Christian group hunted by Satanists in South Africa, or a growing Satanic-panic?

Last week the South African You magazine and other media reported a story that 4 murdered members of a Christian ministry, which was apparently focused on bringing Satanists to Christ, were murdered by Satanists.

A Gauteng religious group believes that Satanists are behind the murder of three of its members.

Three members of Overcomers Through Christ have been stabbed to death since July.

The latest killing was on Thursday when Michaela Valentine, 25, was found stabbed to death in her home in Ruimsig, western Johannesburg. Only her cellphone was missing.

On August 13, Pastor Reg Bendixen - the group's "mentor" - was found in the garden of his Honeydew home with his throat slit.

On July 26, group member Natacha Burger, 31, and her neighbour, Joyce Boonzaier, 68, were found slain in Boonzaier's Centurion home, near Pretoria.

www.timeslive.co.za...

A fourth victim has been added since the article.

The pagan and occult community and societies in SA on the other hand fear a new "Satanic-panic".
A range of recent media accounts have linked murders to Satanism and the occult in ways that proved unsubstantiated by any evidence.
The only evidence seems to be from fundamentalist Christian groups and their members who claim to be ex-Satanists or "occult experts" (and some of these seem to be rather dodgy conmen).
The media seems to cater to huge evangelical markets.
So it seems rather unsurprising that they repeat such claims without evidence and sensationalist headlines.
www.penton.co.za...

Furthermore there's talk of the reforming of the apartheid-era occult unit, which famously harassed Wiccans and pagans, while failing to produce the evidence of mass Satanic cults in SA.

Francisco Fumarola points out (in the above link from Penton):

Just in a matter of months new high profile cases are arising. Soon Huisgenoot and You will publish an article entitled “Moorde vir Satan” and “Satanists are hunting us”. Once these popular magazines publish such articles, the rumour mills will be running again. The public will be reminded of the dangers of “Satanism” and of “the occult” and cult-cops and Christian pastors will have another victory – Convenient how these stories plant the seeds in the minds of the public for the need of an “occult unit”.

The articles have been published, and the mainstream media account of Satanic murders has spread.
Nobody has yet been arrested.
Has it been forced and premature for the media to accuse Satanists?
As the Penton article points out the relationship to the Christian group of some of these victims is rather tenuous, and it could be a serial killer in the group, unrelated murders or anything really.

Well something evil is going on, although it's definitely not related to pagans, although their symbol (the upright pentagram) is used in the first article above, which would understandably upset any faith.

Christina Engela introduces her article on the recent rise in Satanic-panic and the "occult unit" with some powerful sentiments:

Over the past two weeks a serious issue has come to light over the reformation of the SA Police’s “Occult Related Crime” units. In a press release last week, the SA Pagan Rights Alliance, representing the Pagan community of South Africa, revealed that the SAPS is forming these units to address so-called “occult related crimes”, based on information obtained from a SAPS internal memo. Most of the items on the list (i.e. “investigating rape by a Tokoloshe”) are patently ridiculous and make the SAPS look even worse than its largely overweight and incompetent-to-handle-a-firearm ‘blobbies’ on the beat PR image already do. The other items place non-Christians in South Africa up front as targets for suspicion and intimidation simply on the grounds of their belief systems, and largely on the basis of “crimes” which could never ever be proven in a court of law.

www.penton.co.za...

All this makes one wonder how much truth will come of the specific murders.
One hopes the cases will be solved professionally.

A mainstream media article on the supposed rise of witchcraft and Satanism in the KZN Province of South Africa.

Here the picture of a shoddily drawn hexagram is linked to rumors of decapitated birds on a campus, mysterious lights, and exam stress that apparently leads students to turn to "witchcraft".

No distinction is made between pagans and Satanists, although SA's celebrity occult cop, Kobus Jonker, has made such distinctions before.
However, it seems former notions of reconciliation between pagans and Jonker have been shelved for a full-on attack on all occultism, with deliberately blurred references and symbols.

He finds this is evidence of a "witchgram", used to mock Christians and Jews by Satanists and witches with "white magic" (unclear distinctions between occult practices, and a blurring of the troubled history between Christians and Jews to facilitate a Christian Zionist point).

