The Rise and Fall of Satanism

Satanic rituals performed by black-​robed priests in dark cellars, chanting prayers over bound victims on an altar, with flickering candles casting eerie shadows on the walls as the worship of their god, Satan, proceeds. Drawn close by the secret knowledge of some shared mystery with a touch of the supernatural, the young participants on this journey into the occult relish the tingle of excitement that fills the air. They draw close with an uncanny feeling of an exclusiveness that they alone possess.

A harmless, passing fad? Or a demonic evil pervading today’s society?

REAMS have been written in newspapers, magazines, and books about the lurid deeds of satanic cults. Details of the widespread activity of violent satanic groups have been aired on national television and radio. It has become a major problem for police in both the small and the big cities in America, Canada, and Europe.

Satanism has a special lure for today’s youths. The founder of the Church of Satan explains why, as reported in ’Teen magazine of June 1993: “Instead of commanding members to repress their natural urges, we teach that they should follow them. This includes physical lust, the desire for revenge, the drive for material possessions.”

How Satan must be pleased with this diabolically inspired ideology, since it goes counter to God-​inspired Christian principles!

Satanism is on the rise. It is a growing menace, but its demise is imminent. Its god is under sentence of death. So is Satan’s world and its supporters, for “the whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one.” (1 John 5:19; Romans 6:16)

Today’s Youths​—Easy Prey to Satanism?

“SATAN worship is spreading out among the youths,” reported a Finnish newspaper of February 27, 1993. According to information obtained by the police of Tampere, Finland, criminals involved with the drug trade are bringing young ones, and especially girls, into satanic worship. In many cases these victims and new recruits are children from 10 to 15 years of age. “Satan worship has found a fertile soil among today’s young teenagers,” the paper reported.

“The new coming of Satan worship is not just a domestic (Finnish) trend,” the paper warned. “For example, the South African magazine the Johannesburg Star recently warned that Satan worship is inciting the white well-​fortuned youths of the country.” Truly, satanic worship is an international nightmare for parents as well as children.

Essentially, Satanism deceptively promises that you will get a lot for a very little. “Worship the devil; do his dirty work, and in return, he’ll give you what you want. And that’s why some kids find Satanism so appealing,” explained ’Teen magazine.

“I believe in living life to its fullest,” said a young teenager who admits to being a member of a satanic group. “I see two forces in nature: good and evil. All the things that people say are evil are the things that make you happy. Sins lead to emotional, physical and mental gratification,” he said.

When a Denver, Colorado, U.S.A., detective, an expert on satanic cults, was asked why he thought teenagers seem so susceptible to Satanism, he answered: “I will never forget what one teenage Satanist told me. He said, ‘What is there to live for? We’re going to live for today and do what we want. There’s no future.’”

Dr. Khalil Ahmad, director of adolescent services at the Nova Scotia Hospital in Dartmouth, Canada, voiced his opinion as to the lure of Satanism. “Teenagers are looking for excitement. The weak-​willed, often the losers, are attracted to [satanism]. It gives them a false impression of power.”

Another noted police authority on Satanism, a San Francisco detective, pinpoints the problem: “Our world is an apathetic place. We are more concerned with ourselves than each other. We live in a violent, negative society. Kids see that as a normal way of life and consequently are drawn into Satanism.”

How deeply are today’s youths involved in Satanism? “Kids are killing themselves and their friends. We’ve got a problem,” warned Larry Jones, president of Cult Crime Impact Network and a lieutenant in the Boise, Idaho, U.S.A., police force. Another police officer, from the state of Illinois, who tracks Satanism in his role as a high school police counselor, said 90 percent of the youths who dabble in devil worship get involved because it is a fad, but 10 percent “get caught up and go deeper and deeper.”

A Brooklyn, New York, school newspaper, School News Nationwide, January-​February-​March 1994, in its “Religion” section, ran an article entitled “Why Satanism Attracts Teens.” It reported: “After two boys fought in the high school cafeteria, the winner jumped up and flashed a strange hand salute, a clenched fist with his index and little fingers sticking up. The art teacher couldn’t figure out why so many kids drew pictures of demonic-​like men with goats’ heads. And books on the occult kept disappearing from the school library.

“The kids were, in fact, flirting with the power, the magic, the mystery of Satanism. For most, it was fun and exciting. For some, it was serious​—deadly serious to 17-​year-​old Lloyd Gamble—​who lost his life in a satanic sacrifice.

“After Lloyd’s death and his 15-​year-​old brother’s arrest for the murder, the Monroe county adults learned to understand the signs that had been so mysterious before: the ‘devil’s sign’ hand signal, the goat’s head pictures and the books that fed the teenagers’ imaginations, rituals and spells.”

The reports seem endless of preteens and teenagers killing their parents and other members of their families because of Satan worship. Children have been killed by other children in such acts. Like satanic adults, children have mutilated and killed animals. Family pets have been sacrificed on an altar of satanic rituals. Space does not allow for even a partial coverage of the butchery carried out by children who have embraced the religion of Devil worship.

Are these examples of children just dabbling in Satanism? Are those deep into Devil worship few and far between, a rarity? Not so, is the answer of those who have investigated these occult practitioners. David Toma, a former vice detective turned motivational speaker, said that in every school where he speaks, he asks the same question, “How many of you kids know someone or have heard of someone involved in Satanic practices?” He estimates that a “full one-​third of the students raise their hands.”

According to Shane Westhoelter, president of the National Information Network, from 30 to 40 percent of high school students are involved in some form of the occult. In addition, Westhoelter contends that up to 70 percent of all crimes committed by teens under the age of 17 are motivated by involvement in the occult.

[Blurb on page 5]

Satan worship has found a fertile soil among today’s young people