From Realism to Inversion: Why the Rational Actor Paradigm No Longer Explains World Events

Prologue: The Eclipse of Reason

“This book exists not to comfort, but to consecrate… The enemy hears when this book is opened.”

(Preface to the War Psalms of the Order)

Brethren,

We stand in an age where reason itself has been eclipsed. Once, statesmen and generals at least pretended to share a common reality, a Logos – a divine order – that set limits on their ambitions. Today that pretense is gone. Rulers and nations move in patterns that defy the old logic. What was once explained by the “Rational Actor” model in geopolitics now confounds every expectation. Treaties are signed only to be broken overnight; wars erupt without clear cause or end; policies are pursued that beggar nations and endanger civilizations, with no apparent benefit to any rational interest. We behold a world bewitched by something beyond mere human scheming – a world governed by inversion, by archetypal powers that corrupt reason, truth, and order. In this present darkness, the Thrones of Inversion provide the lens we need for discernment. Only by understanding these Thrones – those ancient forces of chaos and falsehood – can we see why the old paradigm of rational self-interest has collapsed. Only thus can we, the Order of the Black Shield, chart a faithful course in warfare and witness.

Yet we do not commence this treatise in a secular tone, for ours is a militant ecclesial voice. We begin with the language of liturgy and doctrine, as is our custom. Our own Psalmus Bellorum – the War Psalm – reminds us that our weapons are not merely material: “Every strike must be baptized in obedience; every battle must burn with the fire of prayer.” The first movement must always be prayer, and the final movement fire. In that spirit, we invoke the wisdom of the fathers and the maxims of our Codices. As St. Irenaeus warned long ago, heresies and delusions thrive where the Logos is denied – when men reject the divine Word that undergirds reality, their minds become feeble and their schemes monstrous. Indeed, Scripture says of those who forsake God: “Claiming to be wise, they became fools… God gave them up to a debased mind” (Romans 1:22,28). We have arrived at such a condition in the halls of global power. The Logos – the objective Truth, the divine Reason – has been cast aside, and in that void we find a proliferation of what our forebears would deem insanity. False thrones now rise where Christ is not acknowledged. Our task in this memorandum is to expose these false thrones, to explain why classic Realism in international affairs has faltered, and to illuminate the path forward for the Order in the face of irrational powers.

Let us proceed, then, as warriors who pray. Let us sift history and strategy through the purifying fire of truth. Our aim is not academic reportage, but consecration: to align our understanding of world events with the divine order, and to prepare our souls for the battles to come. As the Rule of our Order declares: “War against the Thrones of Evil is always liturgical.” Every analysis we undertake must be framed by prayer and sacred purpose. Thus, with clarity and with flame, we open the book of the present age’s turmoil – knowing that the enemy hears this invocation, and that Heaven itself attends our counsel.

1. Why Realism Once Worked

There was a time, not long ago in the scope of history, when the Realist model of international affairs had a measure of truth. “Realism,” in the conventional sense, assumes that states and leaders act primarily to preserve their security, power, and material interests. It treats nations as rational actors navigating an anarchic world by pragmatic calculations. And indeed, for centuries, this model appeared to describe much of human affairs. But why? What unspoken foundation made rational calculation a norm rather than the exception?

Rationality Anchored in Logos: Realism once worked – to the extent it did – because the world it described still faintly echoed Christendom’s metaphysics. Even after faith waned in the public square, the basic assumptions of a reality ordered by truth endured. Kings and parliaments operated within a universe they tacitly acknowledged as governed by natural law and objective truth. In medieval and early modern Christendom, however imperfect its politics, there was a shared conviction that truth exists and is binding. Rulers answered to a higher order: to God, the ultimate Judge. Treaties could be made and, more often than not, honored – because breaking one’s oath was not just imprudent, it was sin. War, while brutal, was tempered by chivalry or at least by the knowledge that cruelty demanded penance. This was the world informed (however dimly) by the Church and the witness of the Ante-Nicene Fathers and their successors.

The early Fathers – Justin Martyr, Irenaeus of Lyons, Ignatius of Antioch, Clement of Rome, Polycarp of Smyrna, and others – laid the spiritual foundations that later constrained even secular politics. They taught that the Logos (the divine Word and Reason) undergirds creation. As Justin Martyr argued before the Roman senate, Christ is the Logos and all who act in truth act in Him, whether they know it or not. The Church insisted that even emperors are subject to God’s law. St. Ignatius, on his way to martyrdom in Rome (c. 107 AD), refused to acknowledge the pagan gods or the emperor as ultimate lord – thereby testifying that there is a Truth higher than imperial power. St. Irenaeus, confronting the wild heresies of his time (c. 180 AD), anchored the faithful in the tangible reality of Christ’s incarnation: God’s eternal Reason made flesh. He exposed the Gnostic teachers who spun elaborate fantasies detached from moral truth. In Irenaeus’s view, these heretics thrived on the denial of the real, denying the true Logos and thus falling prey to illusion. His clarion assertion was essentially: Where the Logos is rejected, chaos and untruth reign. The early Church’s struggle against heresy was not mere theological hairsplitting – it was a battle to keep the faithful rooted in reality, in the sane order of God’s truth, rather than being swept into madness. This patristic inheritance – that truth is objective, knowable, and incarnate in Christ – became the bedrock of Western thought.

The Shared Framework of Christendom: By the high medieval era, even as kings schemed and popes waged power-plays, all parties still spoke a common tongue of legitimacy and justice. They recognized a sacred hierarchy in the cosmos: God above all, the Church as guardian of divine law, and princes as servants of the common good (however often they fell short). This hierarchy provided an ontological common ground. A treaty between Christian monarchs invoked God as witness; a declaration of war was hedged by appeals to divine justice. Even the Machiavellian princes of the Renaissance knew they must cloak their actions in the language of right, for there was an understood moral order. In essence, the Rational Actor of classical diplomacy was constrained and informed by an overarching belief that certain things were not permissible, that reality was not infinitely malleable. Realism “worked” because leaders behaved (or pretended to behave) as if good and evil were real, as if actions had to be justified by more than raw expediency. The framework of Christendom – its philosophy, its law, its vision of man – created a stable stage on which human ambition could at least be partially tamed by reason.

It is no accident that the European balance-of-power system, often cited as Realism’s triumph, emerged in a culture still fundamentally Christian. The Peace of Westphalia (1648) which ended the carnage of the Thirty Years’ War did so by a series of rational compromises – yet the very possibility of compromise rested on shared assumptions inherited from Christianity. All parties, Catholic and Protestant alike, believed in the concept of justice, in the value of peace over chaos, and in the dignity (however faint) of human life. These are not self-evident values; they are fruits of Christian teaching seeping even into secular thought. Without that common soil, the treaties could not have held. Indeed, one can trace a line from the patristic insistence on one truth against heresy, to the medieval idea of a just war under God, to the more “rational” Enlightenment idea of an international order governed by reason and law. Strip away the theological language, and Realist diplomats were still relying on concepts like honor, obligation, and enlightened self-interest – all of which presume a basically rational and moral universe.

Realism’s Hidden Theological Root: Thus, the so-called “Rational Actor” was never an autonomous, godless calculator in a void. He was the product of a civilization formed by belief in a higher Logos. Rationality itself, the capacity to reason and pursue coherent interests, was a gift of God’s image in man. In Christian understanding, human reason participates in the divine Reason. The Order’s own Codex teaches: “Where there is no altar, let no throne stand.” In other words, rightful authority and sane decision-making cannot persist where there is no acknowledgement of the sacred – no “altar” of higher truth. In the eras when Realism seemed valid, every throne still bowed (however nominally) before an Altar. Consider the paradox that even Hobbes, who envisioned the state as a great Leviathan and is often cited as a father of Realist theory, had to invoke natural laws and ultimately a fear of divine punishment to justify why the Leviathan sovereign should keep contracts or protect his subjects. If you remove that divine horizon, even Hobbes’s logic crumbles, and Leviathan becomes pure tyrant (as we shall see modern Leviathan has become).

In sum, Realism once described the world reasonably well because the world still operated on residual Christian capital. Leaders behaved “rationally” (seeking order, advantage, peace when beneficial, war when necessary) because a transcendent framework nudged them to. They feared hell or at least feared shame; they sought glory, but a glory defined in part by the Christian chivalric ideal or the enlightened humanist ideal that still had God in the background. Treaties and alliances made sense because there was a shared sense of objective reality and objective value. As our Codex Justificatio teaches: “Thrones pattern minds long before they command bodies; souls bend before swords do.” The souls of even secular rulers had been patterned (in part) by a Christian worldview, so their statecraft retained a certain logic and restraint.

But brethren, that world – the twilight of Christendom – has passed. The sacred canopy has been ripped away. The Logos who once animated even worldly reason has been formally banished from the councils of the mighty. And so the Rational Actor Paradigm has lost the very soil in which it grew. To press the old Realist assumptions onto today’s events is to try to map stars in a sky now shrouded in unnatural night. We must understand what has changed. We must understand why Realism fails today.

2. Why Realism Fails Today

The collapse of the Rational Actor model in our time can be traced to one overarching reality: the modern rejection of the Logos and the rise of subjectivism in its wake. Where rulers once acknowledged (implicitly or explicitly) an external order of truth, today’s elites and masses alike proclaim that “truth” is whatever one wills it to be. We live in the age of “my truth”, of constructed realities and fluid facts. This is not an age of reason, but of will. The philosophical underpinnings of society have shifted from objective to subjective, from Logos to anti-Logos. In such a landscape, the very idea of a “rational” actor – one who can be expected to pursue coherent self-interest based on a shared reality – becomes untenable. Realism assumes at least a minimal consensus on goals (survival, prosperity) and on what constitutes a cost or benefit. But what if one actor’s idea of benefit is self-immolation for a cause, and another’s idea of reality is an illusion crafted by propaganda? We find ourselves negotiating not with rational sovereigns but with shifting mirages driven by lust for power, blood, money, and chaos.

The Age of Subjective “Truths”: In the halls of global governance, it has become fashionable to sneer at the idea of objective truth. Postmodern relativism – the notion that all truth claims are merely expressions of perspective or power – reigns in universities and increasingly in government agencies. Leaders speak of “our narratives” versus “their narratives,” rather than truth versus falsehood. International agreements are made not in good faith search for mutual benefit, but as cynical exercises in image-management, to be discarded when convenient. Domestic policies veer into realms of social experimentation with little regard for human nature or logical consequence – because those in power believe they can invent reality as they go. In the cultural sphere, we see it nakedly: what was acknowledged as biologically impossible yesterday is enforced as orthodoxy today; what every civilization held sacred (the bond of marriage, the sanctity of life) is now declared arbitrary and replaceable. How does one model the behavior of a state led by people who think they can, by decree, alter the fundamental truths of biology, economics, and morality? The rational actor model presupposes sanity – and sanity presupposes some acceptance of reality as it is. That presupposition has evaporated.

