News

Serving Satan

AT LEAST ONE past member and several Christian ministers say some of the country's murders and kidnappings are linked to the Church of Satan.

It took some effort by *Jane's pastor to convince her to do an interview with THE STAR because of the fear that she could again be attacked by demons. However, the young lady, who was once a member of the church of Satan but became a Christian, said their services mainly comprise of sacrifices, where either animals or humans are used.

"You will find that they take like new-born babies from the hospital and tell the parents that the child is still-born. They take children, homeless people, or the mad people on the streets to do it. They don't want to attract too much attention to themselves, so they will use people who are not necessarily noticeable," she said.

According to the Constabulary Communication Network's (CCN) statistics, the number of reported missing persons for 2005 thus far is approximately 235, of which 108 returned home and 123 are still missing, while four were discovered dead.

The police say, although they have received no reports that persons had been used for sacrificial purposes, it was not ruled out.

Jane, who by any standards, could be described as 'looking normal', says she became involved in Satanism, when she was seven years old. Jane, who was molested, told a tale of pain and subsequent possession after she sought comfort in an older female friend she thought she could trust.

Molested

"I was molested by my brothers ... and I didn't really have anyone to play with or anything like that, so she became my friend. A little before my seventh birthday she said that if I did what she said, she would bring a gift for me and the molestation would stop," said Jane.

She said on her seventh birthday, she met the woman, who she refers to as 'Mother Mary', and was given a drink.

"She gave me a drink - it wasn't blood or anything, " she laughed reassuringly, "but when I drank it, it burnt my throat and chest."

Jane says though she still does not know what the ingredients were she believes she was 'taking in' her first demon. After the drink, she said, she was visited by demons and at first, mainly met the members of her church through astroprojection or spiritually. "You see I was a little girl then, so I couldn't be coming out of the house with my parents there; so that's how we met sometimes."

Other times they met in various locations.

Pastor Donald Stewart, of the Covenant Community Church, on Red Hills Road, St. Andrew, who spoke to The Star, says he was a bit of a cultist in his younger days but was never a member of a Satanic Church, but did research on them.

He says the church of Satan does not have a prescribed meeting place but more than ten years ago there used to be a church in Stony Hill and a number of other parishes.

He said the church became official in the 1960's when one branch was established.

"They had, what is called, covents that they worshipped in...there were approximately 95 branches across the island. While other people were focusing on the one in Stony Hill, other things were happening across the island," he said.

"The churches slowly faded out, because some people weren't very accepting of it, and witchcraft is illegal in Jamaica," said Stewart.

Jane, however, says that there are quite a few similarities between the Christian and Satanic church that prevent the latter from standing out.

"Satan tries to mirror everything that Christ does...so there are a number of things that they will have that we used to have. There are deaconesses, priests and things like that," she said.

However, there is at least one major difference. Jane says there is the practice of having an orgy at the end of each service at the Church Of Satan.

"You don't have a choice in the matter. After every service that's what happened; everybody just has sex with everybody. Demons with humans, parents with children. So if you don't want to do anything, then just prepare to be raped every time."

Jane, now in her twenties, says she was delivered from the Church when she went to do her final assignment, to move up from being a deaconess, to a bride of Satan.

"Yuh see because me did well want the little position, and there was the promise of wealth and things like that, I was ready to carry it out," she said.

She said, however, that she met a counsellor who realised that she was possessed and after seven years she was delivered.

When asked what her final assignment was, she said, "To kill someone."

"A lot of times when you find people, especially in the rural areas, killing people and saying that they heard a voice telling them to kill their relatives or something like that, it is a sacrifice," she said.

Pastor Joseph Ade-Gold, of the Overcomers World Ministries, a Nigerian native, who is more widely known for his deliverance from occult worship to Christianity in his early twenties, also spoke with THE STAR.

He says though the Satanic group targets people from any social strata, within this group there is a large number of children.

"It doesn't have to do with Satanism alone, but many times...these gunmen are boys who are possessed and were in need of their parents attention," he said

*Name changed upon request.