Voice of the Kingfisher speaks out …from a different perspective
by Elinor Montgomery
The Colossal Message of Colossians
June 09, 2008
The book of Colossians deals with the absolute deity of Jesus Christ, meaning the Word rules over all things. Colossians is a book, which enforces fundamentalism as the only and absolute answer for the believer. Its author, Paul the apostle, points to encroaching heresy, which is always in the form of an add-on that would negate the truth of the Word, so hated by non-believers and those who want to combine it with religious doctrine. Of such, is the foundation of that which is commonly known as the religion of Christianity.
The question most relevant for the church today is addressed in this little epistle. Is one able to support a religious system of any shape or form and still be fundamentally rooted in the Bible or in the teaching of Jesus Christ?
Take a look at Jesus and His apostles, who made up the true foundation of the church. Can you name any religious system, which Jesus endorsed for them? Keeping the feasts of God did not make them a part of the religious system of the temple. They simply were obedient to the Old Testament Scriptures and to the Levitical ritualistic practices, outlined by God.
That all changed at the crossover when John the Baptist, a man of Levitical high priest lineage, transferred the reins of high priesthood to Jesus, at the time of His baptism. Once man was redeemed of his sin by the true Passover Lamb, there was no need to continue the pattern, which led to the reality. Redemption became a fait-complet, and there is nothing man can do to add to what Jesus has already done for him.
The Roman-appointed Judaic priesthood of His day was not the legitimate Levitical priesthood established by God; hence, it was at complete loggerheads with Jesus. He never directed His apostles to accept any part of their religious authority any more than He would direct us to the Roman-appointed pope of today or to the Druid worshiping high priest of Anglicanism, both ministers of apostasy, embracing the add-ons of which Paul warns us in Colossians.
There is no denominational religious system of Christianity that does not suffer from one form of religious apostasy or another when it sets up a presbytery as its authority, rather than recognizing the all-sufficiency of Jesus and the Word. Those of you who have departed from such religious systems, for the sake of the name of Jesus in order to make the truth your sole doctrine, may revel in your fundamentalism. The Word of truth is the mighty fortress against heresy, which will keep darkness out of our individual lives and out of the life of a nation.
The location of Colosse was fundamental to the purposes of Paul in writing this epistle to the believers there, whom he did not know except in the Spirit. His epistle was addressed to both the people of that city and to the true church, today, whereby he laid down the principles for choosing the fundamentalism of the Word.
Islamic fundamentalism incorporates killing for the sake of promoting religion. So a good Muslim who adheres to his/her religious faith demonstrates the chasm, which exists between religious Islamic fundamentalism, as described in the book of religion called the Koran, and the fundamentalism of the truth of the Holy Bible, which is God’s Book of truth and prophecy. There is no room for one to accommodate the other.
It is for this reason that God was constantly commanding His people to separate from the darkness of the religious systems of the world. The fundamentalism of all religions leads to death without redemption, whereas the fundamentalism of truth comes with a solid foundation of redemption. It is by the grace of the God of truth, Himself, that salvation is provided for man who cannot provide it for himself in his state of sin.
It was never possible for Mohammed to be a prophet, for he was not born of Israel, whence all prophets come, whether from the nation, while free or captive, or from the spiritual nation. A prophet must be a Jew, possessing the inheritance of Israel, and having the authority of God to speak for Him. Mohammed is as dead as all other men, while Jesus arose and lives on eternally.
A dead man cannot provide redemption for his religious followers. He can merely introduce another religious doctrine, which leads where all religious doctrines lead. They take man to the tomb of death and back to the dust whence he came.
The little city of Colosse was ten miles east of Laodicea and thirteen miles south-east of Hierapolis. It was on a narrow military route from the Euphrates to the west on the Wolf River, which flowed into the Maeander River just after passing Colosse. The hot springs of Hierapolis met the cold waters from Colosse, producing a lukewarm condition of the water at Laodicea. Hierapolis was both a health center and a religious center. The name of Colosse may have come from the word Colossus, suggesting the fantastic size and shape of the limestone formations found there.
Here we have the fundamental conditions, which describe the latter-day church of Romanism, the Laodicean church of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, so aptly described by Jesus in the book of Revelation. Nothing could be more lukewarm than the voiceless pew-sitters of today.
Colosse, itself, points to a limestone city of the twenty-first century. It is to the believers there, as well, that Paul writes in the Spirit. They are the ones who have ears to hear his words and are able to recognize the Gnostic threat, which both the early and latter-day church will be forced to face.
The Gnostic prides himself in his knowledge. Most universities, today, have become halls of learning, which honor prideful academia, while having nothing but disdain for the truth of Jesus. They were originally established in America for the purpose of disseminating the Word of God, while providing a good education at the same time. One was not considered well-educated without a basic understanding of the Bible.
I know a modern limestone city that houses just such a university where darkness now rules over it, where light once ruled. It is functioning under the controlling spirit of that radical feminist movement inspired by Jezebel herself. This spirit has worked its way into the local liberal newspaper, which is nothing but a hotbed of Gnostic writers. The city itself is surrounded by prisons, housing those chained in darkness.
The Laodicean church of today, like the church in Colosse of yesterday, is full of heresy, having lost touch with the fundamental headship of Christ in a body of members submitted only to Him and not to any system.
The elements of the religious system, which permeate our twenty-first century Laodicean church, include Greek philosophy, oriental mysticism, Judaic circumcision and dietary regulations, the worship of angels, prosperity gospels and social gospels. Jesus and the truth are totally undermined by such utterly ridiculous ‘stuff’. The captives, whom Jesus set free, are caught in the snares of Satan, only to become prisoners of the religious system. We are looking at shades of the Babylonian captivity, all over again.
Those whom Jesus set free are free indeed, and qualify to partake in the inheritance of the saints, who function in the light. He has delivered them from the power of darkness and has translated them into the kingdom of the Son of His love (see Colossians 1:12-13).
‘Bottom-lining’ it, we must come back to the total sufficiency of Jesus and the redemption of sin through His blood and forgiveness of God. This requires our putting off the old man and putting on the new, according to truth and not to religion. It requires our adherence to the most fundamental truth of the Word, which is the only way to seal up the cracks and prevent the spirit of darkness and death from creeping in.
It is all about crossing back over the wall, which divided man from the truth, when he sinned at the time of Creation, only to be separated from the truth of God by the first belief system of religion. Satan set up shop in the world with his government based on the lies of religious liberalism on one side, while God’s government, based on truth and liberty, lay rejected by man on the other side. Only God, Himself, could provide the way back over that wall, which became the divider between the East and the West, between the lie and the truth and between death and life.
America must become like the new man by putting off her old robes of corruption and putting on the new ones of incorruption. She must return to her foundation that has always rested on the truth of the Bible, whether in the laws of the land, in the judicial system, or in the classrooms of the nation. This means she must reject the cults of multiculturalism, and all religious controls aimed at destroying her liberty.
The God Who rules over America is the God of truth and will accept no other gods before Him.