Satanism in Government

Demon from The Pilgrim’s Progress movie.

By The Right-Wing Teen

It’s a crazy culture we’re living in, when we see Satanism entering the mainstream of American public life…

As its name suggests, Satanism is the worship of Satan. This typically involves a travesty of Christian symbols and practices, such as placing a cross upside down. Contemporary religious practice of Satanism began with the founding of the Church of Satan by Anton LeVey in 1966, and more recently with the Satanic Temple.

Founded in 2013, the Satanic Temple is known for its activism on church and state issues. In April 2019, the group announced that the Internal Revenue Service had granted its request for tax-exempt status, making it comparable to a church.

“This acknowledgement will help make sure The Satanic Temple has the same access to public spaces as other religious organizations, affirm our standing in court when battling religious discrimination, and enable us to apply for faith-based government grants,” stated the group.

“Hail Satan?”

According to a new documentary that shows Satanists in a harmless light, members of the Satanic Temple are just “merry pranksters” who don’t even believe in Satan. They simply want to challenge the “religion-tinted actions of U.S. political establishments” and counterbalance the repressiveness of organized religion.

However, the Satanic Temple’s activities don’t suggest that they are merely a bunch of “merry pranksters.” Online reports give some idea of their activities:

• Bloodletting rituals (cheek-through-cheek piercings, etc.)
• Invocation and Destruction rituals
• Half-naked worshipers and pigs’ heads on spikes
• Ongoing screaming of “AVE SATANA! HAIL SATAN!”

Nevertheless, most Satanic Temple members would probably say that Satan doesn’t represent evil, but rather, freedom to do as they wish. Their website states: “Satan is symbolic of the Eternal Rebel in opposition to arbitrary authority… the heretic who questions sacred laws and rejects all tyrannical impositions.”

This is directly opposed to the Bible, which teaches that true freedom is not the right to do as one pleases, but the freedom to do what is right. Satanism is more like freedom from responsibility, as in “the devil made me do it,” which is far too often used to excuse our own bad choices.

Satan defied God and His rule. This would explain why Satanism appeals to left-leaning millennial anarchists. Its advocates have no problem breaching the “wall” between church and state to make satanic theology a component in their political activism.

Meanwhile, Satanism is being mainstreamed at an alarming rate…

• Popular movies and TV shows (“The Devils Carnival,” “Lucifer,” “Good Omens”) with Satanic themes.
• A whole line of Satanic products in Walmart’s online store. These include statues of the devil, pentagram pendants, and even the “Satanic Bible.”
• The launch of “After School Satan Clubs” in elementary schools across the nation in response to the evangelical Christian Good News Clubs at public schools.
• The unveiling in Detroit of a massive bronze statue of Baphomet (a goat-headed demon) sitting on a throne with a pentagram, and two children looking up to him.
• Attempts to put a statue of Satan in the Arkansas State Capitol grounds, in response to a privately funded Ten Commandments monument.
• The Satanic Temple’s “Snaketivity” statue displayed next to a Nativity scene, a Menorah, and a Christmas tree at the Illinois Statehouse rotunda.
• Black Masses at a public tax-funded center in Oklahoma City.
• Satanic “prayers” officially starting off city council meetings in Florida, Alaska, and Colorado.

Satanic invocations – coming soon to a city near you!

Three cities in Arizona – Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Sahuarita – have been under pressure to allow Satanists to deliver invocations at local government meetings. These invocations typically end with the phrase, “Hail Satan!”

The City of Nogales, Arizona, recently opened itself up to allowing invocations at public meetings, and it looks like Satanic “prayers” may be included.

“Asked if the Satanic Temple would be welcome at a Nogales City Council meeting, [Mayor Arturo] Garino said that he “wouldn’t even imagine what they would want to pray, but… if you’re going to open it up, it’s got to be open to everybody.’” Garino noted, “‘I’m a Catholic, [but] I don’t want to just concentrate on the Catholic Church, I want everybody to get an opportunity’” (NogalesInternational.com).

Satanic organizations have been trying to perform invocations elsewhere, too.

Umm… who would want to pray to Lucifer, the eternal loser? I think most of us want God’s blessings on America, not Satan’s curses. The mission of city councils has always been to promote the common good, not the Father of Lies.

Satan’s power lies in the realm of sin. Can you imagine what would happen if public officials actually allowed the Satanic principles of immorality, corruption, and vice to run rampant in their communities? It would be like living in a real-life dystopia.

Good vs. Evil

Satan is a fallen angel characterized by pride and deceit. The story of Lucifer’s fall is described in two key Old Testament chapters—Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14. Lucifer became so impressed with his own beauty, intelligence, power, and position that he began to desire for himself the honor and glory that belonged to God alone.

This pride represents the actual beginning of sin in the universe and it happened long before Satan, appearing as a serpent, deceived Eve in the Garden of Eden. The Bible says, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). Look at what we see today: black pride, white pride, gay pride, straight pride, girl pride, Asian pride, and so on, ad nauseam.

It already seems like American culture, from a moral and spiritual point of view, has degenerated into not only a prideful self-indulgent society, but also a dark culture of death as if led by the Prince of Darkness himself. How else do you explain all the abortions, suicides, mass shootings, murders and mayhem?

Even the basic concept of civil discourse – a long-standing tradition in American politics – has turned into nothing but shouting matches and hurling insults, fueled by hatred and pierced with violence.

From secularization, to secularism, and now Satanism – God is being taken out of the equation. And yet at the end of the day, He is the only one who can say “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).

Some people are trying to normalize Satanism and imply that Satanism is not really all that bad. However, “those who call evil good and good evil, who turn darkness into light and light into darkness, who turn bitter into sweet and sweet into bitter, are as good as dead” (Isaiah 5:20).

Satan is evil, and not to be trifled with. Leaving the door open to Satanism poses a serious threat to society, and Christians are going to have their work cut out for them.

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12).