Satan / Sheitan (Video Satanism In Iran)

**donsaeid** · 07-29-2006, 04:57 AM

In Rabbinic literature

Early rabbinic Jewish statements in the Mishnah and Talmud show that Satan played little or no role in Jewish theology. In the course of time, however, Judaism absorbed the popular concepts of Satan, most likely inherited from Zoroastrianism. The later a rabbinic work can be dated the more frequent is the mention therein of Satan and his hosts.[16] The Palestinian Talmud, completed around 400 CE has provenance similar to that of the New Testament and is more reserved in its use of Satan. However large portions of this version of the Talmud in its original form have been lost.

An example is found in Genesis: The serpent who had Eve eat the forbidden fruit. The consensus of the Biblical commentators in classical Judaism is that the serpent of the narrative in Genesis was literally a serpent. They differ regarding what it represented: The evil inclination (Yetzer HaRa), Satan, or the Angel of Death. Others have suggested that the serpent was a phallic symbol. According to the Midrash, before this cunning beast was cursed, it stood erect and was endowed with some faculty of communication.

The normative Jewish concept, however, was and remains that Satan cannot be viewed as an independent agent. In the Babylonian Talmud [17], Rabbi Levi asserts that "everything Satan does is for the sake of heaven." When another rabbi preached a similar idea in his town, it is said that Satan himself came and "kissed his knees."

The Babylonian Talmud[18] also states that the Evil Inclination (Yetzer ha-Ra), the Angel of Death and Satan are identical.

In a midrash[19] Samael, the chief of the satans (a specific order of angel, not a reference to demons), was a mighty prince of angels in heaven. Samael came into the world with woman, that is, with Eve[20], so that he was created and is not eternal. Like all celestial beings, he flies through the air[21], and can assume any form, as of a bird [22], a stag[23], a woman [24], a beggar, or a young man [25]; he is said to skip [26], an allusion to his appearance in the form of a goat.

In some works some rabbis hold that Satan is the incarnation of all evil, and his thoughts are devoted to the destruction of man. In this view, Satan, the impulse to evil and the angel of death are one and the same personality. Satan seizes upon even a single word which may be prejudicial to man; so that "one should not open his mouth unto evil," i.e., "unto Satan"[27]. Likewise, in times of danger, he brings his accusations (Jerusalem Talmud, Shabbat 5b). While he has power over all the works of man (Talmud Berachot 46b), he can not prevail at the same time against two individuals of different nationality; so that Samuel, a noted astronomer, physician and teacher of the Law (died at Nehardea, 247), would start on a journey only when a Gentile traveled with him [28].

Satan's knowledge is not everpresent; for when the shofar is sounded on New-Year's Day he is "confounded" [29]. On the Day of Atonement his power vanishes; for the numerical value of the letters of his name (gematria and Hebrew numerals) is only 359, one day being thus exempt from his influence [30].

One rabbi notes that Satan was an active agent in the fall of man [31], and was the father of Cain [32], while he was also instrumental in the offering of Isaac [33], in the release of the animal destined by Esau for his father [34], in the theophany at Sinai, in the death of Moses [35], in David's sin with Bath-sheba [36], and in the death of Queen Vashti [37]. The decree to destroy all the Jews, which Haman obtained, was written on parchment brought by Satan [38]. When Alexander the Great reproached the Jewish sages with their rebellion, they made the plea that Satan had been too mighty for them [39].

Not all Rabbinic commentators agreed on Satan's spiritual nature. Rabbi Saadia Gaon, an 11th century philosopher and scholar, wrote in his commentary to the Book of Job that Satan was simply a human being who resented Job's righteousness and called upon God to test him. This interpretation rests on a literal reading of the Hebrew word שטן or "adversary", which Saadia claims refers only to the intentions of the individual in question and not to any spiritual or supernatural status.

In the Hebrew Apocrypha

In Wisdom ii. 24 Satan is represented, with reference to Gen. 3, as the father of all lies, who brought death into the world; he is apparently mentioned also in Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 21:27, and the fact that his name does not occur in Daniel is doubtless due merely to chance. Allegedly, Satan was the seducer and the paramour of Eve, and was hurled from heaven together with other angels because of his iniquity [40]. Since that time he has been called "Satan," although previously he had been termed "Satanel" [41].

The doctrine of the fall of Satan, as well as of the fall of the angels, is found also in Babylonia. Satan rules over an entire host of angels [42]. Mastema, who induced God to test Abraham through the sacrifice of Isaac, is identical with Satan in both name and nature [43], and the Asmodeus of the Book of Tobit is likewise to be identified with him, especially in view of his licentiousness. As the lord of satans, he frequently bears the special name of Samael.

It is difficult to identify Satan in any other passages of the Apocrypha, since the originals in which his name occurred have been lost, and the translations employ various equivalents. An "argumentum a silentio" can not, therefore, be adduced as proof that concepts of Satan were not wide-spread; but it must rather be assumed that reference to him and his realm is often implied in the mention of evil spirits.

Satan in Christianity

Main article: Devil in Christianity

In Christianity, the Devil is named Satan, sometimes Lucifer. He is a fallen angel who rebeled against God, and is now the king of Hell. In the Bible, he is identified with the serpent in the Garden of Eden, the Accuser of Job, the tempter of the Gospels, and the dragon in the Book of Revelation. Traditionally, Christians have understood the Devil to be the author of lies and promoter of evil.

**donsaeid** · 07-29-2006, 04:58 AM

Satan in Islam

Shaitan (شيطان) is the equivalent of Satan in Islam.

"When you read the Qur'ân, seek refuge in Allah from the rejected Shaitan". [An-Nahl:98]

While Shaitan (شيطان, from the root šṭn ش⁬ط⁬ن) is an adjective (meaning "astray" or "distant") that can be applied to both man ("al-ins", الإنس) and Jinn, Iblis (pronounced /'ib.liːs/) is the personal name of the Shaitan who is mentioned in the Qur'anic account of Genesis, and whose origin is unclear.

Whenever the Qur'an refers to the creature who refused to prostrate before Adam at the time of the latter's creation, it refers to him as Iblis. The Islamic view of Iblis has both commonalities and differences with Christian and Jewish views.

Satan and Adam and Eve

As per the Qur'an, before the creation of Man, Allah created the Angels — which had no free will — and the Jinn. Later Allah created Adam, and ordered all the angels and jinns to bow to him. All the angels did so except Iblis, who was a chief of the Djinn, creatures made of smokeless fire. Iblis was proud and considered himself superior. Iblis argued that he is superior to Adam, who is made of modified clay, while he himself is made of smokeless fire. For this Allah damned him to Hell for eternity, but gave him respite till the Doomsday at his request. Then and there Iblis swore that he would use his time to lead all men astray to burn in hell.[44]

After their creation, Adam and Hawwa' (حواء, Eve) dwelt in Paradise (الجنة, AlJannah), where Allah forbade them to go near the cursed tree. "The Shaitan" (or al-Shaitan in Arabic), tricked Adam and Hawwa' into eating from the tree. Allah then expelled all of them from Heaven and onto Earth, to wander about, as a punishment. Then Adam sought to repent to Allah, and Allah taught him the words by which to do so. Allah forgave Adam and Hawwa' and told them "Get ye down all from here; and if, as is sure, there comes to you Guidance from me, whosoever follows My guidance, on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve. [45]." Iblis will try to influence as many of their descendants as he possibly could into sin, so as to be his companions in his final destiny into Hell.

For a more full account of the creation of Adam, the refusal of Iblis to prostrate before him, and a description of the devil in Islam see Iblis.

Satanism

There are historical records of people worshipping Satan, though their authenticity used to be questioned, especially considering the sources. Today, some people identify themselves as Satanists or Luciferians, depending on their specific beliefs. Of these, some claim that Satan is a real being, some view him as a symbol for the animal desires of humans, and some view him as a symbol for the rebellious or independent aspects of humanity. Many that hold this latter view are members of the Church of Satan established in the 1960s by Anton LaVey.

Satan in fiction

Main article: Satan in fiction

* In The Divine Comedy, Satan is described as an enormous three-headed monster. In his first mouth is Judas Iscariot; in the second, Cassius Longinus and in the third, Marcus Junius Brutus. According to the story, each of them will be ripped apart by Satan's jaws for eternity. The story depicts Satan as trapped waist-deep in the frozen lakes of hell, relentlessly beating his six enormous wings as he tries to break free from the ice but the icy-cold winds thus generated strengthen even more the ice's hold on him and everyone else in the ninth circle of hell.
* Satan is the protagonist of John Milton's Paradise Lost.
* In the television show South Park, a caricatural of Satan is a recurring character who has had significant homosexual relationships with several doomed souls in Hell, including Saddam Hussein.
* In the show Retarded Animal Babies, Satan appears in many episodes, sometimes projected as the nice guy, sometimes as the evil guy. He seems to appear out of the ground, with a perticular theme song. He has spikes coming out of everywhere on his body.
* In the television show Futurama, there is no real devil, but a robot devil. He has a sly voice, and likes to bargain with Bender. He is a gambling robot, and also is talented at playing the fiddle. 'Robot Devil' rarely shows his good side.
* In Jerry Springer - The Opera, Satan is portrayed as a suave man in a red-suit. Upon taking Jerry Springer down to hell to solve his problems alongside Adam, Eve and the Virgin Mary, he demands an apology from Jesus but is later rebuked by God and Jerry Springer himself.

* In Go Nagai's manga Devilman, Satan is a beautiful and sensual hermaphrodite angel who is in love with the hero.
* In Death Metal band Deicide's lyrics, Satan is portrayed as a raw force of free will, diametricaly opposed to the dogma of Christian martyr Jesus Christ.

**donsaeid** · 07-29-2006, 04:59 AM

Satan is the adversary of God. Thus, Satan is evil personified. Many followers of the Bible consider Satan to be a real being, a spirit created by God. Satan and the other spirits who followed him rebelled against God. They were cast out from Heaven by their Creator. Theologians might speculate as to why the Almighty did not annihilate the "fallen angels," as He is said to have done to his other creations when they failed to be righteous (save Noah and his family, of course). Satan was allowed to set up his own kingdom in Hell and to send out devils to prowl the earth for converts. The demonic world seems to have been allowed to exist for one purpose only: to tempt humans to turn away from God. Why God would allow Satan to do this is explained in the Book of Job. When Job asks why God let Satan torment him the answer is blunt and final: Hath thou an arm like the Lord? The story of Job is interpreted in many different ways by theologians but my interpretation is that nobody knows why God lets Satan live and torment us. God is God and can do whatever He wants. Ours is not to question why, ours is but to do and die.

Satan, being a spirit, is neither male nor female. However, like his Creator, Satan is usually referred to as a masculine being. Many believe that Satan, or the Devil as he is often called, can "possess" human beings. Possession is bodily invasion by the devil. The Catholic Church still performs exorcisms on those considered to be possessed. Jesus is said to have cast out demons, i.e., performed exorcisms, and the Church considers itself to have been given this same power by Jesus. Throughout the centuries, many pious religious people have erroneously considered those with certain mental or physical illnesses to be possessed by Satan.

