I presented on Satanism in my Theology of Cults class. My main source comes from LaVey's Satanic Bible since I could not find my text book. This presentation is from a Christian's perspective looking into the broad world of Satanism. I hope you will read to try and understand the background someone involved in satanic occult practices. My suggesting for dealing with someone involved in occult practice is unyeilding love, understanding, and prayer. There is a good chance that they have been turned off to Christianity by someone who calls themselves a Christian, but dosen't act anything like Christ and hurt them in a way. I firmly believe alot of disbelief is rooted in misunderstanding and emotinal rationalization steming from misconceptions. Satanism is only one slice of the pie of the occult.
Satanism
“For, as I have often told you before and now again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach. And their glory is their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to being everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”Philippians 3:18-21
“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.”Colossians 2:8
Satanism
Two Definitions:
- All that reject the truth of the gospel, side against God, whose allegiance belongs to the Antichrist, etc.
- All those who worship “Satan,” whatever they define Satan as.
What is Satanism?
They claim to worship Satan, but in actuality Satanists are usually:
- Self-serving
- Self-indulgent
- One's own needs, desires, beliefs, and goals supreme
- Anti-Christian (literally, they try to be complete opposite).
- Go out of their way to blaspheme everything religious, moral, sacred, and holy.
“I will break away from all conventions that do not lead to my earthly success and happiness.”The Satanic Bible I:8
“Life is the great indulgence-death the great abstinence. Therefore, make the most of life-HERE AND NOW!”The Satanic Bible IV:1
“Say unto tine own heart, 'I am mine own redeemer.'”The Satanic Bible IV:3
What do Satanists believe Satan is?
- Claim Satan as their lord in ideology.
- Basically Hedonism (LaVey is basically an extremely bitter atheist).
- Satan can be defined as a supernatural person, a deity, a devil, a supernatural force, a natural force, an innate human force,or the self.
- Most Satanists are self-styled who worship Satan as a powerful spirit who can give the worshiper power for self-indulgence
- Some believe in a dualism. They believe that there is equal spiritual forces in existence, either personal or impersonal, that can be used to archive personal goals (LaVey believes the forces to be impersonal).
- A few believe the Bible about God and Satan and have chosen Satan and to be condemned to eternal punishment after death.
Largest public satanic church is LaVey's First Church of Satan.
Others include:
- Aquino's Temple of Set
- Church of Satanic Brotherhood
- Ordo Templi Satanas
- Order of the Black Ram
- Shrine of the Little Mother
- Church of S.A.T.A.N.
- Thee Church of Satan
- Order of Baal
- The Satanic Church
- Thee Orthodox Satanic Church
- The Church of Satanic Liberation
- Most are male.
- Most are young (13-30).
- Most practice privately, self-styled.
- Most view Christianity or any traditional religion as narrow, defeatist, self-absorbed, and devoid of power.
- Most view the traditional ethical norms as depriving the individual of self gratification and denying the “rights” of the individual for the “rights” of society/morality.
Fall of Satan(Isaiah 14:12-15, Ezekiel 28:12-19)
Roots and development of satanism as a spawn from Christianity:
- “Old Religion”
- Gnosticism
- Anti-religion in the Enlightenment
- The Yezidis
- The Knights Templar (Worshiped Baphomet/Goat of Mendes)
- The Monks of Medmenham
- Hell Fire Club
- Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
- Order of the Silver Star
Magicians who desired knowledge through use of occult practices:
- Cornelius Agrippa
- Paracelsus
- Giordano Bruno
- Dr. Faustus (possibly real from 12th century; play written about him by Goethe; mentioned in Satanic Bible)
- Alaster Crowley (alive 1875, not alive 1947)
- Gerald Gardner (Founder of wicca)
- Anton Szandor LaVey (The High Priest of the Church of Satan)
General Satanic Days (also sabbat days):
- February 2 (Candlemas)
- May-eve (Roodmas)
- August 1st (Lemmas)
- November-eve (All Hallow E'en)
- Satan's Birthday (your own birthday)
- The Spring Equinox (walpurgisnacht)
- The Fall Equinox (Halloween)
- The Summer Solstice
- The Winter Solstice
- Basically bitter Atheism with a New Age flavor (not a real theological inversion of Christianity unless you consider obscurity and conflicting ideas an opposite of Christian theology).
- Believe that God and Satan are impersonal forces (new age belief).
- Anti-Christianity.
- Deep interest in the Occult.
- Thinks witches, wizards, I Ching, fortune tellers, etc, are “blithering fools.”
- Evil, yet law abiding goodness (if your going to be anti-good/evil, then be evil).
- My opinion: LAME! and Boring (I got borded of the constant inconsistency in carrying out one's own desires; fulfill all your sexual desires, as long as its consentual, how evil; it is satanic in that it is evil, yet tolerant).
