Fred Widdowson's Blog

Proverbs 29:26; seek favor from God not man

2012-02-09T03:22:00.000-08:00

26 ¶ Many seek the ruler’s favour; but every man’s judgment cometh from the LORD.

Literally, to the Hebrew, this would have been a wise piece of keen advice. You may seek the ruler’s commendation, his approval, but when all is said and done anything you receive is from the Lord. We, as finite human beings, truly don’t know and realize all of the reasons that the Lord permits things to happen for us.

We attempt to make the best of our lives, to select a school to go to or a trade to learn, a spouse to marry, a car to drive, a home to live in, and on and on but what we don’t realize is that while we seek a certain conclusion to life’s questions and uncertainties in one direction, the answer comes from the Lord.

God’s will is called directed and permissive. It is directed when He purposely does something to you or for you. It is permissive when He allows something to happen to you. You actually get only one choice in life. Who will you follow? Will you follow the Lord? Worship your Self? The world? People can be divided down into those few who know that everything comes from the hand of God ultimately, those who believe that they are the captains of their own fates and the masters of their own destiny, and those who just want what the world system has to offer and hope for a relatively painless existence. But, although we may seek favor from the world, every single one of us receives good or bad from God.

You may stand before a judge and beg his mercy but if you get it then it is the Lord’s mercy because the judge’s mind will be directed, unknown to him, by the Lord. You will apply for a job, having never once asked God to direct you, following your own will, but it is God who will determine whether the employer will offer you the job. How does He have time to do all of these things for all of these people? He has eternity to answer our finite prayers and to direct our finite lives.

Follow the God of the Bible through Jesus Christ. Seek favor from him alone. That is ultimately the source of all judgment.

Exodus 7:13 And he hardened Pharaoh’s heart, that he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.

For Saul’s disobedience and vanity his heart was troubled by the Lord.

1Samuel 16:14 But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.

Man does not direct his own steps.

Jeremiah 10:23 O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.

Why did God permit you to do evil? Because you are evil. Why did God save you in spite of yourself? Because of His mercy, because He is good. Each day all of your choices can be boiled down to one choice you make repeatedly throughout the day. Whom do you follow? Who is your master?

Outside of that you have very little control. You can prepare yourself with a Harvard education, a lifetime fitness plan, a nutritionist, and the best medical care on the planet. Then you can die of an aneurysm at the age of twenty five.

You can seek every good citizen award, be knighted by the Queen, given a medal by the President, and then have someone plant drugs in your car or porn on your computer and go down in flames before the public. The seeds of your greatest failure are often sown in the ecstasy of your greatest success. God is in control, not you.

Now is the time to follow Christ, to believe in Him, and to trust Him for eternal life. Now is the time to acknowledge God’s hand in everything and seek to obey Him but most of all to be thankful. Now is the time to understand that God has a purpose for your life. Life requires too many miracles of inanimate, dead things to be a random accident. No one has ever seen or performed an experiment where biological life was created from inert matter. Life always comes from life. God created you, He controls your destiny, and even directs your will. You seek whom you will follow, obey, trust, and worship.

When you seek favor from a ruler, a boss, a VIP of any stripe, remember, what you receive will be from the Lord based on His will for you. This is one reason we are told to be constantly in a state of prayer, keeping our minds on God.

Romans 12:12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;

1Thessalonians 5:17 Pray without ceasing.

So, today, try this exercise out and let me know what happens. Seek God’s will in everything you do. Do everything for the glory of God. Be thankful for your food committing it to your body and your body to the service of God.

Romans12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

And remember, when you ask someone for something or seek their approval, what you get will come from God. Don’t curse your bad luck or blame the Devil who, as we learn from the book of Job can do nothing to you that God hasn’t permitted him to do. There is a purpose.

Remember that Jesus told Pilate that Pilate could do nothing to Him without God’s permission?

John 19:11 Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.

So, choose this day who you will serve and whose favor you will seek. But know that in the end what happens comes from God.

Proverbs 29:25 commentary: safe in the Lord

2012-02-07T05:17:00.000-08:00

25 ¶ The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.

This is a tough one for Christians. We are not to fear men but to put our trust in the Lord.

Psalm 118:8 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.

Psalm 118:9 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.

But for a thousand years, Christians who refused to baptize their newborns, or as in the command of Charlemagne, up to a month old, were fined, imprisoned, had their land and children taken, and were often murdered. Some historians estimate that the slaughter of Christians by the state churches of Rome and Constantinople as well as even Zurich where the famous “reformer” Zwingli had ordered them tied into sacks and drowned in Lake Zurich, in Germany where they were stripped, beaten, and exiled and if they returned killed to the number of between 5 million and 50 million. Luther hated those Christians who refused to baptize their infants. While the Eastern Roman Empire murdered hundreds of thousands of Paulicians the Church at Rome is estimated to have killed nearly a million dissenting Vaudois Christians whose doctrinal beliefs were established in the valleys of the Alps by missionaries from Antioch, Syria in the second century. Some writers speak of an average of 400 executions per day throughout Europe in that thousand year period with charges of witchcraft being also laid at the dissenters feet and curious, bloodthirsty crowds of tens of thousands enjoying some spectacles. Medieval Catholic and Protestant Europe’s bloodthirsty lust for the blood of Christian martyrs made the Aztecs look wimpy by comparison.

Tens of millions of Christians weren’t safe physically by trusting in the Lord were they?

As Greek philosophy and pagan religion became mingled with the simplicity of the Christian message in the second century and people began worshipping in “church buildings” rather than in simple homes things began to change. When Christianity was coopted by pagan Rome in the fourth century and the Emperor Constantine made it the state religion the Roman concept of massive and beautiful buildings became the ideal. Along with the heresies introduced with “church buildings” in the second century from Greek and Roman religion was the concept that Baptism, rather than being a type of salvation, as the Bible clearly states in the doctrines to the Christian, was the means by which people were saved, that being ‘born again’ wasn’t as much by simple faith in Christ but by ritual observance, raising Baptism to a level of importance that Circumcision had for the infant Jew. Again, taken straight from pagan mystery religions this heresy became dominant in the Greco-Roman Christianity.

Christians who rejected this notion were tortured. Christians who denied this notion were murdered. Christians who refused this notion were put in prison. Tens of millions of Christians weren’t safe physically by trusting in the Lord were they?

In Pagan Rome religion was the bulwark of the state. To deny the Roman observance of religion; the temples where the god’s dwell, the emperor as a living god of the state where even Augustus signed documents as the “son of god”, the gods and goddesses of the field, of the nursing mother, of the hearth and home, and the thousands upon thousands of gods and goddesses of every facet of human life was to be unpatriotic and a hater of humanity.

The Bible believing Christian, whether it be the Old Latin of the Byzantine textual line, the Syriac Peshitta, the Gothic Bible, or any number of old versions of the Bible, had to face a pagan Christianity that said that God resided in a church building, that you came to church to “meet with God”, that you kneeled at an altar to “do business with God”, and that’s where God met with you and nowhere else, that a Pastor was really a priest like in the Hebrew religion, a “man of God” like a prophet of the Old Testament, and that to obey the Pastor was to obey God. The order of worship of the early Christians, singing psalms, praying for each other, reading from the Scriptures, some with the gift of preaching and prophesying offering their understanding of Scriptures, with people freely and joyfully exercising the gifts of teaching, hospitality, and charity toward each other became instead a structured Greco-Roman ritual. Pulpits, chairs as thrones, choirs, stained glass windows depicting important Bible scenes, and eventually pews were added as fitting for a state religion with order and Roman structure. Christians who dissented, who worshipped apart from the state sanctioned church were punished, many hunted down and killed like criminals.

Even today there are those who say there is no Holy Spirit in the believer, that it resides only in the church organization, just as there are some who say that you can’t serve God outside of the church organization. Those Christians who refused to consent to the edifice of the state church were murdered and imprisoned.

Throughout history Christians went against the prevailing laws and copied and wrote and translated the Bible into their own native tongue, sought out the Holy Spirit and a spirit filled Pastor to teach them, and constantly talked about the power of the words of God, experiencing it in their dailiy lives. And for that they were murdered and imprisoned by the tens of thousands, the hundreds of thousands, and the millions.

