Bible verse by verse

[_LeVay]

HAIL SATAN!

Conclusion

Modern Satanism is a loose, decentralized movement that coheres as a distinct religious community largely by virtue of participants’ adherence to the thought of Anton LaVey, especially as expressed in The Satanic Bible. Following the dissolution of the Church of Satan’s grotto system in 1975 and before the explosion of the Internet in the mid‐nineties, the Satanist movement was propagated almost entirely by The Satanic Bible, which has continuously been in print as a widely‐available, mass market paperback. 6 Despite this volume’s patchwork quality and haphazard genesis, it has come to play an authoritative, quasi‐scriptural role within the Satanist movement. It has also, by default, come to be regarded as a Satanically‐inspired scripture by certain groups of outsiders. In particular, ritual abuse and occult crime advocates have attributed to LaVey’s work characteristics drawn from popular stereotypes of Satanism‐stereotypes that are, for the most part, completely alien to the thought world of The Satanic Bible.

__________________________

Notes

1. Originally presented at the International CESNUR Conference, “Minority Religions, Social Change, and Freedom of Conscience.” Salt Lake City and Provo, June 20‐23, 2002. The first part of this paper has been adapted from sections of my earlier paper, “Who Serves Satan?” Certain sections of my discussion of Satanic crime have been adapted from my popular reference book, Satanism Today.

A special word of thanks to Satanists who provided me with thoughtful feedback on earlier drafts of this paper. One observation of particular note was that the social organization (or, perhaps more appropriately, disorganization) of modern Satanism could not accurately be characterized as a “movement,” “community” or “subculture.” I have nevertheless used these throughout the paper for lack of more adequate terminology. Another observation was that “conversion” was not appropriate in the context of Satanism. Again, however, I left this term in the paper for lack of a better word.

2. Jesper Petersen, a graduate student at the University of Copenhagen, recently wrote a short paper on internet Satanism. He relates that Alta Vista supplied him with more than a million hits with the word “Satan.” And that even a more focused search with the word “Satanism” gave him over 50,000 hits. Petersen observes that, “The sheer volume of information and almost frightening diversity combined with the dynamic development or evolution of the Internet itself, force any user to select promising paths and trust a few stable homepages.... these homepages provide everything from factual information for journalists, platforms for Satanic communities, printable articles and links to online bookshops, to gothic sex kittens, etc.” (Petersen, unpublished)

3. 110 (almost 80%) of my respondents were North American. Because European Satanism is a somewhat different phenomenon, one should be therefore be cautious about making inferences to European Satanism based on my survey findings.

4. Information on foreign language editions courtesy Peter H. Gilmore, High Priest of the Church of Satan.

5. Remarks like “We couldn’t come up with any other motive for the killing except devil worship”‐cited in Michael Newton’s Raising Hell (1993, p. 158)‐are simply emotional reactions to crimes that always have more mundane explanations. Newton’s sensationalistic book on “Satanic crime” contains at least a dozen cases of crimes in which The Satanic Bible supposedly played a role. Newton also takes “liberal” academics to task who criticize the notion of occult crime, referring to them as “cult apologists”‐as if they were somehow on the payroll of the Church of Satan or, perhaps more plausibly, as if their souls had been purchased by the Prince of Darkness himself.

6. For many years Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi was, in a roughly comparable way, almost solely responsible for bringing new recruits into the Self‐Realization Fellowship.


Bibliography

Aquino, Michael A. The Church of Satan. 4th ed. Self‐published, 1999.

Baddeley, Gavin. Lucifer Rising: Sin, Devil Worship and Rock’n’Roll. London: Plexus, 1999.

Bainbridge, William Sims. Satan’s Power. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978.

Barton, Blanche. The Secret Life of a Satanist: The Authorized Biography of Anton LaVey.
Los Angeles, CA: Feral House, 1990.

Ellis, Bill. Raising the Devil: Satanism, New Religions, and the Media. Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky, 2000.

Carlo, Philip. The Night Stalker: The True Story of America’s Most Feared Serial Killer. NY: Kensington Books, 1996.

Church of Satan official website. Selected essays linked to the “Theory and Practice” page.
http://www.churchofsatan.com

Lanning, Kenneth V. “A Law Enforcement Perspective on Allegations of Ritual Abuse.” In Daivd K. Sakheim & Susan E. Devine, eds. Out of Darkness: Exploring Satanism and Ritual Abuse. New York: Lexington Books, 1992.

