The rolls of papyrus usually have beautiful coloured illustrations as well. The ‘book’ is usually a roll of papyrus with lots and lots of spells written on it in hieroglyphic script. The Book of the Dead isn't a finite text – it's not like the Bible, it's not a collection of doctrine or a statement of faith or anything like that – it's a practical guide to the next world, with spells that would help you on your journey. They imagined the afterlife as a kind of journey you had to make to get to paradise – but it was quite a hazardous journey so you would need magical help along the way. The Book of the Dead is a modern term for a collection of magical spells that the Egyptians used to help them get into the afterlife. If the heart weighed more than the feather of Maat, it was immediately consumed by the monster Ammit. It was thought that the heart was examined by Anubis and the deities during the weighing of the heart ceremony.
It was conceived as surviving death in the Netherworld, where it gave evidence for, or against, its possessor. In Egyptian religion, the heart was the key to the afterlife. Part of the spell gives instructions for making the heart scarab: ‘Make a scarab of nephrite adorned with gold and put within a man's breast, and perform for him the ceremony of opening the mouth, the scarab being anointed with myrrh.’. The spell appeals to the heart not to weigh down the balance or testify against the deceased to the keeper of the balance. Spell 30 was often inscribed on heart scarabs that were placed with the deceased. In the weighing of the heart rite, the heart of the deceased is weighed in the scale against the feather of the goddess Maat, who personifies order, truth, and what is right. It could reveal the person's true character, even after death, so the belief went, and therefore the heart was left in the deceased's body during mummification. Because of its apparent links with intellect, personality and memory, it was considered the most important of the internal organs. To the Egyptians, the heart, or ib, rather than the brain, was the source of human wisdom and the centre of emotions and memory. “The Lord is my light and my salvation-whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life-of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1).The classic exposition of judgement at death comes in the Book of Coming Forth by Day, in chapter/spell 30 and in chapter/spell 125, and the so-called weighing of the heart.
Spell book of judgment free#
We are free to worship God without fear (John 8:36). The shield God gives us “can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one” (Ephesians 6:16). This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4). “Everyone born of God overcomes the world. God has won the victory, and in Christ we are overcomers. We know that “the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). Voodoo, witchcraft, hexes, and curses have no power over us because they come from Satan, and Satan is no match for the Lord. We do not need to worry about anyone casting any sort of pagan spell on us.
As believers, we are in the constant presence of the Holy Spirit who lives within us and under whose protection we dwell (Romans 8:11). The Christian has been born again as a new person in Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). God’s blessing is more powerful than any curse. May it be like a cloak wrapped about him, like a belt tied forever around him” (Psalm 109:17–19). David prayed for help against his enemy who had cursed him: “He loved to pronounce a curse-may it come back on him. Wisdom warns that “whoever digs a pit will fall into it if someone rolls a stone, it will roll back on them” (Proverbs 26:27).
Balaam tried to curse God’s people, Israel, and found that he could not (Numbers 22-24). Though the end-times deception will be so great that even the elect would be deceived if God did not protect them (Matthew 24:24), God will utterly destroy Satan, the Antichrist, and all who follow them (Revelation 19-20).Ĭursing those whom God has blessed is dangerous business. Revelation 18 describes spells as part of the deception that will be used by the Antichrist and his “great city of Babylon” (verses 21–24). Micah 5:12 says that God will destroy witchcraft and those who cast spells. Deuteronomy 18:10–11 numbers those who cast spells with those who commit other acts detestable to the Lord such as child sacrifice, witchcraft, sorcery, divination, or necromancy (consulting with the dead). Spells in the Bible are always described negatively.