Those Christians weren’t safe trusting in the Lord, were they?

But what does it mean to be safe?

Psalm 119:117 Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe: and I will have respect unto thy statutes continually.

Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

Were Christians promised a life free from persecution? Were those people who believed the Bible that the temple of God was their body and that He did not reside in dwellings of stone and wood, that the church was the people of God meeting, that the house of God was the family of God, that believers were saved by God’s response to their faith in Christ, that no building, ritual, so called sacrament, or observance had any saving power, who were called atheists and haters of humanity, unpatriotic, and heretics betrayed by a belief in a protecting God? Did those people who believed, as the Bible teaches, that there are no sacred spaces in Christianity outside of the born again heart get fooled by a promise that they would never suffer wrong? As pagan Christianity ruled the western world should these true Chrsitians simply have gone along to get along?

The Bible says that the god of this world keeps men from Christ in 2 Corinthians 4:4. Clearly the god of this world isn’t the God of the Bible. Jesus warned His Jewish followers to expect this from the world.

John 15:18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.

John 16:2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.

Paul warned a young Pastor.

2Timothy 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution

The promise to the Christian was a guarantee of persecution in this world but a promise of Christ’s encouragement, love, support, and of His eventual triumph over the world, and most of all to lay hold onto eternal life through Him which was promised to all believers.

Hebrews 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

1Peter 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

The snare that the fear of man brings is unbelief, a lack of trusting in God. It ruins your faith, destroys your testimony, and denies your joy in the Lord. The Christian doesn’t have experience with God through ritual or public displays of piety but through prayer, Bible reading, and fellowship with other Christians in an attitude of charity and nonexploitive love. Faith is simple and trusting with everyone having an opportunity to participate. To focus on the condemnation of the world will keep you from knocking on someone’s door, or handing them a gospel tract at a gas station, or helping someone whom the world hates to get a meal or a warm place to sleep. The snare of the fear of man will keep you from uniting with other Christians in worship, or of proclaiming your faith at all.
But, trusting in the Lord will keep you safe in the Lord. When you learn not to worry about what Mr. Self Righteous or Ms. Busybody at church care about and learn not to be concerned with the civil penalty for refusing to go along with the world or how you are looked at by other Christians who have turned their back on the “Common Bible” of America’s Christian heritage then you will find peace and safety in Christ.

The early Christians met before dawn on the first day of the week to sing hymns and pray together, to hear the Scriptures read and the understanding given. Sunday wasn’t a day off from work until Constantine made it so. Throughout history they refused to burn incense to a pagan emperor’s so called deity, to baptize infants for which there is no warrant in the Bible, to honor a human “god like priest”, to fail to copy and write and translate the Bible into their own tongue and let the Holy Spirit and spirit filled Pastors teach them, and to honor the state’s authority over their spiritual lives and relationship to Christ. And they were safe in the Lord.

Proverbs 29:24 commentary; a partner in crime

2012-02-06T03:10:00.000-08:00

24 ¶ Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own soul: he heareth cursing, and bewrayeth it not.

2 Corinthians 8:23 defines partner as a fellowhelper, in case any of you didn’t know it was, in this context, a partner in crime. Bewrayeth means to give testimony to something that is trying to be concealed, to give something up, as in Psalm 27:16 or Matthew 27:73. In one case it is having the ointment that is on your hand revealed by its smell or Peter’s guilt exposed due to the dialect he speaks. Betray, on the other hand, carries with it the meaning of willfully turning someone in, of giving someone up to the authorities.

The partner to the thief shares in the thief’s sin and doesn’t give up the deed even when he hears the victim cursing the thief. The point here is that the person who is an accomplice to sin is as bad as the person initiating the sin. You can’t run with people intent on committing sin and not be one of them, and not share in their guilt. In fact, you will even go so far as to help conceal their crime.

An important thing to remember from this Proverb is that you are a partner in sin if you hear about it and yet say nothing to the thief, take no action. The Christian, when they are aware of sin in the congregation or they perceive that there has been a sin committed, must speak up, preferably to the sinner first, and not hold their peace, lest they be an accomplice to the sin.

Doctrinally, this is true as well.

2 John 9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. 10 ¶ If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: 11 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

The Christian who sees sin in the congregation or who hears heresy must speak up. Some fundamentalist churches have been accused of harboring sex offenders and abusive people, even malignant psychopaths, because when their evil deeds were discovered a Pastor refused to do anything about it or to even acknowledge the sin. This has harmed the faith of a great many former independent Baptists. There are even Facebook groups dedicated to survivors of abuse in fundamental Baptist churches and in their schools. If you see a wrong being done and you do nothing or say nothing then you are a partner to the sinner.

It is your business. You have no excuse not to help a brother or sister you think is heading the wrong way by speaking to them and you certainly have no excuse keeping your mouth shut when you see blatant sin or hear obvious heresy. To say nothing makes you a partner in crime and, like the sinner, you are showing contempt for your own soul. How many people, usually children and young women, have had their faith in Christ destroyed by an evil person in their own congregation and the so called Christians who stood by knowing something wasn’t right but saying nothing, making them accomplices to the awful crime?

So, take from this Proverb that the person who knows the thief and what he did but says nothing about the theft is as guilty of the theft as the first person, especially if that theft includes the faith of an innocent and helpless child.

Proverbs 29:23 commentary; your pride is a weakness, not a strength

2012-02-04T04:16:00.000-08:00

23 ¶ A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.

This is a strikingly similar thought to something that Jesus Christ says later.

Matthew 23:8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. 9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. 10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. 11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

(We know from John 3:2 that ‘rabbi’ means ‘teacher’, if you didn’t know it from somewhere else. We also know that ‘master’ means teacher in many contexts as per Malachi 2:12 and James 3:1 as opposed to the times where a master/servant relationship is expressed as in 1 Peter 2:18. In this passage both contexts are used and both definitions of ‘master’ are given. God is the only true teacher, father, and master. Jesus says that the person who lifts himself up will be abased. In contrast to exalted we can surmise that it means in this context to be put down. Abased can also mean, depending on the context, to be made destitute, to have nothing as in Phillipians 4:12 as the serious Bible student observes how the Bible is self defining. )

In keeping with the thought in this Proverb, James and Peter have said;

James 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

1Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

Paul, in the doctrine written specifically to Christians gives this admonition;

Romans 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

The Scriptures had said previously,

Proverbs 16:18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

Jesus gives another example of the thought of placing oneself in a lower position and being lifted up from there in Luke 14. So, Christian, when you are feeling particularly pleased about how manly, spiritual, wise, or wonderful you are remember that you can be brought low in a heartbeat and reduced to nothing in an instant. Humble yourself before God and don’t seek to lord it over other men. Those men whose lives are centered around dominating others are simply fools, whose folly will result in their destruction, either in this life or in Hell. Remember, at all times, and in every place its not about you, it’s about Christ. Let Him lift you up. Pride is this huge wart on the nose of any professing Christian. Everyone else sees it even if he doesn’t and it isn’t attractive in the least. No one is fooled but you.

Proverbs 29:22 commentary; angry and furious

2012-02-03T02:54:00.000-08:00

22 ¶ An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression.

This is a reference to those persons who have an angry spirit, who are wrathful by nature, and short tempered by habit. Such a man or woman creates trouble and excels at doing wrong and committing sin. No man or woman’s angry nature does anyone around them any good. If you are the kind of person who explodes, turns over furniture, and throws things when angry; who rips people apart with their verbal abuse and possibly lays vengeful hands on someone physically weaker than yourself then you are in bad need of repentance and forgiveness for your wickedness.

The young man is warned not to associate with such persons;

Proverbs 22:24 ¶ Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: 25 Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.

When you meet a person who always seems to have a pot boiling just beneath the surface, ready to explode into fury and rage, avoid that person like the plague. If you know a person like that pray for them and do your best to get away from them. They are not pleasing to God or man. The only god they can worship is their own will and they are the center of their universe. Everyone else around them is a mere prop in their life’s drama, its all about them, and you are really no more important to them than a piece of machinery which can be easily replaced. Anger management therapy? They don’t need “help” like that. They need Christ.

Proverbs 29:21 commentary; a servant to a son

2012-02-02T03:16:00.000-08:00

21 ¶ He that delicately bringeth up his servant from a child shall have him become his son at the length.

