8
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. 9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. (Colossians 2:8-10 NIV)
Today is the last day of Ramadan. According to a news report regarding information obtained by the American turned Taliban fighter, we have been made aware of a biological threat. According to the report, America would suffer a biological attack coinciding with the end of Ramadan.
Attorney General Ashcroft has put us on a state of alert on several occasions already. We have been told when our government received information regarding the possibility of a terrorist attack. The decision has been made to pass that information along to us rather than keep us in the dark. And so, we have been warned. The warning is to stay alert. We must stay alert because there are those who would destroy us. There are those who would destroy our lives, our children, our loved ones, and our entire way of life.
We have been asked to keep our eyes open, to be aware, to be vigilant, to watch out for strange things, and to notify authorities when something suspicious is going on. And considering what we are facing, it seems like a good idea.
There is another area where we must stay alert as well. We must be alert spiritually, because there are dangers to our faith. There are dangers to Christianity. So we must keep our eyes and ears open and be aware of what is happening around us. You see, there are those who would pervert the truth of Christianity, and this perversion manifests itself in subtle ways. I can assure you that you have already encountered these dangerous teachings. Our text today gives us some practical advice on what to do.
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. (Colossians 2:8 NIV)
You have probably heard the illustration of the duck. It goes like this: "If it walks like a duck, and looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck." That is generally true. But it is not true in every circumstance. What Paul is telling us in our text today is that not all the quacks is a duck.
He is calling the church at Colosse to be aware of hollow and deceptive philosophy that is masquerading as true Christian teaching. Rather than focusing on Christ, this teaching depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world. This pseudo Christian teaching can captivate you and lead you astray, if you are not careful. He is issuing a warning. He is calling us to a high state of alert.
The church in Colosse faced a particular form of strange doctrine. It was a mixture of Greek philosophy (an early version of Gnosticism) and Jewish legalism. Today we face numerous forms of aberrant teaching. Some of that teaching is within the church. On one hand there is the aberrant teaching of liberalism. On the other hand there is the aberrant teaching of legalism. But perhaps the biggest threat we face comes from the most popular spiritual philosophy in our culture today. It is what is known as a New Age teaching. It may be the most dangerous teaching we are facing. It is subtle and popular.
The New Age movement is a loose confederation of networks which share a common philosophical foundation. The New Age movement is a strange mixture of science and Eastern mysticism with a liberal splash of the occult. An emphasis on the idea that "all is one" or that everything that exists composes one essential reality can be found as a common belief. God is seen as an impersonal consciousness and power.
Within its ranks you will find a host of cultic organizations such as the Rajneesh cult, Transcendental Meditation, Eckankar, the Church Universal and Triumphant, the Divine Light Mission, the "Human Potential Movement" exemplified in Est (or The Forum), Silva Mind Control, Lifespring, Summit Workshops, and many others.
Many follow Eastern mystical leaders like Mahareeshi Mahesh Yoga, Baba Ram Dass, Sai Baba, and Guru Maharijih. Other names you find associated with New Age thinking are Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, the founder of Theosophy; Alice Bailey, follower of Theosophy and New Age prophetess; Fritjof Capra, quantum physicist and author of The Tao of Physics, Benjamin Creme, founder of the Tara Center and author of The Reappearance of the Christ and the Masters of Wisdom; Marilyn Ferguson, author of The Aquarian Conspiracy, a pro-New Age work; Matthew Fox, a controversial Catholic theologian who blends Catholic mysticism, pantheism, environmentalism and feminism; David Spangler, who gained fame when he took over the education program at the Findhorn community in Scotland and author of Revelation: The Birth of the New Age; George Trevelyan, a British leader of the New Age movement. More recognizable names include many celebrities, recording artists, and actors.
The New Age movement has at its heart a belief characterized as "monistic pantheism," meaning all is one and all is God. It believes in the divinity of all mankind, that we are separated from God only in our own consciousness, which needs to be altered though a variety of ways, including meditation, Yoga, chanting, drugs, visualization, and the like. Man will thus experience union with God. Belief in the law of karma is common, which means that whatever a person does, good or bad, will return in exact proportion in another existence. They must continue to return in new incarnations until the bad karma has been balanced by the good karma they accomplish. You can see the problem. There is no such thing as absolute truth. We all have values that must be clarified, and my truth may not be your truth. They promote a one-world government led by the enlightened. They see all religions as essentially saying the same thing, thus Hinduism is as true as Christianity. Jesus was just an avatar who attained a high level of attunement to the Cosmic Christ, thus enabling him to be a bodily vehicle for this Cosmic Christ for a period of three years. There is no such thing as sin and we are our own saviors.
Listen to David Spangler, in a book called Explorations: Emerging Aspects of the New Culture:
What is seeking to emerge is a body of people who are nourishers and who are quite literally what Jesus called "the salt of the earth," but consciously so,, spiritually so, accepting their divinity without becoming inflated by it, and acting within the sphere of their influence to draw that same divinity out of others. . . . These are givers of life, and they are forming the basis for the government of the future.
Along the lines of the unity of all religions, Matthew Fox writes in the book The Coming of the Cosmic Christ:
Deep ecumenism is the movement that will unleash the wisdom of all world religions: Hinduism and Buddhism, Islam and Judaism, Taoism and Shintoism, Christianity in all its forms, and native religions and goddess religions throughout the world. This unleashing of wisdom holds the last hope for the survival of the planet we call home.
