Satan

Satan is the adversary of God. Thus, Satan is evil personified. Many followers of the Bible consider Satan to be a real being, a spirit created by God. Satan and the other spirits who followed him rebelled against God. They were cast out from Heaven by their Creator. Theologians might speculate as to why the Almighty did not annihilate the "fallen angels," as He is said to have done to his other creations when they failed to be righteous (save Noah and his family, of course). Satan was allowed to set up his own kingdom in Hell and to send out devils to prowl the earth for converts. The demonic world seems to have been allowed to exist for one purpose only: to tempt humans to turn away from God. Why God would allow Satan to do this is explained in the Book of Job. When Job asks why God let Satan torment him the answer is blunt and final: Hath thou an arm like the Lord? The story of Job is interpreted in many different ways by theologians but my interpretation is that nobody knows why God lets Satan live and torment us. God is God and can do whatever He wants. Ours is not to question why, ours is but to do and die.

Satan, being a spirit, is neither male nor female. However, like his Creator, Satan is usually referred to as a masculine being. Many believe that Satan, or the Devil as he is often called, can "possess" human beings. Possession is bodily invasion by the devil. The Catholic Church still performs exorcisms on those considered to be possessed. Jesus is said to have cast out demons, i.e., performed exorcisms, and the Church considers itself to have been given this same power by Jesus. Throughout the centuries, many pious religious people have erroneously considered those with certain mental or physical illnesses to be possessed by Satan.

More frequent than outright possession, however, has been the accusation of being in consort with the devil. Satan is believed to have many powers, among them the power to manifest himself in human or animal form. The consorting has been recorded as often being purely physical and mostly sexual. For most of the history of Christianity there are reports of Satan having sex with humans, either as an incubus (male devil) or succubus (female devil). Witches and sorcerers were thought by many to be the offspring of such unions. They are considered especially pernicious because they inherit some of the devil's powers.

According to Carl Sagan, accounts of diabolical intercourse are common cultural phenomena:

Parallels to incubi include Arabian djinn [jinn], Greek satyrs, Hindu bhuts, Samoan hotua poro, Celtic dusii... (Sagan 1995, 124).

However, as a child being instructed in the ways of Satan by Dominican sisters, stories of nuns being raped by incubi in a priest's clothing were assuredly not told. The Devil was there to tempt us to sin, pure and simple. He was not there to have sex with us or engage in reproductive experimentation or breed a race of witches and magi. To be sure, his main temptations would be sexual. There was no doubt that He spent a lot of time using girls to tempt boys into impure thoughts and deeds. He would invade our minds continuously during adolescence, planting desires for sexual experiences too evil to be mentioned much less performed. I suppose, to be fair, the girls should have been taught to be wary of boys trying to get them to yield to sexual temptation and that we would use every trick in the devil's arsenal to get them to go "all the way." But the girls were taught that they were the temptresses and were therefore the ones who needed to keep from harming the boys with their female charms. We were taught to pray constantly, implore the intercession of the saints and the Holy Mother of God, that they might give us protection against the snares of Satan. It must have occurred to many observers that the fear of Satan seems very much like fear of our own sexuality.

innocent angels

For all the instruction we were given on the Evil One, I don't remember ever being taught about Pope Innocent VIII and his persecution of witches and heretics. The Pope proclaimed in a Bull that "evil angels," i.e., devils, were having sex with many human men and women. He was not the first to have made this claim. Others before him, such as Thomas Aquinas, had explored this territory in great detail. Thomas reminds us that since the devil is not human, he can't produce human seed. So, he must transform himself into a woman, seduce a man, keep the seed, transform into a male, seduce a woman and transfer the seed. Something of the devil is captured by the seed along the way, so the offspring are not normal. Apparently it took Satan a long time to figure out that if he wanted to control the world, the best way to do it would be to breed with humans. Invading our bodies would be more efficient and effective than trying to invade our minds. But the Pope and many other pious men had a plan to exterminate the diabolical offspring: they would torture and burn them all! They would fight fire with fire! The Devil would not outdo them. In fact, the sadistic and monstrous behavior of the holy and pious inquisitors is almost enough to make a skeptic believe in Satan. The inquisitors were nothing short of diabolical.