Matthew Henry and John Gill had this meaning that if you treat a servant too kindly and give him an easy life he will start acting like your child and eventually will not think of himself as a servant. However, there are some interesting verses in the Bible that one could easily link to this one for a slightly different outlook.

Galatians 4:1 ¶ Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; 2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. 3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: 4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. 7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Therefore, under the Law, and to the Pharisees among my fundamentalist brethren, under your strict and unyielding convictions of how one ought to dress and behave, and even vote, we are servants but under grace we become sons, or children. Saved mankind goes from being a servant to being a son as God moves from the harshness of the Law to the nurturing and admonition of grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

Even more so, the duties of a man toward His Maker go from being outward in the flesh and human will to being inward in a changed heart, a born again spirit, and being moved by the Holy Ghost. God has delicately brought us up. If we submit to His words in His Bible He will gently change our hearts, our dispositions, our likes and dislikes, and what we think of as our needs. I am not saying that salvation isn’t accomplished all at once when we are born again by faith and trust in Christ, but the process of being set apart for God’s use, sanctification, does take us from a servant to a child.

Do you obey God as a servant or as His child? I believe that you should go to church as often as you are able given the exigencies of health, distance, work, financial ability, and family responsibilities to worship and to spend time with your brothers and sisters in Christ. But, why do you go? Why are you there? Are you there because of duty to a demanding master or because of the affection you feel for a loving father? Do you go because that’s just what Christians do or do you go because you feel drawn to it as a child is drawn to be with those whom he or she loves? Where are you in your Christian life? Still only a servant or more, a child of God?

Proverbs 29:20 commentary; don't be hasty with your words

2012-01-30T03:05:00.000-08:00

20 ¶ Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? there is more hope of a fool than of him.

Hasty words have hurt many a friend and spouse. They’ve ended jobs and caused arrests. Words mean something and what you say this morning can have a tremendous effect on the rest of the day, the week, the month, or even the rest of your life.

Ecclesiastes 5:2 Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.

James 1:19 ¶ Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:

There’s not much hope for someone whose mouth runs before their brain is engaged. There is also the simpleton who simply must have the last word in any discussion or argument. When you talk to them you just know they aren’t even thinking about what you’re saying but waiting to say something that has come to their mind.

We would be wise to be slow to speak according to God’s word and to choose our words carefully. A Christian’s words should have purpose.

Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

We’ve had plenty of examples of celebrity preachers who, when given the national spotlight, have said ill advised things that reflected their own opinions or weaknesses rather than God’s eternal truths designed to bring people closer to Him through Christ. Sometimes, having a pulpit that gets attention from the media, they simply say stupid things. Whether it be Jerry Falwell blaming 9/11 on abortion and homosexuality rather than on the malicious intent of the perpetrators and their leaders and our failed foreign policies or Pat Robertson claiming he could leg press a ton or Jeremiah Wright cursing America from the pulpit these men apparently believed their own press too much.

Often politicians will regret a random statement that came out of their mouth at an inopportune time. Recently, a rash of political leaders have been reported as saying some of the most embarrassing, moronic, and idiotic things like abortion providers, performing a legal act, should be hung as criminals. (Not too smart for a politician too gutless to fight to end and to propose legislation to curtail or limit abortion). Another was reported as saying it’s not good to help the poor because it only encourages them to breed. Some have used gun references implying, perhaps, to the unbalanced that their opponents were worthy targets of violence and this was done by both Democrats and Republicans. These things are bad if spoken without thinking and even worse if part of a planned speech.

Men in positions of responsibility and authority should use their words more wisely. And you and I at home should also be careful about what we say and not speak too hastily. I was terribly guilty of this as a parent and said many things in anger that I can never take back. There was more hope for a fool than for me. In fact, I have been a fool most of my life. I had learned to say what I felt at the time rather than what should be said or what was helpful. I fear I hurt young minds and hearts by my rashness and hot temper.

Ecclesiastes 7:9 Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.

To everyone out there, particularly to Christians, think carefully before you respond to anyone, particularly children. They remember and are affected by rash speech and unkind words. Keep in mind that it’s easier sometimes to forget a beating than it is a verbal battering. Our rash words can bring down a child’s view of his or her own value and that can have devastating effect on their lives. Think before you speak, particularly if you’re angry. Don’t be a fool.

Proverbs 29:19 commentary; the disobedient servant understands but doesn't answer

2012-01-29T05:09:00.000-08:00

19 ¶ A servant will not be corrected by words: for though he understand he will not answer.

By bringing this Proverb given to people who did not have appliances and modern mechanical conveniences to help them with their daily tasks into the modern world literally we can equate this servant with the employee of today. Some people will refuse to hear correction and although they understand what is being said to them and what they have done wrong they will refuse to speak or act as if they do.

But, leaving the worldly application to another time, let’s look at the application to the Christian. As a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 1:1; James 1:1; 2 Peter 1:1; Jude 1:1; Revelation 1:1) as well as His friend (John 15:15), a child and heir of God through Christ (Galatians 4:7,) we are called to obey Him (Romans 6:16.) What does Christ call us to do?

To love God and to love those around us for one;

Matthew 22:35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

To love our brothers and sisters in Christ;

John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

This love, in God’s Bible, is often called charity. It is an active love that meets certain conditions and has certain characteristics. Look at 1 Corinthians 8:1, the entire chapter 13 of that letter, 1 Corinthians 16:14; Colossians 3:14; 1 Timothy 1:5; & 1 Peter 4:8 among others.

The Bible tells us what our attitude should be and how we are to live. We are to seek to have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16 & Philipians 2:5) and throughout the letters from Paul to the churches we find that humility, love unfeigned and pure, and a simple, focused morality are called for in submission to God while we look for Christ’s return to translate the church (2 Timothy 4:8; Titus 2:13), a subject I have given many verses on previously.

But, even though God has given us His word in a Book, we often understand but give no answer showing we do. Our response is as if we had no understanding. We cling to ritual, bigotry, and every kind of selfish device. Churches have turned their poor and their elderly over to the state and have focused their giving on bigger buildings and filling the pews rather than filling who is in the pews with God’s word, or even teaching them to feed themselves.

The statement here is that the disobedient servant will not be corrected by words. He knows what he has been told but will not answer as if he does. We have God’s truth in front of us but would rather follow Pastor Billybob into either socialistic drivel if we are politically leftist minded or a kind of selfish anarchy if we are politicaly right minded. We bring our own bigotry and prejudices with us and twist God’s word into pretzel knots in order to arrive at an end we want to present. The left wing Christian wants all the love of God without the judgment on sin and the right wing Christian wants all the judgment of God without the love, or so it appears to me from listening to the voices.

King James said in a political context, “I am ever for the medium in everything. Between foolish rashness and extreme length, there is a middle way.” (Antonia Fraser, King James (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1975), 63.

The problem for Christians is they know the truth. They have it right in front of them, but they will not answer as if they understood what they clearly understand. If you would just do what you are certain that God wants you to do and live the way it is clear that God wants you to live from His word then any confusion you have about the rest would be cleared up. We are certainly unprofitable servants.

Proverbs 29:18 commentary; no vision

2012-01-27T03:18:00.000-08:00

18 ¶ Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

Although this verse can be and has been used in a number of different ways, including preaching that without a view of who they are, what their standards are, what they believe in, and where they are going a nation, our nation usually, will fall.

The literal meaning here can be linked to another verse that speaks of no vision from God.

Lamentations 2:9 Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the LORD.

For a people who claim to belong to God, to insist upon His mercies and His blessing, as in the putting up of “God bless America” without any real devotion to God but just presuming upon Him and assuming we’re special is a sick joke of monumental proportions and an insult to the Creator of all things.

More specifically, for Christians to treat God as no more than an idea, a force, or a vague standard for sermon on the mountish behavior if you’re left leaning and ten commandment style thus saith the lord behavior on the right is an affront to God.

Americans have created at an American god, dressed like the cartoon character Captain America, believing that a thing is good just because we did it, following our government like sheep either to moral bankruptcy at home or perpetual war abroad or both. America is perishing not because of homosexuals or abortion or single mothers or Marxists but because Christians sit numbly in the pews each week if they go to meet with a church body at all and have no concept of the real person of God.