More frequent than outright possession, however, has been the accusation of being in consort with the devil. Satan is believed to have many powers, among them the power to manifest himself in human or animal form. The consorting has been recorded as often being purely physical and mostly sexual. For most of the history of Christianity there are reports of Satan having sex with humans, either as an incubus (male devil) or succubus (female devil). Witches and sorcerers were thought by many to be the offspring of such unions. They are considered especially pernicious because they inherit some of the devil's powers.

According to Carl Sagan, accounts of diabolical intercourse are common cultural phenomena:

Parallels to incubi include Arabian djinn [jinn], Greek satyrs, Hindu bhuts, Samoan hotua poro, Celtic dusii... (Sagan 1995, 124).

However, as a child being instructed in the ways of Satan by Dominican sisters, stories of nuns being raped by incubi in a priest's clothing were assuredly not told. The Devil was there to tempt us to sin, pure and simple. He was not there to have sex with us or engage in reproductive experimentation or breed a race of witches and magi. To be sure, his main temptations would be sexual. There was no doubt that He spent a lot of time using girls to tempt boys into impure thoughts and deeds. He would invade our minds continuously during adolescence, planting desires for sexual experiences too evil to be mentioned much less performed. I suppose, to be fair, the girls should have been taught to be wary of boys trying to get them to yield to sexual temptation and that we would use every trick in the devil's arsenal to get them to go "all the way." But the girls were taught that they were the temptresses and were therefore the ones who needed to keep from harming the boys with their female charms. We were taught to pray constantly, implore the intercession of the saints and the Holy Mother of God, that they might give us protection against the snares of Satan. It must have occurred to many observers that the fear of Satan seems very much like fear of our own sexuality.

innocent angels

For all the instruction we were given on the Evil One, I don't remember ever being taught about Pope Innocent VIII and his persecution of witches and heretics. The Pope proclaimed in a Bull that "evil angels," i.e., devils, were having sex with many human men and women. He was not the first to have made this claim. Others before him, such as Thomas Aquinas, had explored this territory in great detail. Thomas reminds us that since the devil is not human, he can't produce human seed. So, he must transform himself into a woman, seduce a man, keep the seed, transform into a male, seduce a woman and transfer the seed. Something of the devil is captured by the seed along the way, so the offspring are not normal. Apparently it took Satan a long time to figure out that if he wanted to control the world, the best way to do it would be to breed with humans. Invading our bodies would be more efficient and effective than trying to invade our minds. But the Pope and many other pious men had a plan to exterminate the diabolical offspring: they would torture and burn them all! They would fight fire with fire! The Devil would not outdo them. In fact, the sadistic and monstrous behavior of the holy and pious inquisitors is almost enough to make a skeptic believe in Satan. The inquisitors were nothing short of diabolical.

One of the more interesting aspects of Satanology is the recurring theme of humans making a pact with the devil. The Faust legend is the best-known of these: in exchange for one's soul, Satan will bestow one with wealth or power for a specified time. In most versions of the story, Faust tricks the devil and avoids payment. In the original, the devil mutilates and kills Faust at the end of the contract. His brains are splattered on the walls of his room, his eyes and teeth lie on the floor and his corpse rests outside on a dunghill (Smith, 269).

**donsaeid** · 07-29-2006, 05:00 AM

Today, there are still those who believe Satan is a real being, but we hear few stories of incubi and succubi any more. The closest thing we have to such stories are alien abduction accounts and star children. Fortunately, for today's alien abduction victims with similar tales of sexual experimentation--the devil being replaced with aliens from outer space--there is no equivalent to the medieval Church to persecute, torture, or exterminate them.

It is interesting, though, that most of these murderers and torturers feel some need to at least appear as if they are doing good while they commit their horrors. What drives the terrorist or ethnic cleanser today to their abominations, or the witch hunters to their destruction of families, seems to be the same forces that drove the pious enforcers of the Inquisitions. Their behavior is almost enough to make a skeptic think that maybe Satan does exist--in the souls of these good people fighting for their noble causes.

From a philosophical perspective, the universal belief in evil demons is based on the need for an explanation of the enormous quantity of moral and physical evil pervading human existence for our entire history. I suppose, too, that devils in some way serve to excuse our own evil actions and mitigate our sense of responsibility for the harm we do. Psychologically, demons may well be a projection of ourselves, the worst part of our nature or the most feared part of our own nature. From a literary perspective, demons must exist. If they didn't, we'd have to invent them. They seem essential to so much of our storytelling--more essential, perhaps, than their goodly counterparts.

the waning of Satan's power

As the power of the Christian Church has waned, so too has the power of Satan. It is no accident that Satan reached the peak of his career at the same time the Church did, during the thirteenth century. During the Middle Ages, the Devil was said to have built Hadrian's wall between Scotland and England, moved huge stones to construct megalithic stone circles and dolmens, built bridges such as that at Saint-Cloud and the Pont de Valentre at Cahors, for the price of the soul of the first one who crossed the bridge, etc. Satan could perform magic, but it must be remembered that the Christian religion is basically a religion of magic, of sacraments which protect one from Satan and which change bread and wine into Christ, of miracles which contravene the natural order for good or ill, of resurrection from the dead and of the promise of eternal life. Satan represents the obverse of that order: black magic, pacts with the devil, wonders done contravening the natural order, the promise of eternal youth and wondrous powers. The Satanic Order was the creation of the Church, necessary to establish its own power over the world. Heretics, witches and sorcerers were a threat to the world dominion of the Church. They had to be eradicated. As the enemies of the Church grew more numerous and more powerful, so did the reign of terror grow and so did the power of the Church get established more and more firmly.

As the power of Christianity waned as the dominant social and political force in western culture, so too did the power of Satan. By the eighteenth century, in Europe at least, witch and heretic burnings had all but ceased. Today, most of us in the Christian world would consider it primitive and barbaric to suggest that anyone be hounded or killed for communing with Satan. Even those who are allegedly doing evil in the name of Satan are usually pursued for the evil they do, not for their alleged association with the devil. It is likely that most police officers, if they had to deal with crimes committed by Satan worshippers, would view the criminals as deluded rather than as really communing with otherworldly beings.

If the rise of modern science had anything to do with the fall of the Christian Church from its position of supreme influence in western culture, then modern science can take partial credit for the exorcism of Satan from western consciousness. Of course, the Devil is not dead yet but he gets his power from God, and as God's power wanes so does Satan's. Someday, perhaps, both God and Satan will become impotent strangers to the human imagination. But don't count on it. Many theists today believe that the evils of today's world, and they are many as we all know, are due to the rise of Satan and the decrease of religious influence. If they had their way, we would all be praying more and working against the snares of the devil. I, however, think we have more to fear from these pious people than we do from the Devil or his admirers. Some might even go so far as to identify these pious advocates of constitutional amendments for prayer in schools as devils in disguise. I don't think so, though when you have God's children murdering people at abortion clinics, there really doesn't seem to be much need for Satan. In fact, if Satan and his crew returned to earth they'd find that all the good jobs for devils have been taken by the pious of the earth.

Finally, there are the modern day Satanists who find solace and power in occult magick, but especially in anything anti-Christian. They draw their inspiration from the great works of imagination in art, literature, and policy created primarily by pious Christians in their zealous wars against their enemies, but also created by pre-Christian cults such as the Egyptian cult of Set or by non-Christian occultists such as Aleister Crowley and Anton LaVey. Today's Satanists have been blamed by pious Christians for ritual murders of children, mutilation and sacrificial killings of animals, writing backwards messages on musical recordings instructing people to kill, sending subliminal or secret messages through diabolical symbols on pizza boxes or soap wrappers, causing the general decay of morals and civilization as we know it, etc. The Satanists deny it. The evidence is not very strong that the Satanists are either as evil or as powerful as their enemies say they are. There is strong evidence for the strength and wickedness of the pious. Witness their witch-hunts in recent years against child care workers and parents and relatives of children. The evidence is strong that the pious have frequently and unjustly accused many of satanic ritual abuse of children. And they have been aided in the witch-hunt by devoted therapists and pious police and prosecutors.

**donsaeid** · 07-29-2006, 05:02 AM

1. Modern Prometheus

Anton Szandor LaVey never expected to be the founder of a new religion, but he saw a need for something publicly opposing the stagnation of Christianity, and knew that if he didn’t do it, someone else, probably less qualified, would.

LaVey saw there must be a new representative of justice, someone who understood the torments of being human, who shared our own passions and foibles yet was somehow wiser and stronger. He began to realize that most of our progress in science and philosophy had been achieved by those who rebelled against “God” and the Church, or the dictates of conventional society. We needed a representative for that revolutionary, creative, irrepressible spirit within us. The single figure who fit the bill was clear to LaVey from an early point in his life; a deity whose rebellious, passionate nature had been described, either in awe or fear or both, from the dark beginnings of time.

Satan, by one name or another, haunted mankind, tempting him with sweet delights and enlightening him with blinding secrets intended only for gods. He was one who could be petitioned for powers of retribution and who gave deserved rewards. Instead of creating sins to insure guilty compliance, Satan encouraged indulgence. He was the single deity who could really understand us.

2. The Magic Circle / Order of the Trapezoid

From the early 1950’s, Anton LaVey explored some of these ideas, eventually gaining a reputation as a powerful black magician and San Francisco character. Others who felt aligned with his philosophy gravitated to him, gathering in his notorious Victorian “Black House.” In accordance with LaVey’s explorations of demonic geometry, they took to wearing an odd-shaped black and red medallion adorned with a bat-winged demon and formed a group called the Order of the Trapezoid, which later evolved into the governing body of the Church of Satan. Those who attended LaVey’s soirees always comprised an array of professions and pursuits: “the Baroness” Carin de Plessen—who grew up in the Royal Palace of Denmark, Dr. Cecil Nixon—magician and eccentric extraordinaire, underground filmmaker Kenneth Anger, as well as artists, attorneys, doctors, writers, and law enforcement officers. City Assessor Russell Wolden might share the room with Donald Werby, one of San Francisco’s most influential property owners; anthropologist Michael Harner with writer Shana Alexander. A ship’s purser might be seated next to a deep-sea diver, a dildo manufacturer next to a plastic surgeon. A famous tattoo artist, the grandson of a U.S. president, the owner of one of the world’s largest collections of Fabergé artifacts—all attended LaVey’s get-togethers. The field of fantasy and science fiction personages alone yielded the likes of Anthony Boucher, August Derleth, Robert Barbour Johnson, Reginald Bretnor, Emil Petaja, Stuart Palmer, Clark Ashton Smith, Forrest J. Ackerman, Fritz Leiber, Jr., to name a few, into LaVey’s circle of magical compatriots.

LaVey wanted to establish something new, not strict doctrines awash with attitudes of blind faith and worship, but something which would smash all concepts of anything that had come before, something to break apart the ignorance and hypocrisy fostered by the Christian churches. Something, too, that could free people to apply the black magic he and his Magic Circle were using. Anton became convinced he was learning methods to harness the dark forces which cause “a change in situations or events in accordance with one’s will which would, using normally accepted methods, be unchangeable,” as LaVey defines magic.

Anton expanded and refined his formulas for the Magic Circle rituals and began achieving precise results—professional advances, unexpected rewards, monetary gain, sexual or romantic satisfaction, the elimination of certain enemies—it was apparent to everyone involved that Anton had indeed tapped into that mysterious Dark Force in Nature.