Now that kind of disinformation is just shocking.
After some of the more reasonable statements made by Jonker over the years I first thought this was a joke.
But it appears he means it:

Occult expert and sociologist Dr Kobus Jonker said he was receiving calls for help every week from every province with hot spots including the three KZN cities, Cape Town, Fish Hoek and on the West Rand in Krugersdorp, Randfontein and Roodepoort. In some cases students were turning to witchcraft to pass exams. Both Jonker and occult and Satanism expert Dr Herbie Staples warned parents to be vigilant to avoid a tragedy such as a suicide. Jonker said the six-pointed star with a circle around it was a “witchgram” used to mock Jews and Christians. “It’s a very powerful symbol used at witch festivals when they use white magic, and they use it to evoke the spirits. They make blood sacrifices and pacts with the demons and they drink the blood to get power,” Jonker said. “Sometimes close to exams they believe they can evoke the spirit to help them and of course if they strike luck and do well they will do it more and it could end up in tragedy. It is all about choices in life. It’s a wrong choice and it can kill you,” Jonker said.

www.iol.co.za...

Does anybody know the history and occult symbolism of the hexagram?
Is it a "witchgram" on Israel's flag?

(For an older thread on Kobus Jonker and more background see: www.abovetopsecret.com...)

On the shocking and tragic murders, I suppose the openly pagan/occult community in SA would say that if the killer or killers are indeed motivated by some form of Satanism or occultism, then they have powerfully reinforced fundamentalist Christianity, and thus accomplished nothing:

In the very slight chance that the murderer actually does turn out to be someone who thinks the “devil makes him do it”, he should stop for a moment and consider the fact that he or she is actually nothing but a tool for fundamentalist Christianity, driving the flocks back to Church in fear.

(Francisco Fumarola, see second link in my opening post.)

That's of course assuming that the true "Satanists" aren't lurking behind a Christian mask, because the devil disguises himself as an angel of light, and what better place to hide and sow chaos with a major diversion?

1) The murders are tragic.
2) It sounds like SA needs to work on distinguishing between your regular run of the mill pagans and crazy people.
3) Turning around and speculating that the Christians may be doing this to themselves is just as biased as assuming witches did it.
4) If enough people in a certain group are being killed- it does make sense to investigate a lead that they all had in common. In this case, they all were in a Satanist outreach program. The cops would be negligent if they didn't pursue the Satanist angle.
5) All Christians don't lump all pagans in together. However- there's your regular every day pagans and then there's your crazy types who are power hungry and have evil intent toward others. I know those are a minority group- or lone solo types. And- really- anyone who goes around calling himself/herself a Satanist is intentionally at odds with Christianity. And- my own bias tells me those types aren't likely up to any good.

reply to post by LeSigh

Sure, a Satanic angle can be investigated along with other possibilities like crime (and violent crime isn't exactly uncommon in SA), and I don't think it's biased at all to speculate that a serial killer or disturbed person may be in the Christian group, or connected to it.
Skeptics however would point out that the kind of criminal Satanic cults described by occult cops and Christian groups have never been proven to exist over many decades of Satanic-panic.
But who knows, perhaps this time they will surprise the skeptics with proof?
The idea that Satanists infiltrate Christian groups and even run churches has been a feature of Satanic-panic, and this idea originates from Christian "occult experts" themselves.

I certainly don't think that people who label themselves Satanists are all up to no good.
The LaVeyan Satanists are really atheists and Christianity doesn't feature in their beliefs.
Even those who are at odds with Christianity wouldn't commit crimes on Christians, although like most religions it probably attracts some very disturbed people, and some disturbed individuals may develop an interest in the occult.
Some Protestant Christians may be "at odds" with Catholicism, but that doesn't mean they still kill each other nowadays.
Some Christians may also be said to be "at odds" with any form of the occult as an essential feature of their world-view.

For now the media could have done more to prevent Satanic-panic, which detracts from the true tragedy of the murders.
Apart from simply repeating the claims of the group, they could have added a brief context on the history of Satanic-panic in SA as a caution not to jump to conclusions prematurely, or consulted one of the pagan organizations for their view, because in SA many Christians do not distinguish between various occult religions, which could have been shortly clarified.
Surely practicing occultists could also offer helpful advice when crimes are linked to the occult, although in this case there were no Satanic signs or other clear links to some form of Satanism on the crime scenes.
The pentagram (not even the inverted pentagram that is emblematic of Satanism) in the initial article was just entirely sensationalist and misleading.

I find it strange how people are so quick to disregard satanic murders as "nonsense". There is ample evidence out there for such cases. Look at the rash of screwed up murders that took place within the black metal scene in Norway or how they burned down churches there. Look at Richard Ramirez (He might of been a loony but he definitely killed with a Satanic agenda).

This stuff happens all the time. I just read an article not too long ago about a case of human sacrifice in Africa reported by the BBC. It happens frequently in India as well. Why do people have such a hard time believing Satanists are capable of murder?

reply to post by DeadSeraph


Satanist capable of murder?

