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Hidden In Him

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Hidden In Him

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ytmp3music

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Titanic post! I couldn't coincide more with your points. It's happy to give some thought to such mindful insights shared here.
Youtube to mp3 converter
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Hidden In Him

March 02, 2022, 01:44:01 PM
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Hidden In Him

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Alive and well!  :)

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MoreBloodWine

December 30, 2021, 05:29:20 PM
You alive Chris ?
 

MoreBloodWine

October 14, 2020, 06:17:44 PM
But ya, any PM's sent they should be made aware of via email, if they have notifications set for receipt of a PM.

But even if so, my newsletter blast can ignore such settings so anyone registered will at least get my message. But I can name them specifically in it for *** & giggles.
 

MoreBloodWine

October 14, 2020, 06:15:17 PM
Still need to check some things but that will be easy enough to do via PM.

When the site is re-opened. It is now, but tech locked down... but when it's "back". I can send out a newsletter, anyone who has an email attached that they still use will be made aware / be able to come back if that's what they choose to do.
 

Hidden In Him

October 14, 2020, 05:56:59 PM
You're kidding... That would be something. Any way to contact ShadowKen and Indybones? And maybe Pineapple, LoL. I suppose if it's all intact I could just message and it would go thru to email.
 

MoreBloodWine

October 14, 2020, 01:53:33 AM
@HIM: The MP is back, but it will need to remain in maintenance mode until I can re skin it / fix some of the underlying addons, But it is loading again... all data should still be intact.

I've already alerted spddmn's wife to let him know ;-)
 

Hidden In Him

April 27, 2020, 06:37:28 PM
And after checking, it wasn't done yet, LoL. Looks like it is now (hopefully).
 

Hidden In Him

April 08, 2020, 10:37:46 AM
This one's pretty good, LoL. Should be fun to put on video some day.  :)
http://www.spiritualwarbiblestudies.com/index.php?topic=181.msg207#msg207
 

Hidden In Him

March 10, 2020, 12:43:23 PM
 :) :) :)
 

MoreBloodWine

March 10, 2020, 07:02:44 AM
Everything happens for a reason, even if it's rewriting old works ;-)
 

Hidden In Him

March 07, 2020, 07:12:18 PM
My wife dislikes the idea that I'm rewriting studies rather than writing new ones, but the Lord is now opening up Colossians to me like never before, and some work needs to be redone. Very excited about the new insight!  :)
 

Hidden In Him

February 29, 2020, 02:19:44 PM
...get back to making sure studies were ready to put on camera when the time comes.  :)

So how's life with you?  
 

Hidden In Him

February 29, 2020, 02:18:44 PM
I noticed you were still lurking around, LoL. Glad to see I'm not the only one happy about it.  :) Hard at work converting the garage into a recording studio & music room. Gonna be nice! The soundproofing is going to be work and money, but a lot of it is already purchased. In the meantime, I had to
 

MoreBloodWine

February 29, 2020, 01:59:43 AM
 :) :) :)
 

Hidden In Him

February 28, 2020, 05:43:50 PM
I'm officially going back to writing! Glory to God Almighty!! Having fun again already, and going to be going to work improving and the adding to the set on Colossians.

Blessings in Christ to all who visit,
Hidden
 

MoreBloodWine

November 02, 2019, 02:37:56 AM
I rarely ever used Tapatalk to log in to the site. Not sure if anyone ever actually did as the issue of it not working was never reported.

But for our mobile uses, certain things like this chat box will not be available through the app as this chat box is an addon itself. But all boards within the forum are available and currently confirmed working.

Ty & my apologies !
 

Hidden In Him

August 05, 2019, 03:21:06 PM
An excellent passage I am now writing a study on in the Book of Colossians.

