When Even the Criminals Believed in God
By Brent Antonson
(L3(GODLESS) — “Where the Saints Can't Even Beg the Sinners”)
There was a time when even the devil knew the scriptures.
When a man could be a killer, a thief, a grifter—
and still fear God.
Not because he was holy.
But because God was real.
I. The God-Haunted Sinner
Picture a 1920s bootlegger.
Coat full of cash. Gun in his waistband. Sin on speed dial.
But if you told him “There is no God,”
he’d smack your mouth clean off your face.
Why?
Because he knew who he worked for.
And who he’d one day answer to.
He might've stolen from men,
but he didn’t dare steal from heaven.
Even outlaws had altars.
II. Now the Blasphemy’s Performed
Fast forward.
The new breed isn’t criminal, they’re post-moral.
Wearing irony as armor.
Mocking belief not in defiance—but in fashion.
You hear it in the voice:
“I don’t need God. I have science.”
As if quoting Hawking makes you wise.
As if cutting God out makes you clean.
You’re not rebelling.
You’re aligning—with the algorithm.
With the approved worldview.
With the high-IQ atheism of YouTube shorts and TikTok breakdowns.
That’s not courage.
That’s subscription.
III. The Cost of Belief Used to Be Social
To believe in God used to come easy.
To deny God? That was the risk.
Now?
It’s flipped.
Today it costs nothing to mock the sacred.
But to defend it?
That makes you a punchline.
We once excommunicated heretics.
Now we excommunicate the faithful—on Twitter, in boardrooms, in dating apps.
Try writing “I believe in Jesus Christ” on a resume.
Try saying it at a dinner party.
Try defending a moral code that didn’t come from a therapist.
You’ll get laughed out of the room.
IV. Even the Sinners Had a Line
What’s wild isn’t that people sin.
We’ve always sinned.
What’s new is that we brag about it.
That we film it.
That we add neon captions and hashtags.
The old-school mob boss had a priest.
He’d kneel in confession, tears real, blood on his hands.
He knew God didn’t excuse it—but He still watched.
Now?
We’ve got influencers blowing rails and mocking communion.
Pornographers selling baptism aesthetics.
Criminals who’ve never once feared eternal consequence.
V. Depravity is No Longer Hidden—It’s Monetized
What was once unthinkable is now trending.
The mask has been replaced with a brand.
- We weaponized irony.
- We replaced reverence with sarcasm.
- We turned spiritual warfare into content.
And the craziest part?
We call this progress.
VI. When God Becomes Uncool, The Devil Doesn’t Even Need to Show Up
You want to know how far we’ve fallen?
There was a time you could preach to a murderer.
Now you can’t even talk to a kid with Wi-Fi.
The criminal once knew he was broken.
The modern cynic thinks he’s complete—
whole without a soul.
VII. But God Is Still There. Watching.
This scroll isn’t about bringing you back.
It’s about reminding you of the gravity we lost.
We’ve made sin easy and God disposable.
But He hasn’t blinked.
Not once.
You can still drift.
You can still kneel.
You can still fall on your face and beg for a new day.
The door is cracked.
But don’t wait for the algorithm to give you permission.
God is not a trend.
And disbelief isn’t brave anymore.
It’s cheap.