There is no real relationship with a risen Saviour in the lives of many so called Christians, if not in the majority of them. We are not ancient Hebrews under the Law, for certain, as Paul makes it clear on several occaisions, not the least of which is this one in his statement on the ultimate equality of all Christians eliminating ethnic, social, and gender distinctions;

Galatians 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. 26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

Even those who call themselves Fundamentalists, who insist that they believe the Bible literally, act as if they are worshipping a God out of a Hollywood script following someone who sounds strangely like Charleton “Moses” Heston in a beard and sandals speaking very slowly and ominously as the waters of the Red Sea close on the Pharaoh or a Max “Jesus from The Greatest Story Ever Told” Von Sydow talking like he’s had too many valiums and really, really just wants to take a nap.

The God of the Bible is alien to most American Christians and they have no vision of who He really is. Ripping verses out of context at the urging of some preacher they take Jeremiah 29:11 and say God’s on our side regardless of our national sins, change the translation of the church clearly announced in Colossians 1:13; Genesis 5:24 with Hebrews 11:5; 1 Thessalonians 1:10 with Revelations 6:17; 11:18 which has special meaning in relation to how God created the universe with a non-Biblical word “rapture” that has no connection with the rest of Scripture, and change the meanings of many Biblical words and phrases like breeches, blessing, church, and house of God to suit an agenda rather than to honor God’s word faithfully.

America is perishing because America is starving from the famine of the word of God. There is no vision of God in America. There is a vision of a Roman deity, a god of the state, whether he be right wing or left wing, anarchist or totalitarian, but the God of the Bible, whom Abraham Lincoln acknowledged was on neither side in the American Civil War but on His own side, is not in our collective vision.

For want of it, the people are perishing. America is perishing because Christians are not faithful. Happy is he or she who loves God’s word, is in a constant prayerful state of reflection and communion with God, and who loves the Lord Jesus Christ far more than sports, their hobbies, their job, their material possessions, their political ideology, or even their flag and country.

The time is coming when you will have to choose; the God of the Bible or the god of the civil religion. Do you have a vision of Christ or a vision from Christ? Do you even know what you believe and why?

Proverbs 29:17 commentary; correct thy son

2012-01-26T03:06:00.001-08:00

17 ¶ Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.

Solomon makes it clear all through Proverbs that it will delight him as a father if his son acknowledges the training he has been given and grows up into a strong but gentle king, with wisdom and understanding.

Unfortunately, as we read about Rehoboam in 1 Kings 12 we see that he was not very wise and lost a great part of his kingdom as a result of his arrogance and being the kind of king who would listen to bad advice. This is simply proof that children are independent moral agents and bad ones can be raised by good parents and good ones by bad.

Other kings gave advice to their children. King James, who did not have any part in translating the Bible that has his name attached to it but merely commanded that the work on it begin, wrote advice to one of his sons who never lived long enough to be king. The book, Basilicon Doron or ‘The Kingly Gift’ was supposed to be private with only seven copies approved to be printed and the printer sworn to secrecy but pirated copies got out and eventually he ordered it published. It became a bestseller, printed in several languages for 50 years, long after the king’s death. As it did not do Prince Henry much good in regard to kingly duties he never assumed it has been left to posterity for us to examine and to learn from. It is available free online to read if you like.

No Christian parent should shrink from their duty to raise their children in the nuture and admonition of the Lord.

Ephesians 6:4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Nurture and admonition here are placed together as synonymous in relation to each other. The type of care and instruction a parent is to give is explained all throughout the Bible and the verses that deal with love, instruction, tenderness, and example far exceed the few extolling physical discipline. A son who has been raised with correction, instruction, example, admonition, and nurture will in all likelihood delight his or her parents, the Rehoboams notwithstanding.

Proverbs 29:16 commentary; the wicked's fall

2012-01-25T03:34:00.000-08:00

16 ¶ When the wicked are multiplied, transgression increaseth: but the righteous shall see their fall.

Psalm 12:8 The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.

The Israelites are told here that when the wicked increase, sin increases also but the righteous shall see their destruction.

Psalm 37:34 ¶ Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it. 35 I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. 36 Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found. 37 Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace. 38 But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off. 39 But the salvation of the righteous is of the LORD: he is their strength in the time of trouble. 40 And the LORD shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him.

One of the interesting things to note about these Proverbs is that they were written to a national people, a people who would be expected to assume that every one of their fellow citizens had a duty to follow the Mosaic Law, which was not only their religious duty but their civil. The wicked in this case would be those who did not follow that law but either served self alone or the heathen gods.

To multiply means more than just to increase in number but to increase in wealth and political power, as well.

Exodus 1:7 And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.

America has always had, like every nation, more than its share of wicked people; violent thugs on the bottom levels of society and exploiters and robbers on the top end. Our nation was birthed in human bondage and the institution of slavery was a prime foundation for wealth in the America before the Civil War. In fact, Lincoln admitted that the Civil War was a judgment from God on the entire country for the sin of enslaving other human beings.

As a nation we lied to and exploited the native inhabitants and no differently than many other nations, we murdered them to take their land. We then committed similar acts against our weaker neighbors to the south of us. During the Cold War we propped up vicious, evil dictators around the world as a defense against our enemy. These dictators were responsible for the deaths of millions of innocent people. At times we even turned our backs on those who needed our help against the Soviets, the Red Chinese, and their proxies from Hungary to Rhodesia.

But, in spite of our national sins, in spite of governmental hypocrisy and behavior that betrayed every one of our stated national values, the common man had a common faith. He had a simple faith and belief in Christ. Church was a place you at least visited regularly. Christianity was the common religion you at least paid lip service too. Living in a manner considered to be a normal standard of decency was accepted and understood as having value. You did care about what other people thought because your value as a human being was reflected in what others thought of your morals, your lifestyle, and your family.

People who involve themselves in the arts, in literature, in music, theater, and entertainment tend to be malcontented people, people who are not satisfied with the status quo, with things being the way they were. They tend to write about things, create works, and perform in ways that point to themselves as being special and different, as expressing their dissatisfaction with the world around them. They rebel and chafe against societal norms. Slowly but surely, as the country became more and more affluent and people had more and more free time to enjoy entertainment and amuse themselves these people gained influence. As American Protestant Christians had their “Common Bible”, as the AV had been called in the early days of our country, taken from them by unbelieving scholars and preachers who held up Germany’s “scholarship” as being the apex of scholarly brilliance in understanding the Bible and its underpinnings they drifted from reading the Bible and from it being the centerpiece in the home.
With time American Christians preferred not to hear God’s words or verses being spoken, memorized, discussed, and read in their homes but the opinions and rantings of the discontented, the “gifted”, the artistic, the social commentator, the musician, the actor. These wicked, self centered people multiplied in their perceived value to society and the common American Protestant, even fundamentalists, became swept up in their nauseating sins and excesses that were played out in the popular media daily.

Whereas once the Bible had been read in the home now there were magazines and novels of all sorts uplifting adultery, murder, and every kind of sleaze and ungodly rot that could be imagined just to keep the newspapers and other literature interesting. The acting became more and more outrageous as the theater came home in the form of radio and TV. Multiple productions could be watched and heard every day in millions of homes across the country. Not righteousness but wickedness grew like a weed so that even in the most modest American community the sins of Hollywood and Broadway became as commonplace as the radio or TV in the living room. It is not that these sins were unheard of in past times when actors and musicians were held in low regard as people of poor character and little value but that now these sins were uplifted and admired as the way to live.

We went from an actor killing a president to an actor becoming one. We went from the praising the music of Bach and Handel which uplifted the spirit to the music of Elvis and the Beatles uplifting the flesh. We went from reading about riots in Vienna, Austria over the wickedness of men and women holding each other in the dance of the waltz to modern day raves and foam parties where people actually have sex right on the dance floor. The wicked multiplied in influence, power, and we, as a people, identify more with the wicked than with God.

A small number of people in each generation rejected the deterioration of values. But, you can still go to a political party fundraiser and rally held by the party that claims to hold religious values high and watch a wicked music singer wearing immodest clothing shake and grind like a stripper in a bawdy night club as she belts out an irreverent tune.

