Well certainly we can all agree on this! :) We just have to decide whether it is more reasonable to believe that Paul wrote plainly in most cases, or was he the most cryptic writer in the history of literature. :) Of course we might disagree on what "plainly" means.
It leads one towards the Gnostics, as evidenced by several folks on boards here.
I suppose it could lead to Gnosticism, but in general it just leads to error. I haven't seen any Gnosticism on this thread as I understand the term. Reformers do not claim anything that is "secret". It's all right there in the Bible. :)
The great deceiver nets a great number of souls by deceit and by causing misunderstanding. He is harvesting a great bounty.
Yes, satan certainly is harvesting a great number of souls. Praise and glory be to God that He has given His children a Comforter to protect them against any attack that would result in destruction. That was His promise and I rely on it with my life.
Yet, some of it is "cryptic" and "understood" only by those who have been given knowledge...in fact "the mind of Chirst." [1 Cor 2;16]
The funny thing is that every criticism of Catholics is met with, “they don’t know Catholicism”.
It appears that the gnosticism is with the secret society who has the lock on all knowledge. The only way to obtain this secret knowledge is to join the secret society.
***I haven’t seen any Gnosticism on this thread as I understand the term. Reformers do not claim anything that is “secret”.***
The Reformed claim an indwelling knowledge that others do not have.