The Serpent of the Dust: Unmasking the Earth Goddess as a Demonic Deceiver and the Judgment of God

The Serpent of the Dust: Unmasking the Earth Goddess as a Demonic Deceiver and the Judgment of God

by Da Effiong Daniel

African Holy Land

22nd November 2025

Introduction

Across cultures and millennia, humanity has revered the earth as a nurturing mother, a life-giving force deserving of worship and sacrifice. From the ancient goddesses of fertile soil to the modern, secular celebrations of "Mother Earth," this archetype persists as a seemingly universal constant. Yet, what if this revered figure is not a benevolent guardian but a primordial deceiver? What if the worship offered at her altar is not an act of harmony but a rebellion that invites divine judgment? This work argues that through the lens of Biblical prophecy in Deuteronomy 32, the manifestation of traditional rituals like the Ikpaisong appeasement, and the confirmation of modern spiritual visions, it is evident that the entity known as the 'serpent of the dust' is a demonic power globally worshipped as an earth goddess, whose demands for blood represent God's righteous punishment for idolatry. This thesis will unmask the serene face of the earth mother to reveal the consuming visage of the ancient serpent, tracing its deceptive presence from the pages of Scripture to contemporary visions, and declaring that true peace is found not in appeasement, but in the refutation of this ancient lie.

I. The Divine Decree: Serpents of the Dust as Covenant Judgment

The foundation of this understanding is laid not in obscure legend, but in the profound and sobering prophecy of Deuteronomy 32. Known as the Song of Moses, this text is a divine indictment against Israel for forsaking their covenant with God. Within its curses for idolatry lies a critical, often overlooked key:

"For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains. I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them. They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust." (Deuteronomy 32:22-24, KJV)

The phrase "the poison of serpents of the dust" is far more than a poetic metaphor for general suffering. It is a specific and terrifying judgment, directly linked to the original serpent in the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 3:14, God pronounces the serpent's curse: "Because thou hast done this... upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life." The serpent's domain and its initial "sustenance" were the dust—a symbol of its humiliation and defeat.

However, the Deuteronomy prophecy reveals a chilling escalation. The serpent is no longer merely eating the dust; it is now poisoning from the dust. This shift signifies a change in its divinely mandated role. The argument is that as humanity plunged deeper into idolatry—specifically the worship of the dead and the deification of the creation (the earth) itself—God transformed the serpent's curse into an active instrument of punishment. Its diet was changed from the impersonal dust of the ground to the very lives of those who worship it. The being once condemned to crawl in humiliation was now empowered to "devour," its venom becoming the physical and spiritual consequence of turning from the Creator to the creation.

This Biblical framework establishes a critical principle: the worship of the earth is not a neutral, alternative spirituality. It is covenant-breaking idolatry, and its ultimate consequence is to be consumed by the very entity one seeks to appease. The "serpents of the dust" are not mere animals; they are the spiritual agents of a righteous God's judgment, unleashed upon a world that has exchanged His truth for a lethal deception—a truth vividly alive in the cultural rituals of the modern world, as the case of the Ikpaisong earth goddess will demonstrate.

II. The Ancient Mask: Ikpaisong and the Ritual of Blood Appeasement

This divine judgment finds vivid and tangible expression in the living traditions of many cultures. A powerful case study is the worship of Ikpaisong, the earth goddess of the Efik, Annang, and Ibibio people. Here, the abstract concept of "earth worship" crystallizes into a precise ritual of fear and propitiation, perfectly mirroring the dynamic described in Deuteronomy.

The rituals performed, particularly on days like the Edet market day, are not festive celebrations of a benevolent mother. They are acts of appeasement. The earth (Ikpaisong) is understood as a sacred entity that has been defiled by human transgression, most seriously by the shedding of blood. To cleanse the land, restore communal peace, and avert calamity, the people must offer a sacrifice to placate the goddess. This often involves the blood of animals, a symbolic payment for the sin committed.

