Cuttings or  Markings

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I. There are at least six motives behind cutting one's self.

A. Sometimes emotional pain is so great and seemingly unbearable that one may cut himself to feel the physical pain and temporarily take his mind of the emotional pain.

B. Sometimes one may try to work his way up to committing suicide.  He is testing the waters.  He is toying with suicidal thoughts.  Each experience is a step closer to decision of suicide.

C. Sometimes an individual may be so deceived by the enemy that he cuts himself as initiation to be accepted into a gang or group.  This also includes tattoos and other markings or scars.  It may be also as a dare.

D. Sometimes one will cut himself as an act of self sacrifice or worship to an idol or satan.

E. Sometimes a person will cut himself to get the blood and mix it with a drink as in the making of a pagan covenant with another person or persons.

F. Sometimes one may cut himself as an act of cleansing of a sin or disease.  Many people died in history when they thought that through bloodletting they could cure themselves of various diseases.

A. "Ye are the children of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead" (Deuteronomy 14:1).  This would also apply to having tattoos put on one's body.

B. "And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many; and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under.  And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them" (I Kings 18:25, 28).

C. "Both the great and the small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them" (Jeremiah 16:6).  Example:   "That there came certain from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, even fourscore men, having their beards shaven, and their clothes rent, and having cut themselves, with offerings and incense in their hand, to bring them to the house of the LORD" (Jeremiah 41:5).

A. "But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat" (Genesis 9:4).

B. "Moreover ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings.  Whatsoever soul it be that eateth any manner of blood, even that soul shall be cut off from his people" (Leviticus 7:26-27).

C. "And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people.  For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.  Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood.  And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust.  For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off" (Leviticus 17:10-14).

D. "Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times. Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard. Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD" Leviticus 19:26-28).

(Too many to list all.)  Deuteronomy 12:31, 18:10, Leviticus 18:21, 20:2-5, II Kings 3:26-27, 16:3, 17:17-18, 21:6, 23:10, II Chronicles 28:3, 33:6, Psalm 106:37-38, Isaiah 37:5, Jeremiah 7:31, 19:4-7, 32:35, Ezekiel 16:20-21, 20:26, 31, 23:37-39, Micah 6:7).  Most have to do with offering of children to the god of Baal or Molech.

A. Job cursed the day that he was born.

"Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived" (Job 3:3).

B. Elijah wished himself to die.

"But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers" (I Kings 19:4).

C. Jonah became angry even unto death.

"And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death"  (Jonah 4:9).

D. Judus hung himself.

"And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself" (Matthew 27:5).

"And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their forehead.  And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.  Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six" (Revelation 13:16-18).

A. "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" (Romans 12:1-2).

B. "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's" (I Corinthians 6:19-20).

C. "If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are" (I Corinthians 3:17).

A. "And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him" (Genesis 4:15).   It was for his protection, but we don't know exactly what the mark was.

B. "And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.  Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house" (Ezekiel 9:4, 6).  Again, it was for their protection.

C. "Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads" (Revelation 7:3).
"And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads " (Revelation 14:1).  They were set apart for protection and service.

A. "As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men" (Isaiah 52:14). Note the word "marred".

B. "For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet" (Psalm 22:16).  Note that his hands and feet were "pierced".

C. "But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water" (John 19:34). Note that his side was "pierced" and "blood" came out.

D. "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed" (I Peter 2:24). Note that there was a tearing of his flesh by the "stripes".

E. "By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;" (Hebrews 10:20).  Note that his flesh was torn that we might enter into the presence of God.

D. "And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel" (Hebrews 12:24). (The word "covenant" means "to cut an agreement".

F. "Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate" (Hebrews 13:12).  Note that we are sanctified by his "blood".

"From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus" (Galatians 6:17).

A. One should repent and receive a new life in Jesus.  "Find Life, Purpose, and Joy"

B. One should gain a new identity in Christ.  "A New Creation Audio" & "Identity Issues".

C. One should be delivered from evil spirits and receive emotional healing.  "The Open Door" & "Healing For The Emotions".

D. One should see that Jesus was cut and that his blood was shed that one might be free from cutting.  (This article).

E. One should break all generational curses that have been passed down from his forefathers. "How To Destroy The Evil Tree".

D. One should discover purpose in the Christian life, even one worth dying for.  "Through Much Tribulation"

E. One should be available to minister to others who are caught in cutting or marking.   "Bearing Fruit".