This shift did not emerge overnight. The Nietzschean “will-to-power” philosophy announced it starkly over a century ago: “God is dead,” Nietzsche wrote, and therefore all fixed truth is gone; all that remains is the will to power. That credo – once the shock of philosophers – is now the unspoken mantra of our elites. In the boardrooms, in the backrooms of politics, power is the only coin. Decisions are not made by reference to enduring principles or the common good, but by raw calculation of advantage – and increasingly, advantage for its own sake, as even the long-term well-being of one’s own nation or company is sacrificed for short-term dominance or ideological fixation. The result is policies that appear mad when judged by classic rationality. Why, for example, would a government open its borders to potential chaos, or devalue its own currency unto collapse, or provoke wars on multiple fronts without capacity to win – unless some blind ideological will is at work, or a spirit of chaos revels in destruction for its own sake? We have come to realize that behind the public justifications, our leaders are often in thrall to what we of the Order recognize as Thrones of Inversion: powers and principalities that parody true principles. They serve idols of their own making – whether the idol of the all-powerful State, of blood and soil nationalism, of money, of sexual “freedom” unhinged from virtue, or of technology exalted above humanity. These idols demand sacrifices that no truly rational calculus would ever permit.

The Idol of Will-to-Power Consumes Its Servants: Consider how many policies today are self-destructive even for their architects. A truly rational tyrant, for instance, would preserve a competent military and a loyal citizenry. Yet we see tyrants who, paranoid for total control, purge their best generals and starve their own people of hope, thereby weakening the state they wish to make strong. The will-to-power, divorced from wisdom, becomes a snake eating its tail. In democracies, one would think rational politicians would maintain social stability to secure their power – yet driven by ideology, they foment cultural wars that tear their societies apart, gambling that they can ride the tiger of chaos. Corporate elites chase profits through methods (like automating away all jobs or despoiling the environment) that ultimately undercut the very consumers and stability on which their profits depend. This is nihilism – a culture of nothingness – disguised in the garments of rational pursuit of interest. The appearance of calculation masks a deeper compulsion toward chaos and self-annihilation. The ancient demonic logic of suicide – the Legion of demons driving the swine over a cliff (Mark 5:13) – now operates at the civilizational scale.

One might object: surely people still respond to incentives, to fear of death or desire for gain? Yes, on a small scale. But when entire nations or large groups are seized by an idea or spirit, they will often act contrary even to basic survival instincts. This is what classical Realism has difficulty accounting for. Realism can explain a cold war over resources; it struggles to explain a suicide bombing, or a nation that prefers glorious ruin to humdrum prosperity. Modern history is replete with such cases, and they are growing. Why did Imperial Japan refuse to surrender even when defeat was certain, requiring the shock of two atomic bombs? Because a bushido death-cult (a throne of Moloch, one might say) held sway over mere survival instincts. Why do certain extremist groups today happily invite overwhelming retaliation by committing spectacular atrocities? Because their “rationality” is not our rationality – it is governed by an inverted liturgy that glorifies death or chaos itself. In the secular West, we see a more subtle form: leaders enacting policies that erode the family, the most basic unit of society, thereby dooming their nations to demographic collapse and social atomization. No sane Realist statesman trying to maximize long-term power would encourage the dissolution of his own people’s identity and will to live – yet many do, under the enchantment of ideologies that demand these sacrifices (the idol of absolute individual “freedom” or of egalitarian utopia, which paradoxically requires tearing down all traditional supports of social order).

Collapse in Practice – Case Studies of Irrational Conflict: The failure of the Rational Actor Paradigm is glaringly evident in modern conflicts where the assumptions of clarity, hierarchy, and interest-maximization break down. Let us examine a few brief examples:

– Chechnya (the Battle of Grozny, 1994-96 & 1999): The Russian leadership under Yeltsin (and later Putin) launched war against the tiny breakaway region of Chechnya expecting a quick, rational outcome: overwhelm the rebels with sheer force, reassert control, and deter others. By classical Realist logic – a great power imposing its will – the Chechens should have yielded or been swiftly crushed. Instead, the First Chechen War devolved into a nightmare for the Russians. In the ruined streets of Grozny, Russian tanks rolled in assuming an easy victory; what they met was fanatic resistance, chaotic urban ambushes, and their own command-and-control melting down in confusion. The Chechen fighters, many motivated by a fierce cocktail of nationalism and jihad, fought with suicidal bravery. Russian conscripts, unclear why they were even there, faltered. Moscow’s rational objective (stability in the Caucasus) was undermined by its irrational means – brutal bombardment that only stiffened Chechen resolve, and internal power struggles that led to incoherent strategy. Ultimately, Russia faced a humiliating withdrawal in 1996. One Russian general remarked that fighting in Grozny was “like fighting ghosts in hell” – the normal logic of battle didn’t apply. Even in the Second Chechen War (1999), which Russia “won” by obliterating Grozny (earning it the grim title of “most destroyed city on earth”), the victory was Pyrrhic. Chechnya was pacified only by installing a warlord who rules by fear and whose loyalty is uncertain. What rational actor truly seeks to win a city by reducing it to ashes and slaughtering civilians en masse? That is victory in the logic of Moloch – the demon of blood and sacrifice – not in any humane logic. The Chechen wars revealed that once unleashed, the spirit of chaos and cruelty consumes victor and vanquished alike. The Russian state’s behavior became as “irrational” as the guerilla resistance: indiscriminate shelling, disregard for world opinion or long-term consequences, and a reliance on terror. Realism cannot fully explain such self-defeating savagery, but the framework of Thrones can: Moloch (bloodlust and sacrifice) took precedence over measured strategy, and Leviathan (the state monster) acted out of wounded pride and wrath rather than calculated interest. The result was a spiral of chaos that rational models failed to predict or contain.

– Lebanon (Israel vs. Hezbollah, 2006): The state of Israel, one of the world’s most capable military powers, went to war in 2006 to stop Hezbollah from firing rockets and to re-establish deterrence. Rational Actor theory would assume that a small non-state militia like Hezbollah, facing the overwhelming might of the Israeli Defense Forces, would either avoid provoking war or quickly sue for peace once their infrastructure was pummeled. Instead, Hezbollah embraced the fight. During the 34-day war, Israeli forces encountered a foe that did not behave as a traditional state army. Hezbollah fighters blended into terrain and civilian populations, willingly inviting massive Israeli airstrikes on their own villages – because these strikes, while tactically hurting Hezbollah, yielded strategic gains by turning Lebanese and world opinion against Israel. In rational terms, Hezbollah trading lives and homes for propaganda advantage is hard to explain – unless we recognize the spiritual-ideological fervor at work. Here was a militia animated by an Islamist revolutionary ideology (tied to Iran’s millenarian vision). They viewed survival differently: so long as they could claim resistance and inflict any pain on Israel, they “won,” even if Lebanon was damaged in the process. Israel, for its part, found that its rational objectives (secure the border, degrade the enemy) were elusive. It could not press too far without causing civilian casualties that undermined its moral standing; it could not ignore Hezbollah’s asymmetric tactics. The war ended inconclusively, with Israel’s deterrence in question and Hezbollah claiming victory simply by not being eradicated. In effect, Leviathan (the modern state military) was frustrated by a hydra-headed foe serving a twisted ideal. Hezbollah’s guiding “rationality” was one of Asmodeus and Moloch cloaked in religious terms: they glorified martyrdom (death for the cause – a sacrifice to Moloch by another name) and broadcast a narrative of heroic defiance that intoxicated hearts (stirring the lust for honor and vengeance – the seduction of Asmodeus, here not in sexual form but as a lust for glory and hatred). The interplay of these Thrones made the conflict bizarrely unbounded by the usual cost-benefit analysis. Internationally, we also saw Mammon and Leviathan at work: Iran (pursuing regional power – Leviathan’s law of empire) lavishly funding Hezbollah (Mammon’s gold fueling war), while the global media spectacle turned into a propaganda duel (Asmodeus’s seduction through imagery, and Leviathan’s attempts to control the narrative). In the end, realism’s expectation – that overwhelming force brings quick victory or negotiation – failed. Something more irrational yet patterned was in play, which our framework makes intelligible: competing liturgies of sacrifice and resistance that don’t square with simple material logic.

– Northern Ireland (The Troubles, 1969–1998): The protracted conflict in Northern Ireland further exemplifies the breakdown of classical rationalism in protracted asymmetric strife. The British government, a rational state actor, spent decades trying to quell a violent ethno-nationalist insurgency by the IRA (Irish Republican Army) and associated groups. By standard Realist expectations, the vastly superior British Army and security apparatus should have been able to snuff out a localized guerrilla movement or force it to compromise early. Instead, the conflict ground on for thirty years of tit-for-tat bombings, assassinations, internments, and street clashes. Why? Because more was at stake than tangible goals; identity, faith, and historical narrative became infinite wells of motivation. The Irish republican fighters, many of them devout Catholics or socialist revolutionaries (oddly blended ideologies), saw themselves as part of a liturgy of liberation that stretched back centuries. Martyrs, hunger strikers, songs and funerals – these were sacraments that sustained their cause. When Bobby Sands, an IRA prisoner, starved himself to death on hunger strike in 1981, it was a deliberate sacrifice that galvanized international sympathy and recruitment for the IRA. Realism cannot easily explain a man choosing agonizing death, nor the British inability to deter such fanaticism. But the Throne of Moloch can: in perverse form, the blood of martyrs (however misguided their cause in methods) became the seed of new fighters. The British state, for its part, oscillated between harsh crackdowns (Leviathan’s iron fist) and concessions. But every act of heavy-handed justice – internments without trial, armed raids – only fed the republican narrative of oppression (the propaganda of Leviathan-as-tyrant rallying more to the cause). Meanwhile, the Loyalist paramilitaries on the Protestant side answered IRA terror with their own terror, creating a spiral of vengeance that logic could not untangle. The “Rational Actor” – the British government – found itself ensnared in a web of tribal passions and spiritual undercurrents. One could even say Behemoth – the monster of bureaucratic inertia – played a role: the British deployed thousands of troops and an elaborate security bureaucracy (Operation Banner, lasting decades), which over time became a self-perpetuating machine, unable to adapt swiftly to win hearts and minds. Policy often defaulted to “that’s just the way it is” (Behemoth’s slogan), reinforcing a stalemate. In the end, a kind of exhaustion and delicate negotiation (the Good Friday Agreement) brought a tenuous peace – but only after great patience and the moderating influence of external actors. The Troubles reveal how, once tribal liturgies of hate and loyalty take hold, classic Realism’s tools (military might, economic incentives) have limited effect. The conflict had become almost ritualistic: marching season parades, commemorations of past battles, prayers for the fallen – an echo of religious war. Only by addressing identities and offering a new shared framework (power-sharing, mutual recognition) could it be de-escalated. In Throne terms, the influences of Asmodeus (perverting love into sectarian hate), Leviathan (each side claiming lawful authority and demonizing the other), and Moloch (blood sacrifices on both sides) had to be gradually exorcised by acts of forgiveness, truth, and justice – essentially, by reintroducing bits of Logos and caritas (charity) into the equation.

