All Episodes
Previous Next
Sept. 2, 2024 - Health Ranger - Mike Adams
23:19
Mike Adams Sermon #036 - John 12 - Spikenard as God's calming, neuro-modulating anointing oil
| Copy link to current segment

Time Text
Welcome to today's sermon.
I'm Mike Adams, and today we're covering spikenard, which is an anointing oil, and it was used—well, it's mentioned in several places in the Bible.
We'll go to some of the Scripture.
But this is a very expensive oil in ancient times, and it has some very specific medicinal properties.
And it's also mentioned in Song of Solomon, which means that it's mentioned in the Bible rap song that I've just completed.
It's called Song of Solomon, and it just turns out that this rap song is done.
So I'd like to play that for you here.
It's a little under two minutes.
I just want to say up front that it's largely based on Song of Solomon.
You'll hear Spikenard mentioned several times in the first couple of verses.
And I just want to say, the video that you're watching...
Of the song, it's meant to be funny, like entertaining, but educational at the same time.
And it's not historically accurate.
And every video that you're about to see, every snippet, is AI generated.
And that's why sometimes they're so funny and bizarre.
But here's the Bible rap song, Song of Solomon, and listen for mentions of Spikenard.
And then we'll come back after that for the full discussion on Spikenard.
Enjoy. Enjoy.
Enjoy. Enjoy. Enjoy. Enjoy. Enjoy. Enjoy. Enjoy. Enjoy. Enjoy. Enjoy. Enjoy.
Enjoy. Enjoy. Enjoy. Enjoy. Enjoy. Enjoy. Enjoy. Enjoy. Enjoy. Enjoy. Enjoy.
Enjoy. Enjoy. Enjoy.
Bathing grape juice, vineyard showers.
If a king had given all the wealth of his house to his spouse, the fires could never be doubted.
Awake, O northwest, or come, O south.
How much better than wine is your love?
I have taken off my robe.
I have washed my feet.
Opened for my sister, my dove.
There are 60 queens and 80 concubines.
But my dove is awesome as an army with banners.
Your hair is like a flock of ghosts.
Your neck like a tower.
And for me, that's all that matters.
All right, hope you enjoyed that music video there.
I really enjoyed writing that song and performing it.
Lots of fun. We've got more coming.
The next major song I'll be releasing is called God Is With Us, and it's not a comedy song.
It's not a lighthearted song.
It's a very serious song about what's going on.
You may have noticed in that video, if you go to our new website, abundance.church, Just type that into your browser at the top.
It's.church instead of.com.
Just go to abundance.church and you'll see the Church of Natural Abundance.
And there you can join the email list to be alerted when we have more songs and upon the launch of the church.
And yeah, you just have to stay tuned for more details about that event.
Bottom line, there's some exciting things coming.
These are exciting times for the remnant, those of us who are people of faith, who want to restore our constitutional republic and the United States of America as a nation created based on the foundation of Christian teachings.
But let's get right to Spikenard itself.
Now, it's mentioned in several places, obviously in Song of Solomon, as you just heard there.
The verse that's relevant, let me bring it up, Song of Solomon, chapter 4, verses 13 through 15 here.
Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates with pleasant fruits, fragrant henna with spikenard.
Spikenard is saffron, calamus, and cinnamon with all the trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes with all the chief spices.
A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters and streams from Lebanon.
So when this was written, of course, Lebanon was a very luxurious place, which represented sort of much of the modern world, the modern city, the modern—well, and commerce and trade, so they had access to more spices and herbs.
And later on, in Song of Solomon, it makes reference to that your clothes smell of Lebanon, and that was a compliment.
It was like, wow, Lebanon has all these fragrances and oils and spices.
And Lebanon was, you know, the nation that was kind of the commerce central hub of its day.
I don't know which cities or towns in Lebanon would have been considered...
Those hubs in those days, perhaps other historians know better, but at least the nation of Lebanon is cited many times.
Now, these other spices, some of them we've covered here, cinnamon, for example.
Frankincense is one we'll be covering soon, and then myrrh is, of course, perhaps the most prominently mentioned herb.
Well, actually, it's a resin. It's mentioned in the Bible.
And note that in ancient Egypt, they used myrrh and aloes as embalming substances to help preserve the bodies of the dead.
And that's why these were gathered to help preserve the body of Christ after he was crucified.
And we'll cover that in an upcoming sermon as well.
But spiked nard was used also as an anointing oil.
Now, it has very important medicinal properties.
We'll get to those again in a second here.
But let me read for you Mark chapter 14, verses 2 through 4.
But they said, not during the feast, lest there be an uproar of the people.
Of course, this is talking about I think?
As he sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask, a very costly oil of spikenard.
So this was known as an extremely luxurious oil to only be used in very special occasions and usually in very tiny amounts.
