Cmon K, when have I ever said I was about "peace, love, forgiveness, and the hand of brotherhood". I leave that to the fanatics. Mikey

Who would have believed what we've just seen and heard?


The problem I have with what you are saying is that Christian religious fanatics in both the US and Canada, swung the vote and push their religious moralism on the rest of us (such as pot laws, anti-abortion etc). Likewise in the Mid-East with Islamic extremist and Zionists, or in India with Hindu Caste proponents...

These superstitious individuals push their dogma in all of our faces. This needs to be dealt with common sense... Just as the witch burnings stopped with the Age of Reason, so to can the Modern Crusades be explained away with a good anthropological understanding of the development of religion itself...


The thing is, people blame Faith for culture. One sees someone like George Bush say "Just Say No", and of course, "He's a Christian, He wouldn't mislead us..." but there is absolutely no justification for it in the doctrines of the Christian Faith.

But Christians start compromising the Word and sound doctrine for these cultural values, because it calms their fears. They build protective walls, which ultimately leaves anyone who has not tried to understand the Gospels thinking... "dude, if I got to quit smoking pot to get to Heaven, just give me a double portion of Hell."

It's a false image in our world view.


But I will say, that in God's eyes, sin is sin.

All of those legalistic practices that "image Christians" try to use to beat you down a beaten path of complacency and acceptance of stuff you not only disagree with, but don't believe in, Yeah, God's got a cup in His Right Hand, and I'll be there on that day to sing. As far as I'm concerned, they blow the gates of hell wide open every time they do stupid shit like that. Makes me sick to see people engage in those "Don't bring me down" practices and then have the balls to get up and say they're "Christ-like", and "they have the Spirit".

If you don't have Truth, you don't have the Spirit.

They're just as guilty of sin as the sinners they're reacting to. Even more so because God gave them "moral" knowledge because they're supposed to know better.

Christians should know better than that crap. It's in Romans Chapter 1 and 2. Paul follows the conscious path of darkness in man, and then says, therefore you are without excuse when you judge, cause you're doing the same things!" sin is sin. Whether it's tyranny or lawlessness.

also quickly, if anyone reads Romans, when it talks about the law, it's talking about the Torah (the Ten Commandments). When they're talking about governments, they'll use "Ordinance" or something like that. So don't feel guilty about smoking pot when you read it, it's not about you, it's about, smoking pot is not a violation of God's law.


You know, I figured every freedom fighter on this forum would be able to relate to that Bible passage. Let me post it again.

Here's that Bible passage I'm asking you to read.

Look, I know you don't buy it. Why do you think I waste my time? If you can figure it out, let me know. I don't know why I do it. I profit nothing that I can say "yeah, that's why!". Coming to faith in Christ doesn't make life easier, especially when you smoke weed. But for whatever it's worth, here it is;





Who would have believed what we just heard? When was the LORD's power revealed through him? He sprouted up like a twig before God, like a root out of parched soil; he had no stately form or majesty that might catch our attention, no special appearance that we should want to follow him. He was despised and rejected by people, one who experienced pain and was acquainted with illness; people hid their faces from him; he was despised, and we considered him insignificant.

But he lifted up our illnesses, he carried our pain; even though we thought he was being punished, attacked by God, and afflicted for something he had done. He was wounded because of our rebellious deeds, crushed because of our sins; he endured punishment that made us well; because of his wounds we have been healed.

All of us had wandered off like sheep; each of us had strayed off on his own path, but the LORD caused the sin of all of us to attack him. He was treated harshly and afflicted, but he did not even open his mouth.

Like a lamb led to the slaughtering block, like a sheep silent before her shearers,
he did not even open his mouth.

He was led away after an unjust trial — but who even cared? Indeed, he was cut off from the land of the living; because of the rebellion of his own people he was wounded.

They intended to bury him with criminals, but he ended up in a rich man's tomb, because he had committed no violent deeds, nor had he spoken deceitfully.

Though the LORD desired to crush him and make him ill, once restitution is made, he will see descendants and enjoy long life, and the LORD's purpose will be accomplished through him.

Having suffered, he will reflect on his work, he will be satisfied when he understands what he has done.

"My servant will acquit many, for he carried their sins. So I will assign him a portion with the multitudes, he will divide the spoils of victory with the powerful, because he willingly submitted to death and was numbered with the rebels, when he lifted up the sin of many and intervened on behalf of the rebels."

The whole notion of some sort of man-god dying for the sins of humanity is pure hogwash. By his own standard Paul was a real sinner, that is why he came up with that cosmology after he shang-highed the faith he started out persecuting.

Take a look through that other Bible thread to see what I've already posted about that bitter little fellow Paul.