There was the magic—and there was a workable philosophy to go along with it. It was a down-to-earth, rational, bedrock philosophy that emphasized the carnal, lustful, natural instincts of man, without imposing guilt for manufactured sins. To break apart the crust of stupidity and irrationality fostered over the past 2000 years, LaVey knew it was necessary to blast its very foundations. His ideas could not be presented as just a “philosophy”—that would be too easy to pass off or overlook. LaVey would blasphemously form a religion and, even more, he would call his new organization a church, consecrated not in the name of God but in the name of Satan. There had always been a Satanic underground, centuries old, but there had never been an organized Satanic religion, practicing openly. LaVey decided it was high time there was.

3. The Church of Satan

Anton knew the date upon which the first Church of Satan must be established. It would have to be during the traditional night of the most important demonic celebration of the year, when witches and devils roam the earth, orgiastically glorifying the fruition of the Spring equinox: Walpurgisnacht, the night of April 30th—May 1st.

LaVey shaved his head as part of a formalized founding ritual, in the tradition of medieval executioners, carnival strongmen, and black magicians before him, to gain personal power and enhance the forces surrounding his newly-established Satanic order. It was the enactment of an allusion at the end of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Kubla Khan: an incantation rejecting the Holy Trinity and the spiritual life in favor of one devoted to Hell and material pursuits.

Shaving the head is also traditional to the Yezidi devil worshippers as a rite of passage that the emerging adept must perform. The razor for this rite is washed in the waters of Zamzam, the subterranean well of Islam said to be the point of origin for underground streams flowing under the Seven Towers of Satan. The caverns beneath the Towers are supposedly tributaries leading to the place of the Satanic Masters, known as Shamballah, or Carcosa. Thus, shorn of his locks, he leaves the world of the descendants of Adam behind him. To make the ritual complete, LaVey declared 1966 Year One, Anno Satanas—the first year of the reign of Satan.

The Council of Nine, following the dictates of the Nine Unknown, was established throughout the world. Many significant writers have obliquely referred to this mysterious cabal—Shakespeare, John Dryden, Talbot Mundy, Richard Johnson—an archetypal formation which is reflected in the nine members appointed to sit in positions of absolute authority on the United States Supreme Court. The new Age of Fire had been inaugurated, and though the ceremony on Walpurgisnacht, 1966, was a highly personal, private one, LaVey would soon feel the tremors it was to produce.

“We blended a formula of nine parts social respectability to one part outrage,” says Anton LaVey. “We established a Church of Satan—something that would smash all concepts of what a ‘church’ was supposed to be. This was a temple of indulgence to openly defy the temples of abstinence that had been built up until then. We didn’t want it to be an unforgiving, unwelcoming place, but a place where you could go to have fun.”

And thus was initiated two revolutions which have carried over into today: 1) the integration of magic and logic, and 2) a religion based on self-indulgence, carnality (here and now instead of there and then), and pleasure instead of self-denial. Other ego-affirming, human potential programs like EST, drew from the ground-breaking attitudes and techniques of the Church of Satan.

**donsaeid** · 07-29-2006, 05:03 AM

4. Diabolical Endeavors

Within a year and a half of its creation, the Church of Satan had been the center of three separate media sensations that splashed front page headlines around the world. The first of these was the marriage of two of LaVey’s prominent members on February 1st, 1967. John Raymond, a politically radical journalist and Judith Case, New York socialite daughter of a well-known attorney, asked LaVey, their High Priest, to officiate at their wedding ceremony, blessing their union in Satan’s name.

Word got out and on the day of the ceremony, newspapers from California to Europe had more reporters and photographers than any event since the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge crowding the Black House to witness this supreme blasphemy. There was such a mob that police had to cordon off the area. Joe Rosenthal, who took the immortal shot of Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima during World War II, was assigned to photograph the evil doings for the San Francisco Chronicle. The L.A. Times, among other prominent newspapers, devoted four columns at the top of their front page to one of Rosenthal’s pictures of the wedding. Most of the accompanying stories lingered on the naked female altar, the array of personalities present, and Togare, the Nubian lion, roaring from somewhere further inside the house. The press was delighted. They dubbed LaVey “The Black Pope” and clamored for interviews. While many of the early articles were published in men’s magazines because of the nude altars, mainstream magazines jumped into the fray as well. Eventually all the major magazines were doing in-depth cover stories on the rising tide of Satanism.

The rituals for the first year were largely intended as cathartic blasphemies against Christianity. Many of the elements were consistent with the reports of Satanic worship from the famous writings of diabolists, such as the description in Joris-Karl Huysman’s La Bas (translated into English as Down There). A nude female altar was always used, the accompanying music was a series of corruptions of church hymns, the cross was turned upside down, the Lord’s Prayer was recited backwards, mock holy wafers were consecrated by insertion in a naked woman’s vagina, whiskey was used instead of wine for Christ’s blood, holy water was substituted with seminal fluid in milk, and the names of the infernal deities were invoked instead of the Christian God. It was too much for some lapsed Christians to stand. Some would attend out of curiosity, only to find eustress quickly turn to distress, rush home and dig out their crosses to protect them from the devils they’d confronted.

After awhile LaVey got tired of simply mocking Christianity and decided to work up rituals which would be blasphemously positive and exciting. “I realized there was a whole grey area between psychiatry and religion that had been largely untapped,” said LaVey. He saw the potential for group ritual used as a powerful combination of psychodrama and psychic direction. Instead of just throwing off the bio-electrical energy and releasing it to be dissipated in the surrounding ethers, that energy could be structured, shaped, and directed to accomplish a specific goal. He didn’t want to do parlor tricks but real, applied magic.

LaVey decided the world was ready now for the first public Satanic baptism. People would be forced to see that Satanism is not drinking the blood of babies and sacrificing small animals. He declared, “Rather than cleanse the child of original sin, as in the Christian baptism imposing unwarranted guilt, we will glorify her natural instincts and intensify her lust for life.” Who better to be baptized in such a public ceremony than LaVey’s own three-year-old daughter, Zeena? With her soft blonde hair and engaging smile, she captivated reporters—such an angelic child to be dedicated to the Devil. While many Christian organizations and other “concerned citizens” were outraged at the spectacle, there was little they could do. Today, LaVey probably would have been charged with Satanic child abuse—there were no such legal avenues for religious hysterics in 1967.

A date for Zeena’s baptism was set for May. Photographers started showing up at 6 a.m., even though the ceremony wouldn’t begin for another 15 hours. One of the Church members, survivalist Kurt Saxon, designed and made a special amulet for Zeena just for the occasion. It was a colorful Baphomet with an ice cream cone, lollypop, and other things a little girl would like included in the circle. Her mother dressed her in a bright-red hooded robe and sat her on the edge of the altar while photographers from New York to Rome snapped away.

LaVey recited an impressive invocation, later adapted for inclusion in The Satanic Rituals:

“In the name of Satan, Lucifer...Welcome a new mistress, Zeena, creature of ecstatic magic light...Welcome to our company; the path of darkness welcomes thee. Be not afraid. Above you Satan heaves his bulk into the startled sky and makes a canopy of great black wings...Small sorceress, most natural and true magician, your tiny hands have power to pull Heaven down and from it build monuments to your own sweet indulgence. Your power makes you master of the world of frightened, cowering and guilt-ridden men. And so, in the name of Satan, we set your feet upon the left-hand path...Zeena we baptize you with earth and air, with brine and burning flame. And so we dedicate your life to love, to passion, to indulgence, and to Satan, and the way of darkness. Hail Zeena! Hail Satan!”

The entire ceremony was designed to delight the child, welcoming her with sights and smells that were pleasurable to her. Unlike the Christian method of dunking already frightened children in water to baptize them, Zeena sat cheerfully chewing gum throughout the ritual, basking in the attention she was receiving from admirers and the press.

In December of the same year, Anton was approached by Mrs. Edward Olsen who wanted the High Priest to perform a funeral for her recently deceased husband, a Navy man killed in a traffic accident near San Francisco’s Treasure Island station. Both she and Edward Olsen had become members of the Church of Satan, despite his Baptist-oriented upbringing and his earlier membership in Youth for Christ. When he’d entered the Navy, seen more of the world and married a sexy brunette, he realized Satanism was a more realistic way of life. “He believed in this church,” said Mrs, Olsen, “and it is in this church that he would have wanted his funeral.”

Though the Navy officials were a bit nonplussed, they agreed to Pat Olsen’s instructions without much discussion, considering it their duty to comply with Mr. Olsen’s last request with dignity. There was a chrome-helmeted honor guard in attendance at the ceremony, standing rigidly at attention alongside the black-robed witches and warlocks wearing their Baphomet medallions. The sailors held an American flag over the coffin while LaVey recited a eulogy emphasizing Edward’s commitment to life in choosing to walk the Devil’s path. To end the funeral, the Navy guard fired three volleys with their rifles, and a Navy musician played taps after the mourners shouted, “Hail Satan!” and “Hail Edward!”

Even though the Archbishop of San Francisco was upset by the whole affair, immediately sending an outraged letter to President Johnson, most San Franciscans, including Naval officials, felt Olsen should receive the same consideration as any other Navy man. The response from the White House was actually quite fortuitous for the widow and her young son. Olsen, a machinist-repairman third-class was erroneously referred to by White House aides as “chief petty officer.” Mrs. Olsen was able to use those letters to file a claim for a posthumous promotion for her husband and receive higher survivors’ benefits. LaVey credits “demonic intervention” for Mrs. Olsen’s good fortune. Because of the sharp increase of declared Satanists in the military, Satanism was soon outlined as a recognized religion in the Chaplain’s Handbook for the Armed Services where it remains today, the description updated every few years by the Church of Satan.

Besides the weekly ceremonies, Anton conducted Witches’ Workshops and various seminars which attracted notable personalities from up and down the California coast. Jayne Mansfield, the sexy-sweet blonde bombshell famous for her stunning measurements and orgasmic squeal, insisted on meeting the Black Pope. LaVey and Mansfield hit it off immediately, each fulfilling a diabolical need in the other. Jayne became passionately obsessed with Anton, calling him several times a day from wherever she traveled, eventually applying for a driver’s license just to be able to drive to San Francisco unescorted by her persistently ubiquitous lawyer/boyfriend, Sam Brody. Jayne’s commitment to LaVey, and her dedication to the Satanic philosophy, continued until her death in June of 1967. The auto crash she died in also killed Sam Brody, who LaVey had formally cursed in response to Brody’s jealous threats and attempts to discredit LaVey.

**donsaeid** · 07-29-2006, 05:03 AM

The night of Mansfield’s death, LaVey had been clipping a Church of Satan news item from the German magazine, Bild-Zeitung. When he turned the item over to paste it in the press book, LaVey was shocked to see he had inadvertently cut a photo of Jayne on the opposite side of the page, right across the neck. Fifteen minutes later, a reporter from the New Orleans Associated Press bureau called Anton to get his reaction to the tragic accident. Jayne had been practically decapitated when she was thrown through the windshield of the car.

