Satanism

by Francis MacNutt
December 1992

Chances are, if you are in the healing ministry, you will some day run into Satanism — the most dangerous arena in the broad area of "deliverance from evil spirits."

Judith confronted it 15 years ago, when she was a Christian Counselor in Clearwater, Florida. One day a man came to her office on his first appointment, sat down and promptly announced that he was a warlock (a male witch) and had been sent to stop her. He boasted that he had already killed a number of people through Satan's power. Naturally, Judith was frightened and began praying. Suddenly the man seemed to see something above and behind her. His face changed to an expression of terror, and he stood up and bolted from the room.

Our sources indicate that there are some 62 covens of Satanists in our immediate area and that they have targeted our ministry by directing curses against us. So it helps us to be somewhat aware — at least — of who our enemies are, even as we concentrate our principal thoughts upon Jesus and upon all good and noble ideals.

Many people in our culture need deliverance from evil spirits, but that small but potent group of Satanists are those who explicitly worship Satan, in place of God — and they are directly opposed to what Christians hope to do. They are the ones, for example, who break into churches to desecrate it or hold their own secret services , such as a Black Mass.

We need to be aware that there are two basic groups of Satanists.

1) The first, the most common, are self–styled counter culture groups. Many of the members of these cults are rebellious young people, often mentally unstable, lonely and seeking some sort of group identity. Most come from dysfunctional families and are angry with their parents and churches. Some of them are do–it–yourself groups that have learned from Anton Lavey's Satanic Bible (which, by the way, is sold in our local Wahlen Bookstore). These groups became numerous in the 1960's and the young people are lured by promises of pleasure (sex and drugs) and power (such as striking fear into people by threats of curses and by achieving material success through Satanic intervention.) One of the signs identifying this group is that they are very open; they are proud of what they do and often boast. They usually don't remain quiet, because group members have a desperate need to be noticed.

2) The second group, on the other hand, is very secretive. Many of them are respected leaders of the community; doctors, educators, business leaders and sometimes, even, ministers. They are after the same things that Satan promises — but, most especially, power.

They are multi–generational with roots that go back at least as far as medieval Europe. The leaders often are brought into the coven before birth by being offered to Satan in their mother's wombs. Just as Christians are sealed by the Holy Spirit through Baptism, they are sealed unto Satan through their own rituals — which are a perversion of Christian worship. A coven is their basic unit and is something like a house church comprising of between 13 and 20 members. There is a regular calendar of Satanic feasts throughout the year (one being at Halloween) and many of them feature sexual orgies, torture and even human sacrifice or animal sacrifice where a human victim is not available. Just as Christians are protected by the shed blood of Jesus Christ, they drink the blood of their sacrifices to draw power from Satan.

Important for us: many of the members of a coven are dually socialized: that means that a young girl, for instance, grows up in a coven and is also sent to a Christian school. This has two purposes: one is clearly that the girl will remain undetected in ordinary society, the other is that she can later infiltrate church groups and do great harm there. Just last month a minister friend of mine shared how such an infiltrator, sent by a coven to break up his church, had been converted and confessed to him what she had been sent to do.

When these victims are dually socialized it naturally puts a tremendous strain on them. The coven, the most influential group in their lives, governs them by fear and distrust, while the outside world, at least, gives them some hints of love and trust. Can you imagine the torment of living in such a conflicted double life? In order to survive the most creative members of these covens have to develop multiple, split personalities. The children who grow up in these communities are usually physically tortured and sexually abused (and some are sacrificed), so they grow up with an overwhelming desire to please. They are brain–washed and programmed (we know of one mental health professional in our state who direct? their sophisticated, diabolical programming.) They have vows to destroy, and sometimes they kill their own members. As in the Mafia, members are terrified to tell any outsider what's really going on.

All these things I say, not to frighten, but to encourage those of you in the ministry, at the very least, to add to your daily prayers a plea asking God to protect you,

your families,

your churches,

and your ministries.

Here is a sample of one prayer you can say:

In the name of Jesus Christ, by the power of His cross and blood, we bind the spirits, powers and forces of the earth, the underground, the air, the water, the fire, the netherworld and the satanic forces of nature. We rebuke any curses, hexes, or spells and send them back to where they came from. We bind all interplay, interaction and communication in the world of evil spirits as it might affect us. We claim the protection of the shed blood of Jesus Christ over...

Note: This information is taken from an interview with a member of our Christian Healing Ministries staff: Mrs. Shloe Floerke–Flanagan, who has done extensive work ministering to victims of Satanic Ritual Abuse.

Francis MacNutt is a Founding Director and Executive Committee member of CHM.