The book of Leviticus includes a prohibition against Tattoos (& cutting, mutilation), which is often not well-understood or observed. There's a natural/historical context, such as its association with Slavery and Baal worship; but also a spiritual context, involving blood covenants and supernatural laws. That side is related to the Deliverance ministry (commonly known as Exorcism) - one of the 3 parts of the Great Commission, which all believers are entrusted with.
How many know someone who's had a tattoo, or got one? Look at that - hands up everywhere. There's almost no-one that doesn't at least know someone with a tattoo.
It's a growing phenomena now, people getting tattoos, tremendous increase in that has taken place since the '70s, just a huge increase. Actually the increase in getting tattoos is paralleled by the latest increase - trying to get rid of them! People try - there's a huge business developing in America, people trying to get rid of tattoos.
So we look around, you see celebrities have them, sports stars have them, athletes have them, and it's just like it's making a great comeback.
You see it everywhere, and so you think well, is there anything to it, you know? Is there anything about it? Well, God looks on the inside, man looks on the outside, let's not worry or sweat about it? But I believe we need to understand what lies behind these things, and I'm going to show you why this is so important. I want to just share with you something that will help you, just give you a little bit of insight.
There are not many Bible verses about tattoos, but there are some references around in the Bible, so we'll just start with looking at the word of God, want to look in Leviticus 19:28.
You need to understand the context of this. When we look in the Bible, in these sections of the Old Testament, God had taken a people out of Egypt. His people Israel were in bondage in Egypt, and not just in slavery to Egyptians, but also to occult powers.
If you remember the story of how Moses confronted the Pharaoh, it would have been real easy for God to just get him out on the first confrontation. Actually there were 10 confrontations, and each of the confrontations was with a different God, that was one of the Gods of Egypt.
Every time that Moses told the Pharaoh: let my people go; and the Pharaoh refused, a plague would come into the nation - and it was an attack on the foreign Gods.
So after the 10 plagues, by the time it got to the end, the people in the nation were aware that the power of God was greater than the power of the Gods that the Egyptians served.
Notice this: the final miracle, that got the people of God released, was the shedding of blood. In Exodus 12, everyone had to slay a lamb, they had to apply the blood of the lamb to their house, to their building, and only then would they be protected from a destroying angel.
So we find that Israel was delivered out of a land full of idolatry, witchcraft and spiritism. Occult powers were immensely strong in Egypt. If you read the story of Moses' confrontation with the wizards of Egypt, you find that some of the first miracles he did, they were able to duplicate. He threw a stick down on the ground that turned into a snake - they threw their sticks down, and they also turned into snakes. That is some occultic power! So the first three miracles that Moses did, the wizards of Egypt, operating in sorcery and occult powers, were able to duplicate them.
Perhaps what isn't known so much is that the Egyptians were worshippers of Baal, the Sun God; and part of the Baal worship involved both men and women being tattooed, as a sign of ownership and allegiance to that God.
Now when this verse comes up here in Leviticus, God is about to bring His people into the Promised Land, Canaan; and He said: I'm not bringing you in there because you're better than them; I'm bringing you in there because I love you, you're my people - and it says: because of what they have done.