Know Your Satanic Symbols

Recently, the city of Concord, New Hampshire, the state capital, agreed to allow The Satanic Temple to set up a holiday display in the town square. The Temple has persistently been making requests to the city to install a monument as part of a “show of unity and religious pluralism.” They finally received a permit to set it up. They had threatened to file a lawsuit if it was not granted, and the city finally relented in order “to avoid litigation.” Concord has a policy that allows unattended displays at City Plaza during the holiday season, and to not allow The Satanic Temple to set one up would have constituted a legal violation. Ultimately, they had no choice but to allow it.

At this point, it is important to deal a little with the beliefs of The Satanic Temple. Most people, when they hear this name, make the mistake of thinking that this organization worships Satan. Actually, nothing could be further from the truth. The Satanic Temple adopted its name not because they are Satan worshippers, but because they wanted to draw attention to themselves.

They are actually an atheist organization. They are considered “atheistic Satanists,” as opposed to “religious Satanists.” Their stated purpose is to “encourage benevolence and empathy among all people, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense, oppose injustice, and undertake noble pursuits.” This is the group that has attempted to set up Satan Clubs in schools around the nation. They have not been at all successful in their efforts in this regard, but have frequently been able to put up their monuments on public property at Christmas. By this, they have gained a massive amount of publicity.

Many will be familiar with another organization called The Church of Satan. This is the oldest satanic religion in continual existence. It was founded in 1966 by Anton LaVey. His Satanic Bible sold nearly one million copies.

However, The Church of Satan is also an atheist organization and does not worship Satan. In fact, they don’t believe Satan even exists. In their view, Satan is “a positive archetype embracing the Hebrew root of the word ‘Satan’ as ‘adversary,’ who represents pride, carnality, and enlightenment” – which they consider humanity's natural instincts.

There do exist, though, actual Satan worshipping groups. These are called theistic or spiritual Satanists. They do believe in Satan, and participate in various worship rituals as a part of their practice. This includes such groups as the Temple of Set, The Order of Nine Angels, Joy of Satan, and Luciferianism. Each of these groups have their own unique practices, but do actually worship Satan.

While both of these types of Satanists exist in real life, they are actually very small groups. It is quite unlikely, though not impossible, that you would ever run into people who are a part of these organizations. But in case it happened, knowing the difference is quite important, because sharing a witness to people in the different groups would need to be handled differently.

Sharing Christ with atheistic Satanists would be no different from witnessing to any other Atheist. These religions are based on a naturalistic worldview, and sharing Christ with adherents would mean dealing with the issues that demonstrate how atheistic beliefs are not viable based on their own foundational worldview beliefs.

Sharing Christ with religious Satanists requires an entirely different approach. These people actually believe in the existence of a transcendent spiritual reality. But even here it needs to be noted that there are differences:

• The Temple of Set teaches that the word Satan is a corruption, and the real God of the universe is Set. They teach that he is the only real god in existence.
• The Order of Nine Angels is an extremist organization that even encourages human sacrifice. They consider doing acts that Christians deem to be evil is the only way to truly practice satanic worship.
• The Joy of Satan consists of more traditional Animists, and they believe in many gods and spirits.
• The Luciferians worship Lucifer as the true God, as opposed to Jehovah, and consider him the “destroyer, guardian, liberator, light bringer, and guiding spirit to darkness.”

Certainly, none of the people in any of these groups are Christians. That is what they have in common. Beyond that, though, there are significant differences, and Christians who want to be able to communicate the gospel to them in a way that they can understand need to know what those differences are.

Christian discipleship training is an essential part of every believers spiritual growth. Taking advantage of training opportunities that are offered at churches is something every Christian should do. But beyond that, you should also be proactive and seek out books and other training opportunities. It is a critical part of your spiritual growth.

Freddy Davis is the president of MarketFaith Ministries. He is the author of numerous books entitled The Truth Mirage, Rules for Christians Radicals, Liberalism vs. Conservatism, and his latest book Shattering the Truth Mirage and has a background as an international missionary, pastor, radio host, worldview trainer, and entrepreneur. Freddy is a graduate of Florida State University with a BS in Communication, and holds MDiv and DMin degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a popular speaker, particularly on the topic of worldview and its practical implications for the Christian life. He lives in Tallahassee, FL, with his wife Deborah.

You may also contact Freddy at Leadership Speakers Bureau to schedule him for speaking or leadership engagements.

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