Madness rituals, fertility rites, destruction rituals, shibboleth rituals, and psychodramas in the form of Black Masses were devised for the public to participate in and be entertained by every Friday night. The early period of rituals was not a time of games or chicanery, but of necessary development, growth, and experimentation—as well as generating a pool of concentrated energy to draw from in later experiments.

5. Media Circus

Once the Church of Satan started getting international press, local reports tapered off. While the San Francisco media enjoyed writing about Anton when he was a local eccentric—ghost-hunter, sorcerer, and keeper of lions and leopards as household pets—he was no longer fun when he became an internationally-recognized Satanist. People were beginning to take Satanism seriously. Magazine articles on cults and covens imitating the Church of Satan were suddenly springing up from New York to London. By the time The Satanic Bible was released in 1969, membership in the Church of Satan had already grown to well over 10,000 worldwide.

Articles constantly appeared in newspapers around the world as editors sent their reporters to find out why everyone was buzzing about this San Francisco sorcerer. LaVey and the Church of Satan got major coverage in U.S. magazines like Cosmopolitan, Time, Newsweek, Seventeen, even appearing on the cover of Look. Wax figures of LaVey were exhibited in a dozen museums in various parts of the world, the original cast at Madame Tussaud’s wax works in London. The first authentic Black Mass ever recorded, pre-dating the “Black Metal” bands by a couple of decades, was taped live at the Church of Satan in 1968, even before The Satanic Bible was published. Among LaVey’s flurry of radio and television appearances from 1967 to 1974, one particularly memorable performance was an elaborate on-camera ritual for Johnny Carson’s 7th Anniversary show, summoning success for the upcoming year.

Among the first articles written about the new High Priest of Satan was Shana Alexander’s “The Feminine Eye” column in February, 1967, then running in Life magazine. Titled “The Ping is The Thing,” the article opens by describing a ping that is often heard when idly listening to the morning news broadcast: “This ping seems to signal that something funny, or weird, or maybe even profound may have just occurred, although one is never sure.” Alexander then goes on to give a wonderfully engaging account of LaVey and his activities in those early days, describing, as she says, “the jarring clash between the exotic and the utterly banal.”

The Second Coming, released in 1970, had been the established text on Satanism until its author, Arthur Lyons, wrote another book in 1988, Satan Wants You, which updates his first, providing fresh material on Anton LaVey and dispelling much of the claims of Satanic animal sacrifices and “ritual abuse” of children. Lyons’ evocative reporting and appreciation of the metaphorical aspects of Satanism provide a darkly enthralling vision of LaVey.

Newsweek magazine has done a few articles covering LaVey’s exploits. One from August 16, 1971, entitled “Evil, Anyone?,” was already raising questions about suspected “Satanic crimes” that have plagued LaVey from his organization’s beginnings. Anton’s answer has been consistent over the years: “Satanism,” he insists, “is developing two circles, an elitist group which I always intended my church to be, and the faddists who are becoming Satanists because it’s the thing to do.” Discovering that murder isn’t on Satanism’s list of required sacraments, diligent Newsweek reporters had to find something else to entice thrill-seeking readers: “Indeed, far from preaching sexual or political anarchy, LaVey describes his goal as the creation of a police state in which the weak are weeded out and the achievement-oriented leadership is permitted to pursue the mysteries of black magic.”

Because of LaVey’s nude female altars (more than a few fetishists addressed their letters of inquiry to “the redheaded nude altar”), there were plenty of men’s magazines willing to cover the Church of Satan, jumping at the juicy, ready-made excuse for nudie shots. LaVey himself flashed his ample equipment in certain issues of Jaybird Journal and the like. Though most of the stories accompanying the pictures were limited to recounting ancient myths of devil’s orgies and naked, nubile acolytes tied to sacrificial altars, several were written by Burton Wolfe, who eventually wrote a much-needed biography of LaVey in 1974. Wolfe joined the Church of Satan for a brief period in 1968 when, as he writes, “LaVey was still in his prankish stage. The rituals and parties in his black house were full of fun and humor, and I thoroughly enjoyed capers such as playing the role of the director of the insane asylum in the Madness of Logic rite.” Wolfe continued to fan interest in LaVey with articles up into the early 1980’s and, though he had to drop out of the Church of Satan because he felt it was evolving into a “harsh, vindictive, crypto-fascist style organization,” Wolfe wrote a comprehensive introduction to The Satanic Bible which served as the only reliable biographical reference on LaVey since The Devil’s Avenger went out of print, until the release of The Secret Life of A Satanist: the authorized biography of Anton LaVey.

While reporters had been relatively fair to the Church of Satan in the late 1960’s, LaVey saw a sharp decline in open-minded, objective reporting in the mid-1980’s. In 1984, he stated: “If real Satanism were allowed the kind of television time that Christianity has now, the kind of drawing out and patience that interviewers give sports figures, or the kind of coverage that a baseball game gets, Christianity would be completely eliminated in a few short months. If people were allowed to see the complete, unbiased truth, even for 60 minutes, it would be too dangerous. There would be no comparison.”

**donsaeid** · 07-29-2006, 05:04 AM

6. Hell on Reels

When Rosemary’s Baby was about to be released in 1968, LaVey, besides playing the part of the Devil, attended advanced screenings set up by the studio’s publicity department to elicit his observations as various religious groups previewed the film. It was, after all, a metaphorical as well as a very real offshoot of LaVey and the Church of Satan. (LaVey has said Rosemary’s Baby “did for the Church of Satan what The Birth of a Nation did for the Ku Klux Klan, complete with recruiting posters in the lobby.”) Taking advantage of the High Priest’s high visibility, small black buttons were passed out at the screenings which said, “Pray for Anton LaVey,” a variant on the “Pray for Rosemary’s Baby” buttons also being handed out as a promotional item. LaVey remembered the audience’s reaction to the ending of the film, when it clearly showed the Satanists had no intention of hurting the child, as everyone expected, but glorified it as the son of Satan. “People got very angry—stomping their feet and showing general disapproval. Sometimes the reality of Satanism is a lot more terrifying to people than their safe fantasies of what it’s supposed to be. For the first time, they’ve been confronted with a Devil that talks back.”

Besides Rosemary’s Baby, there were a few other films made about or including LaVey and the Church of Satan. Satanis, an extensive feature-length documentary on the Church of Satan was released in theaters across the country early in 1970, often playing on a double bill with another movie Anton appeared in—Kenneth Anger’s Invocation of My Demon Brother. The ads for the film, showcasing LaVey’s scowling countenance, promised bloody, sexually-explicit rituals. In true William Castle fashion, serious cautions were included in the large display ads: “Satanis is the most pertinent, and perhaps the most shocking film of our time. But it’s definitely not a movie for everyone. If you choose not to see it, we will understand.” Today, Ray Laurent’s Satanis is a highly-coveted underground classic. Clips have been incorporated into several recent documentaries on the subject of witchcraft and the occult. It had long been the only footage of the Church available for TV producers to flash on the screen when describing the evils of Satanism. In more recent years, this has been supplemented by Speak of the Devil: the Canon of Anton LaVey, a feature length documentary produced and directed by Nick Bougas, notorious chronicler of Man’s dark side.

Sadly, several other foreign documentaries covering LaVey’s church—notably, footage by Germany’s Florian Fuertwangler and France’s Victor Vicas—never got American distribution. Different versions of Luigi Scatini’s Angeli Blanca, Angeli Nera, were released around the world, the American version titled Witchcraft ’70. The segment on LaVey and the Church of Satan was one of the few included in every version.

7. Lucifer Rising

Membership in the Church of Satan expanded steadily. LaVey tried to include visits with his constituents around the globe wherever he traveled, blessing them with papal visits to their grottos, where he was greeted with an excess of pomp and black capes. “It became rather embarrassing after awhile. I’d step off the plane and there they’d be, all huddled together to meet me in their black velvet robes with huge Baphomets around their necks. Many of our grass-roots people didn’t know much about subtlety then, or decorum. I was trying to present a cultured, mannered image and their idea of protest or shock was to wear their ‘lodge regalia’ into the nearest Denny’s.”

In the beginning of the church’s activities, LaVey freely printed his address and phone number on posters, fake folded money (to be left lying on the street as a promotional gimmick), and allowed reporters to print his address as they wished. “I don’t like to think I was naive during that period of my life. I just wanted the Church of Satan to be honest, open and above-board. I also had a dream of being able to work out of my own home, as most of my friends did who were writers or performers. I envisioned the pleasure of rolling out of bed and having your work right there waiting for you without having to get in your car and drive to an office or another location. I didn’t think that was unreasonable. But I didn’t understand then how treacherous people could be.” Afterwards, LaVey, like most celebrities, established living quarters around the world to which he retreated so that he’d no longer trapped by his own popularity.

After a few years, LaVey began cutting back on the administrative demands on his time, concentrating his energies on his own projects more than on public relations and personally ministering to his ever-increasing flock. Following LaVey’s plan, it was time to “stop performing Satanism and start practicing it.” The Church of Satan was having its desired impact on the outside world and LaVey wanted to encourage new directions among the members rather than siphoning off the best energy for compulsory performance of rituals. The period of actual above-ground activity confined to LaVey’s Victorian digs was relatively brief, but long enough to do irreparable damage to established religion. “After that original blast,” LaVey remembered, “there was no need for the ongoing public spectacle and outrage of an inverted Catholic Mass anymore. Christianity was becoming weaker every day. That was just beating a dead horse. There were plenty of other sacred cows to attack, and that’s what keeps Satanism vital and thriving.”

In 1970, rituals and lectures conducted by LaVey and open to the public ceased. All weekly public ceremonies in the Black House stopped in 1972. Responsibility for Satanic activities was shifted to the dozens of Church of Satan Grottos established around the world, with Central Grotto (as LaVey’s original Black House was designated) serving only to screen, approve and direct potential members in the Church of Satan.

By 1975, a re-organization had taken place and those few who were counterproductive to LaVey’s Satanic ideals, who were more interested in what Anton called “Phase One Satanism” (i.e., group rituals, blaspheming Christianity in a rigidly-structured, limited way) were phased out. With his intensely elitist attitude, Anton was incensed to see his creation degenerating into a “Satan Fan Club,” where the weakest, least innovative members were buoyed up with time and attention at the expense of the most productive, most Satanic members. At a time when other leaders might have turned over command to someone else in disgust, taking advantage of the more tempting doors then opening to him—acting, directing, more writing—LaVey was bound by the loyalty he felt for the organization he’d started. Consequently, LaVey devised a diabolical way to “clean house,” which eventually eliminated much of the dross and administrivia that LaVey felt was obscuring the organization’s true destiny. The Grotto System was loosely maintained but no longer strictly managed through Central Grotto. LaVey wanted his Church of Satan to evolve into a truly cabalistic underground rather than degenerating into a long-running public pageant or a “Satan pen pal club.”

Putting the brakes on the “lodge hall” activities, LaVey emphasized that a person’s status within the Church of Satan should reflect his status outside the organization. Highest ranking people in the outside world should hold a commensurate position within the group, since LaVey considered their material, creative or social success as the truest measure of magical prowess. Anton also shifted the organizational focus to those who could benefit the church in a substantial way through who and what they were, not just feeling compelled to spend large chunks of time with nonproductive “psychic vampires,” no matter how dedicated.