– Urban Warfare and the Collapse of the Rational Ideal: The modern city battlefield – from Mogadishu to Fallujah, from Sarajevo to Grozny – is perhaps the clearest tomb of Rational Actor assumptions. Military doctrines (like those of our own United States Marine Corps regarding urban warfare) have learned through bitter experience that cities devour logic. In a dense urban fight, the lines blur between combatant and civilian, between victory and atrocity. The “fog of war” becomes a choking smog. Clausewitz’s theories and neat OODA loops (Observe–Orient–Decide–Act) falter when every building hides a potential ambush and every stray bullet can spark a strategic catastrophe if it kills a family instead of a foe. The Marines in Fallujah, Iraq (2004), for instance, went in to eliminate insurgents (rational goal: take the city, stop terror attacks). They won the tactical battle, but the ferocity of the fighting – house-to-house clearing, the destruction wrought – turned the city into a symbol of American brutality in Iraqi eyes, arguably fueling further insurgency elsewhere. The rational intent (pacify region) was undermined by the means (high civilian cost) – and that mismatch was not due to incompetence but the inherent chaos of the environment. Urban warfare highlights how quickly command coherence can collapse. In the First Battle of Grozny (1994), Russian units lost radio contact, got lost in the maze of streets, and in some cases ended up firing on each other. Officers died and no one knew who was in charge; junior soldiers made isolated decisions to survive. The Russian chain of command – supposedly a rational hierarchy – fractured into confusion under the intense pressure of the urban combat inferno. In Mogadishu (1993), a simple raid turned into a citywide battle (“Black Hawk Down”) with American forces improvising desperately to extricate themselves, suffering losses unthinkable in a conventional fight with a peer army. Why? Because an ostensibly rag-tag militia exploited the clutter and human terrain of a city, turning even women and children into shields and weapons. Here the Thrones of Inversion manifest in war’s microcosm: Behemoth in the form of the city’s unyielding, labyrinthine infrastructure that stymies maneuver; Mammon in the form of warlords fighting for loot and using the populace as commodity; Moloch in the blood frenzy that overtakes both militia and soldiers in the heat of street-by-street combat; Leviathan in the heavy-handed responses (air strikes, heavy ordnance) that ultimately damage legitimacy; Asmodeus even in the intoxication some fighters feel in the adrenaline of violence, a perverse lust for power over life and death. All these make the straightforward logic of Realism (“apply power to achieve objective”) insufficient. The city fight is less a chess match and more an exorcism – a struggle to wrest control of a human environment from the grip of fear, hatred, and despair. This is why our Order emphasizes liturgical warfare: “War against Thrones is always liturgical,” says the Rule, meaning we must approach even physical battles with prayer, with the awareness that we combat not just flesh and blood, “but spiritual hosts of wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12).

The Parody Liturgies of the Modern World: In each of the above examples and in countless other contemporary crises, we discern a pattern: behind the ostensible chaos lies a parody of worship, a false liturgy that drives the conflict. Modern people may not think in terms of worship, but they enact it nonetheless. Consider: law, blood, sex, money, bureaucracy – these are the secular gods that dominate minds today. Each provides a kind of script that people follow with religious devotion. When truth is subjective, Law becomes legalism and ideology – people obey not divine justice but tyrannical edicts or partisan dogmas (the Throne of Leviathan at work). When community and love are uprooted, Blood and tribe become sacraments – identity politics, ethnic feuds, the glorification of violence for its own sake (the Throne of Moloch reveling in sacrifice). When virtue is scorned, Sexual “freedom” becomes a cult – obsessions that corrode family and innocence, entire cultures pornographied (the Throne of Asmodeus enthroned, as we will detail). When God’s providence is denied, Money and power reign supreme – greed and consumption become life’s purpose, and human beings mere resources (the Throne of Mammon consuming souls). And when vitality and creativity are sapped by sin, Bureaucracy and technocracy multiply – vast systems that promise control and order but deliver only paralysis and anonymity (the Throne of Behemoth spreading its suffocating weight). These are the parody liturgies of our time. People may not bow physically to an idol of gold or stone, but they bow their will and imagination to these forces daily.

Thus, realism fails not because humans stopped being self-interested, but because what humans perceive as their interestis now refracted through these false worships. A nation overtaken by the liturgy of blood (extreme nationalism or sectarian zeal) will pursue conflict past any point of material sense – for them, war itself is a ritual of identity. A government enslaved to Mammon will sacrifice the long-term good of its citizens for short-term profit of a few, even if it destabilizes the realm – wealth has become its own end, an idol demanding obeisance. An entire generation enthralled by Asmodeus will reject the basic building blocks of society – marriage, fruitful family life – in favor of sterile pleasures, even as their population dwindles and economic future crumbles; the “rational actor” in them has been hijacked by lust. And a society prostrate before Behemoth will accept endless layers of control and surveillance, trading liberty and vitality for the false peace of automated routine, until creativity dies – the rational calculus of freedom vs security perverted by an idol of Order-as-stasis. In all these ways, what appears “irrational” by classical analysis is revealed as hyper-rationalwithin a demonic frame – that is, it serves the “logic” of a particular false throne, even as it undermines human flourishing.

To navigate this landscape, we need to make the invisible visible. We need to map the thrones that dominate our era. Realism once assumed a flat plain of rational actors. We now walk amidst a myriad of unseen altars and thrones, each with its devotees and victims. Let us name them and describe their dominions, that we might discern our true battlefield.

3. The Thrones of Inversion as Framework

Chaos, though it appears as pure madness, often wears consistent faces. Through long study and struggle, the Order of the Black Shield has identified five grand archetypes of evil that manifest in history’s patterns. We call them the Thrones of Inversion – each a demonic parody of a rightful aspect of God’s order. They are Leviathan, Mammon, Asmodeus, Moloch, and Behemoth. These names are drawn from Scripture and tradition: Leviathan and Behemoth, ancient chaos monsters; Mammon, the personification of wealth warned of by Christ (Matthew 6:24); Moloch, the cruel Canaanite idol of child sacrifice denounced in the Old Testament (Leviticus 18:21); Asmodeus, a demon of lust known from ancient lore (cf. Tobit 8:3 and later writings). We do not invoke these names lightly, nor see them as mere symbols. They are personal and systemic forces – both demonic intelligences and the systems of sin they generate among men. Each Throne represents a complex “operating system” of evil, complete with its own false virtues, liturgies, and strongholds.

It is crucial to grasp that these Thrones are not mere abstract vices. As the Codex Daemonologicus teaches, “Each Throne is not a ‘vice,’ but an operating system of evil – sacramental, mimetic, and legal.” In other words, a Throne establishes a counterfeit kingdom: it has a doctrine (a false creed to justify itself), a cultus (rituals and sacrifices through which people participate in it), and a community or institution that embodies it in the world. They are Inversions because they take something good in God’s design and twist it to destructive ends. Let us examine each in turn:

• Leviathan – The Throne of Pride and False Authority: Leviathan is depicted in Scripture as the great twisting serpent of the sea, a symbol of chaos and tyrannical power (Job 41, Isaiah 27:1). In our framework, Leviathanrepresents the corruption of law, language, and authority. It is the spirit that says “might makes right” but clothes itself in legalism and grand rhetoric. Its sphere is Pride manifest in the realm of speech and governance. Leviathan’s false liturgy is Legalism and Blasphemy leading to False Judgment. Under this Throne, justice is perverted into a tool of control; law is multiplied not to protect the innocent but to bind and gag them. Censorship, propaganda, and weaponized “justice” are Leviathan’s sacraments. When you hear officials say, “Trust the system – we know what’s best,” even as they silence truth and exalt lies, know that Leviathan is enthroned. It seeks to ape God’s rule by establishing an absolute state or bureaucracy that tolerates no dissent and acknowledges no higher law. In personal form, Leviathan inflames the pride of rulers: they begin to see themselves as savior and arbiter of reality. They then impose decrees that contradict moral truth, and demand the populace assent or be punished. Leviathan always works to codify the other evils – to write the lies of Asmodeus and the bloodlust of Moloch into law, to make sin “official.” In the French Revolution, for example, the architects enthroned the “Goddess of Reason” and sought to wipe out the Church – an Enlightenment Leviathan declaring Lex Rationis (Reason cut off from God) as the supreme law. The result was the guillotine for all who disagreed – law as an idol devouring the people. In modern times, Leviathan appears in every technocratic regime and bloated government that claims neutrality while enforcing spiritual emptiness. Its outward face is stern and procedural; its inner spirit is rebellion against God’s authority, a blasphemous parody of divine kingship.
• Mammon – The Throne of Greed and Exploitation: Mammon is known from the words of Jesus: “You cannot serve God and Mammon” (Luke 16:13). It signifies wealth idolized, riches personified as a master. Mammon as a Throne represents the inversion of provision and stewardship into avarice and ruthless economics. Its sphere is Wealth and Material Lust. Mammon’s false liturgy is the Idolatry of Gold and the Cult of Profit. The modern world is perhaps more openly devoted to Mammon than any other throne – entire philosophies (capitalism unrestrained by morality, consumerism as meaning, technocracy as salvation through progress) bow at Mammon’s altar. Under its sway, people are reduced to commodities and value is measured only in money. Mammon enthrones itself in systems that value profit above persons, gain above God. The manifestations are everywhere: exploitative finance that drives families into debt slavery, corporations that ravage the earth and keep people in perpetual scarcity to boost prices, political systems where policy is sold to the highest bidder. Mammon promises prosperity but delivers insatiable want – no matter how much one has, it is never enough. At Mammon’s altars (be they Wall Street skyscrapers or sweatshops or even digital marketplaces), the sacrifices offered are human lives and dignity: the poor sacrificed for cheap goods, the worker’s lifetime for the investor’s dividend, the truth sacrificed by media for ratings and clicks (each click a coin in Mammon’s coffer). In personal hearts, Mammon breeds anxiety and covetousness – a constant fear of not having enough, driving even the rich to a frenzy of accumulation. The propaganda slogan of Mammon is “Growth at all costs.” We hear this in boardrooms and governments: GDP must rise, profits must increase, no matter the social or spiritual cost. “It’s the economy, stupid,” has become a mantra – implying that moral or spiritual considerations are secondary or irrelevant. Under Mammon’s thrall, entire nations accept policies that enrich a few while hollowing out community and virtue. Internationally, Mammon fuels imperialism and neo-colonialism: resources must be secured, markets opened – if persuasion fails, then by sanctions or force. The logic of Mammon is an endless war of all against all disguised as market competition. The Order’s teaching warns: “Mammon debases virtue; Asmodeus corrupts eros; their fruit is children offered to Moloch.” Indeed, Mammon and Asmodeus often work in tandem to produce human misery – think of the sex industry: lust exploited for profit, with broken lives the result, often ending in violence or abortion (offerings to Moloch). To counter Mammon, one must restore the true purpose of material blessings: to serve God and neighbor. Hence the traditional Christian counters of almsgiving, generosity, and gratitude, which our Codex prescribes, are lethal to Mammon’s dominion. We shall speak more on counters later; here we sketch the throne’s nature: Mammon as the great slave-master who promises the world and gives you an empty soul.
• Asmodeus – The Throne of Lust and Desecration: Asmodeus is classically known as a demon of lust and debauchery – in the Book of Tobit, he is the evil spirit that kills a bride’s seven grooms out of jealous lust (Tobit 3:8). In our framework, Asmodeus stands for the inversion of love and sacred desire into lust, perversion, and the war against purity. Its sphere is Sexuality, Affection, and the Sacred Covenant of marriage. Asmodeus’s false liturgy could be called an “Erotic Sacrament” that actually desecrates true love, and a Covenant Ruin – the deliberate breaking of the bonds that hold family and society together. The manifestations of Asmodeus’s reign in modernity are painfully obvious: the commodification of sex, the normalization of pornography, the collapse of lifelong marriage, the confusion of gender and identity, the elevation of any and all consensual acts as “sacred” in themselves (even as they profane what is truly sacred). Asmodeus enthrones itself by preaching that “Consent is the only sacred law” – a half-truth liturgy. While consent is certainly important (to reject coercion and abuse), Asmodeus twists it to mean that as long as something is mutually agreed upon, it is beyond moral judgment. Thus any sexual desire, no matter how self-destructive or estranging from God’s design, is treated as sacrosanct. The result is a society drenched in sexual chaos and identity inversion. This Throne’s propaganda is often couched in terms of “Love is love” – but it is a counterfeit love that refuses the order and self-giving inherent in true Love (which comes from God and has a form and purpose). Instead, Asmodeus offers “freedom” that leads to slavery – addiction to pornography (now a global plague enslaving mostly men but also women, sapping will and warping minds), proliferation of sexual diseases and trauma, broken homes, fatherless children, and an epidemic of loneliness. The pornography industry, the cult of youthful idolized bodies, the relentless sexualization of entertainment and advertising – these are Asmodeus’s temples. In them, human beings (often very young) are sacrificed on the altar of pleasure. Relationships become transactional; even the distinction of male and female – fundamental to human nature – is blurred and contested, as if to erase the image of God in our sexuality. This is not merely moral decline; it is a strategic debilitation of society. A people enslaved to lust cannot sacrifice for the common good; a generation addicted to stimulation cannot muster the discipline to resist tyranny. Asmodeus, in a sense, softens up a civilization for conquest by other evils – by fragmenting families and communities, by turning the powerful creative force of sexuality into a source of strife and division. Historically, one can look at late imperial Rome to see Asmodeus and Moloch hand in hand: orgiastic cults side by side with rampant infanticide and gladiatorial bloodsport. Our Codex Stratagematon notes: “Rome perfected the interlocked liturgies of Asmodeus and Moloch. Its amphitheaters were cathedrals of lust and violence… Temples of Venus stood beside altars where infants were sacrificed to ensure the state’s future.” This “double altar” of lust and death is visible today in the digital domain: countless websites offer both pornography and real-life violence as entertainment, often consumed by the same individuals; and in the abortion industry, which frequently is the grim epilogue to sexual license unmoored from responsibility – the unwanted child becomes the sacrifice on the altar of “freedom.” Asmodeus is cunning; it often masquerades as “freedom” or even “love” in rhetoric. But one can discern its clawed hand: wherever intimacy is stripped of fidelity and responsibility, wherever children are seen as burdens to be avoided or aborted, wherever the innocent (including the unborn) are sexualized or harmed to feed desire – Asmodeus is at work.
• Moloch – The Throne of Blood and Sacrifice: Moloch (or Molech) was the abomination of the Ammonites and Canaanites, an idol to whom children were sacrificed by fire (Leviticus 18:21, Jeremiah 32:35). In the Bible, Moloch stands as the antithesis of Israel’s God: whereas God calls for life and holiness, Moloch demands death and horror. As a Throne of Inversion, Moloch represents the deification of destruction, war, and the slaughter of the innocent. Its sphere is Bloodshed and Sacrifice – specifically, the unjust spilling of innocent blood under the guise of necessity or even virtue. Moloch’s false liturgy is an Anti-Eucharist: a grotesque parody of sacrifice where life is offered not to the Author of Life but to the devourer of life. The mantra of Moloch is “Necessary sacrifice” – always that chilling rationale, “we must do this evil for a greater good.” When you hear leaders speak calmly of “collateral damage” as acceptable, or insist that some lives must be discarded for progress (be it unborn children for the sake of “choice,” or the elderly and sick for the sake of efficiency, or victims of war for the sake of victory), you hear Moloch’s chant. Moloch is behind every instance in history when killing becomes ritualized or industrialized. In ancient times it was literal child sacrifice in blazing idols. In our times it has become disturbingly clinical and bureaucratic: abortion clinics where thousands of unborn infants are quietly extinguished, often with the blessing of the state; euthanasia laws that recast murder as compassion; and the ever-churning engine of perpetual warfare, where entire generations are fed into battle for ambiguous aims. The 20th century, with its mechanized wars and genocides, was a veritable festival for Moloch: the Holocaust (the sacrifice of 6 million Jews on the altar of Nazi ideology), the Stalinist and Maoist purges (tens of millions sacrificed for a utopian fantasy), two world wars consuming the youth of nations by the millions, and the normalization of targeting civilians (from Dresden to Hiroshima) as “strategic necessity.” Even now, the specter of Moloch looms in conflicts where ancient cities and modern metropolises alike are bombed without regard for children and non-combatants. Terrorism, too, is an expression of Moloch: the terrorist consciously offers himself as a sacrifice (suicide bombers) to kill others, believing blood will purify or empower their cause. And on the flip side, the state that responds by indiscriminate retaliation also bows to Moloch, valuing vengeance or “message sending” above innocent life. We also see Moloch’s logic creeping into biotechnology debates – the idea of manufacturing and destroying embryonic lives for research, for example, treating the smallest humans as expendable raw material. Ritual Death is Moloch’s hallmark, whether overt (as in satanic cults or extremist violence) or subtle (packaged as civic duty or medical “mercy”). Moloch often allies with Leviathan: the state’s power of coercion harnessed to require or permit these blood sacrifices, giving them legal cover. It also pairs with Mammon: there is profit in death, alas, from arms industries to organ trade. And as mentioned, Moloch dances with Asmodeus: the fruit of lustful encounters are often offered up to Moloch through abortion, as “necessary” to preserve a lifestyle. Recognizing Moloch’s presence is crucial, because his demands are the most visibly horrific – yet people under his spell will rationalize even the burning of their own children as noble (“for their better future,” “for the mother’s sake,” etc.). The ancient Israelites fell into this when they sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons, shedding innocent blood (Psalm 106:37-38). Our own generation, with tens of millions of abortions worldwide each year, cannot claim moral superiority. Only a return to the true sacrament – the Eucharist, the sacrifice of Christ which gives life – can break Moloch’s enchantment. In Christian terms, the counter-liturgy to Moloch is the embrace of self-sacrifice for others (martyrdom and protection of the innocent) rather than sacrificing others for oneself.
• Behemoth – The Throne of Sloth and Machinery: Behemoth, mentioned in Job 40:15-24, is portrayed as a monstrous beast of untamable strength. Tradition sometimes associated Behemoth with the excesses of gluttony or the overwhelming force of brute nature. In our interpretive framework, Behemoth symbolizes the inversion of order and creativity into oppressive system and stagnation. Its sphere is two-fold: Slothful Acedia (spiritual paralysis) and Technocratic Control. At first glance those may seem opposites – sloth vs. hyper-efficiency – but they meet in the outcome: the suppression of the human spirit. Behemoth’s false liturgy is the Worship of the Machine and the resignation of the soul – a bureaucratic paralysis that drains life. In essence, Behemoth is the demon that enthrones systems over persons, rules over mercy, quantity over quality, and indifference over compassion. Its slogan is “That’s just the way it is” – the fatalistic acceptance that the individual means nothing and cannot change the machinery of life. Under Behemoth, institutions become gargantuan and self-perpetuating, no longer serving human needs but making humans serve them. We see Behemoth in the sprawling bureaucracies of modern governments and mega-corporations, where responsibility is diffused in endless paperwork and processes. We see it in the algorithmic culture that reduces people to data points – decisions by algorithm (AI “advising” truth, as our Stratagematon notes), surveillance systems humming ceaselessly, treating souls as numbers. We see it in education turned into industrial schooling, in worship turned into timed, scripted programs devoid of mystery, in medicine reduced to protocol checklists without personal care. Behemoth is the great suffocater: it does not roar, it smothers with indifference. Whereas Leviathan will actively persecute truth, Behemoth simply buries it in noise and routine. One might say Leviathan runs the secret police, Mammon runs the markets, Asmodeus runs the media and entertainment, Moloch runs the armies and clinics of death, but Behemoth runs the bureaucracy that makes it all seem normal and inevitable. This Throne dulls the spirit, encouraging people to accept the status quo because “you can’t fight the system.” It promotes a kind of universal acedia – a despairing laziness of the heart that says, “Don’t bother to pray or fight, nothing will change.” In doing so, it undercuts resistance to the other thrones. Think of the Soviet Union’s latter days: endless lines, gray bureaucracy, everyone just doing the minimum to get by – that was Behemoth’s footprint. Or the current vast administrative states where a citizen is lost in a maze of regulations and departments, unable to speak to a human or get a humane response – that is Behemoth. It promises order, but delivers a soulless order that crushes initiative and faith. Spiritually, Behemoth is connected to the deadly sin of sloth not just as laziness, but as the ancient monks defined acedia: a sorrowful lethargy that oppresses the soul and makes prayer and virtuous action seem impossible or pointless. It is the midday demon that tells the monk, “Give up your prayers, nothing is happening.” In society, acedia translates to widespread depression, ennui, escapism through trivial entertainments (bread and circuses of a digital sort). Indeed, in an age of Behemoth, people often retreat into distractions because the systems around them feel alien and unchangeable. The cure for Behemoth is the reinfusion of personal purpose and sacred rest: true Sabbath (resting in God rather than mindless leisure), ascetic zeal (the willingness to sacrifice comfort to do what is right), and the prayer of the heart (such as the Jesus Prayer, awakening the individual soul in communion with God). These break the spell of inevitability and remind us that the living God can upend any “immutable” system. But left unchecked, Behemoth will lull humanity into a dystopia of comfortable cages – a peace of sorts, but the peace of a graveyard or an ant colony, devoid of love or heroism or holiness.

