Baby. Mysteries from Eden to Babylon

CHAPTER 4
Babylonian Spiritualistic Mysteries
in Health and Healing From Eden
to Babylon

This chapter reveals how Satan created a counterfeit system of health and healing, which had its beginnings in the Garden of Eden, based on the lies that the serpent told Eve at the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil:

And the serpent said unto the woman, you shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. (Genesis 3:4, 5).

In the book The Great Controversy, Ellen White wrote:

The last great delusion is soon to open before us. Antichrist is to perform his marvelous works in our sight. So closely will the counterfeit resemble the true that it will be impossible to distinguish between them except by the Holy Scriptures. By their testimony every statement and every miracle must be tested. ¹⁾ White, E.G., The Great Controversy, Pacific Press Pub. Assn., Mountain View, CA, (1888), p. 593.

With God’s system we realize that God works through His laws to impart health and healing. When man is out of harmony with God’s laws, changes occur that allow sickness and disease to manifest in our bodies. In Eden, following Eve’s disobedience, a change began, which over time produced a condition that we call “disease.”

Disease is an effort of nature to free the system from conditions that result from a violation of the laws of health. ²⁾ Reference is missing 

Those who believe in God are warned that at the end of time God’s people will face deception by “miracles.” Revelation 13:14 and 16:14 identifies the power behind these miracles as: spirits of devils working miracles.

CREATION–TEMPTATION–FALL–DELUGE

When God called his creation “very good,” He was saying it was not only perfect in design and beauty, but also in total harmony with the laws of the universe. Adam and Eve, as long as they remained in obedience to God’s laws, were to enjoy immortality. To break from this harmony, they were told, would result in death. Eve’s sin was that she did not believe God, and accepted the lie told by the serpent that she would not die. ³⁾ White, E.G., Patriarchs and Prophets, Pacific Press Pub. Assn., (Nampa, ID, 1958), pp. 53, 55.

Lucifer had accused God of having an imperfect system. He said that man, the created being, could not keep God’s commandments. ⁴⁾ Ibid., p. 42. He, Satan, had an antidote for the problem. He would introduce a “pinch of self” into God’s “selfless” society. By the change he proposed, he promised to bring balance to the system that God had called “good.” He, the devil, saw that in the creation, there was harmony by the presence of opposites, such as light and dark, day and night, land and water, sun and moon, warm and cool, and in pro-creation, male and female. He charged God with withholding from man the knowledge that would make him wise like God. He said that God had withheld the knowledge of “evil” because it would balance with “good” and bring enlightenment and even godhood for themselves. There would be no death, as God had used the threat of death to scare them and keep them from this knowledge. ⁵⁾ Ibid., chapter p. 54. He promised a new system which would bring harmony, equality, transformation, oneness, completeness, enlightenment, im-mortality, and finally godhood for man.

This promised utopia was already the experience of man except he was created and never could become God. Lucifer wanted to be God and was jealous of the Son of God. Eve was deceived into disbelieving God and believing Satan’s lie to obtain what was already hers.

Figure 7. Christ and Satan

The degree of influence this “pinch” of evil had become after more than fifteen hundred years is revealed in the following verse.

…every imagination of the thoughts of his (man’s) heart was only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5). God repented of making man and He covered the earth with a flood.

POST DELUGE–BABYLON–DISPERSION

Archeologists have discovered records and writings of past civilizations, which have been translated and studied. From these records, we get some knowledge of the concepts and beliefs of ancient times Cush was the son of Ham, and Ham the son of Noah. Of Cush it is said that he developed numeric’s, astrology, geometry, games of chance and hazard, and devised alchemy. ⁶⁾ Hislop, Alexander, Two Babylons, A.C. Black, Ltd., England, (1916), p. 95; Steed, Earnest, Two Be One, Logos International, PlainField, N.J., in Canada: G.R. Welch, Toronto, Ont., pp. 12–13.

From Babylon the people spread out over the face of the earth, carrying with them the religion that had developed in Babylon, that is, paganism/nature worship. ⁷⁾ Hislop, op. cit., p. 20; Garrison, Fielding H. , History of Medicine, W.B. Saunders and Co., Philadelphia, Penn.,(1929), p. 61.

