Satan’s Angels and Pharaoh’s Magicians – Harry Houdini and Brandon Lake
by Sabrina Dawkins
The Man from Beyond is a 1922 silent film; the story is by Harry Houdini. Motion pictures are the domain of Satan, although God can override them—through “inception,” in accordance with the science fiction use of the word—whenever he pleases. Consider it an intermittent binding of the old serpent.
In Exodus 7, verses 2 and 3, God said to Moses, “Thou shalt speak all that I command thee: and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he send the children of Israel out of his land. And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.” Then in verses 10 and 11, “Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the LORD had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.” In my book Echoes of the Holy Spirit in Satan’s Phantom Kingdom (2025), I talk about Egypt being a pre-beast kingdom, a shadow of the four beast kingdoms, when it enslaved the Israelites. By opposing Moses and Aaron, God’s representatives on earth, the Egyptians were anti-God: Egypt was a kingdom that opposed the ultimate rulership of God and fought against God’s people.
Magicians were used by Pharaoh to compete against the miracles of God, and they were able to copy God’s miracles up to a point. But when Aaron “stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man, and in beast” (Exodus 8:17), Pharaoh’s magicians were forced to admit, “This is the finger of God” (Exodus 8:19): They had lost the showdown before God had even gotten halfway through showing his power to the enslavers. Likewise, Harry Houdini was a magician; and in The Man from Beyond, he helped Satan by lulling the masses to sleep with an illusion, a happy ending for those who reject God.
I am reminded of Christian singer-songwriter and musician Brandon Lake’s video for “Count ‘Em,” in which a newspaper dispenser is shown; inside is The Prodigal Times newspaper, and the front-page article is titled “THE GREATEST MIRACLE OF ALL TIME.” When is the last time you saw a newspaper dispenser? Paper newspaper sales have been declining for a while. In the beginning of the video, Brandon Lake is in a dark, foggy, smoky room with orange lights—it seems symbolic of hell. He is seated on the floor against the newspaper dispenser reading a burning newspaper. As he is looking at the newspaper article “THE GREATEST MIRACLE OF ALL TIME,” as the newspaper is slowly burning up, his eyes go from left to right repeatedly across the newspaper page as if reading. The lyrics that he sings while his eyes travel over the article indicate that he is singing to Jesus, saying that Jesus is the one who “pulled the greatest miracle of all time” by his resurrection. Consequently, the article must represent Jesus and the Bible, or at least the New Testament. So why is it burning up in his hands? After seemingly reading it for a short time, he throws it on the floor. And over the course of the video, the newspaper is reduced to ashes on the floor in the dark room—the very last scene is of the newspaper burning to ashes. The Christian singer praises God’s miracles and power throughout the song; however, the video is like a party for believers. Various people happily crowd around him, jumping around and singing his lyrics; they seem to be in a euphoric state. It is what you would expect to see at a concert: fans crowding around a celebrity—Brandon Lake.
It seems that the newspaper represents the Bible: an outdated book that hardly anyone reads anymore. Increasing, people rely on audiovisual media not just for entertainment, but also for information. YouTube, TikTok, and Netflix are examples of popular audiovisual websites. The problem is that the Bible has to be studied closely; it cannot be casually watched or listened to. There are too many analogies, archaic references, metaphors, poetic prophecies, and references to other parts of the Bible. A reader must stop and research frequently. But because a portion of Christians do not feel the need to do this, there are people who attend church all their lives who cannot competently describe and interpret even one book of the Bible. In that sense, church has become like television: entertaining but not edifying. Therefore, I think the “greatest miracle of all time” that Brandon Lake features as the front-page title of the newspaper has a double meaning. It also shows that Satan has “defeated” God through the miracle of the television and internet, which have replaced the dying traditional newspaper industry. Satan’s greatest trick is giving people an alternative to reading, because he knows that if they do not read, they will never understand the Bible and will consequently never become actual Christians. They will figuratively throw the Bible to the ground like Brandon Lake did.
