Evil Beads

King James Version (KJV)

38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.

Evil Beads

Babatunmishe Oke, Pennsylvania November 6, 2012 8.00-930pm

I have used research from different sources for this sermon. I cannot lay claim to some aspects of this sermon being originally mine. This is solely for the edification of the Body of Christ. I desire no gain or fame in sharing this but for the knowledge of the brethren to be increased.

Tonight, we look at a piece of jewelry that would otherwise be harmless to the average human being. But as we always do on this prayer line, the whole idea is to bring us to the point of new revelations. I spoke to a sister from somewhere on the East Coast tonight who said and I quote, “Hello, I want to take this time today and say thank you. I have had some troubles in my life and tried to get some answers somehow after much trying the Lord led me to you and I now have answers to things most pastors have not been able to help with.”

That is the essence of the Believer’s Evangelical Fellowship International. Bringing folks up to speed on the wiles of the kingdom of darkness and equipping them with biblical tools to fight back successfully.

The piece of jewelry in question is the beads. Beads have been used throughout the ages and in virtually every culture, not simply as adornment but to express social circumstances, political occurrences, and religious beliefs; as a form of currency; or as symbolic embodiments of curative powers.

Beads are some of the most stunningly attractive and varied items of jewelry. These are small, round objects made of wood, shell, bone, seed, metal, stone, glass or plastic. It is usually pierced for stringing so that it can be worn for decorative, or in some cultures, for magical purposes. From the breath taking gold designs of ancient Egypt to the exciting renaissance of bead craftsmanship taking place today, beads have been one of the most popular forms of personal adornment. However, they have been much more than jewelry.

Humans create decorative beads for human purposes, while human purposes give rise to beads. Beads have been used throughout the world in countless ways: as talismans in prehistoric and contemporary societies; as status symbols in the ancient world and in modern Africa; as religious artifacts in the Buddhist, Christian, Hindu and Islamic faiths, and as a standard medium of barter in almost every country.

Beads became an issue spiritually when people began to project spirits into them.

Different religions have what you can call prayer beads, which are beads tied on a string and ostensibly used for focus when meditating. Examples of the religions that use prayer beads are;

Hindu Prayer Beads

A Hindu prayer bead set, also called a "mala" or "Japa mala," is comprised of 108 beads or other numbers divisible by nine. The New Zealand Hare Krishna Spiritual Resource Network states the numbers 108 and 9 are sacred in the Hindu religion as they represent Chakras, God, the servants of Krishna, the "108 feelings," energy intersections, planets and their houses, chandrakalas and other frames of reference.

Sikh Prayer Beads

The Sikh religion uses 108 beads for prayer and meditation. Religion Facts reports Sikhs use prayer beads as a prayer aid as they repeat God's name and meditate. Although this religion rejects many Hindu beliefs, the use of beads among Sikhs originates from Hinduism. Nanak Dev Ji, the first of the 10 Sikh gurus, holds a strand of prayer beads in his right hand in many of his paintings.

Buddhist Prayer Beads

Like their Sikh and Buddhist counterparts, Buddhist prayer beads also use 108 beads that are also called "malas." Some malas, however, only contain 21 or 28 beads for doing prostrations to show reverence to Buddha, his teachings and the spiritual community. The Tibetan Buddhist Altar explains the prayer beads are used to help a user count his recitations and also represent the form and speech of his deity. The large 109th bead represents the deity while the other 108 beads are the deity's followers.

Christian Prayer Beads

Individuals in the Catholic denomination of Christianity use a Rosary that contains 54 beads looped together with an additional five beads where a cross, one invitatory bead and four Cruciform beads hang. The "Catholic Encyclopedia" states The Rosary is a form of prayer where 10 of the beads represent 10 "Hail Mary" prayers, another 10 represent The Lord's Prayer and the final 10 beads represent the prayer "Glory Be to the Father." The prayers represented in the rest of the beads in a Catholic Rosary are the joyful, sorrowful, glorious and luminous mysteries. According to the "Catholic Encyclopedia," monks in the Eastern Orthodox religions refer to their prayer beads as "spiritual swords."