ntcolossians2

Caution to students of God's Word - Please remember two things when using our studies: #1. Our commentary is not God's Word. It is only our interpretation or understanding of "His Word" and even though we try our best to be accurate we may or may not be correct. #2. The King James translation, or any other translation, of the original Hebrew text has some words which were given different translations at different places probably because of the interpreters preconceived ideas of what they think God meant to say. For example: According to the notes in the "Dake's Annotated Reference Bible" the Hebrew word hayah in the KJV is Trans. (became) 67 times, (becamest or came to pass) 505 times, (become) 66 times, and (come to pass) 131 times, but for some reason in Genesis 1:2 it is translated (was)! That sure changes the way a person perceives the original creation of the earth, doesn't it? Gen. 1:2 And the earth was (became) without form, ... Having said that, let us continue with our "Key Knowledge" lessons. These are pamphlets containing knowledge, we believe, you must have to fully and accurately unlock and understand the Word of God.

John 15:26
But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:

John 16:13-14
[13] Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. [14] He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

This Bible Study was originally written by Roger Christopherson,
published at http://www.theseason.org/

Without the leading by the Holy Spirit, there is no understanding of the truths, for all the truth of the Scriptures are revealed to us by God's Spirit.

Colossians 2:1 "For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;"

Paul is saying, I wish you knew the deep concern that I have for you at Colossia, and the Christians at Laodicea. Paul is also concerned for all Christians even to our day, over the matters that will be discussed in this Chapter. Any true believer of our Lord, who is filled with the Holy Spirit of God, has that same concern for the ones they love, to share the energy given them from the Holy Spirit, and the knowledge that they have. It is important that we share our knowledge and understanding of what God's true plan is. When the seed of that idea. of the plan of God. is planted in the mind it can do nothing but grow. It is the Holy Spirit that puts that drive in the true believer.

Colossians 2:2 "That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father and of Christ.."

"Knit together" means to be brought to the same understanding in the love of Christ that He died for us. That mystery is the knowledge and full understanding of the love of God, and that He desires all of His children to love Him. That we should know also of the many membered body of Christ, that many membered body of Christ of all in one and one in all. Paul addresses this also in Romans 12:2 - 5:

Romans 12:2 "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God."

Romans 12:3 "For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith."

Romans 12:4 "For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:"

Romans 12:5 "So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another."

When the energy of the Holy Spirit dwells in each member of that body of Christ, the whole body functions very well. We must be very cautious today for Satan is very active as he works to symbolically imitate the workings of the Holy Spirit, through his supernatural spirit. Satan's spirit has the ability to influence the thinking of mankind. There is nothing new under the sun, and that is very much part of the mystery. Don't listen to any man without checking him [her] out in the Word of God.

Only when you are in Christ will you come to the full understanding of those treasures of wisdom and knowledge that are hidden in the Word of God. Those treasures are the ability to understand the "world that was", and what happened in the garden of Eden.

The treasures of wisdom and knowledge is to even understand this world age and the age to come, as well as why you are here in this flesh life; why? All of the Word of God is given to help you decide whether you will worship and serve God, our heavenly Father or turn away from Him to worship Satan. Today, your turning away from God will cause you to worship Satan, when he comes to earth as the false-christ, for we are living in that final generation. OUR GENERATION WILL WITNESS THE TIME SPOKEN OF IN DANIEL 11:21 WHEN SATAN COMES TO EARTH AS THE VILE PERSON, THE SPURIOUS MESSIAH.

[DANIEL 11:21] And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.

Live Link to-#5050 Please note, the major signs of the season denoting the final fig tree generation are clearly upon us, letting us know the we are drawing ever closer to the event which transpires in that 21st verse, which is the entering in of the "vile person"!
Live Links to-All of Daniel 's visions

When you come to the full truth of God's Word and believe and by faith have repented of your sins, the Holy Spirit of God will put that driving force in you to share your wisdom and knowledge with others. When you are in the will of God, you will share also in His blessings.

Paul is now going to say again that once Christ has paid the price for all the ordinances and rituals under the law, they are no longer in effect. This is also part of the mystery that Paul is presenting.

Colossians 2:4 "And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words."

