Joy of Satan Ministries – Their Feeble Attempt to Disprove Christianity
This article is intended for those searching for information on Satanism, Magic, or more specifically; “Joy of Satan Ministries” (or JSM).
Joy of Satan Ministries is an organization based in Baldwin Park California who’s purpose is to promote “spiritual satanism”. The founder of the organization goes by the assumed name “Salem Burke”. Salem Burke (from what I can glean from the personal testimonies) is an ex-Roman Catholic who started dabbling in Voodoo. Now, several years later he is a recognized Warlock in the Magic community and he has founded the “Joy of Satan Ministries” to proclaim what he believes to be the truth.
I found this organization while reading some posts on a Christian E-group with Yahoo Groups. Later, I found that they also have some groups on “Yahoo Groups” which are: “Joy of Satan”, and “Teens for Satan”… the latter being an E-Group designed to proselytize teenagers and get them interested in Satanism. Which is why I decided to find out more about the organization.
As I read through the articles on their website, and the articles on Salem Burke’s personal website, I couldn’t help but notice some extremely contradictory statements throughout the website, and the lack of sincere logic that is prevalent in the articles. I begin by exposing some of the more trivial of these contradictions, then systematically move on to contradictions which are more important to the defense of Christianity.
The name “Satanist”
The name taken for those who follow Satan, or worship Satan is “Satanist”. This following argument might seem trivial to some, but what I am about to say reveals the shallowness of those who call themselves “Satanists”.
The word “satan” in English comes from the un-translated Greek word of the New Testament, “satan”. The entity named Satan is given this name in the New Testament of the Bible because he is the opponent of good. But this is not where the word “satan” originated. The word originated in the Chaldee language of the Old Testament which is “sawtawn”. This word in the Chaldee means “opponent”. So one can see why the “opponent of good” was given the name “Satan”. “Satan” very simply means, “opponent”.
Now, when a “Satanist” calls themselves as such, they are essentially calling themselves a “follower of the opponent”. What a ridiculous statement! To proudly call yourself a follower of the opponent. When a football player is playing in a game, they don’t do what the opponent tells them to do, or when the US Army engages in a battle they don’t take orders from the other side. So why would someone intentionally claim to follow the “opponent”.
The truth is, Satanist do follow the opponent… but unwittingly. Their arrogance in labeling themselves as Satanists only serves to prove their shallowness though. This should be the first tip to anyone considering “Satanism” as a valid religion.
Some would say though, that labeling themselves as “Satanists” is a way of associating themselves with the original Satan, or opponent; and thereby labeling themselves as “opponents” with Satan. If this is the case, Satanism is nothing but a revolt, or a war against the opponent, which happens to be Christianity.
Their strange preoccupation with Christianity
The writers of the site I spoke of earlier, and other Satanic speakers I have heard seem to have a strange preoccupation with Christianity. In fact, the three websites associated with “Joy of Satan Ministries” have almost as much writing about the supposed conspiracy of Christianity as they have articles concerning their own particular beliefs.
Three “high priest(esses)” of JSM, have written sermons which they have published to the website; out of 82 sermons, 20 sermons are on the topic of Christianity, 1 sermon on the topic of Islam, and almost every one that I read have some negative statement regarding Christianity or Christians.
Additionally, the main page of their website displays a narrative explaining what “spiritual satanism” is, and they say “We know we “save” our own souls as opposed to claims of the Nazarene saving anyone.” And, “The Judeo/Christian religion is a vicious hoax on humanity of catastrophic proportions.” Just to list a few quotes. Another site in their webring entitled “Exposing Christianity” is fully dedicated to proving Christianity as a fallacious religion.
Why the preoccupation with Christianity? Why not concentrate on the plethora of misleadings within the witchcraft community they are a part of? Why not spend more time and effort elucidating the tenets of their beliefs?
I’ll tell you why. Their sole purpose of existence as a “religion” is to war against Christianity. There is not much more for them to write or speak about. Opposing Christianity is their fundamental purpose. All the talk about magic, rituals, astrology, etc. is all secondary to the purpose of opposing their biggest threat… Jesus Christ. Let me put it this way; When the United States sent ships into the Gulf of Mexico during the Cold War, we did so because Russia was delivering weapons to Cuba. The reason we retaliated with force was because there was the potential of Cuba becoming a threat. The existence of “Satanism” is no different. They are merely a retaliation to what they consider a threat.
If Christianity ceased to exist… would Satanism (as the “opponent”) have a foundation of belief?
They claim that Satanism predates Christianity
A quote from exposingchristianity.com reads: “Christianity is a tool for removing spiritual/occult knowledge from the populace…”. The whole idea here is that Satanism is the original “true” religion, and Christianity is a hoax set up to blind the world to the supposed truth of the occult. Another quote from that same website reads: “True Satanism is based upon the ancient religions that predated Judaism, Christianity, and Islam by hundreds to thousands of years.”
First of all, as we have already seen, Satanism is the “opponent” to Christianity. It would seem that if there were any substance to the teachings of Satanism, there wouldn’t be so much preoccupation with Christianity and Judaism. It always seems that for Satanists to validate their religion, they must compare it against Christianity. But, that fact aside, let’s look into the claim that Satanism predates Christianity and Judaism.
