Youtube video: https://youtu.be/kVOr1j1xdzI
2Tim 3:1-5; But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
v2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
v3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,
v4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
v5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.
2Cor 11:13; For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.
v14 No wonder, for even satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
In the concluding segments of our study on doctrinal orientation we are noting some of the categories of Bible doctrine that God's Word reveals to the spirit led believer.
Previously we noted that the words translated "strong" in Eph 6:10; and 1Cor 16:13; refer to doctrine that becomes the basis for the believer's deployment of God's ability, strength and capacity that correspond to the Greek words "endunamoo", "kratos", and " ischus" .
Doctrine is power because it links the believer's volition to the attributes of God's essence through the immutable Divine decree. This is how the doctrinal believer operates from a position of strength when engaging the various categories of problems that arise during one's life in the adverse environment of the devil's world.
We also noted in Eph 6:11-18; that the categories of doctrine are described as the "armor of God." This is the spiritual armor that believers must deploy if they are going to hold their ground with truth in the invisible war of ideas.
The believer deploys these categories of doctrine that comprise God's armor by using their positive volition to recall and apply what God's word reveals is available for application in the various venues of engagement in the invisible spiritual war.
When we compare Heb 12:1-3; with Heb 11:1-3; we see the ultimate example of the function of the faith rest drill in the recall of doctrine to maintain divine viewpoint while enduring maximum pressure.
Recall of doctrine results in the believer having stability and self-discipline from doctrinal recall and application that provides the believer with total control of their thoughts, decisions and actions regardless of the pressure.
Paul describes this in Col 2:5b-8; ... I am delighted when I see your good discipline and stability from your doctrinal recall in Christ.
v6 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord (by grace through faith), so walk in Him, ( by continuous PMA of God's Word of truth)
v7 having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established secure in the doctrine, ( your spiritual life) just as you were taught, with the result that you are filled with gratitude.
We see here that the stability and security that comes from the application of doctrine under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit is so powerful that the believer is filled with gratitude and as we have noted this overflowing gratitude becomes motivation for praise and worship of God just like it did for Jesus while He was enduring the adversity of the cross Heb 12:2;
Col 2:8; is a warning for believers to persist in doctrinal truth in order to maintain stability in their thinking and resist the pressure that comes from the propaganda, deceit and lies that are being communicated by satan's cosmic deceivers and not become seduced and imprisoned by the cosmic lies that satan's media deploys on the invisible spiritual battlefield of the angelic conflict.
Col 2:8; NET Be careful not to allow anyone to take you captive with an empty, deceitful philosophy that is according to human traditions and the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
We see here that satan is the enemy of truth and he attacks it with deceitful lies that trick people and lead them away from truth into his lie that is comprised of maximum deception.
Satan's lie is the enemy. The enemy of God is satan's cosmic lie, the enemy of the believer is satan's cosmic lie, the enemy of freedom is satan's cosmic lie and the enemy of happiness is satan's cosmic lie.
The Greek word translated "be careful" is the present passive imperative of "blepo" that is a command to "take heed," "watch out for," or " to beware." A good translation into the English is to "be alert and on guard against."
The present tense means to continuously be on be alert or on guard so as not let anyone kidnap you and carry you back into slavery as a prisoner in the of war of ideas in the angelic conflict.
The believer does this by proving the truth and not letting it go. 1Thes 5:21;
Col 2:8; The Greek word "sulagogeo" means "to kidnap and carry someone off as a prisoner of war," or "to capture and enslave."
This is a command for believers to always be alert and never allow themselves to be sucked into the propaganda and deception of satan's cosmic lie. The present tense is a command to stop the process of being captivated that is already underway.
Many believers at Colossae had already been beguiled because they had succumbed to satan's deceitful propaganda so Paul is warning them and commanding them to stop it!
We must never forget that we are actively engaged in an invisible spiritual war of ideas in the angelic conflict and that the theatre of battle in the spiritual war is what we think.
The only effective weapon that is available for the believer to deploy against the barrage of lies in the war of ideas is the truth of Bible doctrine.
Believers are kidnapped when they compromise with and accept the deceitful propaganda and lies of the philosophy and empty deception of the traditions of men that are invisibly managed by the organized supernatural powers of satan's cosmic system, not by Christ.
The believer's weapon is Bible doctrine the enemy's weapon is described by the Greek word "philosophia" that in the Greek is a compound word that means "love of wisdom."
This is the same thing that satan used in the garden of Eden to trick the woman and defeat her. Gen 3:6-7;
There is no inherent problem with loving wisdom the problem is recognizing the source and objective of what is being presented as "wisdom."