The whole notion of some sort of man-god dying for the sins of humanity is pure hogwash

Isn't that what we're doing here? I mean in the fight against prohibition? We are laying down our lives to take up the righteous fight.

Consider the Spirit of Christ.

Blessed are those who suffer for the Righteous cause. It doesn't matter how much the world tries to curse me, I know I'm blessed cause God said I'm blessed.

He never opened His mouth.

not a man can do that.

rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person perhaps someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

It is the Spirit of Christ that allows me to take up the fight against prohibition, because all the Gnostic science so falsely called being touted as truth persuades me to support the drug war and false prophecies that literally consume people in fear. It is modern science that makes me think that not smoking pot will save me, not the Word of God. If it's survival of the fittest, yeah, lock those crazy dope smoking hippies up, right? they might take a second off my life. kill anyone who looks threatening, survival of the fittest.

You don't get that stuff from God. That's the ways of the world. God said turn from all that darkness crap.

Maybe if our Churches would pay attention to the Word, people would be able to see that side of good that we would be able to bring. But your right, they don't. They judge and be hypocrites.

cause we're all guilty of the same things.

The knowledge you want to replace the Bible with is the very root of bitterness that caused the drug war in the first place. And not only the drug war, but the whole social order that dictates our lives. Insurance, prisons, social security, lending and borrowing, etc.

Many claim to have studied the Word. It will never make sense until you believe that Jesus is God.

but the Bible never seeks to prove that God exists; it assumes it's readers already know this fact. so it ultimately becomes a personal thing. It's spiritual. that's as "scientific" as you can define it; spiritual.

But hey! What do you guys think of my handouts? on a scale of one to ten. do you think they will be effective in making things better?

"Many claim to have studied the Word. It will never make sense until you believe that Jesus is God. "

Man created God in his own image. All the religions started right around the same time and ended their creative inceptions around the same time in the evolutionary frame of time... Why is that? It's because religions mark the beginnings of reflective consciousness, the ability to think. That is what separates us from the animal world, the ability to think. I think therefore I am. What was it old Yahweh said to Moses from the Burning Bush? "I am that I am". The first people who began to experience this type of reflective consciousness, experienced this new ability the same ay schizophrenics do today, as voices originating outside of themselves, not from in their heads. Eventually, like all evolving traits, the good ones stick and humanity as a whole began to have reflective consciousness, and it became our individual ego. Even the Bible tells this story, and the miracle is that pot is a part of that story....

From Sex, Drugs, Violence and the Bible.....

THE HOLY ANOINTING OIL

In 1936, a little known Polish Professor, Sara Benetowa,(later Sula Benet), did extensive etymological research, showing that both the Aramaic and Hebrew versions of the Old Testament contained references to cannabis as a fiber for rope and cloth, as well as an incense. But most pre-eminently, hemp was the active ingredient in the Holy anointing oil of the ancient Hebrews used in a rite instituted by the sheik-shaman Moses, a practice adopted from the Midianite worshippers of Dagon. Referring to the Hebrew word Quaneh-Bosm (also translated Kaneh-Bosm, and Kineboisin), Benet stated in a later essay;

"The sacred character of hemp in biblical times is evident from Exodus 30:22-23, where Moses was instructed by God to anoint the meeting tent and all its furnishings with specially prepared oil, containing hemp. Anointing set sacred things apart from secular. The anointment of sacred objects was an ancient tradition in Israel: holy oil was not to be used for secular purposes.....Above all, the anointing oil was used for the installation rites of all Hebrew kings and priests." (Benet 1975)

The book of Exodus records the event of Moses receiving the instructions for making and distributing the hemp enriched holy-oil, in the most auspicious tones.

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Take the following fine spices: 500 shekels of liquid myrrh, half as much of fragrant cinnamon, 250 shekels of q’aneh-bosm, 500 shekels of cassia--all according to the sanctuary shekel--and a hind of olive oil. Make these into a sacred anointing oil, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer . It will be the sacred anointing oil. Then use it to anoint the Tent of the Meeting, the ark of the Testimony, the table and all its articles, the lampstand and its accessories, the altar of incense , the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the basin with its stand. You shall consecrate them so they will be most holy, and whatever touches them will be holy.

Anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them so they may serve me as priests. Say to the Israelites, "This is to be my sacred anointing oil for the generations to come. Do not pour it on men's bodies and do not make any oil with the same formula. It is sacred, and you are to consider it sacred. Whoever makes perfume like it and whoever puts it on anyone other than a priest must be cut off from his people.''
EXODUS 30:22-33

As one shekel equals approximately 16.37 grams, this means that the THC of over 9 pounds of flowering cannabis tops, were extracted into a hind, about 6.5 litres of oil. The entheogenic effects of such a solution, even when applied topically, would undoubtedly have been intense. Only those who had been dedicated by the anointing oil of...God"(Leviticus 21:12) were permitted to act as priests. In the "holy" state produced by the anointing oil the priests were forbidden to leave the sanctuary precincts (Leviticus 21:12), and the above passage from Exodus, makes quite clear the sacredness of this ointment, the use of which the priests jealously guarded. These rules were made so that other tribal members would not find out the secret behind Moses and the priesthood’s new found shamanistic revelations. Or even worse, take it upon themselves to make a similar preparation. An event that would likely lead to Moses and his fellow Levites losing their authority over their ancient tribal counterparts. Secrets revealed equals power lost, is a rule of thumb that is common to shamans and magicians world wide, and as shall be seen, the ancient Hebrew shamans guarded their secrets as fiercely as any. Moses and the Levite priesthood enforced this discriminatory prohibition of the holy oil with God's commandment that any transgressors be 'cut off from his people'. This law amounted to a death sentence in the ancient world, as anybody who was banished could expect to fall victim to desert raiders-- either murdered for their remaining possessions, or captured and sold into slavery.

Around 1980, etymologists at Hebrew University in Jerusalem confirmed that cannabis is mentioned in the Bible by name, Kineboisin (also spelled Kannabosm), in a list of measured ingredients for "an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of apothecary' to be smeared on the head. The word was mistranslated in king James version as 'calamus' .- Exodus 30:23(Latimer 1988)

This etymological research was confirmed again that same year by Weston La Barre, who noted that "the term kanebosm occurs as early as both the Aramaic and the Hebrew versions of the Old Testament, hemp being used for rope in Solomon's temple and in priestly robes, as well as... carried in Biblical caravans"(La Barre 1980) . Unfortunately the eminent anthropologist, failed to fully recognize the full implications of the shamanistic use of cannabis in the Old Testament. For some unexplained reason he concluded that the anointing oil was made with hemp seeds, although a "seed-oil" is definitely not specified in the Biblical formula of Exodus 30:23. In fact, the Exodus reference to hemp, with addition of bosm , meaning "fragrant" to the elsewhere singular k'aneh, (or q'aneh), meaning both "cane" and "cannabis", specifically refers to the resin and scent enriched flowering tops of the hemp plant.

Like the emotional reaction from Rabbi X concerning the references to cannabis in the Old Testament discussed in the Introduction, the announcement about hemp in the holy ointment raised an initial panic, in the Judeo-Christian communities. Defenders of these faiths quickly pointed out that the holy ointment containing cannabis was merely to be applied externally. But, such anointing oils made with hemp are indeed psychoactive and have been used by such seemingly diverse groups as 19th century occultists , medieval witches and as noted earlier, closer to Moses own time, cannabis was used as both a topical entheogen, and incense in Canaan, Egypt, Assyria, Thrace, Babylonia and elsewhere.

The use of the cannabis ointment at the time of Moses, can clearly be seen as a carry over of the earlier cult of Dagon\Ea\Oannes, the priesthood of which, used the pine-cone like buds of the sacred tree, (earlier shown to be a symbolic reference to hemp), in the ritual anointings involved with their worship and the oracular ability of their priesthood. Indeed, the Hebrew title Messiah, which means the anointed one, and refers to the psychoactive cannabis ointment used by the Hebrew priests and later kings is even linguistically tied to the earlier cult of Dagon. "In the Talmud the Messiah is called 'Dag' or 'Fish'" a term adopted from "the Dag-on of the old Babylonians...The fish-god...who taught them all their civilizations."(Lundy 1876).

The ancient Levites literally drenched themselves, their utensils and the inner chamber of the tent with this entheogenic holy oil, as well as burning it alongside other incenses on the altar, as a means of receiving an oracular trance in which the voice of Yahweh was heard. And this "volatile substance in the heat of an enclosed oracular chamber would contribute to the delusion of omniscience through their intoxicating effect."(Allegro 1980)

"Take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and everything in it; consecrate it and all its furnishings, and it will be most holy. Then anoint the altar of burnt offerings and all its utensils; consecrate the altar, and it will be most holy."
EXODUS 40:9

The 'anointed ones', acting as shamans for the ancient Israelites, were in a sense the consciousness of the group or tribe. The "ideas" that came to them while they were high, were heard as the voice of god, and through this 'inner voice' they guided the tribe in both war and peace. The Holy anointing oil and incense was strictly used on the high ranking members of the priestly Levites,"...the anointed priests, who were ordained to serve as priests.-" -(NUMBERS 3:3).

