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Colossians 4:14-15
14 Luke, [Loukas] the beloved [agapetos] physician, [iatros] and [kai] Demas, [Demas] greet [aspazomai] you. [humas]
15 Salute [aspazomai] the brethren [adelphos] which are in [en] Laodicea, [Laodikeia] and [kai] Nymphas, [Numphas] and [kai] the church [ekklesia] which is in [kata] his [autos] house. [oikos] KJV-Interlinear
14 Luke, the beloved physician, sends you his greetings, and also Demas. 15 Greet the brethren who are in Laodicea and also Nympha and the church that is in her house. NASB
The mention of these several names throughout the letters of Paul, tie together many of the prominent people, as well as people we know nothing about, from the first century A.D.
Luke, means luminous or white, wrote the third gospel which is named after himself. And having written the gospel of Luke from his own first hand observations, most likely was a source of immeasurable information for Paul.
Demas, means popular, and was an early Christian, who fell out of friendship with Paul years earlier, 2 Tim. 4:10, but now was back with him.
Laodicea is a city in Asia Minor which is now our modern day western Turkey.
Nymphas is the name of an individual in whose home, bible studies were held. Nothing more is mentioned regarding this person, and as the name can be either masculine or feminine modern versions refer to both genders. So we don’t really know much more about him or her.
What is evident is that there were obviously people, other than those mentioned in the Bible, who were involved in the early growth of the Christian church.
And what held together the early church, was not a massive bureaucracy of international organizations, but small groups who assembled together in twos or threes or a dozen or more, and they read and studied together and on their own, the scriptures of the prophets, as well as the letters of Paul and others.
Today we are witnessing the attempted takeover of the world by devising a false belief such as global warming, attempting to institute management of world business through carbon footprints (cap and trade), gaining a massive following through the implementing of social programs, driving toward a one world currency by driving up national debts, and all of this to culminate in a global governing body.
And while all of this takes many years to accomplish, we know from our study of Revelation that this pattern will be virtually in place by the time the Rapture occurs. The Tribulation is not long enough in order for all of this to occur from scratch, so it all has to develop to some extent during our own dispensation.
And if, and I repeat, if, this is all how things are going to be, then we can expect that government will enforce its will, sooner or later, through mandatory economic restrictions on the buying and selling that people in general will be allowed to do. Enforcement means that if you do not comply, then you will be a criminal.
What a contrast to the very beginning of our dispensation, where people met in small groups and changed the world through truth, and now at the end (or perhaps nearing the end) of our dispensation, it takes lies on a massive scale to destroy it.
This last portion of course is just my observations of current events. What is amazing is the speed with which all of these things seem to be coming together now.
