Twisting and Distorting My “Twisting and Distorting” Note on Col. 2
Published by Rob Skiba June 22, 2014 at 1:08 AM
And so the lunacy continues… http://www.logosapologia.org/?p=5633
In the opening paragraph of the above blog, we see:
In Colossians, Paul is addressing a situation quite similar to Skiba’s own “ministry” that also asserts New Covenant believers need concern themselves with the obsolete Mosaic covenant stipulations (Hebrews 8:13).
Obsolete Mosaic covenant??? Are you referring to the Law that was written on our hearts and minds just 3 verses prior? Are you saying you subscribe to and support the validity of INSERTING words that don’t belong in the text:
“Covenant” simply is NOT in the Greek text. It was INSERTED into the English text by translators who ignore the “MAIN POINT” of Heb. 8:1, which was the “sum” of what had previously been written about in the preceding 4 chapters. To insert “covenant” as in “Mosaic Law” into verses 7 and 13 (as many English Bibles do), it totally nullifies verse 10 and completely ignores Hebrews 4-7. But that’s another whole topic in and of itself.
Moving on…
As usual, this slanderous blog starts off with another case of academic posturing, which must be read while wearing a sportcoat, with one eyebrow raised, pinky out and your best Carl Sagan or Richard Dawkins impersonation in order to catch the purest essence of self-absorbed supremacy: “Recent President of the Evangelical Theological Society, Clinton Arnold of Talbot School of Theology and Biola University, observes…” blah, blah, blah…
What’s quite humorous to me is the fact that the man simply cannot think for himself. Nearly everything he writes is based on quotes from other so-called “theologians” with lengthy academic credentials and expensive pieces of paper hanging on their “I love me wall.” Just as an aside, in this regard, the more I read from such people, the more I THANK YHWH ALMIGHTY that I never went to seminary! I mean think about: People actually spend tens of thousands of dollars to get certified by one pompous windbag after another that they are capable of quoting other pompous windbags while studying a Book you can actually buy for less than $20 in nearly any bookstore and/or read for FREE on the Internet in multiple languages, complete with study tools and commentaries, while trusting the Holy Spirit to lead you to all truth (John 16:13 & 1 John 2:24-28). So, I must ask, who is the more foolish? The one who spends tens of thousands of dollars to pay someone to show them how to read the Bible, or the simple man who seeks the instruction of the Holy Spirit in his daily walk with YHWH and his life-long independent study of the Scriptures? I suppose after you wake up from the high of achieving that lofty goal of receiving your expensive “I love me” piece of decorative paper, complete with a few new extra letters attached to your name, you must feel some measure of satisfaction in constantly defending your insecurities on a regular basis by spending the rest of your life quoting others who did the same thing you did. Whatever. Call it “hubris” if you must, but I’m not impressed.
Anyway… True to Jesuit-Inquisitor-like form, the modern theologian claims that only “they” have the ability to lead men to truth, not unlike the days when the “Church” forbade the commoners from reading the Scriptures for themselves. All others are deemed “heretics” worthy of their continued accusation, condemnation and attack. In this particular Inquisitor’s latest pseudo-academic hit-piece, he states:
“Many similar HRM teachers seem to operate under the delusion that the festivals mentioned in Colossians were not the typical Jewish feasts but no historian will support that contention. It’s just a manufactured excuse for the HRM error.”
LOL! First of all, I am NOT in the HRM. I’ve made that abundantly clear, but he loves to tout that one out anytime he gets the chance. SMH. Then, he erroneously states that I (implied by him as being among “many similar HRM teachers”) am under the “delusion that the feasts mentioned in Colossians are NOT the typical Jewish feasts.” Honestly, I have to wonder if in his (fairly recent) B.C. days he didn’t burn out a few too many brain cells, because in my original Note, I clearly stated:
“Now with the above in proper context, verse 16 is encouraging Believers not to let PAGANS judge them for doing the things of GOD: You know, like the true holy days [Lev. 23], new moons and Sabbaths, which you’ll note in verse 17 are all “shadows of Christ.”
Now, to be fair, earlier in that same paragraph mentioned above he does acknowledge that I did indeed state as much. But then he proceeds to assemble his field of strawmen:
“While in English translation it is easy to generalize a term like “festival” and then assert it was some unknown pagan festival, the original text is crystal clear.”
Noooooooo? Really?
“I’m glad you’re here to tell us these things. Chewy, take the professor in the back and plug him into the hyperdrive!”
He then spends the rest of the article blabbing on about how many times the Greek word “ἑορτή transliterated heortē ” is used and how. What a waste of time. If he’d only COMPREHENDED what I actually wrote, he could have saved himself a lot of time by not arguing with the scarecrows he just built. He continues…
Indeed, without exception the term heortē is used to denote the Jewish feasts in the New Testament. Skiba has not provided one shred of historical evidence that it meant anything different in Colossians: “Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath” (Col 2:16) The fact of the matter is that no one outside the Hebrew Roots Movement agrees with Rob Skiba and Jim Staley. .