"Anoint them just as you anointed their father, so that they may serve me as priests. Their anointing will be to a priesthood that will continue for generations to come."
EXODUS40:15

"The high priest, the one among his brothers who has had the anointing oil poured on his head and who has been ordained to wear the priestly garments...because he has been dedicated by the anointing oil of his God."
LEVITICUS 21:10-12


THE HOLY INCENSE

The Lord said to Moses, "I am going to come to you in a dense cloud...."
(Exodus 19:9)

It was after his initiation into the Midianite priesthood that Moses heard the "angel of the Lord...in flames of fire from within a bush ", and the first biblical use of cannabis for oracular trance, is recorded . In light of this, it is not to surprising to find that the use of hemp in EXODUS, both as an incense and as a psychoactive anointing oil seems to be connected with the image of the serpent. The Nehushtan, or brazen serpent image made by Moses stayed in the Temple for five or six hundred years, and for that period of time "the people of Israel had burned incense to it." Combined with the THC rich holy ointment, "the fume from the sacred incense of the chapel, if made to the Biblical formula, would assist the process of hypnosis."(Allegro 1980)
When the Midianite trained craftsmen Bezaleel makes the incense altar of shittam wood overlaid with pure gold, according to the instructions Moses received from the Lord to "make an altar to burn incense upon," Bezaleel also "made the holy anointing oil, and the pure incense of sweet spices, according to the work of apothecary." (Exodus 37:29).
[T]he Lord said to Moses, "Take fragrant spices--gum resins, onycha and galbanum--and pure frankincense [generic incense], all in equal amounts, and make a fragrant blend of incense.... grind some of it to powder and place it in front of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy to you. Do not make an incense with this formula for yourselves; consider it holy to the Lord. Whoever makes any like it to enjoy its fragrance must be cut off from his people.
EXODUS 30:34-38

The Lord's altar is to be saved for this specific incense, as can be seen by the holy commandment that: "Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offerings thereon."(Exodus 30:9). That the incense was believed to be imbued with similar magical properties to that of the anointing oil can be seen in the identical prohibitions placed over both. The Biblical scholar John Allegro noted, according to later traditions; "That these ingredients formed only part of the sacred incense formula is well known. Josephus says there were thirteen elements and the Talmud names eleven, plus salt, and a secret 'herb' which was added to make the smoke rise in a vertical column before spreading outwards at the top."(Allegro 1970) ; exactly the way the smoke from a burning piece of hashish reacts and rises. Maimonides, (1134-1204) a medieval Jewish philosopher commented that "The object of incense was to animate the spirits of the priests", which would again indicate an entheogenic preparation. As the authors and editors of the ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA have noted; "The ceremonial use of wine and incense [in contemporary ritual] is probably a relic of the time when the psychological effects of these substances were designed to bring the worshipper into closer contact with super natural forces" .

In the Judaic world, the vapors from burnt spices and aromatic gums were considered part of the pleasurable act of worship. In Proverbs (27:9) it is said that "Ointment and perfumes rejoice the heart.".... Stone altars have been unearthed in Babylon and Palestine, which have been used for burning incense made of aromatic woods and spices. While the casual reader today may interpret such practices as mere satisfaction of the desire for pleasant odors, this is almost certainly an error; in many cases, a psychoactive drug was inhaled. In the islands of the Mediterranean 2,500 years ago and in Africa hundreds of years ago, for example, leaves and flowers of a particular plant were often thrown upon bonfires and the smoke inhaled; the plant was marijuana.(Preble & Laurey 1967)

Commenting on the word frankincense, which means pure-incense and which appears in the Exodus recipe for the Holy incense, aromatherapy expert Susanne Fischer-Rizzi noted that; "We once called all herbs burnt as incense 'frankincense'"(Fischer-Rizzi 1990). "The article now known as frankincense is the resin called thus, a common, inodorous article, little better than common white rosin. The article once so highly valued...must have been some other drug more precious than pine or spruce resin" . Today the word frankincense has come to specify the gum resin from the North African tree Boswellia and Fischer-Rizzi, points out that this modern source also contains psychoactive properties, and is still used in churches to instill a chemically induced feeling of religious awe:

In the last few years, scientists have grown interested in frankincense. They were intrigued by reports that inhaling certain fragrances became addictive for some people, such as altar boys. Some members of the Academy of science in Leipzig, Germany, found in 1981 that when frankincense is burned, another chemical is produced, trahydrocannabinole. This psychoactive substance expands the subconscious .
The Australian scientist Dr. Michael Stoddard found something else in frankincense. It seems that frankincense, according to Stoddard, awakens sexual, ecstatic energy sources within people. Traditional religious ritual tap and rechannel these energies .(Fischer-Rizzi 1990)

Despite the fact that modern frankincense is psycho-active, what the original preparation was is left to speculation. With the abundance of natural, burnable and easily collectible fragrant resin found in cannabis and as cannabis is listed directly as an incense elsewhere in the Bible, (along with the Talmudic references to the secret 'herb' used in the Temple incense), it is a likely candidate for the ancient generic 'frankincense' of Exodus.