“There always has to be a fair exchange,” LaVey said. “I could see that many people were joining our ranks simply because it was a guarantee of friends, or because they wanted the glory of passing tests to earn degrees, much like the ‘Grand Poobahs’ who take off their robes and vestments and become another local nobody again outside their lodge. They were getting more ‘spook appeal’ out of being members of the Church of Satan than we were getting esteem from having them among our membership. As an organization grows, group activities only cause contention, drain vital energy that could be better applied elsewhere, and eventually become counterproductive. Teaching people that they’re all right and society is all wrong, that the only ones who really understand them and that they can relate to are within the group, is damaging in the long run. It only reinforces their own inability to deal with the larger world.

**donsaeid** · 07-29-2006, 05:04 AM

“I wanted to create a forum, a loosely-structured cabal for the productive aliens, not misfits who need to depend on a group. After the re-organization, I was free to be more selective. I would much rather attract and lend support to those individuals who use their alienation—just as most leaders are usually different or distinctive in some way. Groups encourage dependence on beliefs and delusions to reinforce their omnipotence. Instead of fostering self-sufficiency and honest skepticism, I saw my group lapsing into blind belief and unhealthy anthropomorphism. That’s not what I intended and I had to make moves to get the Church of Satan back on track.”

Of course, there were those who wanted to continue group activities. Rather than seeing LaVey’s change as moving the Church of Satan beyond the realm of a “cult”—where all activity is strictly dictated by a central figure—some members felt betrayed by LaVey for discontinuing their avenue for meeting others of like-mind. Of course, there were also those who simply felt “sour grapes” toward LaVey from 1966 on; who felt they could do the same thing only better. An ever-shifting spectacle of alternative groups formed and disbanded. Most of them took on a Laurel and Hardy-like “Sons of the Desert” quality and never seemed able to stick together for more than a few years, with infighting and jealousies insuring constant upheaval. Some have written disparaging remarks over the years which LaVey passed off as “absurdly self-righteous,” and many have assumedly thrown their share of “sour-grapes” curses in LaVey’s direction. To these “wannabes, shoulda-beens and parasites” LaVey considers himself “just an old spoilsport.” Sadly, even his own beloved daughter Zeena later joined such ranks.

At the same time, LaVey became more selective about granting interviews, since his doors were no longer open to anyone off the street who wished to drop by for his lectures. Because of this rather abrupt cessation of activity, rumors spread of the end of the Church of Satan and even of LaVey’s death.

8. Satanic Panic

During the 1980’s, the media worldwide launched a “witch hunt” which is now referred to as “The Satanic Panic.” It is usually acknowledged to have been seeded by Lawrence Pazder’s Michelle Remembers. This was a popular book which recounted the purported repressed memories of the author’s wife. Via hypnotherapy which he performed himself, the author dredges up the details of “Michelle’s” supposed experiences with a world-wide Satanic cult. Typical of the historical accusations made against the Jews by Christian zealots in earlier centuries, Michelle Remembers claims that devil-worshippers have a conspiratorial network dedicated to ritual child sacrifice and world domination, to which the author adds modern media “innovations” such as “snuff” films, drug cartels, and “kiddie porn.” A look back at this period shows how Christian evangelists jumped on the bandwagon, and Christian “therapists” began “finding” similar tales buried in the subconscious of their “patients.” The then-current talk-show/freak-show circuit found this to be a bonanza, and representatives of the Church of Satan carefully selected specific media forums to debunk the hysterical nonsense. In due course, the “Satanic Panic” was debunked like any other urban legend, but not before the most costly trial in United States history took place, persecuting several innocent individuals who ran a day school. Law enforcement agencies, skeptical societies, and sociologists subsequently examined this Christian-promulgated hoax and dissected its mechanisms. Now, courts of law are reversing decisions made against people who were accused by family and friends caught up in this Salem-like madness, and substantial financial awards are being judged against the Christian “therapists” who essentially brain-washed pliable patients into belief in false “ritual abuse.”

9. Ever Forward

From the 1980’s through the ’90’s, a new generation of iconoclasts sought out Anton LaVey. These people grew up knowing of the existence of the Church of Satan, and pursued all manner of expression inspired by LaVey’s philosophy, while reflecting their own natural perspectives. Individuals such as musician and prankster Boyd Rice, rogue publisher Adam Parfey, documentarian Nick Bougas, artist of bountiful beauties Coop, performance artist and film-maker Larry Wessel, radical Apache artist Steven Johnson Leyba, “misanthropologist” Carl Abrahamsson, horror publishers Peggy Nadramia and Peter H. Gilmore, and many other shadowy figures from the new counter-culture found the Church of Satan to be a fountainhead of philosophy that was in synch with their pragmatic views of the human animal. LaVey himself felt that he now had solid administration for his organization, particularly with the arrival of Blanche Barton, who became his “girl friday,” succeeding estranged companion Diane Hegarty. Magistra Barton would be his High Priestess, his biographer, his lover, and the mother of his only son, Satan Xerxes Carnacki LaVey. LaVey could now concentrate on refining his personal expression; he began recording his legendary keyboard sessions, now available on several CDs, and published, through Parfrey’s Feral House, several new books collecting his diabolical observations.

During this period LaVey also decided to revive the Church’s Grotto system, using the vision of hindsight to head off the difficulties which had arisen during the earlier attempt. That experiment continues today.

Anton LaVey died on October 29th of 1997, but he left behind the capable administration which had been working with him directly for many years, assuring that the Church of Satan would move forward according to his vision. High Priestess Blanche Barton was forced from The Black House by its owners, and it was demolished on October 17th of 2001, after standing as a haunted sentinel for several years. The Central Administration followed Magistra Barton to Southern California, until she made the decision to appoint long-time administrator and LaVey associate Peter H. Gilmore as High Priest on Walpurgisnacht of 2001. At that point, the Central Grotto functions relocated to New York City, where the current High Priest resides. On Walpurgisnacht of 2002, Magistra Barton appointed Peggy Nadramia, wife to Gilmore, to succeed her as High Priestess. Magistra Barton remains chair of the Council of Nine, editor of The Cloven Hoof, and pursues her writing as well as the stimulating task of raising LaVey’s son.

And the Church of Satan continues to make history, some of which you’ll find chronicled on the News page of this web site. Our journey has reached a mature stage, and there will be much more to come from this continuously extending cabal of the alien elite.

**donsaeid** · 07-29-2006, 05:07 AM

مراسم حج فرقه "شيطان پرستان"

الوعده وفا! در كسب و كار من دير و زود هست اما سوخت و سوز نيست! هفته پيش، از مراسمىياد كردم كه حالا آنچه از آن مىدانم برايتان مىنويسم. اول از همه بايد به دو نكته حساس اشاره كنم. ۱﴾ نام شيطان پرستى پس از اسلام به پيروان اين مسلك بسيار قديمى داده شده است. اهل اين فرقه به شدت از اين نام بيزارند و آنرا توهين به خود و به فرشته مقرب خدا "ملك طاووس" مىدانند كه در اسلام به صفت شيطان متصف شده است. من از اينكه به رسم عامه به ناچار اين نام را تكرار مىكنم پيشاپيش از رهروان اين مذهب پوزش مىخواهم. ۲﴾ آنچه به اختصار برايتان مىنويسم نه نتيجه يك تحقيق علمى در مورد اين فرقه كه تنها مشاهدات اتفاقى من از مراسم خاص ساليانه پيروان آنست و اطلاعاتم در اين زمينه بشدت محدود است هرچند هنوز هم در صددم فرصتى فراهم شود تا دست به تحقيقى در خور در اين زمينه بزنم.

من همانطور كه قبلا اشاره كرده‌ام تابستان سال ۲۰۰۲ از طرف تلويزيون هلند براى تدريس فيلم به دانشجويان كرد شاغل در تلويزيون كردستان عراق (KTV) به كردستان عراق سفر كردم و كلاسهايم را در "هتل ژيان" در شهر "دهوك"، بزرگترين شهر مرزى كردستان عراق با سوريه، تشكيل دادم. دانشجويانم كه از شهرهاى مختلف كردستان آمده بودند مثل من و ساير همكارانم در تمام طول كورس در همين هتل اقامت داشتند. اواخر ماه جولاى بود كه يكشب در رستوران هتل با يك مرد روحانى خوش لباس كه چشمانى نافذ و سلوكى سنگين داشت آشنا شدم. توجهم از آنجا به او جلب شد كه ديدم در ميان حرف زدن با همراهش از گيلاسى كوچك نرم نرمك عرق مىنوشد! كاك خليل، يكى از مسئولان تلويزيون كردستان كه مامور رتق و فتق امور دانشجويان بود گفت كه او رهبر شيطان پرستان است. به نظرم مذهب جالبى آمد! از كاك خليل خواهش كردم مرا با ايشان آشنا كند و از يكى از دانشجويانم كه حاضر بود خواستم تا دوربينم را راه بياندازد و از اين ملاقات فيلم بگيرد.

نيمساعتى بيشتر وقت ايشان را نگرفتم. در همين وقت كم اما چند گيلاس به احترام هم بالا انداختيم و ايشان با سعه صدر بىدانشى مرا در مورد "دين يزيدى"، نام رسمى مذهب تحت رهبريشان، به ديده اغماض نگريست. بويژه آنجا كه خواستم حرفى زده باشم و گفتم كه مىدانم كه آنها شاخه‌اى از زرتشتيان هستند و پاسخ شنيدم كه هرگز. دين يزيدى هزاران سال به دين زرتشت قدمت دارد. با اينهمه وقتى گفتم خيال مىكنم عنوان "يزيدى" معرب و كردى شده‌ى "ايزدى" باشد آنگونه نه نشنيدم كه پيشتر. حاصل بدردخور آنشب اما اين بود كه فهميدم مراسم حج يزيديان دو روز ديگر در "پرستشگاه لالش" به رسم هر ساله برگزار خواهد شد. اجازه حضور و حتى فيلمبردارى از مراسم را هم بعنوان مهمان رسمى همانشب از ايشان گرفتم و كاك خليل قول داد مرا با جيپ تلويزيون كردستان به لالش ببرد.

لالش روستائى است در مركز كردستان عراق كه از شهر دهوك نزديك به سه ساعت با ماشين فاصله دارد. اين روستا مرا به ياد ميگون خودمان مىانداخت با همان كوچه‌هاى خاكى و فراز و نشيب بسيارش. پرستشگاه لالش كه به آتشكده‌اى بزرگ مىماند در مركز اين روستا بر فراز تپه‌اى بنا شده كه ظاهرا بايد خيلى قديمى باشد. وقتى به لالش رسيديم روستا مملو از جمعيت بود. مىگفتند در طول اين سه روز چندين هزار نفر به زيارت خواهند آمد، نه تنها از كردستان عراق كه از سوريه و ايران نيز هم ﴿ظاهرا تعداد بسيارى از پيروان اين دين در استانهاى كردستان و كرمانشاهان ايران زندگى مىكنند﴾. جوانترها، دختر و پسر، با پاى برهنه ﴿مطابق با مراسم﴾ در كوچه‌ها شادمانه قدم مىزدند و برخى از آنها روى بام بلند خانه‌اى به آهنگ كردى دست در دست هم انداخته بودند و مىرقصيدند. زنها به پخت و پز در ديگهاى مسى بزرگ بر اجاقهاى سنگى مشغول بودند و فضا دقيقا فضاى سيزده بدر خودمان بود در سالهائى كه "بدر كردن" آن مكروه نبود!

