An Imitation of Truth, pp. 206-207

Opening Remarks
Evil works in dubious and diabolic ways. It seldom comes declaring itself. Rather it often appears in the garb of good. Falsehood deceives us by imitating truth.

A beauty unreal
Each rainbow brilliance was a splendid lie;
A beauty unreal graced a glamour face.

It was world where glamour was mistaken for beauty. It was a world of false appearances.

An opposite change
Nothing could be relied on to remain:
Joy nurtured tears and good an evil proved,
But never out of evil one plucked good:
Love ended early in hate, delight killed with pain,
Truth into falsity grew and death ruled life.

In this dubious land every positive movement turned into its very opposite by some evil magic spell. Joy and good turned into sorrow and evil, Love ended in hate and delight led to pain. Truth was twisted into falsehood and merchants of Death ruled life in this kingdom of the Lie.

Sardonic rictus
A Power that laughed at the mischiefs of the world,
An irony that joined the world’s contraries
And flung them into each other’s arms to strive,
Put a sardonic rictus on God’s face.

Here, in this world, mischief was the source of laughter. The opposites of life were closely woven together putting on her face a fixed and condescending of irony.

Twisted heart
Aloof, its influence entered everywhere
And left a cloven hoof-mark on the breast;
A twisted heart and a strange sombre smile
Mocked at the sinister comedy of life.

The heart and emotions were all twisted and looked upon life as a sinister comedy to be mocked at with a sad smile. Suvh was the power of its evil influence.

Perilous Form
Announcing the advent of a perilous Form
An ominous tread softened its dire footfall
That none might understand or be on guard;
None heard until a dreadful grasp was close.

The beings of this world announced the coming of a perilous form and waited for its footsteps. But silent was the tread and all were captured in the net of evil before they could even think or understand.

A divine approach
Or else all augured a divine approach,
An air of prophecy felt, a heavenly hope,
Listened for a gospel, watched for a new star.

Or else Evil came wearing a divine form as disguise. It used prophesy and hope as a weapon to capture trust.

The Fiend
The Fiend was visible but cloaked in light;
He seemed a helping angel from the skies:
He armed untruth with Scripture and the Law;
He deceived with wisdom, with virtue slew the soul
And led to perdition by the heavenward path.

The Devil took the form divine to deceive people. Clothed in shining apparel he posed as a helping angel while harbouring all that is wicked and vile. Quoting the scriptures but distorting its inner sense he deceived the unsuspecting with the pretension of wisdom. Even virtue he made a means to drag the soul downwards on the path to the Abyss.

His logic made the false seem true
A lavish sense he gave of power and joy,
And, when arose the warning from within,
He reassured the ear with dulcet tones
Or took the mind captive in its own net;
His rigorous logic made the false seem true.

Power and joy were his gods. And when his disciples felt an inner warning, he reassured them with false hopes and thereby cast his deadly influence as a dark net to capture the mind. Brilliant in logic he could twist even the most profound truths to suit his dark and dangerous doctrines and make the false seem true.

Very voice of God
Amazing the elect with holy lore
He spoke as with the very voice of God.

He gave the impression of being a saint and a holy man as if commissioned by god but all this was simply a lie to fool the gullible.

Closing Remarks
We can see how quite a few religious teachers and even those who claim to be spiritual fall into this category. It reminds us of the need for caution and vigilance.