More like mankind capable of murder

Satanist are being hunted? No, murderers being hunted. Whoever did this mailed bit of the pastor's brain to fellow chirch members. Thats dodgy no matter who you chose to call god.

Its strange how satanism is getting such a hold of young South Africans. Lately it was the young couple who killed, beheaded and disected their victims head. Then there was the indian teen who had hung himself and left a pentagram against the wall.

I for one welcome this speciallised unit.


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

Originally posted by Jordan River
reply to post by DeadSeraph

 

Satanist capable of murder?

More like mankind capable of murder

Pretty much. So why is it such a stretch that Satanists could murder for ritual purposes? Or even just to kill someone they don't agree with?

reply to post by DeadSeraph


I believe, that, as a former satanist myself, that there is more different classifications of satanism than that of Christianity, so much so its difficult to get into the mindset of any satanist.

Originally posted by Jordan River
reply to post by DeadSeraph

 

I believe, that, as a former satanist myself, that there is more different classifications of satanism than that of Christianity

Certainly. There are theistic satanists, Laveyists, temple of set, Norse paganism/satanism, etc etc. Of them all I'd say laveyists are probably the least likely to murder (at least for ritual purposes). But there are a lot of people in the other groups that wouldn't think twice about it.

I guess I just find it strange how it's met with such skepticism when there is ample evidence out there that certain sub groups within the Satanic practice encourage not only ritual sacrifice of human beings, but destroying their enemies (by whatever means).

reply to post by DeadSeraph


I know ritual sacrifice probably do occur, but from what I heard that was all a hoax and rarely happen.... Not saying that Nordic death bands haven't done it lol

Black mass for example

Originally posted by Jordan River
reply to post by DeadSeraph

 

I know ritual sacrifice probably do occur, but from what I heard that was all a hoax and rarely happen.... Not saying that Nordic death bands haven't done it lol

Black mass for example

It's less a hoax than you might think. It depends on the group (coven), their leanings (theistic satanists are more likely to engage in ritual human sacrifice), and how well connected they are. There are A LOT of missing kids in America every year. I'm not suggesting all of them are victims of ritual murder, but it is not out of the realm of possibility for a few of them to meet such a horrible fate.

Unfortunately, people want "proof" of such practices. In situations like these, there is no proof to be had because the children are never found.

We have modern proven accounts of witch doctors practicing human sacrifice in remote areas of Africa and India. Even in these locations, the practice is hush hush, but the odd case ends up being exposed. Why are such practices completely unthinkable in the west?

reply to post by Monkeygod333

The brain bit is an unverified claim, and even the narrative said it was something that looked like a human brain.
The Van Eck murder was never linked to any Satanic group, although the two psychopaths had a taste for the macabre, including some occult imagery. The program 3rd Degree later had to clarify this, after a program with unproven and false claims by Christian groups.

More than a year ago, Danie Krügel called the Van Eck “graveyard murder” one “of the worst satanic crimes”. Krügel, with ties to Christian organization Auksano, really wanted the public to believe this. Soon the media called the crime a “satanic crime” and an “occult crime”. A 3rd Degree special was even used as a one sided propaganda platform for Auksano. Auksano members and even a “former Satanist” warned against the dangers of Satanism and occultism in this special. They found all kinds of ties between the Van Eck case and supposed satanic practices – they all turned out to be very wrong. The “Satanism” and “Occultism” of the Van Eck case was a construct of the media and of Auksano.

www.penton.co.za...

This is the same Danie Kruegel who claims to have a mysterious device that supposedly locates people by a hair sample, although his results in the Madelaine McCann case predictably turned up nothing.
These are the kinds of people making these claims and fueling Satanic-panic.

reply to post by DeadSeraph



Lol, satanist aren't that abundant, many go towards atheism before satanism. No donations

Originally posted by halfoldman
reply to post by Monkeygod333

 

The brain bit is an unverified claim, and even the narrative said it was something that looked like a human brain.
The Van Eck murder was never linked to any Satanic group, although the two psychopaths had taste for the macabre, including some occult imagery. The program 3rd Degree later had to clarify this, after a program with unproven and false claims by Christian groups.

More than a year ago, Danie Krügel called the Van Eck “graveyard murder” one “of the worst satanic crimes”. Krügel, with ties to Christian organization Auksano, really wanted the public to believe this. Soon the media called the crime a “satanic crime” and an “occult crime”. A 3rd Degree special was even used as a one sided propaganda platform for Auksano. Auksano members and even a “former Satanist” warned against the dangers of Satanism and occultism in this special. They found all kinds of ties between the Van Eck case and supposed satanic practices – they all turned out to be very wrong. The “Satanism” and “Occultism” of the Van Eck case was a construct of the media and of Auksano.

www.penton.co.za...

