Get an Amulet , Change Your Life!

Yes, heaven help us when we have idol worshipers for leaders.

Governor Paterson of New York has taken to wearing a red 'kabbalah' string to turn his 'luck' around.
He joins a whole lot of political and Hollywood types who rely on astrology, amulets, fortunes, spells and other such foolishness rather than G-d.
There is an article in the Daily News about it HERE.

I am thinking of sending him a bag of Asafoetida to wear round his neck too.
Asafoetida is a stinking spice called 'devil's dung' originally from Persia that in cooking is known to reduce flatulence. Nice, don't you think?

In folk lore it repels vampires and werewolves, causes abortion in pregnant women and is an anti-epileptic,or so they say. People wear it in bags on strings around their neck. Preferably red strings since red is the ancient symbol of "chi" or essence of life or some such nonsense.


But if you are going to wear one stupid idol on your body why not go whole hog and wear many? After all if one of these pagan idolatrous things helps, won't a bunch of them help you even more? I am sure Patterson wants protection of werewolves and vampires. He seems the superstitious type.
I recommend he take a trip to the South Pacific too and get his entire body tattooed with magical symbols for further aid.
I have heard that jamming a rotten pineapple on your head is also lucky.
Luck comes from worship of the stars and the word luck itself comes from the Norse god Loki.
Painting your big toes bright apple green can ward off evil spirits too , maybe. You never know.
Some bury a saint statue upside down in the rear corner of a yard to sell a house quickly and hang rosary beads in trees to stop rain. Some toss salt over the shoulder and some say quick incantations against evil. Mumbo Jumbo!

tiki god on string

Worshippers of Moloch burnt children alive to gain good fortune and Hawaiians threw virgins into volcanos for the same reasons.
No matter, it all has the same root in evil , its all rotten and every bit of it is idolatrous in nature.

Throughout history people have tried to circumvent working on their character and morality and life skills by use of amulets, talismen, potions, incantations , chants, repetitious words and phrases , etc. to magically protect and aid them.
Rather than turning to their creator, they turn to his creation for help and use goofy but idolatrous symbols in place of morality. " This magical charm will protect me", they think. They have no confidence that G-d will, so they use charms.

Somehow the thinking goes that G-d can be forced to do their will through the use of objects. No matter how the person behaves or what he does in life, G-d is somehow compelled to help once he sees them wearing that ridiculous thing on their body or hears some ridiculous magic formula.
You need do nothing. Just have that magical junk in your possession and bingo, you are saved from disaster and you can go right on living your seedy, shameless life of sin. Ask the Hollywood types who wear such things.

If Gov. Pat erson needs help, there is prayer. There is such a thing as working on yourself to become better and to do as G-d says.That is your best hope for change. It's hard though and people don't like hard, they don't really like change either. So magical thinking fills in for that.


Amulets are a lot easier than reliance on G-d. You can go on as before without making any change in yourself and hope that your magical charm will somehow make you invincible or save you from evil powers lurking about. Perhaps your magic charm will make you a better person or bring you riches and rewards. Maybe it will make G-d like you.
Perhaps if you wish on a four leaf clover a leprechaun will come with a pot of gold .


The idea of magical talisman is very ancient. People have used a lucky rabbit's foot for years. They employ magical thinking like not walking under ladders and avoiding black cats, rubbing a Buddha's belly for luck, a red horn dangling from a rear view mirror or a keychain, it's all the same.

ankh

The talisman or amulet, a bracelet or necklace piece worn for protection takes its name from the Greeks.
The word is 'telesma' from the Greek root telein which means to initiate someone into the mysteries. The "mysteries" is the Babylonian Mystery Religion, which originally came from Egypt and continues in many major world religions to this very day. Many religions retain remnants of it's idolatrous ways.
In these mystery religions initiates went through elaborate and sometimes obscene ceremonies in order to learn the secrets of eternal life from their gods.
From the ancients came the use of talismen, amulets, holy waters and strings, bracelets,etc. and man kind is still using them.

Idol worship, reliance on idols is a very serious sin in Torah. Grievously serious. It is a capital offense. That does not stop people , however, because the world feels it can get around the law one way or another. Lending your own religious blessing to a thing does not make it holy.
Filth is filth no matter what kind of garb you put around it and saying you don't wear it as an idol does not make it okay either. Your words do not magically make sin disappear.

The red string of fate goes back to ancient China and Japan where it was used to alter fate and to bind together soul mates through the god Yue Xia Lao. Blessed by this 'god', the magical woolen red string could bend, stretch but never break because it had been wrapped round and round a holy object first.

Stupid? You bet. Evil, yes because it becomes an object of power and worshipful reliance, an idol.
One site that sells such objects says that these taliman 'channel' your faith.
Channel it where one wonders.

Amulets are idols and many cultures admit so outright. They began in the dim past as small carvings of your personal favorite god worn on a string around the neck.

eye of horus

Later when the idols proved problematic to fashion, comfort, whatever, the string was thought to be enough to fulfill the magical requirements for you to gain whatever you wished from your idol.
People love to pare things down and simplify, simplify. I bet if someone just pretends to be wearing the idol that might be enough too!
We humans can come up with all manner of excuses and human reasoning to make such things okay. We are masters of circular and nonsense thinking, but we do not seem to master obedience to our Creator all that well.
Governor Patterson, no means no. No idols means no idols no matter how you try to disguise them.
No one needs 'aids' to see or reach G-d. No amulets, bracelets, pictures, sayings, writings, charms, nothing is needed. Chanting magical formulas over and over will not make you holy , will not help you at all.


There is no such thing as "luck", Governor. Their is such a thing as reward and punishment from G-d however and that is very real.
If you would see good things in your life turn to G-d and him alone. Give him the honor and praise for whatever happens in your life. Do not rely on stars and charms to help you.
Whatever you rely on for help is your god!

And surely those idols are easier than trying this:
Who is it that G-d helps?
The person that :
" ... walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks truth in his heart; has no slander on his tongue, and does no evil to another, or slanders his neighbor; In whose eyes a vile person is despised, but he honors those that fear the LORD;he that swears to his own hurt, and does not change;who charges no interest and takes no bribes, the person who does these things shall never be moved."

See? Not one mention of slapping some kind of silly magical amulet on yourself.
All that is required is being good for G-d's sake.
Not simple but certainly worth the effort.