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WisconsinChristianNews.com
Volume 27, Issue 3
Bible Teaching Opening up the Word of God
Do Not Let the World Take You Captive
By Rev. Christopher B. Cain Summer 2026 “See to it that no one takes
cause they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers.” (2 Timothy 4:3 NKJV).
cording to Christ. For in Him the whole full- ness of deity dwells bodily.”
We have allowed the world to take too many of us captive with its philoso- phy and empty de- ceit. I think of those who are graduating and getting ready to head off to col- leges and I truly worry for them be- cause of the wolves that lurk in the halls of “higher learning.”
you captive by philos- ophy and empty de- ceit, according to human tradition, ac- cording to the elemen-
tal spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bod- ily.” (Colossians 2:8-9 ESV). We live in a time where truth is under assault from every direction. Truth is no longer seen as some- thing that is absolute, or even ob- jective, truth is now viewed by most society as something that is sub- jective and subject to change at a moments notice when people desire to justify their way of living.
What the Apos- tle Paul was deal- ing with was the false doctrine of the Gnostics, called Gnosticism.
There is no doubt that we are liv- ing in the time that the Scriptures speak of when Paul tells Timothy, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doc- trine, but according to their own desires, be-
Rather than going to church on Sunday to hear what the Word of God says on a sub- ject, or studying it for themselves, people flock to online influencers and content cre-
The Gnostics believed that all flesh was bad, and therefore Jesus did not actually come in the flesh and physically die for our sins, but rather He was merely a spirit being. They also believed in what they called secret knowledge, or gnosis in the Greek. They sought secret knowledge to unlock the di- vine spark to achieve salvation. Not much has changed in two thousand years, we have merely changed the names to protect the guilty! Today we have many people who believe that they possess secret knowledge, knowledge that you must re- ceive to ascend to higher levels of con- sciousness. The mystery religions of the paganism of Paul’s day have never really gone away. The world still seeks to corrupt minds with its philosophy, empty deceit, human traditions, and elemental spirits. In his commentary of the Bible, Adam Clarke says of the world’s desire to cheat you (take you captive), “Their goods were the salvation they had received from Christ; and both the Gentile and Jewish teachers endeavored to deprive them of these, by per- verting their minds, and leading them off from the truths of Christianity.” The way to guard against being deceived and taken captive is in the recognition of who Jesus Christ is. Colossians 2:9 says of Christ, “For in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.” Once you come to an understanding of who Christ truly is, that He is God, you will understand why you need Him. God came down and robed Himself in flesh and died for us so that He might de- liver us from the bondage of sin. He indwells believers. Christ in you changes everything. Do not let the world take you captive, sur- render to Christ today. Email: AliveMinistriesUSA@gmail.com
ators. Anyone can be a Bible scholar when all you want to hear is someone support the lie you want to believe. There is no need for true Bible doctrine according to many, be- cause “doctrine divides.” Doctrine does divide. It divides truth from error. Doctrine is not in its purest form some man-made teaching. True doctrine is extracted and harmonized from all the Bible passages on a given subject. Those passages are then fit to- gether and measured against the rest of the Bible to make sure there is no error in the conclu- sions you have arrived at when harmonizing the Scriptures. Yet we find ourselves in a culture which has no desire to hear sound doctrine. We are raising the next genera- tion and sending them out as sheep among the wolves in many cases. We have not properly pre- pared those around us for the at- tacks of this world because we have failed to properly prepare ourselves for the world that we now live in. We must guard against the attempts of the world to take us, and the future gener- ations captive through the lies and deceit that are so often pre- sented as facts. In Colossians 2:8-9 the Apostle Paul tells the church at Colosse, the Church at Laodicea, and by extension the faithful of all ages, “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradi- tion, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not ac-
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