Defrauding and Taking A Stand - Colossians - Part 49

"Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind," - Colossians 2:18 NASB

Very interesting study this morning.

If you have ever read 'The Screwtape Letters' you know what it's like to march through the muck of evil. I liked that book but I had to keep putting it down and coming back to it because you can only handle evil's perspective for so long before needing a shower.

Passages like these are that for me. I don't gravitate towards them. I'd rather talk about hope, grace and mercy but then I do a study like this that is systematic and I can't avoid the mud puddle. The boots go on and right through the center I go.

The unique Greek words here are katabrabeuō (Strong's G2603), translated here as 'keep defrauding' and embateuō (Strong's G1687) translated 'taking his stand' and they are actions that are continuous. The person in evil keeps defrauding, in part, because they keep taking a stand on what they see. Natural evaluation causes a vicious circle. Faith makes an entrance and an exit but walking by sight always cycles a person into a deficit. People become takers because they 'worship angels' and walk by sight. They deprive themselves and then deprive others in the name of what is good but it isn't God's good.

That word 'visions' is thrown in there making it seem spiritual but in the Greek it just means 'things seen' that inflate the mind. Communism was such a concept. Large groups imbraced an artificial system that they thought would better mankind but it brought destruction. People 'saw' a coming eutopia but it was a mirage based on natural reasoning.

It is amazing how wrong smart people can be. This year I am amazed again about how wrong so called experts have been about so many things.

God's mind is proven.

"For no word from God will ever fail." - Luke 1:37 NIV

(translated 'For with God nothing shall be impossible' in the KJV but it actually says the Rhema of God will accomplish it's purpose)

The God of all grace isn't going to defraud you. Jesus' Father is that God. The God of men's philosophies is a pale comparison to this glorious person. The Father can only be known through the Son. If there is no Jesus at the center of the concept it can't be trusted. It is just fruit from the tree or the knowledge of good and evil and that has proven to be a deadly place to get nourishment.

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