Yet, this cultural tradition exposes the very heart of the problem. The vision of the night provides the terrifying spiritual reality behind the physical ritual. The scene in the village hall, with thousands of demonic entities and their king—a figure mirroring the human priest of Ikpaisong—demanding blood, is the true face of this appeasement. The traditional ritual, with its offering of goats, is the human attempt to meet this demand. But as the vision starkly reveals, it is never enough. The demons are not satisfied with the blood of goats; their demand is insatiable because their true objective is not justice but consumption. The traditional practice, therefore, becomes a vicious cycle: the more one appeases, the more the entity demands, leading not to peace but to deeper spiritual bondage and the constant threat of "trouble in the land."

This cultural manifestation proves that the "serpent of the dust" is not a passive symbol but an active, spiritual personality that has masked itself as a local deity. It accepts worship, demands blood, and holds communities in thrall, precisely fulfilling its role as the instrument of God's judgment upon idolatry. The people seek to placate the earth, unaware that they are feeding the very serpent that has been sent to devour them.

III. The Unmasking: Visions of Deception and Demand

If the Biblical text provides the framework and cultural rituals the historical manifestation, then modern spiritual revelations tear away the final veil, exposing the raw, personal, and insatiable nature of this deceiving spirit. The visionary experiences presented do not merely corroborate the thesis; they animate it with terrifying clarity, moving from abstract theory to lived, spiritual warfare.

The first vision—of the demonic horde in the village hall demanding blood from their king—is a divine exposé of the true mechanics behind rituals like the one for Ikpaisong. The king, who can be understood as a human priest or spiritual proxy of the earth deity, is powerless to satisfy the entities he serves. His offering of goats, mirroring the traditional animal sacrifices, is met with escalating "troubles," revealing a fundamental truth: the blood of animals can never truly atone for sin or placate a demonic appetite. This aligns perfectly with the Biblical principle that "it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins" (Hebrews 10:4). The vision reveals that appeasement is a demonic trap, an endless cycle of fear and extortion. The ultimate resolution—fire from heaven that devours the demons and brings peace—powerfully declares that liberation does not come through negotiation with the deceiver, but only through the decisive judgment of the one true God. This heavenly fire is the antithesis of the demanded blood; it is God's purifying power, which annihilates the oppressor and restores true shalom.

Even more chilling is the second testimony: the woman's encounter with the crawling serpent bearing a human face. This experience moves the conflict from the communal realm to the most intimate and personal space. The serpent's actions are a grotesque parody of divine intimacy and wisdom. Its seduction, the offering of a strange substance to drink, and the anointing are a direct mimicry of spiritual communion, twisted into a defiling ritual. The entity's boast—"this was the way he did with Eve in the garden of Eden"—is a critical piece of its self-revelation. It explicitly identifies itself as the same spirit of deception that operated in Eden, confirming that the worship of the earth (the very ground it was cursed to crawl upon) is the ultimate extension of that original lie: "you will be like God" (Genesis 3:5). By offering the woman a counterfeit wisdom and power, it repeats the same tactic used on Eve, demonstrating that its nature and methods have not changed. This personal encounter reveals that the global earth goddess is, in truth, a personal seducer, seeking not only communal worship but also individual spiritual adultery.

IV. The Global Deception: From Village Ritual to International Holiday

The implications of this unmasking extend far beyond a single ethnic group or traditional practice. The spirit of the "serpent of the dust" is a master of deception, and its most successful strategy has been to repackage its demands in a modern, palatable, and even laudable form. If it demands appeasement in the village square through blood, it demands worship in the global sphere through endorsement and celebration.

The establishment of Earth Day and the co-opting of the conceptual space around International Mother's Day are prime examples of this global deception. While environmental stewardship and honoring mothers are, in themselves, noble concepts, the spiritual framework they are increasingly placed within is that of revering "Mother Earth." This is not a neutral, scientific stance but a deeply spiritual one that deifies the creation, often conflating the honor due to human mothers with a quasi-religious duty to a sentient planet. This conflation is seen when maternal nurturing is explicitly tied to the planet's well-being, framing human activity as a violation requiring penitence to a sentient 'Mother Earth.' The vision explains that this is not an innocent evolution of human thought; it is the same spirit of Ikpaisong, having scaled its operations to a planetary level. The call to "heal the planet" through ritualistic gestures and global acts of homage is the modern, sanitized equivalent of the appeasement ritual—an attempt to placate a perceived conscious entity that governs the natural world.