But, the judgment for this world is coming. As we struggled to combat social evils and national sins of slavery, child abuse, sexual exploitation, and inequality we gave up our personal commitment to at least pay lip service to doing right in our personal lives. The righteous, those who have truly trusted in Christ and who reject the world’s ways, will see the fall of the wicked but it will not come until Christ Himself returns to take control of the world.

I grew up loving TV and movies and music and I soaked my children in them as I raised them. So, I’m not pointing a finger at anyone but myself and people like me. Even after I turned to Christ and to His Bible I still fell back from time to time in the nasty praise of the world and my sinful ways. It is a constant struggle in a world of compromising and apathetic Christians who worship the state more than God and value worldly entertainments more than the Bible to listen to God speak to you through His words in His Book and be changed by Him.

Very few now read the Bible every day. Very few now take any time to praise God and pray daily. Very few raise their families with daily devotions and Bible reading in the home. Few even attend church weekly. Few even know what a Bible is or is not. The so called Bible belt has more problems with pornography, divorce, drug addiction, and alcoholism than the more liberal states. Wickedness and sin seethe and boil and stink like rotten garbage all over the nation.

So called Christians will sit watching a vulgar sporting event played out by millionaire union members, with half naked women prancing on the sidelines, as they smoke their cigarettes and drink their beers, having raced home from church if they even went to church, on a Sunday afternoon. Their children are surrendered to Molech while they scream praises or hurl insults at their favorite fornicating, degenerate athlete and ignore God’s word, His praises, His people, or His way.

But the end is coming. We learn from the Bible that God allowed the wickedness of Canaan to mature, to ripen, and to be fully grown before He sent in the Hebrews to claim it. Our nation, so blessed by God, so endowed with such wonderful possibilities has only so long to enjoy the fruit of its stinking sin. The righteous will see the wicked fall but its going to be a bittersweet victory.

Proverbs 29:15 commentary; disciplining a child

2012-01-24T16:11:00.000-08:00

15 ¶ The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.

Every parent knows you don’t have to teach a child to do wrong. Left to his or herself you can imagine what kind of messes a toddler would get into and does. Discipline gives wisdom. Parents who will not correct their children with either physical discipline or verbal correction do not love their children. Correction doesn’t have to include the rod and many parents today are afraid of using it but whatever a parent’s manner of correction they must be consistent and it must be done in love.

Proverbs 22:15 Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.

A child is never to be physically punished but disciplined. A parent should explain to the child why the discipline has to be meted out and it should never be done in anger or when angry. If you can’t spank your child when you are calmed down you shouldn’t do it at all. The physical discipline mentioned in the Bible is not some gratuitous beating that a modern mother gives a spoiled child who was acting up in a grocery store or the screaming of an angry out of control father. The discipline is for a purpose, for the betterment of the child, not as revenge for a parent who has been embarrassed. After all, what you let your children do at home will be done in public as well, even if to a lesser extent because of their own embarrassment. Many of us fail at this concept of parenting. We become enraged when our child acts up in public, doing the very same things we let them do at home.

Francis Parkham, an American writer in the 1800’s and author of The Oregon Trail related how the Sioux Indians he lived with would never discipline their children, humoring them to an extreme, but when one acted up in public all the adults would turn and point at him laughing. The humiliation taught them that to be taken seriously as a member of the tribe they needed to act more mature, an effect that worked better as they grew older.
The inescapable fact is that the Bible allows for physical discipline of children.

Proverbs 23:13 Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. 14 Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.

The worst thing a parent can do next to outright abuse, though, is to be inconsistent. A child deserves to know where they stand and to have an even hand, figuratively and literally, applied to them. They should never have to wonder just what the flashpoint is on their behavior. A Biblically minded family will be consistent, whether that is consistently strict or consistently liberal, but there must be no seesawing back and forth. Most of all mother and father must be on the same page and present a united front. This is particularly difficult in stepfamilies with the guilt that accompanies divorce and other modern issues of today’s family.

God corrected Israel on many occasions using the rods of Egypt, Assyria, Syria, and Babylon. But they would not hear and were scattered. Eventually, it was a Persian king that God raised up to send a remnant home again. Israel never achieved its former glory that it had under David and Solomon. These verses were written by Solomon under the wisdom given to him by God.

Christian families should have daily devotions and Bible reading and prayer. Their children should receive reproof and correction along with the blessings for being well behaved. The rod and reproof will not hurt them if done in love, consistently, and with their own benefit in mind.

A Short History of the Christian Church

2012-01-23T18:10:00.000-08:00

by John Fletcher Hurst,D.D., LL.D. (New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1892). Hurst was a bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church and first Chancellor of American University. He was born in Dorchester County, Maryland and died in Bethesda, Maryland. His having been polluted by German Higher Criticism during his education in Germany is not apparent in this work which is purely historical. He covers a wide range of denominations and religious sects from the most ancient past until the late 19th century (the 1800's). This is very interesting and opens the door to many old books that might still be found in some attic or on openlibrary.org. Its worth the read and some information that has been ignored for over a century is available to you in this book. Definitely a must for the student of American Christianity without the pollution of either Marxism or Ayn Rand's Objectivism. Just old fashioned concern for the lost and Hellbound.

Proverbs 29:14 commentary; the king who faithfully judges the poor

2012-01-23T16:41:00.000-08:00

14 ¶ The king that faithfully judgeth the poor, his throne shall be established for ever.

Matthew Henry said that the rich can afford to defend themselves but the ruler of any nation must defend the poor. The chief executive, the government, however a nation’s leadership is arranged, has an obligation to see to the needs of the weakest of their subjects. Rulers are called upon to be impartial in judgment.

Leviticus 19:15 Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.

Several times in Job, he trumpets his own mercy and care for the poor. Psalms, chapter 10 talks specifically about the wicked’s behavior toward the poor.

Psalm 41:1 «To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.» Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.

Those people who are poor and disenfranchised men of God spend a great deal of time talking about in the Old Testament. In the previous chapter of Proverb, Solomon said,

Proverbs 28:15 As a roaring lion, and a ranging bear; so is a wicked ruler over the poor people.

God here literally promises a Hebrew king that his throne will be established for ever if he faithfully judges the poor. In the following verse Daniel, speaking to Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, offers a similar sentiment.

Daniel 4:27 Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity.

In a literal sense this verse is applicable to the Lord Jesus Christ who will return and rule for a thousand years physically on earth before history itself ends. That was the belief of the early Christians and that is what the Bible clearly states in Revelation, chapter 20 after Christ assumes control of all earthly nations as per Revelation 11:15.

“The apostles were apparently unanimous in believing that Christ would soon return to establish the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.” (Will Durant, Caesar and Christ, The Story of Civilization, Volume 3 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1944), 575.

In the first three centuries of the Christian era Chiliasm, or Millennialism, was the predominant view stating the belief that the Lord Jesus Christ would return to rule from earth for 1,000 years between human history’s end and eternity’s beginning.

Christians believed it was “at hand” (Philippians 4:5; 2 Thessalonians 2:2; Revelation 22:10), a phrase that means “will happen quickly” (Deuteronomy 32:35) and is near (Jeremiah 23:23), yet, just as they missed the need for Christ to suffer, die, and be risen (Isaiah 53; Psalm 22; Hosea 6:2; Matthew 16:21-23; Mark 9:9-10) they missed the fact that 1,000 years is but a day to the Lord or a watch in the night (Psalm 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8), and if 2,000 years pass before He returns what is that to God(Ecclesiastes6:6)?

Christ’s reign will be with an iron rod (Psalm 2:9; Revelation 2:27) but just and fair. All through the Old Testament the command to treat the poor humanely, with mercy, and with generosity is laid out which one reading of the Psalms will show you in too many verses to present here. The righteous king, of whom Christ is the most righteous of all, will be and is merciful to the poor. His reign begins with a thousand years but His reign will be for ever.

Revelation 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

Latest Reading

2012-01-22T16:28:00.001-08:00

War As I Knew It, by General George S. Patton, Jr.