LaVey, Anton Szandor. The Satanic Bible. New York: Avon, 1969

Lewis, James R. “Who Serves Satan? A Demographic and Ideological Profile.” Marburg Journal of Religious Studies 6:2. 2001.

____________. Satanism Today: An Encyclopedia of Religion, Folklore, and Popular Culture.
Santa Barbara: ABC‐Clio, 2001.

Moriarty, Anthony. The Psychology of Adolescent Satanism: A Guide for Parents, Counselors, Clergy, and Teachers. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1992.

Moody, Edward J.”Magical Therapy: An Anthropological Investigation of Contemporary Satanism.” In Irving I. Zaretsky and Mark P. Leone, eds. Religious Movements in Contemporary America. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1974.

Moynihan, Michael and Didrik Soderlind. Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground. Venice, CA: Feral House, 1998.

Necchi, Joe. “The Xloptuny Curse.” http://www.churchof satan.org/xloptuny.html.

Nemo. “Satanism and Objectivism.” http://www.churchofsatan.com/Pages/SatObj.html.

Newton, Michael. Raising Hell: An Encyclopedia of Devil Worship and Satanic Crime. New York: Avon Books, 1993.

Petersen, Jesper Aagard. “Binary Satanism: Being Dark and Secretive in a Prismatic Digital World.” Unpublished paper.

Rand, Ayn. Atlas Shrugged. New York: Random House, 1957.

Redbeard, Ragnar. Might is Right; or, The Survival of the Fittest. London: W.J. Robbins, 5th ed.1910. [Rpt. of 1896]

Richardson, James, Joel Best and David G. Bromley. The Satanism Scare. NY: Aldine de Gruyter, 1991.

Russell, Jeffrey Burton. Mephistopheles: The Devil in the Modern World. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1986.

Schreck, Zeena, and Nikolas Schreck. “Anton LaVey: Legend and Reality.” 1998.
http://www.churchofsatan.org/aslv.html

Smith, George C. “The Hidden Source of the Satanic Philosophy.” Originally published in The Scroll of Set, June 1987. Reprinted as Appendix 11 in Aquino 1999.

Victor, Jeffrey. Satanic Panic: The Creation of a Contemporary Legend. Chicago: Open Court, 1993.

Wright, Lawrence. “Sympathy for the Devil.” Rolling Stone September 5, 1991.

Diabolical Authority: Anton LaVey, The Satanic Bible
and the Satanist “Tradition”
James R. Lewis
University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, USA
Dept. of Philosophy and Religious Studies
Marburg Journal of Religion, Volume 7, No. 1 (September 2002)1

We have a Bible. We have a pro‐human dogma.
We have a church. We have a tradition.
— From the Church of Satan’s official website.

The status of The Satanic Bible as an authoritative scripture‐or, perhaps more accurately, as a kind of quasi‐scripture‐within the Satanic subculture was initially brought to my attention during my first face‐to‐face encounter with Satanists in the Spring of 2000. Via the internet, I had found a small Satanist group in Portage, Wisconsin, which was about an hour south of where I resided at the time. This group, the Temple of Lylyth, distinguishes itself from Anton LaVey’s brand of Satanism chiefly by its emphasis on feminine nature of the Dark Power. I arranged to meet with them in Portage on a Friday evening in connection with a research project on which I was working at the time.

Over the course of our conversation, the founder and then leader of the group mentioned that on Friday evenings he was usually downtown where a small group of fervent Christians regularly set up what might be called a “preaching station” to spread the Gospel. This young fellow (he was nineteen at the time) would confront them as a practicing Satanist. He always carried a copy of The Satanic Bible with him, not just so he could quote some of accusations LaVey leveled against Christianity, but also so he could correct anything these evangelists might say about Satanism by citing an authoritative source. I’m sure this is something of a caricature, but I was left with the impression of dueling religionists, Christians hurling Bible verses at my informant as he matched blow for blow with quotes from The Satanic Bible.

[_LittleNipper]

1 Kings 5:1-18 King Hiram of Tyre had been a continually loyal friend of David. When Hiram learned that David’s son Solomon was the new king of Israel, he sent ambassadors to congratulate him.

