Satanic Panic

The Scriptures are clear: there is a malevolent being, a fallen angel, we know as Satan. He tempts and troubles humans that have been created in the image of God, and although powerful, being a created being, his power is limited. God has given believers the tools to resist him but religious hucksters take advantage of those who are not been well taught. Mike Warnke was one who took advantage of that with his 1972 book Satan Seller.  His claim was that he was a former high priest of Satan who had become a Christian. He was a much sought-after speaker, and his "insights" spurred an entire Satanic Panic industry in the 1980s and 1990s. 

He was exposed as a fraud in the 1993 book Selling Satan: The Tragic History of Mike Warnke by Michael Hertenstein and Jon Trott but the claims of Satanic Ritual Abuse numbered in the thousands by the late 1990s, aided by books like Michelle Remembers, Satan's Underground and others. Satan's primary goal is deception. He is fine with deceiving humans that he does not exist and fine with deceiving them into believing he is more powerful than he is. Either way, he distracts them from God. A young lady from Kenya, Wanjiru Ng'ang'a, wrote an interesting article, A Warning Call: The Pitfalls of Seeking Wisdom on Evil from Ex-Satanists:   

"As ex-Satanists recount their experiences, they often attribute their freedom to specific rituals, prayers, or actions they believe were instrumental in their deliverance. From experience, they present these actions as essential components of any “deliverance” process. Hence, implying that others must employ similar methods to achieve spiritual victory over demonic forces.

"However, most of them are at best suspect since they often don’t align with how the Bible teaches believers to approach spiritual warfare.

"Again, this is not to say that are lying; rather, I wish to remind us that at the end of the day we should prioritize the sufficiency of God’s Word in shaping our understanding of spiritual warfare and guard against adopting extrabiblical practices."

In 2004, we published an article by a pastor who had been heavily involved in the deliverance ministry for over 25 years. He came to realize he needed to make a change from focusing on the demonic to focusing on God and His word. The change in focus brought him to ask, Hey…Where Did The Devil Go? 

https://mailchi.mp/a1d428ad5a47/fear-no-evil?e=169825fd77