It is becoming better known that the Biblical scripture called the Book of Revelation, or The Apocalypse contains dire warnings about what in its early language, Koine Greek, it calls PHARMAKOI, in uppercase Greek chatacters, ΦΆΡΜΑΚΟΙ. The similarity to pharmacist is obvious. Clearly the connection is there. Ask online translation tools to translate it to English and you sometimes get ‘medic’. Now the warnings in the scripture book are so dire it warrants some investigation into what it originally meant to the author, to Jesus, to God. The warning is of being thrown into the lake of fire on judgment day. (Chapter 20 verse 8, repeated in 22 verse 15.) What kind of person, then, is actually indicated by this warning? A pharmacist? A medic? A druggist? Or like translations into English traditionally say, a sorcerer or a practitioner of magic arts? There are two explanations prevalent. First kinds of explanations say that the Greek translators of Hebrew scriptures in the centuries before Christ tried to translate the words used in Hebrew law scriptures for witches, diviners, discerners of omens, supernatural shamanic gifted workers (root workers in some cultures), magical or miracle healers, witch doctors, clairvoyants, spell casters, invokers of spirits, masters of the occult and esoteric wisdom, those seeking wisdom of the spirit world, these kinds of workers, the translators decided to use the Greek word PHARMAKOI, ΦΆΡΜΑΚΟΙ, as closest in meaning even though this Greek word focussed as much (or more) on drug and poison administration as it did on dealings with the supernatural and spirits. This explanation then assumes that the readers of Hebrew origin scriptures translated into Greek (The Septuagint) were familiar with this word ΦΆΡΜΑΚΟΙ and associated it with its use for condemnation of the supernatural kinds of workers found in the law and prophets (the Old Testament). So the writer of Revelation, or the inspirer the Holy Spirit conveying words of God, selected this word, despite its usage by secular Greeks for druggers and poisoners. This, if true, might mean it does not necessarily point at pharmacists, Big Pharma, pharmacology scientists, medical scientists, medics and drug dealers. That is not to say the law discounted the use of drugs for supernatural shamanic purposes. Oracles were sought through drug use from ancient times by shamans, priests, witches, miracle healers and the like. But the idea is that this is not the primary meaning. The second explanation is not so convenient for modern legal medical professionals and illegitimate drug dealers. This looks instead at more modern history, long after the scriptures were written. The word ΦΆΡΜΑΚΟΙ always did mean both drug workers and supernatural workers, but in the fifteen hundreds the Church was outlawing the supernatural side of such practices but being lenient towards the research into drugs and administration of drugs developed as long as spirits were not invoked to discover them but as long as they were found by experimentation. This spawned modern sciences and modern medicine. Formerly condemned sorcerers, alchemists, medics, were given a chance to survive and avoid condemnation by joining the search for natural magic knowledge by experimentation in the Enlightenment. That did not mean they did not still practice magic. But they could only openly publish findings found by experimentation, by empiricism. So Revelation’s ΦΆΡΜΑΚΟΙ still applied, but this was hushed up. Maybe there is a mixture of both of these explanations which has led to where we are today. Every reason to be very careful when it comes to trust, with medicine, drugs, public sector organisations pushing these drugs and medicines, and media trying to assure us to behave as if these medical ‘miracles’ are trustworthy.