This is why Paul is concerned, the concern that Paul expressed in verse one. I have a deep concern that someone is going to deceive you. Paul was concerned that some Christians would not think and allow themselves to be fooled by one of those Scripture lawyers using enticing words that sound so good, yet are nothing but a lie. This happens when you don't study the Word of God, and allow others, even preachers, or the gentleman in the next pew, to do your thinking for you. They will let some light fingered one verse Charlie take a verse, and spin a whole line of trash with that one verse, and these so called Christians will believe it.

That is what Paul means when he says; "lest any man should beguile you with enticing words." Be careful, and check out any man's teaching in the Word of God. We are to pay attention to what is being taught, and warn each other of those that would be amongst our close knit group and would deceive us with enticing words. Man's own spirit can be evil or good, and with enticing words some men [women] are very effective.

Colossians 2:5 "For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ."

Though I am not there with you, the Spirit of God is there with you and you are holding fast to your faith in Jesus Christ. When the power of God works in a group of the body of Christ, we can overcome anything. It doesn't matter, we are "can do" type people. Remember back in Philippians 4:13; "I can do all things through Christ Which strengthened me." You can do all thing by your faith in Jesus Christ, and that faith becomes the power that gives you the strength to do it. That is part of your inheritance that we have as sons and daughters of the living God. It doesn't matter what comes up in these final days, we are going to make it, because God is our helper.

Colossians 2:6 "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him;"

This applies to every day of your life. When you are a son or daughter of God and in the body of Christ your walk is not just a Sunday walk, but every day of the week. Christianity is not a religion, but it is a reality, and it is time to live in that real world everyday. If you have something to help you through, use it, Christ is the greatest gift that anyone can have, and when many Christians of today have Christ they don't use that power that is promised to them.

Colossians 2:7 "Rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving."

The difference between the old oak tree that can stand through any storm, and those trees that are blown over when the wind gets whipping a bit is their root system. When we are deep rooted in the Word of God, when those winds of false doctrines and fairy-tales that are taking over most churches today come along, we will not be blown over by them. When our faith is well established, and we know why we believe what we believe then their false doctrines will seem like the fairy tales that they are.

Your foundation in the Word of God can only come by your studying the Word, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, becoming established in your faith. Your study must be as Jesus taught us to study, line by line and verse by verse, rightly dividing the entire Word of God. Take the time to look up the meanings of words and phrases to know the truth, which requires you use of a good Bible, such as the Companion Bible, with notes to the Massoretic text, and a good numbered Concordance, such as Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, numbered to the Hebrew dictionary for the Old Testament, and Greek numbered to the New Testament. That is how you become "stablish in the faith", you gain knowledge in it, and it becomes part of your thinking.

What ever happens to you is an experience to test and develop your faith. Always be thankful to God for the training for what is coming ahead. Sometimes the way gets a little tough, however you don't go through any experience but what you come out of it a little stronger then before. It is through those experiences that gives you the knowledge to help people all the more.

Colossians 2:8 "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ:"

Did you get that? Don't let the "tradition of men" spoil you. Don't let the elements, and rudiments of the world spoil and draw you away from the faith that you have in Christ Jesus. Philosophy is the reasoning by man to justify the guilt that comes by his evil works. When they/you reason away what the sins you have done, your conscience will not bother you. The Kenites are skilled in the philosophy bringing people down by their vain deceit, which is their boastful pride. That is what caused Satan's fall and that is also what will bring down many Christians.

Today many philosophers mean well, and many of them even call themselves Christians. In their churches they get together and read their philosophy right from the pulpit, yet they have no idea if it is Biblical or not. Your "church creed", do you know if that creed is Biblical or is it a form of the "traditions of men"? Today many religious systems adopt slogans, sayings and deed that are absolutely contrary to the Word of God, and in a sense make it void. You keep from falling into the traps of those commitments by studying God's Word, and checking out what you are asked to believe by that church system. Don't listen to any man without checking him our with the Word of God, that is your only authority.

The "rudiments" are the elements that go to make up this world age. II Peter 3:10; "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up."

It is not the earth and the materials that go to build a house, but the evil and wicked things that are part of Satan and his realm that will be done away with. The earth will still be around for another thousand years through the Millennium kingdom, for this is where Christ is coming back to and setting up his kingdom. When He gets rid of the criminals, the idolatry, the strive and thing that cause violence including Satan and his evil spirits and fallen angels, we will have a pretty good old world.