Elsewhere in the Old Testament, when q'aneh appears, it is clearly associated with incense. According to Immanuel Low in his German work, DIE FLORA DER JUDEN, the Hebrews of later times when celebrating their successful invasion and takeover of the land of Canaan with the Holy Day Passover, utilized a preparation including cannabis. Low referred to a recipe for the Passover altar incense that included a hasisat surur, and claimed that the surur was a secret name for the resin of cannabis sativa. The recipe for the special Passover incense had cannabis resin (hasisat surur) ground into powder, mixed with wine, and then made into a burnable and fragrant concoction by being combined with Safran and Arabic Gum. (Low 1926\1967). As George Andrews, editor of the classic texts, THE BOOK OF GRASS,(1967 and DRUGS AND MAGIC, (1975\1997), wrote after some thirty years of research into the subject;

In recent years many eminent scholars have expressed the opinion that, far from being a minor or occasional ingredient, hashish was the main ingredient of the incense burned in temples during the religious ceremonies of antiquity, and was also routinely used in Hebrew ceremonies until the reign of King Josiah in 621 B.C., when its use was suddenly suppressed in the Hebrew tradition. (Andrews 1997).

Regardless of what the constitute ingredients of the holy incense were, the whole preparation would have been made psycho-active by its combination with the Holy Anointing Oil: "Then use... [the anointing oil] to anoint... the table and all its articles, the lampstand and its accessories, the alter of incense, the alter of burnt offering and all its utensils."(EXODUS 30:22-28) .
Whether as a result of burning in conjunction with the hempen holy oil, as suggested by Exodus 30:27, or independently, the importance of these preparations can be seen in the Lord's commandment that the altar of incense, after being first consecrated for use with the Holy Oil, be placed "before the veil that is by the ark of testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee." It was from behind this veil of smoke, which Moses interpreted the words of the Lord, and according to the Lord's decrees, the incense which produced it was to burn perpetually;
"And Aaron shall burn incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations."
EXODUS 30:8-10

Moses, and his priests used the volatile holy ointment and burned cannabis in a portable, 'Tent of Meeting'. Lacking the invention of pipes, it was the practice of some ancient cults to burn cannabis in tents, so that more smoke could be retained and inhaled. Such a group was the ancient Scythians, a group credited with spreading cannabis knowledge throughout the ancient world and who "participated in both trade [likely including cannabis] and wars alongside the ancient Semites for at least one millennium before Herodotus encountered them in the fifth century B.C.. The reason for confusion and the relative obscurity of the role played by the Scythians in world history is that they were known to the Greeks as Scythians, but to the Semites as Ashkenaz ... The earliest reference to the Ashkenaz people appears in the Bible in Genesis 10:3, where Ashkenaz, their progenitor, is named the son of Gomer, the great-grandson of Noah" (Benet 1975).

Both archeological and written records , attest to the Scythian\Ashkenaz practice of inhaling cannabis burned in large bronze censers, from within Tee-pee like tents, which served to hold in the valuable intoxicating smoke. Sula Benet believed that the Scythians adopted this technique of ecstasy and even the name cannabis from the people of the Near East, particularly the Semetic people like Hebrews.

Like the Scythian shaman who burned cannabis from within enclosed tents; "Moses placed the gold altar in the Tent of Meeting in front of the curtain and burned fragrant incense on it, as the Lord commanded him. Then he put up the curtain at the entrance to the tabernacle. "(EXODUS 40:26).

Religious scholar, Dr. Marinus de Waal, has commented that parts of the holy sanctuary made by Moses, under the Lords command, utilized the fibres of the hemp plant;

"Fabric from hemp fibre was used by the ancient Israelites for clothing, but was later replaced for this purpose by cotton and linen. It was more often cultivated for its strong fibers and hemp seed, used in carpets and rope. The latter was used in the days of Moses for making the sanctuary:"
'And let every wise-hearted man among you come, and make all that the Lord hath commanded...the hangings of the court, the pillars thereof, and their sockets, and the screen for the gate of the court; the pins of the tabernacle, and the pins of the court, and their cords...'-(Exodus 35:10,17,18)" (De Waal 1994)

The ancient Hebrew utilized cannabis seed-oils for lighting (Herer 1993) and food (Low 1926\1967), its fibers for ritual cloth and clothing (Klien 1908, de Waal 1994), as well as its resins and flowers for shamanistic ecstasy and divine inspiration.(Creighton 1903, Low 1926\1967, Benetowa 1936, Benet 1975, Bennett et. al. 1995) For the ancient Semites, this very useful plant was a literal Tree of Life. To the nomadic Hebrews, cultivated cannabis was a very valuable commodity, and this is part of the reason why its use was restricted to a few individuals. If everybody got High there wouldn't be enough to go around for very long. Wars and raids conducted on more agricultural peoples, may have in part been made in an attempt to acquire the cannabis which had become so important in Hebrew worship. Perhaps the Sacred Ark of the Covenant was used to carry the Hebrew's stash of valuable cannabis as well as the Bronze Serpent it was said to contain, and which people of Israel burned incense to for centuries after the time of Moses .

