Does herbalism come from pagan roots?
I have been doing some research lately on the subject of Christians and herbalism. I am always amazed at the logic (or lack thereof) being used to discredit the use of herbs and suggest that Christians should have no part in their use. I came across one article on the Christian Medical Fellowship website from the UK. I want to address one specific point that was made on the website. Maybe I will get to the rest at some point, but for now I figured one topic at a time would be more than enough!
What are its {herbalism’s} roots?
History of the origins and present practices of the many varieties of herbal medicine indicate that they are rooted in and still associated with non-Christian belief systems.
After I read this article and the above quote, I just felt so unsettled. I started to pray to the Lord and ask for answers and wisdom in dealing with comments and beliefs that say herbalism comes from pagan roots.
Satan Counterfeits Creation
The Lord answered my prayers in the form of an “unrelated” book. I had recently received a book in the mail for review, called The Genius of Ancient Man: Evolution’s Nightmare.
From the title, the premise of the book is that God created man perfect, including his intellect. From the very beginning of time, mankind has possessed many creative and intellectual abilities that far surpass even the most learned in our own time.
Ancient cultures all over the world show links of intelligence in areas of architecture, religion, mathematical abilities, and astronomical understandings.
An important concept related to this intelligence is the fact that it was there before man was dispersed at the Tower of Babel. We know this because the same abilities are seen all over the world in all different cultures. For instance, several cultures around the world have succeeded in building towers and structures that boggle the minds of present day scholars. These cultures didn’t have Google to look up “how to build a ziggurat” and there were no YouTube videos to teach “construction methods of ancient pyramids.” This was information that was passed down to the cultures from their ancestors…their common ancestors.
It was also at the Tower of Babel that Satan showed his desire to counterfeit the things of the Lord. One of the first counterfeits was the tower itself. But there have been many, many more counterfeits over time. The book names several of the counterfeits, including man-made mountains (towers), astrology (counterfeiting God’s original purpose for the stars), human sacrifice (God made the ultimate human sacrifice with His perfect son, as a redemption for sinful man), and rainbows (very interesting discussion on Satan’s attempts to pervert the rainbow)–and several others!
Remember, Satan cannot create, but only pervert. Nothing that God loves or uses for His purpose escapes Satan’s perversion.
It was after reading the above quotes that it hit me like a ton of bricks.
Herbalism is not ROOTED in paganism.
Herbalism is PERVERTED in paganism.
Herbalism is a Blessing from God
God blessed His creation with food for nutrition and plants for medicine. I suspect that the knowledge of herbalism was one of the things that was dispersed throughout the world at the Tower of Babel. That would explain why so many cultures have advanced systems of plant medicines that are so similar (Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ayurvedic from India, Native American Shamans). And I believe that it was also during this time, when men’s hearts were seeking to worship the created rather than the creator, that they began to use the gifts that God had given them as part of their spiritualism and idol worship.
Herbalism is yet another area of our lives that Satan has counterfeited through paganism, which has caused Christians to miss out on a blessing meant for us!