Mike Warnke is the author of the 1972 book The Satan Seller, a notoriously
fraudulent “memoir” of his life as a “Satanist”. He is also a preacher, and has
predictably fooled plenty of people into supporting his ministry despite having
been exposed as a liar.
According to himself, Warnke led a large Satanist “coven” in
California in the late 1960s (he was sucked into Satanism partially by watching
the TV series Bewitched) but left
Satanism after he got too high in the “organization” and learned too much,
including stuff about the shadowy group called the “Illuminati” at the top levels of Satanism (duh) and plenty of human sacrifices,
and he promptly converted to Christianity, subsequently enjoying a long career
as a purported expert on Satanism and as a Christian “comedian”.
Of course, Warnke was never involved in Satanism (rather, he was involved in
the Campus Crusade for Christ at the time), but although he was exposed early on (this article in particular) and his career took some damage, he has continued to stand by
his stories, claiming that those who expose him are smearing him. His response
to the 1992 revelations was nevertheless rather feeble, consisting primarily of
invectives against his ex-wife Carolyn. Nor could he name a single member of
his allegedly 1500-member strong coven. In the ensuing months, that number
shrinked to 13, of whom the whereabouts of five were unknown to him, while the
other eight had since died.
The substantial amounts of money he raised during the 1980s
for an underground network to rescue kids caught up in Satanism was instead used to fund a lavish lifestyle – there is no evidence he ever actually had such an underground network, but
since no Satanist conspiracy existed either, it is apparently hard to convince
him he did anything morally questionable.
Indeed, there is good evidence that Warnke’s lying borders
on the pathological (his claims about his education, and how many times he was
wounded in Vietnam, tended to grow during the early 80s as well), but at least
he didn’t really put too much effort into making his claims fit together.
The Satan Seller,
and Warnke’s subsequent status as a media go-to “expert” on Satanism, were driving
forces behind the Satanic panic of the 80s – though the main blame should perhaps go to the guy who groomed
Warnke, Morris Cerullo)
– and even today people, especially in certain corners of the Internet, actually
believe in a widespread Satanic underground.
Interestingly, Warnke enjoyed a strained relationship with
John Todd,
another self-proclaimed “ex-Satanist” who was exposed in 1979 – Todd accused
Warnke for instance of stealing “his” testimony about the Illuminati. When Todd
was exposed, Warnke didn’t hesitate to denounce him and warn his followers of
such frauds and hucksters. True to his martyr complex, however, his own 2002
account Friendly Fire: A Recovery Guide
for Believers Battered by Religion lamented how unfairly he had been
treated by his fellow Christians after his own lies and financial trickeries
had been exposed. As per 2014, Warnke is still making the rounds,
currently as a protégé of Rick Joyner.
Diagnosis: Fraud. One sometimes wonders whether he has
managed to delude himself into believing his own claims, but he’s no less a
fraud for that. He does retain a modicum of negative influence, however.
No words can describe this guy but.....liar. Just deceitful, pathological......liar.
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