Latest / Journey Elgin / Sunday Message 9/27/26- Beware the Philosophy's and Ideologies that Deceive and Destroy

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Sunday Message 9/27/26- Beware the Philosophy's and Ideologies that Deceive and Destroy · Journey Elgin

• Phillip Thomas: All right. Well we are just kind of give you a a as as we're summing up and wrapping up within the next probably three or four weeks. ⁓ our we're in the end game now. I've used that title kind of as a in a provocative way, if you will. ⁓ not that we're in the end times exactly, but we're dealing with some some challenging things and there are some signs that are pointing that direction. ⁓ but I I'm have talked about a lot of individual things and and we are gonna be putting those together on how it they they all kind of are interacting together and we're we're seeing it. And ⁓ one of the ⁓ things I've talked about, I've talked about the relationship that Christians and Jews should have, ⁓ how we wrestle with that, how we ⁓ what does the Bible say about that. ⁓ and ⁓ the last couple weeks we've talked about ⁓ the I believe there's There's two specific ideologies that are directly against the things of God. And and we're starting to see those ideologies more and more around us. And ⁓ one of those is is Islam. ⁓ there's a ⁓ a religious aspect to Islam, but it's actually much bigger than that. It is a full ideology. It's a way that you approach the world and it includes everything. ⁓ within the world. So that includes a governmental system. So the ideology of Islam actually requires that the governmental system if eventually starts to be part of Islam as well, right? It it it it takes that ideology. ⁓ I believe we need to be aware of that. ⁓ by the way, also these ideologies play into we we see we see the spirit of these ideologies within scripture as it's bringing us to the the end times. Okay. We see elements ⁓ within that. So for us today, whether we're in the true end game or not, we always need to be aware of what are what how is the enemy working, right? And and so through ideologies, we have to make sure we stand for what is true. So the last couple weeks we we did talk about Islam. Talk about the the the history of it, ⁓ how ⁓ what we talked about Noah's Ark, right? ⁓ that that was in an area that one of was was one of the strongest Christian footholds ⁓ that there w there were, right? And then Islam comes around and it takes Islam a while, but Constantinople ⁓ is now Istanbul. You may have heard Istanbul. ⁓ that's the capital of Turkey. That was Constantinople. That that was a pillar of Christianity. ⁓ and and it took them a while. They they actually had a siege and and it ⁓ and it failed, but they finally overtook ⁓ took that area. So now that is all Islamic. It's all Muslim. ⁓ that area of the world that was all Christian, you have seven churches that are mentioned in the book of Revelation, right? All of those were real churches in that area. Guess what that area is? All I think every one of those churches are now in completely ⁓ Islamic controlled ⁓ countries, right? And you know, and because I've had conversations even with with pastors that just don't see that this ideology is a problem. It's it's just another religion, right? ⁓ And and though there will be arguments coming back, say, well, there are countries that that have a strong Islamic ⁓ population, but you know, but the country hasn't become ⁓ Muslim. Well, y because there hasn't been enough time that's passed, right? That is the goal. And listen, there's let's just look at it for what it is. We're not we're not saying that it's evil or or anything like that. Their ideology is that not only will they convert every individual, but they will convert the all of the institutions, right? All of the government institutions. That is part of their ideology. Some will want to do use violence to accomp accomplish that. And guess what? That has been used. Constantinople was violently overthrown. But many times they it's not that. It is just they slowly continue to grow and grow and grow and eventually the majority rules, right? And that sometimes then you have very negative responses to Christians and Jews. Hey, get out. Sometimes they kind of live in some level of peace, but they are not equal citizens. ⁓ you will not find Christians ⁓ in any Muslim country, Muslim run country. You will not find Christians, Jews, and non-Muslims treated as equal because they're not in their ideology. Does that make sense? So this is a dangerous ideology. I think as the church, we need to be aware of that, especially because at the heart and the root of that ideology is they deny who Jesus Christ is. When people say we worship the same God, If you believe Jesus is God, you don't technically worship the same God. Right? Yes, are there connections and overlaps? Sure. But but we need to be able to stand for what is true. I I wasn't going to go that long on that, but that's one of the ideologies that is very dangerous and we need to pay attention. Okay. The the other ideology, we're going to talk a little bit, and we've talked about this before, ⁓ is what we would now consider kind of a Marxist ideology, right? Now this gets very confusing because ⁓ it gets applied in so many different ways, right? And it's it's changed over time. But we're gonna look at some of the principles behind that. But first I want to s want to read a scripture that doesn't point to what we would consider Marxism, but points to the danger of allowing and incorporating other