Gone are the good ole days when a Pope would pontificate on things such as heresy and infallibility. The current Pope, Francis, recently weighed in on the topic of tattoos and declared, “Don’t be afraid of tattoos. The problem is the exaggeration, not the tattoos.” As readers of this blog know, I’ve tackled this topic several times before (“Are Tattoos Christian” 12/11/17, “Demonic Tattoos” 12/14/15, “Tattoo You” 02/10/14, “Cremation Tattoos 11/11/13, “Tattoo Removal” 09/21/12 – to read click here.) My book “Curse Breaking” has an entire section on Tattoos, concluding, “The simple injection of ink under the skin has no spiritual power within itself. It is the particular subject, theme, art, or representation that cause the damage. Symbols have the power to bridge the gap between the physical and the metaphysical.” Which is the say that, while I get what the Pope is saying, I disagree with the measure of his endorsement. Leviticus 19:28 is difficult to get around: “You shall not tattoo any marks on you.” Sorry, Pope Francis, that’s a prohibition, not a variable.
In the same speech, the Pope had some excellent observations about the dangers of social media: “In the social media, we see faces of young people appearing in any number of pictures recounting more or less real events, but we don’t know how much of all this is really ‘history,’ an experience that can be communicated and endowed with purpose and meaning.” I couldn’t agree more, but back to the tattoo topic. Exaggeration is an issue. You’ve surely seen examples of people tattooed quite literally head to foot, and even face. The Pope called this a “sense of belonging.” But belonging to what? A transient fad that will someday bar the bearer from a more desirable social group, because “they” don’t want to be around someone with hideous early 21st century “tribal” markings?
Medical tattoos are one thing, recreational markings another. Surely, we Christians could agree that dragons, Om symbols, Buddhist mandalas, voluptuous figures, obscene gestures, profane words, astrology signs, death skulls, pagan gods, Celtic geometrics, yin-yang symbols, mythical creatures, chakra locations, etc. are off limits. But where is the line to be drawn from there? You may have a dumb tattoo from the time you were drunk or high on weed, but what you inked in your right mind has more spiritual consequences than you realize.
A couple of month I spotted a young woman in a seminar who was spiritually agitated. When I singled her out and had her stand, I noticed a tattooed hexagram on her leg. (She was wearing shorts.) All I had to do was strike her leg with my Bible and demons instantly manifested. An extreme example? Perhaps, but who wants to take the risk that any tattoo of any kind could be a portal for evil spirits. Not me! You?
An encouraging word: YOU’RE SURROUNDED BY ANGELS
“The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear him,” says Psalm 34:7. When you feel alone; when you have a sense of being beleaguered; when it appears as if your enemies encompass you. That’s when you need to know that angels are all around. You may feel surrounded by evil, but God is also there. You just need to be aware of His presence, by faith. As with Elisha, you need your eyes opened to know there those who are for you are more than those against you.
Bob Larson has trained healing and deliverance teams all over the world to set the captives free and Do What Jesus Did® (Luke 4:18). You can partner with Bob and support this vision to demonstrate God’s power in action by calling 303-980-1511 or clicking here to donate online
