Its been three weeks since I asked if Tim would spend the time to explain col 2:16,



Colossians 2:11-23

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

12Buried 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.

13And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;

14Blotting 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;

15And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

16Let 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:

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

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

19And 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.

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

21(Touch not; taste not; handle not;

22Which all are to perish with the using after the commandments and doctrines of men?

23Which 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."





Romans 14:1-8

1Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.

2For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs.

3Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.

4Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.

5One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.

6He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.

7For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.

8For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.



It seems that Tim you can follow the Sabbath if you want to as long as you are doing it for God. As well I can choose to live every day equally for God. Neither is wrong, neither will affect our salvation, so all is good. As long as we don't judge others on how which days they esteem or do not esteem.



May God bless you and continue to strengthen your relationship with Jesus Christ,

Greg W

Amen

Amen indeed!

Put on the Full Armor of God. As said in the book of Ephesians!

Satan would want to hide himself from view so that his guiles aren't revealed. What better way than to get Christians quibbling over Sabbaths? How you have avoided the thread of spiritual warfare by being so easily diverted! The one obsessed with the Sabbath issue could learn from this.



Some of Satan's real activity in churches:

A false belief that demons are always easily recognizable by being overtly evil!--- In fact the main activity of demons in churches is to imitate the Spirit of God, and introduce false but lovely experiences as if of the 'Holy Spirit'.



A fear of questioning these delusions by insinuating that you are questioning God- That is they encourage BLIND FAITH IN THE SUPERNATURAL.



Making unspiritual Christians puffed up with pride and giving them powers so they come to positions of leadership. In this way the worst and the weakest become dominant in Christian churches but are seen as mighty in the 'Spirit'!-- And some of these leaders are not even truly born again.



A deep rejection and antipathy to the life of holiness-- essential to Christians-- as if it were works or legalism. Also pushing a 'Holy Spirit' that is not HOLY!!!



The list goes on but I hope this gets some of you to THINK.

satan's fight isn't just against the Ten Commnadments, it's against God Himself. God did set up the Ten Commandments as an example of righteousness, for He wants us to be righteous and holy. satan wants whoever he can get away from God. he can use them (the Ten Commandments) to his advantage, I'm sure, but they're not the only tool he's using.

Woundeddove:



Good post! If Satan can get us to think more about ourselves and what we do or dont't do, and less about The Christ and what HE has done or is doing, then we are already loosing the warfare, spiritual or otherwise.



LOve Chris

*sighs* Yes, that statement about whether Saturday, Sunday, or even Friday, is the Sabbath can be legalistic when discussed...I'm not going to comment on it anymore. You're correct in saying we need to keep God's Commandments. Though I do have one question for you that you haven't covered yet....what about the preachers, even the ones that share that Saturday is the Sabbath? Isn't preaching considered work, or am I off in that too?

I've really enjoyed reading through the old threads, finding so many champions of the Faith that for a while posted here. I wish all would come back. In hopes of at least reviving some fine unfinished business, let me continue this one. I reply to

Quote:

Two points I'd like to make:
First - Satan has memorized the entire Bible. We must be familiar with The Word to fend off the darts he throws at us.
Second - Keep a proper attitude toward Satan. C. S. Lewis wrote in the Screwtape Letters that there are two things the demons relish: people not believing in their existence and people obsessing over their existence. Don't give him too much attention.
SLE

Excellent. Yes, Satan has had plenty of time to memorize all the versions of the Bible, and probably knows where the rest of the oldest manuscripts are hidden away. He'll do all he can to keep them that way. Yes, by now Satan knows the Plan, but must carry through with what he started, being disqualified for eternal Life with God.

I agree there is too much obsession over demons and Satan. I was trained in the ways of war, learning some important principles. It all revolves around "Don't be captured, but if captured, escape." The other is "Winning is the only acceptable option." Warfare requires focus to be successful. One must focus on objectives more than the enemy does. So out-focus the enemy.