One of the more interesting aspects of Satanology is the recurring theme of humans making a pact with the devil. The Faust legend is the best-known of these: in exchange for one's soul, Satan will bestow one with wealth or power for a specified time. In most versions of the story, Faust tricks the devil and avoids payment. In the original, the devil mutilates and kills Faust at the end of the contract. His brains are splattered on the walls of his room, his eyes and teeth lie on the floor and his corpse rests outside on a dunghill (Smith, 269).

Today, there are still those who believe Satan is a real being, but we hear few stories of incubi and succubi any more. The closest thing we have to such stories are alien abduction accounts and star children. Fortunately, for today's alien abduction victims with similar tales of sexual experimentation--the devil being replaced with aliens from outer space--there is no equivalent to the medieval Church to persecute, torture, or exterminate them.

It is interesting, though, that most of these murderers and torturers feel some need to at least appear as if they are doing good while they commit their horrors. What drives the terrorist or ethnic cleanser today to their abominations, or the witch hunters to their destruction of families, seems to be the same forces that drove the pious enforcers of the Inquisitions. Their behavior is almost enough to make a skeptic think that maybe Satan does exist--in the souls of these good people fighting for their noble causes.

From a philosophical perspective, the universal belief in evil demons is based on the need for an explanation of the enormous quantity of moral and physical evil pervading human existence for our entire history. I suppose, too, that devils in some way serve to excuse our own evil actions and mitigate our sense of responsibility for the harm we do. Psychologically, demons may well be a projection of ourselves, the worst part of our nature or the most feared part of our own nature. From a literary perspective, demons must exist. If they didn't, we'd have to invent them. They seem essential to so much of our storytelling--more essential, perhaps, than their goodly counterparts.

the waning of Satan's power

As the power of the Christian Church has waned, so too has the power of Satan. It is no accident that Satan reached the peak of his career at the same time the Church did, during the thirteenth century. During the Middle Ages, the Devil was said to have built Hadrian's wall between Scotland and England, moved huge stones to construct megalithic stone circles and dolmens, built bridges such as that at Saint-Cloud and the Pont de Valentre at Cahors, for the price of the soul of the first one who crossed the bridge, etc. Satan could perform magic, but it must be remembered that the Christian religion is basically a religion of magic, of sacraments which protect one from Satan and which change bread and wine into Christ, of miracles which contravene the natural order for good or ill, of resurrection from the dead and of the promise of eternal life. Satan represents the obverse of that order: black magic, pacts with the devil, wonders done contravening the natural order, the promise of eternal youth and wondrous powers. The Satanic Order was the creation of the Church, necessary to establish its own power over the world. Heretics, witches and sorcerers were a threat to the world dominion of the Church. They had to be eradicated. As the enemies of the Church grew more numerous and more powerful, so did the reign of terror grow and so did the power of the Church get established more and more firmly.

As the power of Christianity waned as the dominant social and political force in western culture, so too did the power of Satan. By the eighteenth century, in Europe at least, witch and heretic burnings had all but ceased. Today, most of us in the Christian world would consider it primitive and barbaric to suggest that anyone be hounded or killed for communing with Satan. Even those who are allegedly doing evil in the name of Satan are usually pursued for the evil they do, not for their alleged association with the devil. It is likely that most police officers, if they had to deal with crimes committed by Satan worshippers, would view the criminals as deluded rather than as really communing with otherworldly beings.

If the rise of modern science had anything to do with the fall of the Christian Church from its position of supreme influence in western culture, then modern science can take partial credit for the exorcism of Satan from western consciousness. Of course, the Devil is not dead yet but he gets his power from God, and as God's power wanes so does Satan's. Someday, perhaps, both God and Satan will become impotent strangers to the human imagination. But don't count on it. Many theists today believe that the evils of today's world, and they are many as we all know, are due to the rise of Satan and the decrease of religious influence. If they had their way, we would all be praying more and working against the snares of the devil. I, however, think we have more to fear from these pious people than we do from the Devil or his admirers. Some might even go so far as to identify these pious advocates of constitutional amendments for prayer in schools as devils in disguise. I don't think so, though when you have God's children murdering people at abortion clinics, there really doesn't seem to be much need for Satan. In fact, if Satan and his crew returned to earth they'd find that all the good jobs for devils have been taken by the pious of the earth.

