How A Satanist Found Christ Through A Supernatural Encounter

The co-founder of a Satanic movement in South Africa is speaking out to tell the powerful story of how he found God.

Faithwire reported that Riaan Swiegelaar is a former reverend at the South African Satanic Church (SASC) who stepped down from his position back in May. Last week, he took to Facebook Live to tell his story about his journey to Christ.

Swiegelaar’s History Of Satanism

Swiegelaar explained that he became involved in the Christian ministry 20 years ago before becoming an atheist and eventually being drawn to Satanism four years ago.

“I got involved with Satanism because at the time it resonated with me, being very broken and sad without realizing it,” he said. “I think the reason a lot of people resonate with Satanism is they come from a very broken place. I have met thousands of Satanists over the last three years and I’m not saying the intentions are bad, they are extremely broken and extremely hurt … that’s the one thing we all have in common.”

Swiegelaar became visibly emotional as he talked about recently abandoning Satanism once he experienced the unconditional love of Christ. 

“I’ve never known unconditional love in my whole life and up to today, there’s only four Christians in my whole life that have shown me what unconditional love is,” he said as he began to cry. “I want to thank those four people. Words cannot express what you have done for me.”

“To show someone love is everything. It is not a simple thing,” he continued. “You have showed me everything. You have showed me the love of Christ. I have seen it in you.” 

Related: Candace Cameron Bure Says Her Joy ‘Comes From God’

Swiegelaar Finds God 

Swiegelaar explained that this love was shown to him during a time that he was a “monster” and an “ugly person.” He gave his last interview as a member of the SASC on the CapeTalk radio station in the middle of May. After this interview, a woman who worked for the station approached him and showed him God’s love in a way that he never saw coming.

“I told her, ‘I don’t believe in Jesus and I don’t believe Jesus Christ exists’ because I didn’t,” he recalled. “She came to me after the interview, after I said that and she hugged me and she held me in a way that I’ve never been loved.”

“That’s all she did. She just said it was nice to meet me in person. A week later, on WhatsApp, through her status, I saw this woman is a Christian. I’ve never had a Christian do that,” Swiegelaar added. “I’ve never experienced a Christian show that much love and acceptance unconditionally … after I said the things I said, she did that. That stayed with me.” 

Swiegelaar Meets Jesus

One week later, Swiegelaar was performing a Satanic ritual alone that was meant to gain him more power and influence as a Satanist. 

“I did this ritual and I opened myself up and Jesus appeared and I was extremely cocky and I said, ‘if you are Jesus, you need to prove it,'” he remembered. “And He flooded me with the most beautiful love and energy and I recognized it immediately because that woman at the radio station showed it to me. That’s how I recognized the love of Christ.”

Though Swiegelaar had thought that he was not worthy of the love of God because he had been living a gay lifestyle, he explained that over the past month, he’s been having “real conversations with God, and the Kingdom of God is not a gated community, it is open to everybody.”

Watch Swiegelaar talk more about this in the video below.

Related: Kirk Cameron Shares His Path From Atheist To Finding God At 17 – ‘I Knew That If There Was A Heaven, I Wouldn’t Be Going There’

Satanic Church Responds

Swiegelaar ended his video by telling his followers that moving forward, he will be posting more content about his connection to Christ. The Satanic Church of South Africa has since confirmed that Swiegelaar has stepped down.

“We, as the SASC Council, want to thank Swiegalaar for his contribution, both as the pastor and the co-founder of the SA Satanic Church,” the Satanic Church said. “We wish him success in all his future endeavors.”

We’re so glad to see that this man has seen the light and found love again. May God bless you, Riaan Swiegelaar!