ideologies to to begin to influence you. Right? And so we're gonna look at Colossians and ⁓ we'll be in chapter two, ⁓ verses one through fifteen. And so I may may stop and start here a little bit. It says, For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all those not seeing Who have not seen me face to face. So, real quick, this is Paul. He's riding to the church in ⁓ Colossae. it's it's interesting because you actually see the church in Laodicea is only about five, ten miles away. The church in Laodicea is actually one of the seven churches in Revelation. It's actually the last one, which basically there's nothing good said about it. ⁓ it it Laodicea Col Colossae was. was a a very powerful economic ⁓ area. And then as roads were built, it's kind of fascinating. ⁓ you know how little towns, ⁓ when interstates would be built and if if it bypassed little towns, they would just go to go to nothing, right? ⁓ well that kinda happened to Colase a little bit. And ⁓ so then Leo D Cio actually is the more financially wealthy and and and things like that, but there's some similarities that that are there, kind of kind of interesting. And ⁓ so Paul is is writing to these churches in that area, but specifically to the church in Colossae. So verse two says that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ. All right, so what what is Paul is going to be addressing some things because remember, this is Christianity is is very new, right? ⁓ that they're still wrestling with the fact that ⁓ Paul and all of them believed that that there there there wasn't going to be Jews and Christians. There were just going to be followers of the Messiah, right? And ⁓ but mo most of the Jews did not believe that. So Paul and them are wrestling. They're trying to figure out how do we convince the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah. Well, the Gentiles are actually starting to to convert and come come to to knowledge, right? And so so then they're they're trying to put the brakes on some of that because the Gentiles are bringing their pagan practices into Christianity, right? And so it's like I I can't even imagine, right? I I think it's crazy now trying to navigate where we are, right? Man, they were navigating all of those same things, right? ⁓ Paul is trying to present the one true gospel that is based in Jesus Christ. And from from all corners of all other religious areas it he's he's being ⁓ pushed back against, right? And and then you have Christians who, yeah, I believe this Jesus guy, but I kinda like what we did back in the synagogue, or I kinda like what we did ⁓ you know, on the Mount of Prostitutes as we worship pagans, right? It's kind of fun, right? And Paul is dealing with all of that. He's saying, keep that stuff out, right? When he says the mystery of the gospel, the mystery of the faith, what is it? Jesus Christ. It all revolves around him. Why? Because he is God. When we talk, when we say God creator, who are we talking about? Jesus Christ. He's God. Right? When we talk about the God of the Old Testament, who was present in the Old Testament? Jesus Christ, because he is God, right? And ⁓ and so so that Paul is really hammering that home ⁓ here whenever he says who who is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. That's why that's why I believe it's important to talk about these other ideologies that we are, and that sometimes people are like, ⁓ why are you even talking about that? I'm sick of talking about that stuff. That that's that's Political stuff, right? It's not stuff we're supposed to talk about in the church. Well, yeah, because what goes on out there, it starts impacting what you believe. And you better know how you're going to be attacked so that you can stand up against it. Because wisdom and knowledge, true wisdom and true knowledge, only flow through Christ, right? And so so we ⁓ we see ⁓ Paul is ⁓ addressing all this in whom all hidden treasures and wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. Man, the arguments against the things of God can sound really loving and really plausible and they can be very deceptive. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your you in good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive. By philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him who is the head of all rule and authority. In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God and raised him from the dead, and you who were dead in your trespasses, and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses. By canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. All right. So Paul just gives a very, very clear salvation message here. Right? And and he's reemphasizing that so Real quick, what is that salvation message? He's and it and he's attacking some of these empty philosophies that are being used against the people. So the people that still were ha had Jewish roots, they wanted to bring Jewish tradition and apply it to Christianity. ⁓ circumcision was one of the big ones, right? That was a sign that God called that original group of people to. Hey, this is This is a a a sign that you belong to me. Right? And so they they followed that. ⁓ well there were a lot of Jewish people that were wanting Christians to do the same thing. Right. And ⁓ so no, no, you need to be circumcised because you're you're now coming in and you're part of ⁓ they they leaned h more heavily on the Jewish side of things, right? And Paul's like, wait, no, you don't you don't have to do that. Right. There's nothing