What is Satanism?

Rev. 13:4. — “And they worshipped the dragon, because he gave the authority to the Beast; and they worshipped the Beast, saying, Who (is) like the Beast? and who can war with him?” Here God is set aside, and the dragon usurps His place. Not the Creator, but Satan becomes the object of universal worship. Mere profession is worthless in that awful day. Reality alone can avail in a scene wholly given up to Satan. Only those whose names have been written in the Lamb’s book, or, in other words, the elect (v. 8), can confront Satan in the hour of his apparent triumph. In the eyes of men the dragon has just done what it was supposed God alone could do, given supreme authority to the Beast; on that account divine honours are paid to him. But the Beast also is worshipped. The wonder which, with super-human features added, his reappearance in the scene of history arouses is succeeded by worship. Both the astonishment and the worship are universal, the latter in character and extent exceeding anything ever before witnessed in Rome. Spiritualism, which has been making gigantic strides of late years, is working for one definite object, the worship of the devil. In Europe and America devil-worship is largely practised. In 2 Thessalonians 2 we learn that the man of sin, who is identical with the second Beast of our chapter, is also worshipped. What horrible blasphemy! What a mockery and parody of Christianity! Not the Godhead: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but triune devil-worship: the dragon, the Beast, and the man of sin. And is this what christian (?) England is coming to? The higher critics are doing their best under the influence of Satan to hand over Christendom to the devil, and they are making rapid progress in that direction. “Who is like the Beast? and who can make war with him?” intimate that his power and war-like prowess are the dazzling qualities which win the admiration of the world, and hence the homage due to his exalted position, but not worship is the special point here. We think, however, more is implied, and that divine honours shall be paid to the personal head of the restored empire; to effect which is the work of the second Beast (vv. 12-15).

Devil-worship is one of its cults. France has sown the wind of infidelity, behold the whirlwind.

As I have said, the Revelation is a book of results — everything is there seen in full bloom. The whole anti-Christian system is there brought out. God and His adversaries there meet. The rightful heir — the Lord Jesus is there seen. In the thirteenth chapter the mystery of iniquity is fully developed. Two instruments of evil, under direct Satanic power, are brought before us. The first and second verses give us the origin and connections of the first beast. "And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority." These verses, compared with the former part of the seventh of Daniel, show us that the qualities of the four empires are concentrated in him. His ten horns are also crowned, to show that he is the ruling power of the ten kingdoms. The names of blasphemy upon his heads also signify his antagonism to God. Observe also that the dragon, who, in the twelfth chapter, is said to be "that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world, inspires the beast. "The dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority." So that we must not look at the beast as simply man, but man unbridled and energized by the power and authority of Satan. We know that Satan entered into Judas. We see there a sample of his ways. From that moment he was so set against Christ, that he went out from his presence; and was so bent upon consummating his evil purpose, that Jesus said, "What thou doest, do quickly." He betrayed him with a kiss! No marvel then that such diabolical and deceivable ways will be practised by man on the earth by-and-by, when all the malice of Satan, and all the unrestrained enmity of man's heart are combined. We can understand too, I think, why he has such general popularity that "all the world wondered after the beast." There may be a rebuff, "one of his heads, as it were, wounded to death;" but he will soon recover. His deadly wound will be healed, and all the world wonder after him. Satan has always been ambitious of being worshipped; and he will have it then. You remember he proposed giving all his power and glory to Jesus, if He would worship him. But the Lord of glory resisted the foul offer. Not so by-and-by. There will be plenty of devil worshippers then. We are told, in the fourth verse, "And they worshipped the dragon, [that is, the devil, as we have seen] which gave power unto the beast." The beast is worshipped too. "They worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?" Alas! this suits man, to own subjection to one who can show his power in establishing human greatness in this sin-stricken and impenitent world. Man loves to see greatness, glory, and power in connection with himself as a sinner, and the old creation accredited in its present ruin. The people would gladly have made Jesus king on those terms. They felt how advantageous it would be to themselves to have a king who could work such miracles as to feed thousands on five barley loaves and two fishes; and this purely selfish consideration led them to wish they could have Jesus for a king. But His kingdom was not of this world. Man's mind must be changed, the question of sin and guilt must be righteously settled, before He could take His rightful place as king over all the earth. Satan's way is to ignore, if possible, the question of sin; to exalt himself and man; to oppose God and deny Christ; and when this deep "mystery of iniquity," so long at work, is fully ripe, then will be strikingly manifested the awful truth of the words his foul breath uttered in the holy ear of the Son of God, when he showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, "All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it." How seriously we should regard the principles so actively at work in our day, of exalting man and making so little of God and of Christ; for we see where they must ere long end.

