Facts about Satan
Equally renowned within Satanic circles, though not technically a Satanist, would be ritual magician Aleister Crowley, who referred to himself as "The Great Beast 666."
In Christianity, the concept of Satan is the amalgamation of both Jewish and Greek descriptions of evil.
Some literature, both rabbinical and apocalyptic, asserted that Satan first wielded his power in the Garden of Eden and this serpent wryly coerced Eve into eating the forbidden fruit.
The concept of Satan has also been a recurrent figure in numerous films, particularly those in the horror genre, including Rosemary's Baby (1968), The Exorcist (1973), The Omen (1976), and The Amityville Horror (1979).
In apocryphal works such as the Jubilees, the Testament of Reuben, and The Book of the Secrets of Enoch, Satan is considered to be the leader of the fallen angels.
Satan has most often been portrayed in Christianity as a horned creature, red in color, often having the hindquarters or body of hoofed animals, particularly the goat.
Satan is said to seize upon so little as a single word which may be prejudicial to man, and in times of danger, he consistently brings a barrage of accusations..
Most rhetoric produced by the ritual abuse scare of the 1980s is highly polemical, and regularly suggested that Satan actually appears in proximity to the said crimes in order to receive worship.
Consequently, as a rule, Jewish writings tend to contain more frequent mentions of Satan and his hosts.
Much "Satanic" lore does not originate from actual Satanists, but from Christians.
Adherents of Mormonism believe Jesus Christ and the Devil are actually siblings; Christ is a son of God in the flesh while Satan is His bodiless spirit son.
Satan and the Angel of death and destruction, "Abaddon," are sometimes claimed to be identical.
The proper name al-Shaitan "the tempter" is used to refer to Satan specifically when he is the tempter.
Satan's power was said to extend over the entire physical world as well as a legion of evil demons.
The majority of Christians also believe it was Satan who spoke through the Serpent and seduced Eve into disobeying God.
In 1 Chronicles 21:1, Satan incites David to commit the sin of taking a census of Israel.
Despite this activity, the prologue of the Book of Job makes clear that Satan has no power of independent volition of his own, and requires the permission of God to carry out his actions.
The ?atarudr?ya, a Shaivite hymn, says that Shiva is "of the form of Vishnu".
The Bahб'н teachings reveal that the figure of Satan, prevalent in many religions, is actually a metaphor for the "insistent self," or the self-serving inclination present within each human being.
Early rabbinic statements in the Mishna and Talmud show that Satan played a minor role in early Jewish theology.
Satan is also equated with "Ahriman," the Persian "Prince of Evil."
Despite the fact that Satan is addressed in this way, he is not seen as being an independent evil power, but instead as the lower nature present within every human being.
The Babylonian Talmud, for instance, states that the Evil Inclination (Yetzer ha-Ra), the Angel of Death and Satan are all identical.
After this fall from heaven, Satan is said to have tempted Adam and Even in the Garden of Eden as the Serpentand has since often been represented as a deceptive serpent hiding in the shadows.
The nominative satan in Hebrew ??????, referring to an "adversary" or "accuser," as well as the Arabic ????? (shaitan), derive from a Northwest Semitic root ??n, meaning "to be hostile," or "to accuse.
According to some Biblical interpretations, Satan was formerly the Angel Lucifer who fell from his exalted status for refusing to honor God.
Gnostic sects sometimes interpreted Satan as a positive figure since he had enabled knowledge to be brought forth, and thusly he was venerated in worship for this deed (see Gospel of Judas).
Satan (meaning "accuser") represents the arch enemy of God in the Abrahamic religions, who personifies evil and temptation, and is known as the deceiver that leads humanity astray.
Actual Satanic crimes do occur from time to time and may involve vandalism, cruelty to animals, or grave desecration.
Some Gnostics also claimed that the creator God worshiped by Jews and mainstream Christians had to be Satan, as the highest God could not bring forth a world of such imperfect nature.
Satan is commonly referred to in the New Testament text by the Greek term Diabolos, from which the word devil derives.
Origen argued that Satan fell before Adam had even been created, and therefore could have appeared in the Garden.
Within the Hebrew Bible, the term satan itself is applied both to supernatural entities and human beings.
Satan is primarily understood as an "accuser" or "adversary" in the Hebrew Bible, and is not necessarily the personification of evil that he would become in later Abrahamic religions.
Another prominent source of "Satanic" imagery is the musical genre of heavy metal, which has given Satanism the "Hail Satan!"
By the 2nd century C.E., the concept of Satan had inherited the characteristics of many ancient destructive nature spirits and ghosts, and became the unequivocal personification of evil.
A more recent example of this witch hunt mentality was the so-called "Satanic Panic" of the 1980s, which was incited by the memoir Michelle Remembers, co-written by psychiatrist Lawrence Pazder and Michelle Smith.
captures a common Satanic attitude, and is thought to be exemplified within the myth of Satan's rebellion.
The angel "Leviathan" is described as "that crooked serpent," which is also used to describe Satan in Revelation 12:9.
The normative Jewish concept, however, was and remains that Satan cannot be viewed as an independent agent, and therefore could not have perpetrated the aforementioned events.
Satan's powers are by no means uncontestable; when the Shofar (Horn) is sounded by Jews on New-Year's Day, Satan is said to be "confounded".
Perhaps the most prominent spokesman for Satanism in recent years has been Anton Szandor LaVey, who founded the Church of Satan in 1966.
God agrees to put Satan's theory to the test, and various misfortunes are visited upon Job as a test of his faith.