We learn in 2 Cor. 10:4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) then most teachers say our weapons are the armor and sword of Ephesians 6. Those are standard articles of soldiers, today wearing bullet proof vests and carrying sophisticated firearms, aided by satellite technology. But just putting those on and wearing them do not a soldier make. It takes constant training and discipline to become and remain an effective soldier.

The war we contemplate and the battles of it are still "the Lord's". None of us is capable of not being captured and always conquering by our own wit. If the Lord doesn't do it, it won't happen. So what are we to do?

Christians today are an occupying force such as the Allies in WWII whose military and authorized civilians entered lands of the conquered, setting up new governments, assuring demobilization of their armies and navies. That wasn't an easy task, there being many zealots in those lands intent on resisting the conquerors. Going about those places without due caution cost some their lives. Likewise Satan has been defeated by Jesus, but allowed to roam free, known to remain our enemy.

So how to deal with that.....here's Peter's word on it.

2 Peter 1:[3] According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: [4] Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. [5] And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; [6] And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; [7] And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. [8] For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. [9] But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. [10] Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: [11] For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Those are our marching orders. It is how we discipline ourselves so that we don't fall back into sin as a lifestyle. We grow mighty and will not be taken captive to sin doing those over and over all our lives. All along keep that armor on to repel the unexpected darts of the enemy.

If you worry you are fallen behind in those, just start now and don't stop. God will help you catch up. Learning and knowing you will not fall at Satan's feet, you become a ruler over his kingdom, abolishing his power, freeing neighbors from fear of him and evil in the world. From that position you then become effective spreading the gospel without fear.

Blessings to all seekers of the Truth (Jesus)
Jim


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Be fishers of men

There was unfinished business in this thread? Wow, didn't know that. Thought things were going to be left where they were. Liked your post, very good points!

I'm glad you posted! You've done well sharing here, hope to read you more.

This thread should remain unfinished and alive until Satan is locked up a thousand years, then again when he is let out after Jesus' 1000 year reign on earth, deceiving many in those last few days before the Great Judgment, followed by Satan and all his angels thrown into the lake of of fire. Until disposed of Satan alone of all the old army of rebel angels, with hoards of disembodied demons, continue to share earth with us. Their methods are constantly changing, taking advantage of ignorance, while I suppose most Christians are not prepared to face the oldest well known methods of Satan, while increasingly marginalizing sin and tolerating sinners ruling over us. Jesus defeated Satan (Hebrews 2), won the victory from the cross, but Satan wasn't put in prison. I'm sure you know Satan doesn't have his old powers since that day on Calvary hill, the chief one being instilling fear of death, but is free to distort truth as he did with Eve.

For many years I've ministered to Teen Challenge men and other similar ministries, finding a common fear among them, most of them new Christians. Along the way many of their instructors have impressed upon them they must learn to fight Satan. That's a huge burden to put on anyone. It is possible to fight an angel, seeing Jacob wrestled and even bested his heavenly contestant. That is not a typical outcome. We are to conduct spiritual warfare with spiritual weapons, not physical ones, the only offensive one being the Sword of the Word of God, dividing truth from error, the way Jesus defeated Satan. What I posted from 2 Peter is our duty in which we submit to God then resist temptations of the devil, assured he will flee from us. There is no need to grapple with Satan. I believe sincerely that there are some angels camped around our home because we fear God alone, and some of them accompany us everywhere. I teach the men not to do anything that would embarrass them or disgrace Jesus' blood. If they continually pay attention to what Peter taught they should no longer fear they will be dragged back down into drugs, alcohol abuse, and other life-controlling problems. The Church must get back to doing those simple daily exercises that prevent us from falling, and get back to praying without ceasing.

Lets visit this thread as the Lord gives utterance to encourage the Church to live and reign in that victory Jesus acquired for us.

Again, thanks for replying.

Blessings to all seekers of the Truth (Jesus)
Jim
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Be fishers of men

Given your reply to mine, I agree w/ you! I shall see about coming here then as lead by the Holy Spirit and engaging in warfare against our enemy w/ you!