The Church of Satan

Anton Szandor LaVey founded the Church of Satan in 1966 in San Francisco, California, on Walpurgisnacht (April 30th). LaVey identified his particular brand of Satanism in his book The Satanic Bible (1969). A derivative group, and offspring of the Church of Satan, is the Temple of Set founded by Michael Aquino in 1975.

Purposeful deception is needed amongst leading Satanists to enslave those whom they recruit as unscrupulous and unsuspecting pawns who feel more comfortable believing Satan is a symbol for force. Few Satanists realise the evil intentions among the inner core of the cult and how lower initiates are viewed as mere puppets to be used and later discarded. Those in the higher echelon are often aware of the nature of Satan and the demonic realm that they serve. They are often bound and blinded on another level because they have become addicted to the power that Satan deceptively promises. Kenneth Anger, who was a cofounder of the Church of Satan with Anton LaVey, used a similar spin on Satanism, as did LaVey. Kenneth Anger stated in the 1960’s, in his film, Lucifer Rising, that, “Lucifer is the light god, not the Devil.” (Publicity of the jacket for Lucifer Rising). This delusion that Lucifer is really the God of light, and not Satan, should not surprise those familiar with God’s word, which warns that Satan “masquerades” as an “angel of light” to draw the unsuspecting into his evil web. His agents do likewise.

Years later, after Kenneth Anger had deceived multitudes of people into thinking they were worshipping the supposed “light god”, an entity that was not really Satan, Anger “confessed” that Lucifer, whom he worshipped, had always been the historical “Satan.” (Lucifer Rising, page 47). It was too late though for many Satanists who had been deceived. It appears that Marilyn Manson is playing the same mind game with his fans as did LaVey and Anger. Besides following LaVey, who deceived his followers, Manson admitted, “I’ve taken a lot of my inspiration from Kenneth Anger.” Sadly, while the leaders among Satanists realise that Satan is for real, many who swell the ranks of their churches have been duped into believing that they are in some nature religion. They are taught that either a real Satan does not exist, or that hell will not be all that hot. This, of course, is sheer nonsense. 

Anton LaVey himself was severely deceived as he stated in his Satanic Bible that he would reign with Satan in hell. LaVey now realised he was the most deceived of all. The scriptures are clear that hell was created as a place of torment for Satan and his angels. (Matt 25: 40-43). Moreover, God’s Word declares that Satan will be stripped of his power and rendered “weak” and “covered with worms.” Satan will be rendered one of the weakest and most pathetic beings in the universe, an object of ridicule and scorn by those who were deceived by him. Those who have been deceived by him will marvel that this once powerful fallen angel has been rendered powerless and will mock him as a “carcass trodden under foot” in their torment. (Isaiah 14: 9-19). So even leaders in the Church of Satan, who are deceiving their initiates, are themselves deceived, believing that they will have some place of power in hell. As St Paul prophesied:

“Evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” (2 Timothy 3: 13)

Richard Ramirez, known as the night Stalker, was deceived by Anton LaVey’s assertion in the Satanic Bible that Satanists could reign in Hell. Ramirez believed that his human sacrifices to Satan would earn him a place of power in Hell next to Jack the Ripper and other serial killers. Further evidence of what leading Satanists really believe is revealed in admissions made by Lieutenant Colonel Michael Aquino of the United States Army. Aquino was a leader in LaVey’s Church of Satan and was LaVey’s “second-in-command” before he broke off to begin his own satanic order called the Temple of Set. Aquino ended up taking several of LaVey’s followers with him.

 

The Temple of Set would eventually attract the likes of Anton LaVey’s daughter Zeena LaVey. So rabid a Satanist is Aquino that he had the number 666 tatooed on his scalp. The Temple of Set proclaims that Set, another name for Satan, is a real entity and is a name for “The oldest known form of the Prince of Darkness.” Aquino seems to have been under the conviction that society had become so jaded that many of those in the outer circle of Satanism were ready to worship Satan as a real entity. Aquino believed it was time for Satan to come out of the closet in all of his naked deformity. Aquino even took the more up front view of Satanism to the television airways where he virtually admitted that Satan is a real entity and that many are in the dark as to whom they are really worshipping, including millions of New Agers. On Oprah Winfrey, Aquino acknowledged that they are following the infernal being that orchestrated the initial rebellion against God, the Creator of the Universe. Aquino admitted to Winfrey and the television audience made up of millions that they are following Satan who initiated the original rebellion against God:

“We believe that this quality [to oppose God’s natural order] in the human soul that makes it different from all other life forms … was deliberately inculcated in humanity in its distant evolutionary past by an active agency that is acting in defiance of the universal norm [God’s moral law]. And that agency has been caricatured … as Lucifer, as Satan, and, in the greatest antiquity, by the ancient Egyptians as Set.”

Aquino went on to describe how they believe that they as Satanists are now becoming gods. This was at the heart of Satan’s initial rebellion and now Aquino was parroting the essence of Satanism, which is a desire to usurp the true and living God’s authority and follow Satan into God realisation. “We are not servants of some God,” declared Aquino, “we are our own gods!” Oprah Winfrey appeared to be shocked to find out that this was exactly what she believed as a New Ager, failing to realise that the New Age movement has it roots in Crowleyite Satanism even as Aquino’s Satanism. It has been established beyond a shadow of a doubt that Crowley was not only a confessed Satanist, but that he was the father of the hippy drug movement and counter-culture from which popular New Age teachings first became entrenched in Western civilisation. Almost gasping for air, Winfrey declared in response to Aquino’s assertion:

“Well, the way you explain this is very the way a lot of people who are into metaphysics now and the New Age movement and New Age thinking, they say the very same thing. Are you saying that it’s the same?”

