ABSTRACT
“All sinners will burn, cast down into the lake of fire to be tormented by the devil and his imps forever!” With this last statement Thomas sprang to his feet, a vitriolic liturgy spat from his mouth: “All who sin against the Lord my father will burn, burn, burn! All sinners will burn!” His finger jabbed accusingly at the group members, pointing at each in turn, shouting “You will burn, you will burn, you will burn… .” The very depressed woman sitting next to me let out an almost inaudible whimper as his finger fell upon her. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Martin, a chronic inpatient with a history of violent episodes, had begun to slowly clench and unclench his fist. Sensing that I was about to speak Thomas suddenly lept in front of me, his face less than a foot from my own and bellowed “Demon, vile demon, you are the imp of Satan and soon you will be punished by the angels in the army of heaven!” I looked up into Thomas’ ruddy face standing above me as he barked “Would you dare to harm the son of God? I am alpha and omega, the beginning and the end!” After looking into each other’s eyes for what seemed an eternity, my first attempt to speak ended only in silence. The only sound that I could hear was the pounding of my fearful heart that seemed to reverberate throughout the room.