We ran into these elements also in Galatians 4:3; "Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:" The word "elements" and "rudiments are the same, in the Greek it is "stoicheion", and it means "elementary rules". It is the rules that the world places upon you through their traditions and religious practices that go against God's Word, and every last one of them will be done away with on "the day of the Lord", when Jesus returns to earth to set up His kingdom. So Paul is warning us in this eighth verse, to be very aware of those elements or rudiments of this world, that are all part of man's traditions, and presented to you as part of the Word of God, when they are not.

In other words, the totality of the Godhead rests in Christ. When Christ went to the cross for your sin, God gave it to Him. This does not mean that you should pray to Christ instead of the Father, but you are to pray to the Father in Jesus name which gives proof that you believe. It is your belief that is the substance that makes the title deed to your faith which gives you your inheritance. It make the Father a reality to you, and makes Him your next of kin. Christ is your kinsman redeemer, who paid the price to redeem you lost soul. When ever your understanding of God, and Jesus Christ seems unfair, it is your understand of Him that is off, for God is always fair and just. That is the time to get back into the Word and seek the truth.

Colossians 2:10 "And ye are complete in Him, Which is the head of all principality and power."

These principality and power can even be the powers that are in heaven, and they include Satan himself, as well as his fallen angels and evil spirits. God controls all powers and principalities and allows them to operate to perform their part in the entire plan of God. Our heavenly Father is in charge, and when you are established in God's Word, which is to say Christ [who is the Word], then God will give you the power to have the victory over anything that comes up.

Luke 10:18 "And He said unto them, "I behold Satan as lightning fall from heaven"

This day shall come very shortly in our generation, when Satan is thrown out of heaven with his fallen angels to the earth.

Luke 10:19 "Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you."

By your faith in Jesus Christ and the authority of Him [in other words: in Jesus name], you have the power and authority over the serpents which are the Kenites; the scorpions which are the fallen angels that will come with Satan when Michael throws him out of heaven, and all the power of the evil spiritual realm. By your faith in Jesus Christ, and through you accepting and using that power, you can send those evil forces out of your life.

Luke 10:20 "Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven."

Though you have that power over all those forces, what we can be thankful for is that our name is written in the Lambs book of life, for this flesh body will be done away with. At the end of this earth age, those evil rudiments and elements will be gone, and the only thing that matters is your right-standing before the God. When your name is in the book of life, there is no judgment for your sins for they are gone.

Luke 10:21 "In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, "I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so Father; for it seemed good in Thy sight."

When you know the truths of God's Word, that is hid from the world, it becomes bearable for those in Christ. God's Word lets us know what tomorrow brings.

Colossians 2:11 "In Whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting of the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ:"

"The circumcision without hands", relates to when God said when you make me an altar, you keep your hands off of it. This is because everything that man makes he messes up. Man simply can't do anything right without the Holy Spirit leading him within the will of God.

This circumcision of the heart is for both men and women, and has nothing to do with flesh. Before the Christ went to the cross, circumcision was of the world, but after the cross of Christ, it cuts all sin away from a person. You get to the point of thinking of things of God, rather then centering everything around the things of the world. When you are in Christ by faith, then even evil thoughts can be controlled through the Spirit of God.

Colossians 2:12 "Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God Who hath raised Him from the dead."

This is exactly what baptism is all about, it is saying that I believe that Christ died for our sins. When you go under that water, it symbolizes the tomb. Then when you come up from that submersion under the water, you are risen with Christ through your faith in Jesus Christ. This you do because you believe in the "operation of God" which is the "plan of God", and His overall purpose of God. It is God the Father that raised His son from the dead, and in that resurrection Christ has defeated death.

Jesus has defeated death in that if we stay in Christ we have the victory over death, and there is no sting to death of this flesh body. But you have to do it God's Way, according to the operation, or plan of God. When we commit ourselves to Christ by faith in baptism, then we become servants of the living God and we are to be about our Father's business; and we not caught up in the things of this world.

Colossians 2:13 "And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses;"

When you repent, God forgives all your sins and trespasses against Him. God takes those sins and blots them out as that didn't happen. Those sins and evil acts will simply not exist in the books of heaven. There is no unforgivable sin, with the exception of one, and that unforgivable sin can only fall on God's elect and it is a very serious thing. That sin can only be committed when you are called up before Satan, and you refuse to be that witness when you know better, and you allow Satan the free run with his lies and deceptions, without allowing the Holy Spirit to work through you, that is unforgivable.

