www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News British Navy approves first ever Satanist

(Lord have mercy on us and on the whole world! St. Michael Archangel protect us! Kyrie Eleison!...Alice)

Navy approves first ever Satanist

Mr Cranmer will be allowed to perform Satanic rituals.

The British Armed Forces has officially recognised its first registered Satanist, a newspaper reports.

Naval technician Chris Cranmer, 24, has been allowed to register by the captain of HMS Cumberland, based at Devonport Naval Base in Plymouth.

The move will mean that he will now be allowed to perform Satanic rituals on board the vessel.

According to the Sunday Telegraph, Mr Cranmer realised he was a Satanist nine years ago.

Religious values

Mr Cranmer said that was when he stumbled across a copy of the Satanic Bible, written by Church of Satan founder Anton Szandor LaVey.

He said: "I then read more and more and came to realise I'd always been a Satanist, just simply never knew."

Mr Cranmer, who is from Edinburgh, is now lobbying the Ministry of Defence to make Satanism a registered religion in the armed forces.


The Navy should not permit Satanist practices on board its ships

Tory MP Ann Widdecombe

Former Tory minister Ann Widdecombe said she was "utterly shocked" by the Royal Navy's decision.

"Satanism is wrong. Obviously the private beliefs of individuals anywhere, including the armed forces, are their own affair but I hope it doesn't spread."

She added: "The Navy should not permit Satanist practices on board its ships.

"God himself gives free will, but I would like to think that if somebody applied to the Navy and said they were a Satanist today it would raise its eyebrows somewhat."

A spokesman for the Royal Navy said: "We are an equal opportunities employer and we don't stop anybody from having their own religious values."

The path to Satan

The Church of Satan was established in San Francisco in 1966.

Mr LaVey was its high priest until his death in 1997.

Followers live by the Nine Satanic Statements, which include "Satan represents indulgence instead of abstinence", "Satan represents vengeance instead of turning the other cheek" and "Satan represents all of the so-called sins, as they all lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification".

Doug Harris, director of the Reachout Trust, an evangelical Christian ministry that "builds a bridge of reason" to those involved in cults and the occult, says the statements are "selfish".

"Following such tenets and working them out practically in your life seems to produce a selfish person not a member of a team," he said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3948329.stm

Hope the ship doesn't sink while he's performing his rituals.

But I guess with the trend toward removing the Christian roots from European and Western culture we shouldn't be shocked at this sort of thing. Just makes it more necessary that we be people of action and witness, as well as faith, in our lives.

Another thought--while we are so busy fighting each other, the Enemy is outflanking us in his attempts to destroy all that is good around us.

BOB

If I were in the navy, I would not knowingly put myself on a ship where the evil one is actually being invited or invoked.

I truly, truly lament those poor souls who may be spiritually ignorant of how dangerous what their mate is doing, or who are unaware of what he is doing.

I am sure that there will be many 'unusual' stories from that ship. May God help those who have been baptized and who have to be in the vicinity of something so evil and in the isolation of the sea.

The world is surely becoming mad as it draws farther and farther away from God.

Why are there no Christian voices rising up in great numbers to protest this danger and madness?

Why do we all just succumb to the madness which is thrust upon us each day in society, in our schools, in our media? I think many of us just feel defeated and have slowly become desensitized to things that would have shocked and outraged us even a decade or two ago.

...and by the way, it doesn't surprise me one bit that this so called 'religion' became official in San Francisco.

(May St. John Maximovitch pray for that beautiful city which was his home.)

Alice,
who is sadly in dismay and disbelief

Oh THIS should play right into Fundamentalist Muslim hands. Justification to continue fighting the Great Satan! :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Well , I have to say that since reading this story some 12+ hours ago - I have been in a state of disbelief .

I'm sorry for the poor Captain who had to take this decision - if he had not agreed I am sure that it would have ended up as a case of discrimination against a Satanist - and though in some ways that would have been correct , sadly in today's climate of Political Correctness the poor Captain would not have had a leg to stand on.

Sad , very very sad

Anhelyna

That is scary! I hope his shipmates are doing a lot of praying.

I have to feel for his shipmates. Do they realize he's endangering their lives.

About 90 years ago, Galveston had a parade in honor of satan. Right after that great event, Galveston suffered through one of the worst hurricanes this nation has ever had. Thousands died.

Zenovia

Hope I don't shock anyone, but our own country (USA) has already had an admitted satanist in the military, Lt Col Michael Aquino in the late 1980's. Aquino served in military intelligence and was later the subject of a child molestation investigation in the San Jose area.

I didn't know that!

