Daniel 11:32
He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action.
Truth: When we KNOW God we can identify a fake
The Secret Service is the agency of the government that takes care of counterfeiting in our country. A Secret Service agent must have the ability to spot a fake bill by just looking at it and touching it. Imagine the difficulty to learn about all the ways a counterfeiter can produce a $20, $50, or $100 bill! We are told, however, that a agent is not trained on the way the counterfeiter works, but rather is trained on what a REAL bill looks like. In fact they so know the real bill that they can spot the fake easily. They don't spend time studying the fake, they spend all their time learning the real. This is what is being talked about in the above verse out of Daniel eleven. Daniel, in this chapter, is describing the wicked ruler who will arise in later days and will lead many to a war with God and seduce them to follow him. Many will follow this deceptive ruler and leave the covenant of God's Word and fall into his reign and rule. However, those who KNOW God will not be deluded. Those who know God will "stand firm." If we hope to have strength in a day when rulers attempt to lead us astray it will not be because we have studied all the ways people can lead us astray. It will be because we KNOW God. Knowing God (every nuance of His character, plan and purpose) will enable us to identify the fake and stand firm on the real (because if we know God we will know that He gives the strength to stand firm on the Real). Paul was saying something similar when he wrote the letter of Colossians. In that church there were false teachers creeping into the body and Paul wanted to warn the church about them. He spends the entire first chapter of Colossians telling the believers in the church who Christ is and what He did for them. Then, he pens the following:
Colossians 2:4-8
I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.
Alive 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 the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
You see the similarities to Daniel? Paul tells the who Christ is and reminds them of what the Gospel is all about and that will enable them to avoid delusion and being taken captive by vain things in the world's philosophy. In Paul's words above, "I say this," he is referring to everything in just said in the previous verse(s). The immediate previous verse, speaking of Christ, says:
Colossians 2:3
in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
We don't need to look elsewhere, Paul says, because in Christ are ALL the treasurers of wisdom and knowledge. Know the true and you will avoid the fake!!
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