“(Satan is) the spirit of progress, the inspirer of all great movements that contribute to the development of the civilization and the advancement of mankind He is the spirit of revolt that leads to freedom, the embodiment of all heresies that liberate.”
(LaVey intro)
"(in refrence to praying) Positive thinking and positive action add up to results”
(LaVey 41)
Oh, your so post-modern! Actually that is a new age belief.
Ceremony and Rituals
- Very ritualistic, legalistic
- Procedure for everything
- Although structured, different grottos (Satanism) or coven (witchcraft) do things their set ways.
- Presided over by a high priest and/or priestesses
- Held outdoors in remote location, or inside against a wall.
- Evil
Cothing:
- Or no clothing (nudity)
- Black robes, hoods or cowled optional, women must wear sexually suggestive black clothing.
- Pentacle, pentagram, or trapezoid table drawn for focal point
- One nude female on alter (natural passive receptor, and represent the earth mother).
- Used by Knights Templar
- The Goat of Mendes
- The Goat of a Thousand Young
- The Black Goat
- The Judas Goat
- The Scapegoat
- Black - Left of alter (left-hand path). Represents power of darkness.
- White - Used for destruction of enemies.
- Mark end and beginning of ritual
- Made of anything but gold
- Whatever you want
- Used to point at symbol of Baphomet in Ritual (also wave around)
- Represents man naughty bits.
- Blaspheme of holy water sprinkle
- Used to call upon satan
- Animal skin (LaVey says never kill an animal; paper will do; LAME!).
(most satanists are self-styled, so no real set way of doing things)
- Draw circle on ground; stand inside
- Recite oaths to Satan (if possible kiss his posterior)
- Confession
- Recant of good deeds
- Ritual Dance
- Also possible sexual orgy
- Blasphemous “grace”
- Also possible stuff themselves with food
- Black Mass
- Naked woman sacrifice (they don’t kill woman, just sprinkle the a sacrifices blood on her)
- Vengeful Spells
- Association of the goat with the devil comes from the “scapegoat” in the Bible. (SB pg.56)
- Baphomet – The goat-headed god of sexual indulgence and physical gratification; the trump card in the Tarot deck; worshiped and popularized by the Knights Templars as symbolic of Satan.
- Accorfing to LaVey, in purist form the pentagram is shown encompassing the figure of a man in the five pointed star-three points up, two points down-symbolizing man's spiritual nature. Satanism inverts it to represent mans carnal instincts of man. Perfectly accommodates the head of the goat. Its horns representing duality thrust upwards in defiance; the other three points inverted, or the trinity denied.
- Hebraic figures around the outer circle stems from the tracking of Kabala, spells out “Leviathan.” Some of my profs who know Hebrew aren't sure of that.
The Nine Satanic Satanic Statements
- Satan represents indulgence, instead of abstinence!
- Satan represents vital existence, instead of spiritual pipe dreams!
- Satan represents undefiled wisdom, instead of hypocritical self-deciet!
- Satan represents kindness to those who deserve it, instead of love wasted on ingrates!
- Satan represents vengeance, instead of turning the other cheek!
- Satan represents responsibility to the responsible, instead of concern for psychic vampires!
- Satan represents man just as another animal, sometimes better, more often worse that those that walk on all-fours, who, because of his “divine spiritual and intellectual development,” has become the most vicious animal of all!
- Satan represents all of the so-called sins, as they all lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification!
- Satan has been the best friend the church has ever had, as he has kept it in business all these years!
- Boa, Kenneth. Cults, world religions, and the occult. Wheaton, Ill: Victor Books, 1990.
- LaVey, Anton Szandor La. Satanic Bible. New York: Avon Books, 2005.
- Passantino, Robert. Satanism. Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan Pub. House, 1995.
"This is what the Lord says - your Reedemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the Lord, who has made all things, who alone streached out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself, who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who overthrows the learning of the wise and turns it into nonsense."Isaiah 44:24,25
"(In refrence to Bablyon) Now then, listen, you wanton creature, lounging in your security and saying to yourself, 'I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or suffer the loss of children.' Both of these will overtake you in a moment, on a single day: loss of children and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and all your potent spells. You have trusted in your wickedness and have said, 'No one sees me.' Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when you say to yourself, 'I am, and there is none besides me.' Disaster will come upon you, and you will not know how to conjure it away. A calamity will fall upon you that you cannot ward off with a ransom; a catastrophe you cannot foresee will suddenly come upon you. Keep on, then, with your magic spells and your many sorceries, which you have labored at since childhood. Perhaps you will succeed, perhaps you will cause terror. All the counsel you have recieved has only worn you out! Let your astrologers come forward, those stargazers who make predictions month by month, let them save you from what is coming upon you. Surely they are like subble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot even save themselves from the power of the flame. Here are no coals to warm anyone; here is no fire to sit by. That is all they can do for you - these you have labored with and trafficked with since childhood. Each of them goes on in his error; there is not one that can save you."Isaiah 47:8-15
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