Finally, there are the modern day Satanists who find solace and power in occult magick, but especially in anything anti-Christian. They draw their inspiration from the great works of imagination in art, literature, and policy created primarily by pious Christians in their zealous wars against their enemies, but also created by pre-Christian cults such as the Egyptian cult of Set or by non-Christian occultists such as Aleister Crowley and Anton LaVey. Today's Satanists have been blamed by pious Christians for ritual murders of children, mutilation and sacrificial killings of animals, writing backwards messages on musical recordings instructing people to kill, sending subliminal or secret messages through diabolical symbols on pizza boxes or soap wrappers, causing the general decay of morals and civilization as we know it, etc. The Satanists deny it. The evidence is not very strong that the Satanists are either as evil or as powerful as their enemies say they are. There is strong evidence for the strength and wickedness of the pious. Witness their witch-hunts in recent years against child care workers and parents and relatives of children. The evidence is strong that the pious have frequently and unjustly accused many of satanic ritual abuse of children. And they have been aided in the witch-hunt by devoted therapists and pious police and prosecutors.

SATANISM
Black Mass

Satanism     Black Mass   Groups of Satanists Today    Church of Satan
In the Christian Church?

Fetishes, Talismans, Spells...

"Satanism", is the worship and imitation of the biblical Satan or Lucifer. It is the antithesis of Judaism and Christianity. Satan is referred as the brother of Christ, the one who was cast out of heaven, and whom the Satanists worship. Condemned by the Bible and the Church, see The Occult

    - The "emblem", is a pentagram, like the one of witchcraft, but inverted, with the face of Satan on it. It is not witchcraft, although in practice the edges of Satanism and Witchcraft are blurred.

    - The "credo", is summed up in "do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law", coined by Crowley in "The Book of the Law".

There are two kinds of Satanism:

    1- Those who believe that Satan exists and is a powerful force... with animals and children sacrificed to worship him and get his favors, and the Black Mass as the main rite.

    2- Those who believe that Satan does not exist, but it is merely the symbol or personification of fleshy human desires and appetites... and they try to imitate it, with all kind of sins, pleasures and selfishness, lying, steeling, killing...

    There are not many Satanists, may be less than 10,000 in the world!... only curiosity and sensationalism pays them much attention, and the actual satanic activity has been greatly exaggerated.

    But there are several categories:

    1- Group secretive Satanists: They believe that Satan really exists.

    - The "Traditional", hate Christianity, celebrate the Black Mass, in the cup they drink blood of a sacrificial animal or human, to mimic the Mass.

    - "Nontraditional", from Neo-Platonism, Eastern Mysticism, and Islam, or off-shots of the Kabbalah, Theosophy, Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry... the "blood" they drink is not necessarily a parody of the Catholic Mass, but to partake of the "fire energy" that blood provides.

    2- Public Church Satanists:

    No secret, hold worship services open to the public, based mostly on the writings of Anton LaVey's "Satanic Bible", and they believe that Satan is a symbolic force: The Church of Satan of LaVey, Temple of Set. The Church of Thelema of Crowley, the Order of the Golden Down, and derivations of the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO), may also be included in this category.

    3- Youth Gang Satanists, that may or may not believe that Satan exists: "Dabblers" who see Satanism as a symbol of rebellion against any authority. For most, interest in Satanism is a passing fad influenced by drugs, sex, and rock-and-roll, but with serious consequences, like in the spectacular case of Charles Mason, or Andrew Newell who stabbed his mate to death, or Peter McKenzie who sexually abused 13 children.

    4- Individual Satanists, often disturbed individuals, neurotic or psychotic, like most Satanists!.

