Underground, recounted her harrowing experience with satanic ritual abuse in vivid, gruesome detail—capturing the imagination of millions. However, years after her book became a bestseller, her story was thoroughly debunked as a complete fabrication. But Lauren wasn't done. She resurfaced with a new name and a whole new grift. As we unpack her rise and fall, we’ll also explore the broader cultural forces at play during the Satanic Panic. From the rise of daycare culture sparking anxieties around working mothers to the growing awareness of child sexual abuse, we examine how these societal fears were manipulated by the media to create and spread exaggerated, harmful narratives. Resources: Dr. Laura Robinson, New Testament Scholar, Butler University Satan’s Sideshow: The True Lauren Stratford Story by By Bob & Gretchen Passantino and Jon Trott 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you in part by The Apologetics Guy Show, the podcast that helps you find clear answers to tough questions about Christianity.
0:11.1	Learn to explain your faith with courage and compassion.
0:14.5	Join Moody Bible Institute professor Dr. Mikhail del Rosario at Apologeticsky.com.
0:22.6	What if you could see firsthand how God's moving across the globe right now?
0:28.8	Christianity Today's global initiative shares powerful untold stories of faith from Latin America and Africa, Asia, Europe, and elsewhere.
0:38.1	Discover a fuller view of God's kingdom at one kingdom.
0:41.5	Christianitytay.com.
0:57.0	This is CT Media. A note to listeners. This story contains sensitive content including sexual abuse, child murder, and dark spiritual themes.
1:05.0	It may not be suitable for all listeners.
1:15.0	For the next phase of our story, we have to go back, just for a moment, to the McMartin daycare scandal.
1:17.4	We told that story in episode four, remembering what never happened, how an accusation
1:22.7	from one parent who was struggling with addiction and mental illness caused the police to send
1:27.1	the letter to hundreds of parents,
1:28.3	panicking all of them, and sending them into the arms of a social worker whose methods related to recovered memory were coercive,
1:36.3	manipulative, and terrifying. Add a media to that, that's all too eager for a story as salacious and scandalous as this one,
1:45.5	and you have the recipe for a panic.
1:48.8	There's that old cliche, the lie that gets halfway around the world before the truth can get
1:53.1	its pants on, and the satanic panic is certainly that kind of story.
1:58.4	A story that's too good to check goes straight to the front page and does
2:01.7	immense harm before someone can say, wait, is that true? In this case, with this story,
2:08.7	there came a time when the press did show up and asked that question, but it took a while.
2:14.4	We'll talk about that on today's episode, actually. But first, there's another
	...

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