The prophet's dictionary guide to the supernatural

its sacrificial blood had to be shed. Many religions, especially Baal and Ishtar cults, chose bulls’ blood for this purpose ascribing the success of the marriage to the virility of the husband. Without the sacrifice it was feared the marriage would be childless. Hence, this is one of the chief reasons blood was ascribed magical powers. To be drenched in the blood of a bull was to be baptized into the power of its magic, virility, strength, and fertility. As a fertility liquid the blood of human sacrifices was considered the highest and most precious. Sun deities, it was understood, were best appeased and their wrath most efficaciously satiated with the blood of humans. Such sacrifices were relied upon to guarantee daybreak and the rising of the sun. Blood mingled with anything symbolized the formation of a family bond for brotherhood. Blood as a seal marks a covenant between God and humanity. The Savior’s blood accomplished and released all the Godhead’s power and beneficial attributes upon mankind. Jesus shed His blood as God who transferred these values to humanity. Sprinkled blood signifies peace, appeasement, purification, and atonement. Its presence on a sacred object was the only way for the deity to see it as holy and of transforming the objects dead-doomed state into a life-reflecting one. Study the book of Leviticus for this wisdom, especially Leviticus 17:11. According to this passage, blood sacrifices affect the state and condition of the soul. As a cleanser, blood’s power in this respect is seen in Romans 3:25 where it is linked to propitiation, a word whose connotations include good fortune, changed destiny, and prosperity because of God having made peace with His creation through the blood of Christ. Thus, the blood of Christ qualifies us to partake of these from His inheritance. Blood determines one’s blood line, genealogy, and overall human makeup. The condition of one’s blood reveals the health or sickness of the flesh. In addition, blood was believed to determine the calling on one’s life as received from the seed of the father. The status and accomplishments of the father were believed to decide one’s lofty or mundane destiny. See 1 Corinthians 10:16; Ephesians 2:13. 208. Blood Covenants—The agreement between a deity and his or her covenant people. The custom of blood covenants go back to Adam’s fall when God covered his and Eve’s spiritual and natural nakedness. After that came Abel’s slaughter of an animal whose shed blood he offered to the Lord after his parents’ transgression and banishment from Eden. In the sphere of deity, blood is