Luke 12:10 "And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven."

Luke 12:11 "And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say:"

Luke 12:12 "For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in that same hour what ye ought to say."

When you are delivered up, let the Holy Spirit of God speak through you. Some will be delivered up more often then others. Jesus also spoke of this concerning our generation in Mark 13:11;"But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost."

Colossians 2:14 "Blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross;"

You need to know the difference between the law and ordinances. It is not speaking of the law here, but blood ordinances [rituals]. In the Greek it can even be translated "dogma". Christ nail all those ordinances of blood sacrifices and ritual to the cross. He blotted out the requirement for those ordinances.

Ephesians 2:15 "Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace;"

God abolished through the flesh of Jesus Christ not the law, but the "the law of commandments contained in ordinances". It was not the law done away with, but the ordinances that are in the law. And when we are in Christ there is true peace and that is the only real peace. the world today is crying peace, peace everywhere, and the world is full of violence everywhere.

Ephesians 2:16 "And that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:"

By understanding the Word of God we can know exact what kind of peace the new world order of the final generation would bring. God's Word declares all the events and signs that are right before us daily, to alert us to the deceptions that are coming upon the world. We are in that final generation, the generation of the fig tree that started in May 1948, when the Jews, both of Judah and the Kenites returned to set up that tiny nation of Israel, in Palestine. That marked the start of the final generation. Within our generation all thing that mark the end of this flesh age will come to pass; and we are witnessing many of those events daily.

Jesus said in Matthew 24:32; "Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is night:"

Do you know the parable of the fig tree, and can you identify who the Kenites are? Do you know what happened in the garden of Eden between Eve and Satan, and that a child was born to of Satan.. From that child Cain, came his offspring that has mingled with God's people to where they would mix and become hidden. Cain's offspring are called the "Kenites", and they are the "bad figs" spoken of by Jeremiah that would return in the latter days with Judah, to reestablish Jerusalem, and prepare the way for Satan, the Antichrist. Jesus said to learn this parable, and stop fooling around with fairy-tales about apples and so on.

Matthew 24:33 "So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors."

The time of the parable is when the Kenites, the sons of Satan through Cain, and Judah together returned to Jerusalem. It happened in 1948 and since that date most of the end times prophecy of both the Old and New Testament have been fulfilled. Most Christians today are standing in the middle of the forest, and they can't see a single tree. Why? They don't know what the trees look like.

Jesus said that the birth of this New Age will be like the birth of a babe. The labor-pains will come closer and closer together as time passes, until they are happening one on top of the other. Prophecy is being fulfilled today concerning Russia [Edom], concerning Israel [the ten tribes not of Judah], and even of the house of Judah and the Kenites mixed with them, and they have no idea in the world what is happening. They are standing in the middle of a nation of the House of Israel, and the things prophesied of our nation are coming to pass, and most Christians today still believe the lies that they are taught and think they are a Gentile nation. They are taking "the mark of the beast" in their minds, and preparing themselves of the service of the Antichrist, and they don't even know it.

We can know what tomorrow brings, for God has written it all in His word, and when you know the truth there is nothing to fear.

Matthew 24:34 "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."

God's plan will happen exactly as it is written, and our generation will witness every last prophecy that is written in His Word. That includes the seven seal and the seven trumpets that are written in the book of Revelation. There is no rapture, and by taking that theory in your mind, you are accepting the mark of the beast in your mind, and preparing yourself to be turned over to Satan, who is the Antichrist.

Matthew 24:35 " Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away."

Colossians 2:15 "And having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a shew of them openly, triuphing over them in it."

In Christ Himself, He gave us power over even Satan himself. You don't need to hold back or be afraid of anything. None of us are perfect, but when we do fall short we are brought back into the perfection of Christ through our repentance. There is forgiveness in Christ by our Heavenly Father every time you come back to Him. He loves you very much. When Christ went to the cross, He made a spoil of the principalities and powers of Satan. He showed us openly that Satan doesn't have a leg to stand on, all he can do is what God has allowed Him to do, or what people have allowed him to do. God gave you power over Satan, and He expects you to use that power and have victory over him. You can order evil spirits out of your life and back to where they came from. There are many things that you can do for yourself, and you don't have to bother God, for He expects you to use the common sense that He has given you.