The Bible is never shown in the video; the focus is on Brandon Lake. Today, celebrities are the pantheon that has replaced God. We are introduced to them via the television, movie theater, internet, and radio, as Satan uses the digital world to transform reality and erase God. The television has become the false prophet that promotes the kingdom of Satan through proxy beasts to be worshiped: godless celebrities given artificial screen light through which to shine.
Reading is increasingly being discarded. Now people want to experience pleasure through their eyes and ears. They want an endless stream of visual and audio candy (one big party), and Satan has more than enough of it to give them. Even in 1922 with the silent film The Man from Beyond, Satan was transforming the book of Revelation and eschatology for those who had knowingly or unknowingly rejected God. And Harry Houdini was his magician for this magic trick.
The silent film starts off with this caption: “‘Tis said, ‘The greatest work of God is man’—but just as carefully devised to fit our hopes is man’s conception of a life beyond the grave.” This is false information. Genesis 6, verses 5 and 6 reveal the opposite: “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.” And later, in chapter 8 of Genesis, verse 21: “(…) and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.” God was not pleased with humans, but he had compassion for them. Harry Houdini and Coolidge Streeter, on the other hand, wrote a film from a position of pride as humans.
In the next film caption, it appears that they place something else above religion: “This story starts where Dogma clashes with the promptings of a higher sense and leads to something which—because it is new—we think is mysterious.” By the end of the film, it is apparent that reincarnation is what is valued above religion.
In the next caption, some lines from the Holy Bible appear: “28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, 29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto”— (John 5:28–29). That is where the quote cuts off in the section of the Bible shown on screen. This caption answers what the “new” and “mysterious” thing is in the previous caption. It speaks of life after death. However, the end of John 5:29 that was not shown in the caption is: “the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” The significance of the omission of “and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation” is that it blinds viewers to the fact that eternal life can be a good or a bad thing. “Resurrection of damnation” means eternal punishment.
Satan is able to transform Revelation and eschatology through film. Harry Houdini is the hero of the silent movie and is among the pantheon of celebrities—even so-called Christian celebrities—used by Satan on motion pictures to dazzle the masses. “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). Celebrities are used to blind viewers with their false light and distract them from the spiritual death that they have suffered. “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15). Revelation 20:10 indicates that the “lake of fire and brimstone” is a place where those cast into it will be “tormented (…) for ever and ever.”
In The Man from Beyond, Satan gives hope to those who have chosen him over God, knowingly or unknowingly. The beast of Revelation 13:1 and the beasts in Daniel 7:3 rise from the sea because the sea represents chaos, evil, confusion, and danger in the Bible, whereas God represents order, discipline, peace, and love. Houdini’s character had been traveling by ship on the sea. But when he was found 100 years later, he was frozen and still on the ship. His tomb of ice was chipped away, and he was brought back to life by those who found him, which could mean that those who summon Satan unleash his power to deceive them. Both of the men who found him seemed to be nonreligious.
I believe that the frozen water represents God’s ultimate control over the treacherous sea. Exodus 14:22 says that “the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.” And Joshua 3:16 says “that the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho.” God can make water stand still; therefore, poetically, he can turn it into ice. In the process of liberating the Israelites from their oppressors and guiding them into the Promised Land (a physical representation of heaven), God showed his power by controlling the chaotic waters.
But chaos is not only experienced in the parts of nature that humans cannot control. Satan can also create chaos in the human mind by deceiving people. Revelation 12:9 says that he deceives the world. Revelation 12:15 displays water as symbolic of chaos created by deception: “And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.” The kingdoms of Satan rise out of chaos: heathens who do not believe in God, who is the source of peace and order. And because the heathens were seduced by demonic chaos, the Israelites were warned repeatedly not to associate with them lest they be seduced to worship other gods.