But the terrific energy of evil during these last days of "woe to the earth" is shown also in another form. Satan and his human tool become the objects of religious worship. "And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?" (v. 4.) What a ghastly commentary on this age of progress and cultivation to read the words of the living God telling us where it is all to end. Man's energy and self-will only make him Satan's tool. He fancies himself free, and, in throwing off God's yoke, dreams that he has escaped from bondage, whereas he has only rendered himself the slave of sin. Christ came to deliver from the power of darkness; but if men love darkness rather than light, they still remain under the dreadful yoke. The result is that God gives them up, and Satan becomes their absolute lord. "Professing themselves to be wise, they become fools," and the terrible end, as here shown, is nothing less than putting Satan in God's place, prostrating themselves before the deceiver and destroyer of souls, and "worshipping and serving the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever."

Satan has all along been after worship from men: he will get it from the followers of the beast: "they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast." The seer beholds one of the heads of the beast with a deadly wound, but the wound is healed, and this makes the beast an object of great wonder. No doubt this alludes to the revival of empire. When the northern hordes of Goths and Vandals broke up the Roman empire it seemed indeed to have received a deadly wound; but after all these centuries it rears its head again. It will indeed be wonderful to men to see the resuscitation of this powerful empire. They will not only worship Satan who has given it power and authority, but also the man who sets forth in his person all that this diabolical empire stands for.

To eat of sacrificial offerings was evidently then no light matter. As the Jew who ate was in communion with the altar, so he who partook of what was offered to an idol had fellowship with the idol. Such is its real meaning. Does this contradict the previous reasoning of the apostle as of the prophets of old, that the idol was a mere nonentity? Not at all. But if such products of man's device have no existence and their images see not nor hear, demons are very real and avail themselves of man's imagination or his fears and arrogate to themselves the idol-sacrifices. The emptiness of idols is therefore no ground for partaking of meats sacrificed to them; for "what they sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God." (See Deut. 32:17; Ps. 95:6.) The idols and their sacrifices may be utterly powerless; but demons hiding behind can and do thereby shut out from souls the true God and usurp the homage due to Him alone. This is the effect of heathen worship, not the intention of the worshippers or of those who partake in their sacrifices. They no more purposed to revere demons (or fallen and evil spirits) than the unconverted now mean to serve Satan. But they did and do so none the less. The truth puts things in their real light which the reasoning, the imagination, or the indifference of man leaves in the shade.

The Corinthians loved ease and sought to escape the cross. Why trouble, they might argue, about trifles? The idol is nothing, nor its sacrifices, nor its temple. How unwise then to offend for nothing! Communion with demons, answers the apostle, is the result. He that eats and drinks where the Lord's blessing is not partakes in the demon's curse. We shall see in the next chapter what it is to eat and drink unworthily at the Lord's supper. Here it is the real character of the evil where one partook of things sacrificed to idols, which the vain Corinthians prided themselves on doing freely because of their superior knowledge. But no one can have fellowship with the Lord and with demons: if he tampers with demons, has he not virtually abandoned the Lord? They may delight to have and harm the christian professor; the Lord refuses His fellowship to the idolater. If fellowship is inclusive, it is exclusive. "He that is not with me is against me," said He Himself; "and he that gathers not with me scatters abroad." (Matt. 12) "What! do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?" Love cannot but be jealous of wandering affections; it were not love if it did not resent unfaithfulness. And is He so powerless that we can despise Him with impunity? Are we stronger than He? Do we court destruction?

