The moral rot pushed by the radical left landed in the heart of the Midwest this week, where an Iowa city council meeting opened with an invocation praising the “luciferian impulse” and ending with “Hail Satan.”

The City of Ottumwa’s official YouTube channel posted a video of the regular meeting held October 6, 2026. The startling invocation unfolded at the opening of the city’s scheduled proceedings.

Mayor Ben Foote called the 5:30 p.m. session to order and invited those who wanted to participate in the invocation to stand. The scheduled speaker then began addressing what he called a “dark father.”

“Let us pray. Dear dark father, let us stand now unbowed and unfettered by arcane doctrines born of fearful minds in darkened times.”

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The speaker continued by calling on those present to “embrace the luciferian impulse to eat of the tree of knowledge and dissipate our blissful and comforting delusions of old.”

He also urged the room to judge people by “concrete actions” instead of “arbitrary social norms.” The speaker further called on those assembled to hold “only to that which is demonstrably true.”

The invocation ended with the line that immediately changed the atmosphere in the room: “It is done. Hail Satan.” The Pledge of Allegiance followed immediately after the satanic closing.

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The city’s own invocation schedule identifies the October 6 speaker as Matthew Dalbey. His listed organization is “None,” according to the schedule posted on the city’s website.

Dalbey is also listed on that schedule for September 1 and November 3. The inclusion of his name on three dates shows the October appearance was part of the city’s posted invocation calendar.

The footage drew broader attention after Libs of TikTok posted the clip and tagged the city’s official account. The official meeting recording also captured the resistance that followed inside the room.

A man identified as Rick called on city leaders to respond immediately. He asked them to “reverse that curse that was just put on our city,” referring to the invocation that concluded with “Hail Satan” and an appeal to a “dark god.”

Councilwoman Cara Galloway objected to the interruption and told Foote, “Yeah, Mayor, this should be done at EER at the end.”

Rick maintained that the matter should not be delayed until later in the meeting. He argued that the words spoken during the invocation required an immediate response from city leaders and those in attendance.

“I appreciate what Miss Galloway is saying, but that was a curse put on a city when he said, ‘Hail Satan’ and ‘oh dark god.’ Most of you know that, and we need to just stop and reverse it,” he said.

Rick then added, “It needs to be done now.” Foote responded by calling for 30 seconds of silence so the people attending could pray or reflect.

Galloway again objected to pausing the proceedings. “No, we are at consent agenda. I’m sorry, but it’s time to move forward. The invocation happened,” she said.

Foote nevertheless asserted his authority as mayor and the official running the meeting. He directed the room to observe the requested moment before advancing to the consent agenda.

“As the mayor of Ottumwa and the one running this meeting, I’m going to ask right now that we have a moment of silence to reflect on whatever it is we need to reflect on at this time, and then we will move to the consent agenda,” Foote said.

The official recording therefore captured both the invocation and the disagreement that erupted after it. One participant demanded action to reverse what he called a curse, while Galloway pressed the mayor to continue with the scheduled agenda.

For Ottumwa residents, the spectacle was preserved not through rumor or an unofficial account, but through the city’s own video and published invocation schedule. A regular council meeting opened with praise for a “luciferian impulse,” closed with “Hail Satan,” and then moved into a dispute over whether city leaders should answer it with prayer.

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