"Do what you will" is the general principle. What is "bad" in the Bible becomes "good"; sin!, and Satan will be with you!... they call it "freedom of choice"; they believe to get powers to perform magic by doing evil acts.

- At the low level, they burn crosses, spray Satanic graffiti, dig up graves...

- A higher level is by burning churches, doing all kind of sexual aberrations, steeling, drugs...

- Children sexual abuse is a higher level... and, of course, the ultimate evil is "killing", children or adults, the greatest release of magical energy.

    This is the ultimate rite for a real Satanist to obtain magic powers: A blasphemous Mass, where the altar is a nude woman, and the vagina is the tabernacle. If possible, a real Host stolen from a Catholic Church is placed in the vagina in the midst of reciting distorted psalms with hot music and all kind of obscenities, coursing Jesus and honoring Satan. The fake priest ends up having real sex, with the Host still in the vagina.

    ... If a baby can be slaughtered during the ritual, they will drink his blood and eat his flesh, to mimic the most the Eucharist...

.    .. Ideally, a Black Mass is to be celebrated by a "real heretic Priest", that, even in sin, can celebrate Mass effectively.

    - The prayers end with the strongest expression of Satanism: "Shemhaforash", the word pronounced by God when he created the World, and, while spitting on a cross or stepping on it, they all cry out "Hail, Satan".

.    .. And, of course, it may end up with a sexual orgy with all kind of abominations and abuses, under the influence of drugs.

Groups of Satanists Today:

    1-The "Traditional Secretive Satanists":

    They are the "real thing", with the Black Mass, and their number is unknown, though it is estimated in "hundreds" in the world.

    These believe that Satan exists, honor him, pray to him, but the celebrations are very different in each group.

    3- "Aleister Crowley", (1875-1947) never considered himself a Satanist, but his writings, "The Book of the Law" and     "The Equinox" became the basis for modern Satanism. In 1920 he founded an "Abbey of Thelema" in Cefalu, Sicily, considered Satanism, to destroy Christianity. It was brought to America by Jack Parsons who blew up himself experimenting with drugs. Crowley did in England what LaVey did in America, he became a drug addict, and his son mysteriously died during a private ritual that only the two attended. Afterward, Crowley became a babbling, incoherent idiot. A Black Mass was performed at his funeral.

    4- "Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO)", emphasizes sexual magic. Some derivative satanic groups have come forth from OTO in America: OTO, in Fort Myers, Florida; in Dublin, California; Ordo Templi Astarte (O.T.A.), or Church of Hermetic Science; Bennu Phoenix Temple of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Down...

    Founded, by Anton S. LaVey in San Francisco, California, in 1966, on Walpurgisnach or April 30, the most celebrated feast of the Witchcraft.

    - LaVey, appeared as the Devil in the film "Rosemary's Baby", and was technical director of another film, "The Devil's Rain". His most famous disciple was Sammy Davis Junior, who later regretted experimenting with Satanism. Film star Jaine Mansfield was also a member of the Church of Satan, which has an estimated 5,000 members.

    - On "The Satanic Bible", the "9 Satanic Statements" claim that "Satan represents indulgence, instead of abstinence". Represents materialism, instead of pipe dreams. Vengeance, instead of turning the other cheek. Satan represents man as just another animal, more often worse, the most vicious animal of all!.

    ... "Here and now is our day of joy", proclaims, "eye for eye, tooth for tooth, aye four-fold, a hundred fold!"... kindness to those who deserve it, but if you want to kill them, do it!, morally or physically, because the main doctrine is "do what you want".

    - It falls in the category of "public Satanism", with a symbolic Satan... but in the rites, "a nude woman" is the altar... and that's non only symbolic!.

    - In the prayers, Satan is invoked and honored, and Jesus Christ is cursed... and that's not jut a symbol!... 19 prayers are recited in "enochian language", a kind of old Arabic not spoken by anyone, and some of them end with this English translation: "Be friendly unto me, for I am the same!- the true worshiper of the highest and ineffable King of Hell".

