Satanism: a real force in the world

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The devil had my heart, but Christ wanted my soul

Perhaps the world’s most prominent Satanist was Anton Szandor Lavey, who founded the Church of Satan in 1966 during the height of the hippie and other youth-oriented movements as Baby Boomers entered their late teens and mid-20s. He founded the church as a mixture of a hedonistic philosophy with rituals of black magic.

Lavey wrote The Satanic Bible (1969, which sold 1 million copies), The Satanic Witch (1970), and The Satanic Rituals (1972), which canonized many of the teachings of the church he founded. The self-declared High Priest of the church, which once boasted 10,000 members, died in 1997.

Since inception of the San Francisco group, other local chapters, or grottoes, have been founded across the nation.

But Lavey is not your run-of-the-mill Satanist. Many, like Garrison, prefer to operate in the shadows and shun public recognition.

“You would be surprised to know how many practicing Satanists there are our there,” he told The Index as part of this interview. “They are not on every corner, mind you, but they are out there.”

Why do people turn to Satanism?

“People are searching for ways to get ahead in life so they look to Satanism with its promises of material gain. But I tell them that Satan will give them anything they want for a season but he will ultimately destroy them. He only uses us to further his goals of stealing souls; the more he can steal, the more powerful he feels.”

Garrison said the power that he and the witch were able to hold over others through casting spells was “truly amazing.”

“If we had a run-in with someone we would cast a spell of sickness, marital strife, or financial loss on them. We would throw all sorts of things at them to cause them harm, and we saw the results very clearly.”

The power over Christians was less effective, he adds, but those without a strong commitment to Christ were more vulnerable.

“These spells are not to be taken lightly,” he says.

To learn more

For more information on witnessing to those in cults, sects, and new religious movements, the North American Mission Board has an online resource, called a Belief Bulletin, which is free for the downloading. Visit www.namb.net, type in “occult” in the search engine in the top right corner, and click on the link that appears on the page.

The link will take you to a comprehensive list of bulletins; the information on Satanism is located in the “Other Resources” section at the bottom of the page in the bulletin titled “Occult Overview.”

The bulletins are provided as a service of NAMB through gifts received through the Cooperative Program.