THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SATANIC CULT INVOLVEMENT: AN ...

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chief Archon was frequently identified as the God of the old testament, an evil, sadistic,
vengeful and treacherous deity. For some Gnostics, the logical extension of this line of
reasoning was that Jehovah was the Devil and Satan a good angel. The serpent of Eden,
usually associated with the Devil, was perceived to be a "saviour, sent by the supreme
God to teach Adam and Eve the knowledge of good and evil, so that they could see the
evil nature of the world Jehovah had created" (Cavendish, 1967, p.292). In addition, the
emphasis on spiritual knowledge (gnosis) as the only path to the divine justified contempt
for conventional morality. Some Gnostics adopted a life-style of severe austerity, but
others, perceiving Jehovah's commandments as a means of subjecting man to His evil
will, actively adopted profligate lives and practised magic in defiance of Him. The
pursuit of experiences and activities forbidden by Christian morality thus became a moral
obligation. Consequently, although there is no evidence that the Gnostics actually
worshipped the Devil, their beliefs must certainly have fuelled Christian suspicion in this
regard. 2 However, from the twelfth century a number of heretical Christian sects - the
Cathars, Bogomils, and Luciferans - adopted ideologies broadly consistent with the
earlier Gnostic beliefs (Cavendish, 1967; 1977). In 1227, the Pope attempted to stamp
out heresy in Germany. Confessions made by Luciferans indicate that they may well have
been Satanists, worshipping the Devil as worldly creator and ruler, revelling in anti­
Christian rituals, and anticipating Satan's overthrow of God (Cavendish, 1967).
In 1307, members of the Order of Knights Templar were tried and convicted of Devil
worship, although the Church's motives for crushing this wealthy and powerful sect seem
to have been material and political, rather than spiritual (Carus, 1969; Cavendish, 1967;
1977).3 They allegedly renounced Christ, desecrated crucifixes, indulged in homosexual
2 Zacharias (1980) claims that the Gnostic heretics did engage in magical rites involving sexual orgies, at
which a demon, in animal form, was present. These orgies were aimed at cathartic purification of the soul,
and liberation from sensual desire. The Gnostics' fervid Christian beliefs and their goal of spiritual
cleansing means that these heretical rites were not truly satanic.
3 Ironically, despite the popular belief that Christians initiated the persecution of religious heretics by
attributing abominable anti-human acts to them, the fact is that Christians were originally the victims of
such practices in the second century AD (Cavendish, 1977; Eliade, 1976). The classical Graeco-Roman
world was unified by the authority ofthe emperor and reverent observance ofthe polytheistic religion ofthe
time. The Christians negated the beliefs and values of the pagan world, and were thus seen as a threat to