Aquino, without skipping a beat, said “Yes” to Winfrey’s question, implying that New Agers and Satanist are on the same wave length in their rebellion against God and in their quest to achieve god-hood as they follow in Satan’s footsteps. He only clarified that most New Agers are not aware that they have joined a satanic rebellion against God and that Satanists know what is going on. Aquino stated:

“Yes, except that I would say we [Satanists] have a more precise grasp … We would say that we understand what’s actually happening a little better than many New Agers.”

Much to Aquino’s chagrin the Temple of Set would find out that even as debauched as the world has become most people are still smart enough not to knowingly serve Satan and end up spending eternity in Hell. After bringing Satan out of the closet the Temple of Set failed to enlist the large amount of recruits they apparently hoped for. In their failure to acquire more recruits they changed their method of evangelism and returned to a formula more in keeping with that of the Church of Satan. Today the Temple of Set, like the Church of Satan, espouses a more palatable seeker sensitive form of Satanism so as not to scare off potential recruits. The result is that Satan is once again cloaked in ambiguity, but the song remains the same as inner circle initiates are deceiving outer circle initiates.

Winfrey was surprised that Aquino, as a confessed Satanist, would try to deny the hard facts of the evil behind Satanism. When Aquino stated that they as Satanists have “nothing to do with evil,” she said:

“It’s just difficult for me to understand that the Devil is a good thing…that Satan isn’t evil, which is the opposite of what everybody in this world has been taught…”

Winfrey went on to exclaim:

“In every state of the nation authorities are investigating some form of what they call satanic activity … Children are telling the same stories about infants being murdered before their eyes in strange devil rituals. The list of bizarre stories goes on and on.”

Not surprisingly, Aquino tried unsuccessfully at this point to put another typical spin on Satanism by claiming that they are not into such things. Even as leading Satanists like to hide the fact that they are truly worshipping Satan so it is that they seek to deny that Satanists sacrifice humans including children. The truth of the matter is that Aleister Crowley, whom Aquino acknowledges had an incredible influence on Aquino and the Temple of Set, not only taught his followers to engage in child sacrifice but admitted to sacrificing scores of children himself. After Aquino made the false claim that Satanists do not really sacrifice children, a law enforcement officer spoke up and stated:

“To say that there are no bodies and that these [Satanists] are not committing crimes is the farthest from the truth … in every case that I’ve investigated, now extending over two hundred, I have found this particular book [The Satanic Bible].”

At this point the investigator held up The Satanic Bible. In The Satanic Bible, LaVey proclaimed that he was seeking to “not advance things in print which make my position untenable” lest he find himself behind bars, and further stated that his followers were to commit human sacrifices by proxy:

“We perform human sacrifices, by proxy you might say—the destruction of human beings who would, let’s say, create an antagonistic situation toward us—in the form of curse and hexes, not in actual blood rituals because certainly the destruction of a human being physically is illegal.”

Note that the only reason LaVey concedes that he is not publicly advocating actual physical human sacrifice is because it is against the law, implying that if they could get away with it they would do it. In fact, LaVey takes credit for the deaths of Jayne Mansfield and her boy friend and lawyer Sam Brody, stating that it was the result of a ritual curse on Brody, and Mansfield happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. LaVey also believes that he was responsible for the Manson family murders. Manson was heavily influenced by the satanic cult known as the Process Church of the Final Judgement. The Process also acknowledged that Satan is a real entity. Their particular twisted spin in an effort to get unwitting recruits was not to pretend Satan was not a true entity but to claim that Satan was actually a Jesus loving Devil. The Process claimed that they, Jesus and Satan had reconciled and that all would work out well in the end for everyone including Satanists, because Jesus had supposedly forgiven the Devil. Ridiculous as this spin was it proved successful in garnering more than a few recruits. The bodies have piled up and the idea that Satanism is not behind the death of countless multitudes of innocent people is a lie only believed by the incredibly naîve. Manson, who was a confessed Satanist, was responsible of up to thirty-five murders if the admissions of some of his former followers are to believed. Charles Manson, whom Marilyn Manson cites as one of his pre-eminent inspirations and a brilliant philosopher, has stated, “Jesus Christ is for real and so is that other guy [ie Satan].” Charles Manson knows that Satan, whom he serves, is a real entity and has been more candid than has his follower Marilyn Manson. Son of Sam, who was part of a Process coven made up of twenty-two Satanists and connected to several other satanic covens, also murdered several people at the direction of the coven. Richard Ramirez, who followed The Satanic Bible and met with Anton LaVey before his satanic killing spree, killed twenty people. Ramirez even went so far as to torture his victims and made some “swear to Satan.”

Celebrities who are also members of the Church of Satan include the entertainer Sammy Davis Junior who can be seen pictured between Michael Aquino and Anton Lavey. The singer/dancer sported a coloured finger-nail on the little finger of one of his hands in his latter years. The colour, eg black, red etc, depicts a rank held within the Church of Satan. A growing number of celebrities wear the same painted finger-nail for the same reason today.