پرستشگاه لالش از سه قسمت تشكيل مىشود: شبستان، محوطه حياط و صحن دوزخ جائيكه مراسم حج در آن برگزار مىشود. وقتى من به شبستان مىرسم نزديك به صد نفر مرد، اكثرا در لباس كردى و بعضا با سر و وضع شيك، دور سالن بزرگ نشسته‌اند و دو بدو و چند به چند دارند با هم اختلاط مىكنند. مردى از قهوه‌جوشى دسته بلند در استكانهائى به كوچكى انگشتانه قهوه‌اى به تيرگى قير و به تلخى زقوم مىريزد ﴿زقوم: گويند درختى است در جهنم داراى ميوه‌اى بسيار تلخ كه دوزخيان از آن خورند - فرهنگ معين﴾ و دور مىگرداند. مردى با چپى عگال به سر مامور مىشود ما را در مراسم حج همراهى كند. كفش و جورابم را در حياط در مىآورم و به دنبال مرد به طرف دوزخ راه مىافتم در حاليكه يكى از دانشجويانم با دوربين روشن دنبالمان مىكند. سر در عمارت مربوطه مثل سر در همه مساجد و كليساها پر از نقش و نگار است. اما آنچه جلب توجه مرا مىكند نام "طاووس ملك" است كه به صورت سنگ برجسته بر ديوار نقش بسته است.

بگذاريد همينجا آنچه از ريشه اين تفكر مىدانم را بياورم. "يزيديان" هم مثل بسيارى از پيروان اديان باستانى اعتقاد دارند كه "جهان و هرچه در او هست" از چهار عنصر اصلى يعنى آب، باد، خاك و آتش تركيب يافته است. خداوند به ادعاى خود، كه در تمام كتابهاى مقدس عنوان شده، انسان را از آب و خاك آفريد در حاليكه به باور خود خداوندى خدا فرشتگان درگاه ابديت همه از جنس آتشند. و آتش به باور آنها بر گل ﴿ممزوج آب و خاك﴾ ارجحيت دارد. از اين رو وقتى خداوند از همه فرشتگان بارگاهش ﴿از جمله ملك مقرب، طاووس﴾ مىخواهد كه در مقابل ساخته دست او، آدم، تعظيم كنند، ملك طاووس از اين دستور نابجاى ايزدى سر مىپيچد و از همان زمان سر به شورش مىگذارد، شورشى كه تا روز حشر ادامه خواهد داشت و يزيديان آنرا شورشى بر حق مىشناسند. ﴿راستش را بخواهيد اين قصه موجب شد كه من هم از شخصيت ملك طاووس "شيطان" خوشم بيايد البته اگر اين اعتراف را به شيطان صفتى ذاتى من منصوب نكنيد!﴾

و اما دوزخى كه من در پرستشگاه لالش ديدم تنها چند دخمه غار مانند تار و تيره بود با خمره‌هائى كه كنار هم چيده شده بودند و رويشان رنگ مشكى ريخته بودند تا فضا را مرموزتر و ترسناكتر كنند. درهاى دخمه آنقدر كوتاه بودند كه بايد خميده از آنان مىگذشتى و اگر دقت نمىكردى ممكن بود سرت به ديوار ناصاف غار مىخورد. با اينهمه حتى بچه‌ها هم از اين دوزخ نمىهراسيدند چه رسد به بزرگسالانى مثل من كه ده برابر اين را در جشن هالووين امريكائيها ديده بودم.

بخش مهم و تعيين كننده اين مراسم، جدا از گره زدن به پارچه‌هائى كه به ستونهائى بسته شده‌اند ﴿مثل دخيل بستن﴾ يا طواف كردن دور مقبره‌اى كه لابد گور يكى از قديسان يزيدى است، پرتاب دستمال به سنگ برجسته‌اى است كه از ديواره غار بيرون زده است. اصلى‌ترين مرحله حاجى شدن اين است كه با چشمان بسته از فاصله شش هفت مترى دستمال سياهى را كه به بزرگى چارقد زنان كرد است به طرف اين سنگ پرتاب كنى. اگر در سه بار موفق شوى دستمال را به برجستگى سنگ گير بدهى حج‌ات قبول شده است وگرنه بايد روز ديگر برگردى و دوباره تلاش كنى. من شاهد بودم كه بسيارى از زوار موفق نشدند از اين آزمايش بگذرند. من اما به شهادت فيلمهائى كه از اين مراسم دارم از اين بوته سربلند به در آمدم و به لقب "حاج رضا طاووسى" مفتخر شدم! من كه ره و رسمم هرگز مورد عنايت "خدا" نبوده است اميدوارم مورد قبول "شيطان" واقع شود!

**donsaeid** · 07-29-2006, 05:09 AM

((نجوا)) از شيطان است !.
در اينجا همچنان ادامه بحثهاى نجواست .
نخست مى فرمايد: ((آيا نديدى كسانى را كه از نجوا [ سخنان درگوشى ] نهى شدند سپس به كارى كـه از آن نهى شده بودند باز مى گردند, و براى انجام گناه وتعدى و نافرمانى رسول خدا به نجوا مى پردازند)) (الم تر الى الذين نهوا عن النجوى ثم يعودون لما نهوا عنه ويتناجون بالا ثم والعدوان ومعصيت الرسول ).
از ايـن تـعـبـير به خوبى استفاده مى شود كه قبلا به آنها هشدار داده شده بود كه از نجوا بپرهيزند كارى كه ذاتا توليد نگرانى و بدگمانى در ديگران مى كند.
در ادامـه ايـن سـخـن بـه يـكـى ديگر از اعمال خلاف منافقان و يهود اشاره كرده ,مى فرمايد: ((و هـنگامى كه نزد تو مى آيند تو را تحيتى (و خوشامدى ) مى گويند كه خدا به تو نگفته است )) (واذا جاؤك حيوك بما لم يحيك به اللّه ).
مـنـظـور از ((تـحـيـت الـهى )) در اين آيه همان جمله ((السلا م عليك )), يا ((سلا م اللّه عليك )) مـى بـاشـد كـه شـبيه آن در آيات قرآن در مورد پيامبران و بهشتيان و غير آنهاكرارا آمده است : از جـمـلـه در آيـه 181 سـوره صـافـات مـى خوانيم : ((وسلا م على المرسلين ;Š سلام بر تمام رسولان پروردگار)).
سـپـس مـى افـزايـد: آنـها نه فقط مرتكب اين گناهان بزرگ مى شوند, بلكه آن چنان از باده غرور سـرمـست هستند كه ;Š ((در دل مى گويند: (اگر اعمال ما بد است پس ) چرا خداوند ما را به خاطر گفته هايمان عذاب نمى كند))؟! (ويقولون فى انفسهم لولا يعذبنا اللّه بما نقول ).
بـه ايـن تـرتـيب هم عدم ايمان خود را به نبوت پيامبر(ص ) ثابت كردند و هم عدم ايمان به احاطه علمى خداوند.
ولى قرآن در يك جمله كوتاه به آنها چنين پاسخ مى گويد: ((جهنم براى آنان كافى است (و نيازى بـه مـجـازات ديـگر نيست , همان جهنمى كه به زودى ) وارد آن مى شوند و چه بدفرجامى است )) (حسبهم جهنم يصلونها فبئس المصير).
البته اين تعبير نفى عذاب دنيوى را درباره آنها نمى كند.
(آيه )ـ و از آنجا كه مؤمنان نيز گهگاه به خاطر ضرورتها يا تمايلاتى به نجوامى پرداختند در اين آيه روى سـخـن را بـه آنـهـا كـرده , و براى اين كه در اين كار آلوده به گناهان منافقان و يهود نشوند مـى فرمايد: ((اى كسانى كه ايمان آورده ايد! هنگامى كه نجوا مى كنيد به گناه و تعدى و نافرمانى رسـول (خـدا) نـجـوا نـكنيد, (محتواى نجواى شما بايد پاك و الهى باشد) به كار نيك و تقوا نجوا كـنيد)) (يا ايها الذين آمنوا اذاتتنـاجيتم فلا تناجوا بالا ثم والعدوان ومعصيت الرسول وتناجوا بالبر والتقوى ).
((و از خدائى كه همگى نزد او جمع مى شويد بپرهيزيد)) (واتقوااللّه الذى اليه تحشرون ).
از ايـن تـعـبـيـر بـه خـوبـى اسـتفاده مى شود كه اصل نجوا اگر در ميان مؤمنان باشد,سؤظنى برنيانگيزد, توليد نگرانى نكند و محتواى آن توصيه به نيكيها و خوبيهاباشد مجاز است .
(آيه )ـ لذا در اين آيه مى افزايد: ((نجوا تنها از سوى شيطان است )) (انماالنجوى من الشيطان ).
((مى خواهد با آن مؤمنان را غمگين سازد)) (ليحزن الذين آمنوا).
((ولـى (بـايـد بـدانـند كه شيطان ) نمى تواند هيچ گونه ضررى به آنها برساند جزبه فرمان خدا)) (وليس بضارهم شيئا الا باذن اللّه ).
چرا كه هر مؤثرى در عالم هستى است تاثيرش به فرمان خداست .
((پـس مـؤمـنـان بـايد تنها بر خدا توكل كنند)) و از هيچ چيز جز او نترسند و بر غيراو دل ننهند (وعلى اللّه فليتوكل المؤمنون ).
بـدين ترتيب ((نجوا)) گاه حرام است و اين در صورتى است كه موجب اذيت وآزار و هتك حيثيت مسلمانى گردد و چنين نجوائى نجواى شيطانى است كه هدفش غمگين ساختن مؤمنان است .
در مقابل گاه حكم وجوب به خود مى گيرد, و اين در صورتى است كه مساله سرى لازمى درميان بـاشـد كـه افـشـاى آن خـطرناك , و عدم ذكر آن نيز موجب تضييع حق و يا خطرى براى اسلام و مسلمين است .
و گـاه مـتـصف به استحباب مى شود و آن در جائى است كه انسان براى انجام كارهاى نيك و بر و تقوا به سراغ آن رود, و همچنين حكم كراهت و اباحه .
ولى اصولا هرگاه هدف مهمترى در كار نباشد نجوا كردن كار پسنديده اى نيست , و برخلاف آداب مجلس است زيرا نوعى بى اعتنائى يا بى اعتمادى نسبت به ديگران محسوب مى شود.
آيـه ـ شـان نـزول : نـقـل كـرده اند كه : پيامبر(ص ) در يكى از روزهاى جمعه در((صفه )) (سكوى بـزرگـى كـه در كـنـار مسجد پيامبر(ص ) قرار داشت ) نشسته بود و گروهى نزد حضرت حاضر بـودند, و جا تنگ بود, پيامبر(ص ) عادتش اين بود كه مجاهدان بدر را اعم از مهاجر و انصار احترام فـراوان مـى كـرد, در ايـن هـنـگام گروهى از بدريون وارد شدند, در حالى كه ديگران قبل از آنها اطـراف پـيـامـبـر(ص ) را پـر كـرده بـودنـد,هنگامى كه مقابل پيامبر(ص ) رسيدند سلام كردند, پـيـامبر(ص ) پاسخ فرمود;Š سپس به حاضران سلام كردند آنها نيز پاسخ گفتند, آنها روى پاى خود ايستاده بودند, ومنتظر بودند حاضران به آنها جا دهند ولى هيچ كس تكان نخورد!.
ايـن امـر بر پيامبر(ص ) سخت آمد, رو به بعضى از كسانى كه اطراف او نشسته بودند كرد و فرمود: فـلان و فـلانـى بـرخـيـزيد, چند نفر را از جا بلند كرد تا واردين بنشينند (و اين در حقيقت نوعى ادب آموزى و درس احترام گذاردن به پيش كسوتان در ايمان و جهاد بود).
ولـى ايـن مطلب بر آن چند نفر كه از جا برخاستند ناگوار آمد, منافقان گفتند:پيامبر(ص ) رسم عدالت را رعايت نكرد! در اينجا آيه نازل شد و قسمتى از آداب نشستن در مجالس را براى آنها شرح داد.