"And I am now rejoicing in [my] sufferings over you, and filling up in my flesh what is lacking of the afflictions of Christ for His body's sake, which is the church, of which I became a servant
 

Hidden In Him

August 05, 2019, 03:20:49 PM
... of which I became a servant according to the administration of God having been given unto me, for you to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations but which has now been made manifest to His saints, to whom God wished to make known what

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Author Topic: Colossians 2:20-23, 3:5-7, Part 1  (Read 2785 times)

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Hidden In Him

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Colossians 2:20-23, 3:5-7, Part 1
« on: November 14, 2020, 05:42:56 PM »
Warring Against Unclean Spirits By Mortifying The Flesh, Part 1

                         

     Having taught the Colossians that the Sabbaths and Jewish Feasts Days were merely prophetic foreshadowings of coming events and not something they needed to worry about keeping in the strictest sense, should someone be judging them about it, Paul now turned to something they did need to be concerned with: How were they conducting themselves sexually, and not giving themselves to spiritual "uncleanness." The heretics were stressing not to eat or even touch unclean foods, yet what they needed to be concerned with was not coming into contact with unclean spirits.

     If you died with Christ from the elementary principles of the world, why as though living in the world do you subject yourself to decrees? "Touch not, taste not," neither handle such things as are all coming to decompostion with the using, in accordance with the injunctions and teachings of men; teachings which indeed have an appearance of wisdom in advocating voluntary subservience, self-abasement and neglect of the body, yet do not have any value against gratification of the flesh. If therefore you were raised with Christ... Mortify your members upon the earth: Sexual immorality, uncleanness, physical passion, evil lust, and [sexual] covetousness, which is idolatry, on account of which things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, amongst whom you also walked when you were once living among these things. (Colossians 2:20-23, 3:5-7)

     The heretics here were a particularly strict sect of Jews called the Essenes, who held very tightly to the commandments in the Jewish Law that said they could not eat certain foods. The list of exactly what foods these were was found in passages like Leviticus 11, where it states the following:

     And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, "Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, 'These are the beasts which you shall eat of all beasts that are upon the earth. Every beast parting the hoof and making divisions of two claws, and chewing the cud among beasts, these you shall eat. But of these you shall not eat... the camel, because it chews the cud but does not divide the hoof, this is unclean to you. And the rabbit, because it chews the cud but does not divide the hoof... And the swine, because this animal divides the hoof, and makes claws of the hoof, and it does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. 8 You shall not eat of their flesh, and not touch their carcasses; these are unclean to you.'" (Leviticus 11:1-8)

     The passage goes on to list many other things they could not eat, including reptiles, and many things that they could, and then ended with these words:

     And you shall not defile your souls with any of the reptiles that creep upon the earth, and you shall not be polluted with them, and you shall not be unclean by them. For I am the Lord your God; and you shall be sanctified, and holy, because I the Lord your God am holy; and you shall not defile your souls with any of the reptiles creeping upon the earth. For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God, and you shall be holy, for I the Lord am holy. (Leviticus 11:43-45)

     The Essenes were observing these laws very strictly, and even adding to them. But while abstaining from unclean foods was indeed a form of spiritual discipline in a sense, doing so was nevertheless not being of any real value against bringing the flesh under submission. So long as they were continuing to eat lots of food that was considered "clean," Paul was saying that their flesh was still strong, and thus still prone to sexual temptation and sin.
     What was of real value in bringing the flesh under was fasting, which is why Paul was now instructing them to do so by saying, "mortify your bodily members upon the earth." I will go more into how the early church taught that fasting was the primary means of warring against the flesh in Part 2, but the first thing to establish here was that the New Testament saints were now using the phrase "touch not the unclean thing" as a reference to refraining from spiritual evil and spiritual uncleanness, which the Jewish laws about not eating unclean foods foreshadowed and pointed to prophetically.


Philosophers Who Hadn't Graduated "Elementary" Yet

     In this context, what was Paul referring to in telling the Colossians by saying they had instead "died with Christ from the elementary principles of the world"? Paul was shutting down the notion here that the Essenes were great wise men they needed to listen to. In fact, he was saying they hadn't even graduated from spiritual elementary school yet. The Essenes likened themselves to great Jewish philosophers, which is why Paul warned the Colossians about being robbed "through philosophy" in 2:? They would sit together and spiritualize Old Testament historical passages, as referring to something more than just history.

