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 The Spirit of the Books of Moses Blows
in the Churches Today. Parallels to the
Bloody Rituals of Voodoo Witchcraft
Jesus came, as He said, to fulfill God’s law. He did this through His life and work. And He taught how the law of the heavens is to be fulfilled in the individual steps of our everyday lives; the most important testimony of this that has been handed down is His Sermon on the Mount.
Before turning to the question of how it came to be that the true Christian path, the path of following Jesus, was not taken by many so-called Christians, we will go back one more time to the Books of Moses. The teachings and instructions as well as the social-religious system of government that were laid down in these books continued in effect until the Christ in Jesus came to Earth, despite the fact that God time and again sent His messengers, the prophets, to enlighten the people and to move them toward the true faith and life. The resulting blindness and burdening of the people was one of the main reasons why Jesus was not accepted and received by His contemporaries and had to take the path via Golgotha. And even after His physical death, contrary currents soon crept in among the first early Christians and eventually prevailed.
The new Christianity, which may well have taken its name from Christ, but was not with Christ, now took on a different form from the social-religious life described in the Books of Moses. But what about the roots? These always bear fruit of the same kind, of the same content. And Jesus said: “By their fruits you will recognize them.”
We can deduce from the following quote out of the third Book of Moses, Leviticus, what spirit moved in the ceremonies that are described in the Books of Moses:
If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish; he shall offer it at the door of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the Lord. He shall lay his hand upon the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. Then he shall kill the bull before the Lord; and Aaron’s sons the priests shall present the blood, and throw the blood round about against the altar that is at the door of the tent of meeting. And he shall flay the burnt offering and cut it into pieces.
The sons of the priest Aaron shall put fire on the altar and lay wood in order upon the fire. And Aaron’s sons the priests shall lay the pieces, the head, and the fat, in order upon the wood that is on the fire upon the altar. But its entrails and its legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall burn the whole on the altar, as a burnt offering, an offering by fire, a pleasing odor to the Lord.
If his gift for a burnt offering is from the flock, from the sheep or goats, he shall offer a male without blemish; and he shall kill it on the north side of the altar before the Lord, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall throw its blood against the altar round about. And he shall cut it into pieces, with its head and its fat, and the priest shall lay them in order upon the wood that is on the fire upon the altar; but the entrails and the legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall offer the whole, and burn it on the altar; it is a burnt offering, an offering by fire, a pleasing odor to the Lord.
If his offering to the Lord is a burnt offering of birds, then he shall bring his offering of turtledoves or of young pigeons. And the priest shall bring it to the altar and wring off its head, and burn it on the altar; and its blood shall be drained out on the side of the altar. And he shall take away its crop with the feathers, and cast it beside the altar on the east side, in the place for ashes; he shall tear it by its wings, but shall not divide it asunder. And the priest shall burn it on the altar, upon the wood that is on the fire. It is a burnt offering, an offering by fire, a pleasing odor to the Lord. (Lev. 1:3-17)
A pleasing odor to the Lord.” Why is it necessary to appease the Lord with this so-called “pleasing odor,” which certainly was no pleasant odor but rather a stench? According to the teachings of Jesus, God is love, reconciliation, compassion and kindness, the equanimity. Why, then, does He need to be appeased? Wild animals – which we sometimes call beasts – are appeased or lured into a trap using chunks of meat. Did people think, or did they wish to give the impression, that God, the Absolute, All-Eternal One, could be manipulated, as we men often may be manipulated or as we often intend to manipulate others? Such an attempt would bear witness to the distance from God.
God has no weakness. He cannot be manipulated.
The third book of Moses, Leviticus, continues:
When anyone brings a cereal offering as an offering to the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour; he shall pour oil upon it, and put frankincense on it, and bring it to Aaron’s sons the priests. And he shall take from it a handful of the fine flour and oil, with all of its frankincense; and the priest shall burn this as its memorial portion upon the altar, an offering by fire, a pleasing odor to the Lord.
And what is left of the cereal offering shall be for Aaron and his sons; it is a most holy part of the offerings by fire to the Lord. (Lev. 2:1-3)
The rest of the cereal offering, belonging to Aaron and his sons, would certainly have been the best part. Is it any different today? The poor today eat the bread crumbs that fall from the tables of the rich, among whom the Church dignitaries may be counted.
