The prophet's dictionary guide to the supernatural

battle was. The god prescribed acceptable drinks to its priest along with instructions for preparing it to the deity’s satisfaction. Generally, these were prescribed from herbs and roots the god had authority over. The hallucinogen soma, for instance, was also a deity believed to grow the plant. Whatever the spirit that produced the plant contained was transmuted to the plant itself, so it was believed. Instructing its ministers on how to grow and prepare the plant for worship by extracting its intoxicating properties was considered mystical wisdom that only the priests of the cult shared. The god in worship required drugs because a drunken or drugged stupor allowed it to overwhelm worshippers and enable them to see the otherwise unseen deity. Popular sacred drinks were wine, soma, mead (both ingredients in beer), and blood. Other intoxicants included herbs consumed as hallucinogens. Sadly, the eeriest of all the intoxicants seems to have been the most favored. It was blood, and primitive cultures prized it as the highest of the sacred drinks, making immolations central to pagan communion. The apostle Paul, in explaining the superiority of the Eucharist (1 Corinthians 10:20–21) urged Christians to restrain from other sacraments’ sacred drinks for these very reasons. He was mainly trying to divest their consciousness from its deep-rooted craving to stimulate divine activity by natural means. He wanted to convince the redeemed that the ever present Holy Spirit assured them of an uninterrupted flow of spiritual life, joy, peace, and power that was more than sufficient for their daily needs and divine tasks. See Psalm 16:4; Isaiah 57:6 and 65:11 (asv); Jeremiah 7:18. See also Ephesians 5:18. Paul’s caution went so far as to exhort the believer to take care how they drank socially, since the unsaved would not know the difference between recreational and sacred drink offerings prayed over and offered to other gods. 1270. Sacred Names—In early days, sacred names were as common as sacred items. They were given by people’s deities to signify their transference from the realm of humanity to that of the divine. The event usually took place after a person reached a certain age or succeeded in a prescribed initiation rite. It was also done when a deity elected someone to leave their earthly life and presumably become one of their own. When Jesus enlisted Peter into His apostleship, He renamed him. He did the same with the apostles, James and John. Their former surname, Zebedee was replaced with Boernerges, meaning sons of thunder. Saul, the apostle Paul’s previous name, was changed under the similar circumstances. Name changing remains a pivotal point in a person’s life when it is associated