[imagesource: Facebook / SA Satanic Church]

Riaan Swiegelaar has often appeared in the news over the past few years explaining the beliefs of the South African Satanic Church, and debunking nonsense rumours around ritualistic sacrifices and whatnot.

When the church first launched in June 2020, Swiegelaar and co-founder Adri Norton (pictured above) were bombarded with ignorant messages and petitions.

Essentially, just loads of people saying, “South Africans enjoy the freedom of religious belief until that belief is something I disagree with!”

Swiegelaar and Norton had remained steadfast in their beliefs, however negative the pushback, and there was shock over the past week or so when the former announced he was leaving the church.

The church released this statement on June 29 across multiple social media channels:

Swiegelaar was involved in Christian ministry 20 years ago before becoming an atheist and a Satanist.

Little was known about why Swiegelaar was leaving the church until he released a video on Monday, detailing how he had now found God.

Jacaranda FM with the basics:

[He] said he resonated with the philosophy of Satanism as he was a broken person.

He said over the past three years he had met several thousand Satanists who all had one thing in common – they were broken…

“The organisation is very big and there are certain things I would not be able to talk about as I signed a non-disclosure agreement.”

He said the church has been around for a long time and he was just part of making it public.

An emotional Swiegelaar said he is an openly gay man and God showed him that Christianity is not a gated community, and that it’s about grace and love.

In particular, an interview he gave on CapeTalk in May played a pivotal role.

Once the interview was completed, Swiegelaar said a Christian lady came to hug him and he felt “unconditional love”.

He then went home and carried out a Satanic ritual, with a twist – he asked God if he really existed:

He said at that point Jesus appeared to him and flooded him with the most incredible love and energy.

Swiegelaar added that he won’t be focusing on fellow Satanists to try and get them out of the occult, but would rather focus on healing people with love and light.

Good for you, man.

I’ll pass on any and all forms of organised religion, but feel free to believe whatever the hell you want to believe, as long as it doesn’t infringe on the rights of others.

Here’s Swiegelaar’s full video from Monday where he explains why he left the South African Satanic Church:

[source:jacarandafm]