Hebrew scholar Ralph Patai points out that Yahweh traveled in a cloud which was produced from copious incense smoke;

"That gods ride on clouds is an old mythologem, traces of which can be found among many peoples. Among the Canaanites it is attested in the 14th century BCE Ugaritic myths, in which "Rider of the Clouds" is one of Baal's . The same epithet, "Rider in the clouds," refers to Yahweh in one of the Psalms....In fact, the desert sanctuary was called the Tabernacle (Hebrew, mishkan; literally, "dwelling place") because of the divine cloud that abode (shakan) over it and in it....It (EXODUS 40) says that that God's presence in the Tabernacle was indicated by a cloud which both seemed to hover over the tent and to fill it, and which at night glowed like fire. This conception of the manifest presence of God in the Tabernacle closely parallels that of God's presence on Mt. Sinai: there too, cloud covered the mount, and in that cloud was God: "He came to Moses out of the midst of the cloud".(Patai 1967)

Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church Brother, Jeff Brown, connected the many smoke and cloud references in the Old Testament, with the use of cannabis incense in his influential and well researched booklet MARIJUANA AND THE BIBLE:

"Scriptures make it abundantly clear that the cloud and the smoke are related to the burning of incense. Exodus 40:26 describes Moses burning incense, a cloud covering the tent of the congregation and the glory of the Lord filling the tabernacle. Leviticus 16:2-13 describes how God appeared in a cloud and refers to it as the cloud of incense... Numbers 11:25 describes how God was revealed to Moses and the seventy elders in a cloud; that the spirit rested upon them and that they prophesied and ceased not. ... In fact it was in the clouds of smoke that God was revealed to the ancient Israelites. The words "smoke" and "smoking" appear fifty times in the King James version of the Bible."(Brown 1980)

Similar to the oracle of Delphi in Greece who also issued forth prophecies from a cloud of smoke, Yahweh only spoke to Moses in the smoke filled chamber of "... the Tent of Meeting: he was a visiting deity whose appearance in or departure from, the Tent was used for oracular purposes."(Patai 1967). When the cloud of smoke was not present, the voice of Yahweh fell silent. Although others were terrified to enter into the smoke filled chamber, Moses "is not consumed by the daemonic power when he physically associates with Yahweh and enters into the midst of the cloud (Exodus 24:15-18)". (La Barre 1970). Further, according to STRONG'S EXHAUSTIVE CONCORDANCE OF THE BIBLE the Hebrew word for cloud, anan,(Ayin, nun, nun), also has the meaning "to cloud over...i.e. practice magic:-X bring, enchanter, Meonemin, observe(-r of) times, soothsayer, sorcerer."(Strong 1979) "When Moses entered the Tent of Meeting to speak with the Lord, he heard the voice speaking to him from between the two cherubim above the atonement cover on the ark of the Testimony. And he spoke with him."(Numbers 7:89)

Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp at some distance away calling it the "tent of meeting". Anyone requiring of the Lord would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrances of their tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent. As Moses would enter the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lord spoke with Moses. Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshipped, each at the entrance to his tent. The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young assistant Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.
EXODUS 33:7-11

The resulting insights from the experience induced by cannabis smoke, inhaled in the Tent of Meeting, as well the effects from the topically applied THC rich holy ointment, were interpreted by Moses to be divine messages from God, in much the same way as modern shamans interpret their experiences with plant hallucinogens as containing divine revelations. Cannabis can be seen to activate the very area of the brain in which ideas, and thinking take place. There are unique receptor sites located in the areas governing higher thinking and memory, possibly, as Jack Herer has suggested, indicating a precultural link between man and marijuana.(Herer 1985) As a thought inducer, Harvard Medical School Professor, Dr. Lester Grinspoon, has commented that marihuana "can help the user to penetrate conceptual boundaries, promote fluidity of associations, and enhance insight and creativity. Some people find it so useful in gaining new perspectives or seeing problems from a different vantage point that they smoke it in preparation for intellectual work. I suspect these people have learned to make use of the alteration in consciousness produced by cannabis. "(Grinspoon 1995). Indeed, this ancient and mysterious herb may have facilitated the step into higher consciousness for the Semetic and other races.