ASTROLOGY–DUALISM–PAGANISM

The city of Babylon, “cradle of oriental civilization,” ⁸⁾ Ibid.,. located in the Mesopotamian Valley, was the origin of pagan religion. The Babylonians believed that a great power maintained the universe. However, they did not credit this power to a living being/God, but rather, to a power called “universal energy,” “universal intelligence,” “the creative principle,” etc., etc.

The universal energy was divided into two parts of supposedly opposing forces. These opposing “energies” (dualism,) were given various designations, such as good and evil, male and female, positive and negative, dominant and recessive, dark and light, yang and yin, etc. Every entity was determined to be either one or the other. This concept was applied to minerals, plants, and animals.

From the Mesopotamian Valley the post diluvians spread out east, west, south, and north, carrying with them the same basic idea for the unification of opposites–the one great philosophy to achieve life’s secrets–obtain all wisdom, and ultimate oneness. The ideas of Cush were carried into areas that are now Europe, China, and Asia. Except for those who worshiped the Creator God, their gods, few or many, were all allied to nature’s opposites–the two most prominent being the sun and the moon. With the necessity for fire, and fire allied to heat and heat to the sun, sun worship predominated. Sympathy, they believed, existed between all forces; consequently, identification of similarities resulted. Therefore, the sun symbolized the male and moon, the female.

Looking back, we detect how astrology of the past, with its relationship by mankind to sun, moon, and stars, became paramount, built on the basis of
correspondences and sympathy; thus, occultism soon guided the major activities of life. ⁹⁾ Steed, Earnest, Two Be One, Logos International, Plainfield, N.J., in Canada G. R. Welch, Toronto, Ont., (1976), pp. 12-13.

Figure 8. Creative power of God

In the Garden of Eden, Satan proposed to Adam and Eve the blending of good and evil to improve God’s government. Earnest Steed, in the book Two Be One, p. 38, shares his perception of this principle used by Satan in his method of deception in the Garden of Eden, a pattern he has followed since. His mode of operation was not just introducing evil to counterbalance good. He blended good with evil so skillfully that evil was almost impossible to detect. It could be presented as follows:

It is this formula that has given Satan such power and success in his efforts.

Satan himself was educated in the heavenly courts, and he has knowledge of good as well as of evil. He mingles the precious with the vile, and this is what gives him power to deceive. ¹⁰⁾ White, E.G., 8 Testimonies, Pacific Press Pub. Assn., Mountain View, CA, (1948), p. 306.

After the flood, man’s great goal was to achieve a proper balance among the cosmos, earth, and man, as it was believed that a perfect balance would result in utopia. Thus the “knowledge of good and evil” involved not only a blending of good with evil, but the idea that harmony would only exist if this blending had universal application. This was, and is, the foundation of all non-biblical belief systems. ¹¹⁾ Steed, op. cit., p. vii–ix.

On the back side of the covering for the book Two Be One, written by the publishers the following comment appears.

In his studies, Steed has uncovered a startling discrepancy: the teachings of Christ as recorded in the Scriptures comprise the only philosophy that does not fit into the world’s basic pattern for unity. For throughout the ages, mankind has seen oneness, the conjunction of all opposites, as being the culmination of all their dreams and imaginations, the way to eternal happiness. Christianity looks for separation to provide the sought-after peace.

It is not found by finding the proper blend with sin.

Having applied the concept of dualism to “universal energy,” the great object then was to blend the divided energy back into one. It became a supreme goal to blend opposites into proper balance to achieve life’s secrets, obtain all wisdom, and ultimate oneness. ¹²⁾ Steed, op. cit., p. 12–13.

The creation of the universe (macrocosm), and man (microcosm) was thus explained as being derived from this blending of opposites.

We have created our own body, within the framework of certain universal and immanent laws, says the Buddhist. ¹³⁾ Govinda, Lama Anagarika, Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism, Samuel Weiser, now Red Wheel Weiser, Newberry Park, MA, (1969), p. 159.