I’m sorry, but at this point I cannot help but use the word “IDIOT” to describe this man. I don’t need “one shred of historical evidence that it meant anything different in Colossians,” because I DON’T BELIEVE IT DOES!!!!!!!!!! Never even implied that it did. Ironically, the title of my Note that he was commenting on is called “Twisting and Distorting Colossians 2:16”. Here in his “Reply,” we see that he is totally twisitng and distorting what I said!
Furthermore, I think the problem with people like Putnam is they seem to think the word “feast” (Strongs #1859 Greek: ἑορτή transliterated heortē) can ONLY mean the true Feasts of YHWH. What utter and completely ridiculous nonsense! The Greek pagans had LOTS of feasts, just like the Israelites (who disobeyed YHWH and formed their own feasts apart from those of Lev. 23) did. The Jews didn’t have the corner on the word for feast/festival/party. It’s just a Greek word. {SMH} So to think it can ONLY apply to the Feasts of YHWH is to telegraph a total Dispensationalistic (i.e. pay no attention to the Old Testament, it’s all for the Jew and not for us) mental bias. And when it comes to OTHER feasts apart from those YHWH Himself created for us to celebrate, consider what Amos had to say about this issue, when YHWH says:
Amos 5:21 “I hate, I despise YOUR feast days,And I do not savor YOUR sacred assemblies. 22 Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings,I will not accept them,Nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings. 23 Take away from Me the noise of YOUR songs,For I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments.
YHWH does not say those things regarding HIS feasts and sacred assemblies. Rather, regarding those, He clearly commands us to ENJOY them, while participating “from generation to generation” in that which He established to be “forever.” He WANTS us to do those!
Putnam then quotes another “scholar” named “Wall” as being “particularly instructive” wherein he states:
“Thus, for the Christian to participate in these Jewish celebrations was tantamount to a denial of Jesus’ messiahship.”
Again, I cannot help but use the word “IDIOT” for yet another so-called “scholar.” Seriously?? WOW! Read that quote again and let what he is saying there really sink in. To participate in things that are ALL ABOUT OUR MESSIAH is “tantamount to a denial of Jesus’ messiahship???” Wow. Not quite sure how far that goes on the Stupid Scale, but I’m guessing it peaks on the far end.
Paul states that the things in Col. 2:16.17 are SHADOWS OF CHRIST, which mean they contain the “shape” of His very image within them, just as any shadow does. Your shadow looks like, proceeds from and points back to you, because it REPRESENTS you! Anyone who has actually studied and participated in the Feasts of YHWH (note: they are HIS Feasts according to Lev. 23:1-4), will tell you that they are ALL ABOUT Yeshua and His Messiahship. SMH.
Regarding Wall’s “instructive” final line, his cheerleader then concludes his blog with:
That last line brings this Judaizing heresy into sharp focus and ought to bring deceived Christians still amongst Skiba’s following to heartfelt repentance. This is not a trivial error, especially now that one has been made aware of its depth into apostasy.
So, let me be SURE I understand this: To the modern theologian, it is “deep apostasy” and “heresy” to actually obey God and to celebrate HIS FEASTS, which are ALL ABOUT our Messiah???? And lest you think I am stretching that a bit, please be sure to read: Obeying YHWH = Doctrine of Devils?
Beware those who call evil good and good evil (Isaiah 5:20) and who twist and distort Paul’s writings in order to get you to fall into the error of lawLESSness.
2 Peter 3:
11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. 15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
If the Law has allegedly been “done away with” and “abolished” and “nailed to the cross” and has thus supposedly been rendered “obsolete” (as some “scholars” and “theologians” claim) what need is there for Grace? What need is there for salvation?? Without a Law to break, NO ONE IS A SINNER! If we are not sinners, what need do we have of a Savior? Clearly those who believe the Law is no more have not thought this through – or read about 90% of their Bible (Hint: If you want to understand Paul, you need to understand what he understood).
And you can’t say, “Well, the Law is only there until you get saved and then it goes away.”That logic is absurd. It is either there or it’s not. You can’t claim it has been “made obsolete” and “done away with” on one hand, while claiming it is required to “show us we are sinners” and therefore make us “aware of our need for a Savior” on the other. It is either still in effect or it’s gone. So, which is it? And if you claim it’s gone, then all roads lead to Heaven in your world and you just tossed out nearly everything Yeshua said, did and stands for.
Folks, let’s face it, this whole mentality that the Law is “obsolete” is a doctrine of devils. There’s no other way to look at it. Anyone or anything that nullifies the words of the Father is of the father of lies. Be very careful who you listen to and believe.
– Rob Skiba
So true brother, the cure is to Love the Truth.which is loving YHWH with all our heart, mind soul and strength. Psalm 119:142 Proverbs 4:2;Ecclesiastes 12:13