Colossians 2:16 "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:"

Don't let any man judge you about ordinances that were nailed to the cross with Christ. God is not a respecter of person, He has a plan and you are part of that plan. This chapter has been steering you away from the traditions of men, and into what is real in His Word. We are not to allow any person to judge us on those things that God has ordained us to be eaten and drunk. A holy day is a feast day that has been set aside just for worship, or for worshiping or respecting any day over another.

"Sabbath" in the Hebrew tongue means "rest". Hebrews chapter four makes it very clear that Christ is our rest every day of the week. Don't put one day above another in respecting Christ, for we are required to put Christ foremost every day of our lives. The "new moon" is going by the moon calendar, the calendar of Satan and we are not children of the night, but of the day. All places in the Scriptures concerning and given in moons [or months] deal with Satan's people, and those given in days and years deal apply to the children of God. When you become a child of God, you should rest in Christ every day of the week, and respect all days alike.

Colossians 2:17 "Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ."

This is exactly what those old feast days were, a shadow of the things to come. What is given in times, moons, feast days and sabbaths of old are examples, a school teacher of what Christ would become. Christ is our Passover.

Colossians 2:18 "Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshiping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,"

Today the religious world gets all choked up over the thought of angels. Don't be deceived my friend, we go straight to Christ for our help with problems. You don't need an introduction, because the veil has been rent in two, and you can walk into the holy of holies, and talk directly to our heavenly Father.

Your fleshly mind is your human mind, and when you do all your thinking and reasoning with it, you are still in this world. You are tying your mind to this world system, and not God's system. This verse is directed to those that get very religious in one aspect, to take advantage of God's people in another. The speak of angels and holy things, for the sake of passing the hat and removing your money from you, or some other devious motive.

Some of these jokers make their taking of your money to be a religious sacrament for God, and to give you a double blessing they will pass the plate twice. Those jokers have nothing to do with the tithe, that is between you and the Lord, and you know personally where you are taught, and that is where the tithe goes; not to these beggars in sheep's clothes. God blesses you through your giving back to Him what is His, the tenth, or tithe. Today the church world has become the worst deceivers and beggars of the world, trying to trick and emotionally remove your wealth from you.

Colossians 2:19 "And not holding the Head, from Which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God."

The "increase of God" are the blessings that God gives to you, when you do things His way. This is in reference to the many membered body of Christ, closely knit together, and nourishing each other in the Word. The "ear" hears the what the eye can see, and they notify the feet that there is trouble ahead and carries the ministry. The mouth speaks the Word, while the brain coordinates the ministry for its maximum efforts. The body of Christ is a closely knit unit, Paul is saying when you plan to work as a ministry as the body of Christ, don't leave of the head. Who is the Head of the body? It is Christ!

There are a lot of ministries today that have forgotten the head of the church. The head is where the brains are, and when you leave off the brains, the church won't work very well. When you get deep into the traditions of men, you are separating yourself from the brains, and your work will head off in many directions like a chicken with its head cut off. That church will never have its increase from God, but it may get ahead through its beggars bag for a while, but not for long.

Colossians 2:20 "Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,"

Paul is saying, if you believe that Jesus Christ shed his blood on the cross, to die for sinners for one and all times, why do you want to bring that bull in here for your sacrifices? Why would you ever want to put yourself back under those laws and ordinances and rituals? Even the thought of it sounds stupid. It is just as stupid to hang on to some of the other ordinances that also were done away with. It is an insult to God when you try to dig up any of those old ordinances and rituals and try to make a religion out of them.

This is what these hirelings try to put back on you. "Do do this, and don't do that." They're the do-do people.

Colossians 2:22 "Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?"

When you follow the doctrine of men, they and their evil rudiments will all be destroyed in the end. God set the standard for what is acceptable to Him, and He wrote those things in His Word. What man has to say and design for his religion is not of God, unless it is from and according to God's Word. Anything that doesn't bear out by the written Word is a tradition of men, not God. Much of the restrictions that are placed on Christians today, have no application to the spiritual world at all, yet by traditions they have been made part of the religious ceremonies and custom. In the end that amount to nothing in the kingdom of God.

Colossians 2:23 "Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh."

Many of those things look so religious and wise, and it puts on quite a show. This gets back into "will worship". There is a big difference between "will worship", and the preaching of the cross. To understand will worship, you have to understand the way the mind works.