Solomon returned this following message to Hiram:

“You know that my father, David, was not able to build a Temple to honor the name of the Lord his God because of the many wars waged against him by surrounding nations. He could not build until the Lord gave him victory over all his enemies. But now the Lord my God has given me peace on every side; I have no enemies, and all is well. So I am planning to build a Temple to honor the name of the Lord my God, just as he had instructed my father, David. For the Lord told him, ‘Your son, whom I will place on your throne, will build the Temple to honor my name.’ Therefore, please command that cedars from Lebanon be cut for me. Let my men work alongside yours, and I will pay your men whatever wages you ask. As you know, there is no one among us who can cut timber like you Sidonians!”

Hiram received Solomon’s message, he was very pleased and praised the Lord for giving David a wise son to be king over the great nation of Israel.

Then he sent this reply to Solomon:

“I have received your message, and I will supply all the cedar and cypress timber you need. My servants will bring the logs from the Lebanon mountains to the Mediterranean Sea and make them into rafts and float them along the coast to whatever place you choose. Then we will break the rafts apart so you can carry the logs away. You can pay me by supplying me with food for my household.”

Hiram supplied as much cedar and cypress timber as Solomon wanted. In return, Solomon sent him a yearly payment of 100,000 bushels of wheat for his household and 110,000 gallons of pure olive oil. The Lord gave wisdom to Solomon, as promised. Hiram and Solomon made a formal alliance of peace. King Solomon conscripted a labor force of 30,000 men from throughout Israel. He sent them to Lebanon in shifts, 10,000 every month. Each man would be one month in Lebanon and two months home. Adoniram was in charge of this labor force. Solomon also had 70,000 common laborers, 80,000 quarry workers in the hill country, and 3,600 foremen. They quarried large blocks of high-quality stone and shaped them to make the Temple foundation. Men from the city of Gebal helped Solomon’s and Hiram’s builders cut and finish the timber and stone for the Temple.


Young's Literal Translation (YLT)

1 And Hiram king of Tyre sendeth his servants unto Solomon, for he heard that they had anointed him for king instead of his father, for Hiram was a lover of David all the days;

2 and Solomon sendeth unto Hiram, saying,

3 `Thou hast known David my father, that he hath not been able to build a house to the name of Jehovah his God, because of the wars that have been round about him, till Jehovah's putting them under the soles of his feet.

4 `And now, Jehovah my God hath given rest to me round about, there is no adversary nor evil occurrence,

5 and lo, I am saying to build a house to the name of Jehovah my God, as Jehovah spake unto David my father, saying, Thy son whom I appoint in thy stead on thy throne, he doth build the house for My name.

6 `And now, command, and they cut down for me cedars out of Lebanon, and my servants are with thy servants, and the hire of thy servants I give to thee according to all that thou sayest, for thou hast known that there is not among us a man acquainted with cutting wood, like the Sidonians.'

7 And it cometh to pass at Hiram's hearing the words of Solomon, that he rejoiceth exceedingly, and saith, `Blessed [is] Jehovah to-day, who hath given to David a wise son over this numerous people.'

8 And Hiram sendeth unto Solomon, saying, I have heard that which thou hast sent unto me, I do all thy desire concerning cedar-wood, and fir-wood,

9 my servants bring down from Lebanon to the sea, and I make them floats in the sea unto the place that thou sendest unto me, and I have spread them out there; and thou dost take [them] up, and thou dost execute my desire, to give the food of my house.'

10 And Hiram is giving to Solomon cedar-trees, and fir-trees, all his desire,

11 and Solomon hath given to Hiram twenty thousand cors of wheat, food for his house, and twenty cors of beaten oil; thus doth Solomon give to Hiram year by year.

12 And Jehovah hath given wisdom to Solomon as He spake to him, and there is peace between Hiram and Solomon, and they make a covenant both of them.

13 And king Solomon lifteth up a tribute out of all Israel, and the tribute is thirty thousand men,

14 and he sendeth them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month, by changes, a month they are in Lebanon, two months in their own house; and Adoniram [is] over the tribute.

15 And king Solomon hath seventy thousand bearing burdens, and eighty thousand hewing in the mountain,

16 apart from the heads of the officers of Solomon, who [are] over the work, three thousand and three hundred, those ruling over the people who are working in the business.

17 And the king commandeth, and they bring great stones, precious stone, to lay the foundation of the house, hewn stones;

18 and the builders of Solomon, and the builders of Hiram, and the Giblites hew, and prepare the wood and the stones to build the house.

[_LeVay]

HAIL SATAN!

Marburg Journal of Religion: Volume 7, No. 1 (September 2002)

Diabolical Authority:
Anton LaVey, The Satanic Bible and the Satanist "Tradition"1

James R. Lewis

University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, USA
Dept. of Philosophy and Religious Studies
eMail: jlewis@uwsp.edu

We have a Bible. We have a pro-human dogma. We have a church. We have a tradition. -From the Church of Satan's official website.