Figure 9. Blending together to create cosmos, earth

CORRESPONDENCE—ASSOCIATION—SYMPATHY

In this explanation for the origin of the cosmos, earth, and man, the belief was that there is close correspondence, association, and sympathy between the cosmos, earth, and man. In Maurice Bessy’s book, Magic and the Supernatural, a figure of two circles is shown, one outer circle, and another inner circle, man, without stretched arms and legs is within the second circle. Surrounding the inner circle are the signs of the zodiac. Below this figure is the following explanation.

A mirror of the world – “microcosm of the macrocosm.” Man, as conceived in astrology, reflects the rhythms and structure of the universe in the same way as the universe mirrors the rhythms and the structure of Man himself. Everything is part of everything… ¹⁴⁾ Bessy, Maurice, Magic and the Supernatural, Spring Books, NY, (1970), pp. 73-74.

This symbol of the circle around man is known as a “mandala,” which in Sanskrit means circle. Though mandalas are of different designs they all represent the same idea–revealing the relationship of the cosmos to man. The outer circle represents the cosmos; the inner circle represents the earth, with the figure of a man in the inner circle representing the “at-one-ment” of the universe, earth, and man. This is a counterfeit of the “at-one-ment” with God that Jesus obtained for us on the cross. This symbol is often seen in New Age health literature. The lines drawn from the arms to leg, hand, and head form a five-pointed star (pentagram) which also represents the same belief.

Figures 10. triangle of correspondence and circle with man

J.E. Cirlot, in his book Dictionary of Symbols under the title of “macrocosm-microcosm,” makes the following comment: This relationship is symbolic of the situation in the universe of man as the “measure of all things.” The basis of this relationship–which has occupied the minds of thinkers and mystics of all kinds in all ages–is the symbolism of man himself, particularly as the “universal man” together with his “correspondences” with the zodiac, the planets and the elements. As Origen observed: “Understand that you are another world in miniature and that you are the sun, the moon and also the stars.” ¹⁵⁾ In time, the zodiac system was consulted when making most of life’s decisions.

This implication is to be found in all symbolic traditions. Under the title “Man,” the following statement is made,

Hence the pentagram (five-point star) is a sign of the microcosms, ¹⁶⁾ Ibid., p. 197. and is a sacred symbol in neo-paganism. The ancient Chaldeans promoted the idea of unity of all things and applied it to every aspect of life. The zodiac was formed as a tool to apply this concept to life on earth and the practice of seeking guidance through the zodiac was referred to as reading ones horoscope. ¹⁷⁾ Bessy, op. cit., pp. 67–74; Steed, op. cit., p.15.

In time, the zodiac system was consulted when making most of life’s decisions.

…for astrology itself was based on an understanding and interpretation of these symbols in terms of the complexities of life and its origin and meaning. The zodiac was likened to a wheel with the changing times and seasons, but more so to the wheel of life. The Hindu sees it as the wheel of transmigration, the Buddhist as the wheel of completeness, and the Taoist of China, through the yang and yin and the circle of harmony; all visualize the correspondence or sympathy between opposites. ¹⁸⁾ Steed, op. cit., pp.15–16.

The pagan religions originating in Babylon had their foundation in astrology and the zodiac, which are based on the belief of the existence of sympathy between the planets, earth, and man. The sun was the preeminent planet in the zodiac. To participate in a belief system that has the zodiac as a part of its beliefs is paying homage to Satan.

PAGAN’S STORY OF CREATION

At first there was Chaos. From it pure light collected to itself and moved to create the sky. The darkness remaining moved and from itself formed the earth. From within this activity there arose two principles of yang and yin, light and dark, sky and earth. From this movement of like to like a balancing of forces occurred and growth and increase brought forth the beginning and the ten thousand creation, all of which take the sky and earth (yang and yin) as their mode. The yang (positive) is transformed by contact with the negative (yin) and so water, fire, wood, metal, and earth are produced. These five elements diffuse harmoniously and evolve into four seasons which proceed on their course. The two forces of maleness and femaleness reacting with and influencing each other bring myriad things into being. Generation follows generation, and there is no end to changes and transformations.