The “holy,” even the “most holy” part is the priests’ due. Did God grant them their office – through Moses, for example? They granted to themselves the dignity of “holy ones” and at that, even on a hereditary basis, regardless of the individual’s “worthiness.”
Leviticus continues:
If a man’s offering is a sacrifice of peace offering, if he offers an animal from the herd, male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the Lord. And he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering and kill it at the door of the tent of meeting; and Aaron’s sons the priests shall throw the blood against the altar round about. And from the sacrifice of the peace offering, and as an offering by fire to the Lord, he shall offer the fat covering the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails, and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins, and the appendage of the liver which he shall take away with the kidneys. Then Aaron’s sons shall burn it on the altar upon the burnt offering, which is upon the wood on the fire. It is an offering by fire, a pleasing odor to the Lord.
If his offering for a sacrifice of peace offering to the Lord is an animal from the flock, male or female, he shall offer it without blemish. If he offers a lamb for his offering, then he shall offer it before the Lord, laying his hand upon the head of his offering and killing it before the tent of meeting; and Aaron’s sons shall throw its blood against the altar round about. Then from the sacrifice of the peace offering as an offering by fire to the Lord, he shall offer its fat, the fat tail entire, taking it away close by the backbone, and the fat that covers the entrails, and all the fat that is on the entrails, and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins, and the appendage of the liver which he shall take away with the kidneys. And the priest shall burn it on the altar as food offered by fire to the Lord.
If his offering is a goat, then he shall offer it before the Lord, and lay his hand upon its head, and kill it before the tent of meeting; and the sons of Aaron shall throw its blood against the altar round about. (Lev. 3:1-13)
Reading such and similar instructions for bloody ceremonies of magical character, one is automatically reminded of voodoo witchcraft. The “Duden” (a German dictionary) defines voodoo in the following way: a secret cult practiced on Haiti, originating in West Africa, that is magical-religious, syncretistic, and incorporates elements of Catholicism. In “Meyers Lexicon” (a German encyclopedia) it says: Name of syncretistic secret cult common in Haiti, in which ecstatic dances – thought to permit the identification of cult participants with deities – play a central role. Funk and Wagnalls New Comprehensive International Dictionary has the following definition: A primitive religion of West African origin, found among Haitian and West Indian Negroes and the Negroes of southern United States, characterized by belief in sorcery and the use of charms, fetishes, witchcraft, etc.
If voodoo witchcraft incorporates elements of Catholicism, this “enrichment” would surely not have come about by chance. Perhaps the law of attraction of likes was at work here? Then everyone who tithes at church has reason to wonder what he is paying for.
In Leviticus we read:
But the skin of the bull and all its flesh, with its head, its legs, its entrails, and its dung, the whole bull he shall carry forth outside the camp to a clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and shall burn it on a fire of wood; where the ashes are poured out it shall be burned. (Lev. 4:11-12)
Here we are told what a “clean place” is! Anyone who wants to read further tales of horror about the darkest pagan tradition may consider the following:
If anyone sins in that he hears a public adjuration to testify and though he is a witness, whether he has seen or come to know the matter, yet does not speak, he shall bear his iniquity. Or if any one touches an unclean thing, whether the carcass of an unclean beast or a carcass of unclean cattle or a carcass of unclean swarming things, and it is hidden from him, and he has become unclean, he shall be guilty. Or if he touches human uncleanness, of whatever sort the uncleanness may be with which one becomes unclean, and it is hidden from him, when he comes to know it he shall be guilty. Or if any one utters with his lips a rash oath to do evil or to do good, any sort of rash oath that men swear, and it is hidden from him, when he comes to know it he shall in any of these be guilty. When a man is guilty in any of these, he shall confess the sins he has committed, and he shall bring his guilt offering to the Lord for the sins which he has committed, a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat, for a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin.
But if he cannot afford a lamb, then he shall bring, as his guilt offering to the Lord for the sin which he has committed; two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. He shall bring them to the priest, who shall offer first the one for the sin offering; he shall wring its head from its neck, but shall not sever it, and he shall sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar, while the rest of the blood shall be drained out at the base of the altar … (Lev. 5:1-9)
to the next chapter
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