It is our ability for subjective interior verbalization which most differentiates us from other species; "I think therefore I am" . This evolutionary step from non-conscious-dreamtime into self-reflective-experiential-time marks the inception of all world religions. Psychologist Julian Jaynes' book, THE ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE BREAKDOWN OF THE BICAMERAL MIND offers some interesting theoretical explanations of how the development of subjective consciousness may have taken place and how this is connected with religion. Although Jaynes failed to fully recognize the important role plant-drugs have played in the development of consciousness, he did come up with a most revolutionary concept. Basing his hypothesis on scientific studies of the brain, combined with a close reading of the archeological evidence, Jaynes' demonstrated that ancient humanity could not think as we do today, and was therefore not conscious in the way we are now.

Jaynes referred to the mental state of pre-consciousness man as the Bicameral-Mind. The Bicameral human, as animals still are, was in a state of continual interaction with their environment, and the "world would happen to him and his action would be an inextricable part of that happening with no consciousness whatever."(Jaynes 1976). It was not until well into the development of language, (originally a means of interaction like the yips and yelps of a wolf pack), that reflective-consciousness could have even been able to start to take place. Anybody who would question how non-reflective man could perform such complicated tasks as farming, animal herding, home building, construction of towns, etc.?, need only look at the completely instinctually driven insect world, where ranching, farming, storage of grains, home and hive building, all take place with no sign of reflective consciousness what-so-ever.

Jaynes explains that being unable to introspect, ancient humans heard their first thoughts as auditory hallucinations, and took these to be the voice of God , as Moses does in the story of Exodus, or as Abraham did when he went to sacrifice Isaac. Humanities transition into consciousness was an evolutionary step, and the voices which the first 'thinkers' heard, came from the brains right-hemisphere, and told them what to do in times of novelty or stress. "Only catastrophe and cataclysm forced mankind to learn consciousness, and that happened only 3000 years ago."(Jaynes 1976)

Entheogen pioneer Terence McKenna comments on Jayne's book in his own brilliant FOOD OF THE GODS: "what we call ego was for Homeric people 'god'. When danger threatened...the god's voice was heard in the individuals mind...This psychic function was perceived by those experiencing it as the direct voice of god...Merchants and traders moving from one society to another brought the unwelcome news that god was saying different thing in different places, and so cast early seeds of doubt."(McKenna 1992) This last comment can be seen as especially true of the ancient Jews, as a good deal of the Old Testament is obsessed with the abomination of worshipping other gods.

McKenna states that Jaynes' large and interesting book failed it's potential by neglecting to discuss the paramount role that "hallucinogenic plants or drugs" played in the development of consciousness "nearly entirely". The mushroom Bard expanded on Jaynes' theory by pointing out that; "The impact of hallucinogens in the diet has been more than psychological; hallucinogenic plants may have been the catalyst for everything about us that distinguishes us from other higher primates, for all the mental functions that we associate with humanness."(McKenna 1992) The visual images and voices heard by the early shamanistic ingestor of such substances, were interpreted by them, as actual events with the gods, (In a similar way to that which the Australian Aborigines and other "primitive" cultures interpret dreams as reality).

Could the Commandments given by God to Moses and other Biblical Prophets (Shaman), have been early ideas, relevant to the development of humanity at that time and place? If one comes to see consciousness itself as divine, then seeing the development of it in the shamanistic revelations of Moses, need not make those revelations any less holy, but perhaps less relevant as rules of conduct in our modern day. Indeed, it could be that reflective thought, and much religious literature, grew out of a combination of language and the use of psychoactive plants like magic mushrooms and hemp in a marriage of shamanistic revelation.

God said to Moses,, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you."
EXODUS 3:14.

These are the words Moses first heard after his initiation into the Midianite priesthood, and his first encounter with the Burning Bush. In light of this information is not the above statement more believable as the birth words of Judaic consciousness through shamanistic revelations, rather than as the commandments of some omnipotent God? Especially such a God as the jealous Yahweh of the Old Testament, who's rantings at times, sound more like the ravings of an angry tribal chieftain, rather than those of the all powerful Creator of the Universe. As famed anthropologist Weston La Barre has commented "'God' is often clinically paranoiac because the shaman's 'supernatural helper' is the projection of the shaman himself. The personality of Yahweh, so to speak, exactly fits the irascible personality of the sheik-shaman Moses; the voices of Yahweh and Moses are indistinguishable."(La Barre 1972)

Moses is... a visionary shaman...in whom the god (imperious id of the vatic) repeatedly speaks....Psychologically, Moses and Yahweh are one...Magic power, derived from Yahweh on direct instruction and contact is Moses' strength...The relationship is made explicit when Moses complains that he is a man of poor speech, whereupon he is made a god to Aaron "and thou shall speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be to the instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God."(EXODUS 4:15-16). The divine Patriarch and the human patriarch are here as one.(La Barre 1970)

Like Yahweh, Dagon took part in the affairs of the state through his prophets, who gave their trance induced utterances with a "formal similarity to the prophets of the Old Testament"(Ringgren 1973). These "psychic states were characteristic of the prophecies delivered in the Temple; the evidence suggests trance of the lucid type in which the medium does not loose all consciousness of self and surroundings"(Pritchard 1975). A state which can be attributed to marijuana intoxication, produced by the cannabis incense and holy anointing oil that was used by both Dagon's cult, and later adopted by the shaman Moses and the Levites, the "sons of the Great Serpent".