wrong with doing it, but you don't have to anymore because the debt has been paid through Jesus Christ. It's not about you being part of this people group. It's about you and your relationship with Christ. And the this the sign of circumcision was a an outward sign that you had given your life to God beforehand. Right? Now you don't you don't need to do that. That's that that is whenever you profess Jesus Christ. You receive salvation in him, you are saved. You don't have to do something else. Right? And by the way, if we're we're just being really honest, talk about a barrier to evangelism if you add on, and you must be circumcised to a bunch of grown people who are listening to you. Right? Just want to throw that out there, right? That Paul is probably like. You know, I don't know if I can sell this whenever that's the cost, right? So but we we laugh about it, but there's there is an importance to this, right? That that we so often want to replace faith and things of faith with things that we can do, that we as humans can hold on to, right? And ⁓ and that's kind of what's going on here. And so Paul is saying, no, that's not the direction we're we're going, right? There's nothing wrong. If you want to get circumcision, there's nothing wrong with that. Right? However, it is not necessary for salvation because salvation is found in Christ and in Christ alone. Right? And that that is what he he continues to go over. I I love ⁓ when he talks, ⁓ and you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, right? So again, he's he's Changing it, uncircumcision of your flesh, right? So so how do you how do you pay for that that ⁓ the sinfulness? Well, it's only through Jesus Christ, right? And I I love what he says, God made alive for together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling our record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands, right? Understand, all actions have consequences and repercussions. We live in a in an orderly world because God created the world to work in a certain way, right? And He is a God of justice. He is a God of holiness, right? And so way too often we ha and He's also a God of grace and mercy. But guess what has to come first? Justice and then grace and mercy. Things will be held into account. Justice will happen. Right? And so so whenever it comes, the way that we experience grace in Jesus Christ is we accept that he paid the price that we could not. That is justice. Someone has to pay that price, right? And so justice will happen for everyone, right? If they don't believe in Jesus Christ, they will be the ones that paid that debt. But we have chosen to accept his payment of our debt, which is why we can now experience grace and mercy. Justice has to happen. It will happen in our world. God created it, that's how he set it up. Right? But he chose to come and to be nailed to that cross, paying our debt for us. Right? And ⁓ and then he goes, by canceling the record of debt, this he set aside, nailing it to the cross, he disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. Right? I I I love that little shot that that Paul does at not only the Jewish leaders. But the Roman authorities, right? That yes, y'all thought you were able to stop this message, but no, ultimately you will be put to shame. How will they ultimately be put to shame? Because they will spend an eternity separated from God, because they will only experience God's justice. They will not experience God's grace and mercy. And that's the case for everyone. All of us will experience. God's justice, because that's how He set the world up. We we kind of inherently know this. How many have heard the term karma? Right? How many sometimes use that that term? I try not to use it because it kind of becomes very pagan very quickly. However, it is actually reflecting a foundational truth of all of creation that justice eventually will come. Right. That's what karma means is if you're you treat people poorly, eventually something bad's gonna happen to you. Right? Well, that principle is actually accurate. If you do not receive and accept the grace of Jesus Christ, you will experience justice without grace. And that means eternal separation from Christ. Right? And so so Paul is stressing that. That is what we need to be stressing. But guess what? Paul was also addressing philosophies of the day. If he writes this in the year 60 something, see to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. If he was writing that back in 60 AD, Don't you think there are still philosophies and ideologies that are trying to deceive us today? Of course there are. Right? And what's really interesting, and I probably should flesh this out a little bit more because it just kind of popped into my head. I I'm talking about two different ideologies that are very dangerous to today. And the first one is Islam and that ideology, right? What's interesting about that? We talked about this last week, is You know, Muhammad claims to have seen an angel. I do believe he saw something spiritual, ⁓ but I do not believe it came from God, right? ⁓ it's it's interesting what ⁓ this says here. ⁓ according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of this world, right? So philosophies that that are false, right? That the elemental spirits, you could say those were the pagan gods, the spiritual forces behind them, but you certainly could say That Islam falls kind of into that category, right? And ⁓ and that's a deceptive philosophy. What's really, really interesting is right before