**donsaeid** · 07-29-2006, 05:10 AM

حزب شيطان !

.
در ايـنـجـا بـخـشى از توطئه هاى منافقان را برملا مى سازد, و آنها را بانشانه هايشان به مسلمانان مـعـرفـى مـى كـنـد, و ذكـر ايـن مـعـنى بعد از آيات نجوا شايد به اين مناسبت است كه در ميان نـجواكنندگان با پيامبر(ص ) افراد منافقى نيز وجودداشتند كه از اين كار به عنوان پوششى براى تـوطـئه هـاى خود و اظهار نزديكى به پيامبراكرم (ص ) استفاده مى كردند همين امر سبب شد كه قرآن به صورت يك امر كلى با آن برخورد كند.
نـخـسـت مى فرمايد: ((آيا نديدى كسانى را كه طرح دوستى با گروهى كه موردغضب خدا بودند ريختند))؟! (الم تر الى الذين تولوا قوما غضب اللّه عليهم ).
سپس مى افزايد: ((آنها نه از شما هستند و نه از آنان )) يهود (مـاهم منكم ولا منهم ).
نـه در مشكلات و گرفتاريها ياور شما هستند, و نه دوست صميمى آنها, بلكه منافقانى هستند كه هر روز چهره عوض مى كنند, و هر لمحه به شكلى در مى آيند.
بـاز در ادامه همين سخن مى افزايد: ((سوگند دروغ ياد مى كنند (كه از شماهستند) در حالى كه خودشان مى دانند)) دروغ مى گويند (ويحلفون على الكذب وهم يعلمون ).
ايـن راه و رسم منافقان است كه پيوسته براى پوشانيدن چهره زشت و منفورخود به سوگندهاى دروغ پناه مى برند, در حالى كه عملشان بهترين معرف آنهاست .
(آيـه )ـ بعد به عذاب دردناك اين منافقان لجوج اشاره كرده , مى فرمايد

(خداوند عذاب شديدى براى آنها فراهم ساخته است )) (اعداللّه لهم عذابا شديدا).
و بدون شك اين عذاب عادلانه است ;Š ((چرا كه آنها اعمال بدى انجام مى دادند)) (انهم سا مـا كانوا يعملون ).
(آيـه )ـ سـپـس براى توضيح بيشتر در مورد نشانه هاى اين منافقان مى گويد: ((آنها سوگندهاى خـود را سپرى قرار دادند و مردم را از راه خدا بازداشتند))(اتخذوا ايمانهم جنة فصدوا عن سبيل اللّه ).
قسم ياد مى كنند كه مسلمانند و هدفى جز اصلاح ندارند در حالى كه زيرپوشش اين قسم به انواع فـسـاد و خرابكارى و توطئه مشغولند, و در حقيقت از نام مقدس خدا براى جلوگيرى از راه خدا بهره مى گيرند.
و در پايان آيه مى افزايد: ((از اين رو براى آنان عذاب خواركننده اى است ))(فلهم عذاب مهين ).
آنـها مى خواستند با اين سوگندهاى دروغين آبرو براى خود فراهم كنند ولى خدا آنها را به عذاب خواركننده و شديدى مبتلا مى سازد.
(آيه )ـ و از آنجا كه منافقان غالبا به اموال و فرزندان (سرمايه هاى اقتصادى و نيروهاى انسانى ) خود بـراى حل مشكلات تكيه مى كنند قرآن در اين آيه مى گويد, ((هرگز اموال و اولادشان , آنها را از عذاب الهى حفظ نمى كند)) (لن .
تغنى عنهم اموالهم ولا اولا دهم من اللّه شيئا).
بلكه همين اموال طوق لعنتى بر گردن آنها مى شود و مايه عذاب دردناكشان .
و بـاز در پـايان آيه آنها را با اين جمله تهديد مى كند: ((آنها اهل آتشند و جاودانه در آن مى مانند)) (اولئك اصحاب النارهم فيها خالدون ).
(آيـه )ـ و عـجب اين كه اين منافقان در قيامت هم دست از منافقگرى خود برنمى دارند چنانكه در اين آيه مى فرمايد: به خاطر بياوريد ((روزى را كه خداوند همه آنها را برمى انگيزد (و اعمالشان را بر آنـهـا عـرضـه مـى دارد و در دادگاه عدلش از آنها سؤال مى كند) ولى آنان براى خدا نيز سوگند (دروغ ) يـاد مـى كـنـنـدهـمان گونه كه (امروز) براى شما ياد مى كنند)) (يوم يبعثهم اللّه جميعا فيحلفون له كمايحلفون لكم ).
قـيامت تجليگاه اعمال و روحيات انسان در اين دنياست , و از آنجا كه منافقان اين روحيه را همراه خود به قبر و برزخ برده اند در صحنه قيامت نيز آشكار مى شود,و بر طبق عادت گذشته سوگند دروغين ياد مى كنند.
سپس مى افزايد: ((و گمان مى كنند كارى مى توانند انجام دهند)) (ويحسبون انهم على شى ) ولى اين يك پندار موهوم و خيالى خام بيش نيست !.
و سرانجام آيه را با اين جمله پايان مى دهد: ((بدانيد آنها دروغگويانند)) (الا انهم هم الكاذبون ).
و به اين ترتيب كوس رسوائى آنها را همه جا مى زنند.
(آيـه )ـ در ايـن آيـه سـرنوشت نهائى اين منافقان تيره دل را چنين بيان مى كند: ((شيطان بر آنها مسلط شده , و ياد خدا را از خاطر آنها برده است )) (استحوذعليهم الشيطان فانسيهم ذكراللّه ).
به همين دليل ;Š ((آنان حزب شيطانند)) (اولئك حزب الشيطان ).
((بدانيد حزب شيطان زيانكارانند)) (الا ان حزب الشيطان هم الخاسرون ).
آرى ! مـنـافـقـان دروغـگـو و مغرور به مال و مقام سرنوشتى جز اين ندارند كه دربست در اختيار شيطان و وسوسه هاى او قرار مى گيرند, و خدا را بكلى فراموش مى كنند, نه تنها منحرف مى شوند كـه در زمـره عـمـال شـيـطان و اعوان و انصار لشكر وحزب او براى گمراه ساختن ديگران قرار مى گيرند.
(آيـه )ـ در ادامـه بـيـان صـفات و نشانه هاى منافقان در اينجا كه آخرين آيات سوره مجادله است نـشـانـه هـاى ديگرى از آنها را مطرح مى كند, و سرنوشت حتمى آنها را كه شكست و نابودى است روشن مى سازد.
نخست مى فرمايد: ((كسانى كه با خدا و رسولش دشمنى مى كنند آنها در زمره ذليل ترين افرادند)) (ان الذين يحادون اللّه ورسوله اولئك فى الا ذلين ).
(آيه )ـ اين آيه در حقيقت دليلى است براى اين معنى , مى فرمايد: ((خداچنين مقرر داشته كه من و رسولانم پيروز مى شويم )) (كتب اللّه لا غلبن انا ورسلى ) وهيچ شك و ترديدى در آن نيست .
((چرا (چنين نباشد, در حالى ) كه خداوند قوى و شكست ناپذير است )) (ان اللّه قوى عزيز).
بـه همان اندازه كه خداوند قدرتمند است دشمنانش ضعيف و ذليلند, و اگرمى بينيم در آيه قبل تعبير به ((اذلين )) (ذليل ترين افراد) شده دليلش همين بوده است .
در طـول تاريخ اين پيروزى فرستادگان الهى در چهره هاى گوناگونى نمايان شده : در عذابهاى مختلفى همچون طوفان نوح , و صاعقه عاد و ثمود, و زلزله هاى ويرانگر قوم لوط, و مانند آن , و در پـيـروزى در جـنـگـهاى مختلف , مانند غزوات ((بدر))و ((حنين )) و فتح ((مكه )) و ساير غزوات پيامبر اسلام (ص ).
و از همه مهمتر پيروزى منطقى آنها بر مكاتب شيطانى و دشمنان حق وعدالت بوده است .
(آيـه )ـ در ايـن آيـه كـه آخـرين آيه از سوره مجادله , و از كوبنده ترين آيات قرآن است , به مؤمنان هشدار مى دهد كه جمع ميان ((محبت خدا)) و ((محبت دشمنان خدا)) در يك دل ممكن نيست , و بايد از ميان اين دو يكى را برگزينند, اگرراستى مؤمنند بايد از دوستى دشمنان خدا بپرهيزند والا ادعاى مسلمانى نكنند!.
مـى فـرمـايد: ((هيچ گروهى را كه ايمان به خدا و روز قيامت دارند نمى يابى كه بادشمنان خدا و رسولش دوستى كنند, هرچند پدران يا فرزندان يا برادران ياخويشاوندانشان باشند)) (لا تجد قوما يـؤمـنـون بـاللّه والـيـوم الا خـر يـوادون من حاداللّه ورسوله ولو كانوا آباهم او ابناهم او اخوانهم او عشيرتهم ).
مـحـبـت پدران و فرزندان و برادران و اقوام بسيار خوب است , و نشانه زنده بودن عواطف انسانى است , اما هنگامى كه اين محبت رودرروى محبت خدا قرارگيرد ارزش خود را از دست مى دهد.
سـپـس بـه پاداشهاى بزرگ اين گروه كه قلبشان بطوركامل در اختيار عشق خداست پرداخته , و پـنـج مـوضوع را كه بعضى به صورت امداد و توفيق است , وبعضى به صورت نتيجه و سرانجام كار بيان مى كند.
در بـيـان قـسمت اول و دوم مى فرمايد: ((آنها كسانى هستند كه خدا ايمان را برصفحه دلهايشان نـوشته , و با روحى از ناحيه خودش آنان را تقويت فرموده است ))(اولئك كتب فى قلوبهم الا يمان وايدهم بروح منه ).
و در سومين مرحله مى فرمايد: ((خداوند آنها را در باغهائى از بهشت داخل مى كند كه نهرها از زير (درخـتـانـش ) جـارى است , جاودانه در آن مى مانند)) (ويدخلهم جنات تجرى من تحتها الا نهار خالدين فيها).
و در چـهـارمـين مرحله مى افزايد: ((خداوند از آنها خشنود است و آنها نيز ازخداوند خشنودند)) (رضى اللّه عنهم ورضوا عنه ).
در برابر مواهب مادى قيامت و جنات و حور و قصور اين بزرگترين پاداش روحانى است كه به اين گروه از مؤمنان داده مى شود.
احـسـاس رضايت مولا ومعبودشان كه آنها را پذيرفته , لذتبخش ترين احساسى است كه به آنها دست مى دهد, و نتيجه اش خشنودى كامل آنها از خداست .
و در آخـريـن مـرحـلـه بـه صورت يك اعلام عمومى ـكه حاكى از نعمت وموهبت ديگرى است ـ مـى فـرمـايـد: ((آنها حزب اللّه اند, بدانيد حزب اللّه پيروزان ورستگارانند)) (اولئك حزب اللّه الا ان حزب اللّه هم المفلحون ).
نه تنها پيروزى در سراى ديگر و نيل به انواع نعمتهاى مادى و معنوى درقيامت , بلكه همان گونه كه در آيات قبل آمد در اين دنيا نيز به لطف الهى بر دشمنان پيروزند, و در پايان جهان نيز حكومت حق و عدالت در دست آنهاست .

