Two things come to mind while reading this thread.
1) There was a line from a movie (it may have been an Akira Kurosawa movie; I'm not quite certain) wherein it was said that the devils were going about their wicked way--until man arrived and they all fled in fear, knowing how much more wickedness man was capable of doing.
2) Many cult leaders--whether Satanic, Christian, or whatever belief--started their little groups with a supposedly enlightened agenda but were actually just trying to find a foolproof way to indulge in the decadence that lay at the core of their own selves. For example, David Koresh (of the infamous Branch Davidian sect) couldn't play guitar well enough to even be a one-hit wonder so he made up his own sub-branch of Christianity so that he could live the life of a rock star with all the perks and none of the liabilities.