Edited by Beatrice Ayer Patton, the General's wife, with the help of his Deputy Chief of Staff, Colonel Paul D. Harkins, with an introduction by Douglas Southall Freeman. This is an excellent source for understanding the motivations and decisions Patton made. It also overthrows the slander spewed by the movie bearing his name making him look like some type of terribly vain and petty martinet. This book, along with the British book on Patton and his armies I read earlier, give a much more fully focused picture of America's best fighting general who was much like General Ulysses S. Grant in his tactics, in my opinion, giving preeminence to constant motion and being on the attack, plus willing to suffer a high casualty rate in order to ensure success that would save lives later. A must read for students of World War II.

Proverbs 29:13 commentary; both the poor and his oppressor need Christ

2012-01-22T15:10:00.000-08:00

13 ¶ The poor and the deceitful man meet together: the LORD lighteneth both their eyes.

The contrast here is between the poor and the deceitful rich man, the usurer who charges interest to the poor (Exodus 22:25; Leviticus 25:36; Ezekiel 8, 13, 17: 22:12), the oppressor (Proverbs 22:22; Amos 4:1; Zechariah 7:10; James 2:6.) Notice the use of deceit by parallel phrasing in the following verses.

Micah 6:10 Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable? 11 Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights? 12 For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

The implication here is regarding the man who gains his wealth by trickery, particularly taking advantage of and preying on the poor.

God is the only one who can enlighten the minds of both the victim and the victimizer. Salvation for the just and the unjust, the evil and the good, the poor and his oppressor can only come through Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit of God opens up the eyes of the poor man and the rich to their need for salvation, to the wickedness of their hearts, and whether or not in this wicked world system you are the bug or you are the windshield you desperately need Christ before you die and “split Hell wide open” entering therein.

We can understand the deceitful and crooked going to Hell but the point is that being the poor victim doesn’t mean you get a pass in eternity. Both types of people must be saved or spend eternity in agony undescribable and regret unending.

Proverbs 22:2 The rich and poor meet together: the LORD is the maker of them all.

Proverbs 29:12 commentary; leaders who listen to lies

2012-01-21T05:40:00.000-08:00

12 ¶ If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked.

Chief executives who surround themselves with fawning sycophants will listen to lies and follow through on what they are told. Their advisors are wicked and their only value is to pump up the chief’s ego. This verse has shown itself throughout the history of kings, prime minsters, and presidents. A leader who has a vision no matter how poorly it lines up with the facts or with responsible government will surround himself with people who will reinforce that vision. He will receive false intelligence because he wants to receive false intelligence. He has no regard for the truth, only his own glory or the justification of his own worldview. The counselors and advisors he puts in positions of influence around him are only there to validate his personal convictions, not to tell him the truth.

The wicked servant will see which way the wind is blowing, what the desires of his boss are, and then provide himself as a cheerleader for those desires in order to gain advantage with his leader. Nation’s with a large, bloated bureaucracy are particular susceptible to opportunists who know just how to spoon feed their masters’ egos in order to rise above the pack. A leader over wicked servants like this can become more and more distant from reality and truth as he never hears it. He only hears what he wants to hear and anyone offering a position counter to his own will be excluded from his inner circle of advisors.

I suspect a few of our own presidents have been like that just by how they violated their own promises to the people in sayings like, “he kept us out of the war,” and “your sons will not fight in another war in Europe,”, and “the US can’t be the world’s policeman anymore” that were ignored when push came to shove. It is true that some events are thrust on a chief executive but also true that some events become excuses to justify actions that were planned far ahead in spite of promises, not in good faith, and “out of trust.”

It is important to remember that this Proverb would have been addressed to kings and rulers under God’s authority in the Kingdom of Israel. This is a comment on the rule of the so called faithful although this Proverb can be applied to any level of government or business.

Proverbs 29:11; running off at the mouth

2012-01-18T02:58:00.000-08:00

11 ¶ A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards.

We all have this evidence in our memory. You said too much in a job interview. You said the wrong thing to your spouse or friend. You said too much to your boss at work. You said too much to a potential customer. A wise person doesn’t say everything he could say but everything he should say. The interviewer doesn’t need to hear your negative opinions of your last employer. Your spouse doesn’t need to hear all that you think needs to be said about how she doesn’t cook this or that like your mother. Your friend doesn’t need to hear from you what a failure he is. You don’t want to talk yourself out of a sale.

We all remember some of our TMI moments, as in ‘too much information.’ There is a time for silence. When a Bible believer witnesses to a stranger or a family member there are a lot of things he or she could say, but shouldn’t. Saying everything that’s on your mind is not an effective presentation of the gospel. Some of the things you might FEEL like saying are from your flesh and are not glorifying to Christ.

The news is full these days of petty politicians bringing their ‘running off at the mouth’ disease into the political debate with such things as, “women have handicapped children because they had abortions in the past,” or “don’t feed the poor, it enourages them to breed,” and the like. Just because something is in your head doesn’t mean it should come out of your mouth.

With regard to our own religious beliefs, we should have the discernment to follow Paul’s admonition;

Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

People need to know that Christ is the only answer for a dying world and they need to know that we are all sinners bound for Hell without Christ in rebellion against a Holy God who offered us a way to get beyond that veil between us and Him by His own death on the cross, a ransom for sin, and by our acceptance of it as payment for our sin; by our trusting in Christ, God in the flesh, to have eternal life and to get to heaven, and getting there in Him alone. They’ll realize, if they honestly consider and the Holy Spirit has been working on them, how wicked their hearts really are. Harping on how they’re dressed, their tatooes and piercings, hair style or color, or what’s playing on their television completely misses the point in a way that some moron screaming unintelligible Bible verses through a megaphone at a gay pride rally misses the point.

Pick your words and don’t say whatever’s on your mind in some self righteous display of being what Paul, in the wisdom given to him by God, calls “wise in your own conceits.” (Romans 12:16) . You are an ambassador for Christ, His spokesman on earth. Are you witnessing for your own glory or for His? Trying to score points? Do you walk away smugly self satisfied that you’ve done your job, they’ve heard the gospel, no matter how mean spirited and hateful you put it? Just because it comes into your head doesn’t mean you have to be a fool and let it come out of your mouth. Remember, in the Bible God’s hardest speeches, His most angry comments, are reserved for the self righteous among the so called believers, Jew or Gentile, for those who honor Him with their mouths but whose hearts are far from Him.

Colossians 4:6 Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

What do "the gates of hell" mean in this verse?

2012-01-16T16:24:00.000-08:00

Matthew 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

The gates were a place of judgment.

Deuteronomy 16:18 Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment.

Deuteronomy 17:8 If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates: then shalt thou arise, and get thee up into the place which the LORD thy God shall choose;

Zechariah 8:16 These are the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates:

Logically, then the judgments of Hell will not prevail against the church.

(Of course, the rock Jesus was talking about was Himself, specifically the statement of faith that Peter had just made which is the ultimate foundation and confession of the church;

Matthew 16:16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Here is evidence of the rock Jesus speaks of;

2Samuel 22:3 The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence.

Psalm 18:2 The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

1Corinthian 10:4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.)

What do "attain unto" and "apprehend" mean in the Bible?

2012-01-16T16:05:00.000-08:00

Philippians 3:11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. 12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

Attain unto, in this context, means to understand, to wrap my mind around.

Psalm 139:6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.

Proverbs 1:5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:

To apprehend also means to conceive by the mind according to Dr. Samuel Johnson's dictionary from the 1700's. Modern dictionaries will give a meaning as to understand something.

In this context it would be to know Christ as Christ knows him. So, in my mind I might say that these verses tell me that if by any means I might understand the resurrection of the dead, not that I understand it now, or am complete in my knowledge, but I follow after that I might understand and know Christ like he knows and understands me. Just don't change the words or you'll ruin the cross references for perfect and attain unto.

What does "perfect" and "perfected" mean in the Bible?

2012-01-16T15:52:00.000-08:00

Perfect means finished and complete. A perfected Christian is one who has the fruit of the Spirit, is complete in all understanding.

2Chronicles 8:16 Now all the work of Solomon was prepared unto the day of the foundation of the house of the LORD, and until it was finished. So the house of the LORD was perfected.

Colossians 4:12 Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.

Today

2012-01-16T15:49:00.000-08:00

Spent the day with Beth and the cats. I finished and submitted my papers for American in the 20th Century and the Civil War. I can only hope the professors feel better about them than I do. Going back to work tomorrow. Meekah lay across my arm for a long time. Whitney slept next to my right arm while I worked on the computer. I can't believe my three day weekend is over. Looking forward to work tomorrow, with a lot of God's word on the drive.