These, brethren, are the five primary Thrones of Inversion. They rarely act in isolation. In truth, they form a confederacy– a demonic ecosystem wherein each strengthens the other. Our Codex Stratagematon teaches that the five thrones arrange themselves like an inverted pentagram, a perverse mirror of the wounds of Christ and the five senses, creating a self-reinforcing engine of corruption. “Leviathan codifies the lies of Asmodeus and the sacrifices of Moloch; Mammon funds the structures; Behemoth institutionalizes them,” as it is written. Consider any deeply evil regime or era and you will find most or all of these thrones in collaboration. For example, in Nazi Germany: Mammon was present in the ruthless exploitation and slave labor for profit; Asmodeus in the occult sex-obsessions of some Nazi elites and the calculated breakdown of traditional morality; Moloch glaringly in the Holocaust and war; Leviathan in the Fuhrer’s absolute state and propaganda; Behemoth in the mindless bureaucracy of genocide (Eichmann the bureaucrat epitomizes Behemoth’s banality of evil). Likewise, in Soviet Communism: officially atheistic and “rational,” yet it enthroned Leviathan (the Party as totalitarian lawgiver), Mammon (centralized control of material goods, ironically leading to scarcity), Asmodeus (promotion of family breakdown via state-raised children, etc.), Moloch (purges, gulags, engineered famines), and Behemoth (the vast, plodding Party bureaucracy and pervasive surveillance). These powers interlock. One ascends, another supports. There are even rivalries at times – Mammon’s chaos of markets can destabilize Leviathan’s order, for instance, or Asmodeus’s libertinism can clash with Leviathan’s desire for disciplined conformity – yet ultimately they find equilibrium in serving the one Beast: the Adversary’s counterfeit kingdom.

To use this framework is to unveil the deeper logic in what seems like chaos. When a seemingly nonsensical policy is pushed, ask: which Throne benefits? When a conflict erupts that no one can explain in normal terms, discern: which Thrones are feeding on it? We begin to see patterns: a rise in censorship and propaganda indicates Leviathan tightening its coils – truth will be the target, and likely some great lie (perhaps of Mammon or Moloch) is being protected. A sudden societal obsession with sexual identity to the neglect of all other issues hints that Asmodeus is performing a distraction – perhaps to draw attention away from a rising Moloch (like a war or mass abuse) or to weaken the populace’s moral fiber to resist other evils. The proliferation of “expert” managerial structures that override common sense and local decision-making is Behemoth extending its shadow – often paving the way for Leviathan to do things without opposition, as people are lost in red tape. These thrones wear modern disguises, as our Stratagematon notes: “The thrones of the ancient world have not died; they have put on the vestments of modernity.” Pharaoh reappears in every totalitarian technocrat; Mammon in every predatory financier; Rome’s altars of lust and blood re-emerge in digital porn and sanitized abortion clinics; Enlightenment’s false idol of “neutral reason” in every value-neutral bureaucracy; Behemoth in every soulless institution that treats man as machine. To fight them, we must unmask them – call Moloch Murder even when it’s called “healthcare,” call Asmodeus Corruption even when it’s sold as “liberation,” call Mammon Idolatry even when praised as “economic growth,” call Leviathan Tyranny even when labeled “safety and order,” and call Behemoth Despairing Slaveryeven when touted as “efficient system.”

Understanding this framework also helps us see that mere human efforts – treaties, reforms, revolutions – if they do not address the underlying thrones, will simply trade one evil for another. History is rife with such tragic ironies: a populace throws off the yoke of one tyrant (Leviathan) only to fall into lawless bloodletting (Moloch) or factional strife (Mammon-fueled power grabs), then they beg for order and get a new tyrant (Leviathan again). Or a puritanical regime (Leviathan + Behemoth suppressing vice) collapses and is followed by an eruption of decadence (Asmodeus) that in turn so disgusts people that they embrace an even harsher tyranny to clamp down (a cycle we’ve seen in history’s oscillations). Only by striking at the spiritual root – by casting down the Thrones themselves through truth and grace – can lasting change occur. This sets the stage for our next consideration: if these thrones continue unchecked, what is the ultimate trajectory? What is the endgame of inversion? To that we now turn, that we may fully apprehend the stakes of our war.

4. Entropy and Chaos: The Endgame of Inversion

Evil is inherently self-destructive. This is a truth taught by Scripture and the Fathers: evil has no Logos of its own; it is a privation, a parasite on the good. St. Maximus the Confessor and other Church Fathers emphasized that sin and evil are ultimately irrational – lacking the divine principle (Logos) that gives creation order and meaning. Carried to term, evil consumes itself, resulting in pure nothingness (non-being) or utter chaos. Therefore, the final outcome of the Throne of Inversion is always entropy – the collapse of order, meaning, and coherence. If the Logos is denied, the cosmos unravels (not ultimately, for God sustains all things – but in the sphere of human affairs, societies can effectively unravel). The five Thrones we described, if allowed to reign without restraint, lead to a world uninhabitable and a humanity either destroyed or unrecognizable.

Permanent Revolution and Collapse: One sign of the endgame is the state of permanent revolution that many societies seem to be in. Because inversion cannot create a stable, harmonious order (since it denies the true Logos that would ground such order), it keeps society in flux – always “revolutionizing” one thing after another, promising utopias but delivering exhaustion. We see this in the endless cultural revolutions: once one norm is destroyed, another target is found. Nothing is ever enough. For instance, sexual revolution rolls into gender revolution into transhumanist dreams of transcending biology altogether – each step more extreme, each claiming to liberate, yet each leaving people more alienated and fragmented. Political revolutions follow similar pattern: the old regime is torn down for freedom, but soon those revolutionaries become oppressors, and a new wave calls to tear them down. Consider the French Revolution’s arc: from the overthrow of monarchy (1789) to the Terror (1793) to Napoleonic empire (1804) – liberty to chaos to new tyranny in fifteen years. Or the Russian Revolution: czarist tyranny fell to Bolshevik terror, leading to Stalinist tyranny, which eventually stagnated into Brezhnev’s apathetic bureaucracy (Behemoth’s reign) until the whole thing collapsed under its own weight. These illustrate that inversion eventually eats its own. Revolutionary fervor (Moloch’s bloodthirst, Leviathan’s ideological zeal) burns hot and then burns out, often leaving a heap of ashes.

Parody of Creation – Evil’s Sterility: Another hallmark of the endgame is the sterility of evil. Good is creative (because aligned with the Creator), while evil, at its root, cannot create, only mimic and destroy. The Thrones of Inversion boast grandly of new utopias – a perfected economy, a master race, a global peace, a liberated humanity – but all they do is parody real creation and undermine it. Mammon might claim to “create wealth,” but in the end it concentrates and hollows out, leading to crashes and depressions – consumption outstripping production until systems break. Asmodeus promises endless new genders and sexual “identities,” but these proliferations are sterile; they do not produce life or future, often literally reducing fertility and birth (many of its devotees choose not to have children or physically cannot after its deceptions). Leviathan’s grand architectures – those monumental laws and institutions – eventually collapse under their own contradictions, because cut off from justice they lose legitimacy and invite revolution or foreign conquest. Behemoth’s gargantuan systems, while impressive, gradually grind to a halt: inefficiency, corruption, and sheer human despair cause the machine to seize up (we see this in late-stage empires where bureaucrats are numerous but nothing gets done, infrastructure decays, and the population withers in spirit). Even Moloch, who feeds on death, eventually runs out of victims or provokes such revulsion that societies snap. Historically, cultures of human sacrifice (like the Aztecs) either hit a wall (the Aztecs were conquering more and more territory to get victims – unsustainable) or get overthrown by outsiders horrified by their practices (as happened when the Spanish, for all their own sins, were shocked by the altars of Huitzilopochtli streaming with blood).

In modern times, consider the example of Rome’s final days: The empire had indulged every inversion. Emperors like Nero and Caligula embodied Asmodeus with their orgies and desecrations, and Leviathan with their demands for divine worship; Rome’s economy ran on Mammon’s engine of slave labor and luxury for the few; the gladiatorial games and endless wars were Moloch’s carnival; the sprawling imperial bureaucracy and bread-and-circus dole typified Behemoth’s sedations. What was the result? By the 5th century, the once-vibrant empire was a shell: population declining, cities crumbling, the legions filled with disloyal mercenaries because citizens lacked virtue to fight, the currency debased, the moral fiber spent. When the Visigoths and Vandals came, Rome fell less from their strength than from its own internal rot. This is evil’s entropy: a once-great civilization disintegrated not only by external blows but by internal implosion. As St. Augustine analyzed in The City of God, Rome’s fall was the logical consequence of disordered love – worshipping gods that were not God and pursuing ends that could not unify the people in peace. In our terms, the Thrones of Inversion had done their work, and the result was collapse. The Eastern Roman (Byzantine) half endured longer, arguably because it hewed closer to Christian order for a time, but when it too succumbed to intrigue, greed, and stagnation, it fell in 1453.

Modern Parallels: Fast forward, and we see parallels in our era. The Enlightenment project enthroned reason without God, culminating in revolutionary France’s attempt to remold society on pure reason – it ended with the guillotine and eventually an emperor, a perversion of its own ideals. In the 20th century, Communist regimes tried to build the utopia of the workers, discarding “opiate” religion and bourgeois morality. The result? Rivers of blood, and economies that eventually collapsed under inefficiency and corruption – they could not outlast the inherent flaws of their denial of human nature (no private property or incentive, leading to shortages and black markets – Mammon’s revenge in a sense; enforced atheism leading to a spiritual void, filled by cult of personality – Leviathan’s false godhood; breakdown of family in favor of collective – Asmodeus’s disruption; constant purges – Moloch insatiable; huge party bureaucracy – Behemoth ossification). By the 1980s, the Soviet Union was an empire of rust and apathy, and it imploded without need of a world war, so rotten had it become inside.