Insight Northwest “The Healing Transformation, Some Lesser God, Keep

The Hindu Creation Story:

From this self, verily, space arose, from space, air, from air, fire, from fire, water, from water, earth, from earth, herbs, from herbs, food, from food, man.

Taittiriya Upanishad 2:1 Reported in Ayurveda, Scott Gerson

The Buddhist says:

“We have created our own bodies.”

Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism, Govinda p. 15

These names of the basic elements, (water, fire, air, earth, metal, and/or space) are not to be understood literally. They are words/synonyms of five planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Venus, and Mercury which are believed to be a continuing creative force in the cosmos and earth. There are no English words to adequately explain the concept.

Since the belief is that creation of all substance, animate and inanimate resulted from the balancing and proper mingling of the two aspects (good and evil, positive and negative, male and female, etc.) of so-called universal energy, it was felt that disease and illness were a result of an imbalance of these energies. ¹⁹⁾ Steed, op. cit., p. 100; Garrison, op. cit., pp. 74, 88. This energy, considered “god,” is pantheism. “All is one and one is all,”—thus the belief that disease is a spiritual imbalance manifesting as physical disease.

It followed, then, that if an imbalance of energy caused health disorders, balancing would restore health. This led to a multitude of acts and practices designed to prevent and treat illness. As already noted, to treat an imbalance of energy, a myriad of methods were developed, which depended upon everything being categorized as good or evil, positive or negative, and yang or yin, etc. This approach to disease does not focus on following God’s laws of health, nor recognizes disease as the body’s response to violation of those laws.

Examples of substances used to restore balance are: herbs, minerals, climate and temperature, spells, dances, animal matter of all types, stones, liquids, relics, spoken words, written words, colors, flowers, zodiac influences, charms of all types, psychotherapy, magnetism, acupuncture, moxibustion, meditation, divination, numerology, music, sound, spirits, pictures, aromas, talismans, crystals, alchemy, foods, etc. All were labeled as being either positive or negative in their influence. Medical historian Garrison tells us that medicine did not progress as long as it was founded in the supernatural. ²⁰⁾ Garrison, op. cit., p. 24.

The Scriptures teach that separation from evil, not blending with evil is God’s way.

WORLDWIDE BELIEF IN ENERGY BALANCING

In the United States, many of the Native American Indians believe in dualism, and it is a principle they may apply in health and healing. Their practices involve balancing animal spirits and/or energies. Navajo sand paintings are used to correct the believed imbalanced energies of those who are ill. ²¹⁾ Bahti, Tom, Southwestern Indian Ceremonials, K.C. Publications, Las Vegas, NV, (1987), p.10.

The sand paintings are formed on the ground, and may take an entire day to make. A variety of plants, seeds, and other natural substances are used in forming the painting. There are hundreds of varieties of sand paintings and are said to be kept in the head of the shaman. A sick person sits on the painting for several hours (grounding). Then the painting is scooped up, taken up and buried, as it is believed to have absorbed the excess spirit or energy of either the good or evil influence. ²²⁾ Ibid.,.. The sand paintings are made with colors and patterns representing dualism by containing contrasting objects, colors or positions.

The shaman, or medicine man, may also use dances, “sings” (groups of people singing about the sick person), or a bag containing various objects, as well as certain sounds to influence the spirits and powers that cause sickness. These methods are used as sympathetic remedies.

In the past, Europeans associated particular organs of the body with the specific houses of the zodiac. The symbols of animals taken from the zodiac were assigned to the organs. Aries the ram pertained to the head, while Pisces the fish was for the feet. When doctors determined an organ had an energy imbalance they chose a treatment that supposedly would influence the correspondence between that organ and its zodiac house. ²³⁾ Bessy, op. cit. pp. 73-74; Garrison, op. cit., p. 37.

Figures 11. Man covered with animals representing
association of man with zodiac

Remember that the zodiac is based on the planets with the sun as chief, and sun worship is Luciferic (Satanic) worship.