Proverbs 29:10 commentary; hater or prayer

2012-01-16T13:41:00.000-08:00

10 ¶ The bloodthirsty hate the upright: but the just seek his soul.

As Cain in his self righteous worship unwanted by God hated his brother Abel and murdered him as related in Genesis, chapter 4, so Christ warns His disciples throughout the Gospel of John that the world will hate them because it hates Him. It is particularly interesting that the most bloodthirsty murderers of Christians between the Roman Empire and modern times have been others who went by the name of Christian and Christ warned His Jewish disciples about their own people that those who killed them would think they were doing God a service in John 16:2. The Roman Catholic church during the thousand year period between 500AD and 1500AD is credited by various authors with the murder of other people who went by the name of Christian to the tune of 5 million to 50 million depending on whom you read in much disputed histories. This figure includes people who were accused of witchcraft when their only wrong was to uplift the name of Christ, honor the Bible in their own language, and trust in Him and not the Roman church for salvation. You’ll find even today that many of a Bible believing Christian’s worst enemies are others who call themselves Christians but regard the Bible as a book of advice more than the living words of God.

While historians like to talk of how brutal the Aztecs were in sacrificing human beings to their war-like gods, the people of Europe were executing up to 400 people per day with crowds watching the evil for entertainment that numbered in the tens of thousands at times. The Aztecs were a nation of boy scouts compared to Europe at the same time.

Since we know in our understanding of how the Bible was translated by the King James translators under God’s inspiration (2 Timothy 3:16) which is the wisdom (2 Peter 3:15) and understanding (Job 32:8) He gives to men, whether in writing originals or copies or translations, He has ordained for such work we understand how it is to be understood and read. In this case, when two clauses are separated by a colon the second clause folds back on the first to clarify meaning. The upright and the just are synonyms here, the same individuals. The bloodthirsty hate the upright and just but they seek his, referring to the bloodthirsty’s, soul. Christ has called us to love our enemies and pray for them, first in talking to his beard wearing, temple going, Sabbath observing, pork abstaining Jewish disciples in Matthew 5:44;

Matthew 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Then, God’s missionary to we Gentiles (Romans 15:16), Paul, says;

Romans 12:14 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.

We are just and upright only by virtue of the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of us by virtue of the new birth in Christ. We have no righteousness of our own and left to our own selves are bloodthirsty, wicked monsters. We are compelled to pray for those lost and unsaved people who would gladly murder us, even pray for their soul’s deliverance from the lake of fire. For instance, how many American Christians prayed for Osama Bin Laden’s deliverance from Satan, do you think? How many are praying for the salvation of President Ahmadinejad of Iran right now?

The bloodthirsty who happen to be those among the Christian culture in America that would hate us for our stance on what constitutes a Bible, the independence of our churches, our personal convictions, or views on separation or whatever the case need our prayers, as well, and not our hatred and contempt. In fact, all Christians who claim to be Christians should be praying for each other, particularly if we believe the other to be wrong, rather than spewing vitriol.

The bloodthirsty and the wicked hate people, the upright and just pray for them. It’s as simple as that. Which group do you belong to?
(For confirmation of the use of the colon see Hunter College Reading/Writing Center: Punctuation and Capitalization, Using the Colon and Semi-Colon, 1.d. “a clause following a sentence which explains the sentence.” http://rwc.hunter.cuny.edu/reading-writing/on-line/colon.html)

Today

2012-01-14T05:23:00.000-08:00

Teaching two boxing classes after lifting weights. Its going to be a really good day, I think. I brought Beth coffee and we have prayed together and I have taken care of the cats. Louie, as usual, was very affectionate and appreciative. I have ordered some B12 to try to help reverse the effects of his diabetic neuropathy although his walking and sitting have improved. Shakey is sleeping the sun. Meekah is sitting in the chair next to mine. Whitney has chosen to stay in their room to nap on their overstuffed chair.

Okay! We went to our Pastor's surprise birthday party down in Stewartstown, then got some groceries on the way home. Just chillin' now with my crew.

Proverbs 29:9 commentary; arguing with foolish people

2012-01-13T03:17:00.000-08:00

9 ¶ If a wise man contendeth with a foolish man, whether he rage or laugh, there is no rest.

There is no good to be accomplished arguing with a foolish person. He or she is convinced that his way is the right way and nothing that can be said or proven otherwise will matter.

Proverbs 12:15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.

He despises correction and refuses to hear.

Proverbs 23:9 Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.

There are many other statements in the Bible about arguing with people who have set in their heads one thing and refuse to hear. You can argue and argue until you’re either blue in the face or your fingers are sore from typing. The foolish person will only argue to a point and then because his or her argument is weak they will begin attacking you personally. They simply must have the last word even if that last word is “yeah, but still…”

There are people who, in spite of the incredible complexity of life, insist that it happened by random chance. In spite of the fact that the possibility that a random mix of amino acids given any time length can form into a polypeptide chain that can form into a functioning protein is mathematically an impossibility akin to a tornado going through a junk yard and leaving behind a fully functional 747 there are people who need so badly to be a random accident of nature in order to justify their sin you can argue with them until the end of history and get nowhere. There is no rest.

There are people who look at mankind’s history and at the evidence of their own lives and still believe that man is basically good and in no need of a Saviour. You can argue with them all day long and it won’t matter.

There are people who, when shown that more things have been written about Jesus Christ than any man in history, more songs praising him written than any man in history, more wars fought over him, more people willingly going to their death for him, and living for him than any god or man throughout history and they will still question his existence. Go ahead, argue with them.

There are Protestants and non-Catholics, whose entire foundation of belief is based on the written word of God and who claim that the Bible they use is just as good as any other, who don’t feel compelled to read it, who don’t believe God speaks to them through it, or that he can change who and what they are by their reading of it and submitting to it daily, and you can teach and preach about the importance of Bible reading and sound Biblically true sermons heard regularly and they will argue with you until they are blue in the face that their seared, worldly conscience is good enough evidence of Christ’s calling on their lives.

There are people who will tell you that the Authorized Version of the Bible is a flawed if culturally and historically significant translation even though you point out that 98% of all Bible manuscripts agree with it rather than their preferred version, that the early church “fathers” quote verses just as they are in the AV, that even unbelievers like the editors of the Harvard Literary Guide to the Bible agree that it is the only Bible that can legitimately be called The Bible, that it was the foundation for the greatest missionary endeavors in Christian history, that its word self defining qualities, cross referencing, and meaning by parallel phrasing attributes defy all explanation as to human effort alone, or that the Bible itself says that a translation can be inspired, and you will never convince them because it would overthrow their entire view of who they are and their relationship with God and they will never, ever stop arguing with you.

There are people who say they believe the Bible literally, even use the AV, and yet refuse to define words and doctrines the way the Bible does and will argue with you all day long that something is true merely because it is their favorite celebrity preacher’s opinion rather than the testimony of God’s word. You will get no rest because they will not yield. Argue as long and as convincingly as you like, point out the verses and the clear statements in the Bible and they will scoff, show scorn, and eventually say you are a godless reprobate because you believe, like the Bible says, that the church is the people, the house of God is the family of God, that translators’ understanding and wisdom can be given by inspiration, that you can’t lose your salvation, that Satan currently runs the world, even their own government, and that Hell will be cast into the Lake of Fire but they aren’t the same thing, and you can talk until you pass out from lack of oxygen and they will not hear you. There is no rest.

Whether these people mock and laugh at you or get extremely angry and call you a fool you will get no rest. Give it up. Just do what you know to be right, search the Scriptures, do your own research, and follow God in faith, hungry to see what He will do next. Always remember that probably at some point in your life, you are where they were. Just always be willing to kindly and without wrath give them a reasonable defense of your position.

Remember, no one has ever come to Christ by human argument alone. There must be a work of the Holy Spirit involved in opening up their heart and mind. You aren’t the Holy Spirit. You are simply a messenger bringing them something they need to hear. Pray for them. Let God do the rest.

Proverbs 29:8 commentary; when the scornful rule

2012-01-11T16:38:00.000-08:00

8 ¶ Scornful men bring a city into a snare: but wise men turn away wrath.