    A branch of the Pharisees who conformed to the most rigid rules of Levitical purity while aspiring to the highest degree of holiness. They lived solely by the work of their hands and in a state of communism, devoted their time to study and devotion and to the practice of benevolence, and refrained as far as feasible from conjugal intercourse and sensual pleasures, in order to be initiated into the highest mysteries of heaven and cause the expected Messianic time to come... Philo speaks of only four thousand Essenes, who lived as farmers and artisans apart from the cities and in a perfect state of communism, and who condemned slavery, avoided sacrifice, abstained from swearing, strove for holiness, and were particularly scrupulous regarding the Sabbath, which day was devoted to the reading and allegorical interpretation of the Law... One takes up the holy book and reads aloud, and another one from among the most learned comes forward and explains whatever may not have been understood—for, following their ancient traditions, they obtain their philosophy by means of allegorical interpretation." (Jewish Encyclopedia.com, The Essenes)

     You can see cases of such allegorizations in the Dead Sea Scrolls, and this habit of theirs is why Josephus described them partly as a philosophical school like the Pythagoreans (Antiquities, xv. 10, § 4; xviii. 1, § 5; "B. J." ii. 8, §§ 2-13). They were the religious intellectual and spiritual elite in Judaism, and because they were judging others including Christians on how they were keeping the sabbath, this might have caused the Colossians to fear their judgments. But instead of being great philosophers, Paul describing them as merely being "egotistically inflated by the things they had seen, and not holding fast the Head," i.e. Jesus Christ, from whom the saints of God were receiving TRUE revelation from Him. By suggesting they were still mentally consumed with in the "elementary principles of the world," Paul was saying they had not yet graduated from the Law being merely their "school master" (Galatians 3:24-26) to bring them to higher spiritual realities yet.
     Clearly they were still obsessed with maintaining ritual purity. As one article states regarding their mikvahs or ritual baths:

     Based on the findings at Qumran, we know that personal purity was also as high a priority. The number of mikvot found at Qumran makes this clear to us. There were 13 stepped pools found at the site... What is also unique about these ritual baths at Qumran is the dividing line they have on the stairs leading into the pool. The current understanding is that this line separated the people entering the pool. It kept the unclean people entering the pool from the clean people leaving the pool. In some case there were two lines with a space between to make sure that the people did not touch one another by accident. (Who Were The Essenes? Set Apart People.com)

                                               

     In other words, if they even touched someone else coming out of a ritual bath they were unclean again, and would have to take it over. The strictness of their teachings and way of life can also be confirmed by studying their own writings. As suggested by the passage in Colossians, their need to not touch or "handle" anything unclean appears to have been among the highest priorities in their codes of conduct. Speaking of their "Yahad" or holy community, one of their documents stated as follows:

     None of the perverse men is to enter purifying waters used by the Men of Holiness, and so contact their purity... None belonging to the Yahad is to discuss with such men matters of the Law or legal judgment, nor to eat or drink what is theirs, nor yet to take anything from them... If [a potential candidate] does proceed in joining the society of the Yahad, he must not touch the pure food of the general membership before they have examined him as to his spiritual fitness and works, and not before a full year has passed. Furthermore, he must not admix his property with that of the general membership. When he has passed a full year in the Yahad... he shall be initiated further into the secret teachings of the Yahad... [but] the initiate is not to touch the drink of the general membership prior to passing a second year among the men of the Yahad. (DSS, Charter Of A Jewish Sectarian Association)

     But these ordinances of "taste not, touch not, handle not" did not apply to Christians. This became evident after the apostle Peter received his vision of a sheet being lowered from Heaven with all sorts of things Jews were forbidden from eating, and was then commanded, saying, "Rise up, sacrifice and eat." After this, and then seeing the Holy Spirit poured out upon the Gentiles and realizing the gospel was to be preached to them, the early church no longer concerned itself with telling anyone to keep Jewish unclean food laws. They had passed from being any longer relevant for the church of Jesus Christ, aside from not wanting to needlessly and unnecessarily offend the Jews:

     And when Peter went up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision were differentiating with him, saying, "Before uncircumcised men you went in, and you ate with them." But having begun, Peter related the story to them in order, saying, "I was in the city of Joppa praying, and while in a trance I saw in a vision a certain vessel like a great sheet being let down by four corners out of Heaven. And it came to me, upon which after I had looked intently, I was considering. And I saw the four-footed creatures of the earth, and wild beasts and creeping things, and the birds of heaven. And I heard a voice saying unto me, 'Rise up, Peter, sacrifice and eat'." (Acts 11:2-7)

     So why did God institute unclean food laws for the Jews? The answer lies in understanding what it represented spiritually. Jesus referred to demons as being "unclean spirits," and this is what the food laws were given to prophetically represent; not allowing oneself to come into contact with unclean spirits, or worse yet, "eat" them by allowing them entrance into one's body. As Paul stated, Christians were now to "cleanse themselves of all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."


Unclean Spirits Are What Defile Believers Spiritually

     In his vision of being taken into Second Heaven, Harold Pittman talked about witnessing demonic spirits in action, and how demons of sexual immorality in particular appeared to be especially unclean and disgusting, not only in appearance but also smell:

     Finally, my escorting angels brought me to a group of these odd-looking beings... This group of demons had the most despicable shapes and forms of any in all of Second Heaven. In many cases, the forms of some of them were so repulsive that just to look upon them produced nausea.... I was astounded to learn that these were the creatures who held all the expertise in the area of "perversion." This group of untouchable, despicable, odd-looking spirit beings had been given the important assignment of destroying the morals of modern man. (Pittman, Demons: An Eyewitness Account, P.53)
 
     As he testified a little later in the Chapter:

     The angels told me that I was going to be permitted to see a human being actually being possessed by one of these demons… When we crossed through the dimension wall, we came out in a different room in the same hospital where my body was… In that room were two people, a young man and a young woman… The couple had no idea that we were there, and apparently thought they were completely alone.
     Standing between them was the most despicable looking of all creatures, of which they were totally unaware. He looked like an overgrown, stuffed, green frog that was all out of shape [proportionally]. The man and the woman were talking and laughing as though they had just exchanged a joke. The demon, however, was between them and moving slowly toward the man's face. His every movement was calculated, much as a cat's movement is calculated when he is stalking a little bird… When the demon reached the man's face, suddenly, like a puff of smoke, he disappeared into it, appearing to have penetrated the pores of the skin. As I turned away from the two, the angel began to tell me about the sovereign will of man, and how this demon made himself look beautiful and desirable to this individual. The angel stated that this individual, by his own sovereign will, had openly invited this thing to enter. To the man, the demon looked so desirable and beautiful, but I got to see him for what he truly is - ugly, despicable, and nauseating. (Pittman, Demons: An Eyewitness Account, P.53-54)


     This then was the real concern: Not taking within oneself unclean spirits, or allowing oneself to come into contact with them. And this is precisely the same problem the Lord said the Pharisees had. Like the Essenes especially were, they were heavily concerned with outward purity, and yet inside they were full of spiritual uncleanness:

     Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, yet within they are full of rapaciousness and voracity. Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and the dish, that the outside of it may also become clean. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are like tombs that have been whitewashed, which indeed appear beautiful on the outside, but within are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. (Matthew 23:25-27)

     The Pharisees harbored a murderous spirit, which is why Jesus said they were "full of dead men's bones," yet another allusion tospiritual uncleanness, since anything dead was considered to be unclean by the Jews, and never to be touched. But murderous intentions were just one thing the Lord said spiritually defiled a man. The list He provided immediately followed with adultery and sexual immorality: 

     And having called to the crowd, [Jesus] said to them, "Hear and understand. It is not that which enters into the mouth that defiles a man, but that which goes forth out of the mouth; this is what defiles a man… For out of the heart comes forth evil intentions: Murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies, defamations. These are the things that defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man." (Matthew 15:10-11, 17-20)

     The question, then, was how to keep unclean spirits from gaining influence over oneself, and for this the church advocated mortifying the flesh. This made the work of unclean spirits that much harder, because the flesh was being brought under submission to the leading of the Spirit instead.




Links:
https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/5867-essenes




« Last Edit: November 15, 2022, 03:31:20 PM by Hidden In Him »