Freud say's the makeup of our mind or being is in our personality, which is in two parts. Those parts are the conscious, and the subconscious. The "conscious" is the part of our brain which tells us "I ought" in our thinking, while the lower part, the subconscious gives us the "I want" drives. To the normal person, what he or she does is in response to the "I ought" side of the brain. These responses are based only on our "value judgments", the judgments that we have been trained to determine good from bad.

This is the basis of many Christian fundamentalist churches that from the time of ones youth, or from the time of his conversion, that person is trained to have a given set of values. These values are determined to be good or bad, right or wrong, acceptable or unacceptable, sin or righteousness, and so on. These values systems vary from church to church, and each system creates their lists of dos and don'ts. This is what Paul calls "will worship" and Paul reject's it here.

What we are taught and molded to think, creates the "will power" within us to conform to these sets of standards. As a person perfects this set of teachings of do's and don'ts, and responds to them, the Church can then grade you on your ability to react to your "will Power" (it's set of standards), and they can then judge you by those standards. If you stop a person on the street and ask them what a Christians is, he will tell you "The Christian does this, or a Christian doesn't do that." He gives you the set of standards that his religious group or system has created of those that attach themselves to that group.

The judicial side of the conscious mind is created by outside forces. These forces, or ideas come from parents, family, friends, the church, school or even society at large. Much of the do's and don'ts all of the sources agree on, however there are many don'ts that bring on conflict. Emerging from this conflict by outside forces, comes a set of values, and a set of wants. From these two areas we form our views, and establish our "viewpoint" of what is good and bad. Your viewpoint is the basis for your mind to rationalize your mind on whether your acts of what we do is sin or not: So you go back to the set of values of dos and don'ts that the church has set up of us. When you do that you have just put ourselves under the control of the traditions of men and not of God. Reason and rationalizing are the standards then of what is or is not sin, and not the Word of God.

Paul said if you think something is sin, then it is sin. Romans 14:22 - 23; "...Happy is he that condemneth (judges) not himself in the things which he alloweth (approveth). And he that doubteth is damned (condemned) if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not faith is sin."

Christians have the leading and the power of the Holy Spirit as a guide, but when you allow the mind to take on a legal set of standards, they then become your conscience or guide. Those do's and don'ts then are the very thing which will judge you and condemn you.

Paul is saying that all of the ceremonial things are out and those things are a shadow of the real thing that would come, and He has come. You simply can not have it both ways, if you start putting yourself under the traditions of men's systems of do's and don'ts, then you are not living by faith in Jesus Christ but under your own self imposed "will worship", to conform to a religious system. This is not talking about baptism, or foods outlined in the health laws, but requirements injected by men.

If you have bound yourself to a set of self imposed rules, repent and get back into the freedom that we have in Christ. Live by the standard that Christ has set forth during His walk on earth, and when you falter, repent of those sins daily. Free your conscience from ridged regulation that others can judge you on, and have the freedom in the mind of Christ. When Christ has set you free, don't chase back into ceremonial ritual, but enjoy your freedom that we have in Christ.

To study the Bible is the noblest of all pursuits; to understand it, the highest of all goals. We pray that with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you accomplish both.

"The Two Sowers of Seed", both the Good (Adam's sons) and the Tares (Satan's sons) in one Combined Pamphlet #7000/7007 (Jesus Christ told His disciples (which means you if you are one) that unless they understood the "Parable of the Sower" they would not be able to understand any of His parables.) You can't understand "The Parable of the Tares" until you understand "The Parable of the Sower" and you will be lost comprehending "The Parable of the Fig Tree" until you know who both sowers were and their deeds.
You must understand "The Parable of the Sower" Click this link to open Pamphlet 7000
in order to understand "The Parable of the Tares" Click this link to open Pamphlet 7007
in order to understand "The Parable of the Fig Tree" Click this link to open Pamphlet 1031
Jesus said Learn it! Mark 13:28 Now learn a parable of the fig tree;...'

Here at the American Wisdom Series our goal is to make you think about and question the wisdom of the current:

doctrine of many of our Christian churches, (The Man on a White Horse)

political direction of our country, (The Man on a Red Horse)
economic direction our country has taken, (The Man on a Black Horse)
and teachings of our schools and media. (The Man on a Pale Horse)