The status of The Satanic Bible as an authoritative scripture-or, perhaps more accurately, as a kind of quasi-scripture-within the Satanic subculture was initially brought to my attention during my first face-to-face encounter with Satanists in the Spring of 2000. Via the internet, I had found a small Satanist group in Portage, Wisconsin, which was about an hour south of where I resided at the time. This group, the Temple of Lylyth, distinguishes itself from Anton LaVey's brand of Satanism chiefly by its emphasis on feminine nature of the Dark Power. I arranged to meet with them in Portage on a Friday evening in connection with a research project on which I was working at the time.

Over the course of our conversation, the founder and then leader of the group mentioned that on Friday evenings he was usually downtown where a small group of fervent Christians regularly set up what might be called a "preaching station" to spread the Gospel. This young fellow (he was nineteen at the time) would confront them as a practicing Satanist. He always carried a copy of The Satanic Bible with him, not just so he could quote some of accusations LaVey leveled against Christianity, but also so he could correct anything these evangelists might say about Satanism by citing an authoritative source. I'm sure this is something of a charicature, but I was left with the impression of dueling religionists, Christians hurling Bible verses at my informant as he matched blow for blow with quotes from The Satanic Bible. This experience led me to pay attention whenever other Satanists mentioned The Satanic Bible.

The Temple of Lylyth is part of a loose, decentralized Satanic movement that coheres as a distinct religious community largely by virtue of adherence to certain themes in the thought of Anton LaVey, founder of modern Satanism, though few movement participants outside the Church of The basis for the current article is a paper on "The Satanic Bible" presented at the International CESNUR Conference, "Minority Religions, Social Change, and Freedom of Conscience." Salt Lake City and Provo, June 2023, 2002. Also, certain parts of this article have been adapted from sections of my earlier article, "Who Serves Satan?" (Lewis 2001)

A special word of thanks to Satanists who provided me with thoughtful feedback on earlier drafts of this paper, particularly feedback from several members of the Obsidian Enlightenment and the Temple of Lylyth. One comment of particular note was that the social organization (or, perhaps more appropriately, disorganization) of modern Satanism cannot accurately be characterized as a "movement," "community" or "subculture." I have nevertheless used these terms throughout for lack of more adequate terminology. Another comment was that "conversion" is not appropriate in the context of Satanism. Again, however, he left this term in the article for lack of a better word. Finally, I was informed that Satanists prefer to refer to their community as the Satanic community (movement, subculture, etc.) rather than the Satanist community; I have tried to adhere to this convention throughout the present article.

Satan would regard themselves as "orthodox LaVeyans" (something of an oxymoron). Following the dissolution of the Church of Satan's grotto system in 1975 and before the explosion of the internet in the mid-nineties, the Satanic movement was propagated almost entirely by The Satanic Bible, which has continuously been in print as a widely-available, mass market paperback. Rather than being a guide to Devil-worship, LaVey's work advocates a blend of Epicureanism and Ayn Rand's philosophy, flavored with a pinch of ritual magic. Couched in iconoclastic rhetoric, The Satanic Bible has always held particular appeal for rebellious adolescents. The title seems to have originally been chosen for its shock value rather than from any pretense to scriptural status.

The present article examines issues of authority within the Satanic movement and among LaVey's successors in the Church of Satan. The basis of this analysis will be Max Weber's discussion of the legitimation of authority. LaVey was a charismatic individual who appealed to the authority of reason and attacked the authority of tradition. However, LaVey, and particularly The Satanic Bible, soon became sources of authority for a new Satanic tradition-part of the process Weber referred to as the routinization of charisma.

[_LittleNipper]

2 Timothy 4:3

New International Version
For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

[_LeVay]

Are we trying to be subtle, LittleNipper?

[_LittleNipper]

I don't know ---- are WE?

[_LeVay]

I'm not. Are you?

[_LittleNipper]

In that case, I like the word "poignant."

[_LeVay]

In that case, I like the word "poignant."

But poignancy isn't necessarily one of your strengths, so maybe you should simply say whatever it is you're trying to say.

[_LittleNipper]

In that case, I like the word "poignant."

But poignancy isn't necessarily one of your strengths, so maybe you should simply say whatever it is you're trying to say.

LaVay is DEAD and Christ LIVES.