His (Satan’s) arts and devices are received as from heaven and faith in the Bible is destroyed in the minds of thousands. Satan here receives the worship which suits his satanic majesty…Satan uses these very things to destroy virtue and lay the foundation of spiritualism. ²⁴⁾ White, E.G., I Testimonies, Pacific Press Pub. Assn., Mountain View, CA, now Nampa ID, (1948), pp. 296.

The ancient Vedas, written in the Sanskrit language, contain the story of the origin of Hinduism and its health and healing concepts. These writings are thirty-five hundred years old and were written by “Sages” (holy men) who retired into the foot-hills of the mountains and there:

…produced India’s original systems of meditation, yoga, and astrology. ²⁵⁾ Gerson, op. cit., p. 3.

This healing system is called Ayurveda, the Ancient Indian Healing Tradition. The Ayurvedic approach to health is not separate from Hinduism; it is Hinduism.

The foundation of all treatment for health and healing in Ayurveda is the practice of meditation. In fact, there is little help to be gained in other health and healing methods in Ayurveda without the use of meditation and yoga. ²⁶⁾ Ibid., p. 78. The practice of meditation is said to bring the inner self, the universal energy, the prana (air, breath), the god within us, to such a level that it would allow us to interact with the spirit entities, and eventually enter that same spirit state.²⁷⁾ Willis, Richard J.B., Holistic Health Holistic Hoax, Stanborough Press Ltd., Alma Park, Grantham, Lincolnshire, England, (1997), Chapter 13.

The whole religious conquest of the Hindu is to escape this life and move into the spirit world. There is no separation between spiritual and physical in health and healing in Hinduism. It is said by an ex-Guru, who is now a Christian, that you cannot take Hinduism out of yoga and meditation, and you cannot have yoga and meditation without Hinuism. ²⁸⁾ Reference??

Turning our discussion now to Chinese traditional healing, a common symbol represents the summation of their Tao beliefs. The pa kua, or circle of harmony represents constant transformation in order to achieve harmony and balance. It is a symbol of how another sunonym of universal energy, called chi by the Chinese, relates to our bodies. ²⁹⁾ Lyons, op. cit., p. 125; Steed, op. cit., p. 46.

There seems to be no contention between the different groups— European, Indian, or Chinese—over the different explanations of the supposed manner of distribution of “universal energy” within the body

Satan may use certain healing methods that may have some physiological basis, but it is wrapped up in his dogma. Those who believe in these concepts do not look to God as the restorer of health. Ellen White wrote:

Angels of God will preserve His people while they walk in the path of duty; but there is no assurance of such protection for those who deliberately venture upon Satan’s ground. An agent of the great deceiver will say and do anything to gain his object. It matters little whether he calls himself a “spiritualist,” an “electric physician,” or a “magnetic healer.” ³⁰⁾ White, E.G., Evangelism, Pacific Pres Pub. Assn., Mountain View, CA, (1946) p. 607.

Satanic agents claim to cure disease. They contribute their power to electricity, magnetism or the so-called “sympathetic remedies,” while in truth they are but channels for Satan’s electric currents. By these means he casts his spell over the bodies and souls of men. ³¹⁾ Ibid., p. 609.

ENERGY BALANCING METHODS OF HEALING

The American Medical Association Committee for investigating alternative therapies has listed more than one hundred different methods of healing used and promoted today. The Alternative Health Dictionary lists more than four thousand names of various therapies of energy balancing. I list here some of the commonly used techniques. An alternative therapy would be defined as a therapy that does not have scientific evidence of effectiveness and usually has a history of use as a “folk medicine” therapy.

In the following chapters of this book, we will look carefully at several of these different healing methods. They all have the same basic foundation, that of being involved with moving and balancing a non-measurable, non-demonstrable vital force, energy, prana, chi, etc.