This is the same Danie Kruegel who claims to have a mysterious device that supposedly locates people by a hair sample, although his results in the Madelaine McCann case predictably turned up nothing.
These are the kinds of people making these claims and fueling Satanic-panic.

edit on 13-10-2012 by halfoldman because: (no reason given)

edit on 13-10-2012 by halfoldman because: (no reason given)

While I'm not disagreeing with you completely, I think your skepticism is perhaps a bit too broad.

Here is a somewhat recent case of child sacrifice reported by the BBC (one of many in the last 5 years) from India: www.bbc.co.uk...

What we can infer from such cases is that human sacrifice (and ritual murder) still exists today. So why is it such a stretch to believe that Satanists are capable of similar acts?

Hell we see it every day in suicide bombings. What is the act of strapping a bomb to yourself and killing innocent people in the name of your god if not an act of ritual murder or sacrifice? Are you naive enough to think that Satanists are somehow above such actions despite the evidence to the contrary?

reply to post by DeadSeraph

In South Africa muti murders (African black magic in which human parts are used) is a well known fact.

The bodies exist, the practitioners exist and the people who commit the murders are sometimes arrested and convicted (although it's said some of the police are frightened of the "baloyi", or black magic witchdoctors).

However, witch-hunting is also common, and completely innocent people can have their houses burnt, and even be murdered simply because a jealous neighbor accused them of witchcraft.

Western tropes of Satanism have also influenced some African ministries, which can result in violent exorcisms, especially of children, and some Nigerian ministries are focused on "child witches", which has left children abandoned and homeless.

I wouldn't say the West has ignored claims of widespread Satanic sacrifice.
Huge amounts of taxpayer's money was spent in the late 1980s in the US to locate the supposedly thousands of graves of sacrificial victims, or in the trials of innocent kindergarden teachers accused of ritual abuse.
rationalwiki.org...
Careers and lives were destroyed on nothing more than accusations, and the youth was essentially demonized.

It's all good and well to say people should accept things without proof, until the finger points at you.

I don't think Satanism as described by Satanic-panic is real - that is murderous cults with thousands of members in suburbia, even in the smaller towns.
However, I do personally suspect that murky things are going on in the higher echelons of power, and there are certainly pedophilia networks, as is sometimes uncovered, for example in Belgium.

Originally posted by halfoldman
reply to post by DeadSeraph

 

In South Africa muti murders (African black magic in which human parts are used) is a well known fact.

The bodies exist, the practitioners exist and the people who commit the murders are sometimes arrested and convicted (although it's said some of the police are frightened of the "baloyi", or black magic witchdoctors).

However, witch-hunting is also common, and completely innocent people can have their houses burnt, and even be murdered simply because a jealous neighbor accused them of witchcraft.

Western tropes of Satanism have also influenced some African ministries, which can result in violent exorcisms, especially of children, and some Nigerian ministries are focused on "child witches", which has left children abandoned and homeless.

I wouldn't say the West has ignored claims of widespread Satanic sacrifice.
Huge amounts of taxpayer's money was spent in the late 1980s in the US to locate the supposed thousands of graves of sacrificial victims, or in the trials of innocent kindergarden teachers accused of ritual abuse.
Careers and lives were destroyed on nothing more than accusations, and the youth was essentially demonized.

It's all good and well to say people should accept things without proof, until the finger points at you.

I don't think Satanism as described by Satanic-panic is real - that is murderous cults with thousands of members in suburbia, even in the smaller towns.
However, I do personally suspect that murky things are going on in the higher echelons of power, and there are certainly pedophilia networks, as is sometimes uncovered, for example in Belgium.

Thanks for clarifying your opinions. I think I am in agreement with your statements here, for the most part. "witch hunts" can turn into the very sort of terrorism they seek to stamp out (as history has proven). I disagree however, that there is no evidence for Satanic ritual murder or sacrifice. There is ample evidence out there.

Having grown up in the 80's, I remember the "Satanic Panic" quite well, and the ridiculous proportions it took on even in my own home (ironically, this didn't stop me from becoming a Satanist myself in the early 90's).

I guess I feel like some of the skepticism people feel about satanic ritual abuse or acts of murder/sacrifice is misguided and not grounded in facts. The facts are out there to confirm that these cases can and do occur.

I have an application on my iPad, called "Zite", which aggregates news for me, and I've seen a lot of articles about the persecution of Christians in Africa lately (mostly Nigeria, but other places, as well.) I don't know if that has any relevance here, but if there is a regional attempt to attack Christians, maybe so.