"Dear dark father" and "hail, Satan": An attendee at an Iowa city council meeting recites a satanic invocation from the podium to open the session

The city council of Ottumwa, Iowa, experienced a tense meeting following the opening prayer by an attendee, in which he invoked Satan. A pastor present in the room rushed to stop the proceedings and demanded that those present "immediately reverse the curse that had been cast" on the city.

Former councilman Matt Dalbey took the podium to open the meeting, and his prayer left no one indifferent: "Dear dark father" and "hail, Satan" were the first words to come out of his mouth. He then continued with his invocation:

"Let us embrace the Luciferian impulse to eat from the tree of knowledge. Let us demand that people be judged by their concrete actions and not by their adherence to arbitrary social norms and illusory categorizations."

A pastor prevented the plenary session from continuing without further ado

Despite some looks of surprise and discomfort, only one person abruptly sat down in his chair. After the diabolical litany, those present turned toward the American flag to recite the Pledge of Allegiance as if nothing had happened.

However, Rick Bick, pastor of the New Life Center, who was present, rushed to the podium and demanded that everyone present reverse the satanic invocation: "Let us break this curse that has been cast upon our city once and for all. "Ending with 'hail, Satan' or 'hail, dark god,' that has no place here," Bick insisted.

Councilwoman Cara Galloway told the pastor he should wait until the public comment period to speak, but Bick refused to be deterred and demanded that immediate action be taken, given the gravity of what had happened: "We have to do this right now. I understand what Ms. Galloway is saying, but that was a curse cast upon the city. When he said 'hail, Satan'… most of you know this, and we have to stop and reverse that situation."

The mayor called for 30 seconds of silence to counter the satanic prayer

Following these remarks, the mayor, Benjamin Foote, called for 30 seconds of silence to allow everyone to meditate or pray to lift the curse and immediately cut short Galloway's attempts to continue the meeting.

Speaking to Fox News, the mayor noted: "This is not a reflection of our community. As mayor of my hometown in Iowa, I know the people of Ottumwa, and the invocation read at the start of Tuesday's session does not represent the faith or values of the families who call this city home."