that it says do not be deceived or taken captive by philosophy and empty deceit, ⁓ according to human tradition. So human tradition and elemental forces. So you kind of have the spiritual forces, right, that are that are against the things of God. But then you just have our own humanness. We create philosophies, right? Like humans didn't create Islam. I believe that was a ⁓ a spiritual deception, right? That then humans bought into. Does that make sense? But humans, we can create our own evil philosophies as well. I would say that is what Marxism is. Right. And and you're gonna hear a lot about this. You're gonna hear those terms Marxist, socialist, communist, right? It is important that this is an ideology that is becoming very prevalent today. And it goes back to a guy named Marx in the ⁓ eighteen hundreds at the time of the Industrial Revolution, right? So they were he was he was actually seeing some problems that we would agree with. He was seeing how people were being taken advantage of, right? There you you started having factories for the first time. ⁓ you started again, it's the industrial revolution. So people were being Treated very poorly. And so he saw that and he's like, This is bad. Right. However, his solution was only human. It was not relying on God for anything. And ⁓ and he at the core, he hated faith. He hated God. Some some ⁓ quotes ⁓ that religion is. The sigh of the oppressed creature. It's the heart of a heartless world that religion is, that faith in God is is what causes this, says that it's the opium of the people, right? Because Marx started to view everything by a class struck structure, right? So there's ⁓ an oppressor and an oppressed, right? And ⁓ and so he saw things in in terms of groups and classes. And so he thought that that was the root of all problems. So if we can get rid of that, then everything will be fine. Okay, the problem is, is you're not acknowledging the fallenness of ⁓ of people and the sinfulness of people. Right? So what he's trying to do is he was trying to fix some real problems, but fix them with human institutions divorced from God. Well, eventually that leads to some really dark. Dangerous places. Right? And here's why this is gets really confusing, because there's there's not many out there in our political world or or people who vote for political leaders that that want all the things that he said. However, his ideologies are creeping in. And we'll see some of that next week. We're going to talk very specifically about some of that. But understand we we are in a world ⁓ ⁓ where those ideologies are starting to warp what true Christianity is. Right? And and there are many people that are starting That believe the main goal of the church is to fix societal problems. Right? That should the church try to work to fix societal problems? Yes, that is one thing that we should be doing. However, the starting point must be Jesus Christ and the fact that we are all individually sinners. Just because you are the way that Mark's This is oversimplification. He would view it. If you were born into the poor working class, you were the innocent ones. You were the ones that were being oppressed. You were the good ones. And people that were born outside of that class, they were the evil ones. They were oppressors. A view from the Bible says those classes exist. Why do they exist? Because we're fallen humans. And we create them. And then there's people within all of those classes. Some of them have recognized the good and the true and the beautiful, and they seek to do what is good, and they have given their life to Christ because they recognize that they are a sinner. Sometimes those people are poor, sometimes they're rich. Sometimes they are white, sometimes they are brown. Sometimes they they are male. Sometimes they are female. See, these are all groups, if and you can see it whenever you start looking around at the discourse around us, is using groups to push political motives. And it is coming from a dark, dark place. And we have to be very careful. And and frankly, we have Two political parties that I don't think are aware of this enough. I do believe we have one political party that has just completely opened their doors to this way of thinking. It doesn't mean that every person who is a Democrat thinks this way. But this ideology has entered into that section more than it has the other. But it's entering into the other as well. Right? We need to be aware of it. Because guess what? You're not gonna defeat it by voting in anyone. That's not how this is going to be defeated. Now you can vote those who would ⁓ who would push it further, but listen, the only answer to this, the only answer to something that says the humans can solve everything is to come back and say, No, Christ is the only one who can solve everything. We need To be repentant. We need to recognize the philosophies that are out there, the philosophies that are attacking our faith. And guess what? They don't do it in ugly ways, or we would easily recognize that. They do it in subtle, deceitful ways. And so be on guard. Make sure you know you you believe what you believe. Don't just Don't just listen to a talking head on, you know, a podcast. Don't listen to our president. Don't listen to the houses of Congress to determine your ⁓ philosophy. It has to be found in Jesus Christ. Right? And next week I'll I'll warn you and maybe no one will be here and then I'll just be able to leave. ⁓ I I I am going because I I do think it's very important for us to look at the real