The New Age movement is a wedding of a wide variety of mystical, quasi-scientific, human potential, religious and occult elements into one conglomeration of sensitivity, spirituality, and philosophical unity. And we have barely scratched the surface.
For those of us who hold a Biblical worldview, it should be obvious that we should be concerned, and for very good reason. What we are dealing with here is not a rigid cult of mindless robots who are totally dependant on their despotic leader to map out every move.
We are dealing with a philosophy which is in vogue in our culture, and which is being propagated in our public and private schools, colleges, universities, arts, cinema, television, music and government. Rather than being the salvation of our society, it is a subtle, but insidious cancer for Christianity and culture. It will not center us, but rather move us away from the center of our faith, Jesus Christ our Lord and God, and cause us to doubt the moral center of revealed truth, the Bible.
The New Age distortion of the teachings essential to Christianity ought to concern us as well. God becomes an impersonal force. Jesus is simply an advanced avatar. Sin no longer exists. Salvation is by our cyclic rebirth through reincarnation whereby we work off the bad karma we accumulated in previous lives. The Scripture is not true where is says that "it is appointed unto man once to die and then the judgment," because we die many times and just keep trying. We die and try, die and try. All humans are divine. The Bible is not the revealed truth, but only one truth. All religions are equal, and none is the true way. Christ’s Second Coming is not the literal coming of the Jesus who lived on Earth 2000 years ago, but the coming of the Cosmic Christ in whatever form he takes. These teachings attack Christianity at its heart.
What can we do? We must be on alert. And we must put these teachings to the test. Our text gives us just such a test. By this test we can determine what is true Christian teaching and what is not. It can keep us from being deceived.
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. (Colossians 2:9-10 NIV)
Christians should never be gullible. We should never merely accept a teaching because it sounds good, or because of who is doing the teaching. Don’t be deceived. Do be discerning. Put the teaching to the test. I call it the Christ test.
One of the characteristics of the hollow and deceptive philosophy Paul warns us to avoid is that it does not depend upon Christ but rather the traditions and principles of this world. And here, in verses 9 and 10, he points to Christ as the fullness of the Deity. In other words, Jesus Christ is the literal manifestation of the living God. He is the Son of God and God the Son. All of the fullness of God resides in him. He has and he is all we need. He is at the center of everything for the Christian, and he is at the center of true Christian teaching.
One evening Jesus was sitting around with his disciples. He asked them about people’s opinions of him. Who were people saying that he was? The disciples gave him various comments that they had heard. Some people were saying that he was a prophet. Others were saying that he was John the Baptist, or Elijah, or Jeremiah. Then he turned the question to them. "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" (Matthew 16:15 NIV) You see, the issue was what they had come to believe about him. This is still the central issue of Christianity. Who do we say that Jesus really is? If he is anything other than our Lord and God, then we are not describing Christianity. This is the Christ test.
In the church at Colosse they were facing a form of teaching that taught that Jesus was one of the many emanations sent forth from God, but he was not God. And there are many today teaching that Jesus is less than God. They say that he was a good teacher, a great moral philosopher, a prophet, and a good man. They want him to be recognized as an example to follow –– one way to God. Beware of this kind of teaching. It sounds good, but it is dangerous.
You see, Jesus was not just a good man or a good moral teacher. He was not just a moral philosopher. He was not simply a prophet pointing the way to God. And Jesus is not simply one way out of many ways to God. Jesus claimed to be the only way to God. He claimed to be the way, the truth, and the life.
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6 NIV)
There are really only three opinions that a logical person can come to concerning Jesus. Based on what Jesus himself said, he was either a liar, or a lunatic, or the Lord. You see, if Jesus is not the only way then he was either deceiving us, in which case he would be a liar, or he was self deceived, in which case he would be a lunatic. On the other hand, if he is indeed the only way, then he is in fact the Lord. One thing is for sure, if Jesus Christ is not the only way, then he could not have been a good teacher, or a prophet, or a good example.
Any teaching that does not place Jesus Christ as the only way to heaven is not Christian teaching. Jesus Christ is the only way, not because we say he is the only way, but because it is the truth. Often Christians are labeled as judgmental because we say Christ is the only way. We are not trying to be judgmental. We are simply trying to share what we know to be the truth.
Suppose there were two doors, one blue and the other green. If you walked through the blue door you would find yourself in heaven. If you walked through the green door you would find yourself in hell. So you began to tell people to choose the blue door and go to heaven. You would warn them against choosing the green door. Is that judgmental? Some people may accuse you of being prejudiced against the color green. But it has nothing to do with the color green. You are simply telling people the truth about how to get to heaven and how to avoid hell.
We are not prejudiced against other religions. We are simply saying that Christianity is the only true way to God. We don’t say that in order to offend someone. We say that because we truly believe that it is true. And we want to see people escape hell and join us in heaven.
The key issue for Christians is Christ. We believe that he is the Savior. We believe that he is the only way. We have received salvation from him. He alone is sufficient. All else is insufficient. No other teaching is adequate to save us. This is the Christ test. And the current New Age teaching in vogue does not pass the test.
Be on the alert. Don’t be deceived. Do be discerning. Put all the spiritual sounding teaching to the Christ test. Who does it say that he is? What place does Christ hold in the teaching? If he does not hold a central place as all supreme and all sufficient, then the teaching is not of God. Don’t be taken in by it. Don’t be misled.
The test of truth is Christ. He is the way, the truth, and the life!
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