The Truth About Satanism - Part 1

Your Bible plainly says that the time will come when people will follow seducing spirits and doctrines of demons and will actually worship the devil. We have now entered that time!

How utterly horrifying! Millions were shocked to learn of the grisly ritualistic killings that occurred near Matamoros, Mexico a few years ago, where at least 13 victims were systematically tortured, killed, and dismembered in diabolical Satanic cult rituals!

But even more horrifying is the fact that this type of gruesome crime is being perpetrated all over the United States.

All of us have heard of the practice of voodoo, black magic, and weird animalistic rituals among far-off primitive tribes and in heathenistic nations of the distant past. But shocking as it may seem, such things are being practiced now, in the 21st century, in this country!

You need to be aware of the terrifying threat this scourge imposes upon the safety and well-being of your children. You need to know of the diabolic subtlety that is employed in luring young people into the occultic trap; of the incredible harm, the mental and emotional suffering, that often results from tampering with the occult; of the occurrence of teenage suicide that has been linked to obsession with the Satanic themes of “heavy metal” bands.

Satanic, demonism, witchcraft, and occultic practices of every type are running rampant throughout the length and breadth of our land - and your Bible indicates that it is going to get worse!

The shocking truth about Satanism may disturb you; but you need to be aware of the facts, and you need to know what you can do to protect yourself and your family.

Years ago, numerous bloodless bodies of farm animals were repeatedly discovered in rural areas around the country, many of them having been castrated, dismembered, or in some way mutilated. Mystified police officers had no idea of the malevolent activity that lay behind these bizarre occurrences.

But later the truth emerged, as investigations of similar occurrences around the country repeatedly pointed to Satanic cult activity. Satanic ritualistic activities have been reported in every state in the nation!

Increasingly, we see Satanic graffiti on highway overpasses, in cemeteries, on walls and old buildings. Hundreds of reports of the bodies of mutilated animals have crossed police desks in recent years, and preschools and day care centers around the country relate shocking and consistent stories of weird demonic rituals.

All of us have know for a long time about the reports of millions of children missing. Perhaps most of us didn’t realize that there are two million children a year reported missing – many of them entirely too young to be runaways! As a ghastly testimony of what probably happens in these mysterious disappearances and abductions, five thousand unidentified bodies of children are found every year in our country!

Perhaps you are familiar with the McMartin Preschool case in Manhattan Beach, wherein children told authorities of hundreds of gruesome stories of Satanic rituals and sexual abuse, finally resulting in charges against two persons with 100 counts of child sexual abuse.

Or perhaps you remember the case of convicted mass murderer Richard Berkowitz, better known as “Son of Sam,” who confessed to participation in Satanic cult ritualistic activity.

These are just a few of the many horror stories that have been connected with Satanic activity. But what do we now know? How many of those thousands of children whose mutilated bodies are found every year were victims of Satanic cults? How many of them had been tied and gagged, laid on an altar, and brutally murdered – either butchered or burned alive - as human sacrifices intended to appease the devil?

How many “missing children,” including newborns, are never reported missing? How many mangled bodies of infants and small children are never found? If we are horrified by what we do know about Satanism in this country, just how horrified would we be if what we do not know were suddenly made known?

Think of it! Much of what we know about Satanic activity in this country was discovered accidentally. Is anyone so naοve as to believe that all Satanic killings are discovered? No doubt, only a fraction of the crimes and grisly murders committed by Satanists are ever reported!

Further, crime investigations may disregard statements about occultic rituals, and document only the actual crimes. Satanism, as long as it does not involve illegal activity (such as torture, murder, sexual abuse, etc.) is not considered a crime, and its practice is protected by our Constitution!

The Church of Satan, founded April 30, 1966, in San Francisco, California, is considered a legitimate religious organization. The cult’s founder Anton S. La Vey, is author of The Satanic Bible, The Complete Witch, and The Satanic Rituals, which provide “direction” for Satanism’s 10-20 or more American adherents.

Members of the cult deny association with Satanic groups that engage in criminal activities. Yet, the cult’s leader admits that “The Church of Satan stands as a gathering point for all those who believe in what the Christian Church opposes.” Further, the group’s Nine Points of Satanism states that: “Satan represents all of the so-called sins, as they lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification.”

