No Other Gods

"Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." -- The Bible, Exodus 20:3

“And what agreement hath the Temple of God with idols? For ye are the Temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” -- The Bible, 2 Corinthians 6:16

"My House shall be called of all nations a House of Prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves." -- The Bible, Mark 11:17

"All idols of this world were made to keep the Truth within from being known to you, and to maintain allegiance to the dream that you must find what is outside yourself to be complete and happy. It is vain to worship idols in the hope of peace. God dwells within, and your completion lies in Him. No idol takes His place. Look not to idols. Do not seek outside yourself." -- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 29, Section VI, 6:1-4

First, one more reminder: The weekly ACIM conference call every Saturday morning begins at 9 a.m. central time. All are welcome. The call-in number is 605-475-4333, and the access Code is 101546.

It's sometimes hard to see, let alone agree, that every belief in a power or motivation outside of oneself is an idol, a god whose graven image we worship; and this includes the people and things we think are good and those we think are evil, and everything in-between. They are idols, false gods, because we have invested what has no reality or life, our own dream, with the power to control or motivate the Son of God. This can never be. We have given it all the meaning it appears to have, and it is all made up. That's why, as ACIM reminds us, "You will weep each time an idol falls."

ACIM also asks us, "What is an idol? Do you think you know? For idols are unrecognized as such, and never seen for what they really are. That is the only power they have." And what does the Temple of God, your BEING, have to do with idols? Nothing. Whether it's the belief that a particular person is good for you or bad for you or meant for you or wrong for you; or that money can buy peace of mind or cause you suffering or bring you anything at all; or that drugs can kill or hurt or cure or heal; or that a certain way of eating and exercise can create life and health... every false idea is an idol, a god that you live with daily and invest with great meaning and importance... and it's all made up. It's your belief in the BEING of a person or thing or activity, and not the person or thing itself, that seems to hurt or help. In Truth, it does nothing... except delay your return to your Father's House.

You are the Temple of God, the House of God. Not your body, which is just another idol... your BEING. And we have made of God's House a den of thieves by welcoming false ideas and encouraging them to set up booths for exchange of other false ideas throughout the Temple. When Jeshua ben Joseph threw the money-changers out of the Temple, he was throwing out false ideas of BEING. The thieves and money-changers are our own false beliefs, the idols and false gods that populate what A Course in Miracles calls "the great projection." The world that we see and invest with such power and importance is nothing but projection, and is all smoke and mirrors.

Of course, every Biblical and scriptural passage, without exception, is talking about ways of BEING. And we have even made scripture an idol, when we make it something outside of us that is literal and necessary for our 'salvation.' We might as well cast it in gold and prostrate ourselves before it. THERE IS NOTHING OUTSIDE OF US, BECAUSE THERE IS NOTHING OUTSIDE OF GOD. And we are the Temple. We are IT.

We live and move and have our BEING in GOD. In the Oneness and Allness of Being, there is no outside. As I have said before, it's an inside job. :-))

"There can be no salvation in the dream as you are dreaming it." -- A Course in Miracles, Chapter 29, Section IX, 4:1