Any God-fearing sailor,knowing he's on board, should simply refuse to sail with him.
Let the Royal Navy work that one out.

Zenovia,

I have read virtually all the published literature on Hurricane Isaac which devastated Galveston in 1900 and caused an estimated 8,000 deaths, more than 20% of the population and the largest number of deaths attributed to any natural disaster in US history, but I have never seen any reference to any satanic parade preceding the event. Can you provide a some point of documentation for that please? It has the ring of fundamentalist urban legend to it, but I can't even find a reference to it on any of the urban legend sites or the sites of any of the doomsday prophets.

Aquino was not the first Satanist in the US military by any means. As a US Army officer involved in training combat medics in the late 1960s, I regularly had trainees in my units who espoused Satanism as their religious belief. When queried, these inevitably proved to indeed be adherents of the sect, rather than folks who wanted to enter something controversial on their records to "yank someone's chain" or use it as a pretext to seeking a discharge. I got to know them very well and can say, unreservedly, that they were both conscientious soldiers and contributing members of their units. Most were reasonably well-educated and none would have been described as "weird" in any way. They were good medics; most went from advance training to VietNam. One served under me there, in the medical platoon of a combat unit, and was awarded the Silver Star, on my recommendation, for extraordinarily heroic actions, at the risk of his own life, that saved the lives of several soldiers in the platoon he was supporting. Al later died in combat; his memory is eternally with me.

Lt. Col. Aquino achieved notoriety because his name surfaced in allegations that arose during the same era that produced the McMartin Day School allegations and a raft of similar organized child abuse conspiracy theories, virtually all ultimately shown to have been without merit. The pedophilia allegations involving Aquino were dismissed and, although he is the head of a cult that has the Egyptian god Set as its chief deity, Aquino is chiefly notable these days for the multitude of hysterical web-sites that identify him as responsible for everything from natural disasters to the Yankees loss of the AL pennant to the Red Sox. The website of Aquino's sect tends to be a showpiece for his writings on neutron bombs, esp, and ethical psyops (psychological warfare operations - his military intelligence area of specialization), as much or more so than it is a place from which to promulgate theological dogma on satanism.

Many years,

Neil, who, before anyone bothers to anathematize him, does not doubt the existence of Satanists, but firmly believes that for most of them it represents a faddish predeliction and who is uninterested in debating the risk that Anton LeVay's followers pose to the world - seeing more danger in people like Hitler, Stalin, and others of that ilk, who were not members of any "Church of Satan" but who visited much more satanic evil on the world than any pimply-faced 20 year old whispering incantations from the "Satanic Bible" over candles while standing inside a pentagram.

Dear Neil,

Whenever the Evil One is invoked, calamity of some sort seems to follow. Have you ever heard about the strange going ons on the set of the Exorcist! (And they were documented in reputable secular journalistic news services--not urban legends).

The Son of Sam participated in Satanic rituals, and the park where those rituals took place is in my county. He was obviously 'possessed', hearing the Evil One talk through a dog, and telling him to kill. He killed many young people who were my contemporaries at the time. He has become a born again Christian, and talks about all of this in his book.

The Church does not take these things lightly.

Anyway, enough attention to the angel of darkness--May our Lord Jesus Christ protect His followers from the spirits of evil and the misguided souls who wish to follow them.

Kyrie Eleison!
Alice

For anyone interested: this is the Roman Catholic Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel who is invoked to protect from evil:

PRAYER TO SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL

St. Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle,
be our defense against the wickedness
and snares of the devil;
may God rebuke him, we humbly pray,
and do thou
O Prince of the heavenly hosts,
by the divine power,
thrust into hell Satan
and all the evil spirits
who prowl about the world
seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.

Dear Neil,

Yes, I think members of these kinds of sects tend to see in it a kind of "acceptance" of our lower nature while rejecting what they may feel is a certain dishonesty about trying to think we can be above them.

The Ontario government does recognize the Wiccan church and allows for Wiccan chaplains - the Wiccan symbol is on the annual report of the government chaplaincy service.

Alex

Dear Brethren,

If it would be a comfort to anyone then you should know the traditions of the sea.

If something or someone begins to bring extreme misfortune to the crew and ship, the usual response is to cast it or him over the side.

If you don't believe me, read the book of Jonah.

Perhaps there, in the midst of the unfatomable depths, this young man will find out who is the one who saves and who is the one that lies.

In Christ,
the former Lieutenant Andrew J. Rubis, USNR

Oh - I do like that

What a comforting thought - and let's hope the young man's education continues

b
u
t

in the traditions of Her Majesty's Senior Service :p

Anhelyna