Perhaps members of the Church of Satan are telling the truth when they deny involvement in criminal activities. But then, can anyone who takes the Word of God seriously expect the truth from a group that names itself after the “father of LIES”?

Whether members of the Church of Satan are involved in heinous crimes or not, and whether they admit it or not, the fact remains: The worship of Satan promotes evil!

But why would anyone decide to worship the devil? What is behind the growing interest in the black arts, witchcraft, spiritism, and the occult in general? What could lead a person to involvement in all kinds of bizarre rituals, animal mutilation, ritualistic child abuse, abusive sexual behavior, or human sacrifice?

Just look at what is passed off as “entertainment” in America. Since the release of The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby in the early 70s, Satanism and demon possession have been popular themes in movie houses around the country.

Tens if thousands of youngsters in our country are familiar with “Jason,” the demonical “star” of the Friday the 13th series who keeps returning from death only to slaughter, mutilate, disembowel, and decapitate dozens of human beings. And who hasn’t heard of “Freddy Krueger,” the murderous “ghost” who uses the razor-sharp blades attached to his fingers to rip his victims to shreds? This nightmarish character is so popular, little children can now have their very own “Freddy” dolls.

Then there’s the Poltergeist series, Halloween, The Amityville Horror, the Psycho series, The Omen – and literally dozens of movies dealing with Satanic cults, demonic possession, cannibalism, witchcraft, and supernatural evils of all sorts.

These movies, in spite of their “R” rating, can easily be obtained by minors at almost any video store. According to a television news report, horror films of every type are popular among preteens, who often gather on weekends or at spend-the-night parties to spend hour after hour watching one grisly scene after another.

Such activity is obviously not healthy, and may be one of several causal factors in many of the cult-related crimes of recent years.

According to one news report, 24-year old Sara Maria Aldrete, one of the two leaders of the Matamoros cult, may have been influenced by The Believers, a 1988 film about demonism and Satanic activity.

Of course, the “experts” will probably debate for years whether or not such films contribute to deviant behavior, just as they argue over whether hardcore pornography contributes to the occurrences of violent sexual crimes. But any thinking person should be able to see that the things we put into our minds affect the way we think, the way we behave.

Perhaps even more alarming than movies with Satanic themes is the widespread interest in “New Age” spiritism, and the appearance of occult bookstores and supplies shops all over the country.

Just go to your local bookstore, and you will likely find both a “New Age” and “Occult” section, each having multiple shelves filled with books about “channeling,” reincarnation, witchcraft, pyramidology, ESP, clairvoyance, necromancy, out-of-body experiences, encounters with “extraterrestrials”; how to books on “developing latent psychic powers,” hypnotism, establishing contact with “spirit guides,” and so on.

Thousands of Americans are turning to Eastern religions to tap their “inner powers.” Anyone wishing to do so can by books or attend seminars to learn how to achieve alternate states of consciousness and contact “spirit guides.”

Indeed, many have established contact with so-called “spirit guides” – and have suffered the consequences!

Many professionals working in the mental health field have long known that obsessions with astrology, tarot cards, necromancy, and the like, lead directly to chronic depression and other mental-emotional disorders.

Psychiatrists who recognize the unnerving reality of demonic possession, who have actually encountered this phenomenon in their practice, report that many, if not most, such cases are connected with an obsession with the occult!

Dr. M. Scott Peck, a psychiatrist who has witnessed cases of demonic possession writes: “It seems clear from the literature on possession that the majority of cases have had involvement with the occult – a frequency far greater than might be expected in the general population. It is difficult to discern which comes first: the occult involvement or the possession. I do not mean to imply that most people who involve themselves with the occult will become possessed. But they do seem to increase their chances” (People of the Lie, p. 190).

Dr. Peck, describing two cases of possession he had personally witnessed writes: “In one patient the process seemed to begin with involvement in the occult at the age of twelve. In the other the process apparently began at the age of five with something more ghastly than what one would ordinarily consider occult” (ibid, pp. 190-191).

Clearly, anyone dabbling with the occult, or attempting contact with “spirit guides,” or involved with witchcraft, necromancy, or Easton mysticism, is tampering with dangerous powers – powers that can twist distort, destroy the human mind – powers that can lead to mental and emotional torment, insanity, suicide!