Continuing, then she broke the flask and poured it on his head.
This is the head of Jesus of Nazareth.
Poured the whole flask on his head.
But there were some who were indignant among themselves and said, Why was this fragrant oil wasted?
For it might have been sold for more than 300 denarii and given to the poor.
And they criticized her sharply.
But Jesus said, this is verse 6, Let her alone.
Why do you trouble her?
She has done a good work for me.
For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish, you may do them good, but me you do not have always.
She has done what she could.
She has come beforehand to anoint my body for burial.
Because, of course, he knew what was coming next.
Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.
And indeed, it has been.
It's in the Bible. So her expending this oil and pouring it on Jesus' head literally did get into the Bible, and this is a demonstration of the value, that some people recognize the value that Christ brought into this world, the value of his teachings, the value of his philosophy, the value of his living God love expressed through him.
These special oils, in the minds of many of Christ's followers, it was a small price to pay, a small gesture to offer this expensive oil in exchange for what Christ had brought into this world.
And then also the same scene is described in John.
John chapter 12 begins, And by the way, we'll do a whole sermon on resurrection.
There they made him a supper and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him.
Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.
So here we have the oil on his feet, whereas in what we just read from Mark, it was the oil on his head.
But they're both referring to the same event, so maybe the oil was put on both his feet and his head.
Verse 4, but one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son who would betray him, said, why was this fragrant oil not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor?
This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the money box and he used to take what was put in.
He's like, donate it to the poor and By putting it into my money box so I can take out the money.
And then verse 7, So that's just a second telling of the same scene.
But this oil, spikenard oil, is eternally famous for being the oil that anointed Christ in his last days before he was crucified.
So let's get into what spiked nard oil, what its constituents are, and what is known for in terms of its therapeutics.
So if we go to the Herbs of the Bible book by James A. Duke...
Which I find to be very handy for lots of things here.
It talks about the possible benefits of this herb, but also mentions that the herb is known to be toxic at certain quantities.
So just be cautious with this.
But the possible benefits are treating cramps, epilepsy, headaches, heart disease, insomnia, irregular heartbeat, leprosy, and also painful menstruation.
Now, you notice in the scripture we just read that this one pound of spikenard oil was worth 300 denarii.
Now, you might wonder, well, how much is 300 denarii?
Well, that is 300 days' wages for a typical worker, a laborer.
So, in other words, you got paid one denarii a day.
And this woman spent 300 days' wages on the oil for So, yeah, that's a pretty big deal.
You know, you spend most of a year's wages on oil, then...
Just for one person, you must think that person is pretty special.
And of course, it was Christ, so it is justified, but it astonished all the other people.
Spike nard, also known as just nard, is an aromatic plant from which is extracted a highly prized essential oil or perfume.
Spikenard was imported from the mountains of India, where its rhizomes were used as a drug and also in perfumery.
The entire plant may be used for its aromatic oils as cosmetics and perfume.
Medicinally, it is described as a stimulant.
Now, in this book, it describes Spikenard as having a fragrance that is a little bit similar to citronella.
It's very pungent.
Now the book says, the spiked art rhizome contains the compound Jatamansi.
It is reported to promote the growth of hair and to blacken hair color.
The root extracts show sedative properties.
And by the way, this is why it's used, some of the compounds are used to treat seizures and convulsions and things like that.
Infusion made from spikenard rhizomes is reported to be useful in treating epilepsy, hysteria, heart palpitations, and chorea.
The nard tincture is given for intestinal colic and flatulence.
Spikenard oil possesses an antiarrhythmic activity, possibly therapeutic in treating auricular flutter.
So, you know, relaxing the function of the heart muscles.
There's a drug called jatamansone, which is derived from jatamansi, from spikedard.
And this drug, jatamansone, possesses sedative and anticonvulsant action as well.
And the spikedard oil exerts a hypotensive effect.
So it reduces hypertension.
In moderate doses, it has a distinct depressant action on the central nervous system.
It relaxes the skeletal and soft tissue muscles.
Lethal doses cause deep narcosis and death within a few hours.
So don't drink this.
don't take lethal doses.
As far as folklore, in Iran, spikenard root tea was used for cardiac and nervous disorders.
And in Ayurvedic medicine, the spikenard roots have been used to treat bad complexion, blood disorders, fever, leprosy, skin ailments, throat disorders, and ulcers.
Now, what's interesting about this is if you go to the National Library of Medicine and you start to look up Jatamansi, J-A-T-A-M-A-N-S-I, which is derived from spikenard, then you get studies like this.
Here's a study published in 2013.
Evidence-based complementary alternative medicine called an important Indian traditional drug of Ayurveda, Jatamanzi, and its substitute, Bhutkeshi, chemical profiling and antioxidant activity.