But let us not think the “free world” is immune. Western liberal societies, having cast off their Christian moorings, are now in late-stage convulsions of inversion. Entropy is visible: birth rates in secular nations have plummeted below replacement (a sign of deep acedia and triumph of Asmodeus/Mammon over the will to new life); economic inequality has skyrocketed and financial systems totter on speculative bubbles (Mammon’s endgame of unsustainability); political discourse has degenerated into performative outrage and division (Leviathan playing factions against each other, undermining the trust that held democracies together); bureaucracy and debt have ballooned, with governments seemingly unable to solve basic problems like infrastructure decay or healthcare, but continuing to expand surveillance and regulation (Behemoth making societies top-heavy and brittle). Meanwhile, the appetite for blood persists in subtler ways: endless foreign interventions with dubious rationale, or the quiet Moloch sacrifice of tens of millions of abortions treated as routine healthcare – a toll of lives that any ancient pagan would view with astonishment. Can such a civilization endure indefinitely? The pattern of history and the nature of evil suggest not. Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome – each empire fell when its measure was full. The difference now is the stakes are global; multiple great powers are in thrall to these Thrones concurrently, and weapons exist that could annihilate humanity. If all restraints of Logos are cast off, the chaos that ensues could be unlike any seen before – truly apocalyptic. This is not hyperbole but an acknowledgement that we live in times where inversion has penetrated to the core of culture worldwide.

Military Endgame – Total War and Disintegration: On the military front, the endgame of inversion is seen in the concept of total war – when wars cease to be constrained by any moral law or limited objective and instead become wars of annihilation or ideological absolutism. The 20th century already gave us a taste: World War II ended only after the utter destruction of cities, the use of nuclear bombs, and the unconditional surrender (or death) of regimes. A future great-power war in the fully inverted paradigm would likely start where WWII left off – with attempts to destroy the enemy’s society entirely. We now have cyber warfare, AI-driven drones, and bioengineering; imagine these guided by no moral compass, only by Thrones: Leviathan’s paranoia, Moloch’s bloodlust, Mammon’s profits, Asmodeus’s distraction, Behemoth’s blind algorithms. The “fog of war” could become a storm of chaos, with command coherence breaking down irretrievably – much as it did in microcosm in Grozny, but on a massive scale. It is conceivable that if a nuclear exchange happened, it would not be the controlled scenario of Cold War imaginations, but something far more disordered: miscommunications, rogue actors (perhaps terrorists getting hold of devices amid the chaos), chain reactions of destruction. In such a scenario, the rational actor model is utterly helpless – deterrence relies on rational actors not wanting mutual destruction, but inverted actors might court destruction. Indeed, some extremist ideologies (whether secular or religious) welcome apocalypse believing a new order will arise after. That is pure inversion: seeking chaos as an end, trusting in death rather than life.

Signs of Hope – Entropy Exposes the Lie: Yet within this dark prospect lies a paradoxical hope: because evil is parasitic and self-defeating, it often overplays its hand. The very extremity of inversion can jolt some people awake. When things fall apart, some remember the foundation that was lost. For instance, the moral vacuum and social breakdown in the West have stirred many to seek truth anew, leading to conversions and renewals in small pockets. The failure of Marxist regimes led many of their populations to reconsider spiritual truth and embrace faith where they could (witness the religious revivals in post-Soviet lands among those who hungered for meaning after the lies collapsed). Even within our war cases: the endless violence in Northern Ireland eventually wearied enough people on both sides to try a different path; the brutality of Chechnya’s conflict eventually led some to negotiations and reconstructive efforts (albeit fragile). We also see within certain institutions a rebellion of conscience – whistleblowers, truth-tellers – when the machine becomes too corrupt. This suggests that while the Thrones of Inversion drive towards maximum chaos, God still in His providence uses even the collapse as a way to strip illusions and invite repentance. The question is whether that repentance comes in time to avert utter disaster, or only after it.

For the Order, these reflections on endgame are not to induce despair but to underline urgency. We are, in effect, like medics on a battlefield who know the patient (civilization) is hemorrhaging. We cannot be sanguine and say “things will work out if everyone just pursues their interest.” No – interests themselves have been poisoned. We must recognize that without divine intervention and a return to the Logos, societies will continue to unravel. Our role is to fight the entropy – to be instruments through which grace and truth arrest the decay, if God wills.

Our Regula (Rule) puts it starkly: “The Order does not seek truce or negotiation with the Thrones of Evil. From the beginning until the end of the age, we stand in perpetual war without ceasing. We are not called to coexist with wickedness, but to expel it, root and branch, by the authority of the Throne of God.” This perpetual war (bellum perpetuum) means we cannot “wait out” the enemy; we must actively resist at all times, lest the darkness fill every vacuum. Every prayer, every Mass, every act of justice is an act of war against entropy. As the Rule continues: “Every Mass celebrated, every prayer uttered, every shield raised in the Light is an act of perpetual war.” This is how we push back against the endgame of chaos – by inserting the Logos (Christ’s presence and law) wherever possible, shoring up what remains of goodness, and striking at the sources of corruption.

To summarize: the ultimate trajectory of a world ruled by inversion is a descent into nothingness – morally, spiritually, and even materially. It is Babel collapsing into confusion, Babylon drunk on blood and then desolate. The Rational Actor Paradigm is utterly incapable of predicting or preventing this because it assumes human reason operating in a mostly stable reality. But when reality itself is denied, reason loses its grip, and only revelation (the light of Christ) can illuminate the path. For us who have eyes to see, the signs of this entropy are glaring. We must respond accordingly, with the spiritual weapons and strategies provided by our Order’s charism.

Thus we proceed to the final sections: how shall we then act? What are the implications for us, the milites Christi(soldiers of Christ) of the Black Shield, in terms of strategy and duty? And ultimately, what is our hope? Spoiler: Our hope is in the one thing inversion cannot overcome – the eternal Logos, Jesus Christ. Let us turn now to how we fight in practical terms, and conclude with the assurance that in the end, not chaos but Christ shall reign.

5. Implications for the Order

Faced with a world where the Rational Actor model no longer holds, the Order of the Black Shield must radically adjust its approach. We cannot rely on the old assumptions of predictability or appeals to common reason with those in power. Instead, we must fully embrace Throne Mapping and Liturgical Warfare as our modus operandi. In practical terms, this means a few key shifts:

a. Abandon Expectations of Rationality in Adversaries: First and foremost, we must purge from our strategic thinking any naive hope that adversaries (be they hostile states, organizations, or cultural forces) will “see reason” or act out of traditional self-interest. When dealing with individuals or regimes deeply under the sway of the Thrones of Inversion, assume irrationality in the conventional sense. They may double down on failing policies, court self-destruction, break promises, or act with wanton cruelty even when it backfires. We are not negotiating with enlightened monarchs of Christendom or rational gentlemen of diplomacy; we contend with what are effectively cultists of various false gods, or at best, cynics who believe in nothing but momentary advantage. Thus, do not be surprised by betrayals or absurd escalations. Prepare for them. “Do not seek rationality in the ranks of madness,” our Stratagematon would say. On a concrete level, when analyzing any conflict or political situation, include in your assessment: Which Throne is at play and how might it drive the actors beyond rational limits? For example, if confronting a warlord who thrives on bloodshed (Moloch’s servant), expect that he might prefer a fight to the death over a dignified exile; therefore, plan accordingly (either cut off his source of bloodlust or be prepared to neutralize him utterly). If engaging a technocratic official who worships the system (Behemoth’s acolyte), realize they may ignore clear evidence of human suffering to keep their machine running; thus expose the cracks in their system publicly to force change, rather than hoping they’ll empathize. In essence, do not bargain with demons or those they enthrall – outsmart them, outflank them, or if necessary, remove them from influence.

b. Embrace Throne Mapping – Discernment Before Strike: The Codex Justificatio admonishes us: “Discernment before judgment.” In every mission or analysis, our first task is to identify the spiritual strongholds at work. We call this Throne Mapping. It means prayerfully and intellectually discerning which of the five Thrones (or combination thereof) is dominating the situation. Is a corrupt regime primarily under Leviathan (obsessed with silencing dissent and controlling narrative)? Or Mammon (looting the country, serving oligarchic interests)? Is a cultural movement fueled mainly by Asmodeus (an anti-family, sexual revolution agenda) or by Moloch (a fixation on violent revolution)? Often it’s a mix, but usually one or two are principal. Once discerned, this informs all strategy. Our Tactical Maxim I states: “Strike when the Enemy reveals his hierarchy.” In other words, when you identify the hierarchy of evils at play, you can target the head. Throne Mapping allows precision. Instead of wasting effort treating symptoms, we go for the source. For example, in combating a terrorist insurgency, a purely military approach might chase cells endlessly (hydra heads regenerating). Throne Mapping might reveal the insurgency is sustained by a pseudo-religious cult of martyrdom (Moloch with a veneer of Leviathan’s ideology). The solution then must include dismantling that cultish narrative: e.g. broadcast the testimonies of former fighters who found truth (countering Leviathan’s lies with Gospel truth) and protect vulnerable youth from indoctrination (saving them from Moloch’s maw). On the battlefield, it could mean specifically targeting the ritual aspects – perhaps the insurgents have a practice of glorifying certain sites or symbols; we might focus on capturing those intact to break their mythos rather than indiscriminate killing which only fuels the cult. The point is, we engage mind and spiritalongside physical force. As TAC 3 says: “Clarity precedes contact.” We do not rush in blind. We pray, gather intelligence (both human and spiritual), and only then move. The Rule of the Order echoes this: “Never assault without prayer—every maneuver must be sanctified.” This is not just piety; it is practical. Prayer aligns us with the Holy Spirit’s insight, who can reveal what no human recon can. There are numerous accounts in our annals where brothers in prayer received visions or words of knowledge that exposed an enemy’s ploy or the demonic force behind an uprising. We must cultivate such discernment relentlessly.

c. Integrate the Kill Chain with the Prayer Chain – “Prayer, then Fire”: One of our key doctrinal developments is the concept of the Kinetic Kill Chain as a sacred liturgy. The Order’s Liber Tacticae expounds that “The Kill Chain is the spiritual operating system of the Order… Each link is a vow: Find, Fix, Finish.” In practical terms, this means every operation should follow a sanctified sequence: Find (revelation of the target through intelligence and divine insight), Fix(bind the enemy’s capabilities and freedom of action, akin to spiritual binding through prayer and physical containment), and Finish (deliver decisive action to eliminate the threat). This sequence is bathed in prayer at each step. We have a Battle Prayer of the Kill Chain we all know by heart: “Let me see before I am seen. Let me pin before I am pinned. Let me strike while they still wonder. Let their command be noise, and ours be thunder.” These are not empty words – they are an invocation of Kinetic Grace, what the world calls “initiative” or “tempo dominance,” but we understand as a charism given when we align discipline with God’s will. In terms of strategy, this means we strive to collapse the enemy’s decision loop by acting with Holy Spirit-led speed and precision. It’s the OODA loop idea (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act) but supercharged: we pray to observe not just the surface but the heart of the matter, to orient ourselves in God’s truth rather than propaganda, to decide without double-mindedness (having confessed and prepared our souls, so our decisions are sharp), and to act with courage and swiftness. “Let the first movement be prayer, and the last movement be fire,” says the Rule. So practically, before any raid or engagement, we literally pause to pray – invoking St. Michael, reciting a Psalm of war (often Psalm 144, “Blessed be the Lord, my Rock, who trains my hands for war”), or celebrating a quick field Mass if possible. Then we move. Our strikes then are not mere military actions; they become extensions of divine justice – or at least we aspire to make them so. This also guards us: if in prayer we sense a check or lack of clarity, we delay the strike. Better to abort a mission than charge in unsanctified and cause collateral harm or play into a feint. This discipline is counter-cultural even in many armed forces, but as members of the Order we answer to a higher standard. We recall the line from the Psalmus Bellorum I: “Every strike must be baptized in obedience; every battle must burn with the fire of prayer.” This is our ethos.