**donsaeid** · 07-29-2006, 05:14 AM

با طناب پوسيده شيطان به چاه نرويد!

.
در اين آيه به تشبيهى درباره منافقان پرداخته , مى گويد: داستان آنها نيز((همچون شيطان است كـه بـه انسان گفت : كافر شو (تا مشكلات تو را حل كنم ) اماهنگامى كه كافر شد;Š گفت : من از تو بـيزارم , من از خداوندى كه پروردگار عالميان است بيم دارم )) (كمثل الشيطان اذ قال للا نسان اكفر فلما كفر قال انى برئ انى اخاف اللّه رب العالمين ).
مـنـظـور از ((انـسان )) مطلق انسانهائى است كه تحت تاثير شيطان قرارگرفته ,فريب وعده هاى دروغين او را مى خورند و راه كفر مى پويند, و سرانجام شيطان آنهارا تنها گذاشته و از آنان بيزارى مى جويد!.
آرى ! چـنـين است حال منافقان كه دوستان خود را با وعده هاى دروغين ونيرنگ به وسط معركه مى فرستند, سپس آنها را تنها گذارده فرار مى كنند چرا كه درنفاق وفادارى نيست .
(آيه )ـ در اين آيه نتيجه كار اين دو گروه : شيطان و اتباعش و منافقان ودوستانشان از اهل كفر را روشن ساخته , مى افزايد: ((سرانجام كارشان اين شد كه هردو در آتش دوزخ خواهند بود, جاودانه در آن مـى مـانند, و اين است كيفرستمكاران ))! (فكان عاقبتهما انهما فى النار خالدين فيها وذلك جزاؤا الظالمين ).
ايـن يـك اصـل كلى است كه عاقبت همكارى كفر و نفاق , و شيطان و يارانش ,شكست و ناكامى و عذاب دنيا و آخرت است , در حالى كه همكارى مؤمنان ودوستانشان همكارى مستمر و جاودانى و سرانجامش پيروزى و برخوردارى ازرحمت واسعه الهى در هر دو جهان است .
(آيـه )ـ در ايـن آيـه روى سـخن را به مؤمنان كرده , به عنوان يك نتيجه گيرى از ماجراى شوم و دردناك ((بنى نضير)) و منافقان و شيطان , مى فرمايد:.
((اى كـسانى كه ايمان آورده ايد! از (مخالفت ) خدا بپرهيزيد, و هركس بايدبنگرد تا براى فردايش چه چيز از پيش فرستاده ))؟ (يا ايها الذين آمنوا اتقوا اللّه ولتنظر نفس مـا قدمت لغد).
در حـقيقت سرمايه اصلى انسان در صحنه قيامت كارهائى است كه از پيش فرستاده , وگرنه غالبا كسى به فكر انسان نيست كه براى او چيزى بعد از مرگ اوبفرستد, و يا اگر بفرستند ارزش زيادى ندارد.
سـپـس بـار ديگر براى تاكيد مى افزايد: ((از خدا بپرهيزيد كه خداوند از آنچه انجام مى دهيد آگاه است )) (واتقوا اللّه ان اللّه خبير بما تعملون ).
آرى ! تـقوا و ترس از خداوند سبب مى شود كه انسان براى فرداى قيامت بينديشد, و اعمال خود را پاك و پاكيزه و خالص كند.
(آيه )ـ اين آيه به دنبال دستور به تقوا و توجه به معاد, تاكيد بر يادخدا كرده , چنين مى فرمايد: ((و همچون كسانى نباشيد كه خدا را فراموش كردند, وخدا نيز آنها را به خود فراموشى گرفتار كرد)) (ولا تكونوا كالذين نسوا اللّه فانسيهم انفسهم ).
خمير مايه تقوا دو چيز است : ياد خدا يعنى ;Š توجه به مراقبت دائمى ((اللّه )) و حضوراو در همه جا و هـمه حال , و توجه به دادگاه عدل خداوند و نامه اعمالى كه هيچ كارصغير و كبيرى وجود ندارد مـگـر ايـن كه در آن ثبت مى شود, و به همين دليل توجه به اين دو اصل (مبدا و معاد) در سرلوحه برنامه هاى تربيتى انبيا و اوليا قرارداشته , وتاثير آن در پاكسازى فرد و اجتماع كاملا چشمگير است .
اصولا يكى از بزرگترين بدبختيها و مصائب انسان خودفراموشى است , چراكه ارزشها و استعدادها و لياقتهاى ذاتى خود را كه خدا در او نهفته و از بقيه مخلوقات ممتازش ساخته , به دست فراموشى مى سپرد, و اين مساوى با فراموش كردن انسانيت خويش است , و چنين انسانى تا سرحد يك حيوان درنده سقوطمى كند, و همتش چيزى جز خواب و خور و شهوت نخواهد بود!.
و ايـنـهـا هـمـه عامل اصلى فسق و فجور بلكه اين خود فراموشى بدترين مصداق فسق و خروج از طاعت خداست .
لذا در پايان آيه مى گويد: ((آنها فاسقانند)) (اولئك هم الفاسقون ).
(آيـه )ـ در اين آيه به مقايسه اين دو گروه (گروه مؤمنان باتقوا, و متوجه به مبدا و معاد, و گروه فـرامـوشـكـاران خدا كه گرفتار خودفراموشى شده اند) پرداخته ,مى گويد: ((هرگز دوزخيان و بهشتيان يكسان نيستند)) (لايستوى اصحاب النارواصحاب الجنة ).
نه در اين دنيا, نه در معارف , نه در نحوه تفكر, نه در طرز زندگى فردى وجمعى و هدف آن , و نه در آخـرت و پـاداشهاى الهى , خط اين دو گروه در همه جا, وهمه چيز, از هم جداست , يكى به ياد خـدا و قـيـامت و احياى ارزشهاى والاى انسانى , و اندوختن ذخائر براى زندگى جاويدان است , و ديگرى غرق شهوات ولذات مادى و گرفتار فراموشى همه چيز و اسير بند هوى و هوس .
و بـه ايـن ترتيب انسان بر سر دو راهى قرار دارد يا بايد به گروه اول بپيوندد يابه گروه دوم و راه سومى در پيش نيست .
و در پايان آيه به صورت يك حكم قاطع مى فرمايد: ((اصحاب بهشت رستگارو پيروزند)) (اصحاب الجنة هم الفائزون ).
نـه تـنها در قيامت رستگار و پيروزند كه در اين دنيا نيز پيروزى و آرامش ونجات از آن آنهاست , و شكست در هر دو جهان نصيب فراموشكاران است .

**abadani69** · 10-22-2006, 05:46 PM

Sheytan

ديروز شيطان را ديدم. در حوالي ميدان بساطش را پهن كرده بود؛ فريب
مي*فروخت. مردم دورش جمع شده* بودند،* هياهو مي*كردند و هول مي*زدند و
بيشتر مي*خواستند.
توي بساطش همه چيز بود: غرور، حرص،*دروغ و خيانت،* جاه*طلبي و ... هر كس
چيزي مي*خريد و در ازايش چيزي مي*داد. بعضي*ها تكه*اي از قلبشان را
مي*دادند
و بعضي* پاره*اي از روحشان را. بعضي*ها ايمانشان را مي*دادند و بعضي
آزادگيشان را.
شيطان مي*خنديد و دهانش بوي گند جهنم مي*داد. حالم را به هم مي*زد. دلم
مي*خواست همه نفرتم را توي صورتش تف كنم.
انگار ذهنم را خواند. موذيانه خنديد و گفت: من كاري با كسي ندارم،*فقط
گوشه*اي بساطم را پهن كرده*ام و آرام نجوا مي*كنم. نه قيل و قال مي*كنم و
نه كسي را مجبور مي*كنم چيزي از من بخرد. مي*بيني! آدم*ها خودشان دور من
جمع شده*اند.
جوابش را ندادم. آن وقت سرش را نزديك*تر آورد و گفت*: البته تو با اينها
فرق مي*كني.تو زيركي و مومن. زيركي و ايمان، آدم را نجات مي*دهد. اينها
ساده*اند و گرسنه. به جاي هر چيزي فريب مي*خورند.
از شيطان بدم مي*آمد. حرف*هايش اما شيرين بود. گذاشتم كه حرف بزند و او
هي گفت و گفت و گفت.
ساعت*ها كنار بساطش نشستم تا اين كه چشمم به جعبه*اي عبادت افتاد كه لا به
لاي چيز*هاي ديگر بود. دور از چشم شيطان آن را برداشتم و توي جيبم گذاشتم
.
با خودم گفتم: بگذار يك بار هم شده كسي، چيزي از شيطان بدزدد. بگذار يك
بار هم او فريب بخورد.
به خانه آمدم و در كوچك جعبه عبادت را باز كردم. توي آن اما جز غرور
چيزي نبود. جعبه عبادت از دستم افتاد و غرور توي اتاق ريخت. فريب خورده
بودم، فريب. دستم را روي قلبم گذاشتم،*نبود! فهميدم كه آن را كنار بساط
شيطان جا گذاشته*ام.
تمام راه را دويدم. تمام راه لعنتش كردم. تمام راه خدا خدا كردم.
مي*خواستم يقه نامردش را بگيرم. عبادت دروغي*اش را توي سرش بكوبم و قلبم
را پس بگيرم. به ميدان رسيدم، شيطان اما نبود.
آن وقت نشستم و هاي هاي گريه كردم. اشك*هايم كه تمام شد،*بلند شدم. بلند
شدم تا بي*دلي*ام را با خود ببرم كه صدايي شنيدم، صداي قلبم را.
و همان*جا بي*اختيار به سجده افتادم و زمين را بوسيدم. به شكرانه قلبي كه
پيدا شده بود .

Satan / Sheitan (Video Satanism In Iran)

Satan / Sheitan (Video Satanism In Iran)

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