{"id":1840,"date":"2015-11-03T13:39:51","date_gmt":"2015-11-03T13:39:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/?p=1840"},"modified":"2015-11-03T13:43:17","modified_gmt":"2015-11-03T13:43:17","slug":"jesus-plus-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/?p=1840","title":{"rendered":"JESUS PLUS"},"content":{"rendered":"

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First century Colosse was a melting pot of three main cultural streams. The Hellenists held a dualistic view that everything was either spiritual or material. Judaism had a rigid and puritanical outlook which sometimes led to a withdrawal from and condemnation of the world. The third stream was the local pagan, superstitious and occultic.<\/p>\n

As you can imagine, these three streams blending together caused much strife, debate, and immorality in the church. A blender is one who throws in ideas from a number of philosophies, even those who contradict each other. This confusion drives them to find something they can endorse and satisfies their intellect and preferences. The result is a custom made worldview that leads away from biblical truth.<\/p>\n

Syncretism (confusion of values, beliefs, and practices), often happens when lots of change is going on. In that day, there were earthquakes, dominating foreign rulers, and fearful times. Any similarites? (Word in Life Study Bible ftnotes)<\/p>\n

Paul says in Col 2:8, \u201cSee to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophies, which depend on the traditions of men and the basic principles of this world, rather than Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n

How do you mix the basic principles of this world with Christ? Jesus plus my family\u2019s traditions? Jesus plus man\u2019s rules to follow for indulgences, morality, religion. Jesus plus a secret organization, my own opinions, logic, desires? Jesus plus money, possessions, or entertainment?<\/p>\n

Have you ever been torn between your family\u2019s traditions and Christ?<\/p>\n

Paul says in Galatians, Who has bewitched you? You were running a good race. Who pulled you off course? After beginning in the Spirit, are you going to be made perfect by the flesh?<\/p>\n

The gospel supersedes every tradition, religion, philosophy. The Christian faith has produced remarkable results in changing families, relationships, and whole communities. Christ is an atmosphere changer.<\/p>\n

Do opinionated people try to push their ideas and choices on you to adapt your own set of rules for living? Stand your ground. Do you try to earn your right standing? Trust in the only one that can do it for you.<\/p>\n

When you became a Christian, you joined a new family. What is your Jesus plus? The Word tells us it\u2019s Jesus alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.\u201d (John 14:6)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First century Colosse was a melting pot of three main cultural streams. The Hellenists held a dualistic view that everything was either spiritual or material. Judaism had a rigid and puritanical outlook which sometimes led to a withdrawal from and condemnation of the world. The third stream was the local pagan, superstitious and occultic. As […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-principles-of-this-world"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2436,"url":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/?p=2436","url_meta":{"origin":1840,"position":0},"title":"Praise Precedes Deliverance","author":"hollysmith","date":"November 28, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Do you have a reoccurring issue you would like to be delivered from? Praise always accompanies deliverance. It is in anticipation of full surrender by the enemy. 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If we believed that everything we were going through is preparation to be used in our future and for our good-we would change our outlook.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Featured"","block_context":{"text":"Featured","link":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/?cat=18"},"img":{"alt_text":"desert road","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hollywsmith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/desert-road-300x202.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2540,"url":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/?p=2540","url_meta":{"origin":1840,"position":5},"title":"Planting Good Thought Seeds","author":"hollysmith","date":"June 26, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Sometimes our thought patterns accumulated over time produce action and quality of life. On the other hand, sometimes our thinking has produced stagnation or mediocrity. 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