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Satanism is by no means a new phenomenon, it goes back hundreds of years and was first practiced in Europe in the Middle Ages. One of the most notable occurrences of Satanism occurred in the late 1600's, when the mistress of King Louis 14th of France got caught up in Satanism. In a bid to gain favour with the king, she sought help from a high priestess of Satanism. The high priestess conducted a Black Mass in which an infant was slain. The wafer was made from flour and blood and was given to the oblivious king in a love potion. She tried the Black Mass three times with little success. Finally the high priestess decided to try the Mass of Death, which was aimed at poisoning the king. The whole plot was discovered and the high priestess confessed that she had murdered over twenty five hundred babies, whom she had either buried in her garden or burned in her furnace.
Satanism made a big come back in the mid 1960's and the thing which appears to have sparked it off was the Paramount Picture box office smash hit "Rosemary's Baby". Among the actors in this film was Anton Szandor La Vey who played Satan. He just happens to be the high priest of San Francisco's First Church of Satan. Later, he called the film "the best paid commercial for Satanism since the Inquisition." The film concludes with a shocking scene, in which the heroine, Mia Farrow, accepts into her bosom the child implanted in her by Satan. At the close, the witch-leader Castavet triumphantly cries out: "God is dead! God is dead and Satan lives." Anton La Vey is one of the best known proponents of Satanism today. He is the author of the Satanic Bible. He claims to have many thousands of active members in his church in the United States and many more thousands in other countries. It has been estimated that there are about a hundred thousand people caught up in Satanism in America today. Anton La Vey established his church of Satan in April 1966. According to him all other churches are based on worship of the spirit and denial of the flesh. So he decided that his church would be a temple of glorious indulgence and that worship in his church would be fun for people. He says: "We hold Satan as a symbolic personal saviour, who takes care of mundane fleshly, carnal things. God exists as a universal force, a balancing factor in nature, too impersonal to care one whit whether we live or die.... We literally want to give the Devil his due. There has never been a religion before that has given him credit.... We believe that man is sometimes lower than animals, that he is basically greedy and selfish, so why feel guilty about it? We accept ourselves as we are and live with it".
The La Vey church of Satan has no doctrinal statements as such, but it does have a list of nine statements that its members are expected to hold. These nine statements declare that Satan represents indulgence, vital existence, undefiled wisdom, kindness only to those who deserve it, vengeance, responsibility only to those who are responsible, the animal nature of man, all the "so called sins." Its members are required to regard Satan as "the best friend the church has ever had, as he has kept it in business all these years". It would appear that in the U.S.A the popularity of Satanism has led to an increase in murder, and investigations have revealed that many murders are connected with Satanism.
The notorious murderer Charles Manson was involved in the worship of Satan. When Manson was interviewed following his arrest for a multiple murder, he claimed, "All my women are witches, and I am the devil." The reporter kidded him and responded, "Sure that makes two of us." But Manson wasn't joking. "No" he said "I really am". Similiar things have been reported in the press here in Australia. There appears to be a growing number of murders that are associated with the worship of Satan.
One of the most wicked and blasphemous practice of Satanists is the Black Mass. In the Black Mass, the participants try to reverse everything they know about Christianity. The crucifix is hung upside down, the altar is covered in black instead of white, the hymns are sung backwards, the rite is performed by a defrocked priest, and whenever the Lord or Christ is mentioned, it is spit upon or worse. In addition, sexual rites were added to make the blasphemy even worse. Sometimes even a child or an animal is sacrificed. During the ceremony the worshippers renounce their faith and acknowledge Satan as Lord.
Satanism is growing rapidly in the USA as well as in Europe and Australia. It is indicative of man's hatred toward God. Let us do all that we can to warn people from getting mixed up in this wickedness. Paul said to the Ephesians that our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers of darkness. The rise of the Satanic church in the 20th century Western World shows that Satan is doing all he can to corrupt the Western world. Let us ever pray that Satan's hand might be bound and that the gospel of Jesus Christ might triumph in the Western world. Let us also rejoice in the fact that he who is in us is greater than he who is in the world.