8.06.2008
Remnants of the Ex-Satanist Movement
His name is Jeff Harshbarger, and he just wants to help you. Help you escape the evil clutches of Satan and his minions!
"Harshbarger and his wife Liz co-authored "From Darkness To Light: How to Rescue Someone You Love From the Occult," published in 2005 by Bridge-Logos of Gainesville, Fla. The couple has founded Refuge Ministries and hopes to have Bible study groups formed by this fall ... The book is partly an account of Harshbarger's own commitment to Satanism as an older teen, the collapse of his anti-faith and his journey back to God. It also offers a primer on forms of spiritualism and practical advice on presenting a Christian alternative for young people attracted to those and similar sects."
There is a certain sense of nostalgia in the air as I read this article, you just don't see the ex-Satanic cult members pop up the way they used to. This local news piece is really rather tame, to get some of the "good" stuff regarding Harshbarger's supposedly Satanic past, you have to dig a little deeper.
"We constructed a pentagram, stood within the pentagram, he [a "Satanist" he had met] prayed over me, and laid hands on me. When he laid hands on me, I was literally filled with a demon ... When a demon is around you or inside of you, with the sensation of their presence, you lie to yourself. You think that is your power level ... I saw each and every one of them [fellow cult members] become demon possessed, and I noticed something in my heart. My heart felt for them. It was like I was convicted. I knew it was wrong. It was like I knew this shouldn’t be happening. I fought that because I’m a satanist. I don’t care about anybody or anything but me. [But] Here I am a caring satanist. I began to ritually try to kill this part of me -- this heart, this part of me that cares."
Still, even that just doesn't seem very...evil. No crimes, no sacrifices, just a bunch of teens who think they're demon-possessed. Mike Warnke he isn't. But anyway, he's totally saved now, and wants to save kids from the occult, and has teamed up with ex-witch Annie Fintan to warn Christians about Wicca!
"We know what salvation is because our involvement in the occult nearly killed us. And, we have a passion to reach and effectively serve the youth that are being mislead into believing the lies of Wicca and Paganism. We desire to serve you, the parent, in giving you the tools to parent your child in these times. We desire to serve you, the pastor, in effectively helping the youth of your church, so that they will not need a reason to go looking for their answers anywhere else because the Answer is Jesus Christ. And, we desire to serve anyone who has been or knows someone who is considering or involved in Wicca and Paganism, because sometimes you just don't know what to do to reach those that you love."
Nowadays, anti-Pagan books are far more polite. Most Christians have learned their lessons regarding whipping up "Satanic Panics", and know that such spiritual scorched-earth tactics will often backfire. Instead, Christians are taking a cue from marketers, and spreading FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) under the guise of "informing" parents who are "concerned" about their child possibly getting mixed up with the "subtle dangers" of Paganism. Just be careful to not scratch their polite surface, or the old demonizing tactics will spill right out.
Jeff Harshbarger is a relic of a time when Paganism and other new religious movements hadn't fully emerged from the shadows and into the mainstream. When outright falsehoods could be bandied about without any real opposition or focused criticism. No doubt there will always be a segment of the Christian community who will see demons around every corner, but we can at least be thankful that the time of "Satanic" blood libel, and the merry band of un-convicted ex-Satanic criminals who profited from it, has shrunk to a petulant whisper.
Labels: Christianity, evangelism, Paganism, Satanic Panic, Satanism, Wicca
Comments:
I recently submitted a chapter to the forthcoming Handbook of Contemporary Paganism being put out by Brill; it's on media and the occult revival. One area I really enjoyed researching was the impact of the so-called "recovering" satanists and occultists as they were presented on shows like Geraldo and Oprah in the late 1980s. Remember the Matamoros Cult murders? Even though they took place in Mexico and there was only one American victim (the kid on spring break who was probably looking to score drugs, sex or both when he ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time), the shows decided to spice up their coverage of this crime with special guests like Lauren Stratford (who claimed her son had been kidnapped and murdered by occultists but who could never prove the crime since there was no physical evidence and the police were "in on it"). Other guests claimed to have been brought up in satan-worshipping families that sacrificed countless babies and children (like "Rachel" who suffers from multiple personality disorder), and others who were not directly involved in the occult who claimed to have had children and other loved ones murdered in "occult" rituals. One of these rituals consisted of a teenager beating another with a baseball bat; grisly as this is, how is it related to the occult? other than the heavy metal music the teens liked to listen to? It's not surprising the West Memphis Three debacle occurred amid such a circus-like atmosphere.