There does not seem to have been any practice of idolatry until after the deluge. It may have been the tradition of the fallen angels which Satan took up, by which to ensnare men, and entice them into demon-worship. Anyhow, almost immediately after the flood mankind fell into idolatry, and idolatry is demon-worship (1 Cor. 10:20). The idol itself is nothing, but what is behind the idol, and which fills the heart and mind of the worshipper, is a demon. The gods of the heathen are evil beings, and the worship of demons became universal after the flood.

Scripture also shows that idolatry was essentially demon-worship, the idol itself being nothing. "They sacrificed unto demons (shed) not unto God," Deut. 32:17; 1 Cor. 10:19-20; "they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto demons (sair)." Lev. 17:7; Rev. 9:20. Jeroboam had fallen so low as to have ordained priests for the demons (sair) and for the calves which he had made, 2 Chr. 11:15; and some had "sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto demons (shed)."* Ps. 106:37. The things worshipped may have been unseen objects, or they may have had some mystical representation, or may have been mere idols; but behind all these were real beings, evil, unclean spirits; so that it was morally impossible to have fellowship with the Lord Jesus and with these demons. 1 Cor. 10:19-21.

The Hebrew word shed, though traced from the word 'lord,' properly signifies "a destroyer, extirpator, a violent one; hence metaphorically a mischievous demon." — Fürst. It occurs only in the above two passages. Sair signifies 'rough, hairy,' and specially a he-goat: hence "a goat-shaped deity, which was idolatrously worshipped . . . . It was believed that such hostile beings inhabited the deserts and woods (Isa. 13:21; Isa. 34:14), and that they must be appeased by divine worship'. — Fürst.

"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." (v. 18.) The essential idea of a witch was commerce with spirits, which finds its counterpart in the spiritualism of the present day. Hence in Leviticus she is described as "a woman that hath a familiar spirit." (Lev. 20:27.) The witch of Endor is the exemplification of her kind; for we read that Saul went to her and said, "I pray thee, divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring him up whom I shall name unto thee." (1 Sam. 28:8.) This is the very thing that spiritualists profess to do — to bring the inquirer into communion with departed spirits. Like Saul, unable to obtain communications from God, they seek information concerning things unknown and unseen through the agency of spirits. It is in fact a turning from God to Satan. The whole system, whether in Israel or our own day, is Satanic. A witch therefore was to be destroyed; and this shows the utter antagonism of her vocation to God; and the spiritualism now in vogue is no less hateful, and, if persisted in, no less destructive to souls.

It is very evident from scripture that before God called out Abram the great sin of idolatry was prevalent among men, even among the descendants of Shem, the line of the chosen family. Joshua, in his final charge to the tribes and elders of Israel, tells them that their fathers who dwelt on the other side of the flood — that is, the river Euphrates — were idolaters. "And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abram, and the father of Nachor; and they served other gods." (Joshua 24:2.) This was the craft of Satan, and the most daring act of man's rebellion against the authority of God. From other scriptures we learn that these gods were demons. "They sacrificed unto devils, not to God — to gods whom they knew not — to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared." The apostle referring to this passage, observes, "But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God; and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils." (Deut. 32:17; 1 Cor. 10:20.) No language can describe the moral degradation to which man, through the subtlety of Satan, had now fallen. That which he calls his religion is his greatest folly, and his deepest sin. Demons have taken the place of the true God in his mind, and have the ascendancy over him. He bows down to a dumb idol, but Satan is behind it to receive his homage. What dreadful wickedness! we may well exclaim; and how can God bear with it? But have we not many idolaters around us even in Christendom, so-called? Many who will bow down to a piece of rotten wood, alleged to be part of the true cross, who never bowed the knee in faith to Him who died for sinners there? And may there not be an element of it nearer ourselves than we are aware of? Any object taking the place of Christ in the heart of the Christian, though unintentional, becomes his idol. Hence the needed word of warning: "Little children, keep yourselves from idols." 1 John 5:21.