Why so many therapeutic approaches to balancing energy? Because none of them are based on true physics and science, but on the paranormal or psychic. It really matters little as to the physical method of therapy. It has a lot more to do with the mental attitude, and acceptance of the theory of universal energy or intelligence. It also strongly depends on the person administering the therapy and his connection to this unseen power. This energy has been given at least ninety different names, yet they all refer to the same thing. Of the men who gave so many names to this energy, it was found that the first fifty of them reviewed were chan-nelers and psychics, and it may be that nearly all were. ³²⁾ Wilson & Weldon, Occult Shock & Psychic Forces, Master Books division of CLP, San Diego, CA (1980), p. 247.

The rise and renewal of these ancient healing practices has been rapid, with no evidence of slowing. In the United States and other countries of the world, many of the medical teaching institutions have incorporated some of these practices in their curriculum. Physicians from around the world travel to China to take courses in Traditional Chinese Medicine. I have visited with medical students from Europe who were in China for a three-month rotation training in Chinese medical schools, with the primary interest in learning traditional Chinese medicine. Probably near fifty percent of hospitals in the United States have made available some type of alternative therapy because it is popular and the hospitals are competing for business.

The interest in alternative therapies is strong among the people of the Western nations, partly because it is marketed as natural therapy (without the use of drugs).

People do not know the history of these treatment methods, and many believe that new knowledge has led to their use. Others believe that old beneficial healing methods have been lost and are now being resurrected to our benefit.

A careful review of medical history will reveal that much of the philosophy behind alternative therapies comes from the ancient Indian healing methods called Ayurveda, from early European concepts of healing, and also from traditional Chinese medicine therapies. Earnest Steed, in his book, Two Be One, chapter 4, traces the influence of astrology via the zodiac upon the above-mentioned ancient systems.

Historically, there is no evidence that the nations that depended on these therapies benefited from them. Following are quotes from some medical history books:

It follows that, under different aspects of space and time, the essential traits of folk medicine and ancient medicine have been alike in tendency, differing only in unimportant details. In the light of anthropology, this proposition may be taken as proved. Cuneiform, hieroglyphic, runic, birch-bark, and palm-leaf inscriptions all indicate that the folk-ways of early medicine, whether Acadian or Scandinavian, Slavic or Celtic, Roman or Polynesian, have been the same–in each case an affair of charms and spells, plant-lore and psychotherapy, to stave off the effects of supernatural agencies. Where this frame of mind persists, there is no possibility of advancement for medicine. ³³⁾ Garrison, op, cit., p. 18.

Until recently Chinese medicine has been what our own medicine might be had we been guided by medieval ideas down to the present time, that is, absolutely stationary. ³⁴⁾ Ibid., p. 73.

Where these therapies were used as the main method of medical treatment there was no improvement either in the incidence of disease or in longevity. China had an average life span in 1949 of 35 years. The approach in China toward the cause of disease changed and a scientific approach was instituted, with the establishment of hygienic and basic disease prevention methods based on present-day science. The average life span increased to 70 by the year 2000. (World Health Organization). This is considered one of the great medical events of the past century.

We are warned in the Scriptures of the devil’s attempt to deceive God’s people and that at the close of earth’s history he will deceive all the nations. ³⁵⁾ Revelation 16:13, 14. In health and healing, his power will be especially strong, and those who are not diligent Bible students will find it very difficult to tell the real from the counterfeit. The true power of healing will come from God, the author and sustainer of our lives.

Astrology is nature worship/paganism and features the sun, moon, and earth as deity from ancient time. Israel in old testament times succumbed to this influence time and again. Today sun, moon, and earth worship comes in disguised forms. All Indian and Chinese traditional therapies such meditation, yoga, essential oil, aromatherapy, acupuncture, martial arts, tai chi have astrology as their base.

The counterfeit teaches that the origin and power that sustains us is from within. Accessing this power from within is said to affect health and healing. The majority of alternative therapies today are ways of attempting to access power from within, to balance good and evil characteristics, and bring about change and healing. Accepting these methods of treatment effectively means separation from God. ³⁶⁾ White, E.G., The Ministry of Healing, Pacific Press Pub. Assn., Mountain View, CA, (1909), pp. 428–429.

The issue: Will we choose to follow God and have eternal life, or follow the devil and have eternal death?