From a narrow wooden pew, Matteo watched spellbound as the light within the church dimmed to nothing and shutters slammed down over its windows. No light remained and everything was silent except for the quiet breathing of the congregation. Then a spotlight shone and a red curtain unfurled at the front of the church, revealing a stone pulpit. After a moment, a man seemed to emerge as if from the wall, dressed in the robes and intricately decorated hat of a bishop, a bishop's mitre in his hand. Matteo's heart pounded as he watched the man he knew as the Pastor.

'Brothers and sisters,' the Pastor said, his soft voice carrying with it a magnetic force. He looked directly into the eyes of the rows of worshippers who were staring at him with love and reverence. 'I stand before you a humble man before his Lord as we approach the Day of Judgement.'

'I look around today and I see all of you, all those united through the love of God, all those who obey him as humble servants.' The Pastor's gaze seemed to fall directly on Matteo, his eyes glittering in the spotlight. Matteo felt a shiver down his spine as he looked at the holy man.

At first, the Abundant Blessing Church of Christ had reminded Matteo of documentaries he had watched about cults. The church fit every definition of what this godless world referred to as a cult. A high-demand, rigidly dogmatic group of believers with a charismatic leader. As he stood to attention among the other disciples Matteo had to admit he hadn't joined because he had been convinced by the word of God or even because he had been spiritually searching.

He had started coming to the church, at first, because of its reputation as a cult.

Because the danger excited him.

'God knows that our faith is a light in the darkness. He knows that our faith is a cleansing fire in an unclean and filthy world.' The Pastor spoke with a quiet menace. If he did not know the divine connection, the love of Christ this man carried in his heart, maybe Matteo would be frightened. Some of those who had come to the church had been, the ones whose spirit was weak, the ones unsettled by the truth of this message and whose hearts were tempted by evil.

'I look around today.' The Pastor raised his voice. 'And I see so much sin. So much immorality. So many fallen women. We are living in the End Times and every day it becomes clearer to me. Clearer to God. We are living in the times of the Whore of Babylon.' He spat every word out, his voice full of fury. A trumpet blared somewhere from on high. The dark church was filled with ice smoke.

'So much godlessness,' the Pastor said, his voice hushed now. 'So much depravity and decay. And they want us to accept the fallen world they have created. They say, if you affirm the word of God you will go to jail! Do not pass go! Do not collect £100!' He spat into the air. His words echoed around the cold and draughty building. Matteo couldn't deny his charismatic power.

The things the Pastor said sounded so much more real, so much rawer and full of emotion than the staid platitudes at the church he had gone to when he was young. And Matteo had heard testimonies he couldn't explain. Here, he had witnessed events that the rational part of his mind had no answer for. His only answer had to be to believe. 'Without faith,' the Pastor said. 'Man is nothing.'

'If I say, marriage exists only between a man and a woman, that is a hate crime. If I say that Christ is the head of the church, and the man is the head of the household, then they will lock me up. And if I say that only the righteous, the saved, the Elect, will avoid being cast into the depths of hell on the Day of Judgement, then I am preaching fundamentalism. In that case, God is hateful. God is a fundamentalist. I tell you, they'd put Jesus himself in prison for the truth.' The church fell silent.

'Jesus said, I am not here to bring peace, but a sword. And I say to anyone who mocks the word of God, who says - 'Oh, but it doesn't mean that literally!' - you can deny it all you want but it is right there. It is in your bible. The bible that even this sinful society cannot corrupt.' Another trumpet sounded. The lights flashed on and off again and Matteo winced at their brightness.

Eventually they settled, low, dim and flickering. Momentarily, Matteo glanced at the floor. It was covered with a mosaic of devils and demons and the fires of hell.

Every time the disciples walked on this ground, they were crushing Satan's legions under foot.

'How many times have you heard, 'love the sinner, hate the sin?'' The Pastor's voice reverberated through the church, vibrated the ground Matteo was standing on. 'Would God go along with this? Why should we love those who spit on his word? Why should we love those who want a woman to have authority over a man, or bless two men lying with each other as a marriage?'

The first time he'd come here for real, the harshness of the Pastor's words had startled Matteo. Even now, his mind wandered to his uncle and his girlfriend - a police officer. His stomach knotted with the realisation. His uncle agreed to this, and they were living outside wedlock. Another sinner.

With time, he had learned to get past these mental blocks. The Pastor often preached that Jesus called the faithful to abandon their families and follow him instead. To Matteo this did not seem like a hardship. Here, he felt like he belonged in a way he hadn't since his mother had walked out. Through the Pastor and his disciples, he had learned that though God hated sin, he accepted those who sincerely repented.

And if anyone needed redemption, it was Matteo.

'Don't listen to that. Hate can be holy. Sometimes, it is the only response God accepts.'

As the Pastor finished his words a deafening noise rang out which sounded like a bolt of lightning. The lights went out and nothing could be seen. Thunder echoed from the rafters, the walls, the floor. The smell of incense filled the room. All around him, people began to cough and splutter from the smoky air. Someone fell down, hitting the ground with a thud. Glass shattered against the stony ground. Behind Matteo, an elderly man shrieked in excitement. 'It's happening again! Hallelujah, it's happening again!'

'Behold! I am the Lord Your God,' a voice boomed.

The first time it had happened, six months ago, it hadn't seemed real. Matteo had even scoffed at it. But Matteo had seen the most wondrous things here. People in wheelchairs had got up and walked. Blind people had started to see. He still had his doubts about the piercingly loud voice he had only heard a handful of times. But he trusted what the Pastor said enough to keep going back, a blast of truth in a world of bullshit.

Talking of bullshit, his dad and uncle had been trying to call him all morning. Their hearts were closed to the truth. There was no way he would ever get them to understand.

And if the voice was simply a special effect, if it got across the message, did it really matter?

'Praise the Lord!' the Pastor shouted, as the crowd fell silent in awed wonder.

'I am the Lord Your God. You shall have no other gods before me.' The voice filled the church, so loud and so stunning and shocking Matteo could not think. He sat down, overwhelmed, his hands clasped in front of him, his eyes welling up. This time he knew, the voice had to be real. Nobody could fake that.

Could they?

'What do you want us to do, Lord?' The Pastor's voice rose from the pulpit, his tone hardening beneath the reverence. 'Give your servants a sign. What do you want us to do?'