    - In "The Satanic Rituals", there are some of the highly offensive and blasphemous words for a Black Mass: "Thou, thou who, in my capacity of Priest, I force, weather thou wilt or no, to descend into this host, to incarnate thyself into this bread Jesus, artisan of hoaxes, bandit of homages, robber of affection- hear!... O lasting foulness of Bethlehem, we would have thee confess thy impudent cheats, thy inexplicable crimes!. We would drive deeper the nails into thy hands, press down the crown of thorns upon thy brow, and bring blood from the dry wounds...

... But what is more scary, is to think that every time "we sin", you and I, "we crucify again the Son of God, making a public mockery of Him" (Hebrews 6:6)... my be LaVey is right in something!... when we sin, you and I, are worse than animals, the most vicious animals of all!... may Jesus have mercy of all of us!. Thank you, glorious Jesus, my Redeemer, the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords... and in the name of Jesus Christ I order Satan to get out of the heart of any Satanist or Witch who may read these lines. Thank you, dear Jesus, the King of Glory, you are dethroning Satan from many hearts every day, right now!. Praise to you, Jesus of Nazareth, the only one God, to whom is all the praise and glory and honor for ever and ever. Amen.

    6- "Temple of Set":

    It is an offspring of LaVey's Church of Satan, founded in 1975 by US Lieutenant Colonel Michael Aquino, with 1,000 members. The name "Set" comes from the Egyptian god Set-Ham. It claims to be more moral than the Church of Satan!... but Aquino maintains an avid interest in Nazi culture, and Nazi insignia are occasionally worn by members of the Temple.

    - It has a functioning British branch, with only 55 members, but well organized: David Austern sits in his word processor and instructions zip to and fro across the Atlantic. The "Temple" is a black fabric-lined garage, with black carpet and a black-draped altar decorated with black candles and a plastic skull. Austern is a homosexual.

    7- "The Society of the Dark Lily", is run by a women who suffers from multiple sclerosis. The farm in Scotland where she lives is the headquarters of the organization, and the scene of debauched, sadistic beating of naked young girls.

    8- "Young Gang Satanists":

    Teenage dabblers is the third category of Satanists mentioned, and probably the largest.

    Adolescents, are notoriously easily bored, perpetually on a quest for the different. They are naturally curious about spiritual matters, and are likely to rebel against the conventions of their upbringing. The occult, and especially its false promise of powers to change both themselves and the world, is a compelling lure, and there are "many points of entry" of Satan:

    1- "A Friend", is the main "point of entry" of Satan: Many teenagers become "rebels" against their parents and the establishment, but "slaves" to their friends:

If the friend uses pants with a hole in the back, he is got to use it!... if he is on the occult, he is got to try it, and be even more daring!...

    2- "Fantasy Games", are also good points of entry: of Satan Ouija, Tarot Cards, Dungeons and Dragons (D and D)... This one, the respectable D and D, is very dangerous: You don't need boards, only a pencil, paper, and your imagination. Each player assumes the identity of a character of his choice, he becomes an "actor", and so familiar with the character, that he may end up becoming one with him... most characters worship a deity, and some of them can cast spells and do magic...

    Don't get into these apparent respectable games. They may look harmless fun... but many have end up in sexual abuse, insanity, suicide, murder... and they are an easy point of entry into the dabbling Occult and Satanism...

    3- "Heavy Metal Music", is another good route into the Occult and Satanism, and into death and suicide: Among the songs that blatantly proselytize Satanic rituals and the Occult, are:
    - "Show no Mercy", by Kerr King, who shuts out, "in Lord Satan we trust".
    - "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath", by Black Sabbath.
    - "Shout at the Devil", by Motley Crue.
    - "Holy Hell" by Possessed, with references to defiled crosses, black masses, magic, and ends up with "kill the people, cut the heads, cut the throats".
    - Ozzy Osbourne, in "Suicide Solution".
    - "Kill 'Em All", by Metallica.
    - The groups Judas Priest, KISS, Iron Maden...

    4- "Adults", also actively recruit youngsters into the Occult and Satanism, with the lure of free drugs, drink and promiscuous sex...

