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ELILIM
Have you you ever wondered why the Bible speaks about idols ?
It seems pretty clear that in the past Ages of Old there was a phenomenon that had to do with man making images and dedicating locations and even people as institutions of worship.
The general idea there was the concept that these images are FOR (or: unto) their adorers: They are intended to curb fears and to secure support in the invisible world so that the worshipper gets lucky.
The crafter of such images typically makes one AFTER an object of easy and convincing nature, found in creation (likeness).
He crafts it FOR the ‘self’ of the respective worshiper based on any type of specifications set by man. It is usually maid out of special materials found in creation and is paid for with items accepted by a society of humans as currency.
In all archaeological research worldwide this phenomenon has been found and proven:
Man seems to have a soul that longs for peace within and for ‘luck’.
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In the first and second commandments the L-rd forbids any and all acts of such fraudulent institutionalization of objects of reverence. In His word, He mentions idols and calls them ‘Elilim’. That translates: NOTHINGS.
It is very serious when people waste their lives by following the lying concepts of nothings, reaping sickness, wars, abuse, loss of real life, and increasing their distance from the loving and holy L-rd.
Now, you may ask: where are the idols of today ?
Has man actually evolved past the ‘stages of need’ for idols ?
You guessed right: not really.
There are of course cultures today where idols are made the same way as before.
But there also are more abstract ways to fabricate idols these days: what about a Buddha-statue or a Statue of a man on the cross ? What about jewelry of that type ?
OK. You say: That’s just a piece of art and nobody prays to my necklace.
Correct. No problem there, since there is no function assigned to a necklace than the thankful joy of beauty, pointing to the Lord.
But just as one would not want to wear a beer-T shirt when visiting someone with an alcohol problem, you would not want to wear a man on a cross or a Buddha statue in the presence of people who actually believe that ‘things’ can have power ‘for them’ and deserve any kind of elevation.
Again: G-d calls these human concepts ELILIM or: “NOTHINGS”.
Now you say: but what about all the various ways in which man has declared that they have “replaced” G-d by something new and “better” such as: self, extreme socialism (Communist, National-Socialist), money, power, fixations (social status, academic over-zeal, carrer-mongering, beauty, cars, sports etc.) ?
One could point out that there is a great difference within each of these examples: People who favor certain kinds of socialist approaches might base their views on the Bible and NOT on Marx, Engels, Trotzki or Stalin, or Hitler’s National Socialism. They will condemn any creation of Gulags for people who ‘hinder socialist progress’.
Not every soccer fan will start a mass fight when his team looses. And not every academic enthusiast is a worshiper of his or her ‘self’.
The bottom line here: All these things are slightly more abstract than the plain old figurines of the ancient past. They are mind-based figurines that are built according to more complex standards: Today’s idols are easily established and worshipped mostly in the mind and heart.
We see: today it is very easy to elevate some idol and/or bunches of idols on one’s personal place of worship and dedication.
Today’s idols can easily become very powerful through social mass phenomena.
Evolution is another example: No one can prove its truth AT ALL. However, it is often forced to be taught in school. In many areas of the Western World, the idol of “evolution” is ordered by governments to be believed by everyone who is in academia or school, “or else”.
Still: False Religion has consequences.
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Let’s take a look at a very serious and exceedingly sad example of consequences, shall we?
Consider this: Have you ever heard about Haman’s great-greatx-cousin Adolf Hitler and his one time buddy Stalin ? Bet you did.
Hitler’s ideology is called National Socialism (short Naziism): G-d is replaced by the NS party. People who voluntarily followed Naziism are called Nazis. The idol of Naziism was built on three pillars, or sub-idols:
1. Hitler’s personal theories, 2. Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophy of ‘superiority’, and 3. Darwin’s theories of the ‘survival of the fittest’.
Result: 60 Million fallen Russian soldiers, 7 Million fallen Axis Soldiers and about a Million fallen Western allied soldiers; Also 32 Million Russian Farmers murdered by Stalin, over 6 Million Yehudim murdered by the Nazis and many more losses, just within a period of 13 years, 1932 to 1945, in Europe alone !
Imagine all the dreams lost, the music never heard, the inventions never made ?
You see: this is VERY SERIOUS.
FALSE RELIGION HAS CONSEQUENCES.
This is one of the reasons why the L-rd set these two commandments on top.
Now: how do we handle this truth in everyday life and praxis ?
How can we live G-d’s love here and help to prevent people from committing to idols ?
There are two ways:
1. By loving HaShem and our fellow man and
2. By discerning and sharing G-d’s truth.
Rav Yeshua said: Love HaShem and love your neighbor as you yourself:
Mat 22:36 Rabbi, which is the great commandment in the law?
Mat 22:37 Yeshua said unto him, Thou shalt love the L-rd thy G-d with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mat 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Love never fails (1 Cor. 13:8).
Also, HaShem guides us towards discernment.
There is a story in our tradition that deals with the ‘Bel of Babel’.
Bel was a very highly regarded and sophisticated idol in ancient Babel that in the end actually gets busted into pieces by a simple tar-ball from the hand of a steadfast, loving and nifty Jew, that made it blow up by itself !
Figuratively speaking: What harmful idol can we get to bust today ?
Let’s pick up a new hobby: busting idols.
You ask: but how do we identify an idol ?
It’s so simple: an idol is everything or anyone who/which is set to replace or to cut back G-d.
Ask the question: is this thing/person/idea set to replace or cut back on HaShem ?
Then listen to Ruach Hakodesh. He will show you the details and a way to act in love.
You will grow in the gift of discernment.
Instead of putting up busts of ‘nothings’ that will mock G-d and harm people, let us bust some of the many vicious idols of our time !
Imagine how many bonds will break and how much evil is prevented when we begin to question false authority including our own little ‘pet-idols’ on a daily basis ?
Let us rejoice over all true love and all the good that will come out of it !
How wonderful: we are free, have found and can look to our heavenly father who loves us !
Yes! Let us celebrate for:
ADONAI EHLOHENU V’ADONAI ECHAD.
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Exo 20:1 And G-d spake all these words, saying,
Exo 20:2 I am the L-rd thy G-d, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Exo 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Exo 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
Exo 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the L-rd thy G-d am a jealous G-d, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
Exo 20:6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Exo 20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the L-rd thy G-d in vain; for the L-rd will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
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