The Rise and Fall of Satanism

Satanic rituals performed by black-​robed priests in dark cellars, chanting prayers over bound victims on an altar, with flickering candles casting eerie shadows on the walls as the worship of their god, Satan, proceeds. Drawn close by the secret knowledge of some shared mystery with a touch of the supernatural, the young participants on this journey into the occult relish the tingle of excitement that fills the air. They draw close with an uncanny feeling of an exclusiveness that they alone possess.

A harmless, passing fad? Or a demonic evil pervading today’s society?

REAMS have been written in newspapers, magazines, and books about the lurid deeds of satanic cults. Details of the widespread activity of violent satanic groups have been aired on national television and radio. It has become a major problem for police in both the small and the big cities in America, Canada, and Europe.

Satanism has a special lure for today’s youths. The founder of the Church of Satan explains why, as reported in ’Teen magazine of June 1993: “Instead of commanding members to repress their natural urges, we teach that they should follow them. This includes physical lust, the desire for revenge, the drive for material possessions.”

How Satan must be pleased with this diabolically inspired ideology, since it goes counter to God-​inspired Christian principles!

Satanism is on the rise. It is a growing menace, but its demise is imminent. Its god is under sentence of death. So is Satan’s world and its supporters, for “the whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one.” (1 John 5:19; Romans 6:16) To Satan’s worshipers and to all others who are knowingly or unknowingly serving Satan’s purposes, Jehovah’s message is: “The God who gives peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly.”​—Romans 16:20.

What future will then come to suffering humanity from “the God who gives peace”? The three articles that follow will show the rise and fall of Satanism and the conditions on earth that will replace it.