Boromir's Problem with an Ephod?

Whether you are a huge fan of LOTR (Lord of the Rings) or you have watched the series only once or twice; you will likely remember the character Boromir. Boromir is 1/9 members of a team that are on a quest to take the Ring of Sauron (The One Ring) and throw it into Mount Doom, the only place it can be destroyed.  This ring needs to be destroyed because of two reasons: it is the essence of Sauron/the big bad and would be used to bring him back and who ever has the ring or tries to use it gets corrupted, eventually becoming the big bad on a small scale.... In short, this ring is bad news and needs to get wrecked.  Now we bring it back to Boromir.  Boromir has a problem with this plan; his theory is that the ring can be used to fight back the forces of evil that are looking for it.  To be fair to Boromir, his home is on the doorsteps of Mordor which is Sauron's HQ and have been facing wave after wave of baddies trying to break out into the rest of Middle-Earth: he's desperate for hope (even if it's false hope).  However, the other 8 members see the major flaw in Boromir's logic and try to keep a close eye on him and Frodo (the one tasked to carry the ring).  We know where this is going right? Boromir finds a moment where it's just him and Frodo, he tries to reason with the hobbit, but when his reasoning is not heard he tries to take the ring by force. This leads to Frodo peacing out and since Boromir is played by Sean Bean... we know how this is going to end.... You see what was the problem here? Boromir wanted to take the very tool of evil to be the tool of liberation for his people and the rest of Middle-Earth. But, evil can't be defeated with evil.

Now I would like to introduce you to this guy, Gideon.  You may know him as the doubting judge in Judges 6-8 who brought liberation to the Israelites through God's awesome power and strange tactics. Something you might not remember from Gideon is that his starting action of liberation was by tearing down his family's altar to Baal and Ashtoreth (Judges 6:27-32).  By doing this he gets a nickname "Jerub-baal" which was like a slight that if Baal is even real, let him defend himself (essentially "come at me bro" in ancient Hebrew). You get major hype with this guy that he is going to help people get focused back on God until you reach the end of his story.  He decides to take some mega loot that they got from pushing out their oppressors and make it into and "ephod" (a chest plate for High Priests) of gold and the people started worshiping it (Judges 8:27).  This is really awkward because there was already an ephod in Shiloh and that was supposed to be the only one to be worn (not worshiped) by the High Priest, awkward.... After all that effort of liberating his people from oppressive nations and spiritual beings, he had made an invitation to bring back spiritual oppression through worshiping the ephod. In short what he was trying to use as a physical representation of God's victory became the very tool for evil to come back and send Israel back into oppression. Sounds a bit like our arrow cushioned friend from before, eh?

What are somethings in your life that started out with good intentions that have become tools of your own destruction? What are the rings that look like they can be used for good that could lead to your heart becoming a arrow cushion? Who are the members in your fellowship that can save you from Boromir's fate in faith?

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