Do you see why we are hearing more and more about grisly ritualistic killings, teenage suicides, missing children, and violent sexual crimes? Put it all together: A rash of movies with Satanic themes; the appearance of occult bookstores and supplies shops all over the country; the rapid spread of New Age spiritism; the popularity of heavy metal bands, the gigantic, unsolvable drug problem.

Can we now see why so much Satanic activity goes on in our country; why we hear of so many gruesome ritualistic crimes, why we see more and more evidence of human sacrifice?

But why are so many obsessed with witchcraft, voodoo, black magic, astrology, sorcery, necromancy, and other forms of occults practice? Where did occultism and New Age spiritism come from?

Believe it or not, Satanism, occultism, and New Age spiritisms are not new, but are modern versions of some very ancient religious practices – practices condemned in the pages of your Bible!

Before the people of Israel entered the promised land, God commanded them, “But of the cities of these people, which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the Lord thy God commanded thee” (Deut. 20:16-17).

God said that nothing was to be saved alive! But why? What was so bad about these people that God commanded their utter destruction?

Notice verse 18: “That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the Lord your God.”

God knew that the abominations of these cities would survive even if only a tiny remnant were allowed to remain alive. That’s why He commanded that nothing be saved alive.

But what were their abominations? What could have been so bad that God commanded their utter destruction?

The answer is found in Deuteronomy 12:29-31: “When the Lord thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land; Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou inquire not after their gods, saying, how did these nations serve their gods? Even so will I do likewise. Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God: for every abomination to the Lord, which He hates, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters have they burnt in the fire to their gods.”

How hideous! No wonder God commanded their utter destruction! They were so perverted, so depraved, they were actually burning their own children in sacrifices to their demon “gods”!

But do we not see the same kind of evil being perpetrated today? Are not Satanic cults targeting infants and little children – just as they did in ancient times? Reportedly, some cults even have their own “breeders” – women who are impregnated for the specific purpose of having babies for us in sacrificial rituals.

Can you see why God commanded the utter destruction of the cities occupying the promised land? They were practicing the “arts” we call witchcraft, necromancy, sorcery. Their attempts to appease the “gods” (demons) for special favors had led them to total depravity.

When God commanded the destruction of these cities, He knew what powerful forces the people of the land were tampering with: and He knew that if any were allowed to remain alive, they would teach their ways to Israel, and Israel would succumb to the same seductive forces, would turn from worship of the true God, and would eventually imitate the horrible abominations of the heathen.

Almighty God said to Israel: “When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God gives thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.  There shall not be found among you any one that makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that uses divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doeth drive them out from before thee” (Deut. 18:9-12).

These were abominations, not “minor” sins. Witchcraft was not to be considered a “harmless” hobby, as it often is today. God commanded, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” (Ex. 22:18).

God further stated: “He that sacrificed unto any god, save unto the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed” (Ex. 22:20).

Clearly, any involvement in black magic, voodoo, astrology, necromancy; and attempt to appease, invoke, or in any way gain the attention of any so-called “god,” was strictly condemned by God in ancient Israel.

Such practices are also condemned in the New Testament. Paul says, “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry (which involves demonism), witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murder, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God” (Gal. 5:19-21).

The book of Acts tells us about two sorcerers, and both were sharply rebuked by Christ’s apostles. One of them, Simon, who “used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one” (Acts 8:9), offered money for the spiritual gift God had given to the apostles.

“But Peter said unto him, thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou has neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee” (Acts 8:20-22).

The other sorcerer is named in Acts 13:

“And when they (Paul and company) had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus: Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith.

“Then Saul (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Spirit, set his eyes on him, and said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, will thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?

“And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand” (Acts 13:6-11).

Notice Paul’s description of the sorcerer: “full of all subtilty and all mischief, child of the devil, enemy of all righteousness.”

Obviously, both Simon and Barjesus (or Elymas) had evil motives: both were of a spirit contrary to God’s Holy Spirit. The same kind of unholy spirit is common among witches and sorcerers today – and your Bible plainly indicates that this same spirit will lead to all manner of wickedness in the fast-approaching prophetic time period called the Great Tribulation!

Be watching for the next part in this intriguing subject.

 
The Church of God, New World Ministries P.O. Box 5536 Sevierville, TN 37864