    Satan attacks the Church from "without" (1 Peter), and from "within" (2 Peter). There is a kind of Satanism when someone proclaims in the Church:
    - The Bible is "not" the word of God.
    - A person called "Satan" does not exist.
    - We do not have to accept the teachings of the Church or the Pope on matters of faith and morals
    - Christ did not resurrected physically.
    - Jesus in not really present in the Eucharist.
    - Fornication, adultery, abortion, homosexual relations, masturbation is not always wrong.
    - If you have a "mortal sin", you do not have to confess before receiving the Holy Eucharist.

    ... These "Satanic doctrines" are taught in some Catholic seminaries, universities, work-shops, and have found the way in some textbooks and pulpits.

This is the fourth group of "Magic".

- Some of them may look harmless, but all of them are to honor the Devil and trust in him, not in God!, and that's why the Bible condemns all of them as "prostitution against God" (see Occult)

...There is much "ignorance" on this, not usually malice... but if you drink a poison by ignorance, you are going to die, even without malice... and in the name of Jesus Christ I order the Devil to get out of any person who reads these lines and is wearing or practicing any of the above... Thank you, Jesus, I praise you, because you are enlightening and delivering many people every day... right now!.

- "Fetish": A Portuguese word meaning "enchantment", is an object or potion or writing given by a witch with false magic powers.

- "Talisman": An Arabic word, "tilsman", meaning "magnet of power", is an object held to have magical or protective powers: A rock, a crystal, a metal, a doll, a cloth... a ring, a bracelet, a chain... throw them away!... Trust in Jesus!... get a crucifix... the rings, bracelets, and colors of Astrology honor Satan... those wore just for adornment or therapy have nothing to do with this.

- "Amulet": An Arabic word, "hamelet", which means "hanging": It is like a talisman against evil or injury, or for good luck: A medal with a chain around the neck, a stone hanging in the neck, a pendent... the difference between an "Amulet" and a "Christian Medal", is that the Amulet honors Satan and his Demons, placing the trust in them, while the Christian Medal honors God and his Saints, placing the trust in them...

... The Astrological or Santeria medals honor the Devil... through them away, ware instead a medal of Jesus or his Mother, or any real Christian Saint... the Astrological or Santeria collars, honor Satan... get rid of them!... ware instead a Christian Rosary.

- "Charm": A small ornament worn on a chain or bracelet. When worn for its purported magical or luck effects, they are of Satan, like any amulet or talisman.

- "Superstition": It is a believe, practice, or rite, that is maintained despite evidence that it is unfounded or irrational... we all know about them... forget them!, don't place your life on an irrational chance or magic, place it in the hands of the real God... trust in God!.

-"Potions", "Spells", "Curses", "Magic Prayers":

... Already commented in "Magic"... they are all of Satan!... A "Christian Prayer" is more powerful than all the prayers of the Witches and Satanists and Santeros put together, because a Christian Prayer has the power of God, who is a million times more powerful and wise than Satan, in whom the prayers of the Witches and Satanists and Santeros are based... and if someone places a "curse" on you, don't be afraid, just an Our Father, or a Hail Mary is more powerful than all the curses put together!... they can't even touch you!... you just live in the "grace of God", not in "sin"!...

... If you live "in sin", Satan lives in you!, and he is going to destroy you by any of his thousand ways... if you live "in grace", God lives in you, and you are going to have in this life all his reaches and protection, Satan can't touch you...

- It is almost blasphemous just to compare them, but the "Eucharist" is more powerful and holy than all the "potions" ever made by all the witches in the world put together... Jesus is in love with you... let yourself be loved... he is waiting for you every day in the Eucharist (Matt.6:11, Jn.6:53).

-"Velaciones": "Vela" means "candle"; the client is placed on the floor surrounded by candles to keep vigil over him until the candles extinguish, while praying or making curses.

-"Despojos" and "Riegos", are the work of Santeria:

... The "Despojos", are baths taken daily with herbs given by the Santero after using the snail shells divination. The ... "Riegos", is to fill the home with smoke and odors from incense to cast out curses or any bad influence on the home.