The ancient Mesopotamians believed that each person had their own personal god known as a tutelary deity, which was invoked with offerings of incense, likely containing cannabis . The Tutelary deities originally represented a person's capacity "for thinking and acting...without a [tutelary] god man cannot earn his living or be courageous in battle, and again: When thou dost plan ahead, thy god is thine, When thou dost not plan ahead, thy god is not thine"(Ringgren 1973) . For the sons of Dagon, their inner voice, or thoughts were heard as advice from the ancient fish-god, and he was their tutelary deity, as he was for a number of ancient kings. Dagon's cult developed the shamanistic use of cannabis in initiation ceremonies directed at the participant receiving divine messages, this facilitated the evolutionary step into higher thought. The Levite, sons of the Great Serpent, adopted this technique from the Midianite worshippers of Dagon, along with other hierarchical and cultic practices.

Yahweh was the tutelary deity of the shaman Moses and eventually of the whole people. "Indeed, the shaman-led communal cult of a tutelary deity is only a more developed form of the shaman and his individual familiar...Under Moses and his simulacrum in the divine tutelary-spirit sheik-patriarch, scattered Habiru [Hebrew] tribelets become the whole ritual-contractual... people of Israel, initiated into the secret society of Yahweh-worshippers."(La Barre 1970) Through the shamanistic visions of Moses, these divided tribes became united, and their differing mythologies and local legends, joined together in a holy new religious vision.

The early thoughts of Moses and the Levites, being received as divine revelations, were written down, and account for many of the tribal laws of the ancient Hebrews. The act of writing itself, was a magical act , and was usually used for religious purposes. Writing was also amongst the arts and crafts that the ancient Hebrews adopted from their Midianite teachers. Religious inscriptions from around 1500 BCE, were incised by smith-miners, [likely Midianites], high up in the Rocky wastes of Sinai. (Jaynes 1976) Not so coincidentally, Moses went up Mount Sinai, and came back down again with the chiseled stone tablets known as the Ten Commandments . It should also be noted that in the mythology of the Midianite's god, Dagon, under the earlier Mesopotamian name of Enki, the ancient deity is accredited with inventing the characters used in writing.(Budge 1925).

Reading itself, may have facilitated step into mental verbalization, for when we read an accompanying dialogue is "heard" within the mind. The interior vocalization that accompanies reading, is often heard by the reader as a different voice than their own, taking on the projected voice of the author or character, narrating the story or book. Similarly, when the ancients read the holy inscriptions which covered sacred statues and phallic pillars, they likely imaginatively “heard” the interior vocalization of the words narrated back to them in the voice of the particular god in question.

With the laws of god written and available to be referred to, it became less necessary for people to turn their own god for advice. Further, if someone were to hear the voice of god, and what it had to say didn't coincided with the existing tribal laws and mythology, then they would likely find themselves in dire trouble . We can already see these problems arising in the story of Moses. Numbers 12:1-2, has Moses, Aaron and Miriam all hearing the voice of Yahweh, but unable to tell whose is the most authentic. The winner of course turns out to be Moses, and the challengers punished for their revolt :

Revolts against Yahweh are revolts against his prophet Moses. To the people, the edicts, actions and emotions of Moses are identical with his God's; they fear his fire-shinning face...because the manna of the mountain god is within him...He is at once sheik, shaman, father and god, against whom all the ambivalences of the people are directed, as to all promulgators of the law. The identity of Moses-Yahweh is remarkable. In the first encounter Yahweh wrote down the commandments; in the second Moses himself made the tables. Yahweh confides in Moses all his plans and commands, which Moses then puts forth...Aaron spoke to Moses as if Moses were Yahweh in the golden calf story; Moses raged like the daemon and meted out punishment."(La Barre 1970)

Ironically, for the most part without even really knowing what they are, many people today would have us adhere to the primitive tribal rules recorded by the shaman-Moses. Admittedly, some of these laws may in fact have been good-ideas at one time, but they are hardly relevant today. Besides that, many people have now succeeded in awakening their own inner gods, and can think for themselves.