world in 2026. Right. And ⁓ and I I think there is an election ⁓ between the the two Senate candidates ⁓ here in Texas that is a perfect example of the mess we're in, and a perfect example of how. These philosophies are are pushing in from different directions and in different ways. And and it it's it's actually to me a perfect picture of the spiritual we're in. Because listen, that there's one answer that works, and that's everyone repenting and giving their lives to Christ and living for him. All right. That he's gonna have to work on that. We we work on it as much as we can, but that's ultimately from from from God. Right. We we are allowing all of this stuff to come in to where now there are no good answers on a human scale to fix our problems. And but that doesn't mean we step out and get out of the fight. No, we're supposed to be in the fight and it's messy. I would rather just sit on the sideline eating popcorn. watching and saying, see, I told you so, told you it was gonna do that. Right? But that's not what we're supposed to do. So we enter into our political process. And it's hard to do right now because I hate everything about it. And kind of everyone involved in it. It's so frustrating. But you know what? As Christians, the reason that it's to the point that it is now is because as Christians We haven't been engaged. We haven't been engaged the way that we should be. We thought that you could kind of create a our own little realm of the church. And yeah, yeah, it's great. Isn't it wonderful? We live in this country that just allows us to pray however we want and to worship whenever we want. Isn't this awesome? And we're like, yeah, it it's really awesome. And then we never looked open to history book to realize how unique that was. And so we thought this will just keep on going. And and and so now we we haven't gotten into the fight. And now you have these different ideologies that are getting into the fight. And they're kind of small, they're kind of fringy. I we could debate that, but but they're but they are growing. And the heart of both of these ideologies, Islam and the Marxist ideologies, when carried out to fruition. Will do all they can to destroy the church. This is not a theory. This is not fear-mongering. This is looking at what they say and what they have done. All right. Now, does that mean that that's going to happen here? I don't know. I promise you this: if those ideologies are accepted and overcome the foundational biblical principles that are the root of this country. 110%, yes, it will get that way. In fact, we're going to show some clips that you you may could be a church in those societies, but you're going to be a church that conforms to the patterns of this world. Right? And that's what we've seen throughout history. Whenever the Soviet Union fell, right, what did they do? They wiped out the priest. They wiped out the churches. Then they began to allow kind of the Russian government churches to be around. What happened in China? Again, why am I using these as an example? These are examples of Marxism. We talk a lot about Nazism and how bad it was, and it was horrible. Just do research of the last hundred years of how many people lost their lives due to this ideology that we're talking about. It it it it will your mind can't comprehend it because it's in the tens of millions. Right? And that those are that those are the the the low estimates. Because these systems think that humans can solve problems. So what happened in China? They start implementing the systems. The government is going to make everybody happy, right? Going to take care of everyone. What do they do? No more Christianity. It's gone, right? And they basically it it was a completely underground church. It's still it. The true church is still underground in China. They are you can get a license to be a church, right? But but the true church is still has to be underground. And so they take power. What do they start to do? They they start to run the farming system, except they don't know anything about farming. And so millions of people die. Not as a result of climate change, as a result of human policies that say we can fix all of humans' problems. And then it ends up killing people. That is what history shows. And it is the logical conclusion of a philosophy that begins with us, that we are our own saviors. No. There's only one savior. He is Jesus Christ. And we're going to talk about a lot of things that many churches frankly don't, and sometimes you squirm in your seat. But I am afraid that if we don't, we will not recognize how the enemy is working. Because all of us, all of us can be deceived. And Satan wants nothing more than to mar our light, to dim it, or to, or that we just keep it here. He'd love that too. You can talk about everything that is true and real as long as you just keep it here and don't bring it out there. But no, we're called to engage the world. And it's a mess right now. And sometimes you have to make decisions that you're like, There is no good answer to this. But you know what? We're still gonna stay in the battle. We're still gonna stay in the fight to share the gospel message with people. But to do that, we need to know what's going on around us. We need to be prepared and to stand for what is true. That is what Christ has called us to do: to reject the evil philosophies of this world and to point people. To the only one who can save, and that is Jesus Christ. Let's go to him in prayer. Inside. Impacting his kingdom and loving Sing to him. Mm.