d. Employ Counter-Liturgies and Sacramental Warfare: Perhaps the most distinctive implication for us is the use of liturgical and sacramental countermeasures against the specific Thrones. We do not merely plan as soldiers, but as exorcists and priests (some among us are literally ordained priests; all of us share in the Church’s royal priesthood through baptism). For each Throne of Inversion, God in His providence has provided a countervailing grace and practice in the Church. Our Codex Daemonologicus lays it out clearly in a table of False Virtue vs. True Virtue, False Liturgy vs. Holy Liturgy. Here is how we must fight each:

• Against Leviathan (False Justice and twisted law): We deploy Holy Speech and Truth. That means we uphold truth in speech – we read the Psalms (the church’s ancient exorcistic hymns) aloud to counter blasphemy and lies. We make public profession of true doctrine whenever Leviathan tries to enforce a false narrative. The Eucharist itself is a key weapon: Leviathan’s anti-gospel often manifests as censorship of the Word or outlawing true worship. By celebrating the Eucharist – the liturgy where Christ the Logos speaks (“This is My Body…”) – even under oppression, we defy Leviathan’s edicts. Historically, Christian martyrs under Roman laws (a Leviathan of their day) didn’t stage rebellions; they prayed and sang in arenas as they were slain. That witness converted an empire. So for us, if facing, say, a government that forbids evangelizing or mandates acceptance of falsehood (e.g., calling men women or endorsing atheism), one counter is a litany of truth: we gather (perhaps quietly in catacombs if needed) and speak the Creed, pray the Scripture, maybe even hold Eucharistic processions if possible – carrying Christ’s Body through the streets as a claim that Jesus is Lord, not Caesar. Leviathan hates nothing more than the acknowledgement of a higher Throne. On a tactical level, when confronting agents of Leviathan (like a corrupt court or official), we must maintain impeccable personal integrity (to deny them any accusation) and invoke the justice of God in prayer. Perhaps before going into a courtroom or negotiation, a team will pray the Psalm 2 (“Why do the nations rage… The Lord laughs, He has set His King on Zion”) or Psalm 94 which calls on God to rise up against the proud. We might anoint doorways with holy water or oil where decisions are made, quietly blessing the space. In essence, we enthrone Christ’s law wherever Leviathan tries to impose its law. We also recall St. Paul’s weapon in Acts when facing magistrates: he spoke truth boldly and also shrewdly (using his Roman citizenship when needed). We too use any legal rights we have to hamper Leviathan’s encroachment – but knowing that ultimately, if thrown in jail, our hymns can shake prison walls (Acts 16:25-26).
• Against Mammon (Greed and exploitation): We practice and spread Generosity, Simplicity, and Gratitude. The early Church countered a greedy empire by sharing all things in common and caring for the poor – “See how they love one another,” awed the pagans. For us, fighting Mammon means we cannot be hypocrites: we ourselves must live free of the love of money. That is why our Rule requires simplicity of life, tithing, and avoidance of excessive luxury even in wartime. Tactically, when dealing with Mammon’s servants (be it a crime syndicate profiteering from misery, or a corpocracy manipulating nations), we can hit them in the wallet, yes (sanctions, raids on illicit funds, exposing corruption in media to cause public outrage). But we should also enact alternative economic liturgies: for instance, instead of just criticizing Big Tech Mammon, our communities should support fair trade, local economies, gift economies. Against the spirit of constant consumption, we engage in fasting and encourage it widely – both for spiritual power and as a witness that man lives not by bread alone. When a region is under Mammon’s thrall (say, a city consumed by commerce and neglecting the soul), we might organize public days of thanksgiving to God – acknowledging that all blessings come from Him, thus dethroning Mammon’s claim that wealth is our security. Acts of almsgiving are downright incendiary to Mammon: think of Zacchaeus in the Gospel, giving away his ill-gotten gains; that was a soul liberated. If we convert or co-opt even a few wealthy figures to use their resources for God’s kingdom, Mammon’s hold weakens. On missions, if we liberate a town from insurgents, our protocol is not just to win militarily but to flood that town with works of mercy: food, medicine, rebuilding – freely given. This breaks the cycle of greed and retaliation, sowing a new economy of grace. Each brother and sister of the Order is encouraged to memorize the Magnificat (Mary’s song, Luke 1: “He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich sent empty away”) and pray it often – it’s Scripture’s great battle cry against Mammon’s upside-down values.
• Against Asmodeus (Lust and desecration): We wield Chastity, Fidelity, and Veneration of the Holy. The world ruled by Asmodeus mocks chastity as impossible or repressive; we must witness by our lives that purity is powerful and joyful. All of us in the Order, whether celibate or married, take vows or promises of chastity appropriate to our state – this is not only for personal holiness but strategic: it forms a shield wall against lust’s incursion. In concrete missions, to counteract a culture of porn or sex trafficking, we might establish zones of sanctuary: support networks for the fallen, houses of refuge for those escaping the sex trade (we’ve done this quietly in some cities, often staffed by our women oblates). We promote true beauty and art against the degradation of the image of God. One specific counter-liturgy our Codex mentions is Icon Veneration. Asmodeus thrives on the misuse of images (pornography being literally the desecration of the image of God in the human body). By venerating icons of Christ, Mary, and the saints, we retrain the eye to see persons with reverence, not consumption. We have testimonies of brothers who struggled with temptations being delivered by meditating on the icon of the Theotokos (Mother of God) – seeing purity and love shining, it drives out lust. On larger scale, when we come to a place where Asmodeus reigned (say we shut down a predatory nightclub or rescue kids from an exploitative cult), we consecrate the ground. Perhaps we erect a cross or shrine where the evil occurred, holding prayer services of reparation. We anoint the entrances with exorcised oil. We invite the local church to celebrate a Mass or liturgy there to reclaim it. The Rule instructs: “Where the throne of darkness is cast down, the Cross must be lifted high… What has been destroyed must be replaced with that which sanctifies, for nature abhors a vacuum.” (Regula II.5.5) Thus, if we break up a ring of human traffickers, we don’t just pat ourselves – we follow up by helping establish a community of healing for the victims, perhaps a chapel or counseling center, filling that void with God’s love. On a personal engagement level, if confronting someone in thrall to Asmodeus (like an enemy agent using seduction or blackmail), one must be extra clothed in prayer and, if possible, not alone (lust weakens in the light of accountable fellowship). We speak with gentle truth about dignity rather than arguing on hedonism’s terms. And always, always, we seek Our Lady’s intercession – she, the most pure, is the terror of demons like Asmodeus. The simple prayer “Hail Mary” has driven away many a temptation in our ranks.
• Against Moloch (Bloodshed and sacrifice of innocents): We respond with Sacrificial Love, Protection of the Innocent, and the Power of Christ’s Sacrifice. If Moloch’s cult is the anti-Eucharist of killing, the Eucharist itself is the antidote: the self-offering of God that gives life. Thus, in the face of Moloch we double down on true sacrificial acts. We hold up the martyrs and heroes who lay down their lives for others as our icons, countering the narrative that taking life is strength. For example, against the practice of abortion, our Order often participates in prayer vigils outside clinics, not with screams of condemnation but with rosaries and offers of help to mothers. We support crisis pregnancy centers – that’s strategic sanctuary work. Some of us have even adopted children or opened orphanages; every child saved and raised with love is a blow to Moloch’s kingdom. In war zones, while we may have to take lives of combatants in just warfare, we meticulously avoid harming non-combatants, even at increased risk to ourselves – this is critical. Every time we spare an innocent or treat an enemy’s wounded, we testify that we serve the Lamb, not Moloch. When Moloch rears openly – say, an enemy force committing atrocities to terrorize – we aim to expose those deeds before the world, stripping away any legitimacy of their cause. Moloch thrives in darkness (e.g., hidden slaughter like secret prisons or hush-hush “medical” killings) – so shining light (journalism, testimonies) can rouse human conscience. There is also the role of martyrdom: if any of us is called to die rather than commit evil, that very death is a seed that can break Moloch’s hold on others. This is the victory of the Cross: “They conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death” (Revelation 12:11). In practical mission planning, when expecting confrontation with a particularly bloodthirsty foe, we will often celebrate a Mass or prayer specifically invoking Christ’s blood to cover us and “speak better things than the blood of Abel” (Hebrews 12:24). We might also carry a relic of a martyr into battle as a reminder that dying is not defeat if it’s in Christ. Protection of the innocent means we prioritize evacuating civilians, safeguarding children – these actions themselves are spiritual warfare. I recall a brother’s report from a city under shelling: while others fought fires, he led a group of children in singing a hymn in a shelter, to keep them calm. That hymn – simple praise – in the midst of hell was like Archangel Michael’s trumpet blasting, unseen but mighty. Truly, “out of the mouths of babes You have ordained strength, to silence the foe and avenger”(Psalm 8:2).
• Against Behemoth (bureaucracy, acedia, mechanistic control): We answer with Zeal, Sabbath Rest in God, and Prayer of the Heart. Fighting Behemoth is subtle because it’s not an obvious “enemy” shooting at you; it’s a spiritual sluggishness and systemic oppression that can infect even us. Internally, the Order combats acedia by maintaining a robust prayer life and fraternity. We keep the Liturgy of the Hours, marking our days with psalms so that routine becomes rhythmic and filled with meaning, not drudgery. We encourage each other, and if a brother or sister is falling into despair or listlessness, we address it as seriously as a wound. Externally, to challenge bureaucratic tyranny, sometimes the witness of holy disobedience is needed – doing what is right even if it breaks some inhumane regulation. In the Soviet era, priests and laypeople kept underground churches alive in defiance of countless regulations. Today, a nurse might baptize a dying baby in a hospital even if “policy” forbids due to secularism – that small act says the system does not have total hold. Behemoth tries to make faith a mere private hobby – we counter by visible acts of devotion in daily life: wearing the cross, praying grace before meals in public, stopping to help a stranger even if it “inconveniences” the schedule. These small defiances accumulate. On a systemic level, to combat the machine mindset, the Order often establishes or supports places of human encounter: community centers, free clinics run by volunteers, workshops where craftsmanship is taught (rather than everything being automated). These might seem humble compared to high-tech oppression, but each is a seed of humanized order that can grow. Another tool: silence and stillness. Paradoxically, in a world of noise and constant stimuli (Behemoth’s static to keep people from reflection), choosing silence is warfare. The Jesus Prayer (“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”) repeated quietly can keep one’s soul amid a frenetic day and even sanctify a workspace. Some of our members in bureaucratic jobs pray quietly as they fill forms, offering each keystroke to God – thus putting spirit back into what is otherwise deadening. On missions, when confronted with an endless procedure or negotiation deadlock (Behemoth loves endless meetings that sap resolve), sometimes a bold simplification is needed – like Christ saying “Let your yes be yes and no be no” (Matthew 5:37). Call out the bloated nonsense, cut the Gordian knot with plain truth. There is risk in that (bureaucrats may retaliate), but truth has a power to cut through red tape by rallying others frustrated in the system. Also, practicing real rest – not just entertainment – is key. We ensure Sabbaths and retreats, which is counter-cultural but it honors God’s rhythm and frees us from the “total work” culture that dehumanizes. Such rest can inspire others trapped in rat races to seek higher things. In short, facing Behemoth we must remain personally alive and present. The person who prays and acts with genuine compassion confuses the cold system. I recall a story of how a simple “God bless you” to a dour clerk melted her and actually sped up a permit process as she regained a sense of being human, not a cog. Never underestimate the spiritual power of genuine kindness in an impersonal world – it’s like a green shoot cracking concrete.