This global phenomenon confirms the insatiable nature of the deceiver. Just as the village demons were not satisfied with goats, the modern demands for ecological penance and total societal fealty to a "green" orthodoxy are never-ending. The problem is framed as human violation of the earth, requiring constant atonement and the surrender of human sovereignty and prosperity. This is the very same cycle of fear and appeasement, now dressed in the language of science and progressivism. It is the globalized worship of the serpent of the dust, and according to the Deuteronomic framework, it invites the same judgment: being consumed by the very entity we are commanded to serve.

V. The Divine Antidote: From the Pole to the Cross

The preceding argument presents a sobering reality: humanity is trapped in a cycle of idolatry and judgment, pursued by a "serpent of the dust" empowered to devour. A critical question then arises: what is God's solution? The pattern of His deliverance is revealed not in the removal of the instrument of judgment, but in the provision of a divine antidote. This is perfectly foreshadowed in the event of the bronze serpent in the wilderness.

As recorded in Numbers 21, God sent "fiery serpents" among the Israelites as a punishment for their rebellion and ingratitude. When the people repented, God did not remove the serpents. Instead, He commanded Moses: "Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live" (Numbers 21:8). The judgment (the biting serpents) remained active, but God provided a way of salvation. The serpent lifted high on the pole was a representation of the very judgment they were facing; by looking upon it in faith and obedience, they were healed and lived.

This ancient event was a profound prototype of the Gospel. As Jesus Himself declared, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:14-15). The cross has now taken the place of the pole. Jesus Christ, in His crucifixion, became the ultimate sin-bearer. On the cross, He absorbed the full "venom" of God's judgment against sin and idolatry—the very judgment executed by the "serpent of the dust." He did not remove the reality of the spiritual battle or the consequences of sin, but He provided the only means of salvation from it.

Therefore, the call to "refute the ancient lie" is a call to look away from every form of appeasement—be it to Ikpaisong, Mother Earth, or any other created thing—and to look solely unto Jesus Christ. Liberation from the consuming cycle of fear and demonic demand is found only by looking in faith to the cross. Jesus Christ is the only way. He is the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2), the one who both initiates and completes our salvation. Just as the Israelites had to look at the bronze serpent to be saved from the physical venom, so must humanity look to the crucified and risen Christ to be saved from the spiritual venom of the deceiver and the judgment of God.

Conclusion

The journey from the curses of Deuteronomy to the blood-demanding rituals of Ikpaisong, and finally to the searing clarity of modern visions, paints a consistent and urgent picture. The serene face of the earth goddess is a mask, an ancient lie crafted by the serpent of the dust to divert worship from the Creator to the creation. This deception is not a benign cultural difference but active, consuming idolatry that places its practitioners in the path of God's righteous judgment, transforming the object of their worship into the instrument of their devouring.

The visions provide the final, unequivocal proof: this entity is demonic, insatiable, and personally seductive, repeating its Edenic deception on a global scale. The fire from heaven in the first vision points toward God's ultimate judgment, but the cross reveals His profound mercy. The cycle of appeasement is broken not by feeding the serpent, but by looking to the one who was lifted up, as the serpent was in the wilderness. Jesus Christ is the only way. Freedom is found in refuting the lie, accepting God's judgment on the cross, and fixing our eyes upon Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. The call, therefore, is to turn from the global worship of the earth—this dangerous and ancient sin—and to the worship of the one true God, who alone, through the sacrifice of His Son, brings the fire that purifies and the peace that endures.

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Bibliography

PRIMARY RESEARCH AND RELATED WORKS BY THE AUTHOR:

· Daniel, Da Effiong. (2024). Ikpaisong the Dead God. [Publisher/African Holy Land Publications].

· Daniel, Da Effiong. (2023). Unmasking the Profane Church Ministers in Africa. [Publisher/African Holy Land Publications].

REFERENCES:

· The Holy Bible, King James Version. (1611).

· Abasiekong, M. M. (Year). Ibibio Traditional Religion and Culture. [Publisher].

· Idiong, H. C. (Year). The Efik and Ibibio Peoples: History and Cultural Life. [Publisher].

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This work is protected under international copyright laws. All rights reserved by Da Effiong Daniel, 2025. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without prior written permission from the author.