Murder, violence, rape, and human sacrifice thus became a part of religious ritual.

On human sacrifice, Crowley wrote: “For nearly all purposes human sacrifice is the best, and a male child of perfect innocence and high intelligence is the most satisfactory and suitable victim.”

Thus, according to Maury Terry, in his book The Ultimate Evil, “worshipping Satan was akin to worshipping Christ. And killing in the name of Satan was actually killing for Christ: a divine mission.”

It was Aleister Crowley who said that he wanted, as part of the cult’s religious doctrine and practices, “blasphemy, murder, rape, revolution, anything bad.” Indeed, one cult leader heralded the clarion call: “THOU SHALT KILL!” And it is obvious that this is exactly what members of satanic cults have been doing.

One person explained their reasons for violence: “Rapes are for the purpose of deflowering a virgin, which has special significance for Satan worshippers. Arson is a symbol of the great conflagration, or Armageddon, and murders are to spread confusion and to fulfill the prophecy in Daniel: ‘But the wicked shall do wickedly.’”

“Before each coven meeting,” wrote Terry, “Satan has to be appeased by the rape of a virgin [young girl], a holocaust [arson], or the ritual murder of a person or animal.”

The sacrifice of dogs and cats is big with the cult. In one location near New York City, for example, 85 skinned German shepherds and Dobermans were found in one 12-month period, all thought to be the work of Satanists. Often, body parts are removed and consumed in the belief that they possess magical powers. Blood is passed around and drunk from silver chalices stolen from churches​—all as part of the worship of Satan. Of course, a human sacrifice is considered the supreme offering that pleases him more. And he is often appeased in this manner.

But who is this Satan? Does he really exist? Or is he only the figment of a fevered imagination?

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Sacrificing to Appease the Devil

Last April the world was shocked by the discovery of the remains of more than a dozen men who had been sacrificially murdered outside the Mexican city of Matamoros, near the Texas border. Time magazine reported:

“To ingratiate themselves with the devil, the killers boiled the brains and hearts of their victims, mixing the concoction with leg and arm bones and animal heads. So vicious were the devil worshipers that it took two pathologists . . . almost four days to complete the autopsies.”

The Devil worshipers believed they would receive protection from their god by appeasing him with human sacrifices. A police lieutenant said that the killers prayed to the devil “so the police would not arrest them, so bullets would not kill them and so they could make more money.”