An article on exposingchristianity.com (Exposing Spiritual Corruption) tries to prove that the entire Bible is full of alchemical codes, and these codes prove that the Biblical accounts were stolen from Pagan teachings already in practice before the Bible was written. Based on this teaching, the Satanist tries to prove his position by pointing out several similarities between the Bible and Alchemical signs and symbols. All of these similarities are circumstantial. The writer of the article efforts to prove that Jesus Christ never existed because of a special belief they hold that a serpent ascends the spine (which has 33 vertebrae). Supposedly Jesus Christ was a fictitious being based on the serpent, and the fact that He was 33 years old.
Of course, any intelligent person would recognize that anyone could find something like, say… 33 pieces of bubble gum in a bag, and to say that this was some sort of allusion to the serpent must mean that chewing bubble gum is the path to enlightenment. This is the kind of deranged type of thinking that comes with the teachings of Satanism.
A whole lot of circumstantial blather later, the author of the article attempts to compare Satanism to the Creation account of Genesis. In reference to Genesis 1:31 “the sixth day” The author is quoted: “From the above, again the ALLEGORY is perverted and twisted. The “sixth day” is the sixth chakra”. In reference to Genesis 2:2 “and he rested on the seventh day” the author writes: “Here is another alchemical allegory that was stolen and twisted. When the alchemist has completed his/her work, he/she rests. “God” = OURSELVES!”. Concerning the Biblical flood account of Genesis chapters 7 and 8 the author of the article writes: “The water element is feminine, while the fire element is masculine. This stage of the opus is symbolized by a flood of energy which is symbolized by the flood of waters. The flood is another allegory of death and regeneration. The ark itself is symbolic of the human body. The allegory of the crow not returning to the ark is symbolic of the stage is not yet completed. The “dove” symbolizes the white stage aka the “albedo.” Over and over again, the author explains how the Bible was faked using allusions to alchemical signs and numerology.
But, here is where the Satanic apology crumbles. I would like to ask the reader a couple of questions at this time, based on the quotes you have just read from the Satanic author.
- If occult magic was true illumination, why would those who were illuminated in those days craftily construct a lie to deceive the world, and subsequently mask the truth from potential believers in Satanism?
- If the religion of Judaism of the Old Testament, and Christianity is so harmful to humans, why would those who are illuminated create such a thing to potentially harm billions of people.
If (as the Satanist claims) the Bible is proven a fake by the use of allusions to alchemical signs and numerology; the Bible HAD to be written by Magicians as they are the only ones who would have such knowledge of the signs to begin with. The author of the article affirms this by stating the purpose of the deception was to conceal the truth to horde it for themselves for selfish gain; “Christianity was invented to remove spiritual and occult knowledge (the powers of the mind) from the populace and place this power in the hands of a “chosen” few”…. Really?…. And he would know that, how? Since the writings of Moses were penned 5,000 years ago, the only way the author would know that is to get his information from Satan himself… you know, the one who opposes Judaism and Christianity. OF COURSE SATAN IS GOING TO SAY THAT.
Again quoting from the main page of that website: “True Satanism has been actively and zealously suppressed for centuries and many out of ignorance believe lies about Satan and react accordingly.”
So, from the above quotes we can safely ascertain that the crux of the Satanist’s defense for the Bible being a lie is that certain “illuminated” magicians in ancient days constructed a lie to prevent the majority of humans from receiving this power so they could enslave them and secure their own positions as virtual kings over the Earth.
How can this be? If the illumination comes from Satan, why would he continue to illuminate those who were abusing this power? Remember, according to the Satanist, the Christian leaders are actually rogue Satanists who are striving to horde the power by suppressing the truth. But wait… what about this statement? “For far too long, enemies of Satan such as the Christian churches have been at liberty to dictate lies concerning Satan and Satanism.”
But how can Satan, fight against Satan? If the leaders of Christian Churches are actually hording the teachings of Satanism… how can they be the enemies of Satanism? According to the website Satan is the one who guides them to enlightenment; “Satan accepts us as we are, but guides us to advance ourselves to where we evolve to a higher level.”
The Truth
According to the authors of these websites, Satan’s kingdom is divided against itself. On one hand we are told that the Bible was constructed to blind us to the truth by Satanists, then we are led to believe that Satanists today are still working to suppress the truth by hording artifacts and writings to keep themselves in power.
Now, we are supposed to believe that Satanists are building websites, writing articles, and expending their energy teaching the world that the truth is being suppressed. And both sides are purportedly operating under the authority of Satan?
Jesus was confronted with a similar paradox by which he said:
Mat 12:24-26 “But when the Pharisees heard [it], they said, This [fellow] doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? “
If the Bible was really written by Satanists, why on earth would they have included such a statement? As (according to the Satanist authors of the website) Satan is a benevolent being wishing to illuminate humans, and these supposed authors of the Bible were striving to oppose Satan.
Conclusion
Satanism is a reaction to Christianity. Satanists can say they are not a “reaction” to Christianity all they want… but the truth is, they are.
There is a spiritual war taking place on this Earth, a war being fought for the most precious treasure ever conceived… a war for the souls of men.
Satan has been working to thwart the work of God since the creation of man, and is still working to deceive mankind through propaganda like the websites I have quoted in this article.
The truth is though, Satan has already been defeated. The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has broken the curse of death and made eternal life available to anyone who would believe and follow Him.
There will be more articles to follow on this subject.
John W. Hardin