Revelation 20, verses 1 to 3 show Satan being restrained for “a thousand years” and prevented from deceiving the nations for that period of time. Houdini’s frozen character in the film appears to be as Satan was: restrained on the sea for “a thousand years,” which symbolically means a long time. Think about how long the complete Bible has been preached and distributed. People all over the world have had access to it. Christ injected truth and heavenly order into the chaotic and demonic world of the Gentiles; and they could either accept or reject his teachings. Those who accepted them and obeyed were to be given the good resurrection: eternal life with God. But those who rejected them were to be given the bad resurrection: eternal life with Satan. Jesus said, “How can one enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house” (Matthew 12:29). Thus, Satan was bound by the coming of the Messiah so that God could take away Satan’s captives by giving them access to the truth.
The frozen magician represents Satan, whose domain is the sea of chaos—that is where he rules and has his power. The technological miracle called the motion picture is an example of this power because it creates endless illusions, fantasies, and dreams by which people are seduced; and through these illusions, it creates endless realities that different people experience during their hypnosis. Superior power, however, belongs to God, who can freeze the sea and stop Satan’s flood of deception: “He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud” (Job 26:12). “Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?” (Job 38:8). The subsequent unfreezing of Satan is the wilderness journey that all who confess to believe must go through to be proved: “And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no” (Deuteronomy 8:2).
In the silent film, The Man from Beyond, when Satan, represented by the illusionist Harry Houdini, was unfrozen, he made himself into a hero, an “angel of light,” the hypnotic movie star. And the book of Revelation has been rewritten in the motion picture, the world of make-believe, and the domain of Satan. At the end, Houdini’s character shows his love interest a book on spiritualism. The title page reads: “What is Spiritualism?” Under it: “THE NEW REVELATION.” Then at the bottom: “By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.” In the 1922 film, eternal damnation and the second death—a spiritual one—have been omitted from the Bible. Instead, the Christian religion has been superseded by a romanticized reincarnation without God. And Satan has become the guiding false light to ferry damned souls from lifetime to lifetime through his heroic example.
While in the wilderness, it is important to know the devices of Satan to prevent being carried away by his flood of deception adapted to modern times. But one who did not study the Bible would not realize upon watching the film that Houdini represents Satan and the damned souls who are deceived by him. They constitute the fans used by Brandon Lake (in his video for “Count ‘Em”) to gloat about the gleeful and euphoric souls that he has taken from God while they were being entertained. Their anchor, the Bible, removed, they are tossed aimlessly by the raging sea.
If you would like a Blue-ray Disk of Houdini: The Man From Beyond and have a Blu-ray player, a compatible video game console, or a computer drive and specialized software to play it, you can get it here. It includes frame-by-frame restoration, bonus newsreel footage, and a CD-ROM of a 300-page script from another Houdini movie. This is an affiliate link provided by Abracadabra NYC, which means I get a small commission (with no extra cost to you) if you click the link and buy:
If you want to buy my book that I mentioned in the article, Echoes of the Holy Spirit in Satan’s Phantom Kingdom: Escaping the Labyrinth of Illusions, you can buy it as an ebook or a paperback on Amazon. You can also buy the paperback on Books-A-Million. If you use this affiliate link to make a purchase, with no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission:
Books A Million Echoes of the Holy Spirit in Satan’s Phantom KingdomHere is the affiliate link if you want to buy the paperback version on Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/a/126317/9798268508963
Sources
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Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Dictionary by Merriam-Webster. In Merriam-Webster. Retrieved July 24, 2026, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/
nazimova1981. (2024, February 25). Houdini: The Man From Beyond (directed by Burton L. King, 1922) [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved July 22, 2026, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3tFxQJvLmw
The Man from Beyond. (n.d.). IMDb. Retrieved July 23, 2026, from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0013367/
Wikipedia contributors. (2002, May 25). Harry Houdini. Wikipedia. Retrieved July 23, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Houdini
Wikipedia contributors. (2011, March 24). The Man from Beyond. Wikipedia. Retrieved July 23, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_from_Beyond
Wikipedia contributors. (2020, July 29). Brandon Lake. Wikipedia. Retrieved July 23, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Lake