e. Operational Protocols – Combining the Above: In any given situation, these approaches blend. Suppose we are tasked with intervening in a failed city where gangs (Mammon/Moloch) rule the streets, a corrupt government (Leviathan) exploits the people, and hopelessness (Behemoth’s acedia) pervades. A purely military approach might be to hunt gang leaders and prop up a new mayor. Our approach, however, is multi-layered: yes, we may need to perform targeted strikes on the worst violent offenders (Finish the kill chain on key nodes of Moloch’s activity, with prayer cover), but simultaneously we’d coordinate with any local Church or community leaders to start rebuilding trust and services (a counter to Mammon by self-giving charity). We’d establish spaces of prayer – maybe restore a vandalized church or set up a field chapel – to re-sanctify the ground (pushing back Leviathan’s secular chokehold and Asmodeus’s profanations). We might organize a public procession or rally around a symbol of hope (e.g., carrying a statue of Our Lady or a cross through the neighborhood) – this liturgical act can embolden the oppressed and send a message to demons and men alike that Christ is taking back this territory. Internally, each morning before operations we’d celebrate Mass or at least morning prayer together, fortifying our unity in the Logos. Intelligence reports would be evaluated not just by analysts, but with intercessory prayer teams asking God’s revelation (how often one right insight – “focus on this seemingly minor safehouse” – can unravel an entire network!). And crucially, we adhere to our moral code strictly, even if enemy does not: no torture, no cruelty, no betrayal. That fidelity itself is a spiritual shield. The Codex Justificatio states: “Deceive only what is demonic—never the brethren.” We do use cunning (like feints against our demonic foes and those clearly allied to evil), but we won’t betray allies or innocents for expediency. In doing so, we trust God to honor our integrity with greater success than any short-term Machiavellian trick could bring. We are not reactionaries, we are initiators – we initiate actions under God’s direction, rather than merely responding to chaos.

Finally, training and formation in the Order incorporate all this. We memorize Scripture and the Fathers because sometimes a quote at the right time can crack someone’s hardened heart. We study past missions to see the spiritual dynamics, not just tactics. We fast and do penance, knowing some demons “come out only by prayer and fasting” (Mark 9:29). And we keep the vision of Christ ever before us, lest we become what we fight. For the greatest danger is that in combating irrational foes, one grows irrational oneself by rage or despair. We must remain centered in Christ, the true Rational Actor – the truly Just One – to avoid falling into inversion.

Brothers and sisters, these implications demand much. They mean risk, creativity, endurance, and holiness. But nothing less will do in this new arena of spiritual-total war. As our Codex reminds us: “No purgation is complete unless it leaves a witness. Let every field cleansed by fire proclaim to all: ‘Only Christ reigns here.’” So must it be said of the fields where we labor, whether in warfare or peacebuilding: we must leave the stamp of Christ’s lordship through our actions.

6. Conclusion: Only the Logos Endures

At last we arrive at the heart of the matter – the ultimate answer to the chaos of our age. We have painted a dire portrait of a world enthralled by inversion, beyond the ken of rationalist theories. But we do not end in despair. We proclaim with every fiber of our being that there is One who holds all things together, one cure for the madness: the Logos Incarnate, Jesus Christ. Only the Logos endures; only in Him will this turmoil find its rest.

History is littered with the ruins of empires and ideologies that set themselves up against God’s order. “The Logos shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). In Greek, Logos means not just “Word” but the rational principle, the meaning behind everything. Christ is the Logos. When He is enthroned in a heart, or a community, or a nation, there is coherence, sanity, and hope. When He is rejected, all falls apart. The Rational Actor Paradigm belonged to an era that still, however grudgingly, acknowledged the Logos. Our present age’s crises are nothing other than the agony of a world trying to live without its center. As Jesus warned, “Whoever falls on this stone will be broken, but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder” (Matthew 21:44). Christ is that cornerstone. The nations have tried to cast Him aside, and they are being broken in the process.

But we, brethren, are called to be witnesses to the enduring Logos. We must not only expose the darkness but also lift high the light. Our memorandum to you has been part analysis, part exhortation. It is fitting to conclude in a tone more akin to a homily or a battle speech – for we stand at a crossroads of history where each of us must decide whom we serve.

Remember the stirring example of the early Christians: when confronted by the demands of the Roman state to burn incense to Caesar (a miniature of Leviathan) or to keep silent about Christ, they chose to confess Christ, often at the cost of their lives. Their blood was not in vain; it became the seed of the Church. They knew that only Christ’s kingdom is everlasting. Earthly kingdoms, however dominant, eventually fade. “Enthrone Christ or collapse into chaos” – that is the choice every society ultimately faces. And today, we see the collapse speeding up precisely because so many refuse to enthrone Christ as King of their hearts and of their public life.

Let it not be so among us. We of the Black Shield have vowed in our very Rule: “War eternal is our vow… We do not coexist with wickedness but expel it by the authority of God’s Throne.” Yet even as we war, we must enthrone Christ in ourselves daily, or our war becomes hollow. The enemy trembles not at our strategies or strength, but at the presence of Jesus within us. When we walk in holiness and love, we carry Christ into every battle. Demons shriek, as they did in the Gospel, “Have you come to torment us before the time?” (Matthew 8:29), because they see not merely us but Christ in us.

In our Liber Precum (Book of Prayers), one line stands out as both warning and encouragement: “The enemy hears when this book is opened.” Indeed, when we open the book of the Word of God or the prayers of the Church, it is like drawing a sword that the enemy keenly fears. We began this treatise with that line. I remind you of it now: every time you pray the psalms or invoke the name of Jesus with faith, hell shudders. The heavens align with us when we sing God’s praise in the midst of battle.

Let the world scoff at our “irrational” trust in prayer and providence. We know whom we have believed. We have seen miracles small and great: bullets deflected by crosses worn, supplies multiplied when shared, foes converted by a single act of forgiveness. We’ve watched seemingly unbreakable regimes fall when a critical mass of prayer was reached – like Jericho’s walls after the seventh trumpet blast. We have felt, in our darkest hours, angels sustain us when logic said we should break. All this is the power of Christ’s enduring Logos at work.

So, as we close, I exhort you: Enthrone Christ in every aspect of your life. In your intellect – acknowledge Him as Truth, the answer to your deepest questions. In your will – submit to Him as Lord, obeying His commandments which are life and health. In your heart – love Him above all, for He loved us first and gave Himself for us. If there be any corner of your soul not yielded, any loyalty divided, now is the time to repent and make Him absolute Sovereign. We cannot effectively fight the thrones outside if we leave a false throne standing inside. As the Codex Justificatio says, “The judge must first enthrone his own soul… To enthrone Christ, the self must die.” Die to self, to ego, to vain ambition, so that Christ may reign unhindered in you.

When Christ is enthroned in us, we become living shields of faith that can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one (Eph 6:16). We become bright torches in the night, leading others to safety. The Order of the Black Shield’s very name signifies defense under the sign of the Cross (black for the sin and suffering absorbed, shield for the faith that guards). Christ is our shield and our general. We march under His sign – the Crucifix – which to the world is folly, but to us is the power of God. On that Cross, in what looked like utter defeat and irrational surrender, the Logos was accomplishing the most rational, just, and loving act in history: redeeming the world. He inverted inversion itself – using the enemy’s scheme (murdering the Innocent) to destroy the enemy’s claim (power over sinful mankind). The Cross is thus our banner of hope. No matter how wild the chaos, the Cross stands firm, planted in the earth yet pointing to heaven, reconciling all things.

In the end, brethren, the war between Realism and Inversion is the war between Truth and the Lie, between Christ and Anti-Christ. We know the final outcome is not in doubt: “The Lamb will conquer them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with Him are called and chosen and faithful” (Revelation 17:14). Our duty is to be among those faithful, fighting valiantly at the Lamb’s side. We may not live to see the ultimate victory in this life; indeed, things may get worse before they get better. But every moment of fidelity is already a victory. Every soul snatched from falsehood, every injustice exposed, every child saved, every demon cast out – each is a foretaste of the Kingdom where Christ is all in all.

Let the world events confound the pundits and panic the nations – we will not fear. “Though the earth be removed, and the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea,” yet we will not fear, for God is our refuge (Psalm 46). We interpret the signs not as despairing fatalists but as watchmen on the walls of Zion. The darker the night, the closer the dawn of His coming. If rationalist paradigms crumble, perhaps the proud will be humbled enough to hear the Word anew. If earthly securities shake, perhaps hearts will consider eternal security in God.

Thus, we do our part: fight the good fight, expose the works of darkness, love not our lives unto death, shine as lights in the world holding fast the Word of life (Philippians 2:15-16). And we leave the rest to God’s providence. The final victory belongs to Him; we are honored to be His instruments.

I leave you with a final invocation, an adapted Benediction of Purgation from our Regula, as a fitting close to this memorandum. Pray it with me:

“O Flame of Justice, burn what is false.

O Hammer of the Word, break what is proud.

Let no throne stand but Yours, O Christ.

Let no altar endure but the one that bears the Blood of the Lamb.

Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.

For Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.”