And it says just in the abstract, it says that these herbs are used in various traditional herbal formulations and nutraceuticals as well as to treat neurological disorders like epilepsy, hysteria, convulsions, and mental weakness. convulsions, and mental weakness.
They resemble each other in their external morphological characters and characteristic odor, so their roots are often confused with each other.
Now, some other interesting facts about spikenard is that originally it came from the Himalayan mountains.
Right.
From the Himalayas, it went to India, and then from India, it was imported into the ancient Middle East area.
And that's why it was so expensive, because it was, of course, brought along the spice trade.
And now I'm reading from a book, Plants of the Bible, by Michael Zohari.
Spiked art is a perennial herb of the valerian family.
Sometimes it's included in the genus valeriana.
So that's interesting to me because valerian root or valerian herb extract is the basis of the name of the drug Valium, which is a nervous system depressant.
And if you go out and try to buy prescription Valium, then I believe, I need to confirm this, but I believe the chemical is called diazepam, and it is a nervous system depressant.
So just checking this online says that Valium is known as diazepam, and in prescription form, it's often benzodiazepine, And that oral benzodiazepines are commonly prescribed depressant medications for anxiety relief, and of course it has an effect that's anti-seizure and calming the nervous system.
Valerian root is, of course, an herbal supplement, and it's known to exhibit similar treatments as Valium.
So then, knowing that spikenard is in the same family as valerian, it may explain why spikenard was used medicinally in the Bible.
It also is known to affect GABA amino acids in your brain.
And it has an anti-anxiety or anti-stress effect.
So you can imagine that spikenard as an anointing oil might make somebody feel more calm, more balanced in the world, more present, less anxious, like everything's okay, and even perhaps embraced in the protective molecules of God and God's medicine.
And so it all kind of makes sense.
Now I have another book called Essential Oils of the Bible.
It mentions that the medicinal properties of spikenard are antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory.
It also works as a deodorant, a laxative, and a sedative.
And that it blends really well with frankincense, lavender, myrrh, orange, rose, and vetiver.
And let's see, anxiety, athlete's foot, body odor, fungal infections, inflammation, mood elevation, helps with nervous disorders, relaxation, skin care, urinary tract infections, and wound care.
Yeah, it sounds like a bad weekend at the survival camp right there.
Better bring some spikenard with you if you're dealing with all that stuff.
Now, by the way, just as a consumer safety note in terms of acquiring such oils, you know, I've been in the food and supplements industry for many years, and I can tell you there are many counterfeit products, many, many counterfeit products.
And especially when it comes to essential oils, many of the oils are not the right plant species.
Many of them are diluted with carrier oils, like cheaper oils.
Do your homework on these if you're going to go out and try to acquire these oils.
Don't typically buy the cheapest oil.
Make sure you're getting high-integrity products that are confirmed with proper identity testing and laboratory testing.
Just You know, consumer beware on these.
You want the real thing and not cheap imitations.
And if a price out there is too good to be true, it's probably fake.
Honestly, it's probably fake.
Just be wary of that.
Okay, so that's the story on Spikenard, folks.
And we have much more to come.
I hope that I can go into more detail about the research on spikenard and other herbs or oils from the Bible because, look, bottom line, God put amazing healing molecules on this earth to help keep us healthy, to help us prevent degenerative disease.
God did this for us.
He put the medicine right there.
But mankind today is so foolish that so many people turn against God's medicine and they think that man's synthetic medicine is the answer.
And although there may be emergency justified uses for things, obviously, like You know, emergency antibiotics for infections or emergency painkillers for people who are injured or wounded on the battlefield even.
And lots of uses for anesthetic drugs in emergency rooms and what have you.
There is a role for Western medicine.
But to stay healthy over time, you need to turn to God's medicine, Mother Nature's medicine.
And it's just astonishing to me.
As I teach each one of these sermons, To realize, just to be reminded of the breadth of God's medicine that most of us overlook every single day.
We don't think that there's a pharmacy in the forest behind us, but there is.
We don't recognize a pharmacy in the garden, but it's there.
We don't see a pharmacy at the grocery store in the fresh produce aisle.
We think the pharmacy is in the back of the store selling drugs with prescriptions.
The real pharmacy is in the food.
And the herbs and the oils, those are the medicines that God meant for us to take to consume on a regular basis in common sense amounts, but your food should be your medicine as a first principle.
And then if you have an acute issue to deal with, then yes, you can use powerful medicinal herbs and To treat that condition might be an infection, might be hypertension, might be a blood sugar disorder, might be cancer. There are all kinds of solutions from God's world of natural medicine and healing molecules that can address those issues for humanity.
So take advantage of that, and thank you for listening to my sermon today.
Lots more coming. You can check it all out at abundance.church.
God bless you all. I'm Mike Adams.
▲
Export Selection