Matt. 3:
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O "generation of vipers", who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: 9 And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
Same world, same serpent, same "other voice". Jesus fought against the philosophies promoted by these preachers His whole life. Not because they obeyed God's Word, but because they rejected God's Word.
How many time did Jesus address the mainstream preachers of His Time? How much of HIS Teaching was geared towards exposing the hypocrisy and wickedness of the Priests of the Temple in the City of God? And they murdered Him for it.
Paul, being zealous for the commandments and traditions of men this worldly religion promoted, persecuted God's Church, just as the wicked Kings of Israel did to the Faithful, and Cain did to Abel.
Jesus and Paul battled, Not God's Judgments and Ordinances, but the commandments and judgments of men that "professed to know God".
When Jesus was asked about the end times and what to look out for, here is what HE warned about.
Matt. 24:
4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. (He didn't warn about God or His laws and judgments deceiving us) 5 For "many" shall come in my name, saying, I (Jesus) am Christ; and "shall deceive" many.
He didn't warn about the "commandments contained of God's Ordinances", He didn't warn about the "handwriting of ordinances of God" that was against them, HE specifically warned about being deceived by "other voices"
who profess to know God,
even coming in HIS Name”.
Paul fought against these mainstream religions of the world God placed him in, every day after his conversion. Their philosophy, their ordinances and laws, were against him and against the church of God, just as they had been since the very first "other voice" who professed to God, deceived Eve. He didn't fight against God's Law, He fought against the principalities and powers of darkness. It was the Pharisees Law that condemned Jesus and Stephen to death. Just as it was their fathers law that condemned the prophets God sent to them, just as it was Eves Law that instructed her to eat, what God said not to eat.
But in many sermons on Colossians and Ephesians, promoted by the preachers of this world God placed me in, all of this is ignored, not even considered in the "context" of their teaching.
Because of the omission of these extremely important Biblical Truths, this world's religions have always united in their teaching that God's Judgments and Feasts and commandments are "against men". As a result they incorrectly identify the author of the "Handwriting of Ordinances" that Paul said was against Jesus, Paul and the Body of Christ, claiming it was God, when it wasn't, in Colossians. And they do the same in Ephesians, preaching that it was “God’s” Ordinances and Judgments" that relegated Faithful Gentiles as “
without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:”
Anyone who is willing to study God’s Word, knows this is not true. God very Law gave hope and an avenue to Him for "ALL" people, we can tread this for ourselves.
Lev. 19:
33 And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. 34 But "the stranger" that dwelleth with you "shall be unto you" as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
This world's religions do the same When Peter says in acts 15, "why tempt you God to place a Yoke on the necks of the disciples that they or their fathers couldn't bear". The promoters of this world's religions teach this “Yoke” is God's Laws that they claim, and have always claimed "were against them".
But Jesus Himself tells us who created this Yoke.
Matt. 23:
4 For they (Pharisees, not God) bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and "lay them on men's shoulders"; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. Of course Peter knew this because he was there when Jesus taught it, and he knew of the Shepherds who lead God people astray "by the precepts of men", spoken of by the Holy Prophets.
I could go on and on. Jesus said men are to live by "Every Word" of God, and I believe Him. But “MANY” have been convinced by the "other voice" that some of God's Word are against them and contrary to them and therefore men shouldn't live by them. Exactly the same message given to Eve in the very beginning. Paul warns about this very thing, from turning away from the Simplicity of Christ. “Live by God’s Words”, not "other voices".
Paul warns of this very thing also in Colossians and Ephesians.
Col. 2:
8 Beware lest "any man" spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition “of men”, after the rudiments “of the world”, and not after Christ. (The Rock that followed, Fed and Watered Israel)
Eph. 2:
1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course “of this world”, according to the "prince of the power of the air", “the spirit” that now worketh “in the children of disobedience”:
But somehow in spite of all this teaching, we are preached to by "many", who call Jesus Lord, Lord, that it wasn't the Traditions, philosophies and ordinances of men that was against Paul and the Church of God,
it was the Ordinances of God.
It is my hope that anyone reading this will “do the Study themselves”, in Faith that God is Perfect, and it is philosophies of the "other voices" in the World that God placed us in, that was against Jesus, Paul and the Church of God, and is against the Faithful even to this day. And that Jesus didn't "live by" the Commandments of men they taught for doctrines. And even though they killed Him, the very God they Professed to know, raised Him from the dead. Truly HE triumphed over the prince of this world whose ordinances condemned Him to death.
And for that I say, "Amen".
Please don't hesitate to ask questions or PM me to engage in honest discussions about these things.