TATTOOING, PIERCING & SCARIFICATION

The rest of the story…..

Tattoos and body piercing are fast becoming a leading industry in America today. Tattooing is the sixth fastest growing industry in the United States. It is profitable, popular and technically legal.  Why would there be objections to this form of artistic expression?

The history of tattoos goes very far back. Tattooed mummies from Europe, Asia and Africa dating back over 5,000 years have been discovered and documented. Today, in America anyone over 18 can receive a tattoo or piercing in a licensed establishment under hygienic conditions. Once a serious danger, the risk of infection from tattooing or piercing has been nearly eliminated by the introduction of sterile implements and media.

In fact, there are also now a variety of treatments available for removing once permanent tattoos.

Many of those who wear tattoos do so to honor family, loved ones, fallen comrades, make expression of faith and other positive sentiments. What’s wrong with that?

If you value your life, your eternal destiny, read on. There’s far more to it than art and sentiment. God, who made mankind and all creation, also gave us profound wisdom in the Bible. He loves us dearly and wants only the best for us. Therefore, we should pay attention to this ancient and pertinent warning from the Holy Scriptures:

“You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the LORD.” Leviticus 19:28 ESV

God never does anything without a plan or a purpose, and tattoos and piercings are not part of such plans and purposes.

What could He be warning us about? If tattooing is medically safe and not such a great social stigma as it used to be, so where’s the harm?

There’s a spiritual side to this subject!

The ancient mummies were tattooed with marks meant to invoke the spirit world for blessings of health, protection, fertility and the like. Historic writings tell us that some ancient societies also used tattoos to mark slaves, convicts and outcasts.

Among pre-Christian pagans such as Polynesians, the tattooist was not merely an artist, but a shaman, a cultic priest. Tattoos were used not only as decorations or marks of status, but as spiritual entry points to the body. That is, the tattoo facilitated the entry of the spirits they worshiped to enter their bodies, and also to ward off those that they regarded as hostile. The Maori tribe of New Zealand considered tattoos living entities, the same demons they worshiped.

Piercing the skin with other objects besides the tattoo needle is also used for the same purpose. Primitive people used wood, bone and stone. In modern times plastic, metal and other materials are also used. Ritual scars serve the same purpose. In such cases, the skin is incised or burned to create permanent patterns or images of animals, people, deities or others things. An extreme practice is to pierce the ear lobes or lips, and greatly enlarge the hole by inserting progressively larger plugs. Piercing or bloodletting is closely associated with witchcraft. Witchcraft is basically using the very real forces of the spiritual world to control others and the material world around us. It is also wisely forbidden by God (Deut. 18:10).

A comprehensive study (Roberts, 2002) by Timothy Roberts, MD, a pediatrician at the University of Rochester concluded that tattooed youth were four times more likely to be sexually active and twice as likely abuse alcohol, illicit drugs, drop out of high school and engage in violent behavior. Another report (Raspa, 1990) by Robert Raspa, MD correlates tattooing with psychiatric conditions such as impulsiveness, low self-esteem, homosexual orientation, sadomasochism, bondage, fetishism, bisexuality, lesbianism, antisocial personality, personality disorders, schizophrenia, mania and bipolar disorder. Christian deliverance ministers report that tattoos are associated with demonization.

Apostasy (unbelief) and demonization is associated with tattoos because tattooing, piercing and ritual scarification are marks of authorship and ownership. 

“And God created the man in His own image; in the image of God He created him. He created them male and female.” Genesis 1:27 LITV

In our natural state, we are identified as belonging to God because we are made in His image. Altering our form or appearance changes that identity and the default is ownership by God’s nemesis, the devil. For example, pagan priests were identifiable by their ritual scars (Zechariah 13:6). Married women are identifiable by pierced ears and nose (Ezekiel 16:16).

A man or unmarried woman who pierces their ears enter into a perverse marriage covenant with demonic entities. They become that entities’ bond slave for life (Deuteronomy 15:17)!

Moreover, in the book "I Looked and I Saw The Lord" by Annie Schisler, she gives repeated accounts of vision where she saw many redeemed saints in heaven who lacked their limbs.  While no explanation was given for their missing limbs, there is an obvious explanation. By tattooing those limbs, they dedicated them to a false god and forfeited them for eternity.  So, this infers that even Christians pay a grave price for this sin. How much worse the fate of the unsaved!

Regrets? Laser removal of tattoos is one of the fastest growing areas of dermatology. But removal is not enough and laser removal can increase the risk of skin cancer. The body of a person with tattoos, piercings or ritual scars is very likely defiled, which means demons have entered where the Spirit of God rightfully belongs. The demons seek your death and destruction in hell through sin and to desensitize you to the things of God. All the questionable benefits of these marks are not worth an eternity of torment in hell, for that is the real penalty of all sin.

To be free of defilement, it is helpful to pray  the Prayer Of Repentance And Cleansing:

“Heavenly father, I have sinned against You by defiling my body, the temple of Your Holy Spirit with tattoos, piercings or scars. I repent of this sin and forgive my ancestors for doing the same. Please remove this stain from my soul through the cleansing blood of Christ whom I believe died for my sins. Put out of me every demon that entered me through these errors. Specifically I permanently order out of me demons of witchcraft, perversion, familiar spirits, bondage, rebellion, insanity, whoredom and death. Open my spiritual senses to perceive all that these have hidden from me. Send your angels to take them away forever and fill me with Your Holy Spirit all my days. Amen.”

Remove all piercings and implants. Have two or more Spirit-filled Christians pray with you and anoint the tattoo/piercing hole/scar with oil as a symbol of cleansing and sanctification. Have the mark removed or at least cover it in public. Resolve not to do it again and warn other about this.  For more information, read, What’s Behind the Ink? by William Sudduth.

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