When, when, when will Christians learn that their "truth" is not the only truth? Why can't they just leave it out? I sincerely hope this IS the last gasp of the "satanic panic" brigade, but at least with the "satanism" slur we could just say, nope, we don't worship a being who is part of Christian cosmology. Now that they're rebranding us as "subtly dangerous", isn't that actually worse?
It certainly sounds like a last gasp to me. The panics of the 1980's were fueled in part precisely because the accounts were so lurid that they attracted a lot of attention. The account quoted above is lame - no sex, no sacrifices, no blood. Why would anyone bother getting involved in that, or even reading about it?
The "Satanic Ritual Abuse" folks essentially painted themselves into a corner. Once the evidence overwhelmingly showed that the accounts were made up, nobody was willing to believe the extreme stories any more. They toned them down, but the extreme accounts were precisely what kept people coming back to read more and as a result they lost most of their media presence.
If all they're left with is the above, I doubt their "movement" will go on for much longer.
You guys have no faith. The Spirit of the LORD shall again descend, and whip up some good old fashioned auto de fes. You just have to be friggin' patient.
Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING runs on a 25-30 year cycle. It's not a coincidence that Saturn cycles through its happy little dance of glee in that period as well.
It's about due. Just be patient.
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I recently submitted a chapter to the forthcoming Handbook of Contemporary Paganism being put out by Brill; it's on media and the occult revival. One area I really enjoyed researching was the impact of the so-called "recovering" satanists and occultists as they were presented on shows like Geraldo and Oprah in the late 1980s. Remember the Matamoros Cult murders? Even though they took place in Mexico and there was only one American victim (the kid on spring break who was probably looking to score drugs, sex or both when he ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time), the shows decided to spice up their coverage of this crime with special guests like Lauren Stratford (who claimed her son had been kidnapped and murdered by occultists but who could never prove the crime since there was no physical evidence and the police were "in on it"). Other guests claimed to have been brought up in satan-worshipping families that sacrificed countless babies and children (like "Rachel" who suffers from multiple personality disorder), and others who were not directly involved in the occult who claimed to have had children and other loved ones murdered in "occult" rituals. One of these rituals consisted of a teenager beating another with a baseball bat; grisly as this is, how is it related to the occult? other than the heavy metal music the teens liked to listen to? It's not surprising the West Memphis Three debacle occurred amid such a circus-like atmosphere.
When, when, when will Christians learn that their "truth" is not the only truth? Why can't they just leave it out? I sincerely hope this IS the last gasp of the "satanic panic" brigade, but at least with the "satanism" slur we could just say, nope, we don't worship a being who is part of Christian cosmology. Now that they're rebranding us as "subtly dangerous", isn't that actually worse?
It certainly sounds like a last gasp to me. The panics of the 1980's were fueled in part precisely because the accounts were so lurid that they attracted a lot of attention. The account quoted above is lame - no sex, no sacrifices, no blood. Why would anyone bother getting involved in that, or even reading about it?
The "Satanic Ritual Abuse" folks essentially painted themselves into a corner. Once the evidence overwhelmingly showed that the accounts were made up, nobody was willing to believe the extreme stories any more. They toned them down, but the extreme accounts were precisely what kept people coming back to read more and as a result they lost most of their media presence.
If all they're left with is the above, I doubt their "movement" will go on for much longer.
You guys have no faith. The Spirit of the LORD shall again descend, and whip up some good old fashioned auto de fes. You just have to be friggin' patient.
Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING runs on a 25-30 year cycle. It's not a coincidence that Saturn cycles through its happy little dance of glee in that period as well.
It's about due. Just be patient.
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