The scorner is linked to the wicked man in Proverbs 9:7. He is the opposite of the wise man by contrast in the following verse. He doesn’t listen to rebuke in Proverbs 13:1. Even when he looks for wisdom he can’t find it in Proverbs 14:6. He won’t go to the wise for advice and he doesn’t like people who correct him as per Proverbs 15:12. He is proud and haughty; arrogant, and his wrath, his constant anger, is a reflection of his immense pride as well. See 21:24. In Proverbs 22:10 we see that he’s the cause of contention and strife and reproach and when he’s kicked out all of that goes with him. In 24:9 he thinks sinful, foolish thoughts and he’s an abomination to men.

When scorners rule, a city or a nation are in deep trouble. Democracies tend to be ruled by the men who can afford to run for office, by the elite, highly educated, proud, and arrogant. They have no problem sending someone else’s children to die for their failed diplomacies. They have no problem causing someone else’s children to be killed for their own personal plans or prejudices. Their main concern is not how they spend the money the state extorts from its citizens in the way of taxes on virtually everything but air but how they can dupe the public enough to get them reelected. The system is set up that way and attracts those kinds of people.

The Scriptures say;

Daniel 4:17 This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.

Satan himself said to Jesus;

Luke 4:5 And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.

The 19th century viewpoint among Christians was predominantly postmillennial. They were going to bring in the kingdom of heaven on earth without Christ physically present but with them ruling in his place much like the Catholic Church believed it had been doing for 1500 years. That view began to die out when the horrors of World War One and Two’s total war showed them that mankind was perhaps not capable of building a better world. 150 million dead and displaced in the 20th century knocked a hole in the “Glory, glory, hallelujah, His truth is marching on” crowd’s belief in a perfect world run on Christian principles.

The fact is that Satan is the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4) and rules over the kingdoms of this earth, including the USA, until Christ returns to take control (Revelation 11:15). The best we can pray for now, besides Christ return, is that we can push and pull the government into occasionally doing right and holding it accountable for its actions. But, it is important to not fall into the postmillennialist trap of believing that mankind himself will do what God has said he will not and like Lorenzo Dow, famed 19th century evangelist, believe that the very creation of America was the fulfillment of prophecy as the stone in Daniel that smote the feet of the world’s great powers and then grew to be a great mountain that covered the whole earth. This blasphemy was common place until the 20th century’s wakeup call.

Scornful, wicked rulers ensnare a nation. We need a wise man and wise men to run the country. God’s wrath is on the nations of men.

Jeremiah 10:10 But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.

Some people try to pretend that the world is a wonderful place full of beauty, knowledge, wonderful architecture, arts, learning, and goodwill. But, you can dress a pig up in an evening gown and makeup and it’s still a pig. In reality, the only thing that separates us from savages in New Guinea is some nifty looking buildings.

Of course, our culture can hardly help the decay it is experiencing because of who we hold aloft as admirable and worthy of respect.

Psalm 12:8 The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.

With scorners in power in either party, perhaps God’s wrath has not come down full on America because there are still a few wise men and women who know what a Bible actually is and believe it and keep praying for mercy for the America that is today’s Babylon.

Latest Reading

2012-01-10T03:21:00.001-08:00

Liberalism and Its Challengers: From FDR to Bush, by Alonzo L. Hamby. Truly, the only people in this book that Hamby actually likes are FDR and Reagan, the great communicators. Now, Hamby is a leftist liberal so he detests Reagan's political views, however, he admires him as a leader and a statesman. It is Lyndon Johnson who gets the business. Hamby clearly thinks that Johnson is a pretender to FDR's throne. Reagan admired FDR and set about to overthrow Johnson's "Great Society". Anyway, if you are an Eisenhower, a Nixon, a Johnson, a Ford, or a Carter fan look out. Actually he seems to feel sorry for Ford, who was way over his head. Its worth the read if you can stay open minded about your favorite chief exec getting trashed. There is indeed a huge difference between FDR's liberalism and Johnson's.

Proverbs 29:7 commentary; consider the poor

2012-01-10T02:27:00.000-08:00

7 ¶ The righteous considereth the cause of the poor: but the wicked regardeth not to know it.

In the Hebrew kingdom of the ancient world, under God’s law, created to separate the Hebrews as a distinctive people, unique among a host of wicked, Gentile nations the poor were supposed to be taken care of in specific ways. The Hebrews were to leave some food in their fields for the poor and for the foreigner living among them to get during the harvest. Clearly, the poor were expected to do some work to get it.

Leviticus 23:22 And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the LORD your God.

The Hebrew was to be generous to the poor.

Deuteronomy 15:11 For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.

The instructions given to the kingdom of Israel regarding welfare for the poor were more like American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s (FDR) programs of the 1930’s where you even had out of work executives whose only business attire was a suit sweeping a city sidewalk or cleaning up a park. You could get government aid, but if you were able and healthy enough to do so you had to work.

Somewhere in the 1960’s welfare programs became a handout with no expectation of work on behalf of a healthy, able bodied individual. Then, in the 1990’s President Bill Clinton introduced a type of “workfare”, a word first coined by 60’s civil rights leader, James Evers, and first used in a speech by President Richard Nixon. This was designed to get the welfare recipient into employment. Some on the left criticize it as simply moving the poor person into a different category and not employing them at all.

We also have many working poor in our country. There are people unable to find full time work with benefits or a living wage and will work two or three part time jobs just to maintain a roof over their head or food on their table. There is usually nothing else left for improving their lives and many of these people don’t have health insurance.

There are no Christian countries and never have been as only a person can be a Christian. There is no communal or group salvation. Each and every individual is responsible for coming to Christ. Certainly, the United States was founded on Christian principles and often by many men who claimed to be Christian of some stripe or the other. However, leaving the political world aside let’s look at the individual’s responsibility to the poor, both within and “without the camp” under the doctrines of grace.

Paul tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ, though he was rich, made himself poor for our sakes.

2Corinthians 8:9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.

With regard to caring for the poor within the house of God, the family of God, the church, which is the body of Christ on earth, Paul tells us;

2 Corinthians 8:12 For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not. 13 For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened: 14 But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality: 15 As it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.

And in this context he says in an often abused passage by preachers trying to raise money for a new parking lot or a basketball court rather than the poorer brethren’s needs;

2 Corinthians 9:6 ¶ But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. 7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: 9 (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever. 10 Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;) 11 Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.

So, in context the Christian has a responsibility before God to help his poorer brothers and sisters. This is considered a good work and is the active result of having charity toward your brothers and sisters. Paul calls those Christian who are rich in this world to distribute and communicate, two words that mean supplying a physical need.

1 Timothy 6:17 Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; 18 That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; 19 Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

And returning back to the context of the earlier passage about giving bountifully and as God has laid it on your heart Paul brings us to the point where our mercy and benevolence is expressed not only to those in the church but the poor in the world, as well. The wicked choose to look the other way.

2 Corinthians 9:11 Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God. 12 For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God; 13 Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men; 14 And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you. 15 Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.

This is a voluntary function, a Christian work done because a person is saved, not to get saved or to stay saved, or even to purchase salvation. It is from the heart and not done as a political act, at the point of the proverbial gun. So you must separate in your head your duty to the state and what you do out of love for Christ and for the brethren. They are two entirely separate things, although you probably will not object to your tax money going in part to help people simply because you are generous.

Christian giving is not political. Considering the poor is a Christian duty and an act of love, not a nuisance that gets in the way of you taking vacations to Cancun or building a nest egg for your children’s ease of living. And God will take care of you. Paul, after thanking the Philippians for being generous in supporting him in his missionary efforts promises;

Philippians 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

The wicked simply don’t care about the poor. It doesn’t even cross their mind. “I”, “me”, and “mine” are their trinity. Neither Ayn Rand nor Karl Marx were followers of Christ when they were on the earth. But believe me, if government welfare was efficient and went where it was actually needed rather than being a tool with which to buy votes then people like Bill Gates wouldn’t set up a foundation to help people. They’d just write bigger checks to the government and take fewer deductions.

In any event, once you have met your own survival needs then look to the needs of others, first in the church, then in the world. God will take care of you.

Proverbs 29:6 commentary: can you sing and rejoice?

2012-01-08T05:10:00.000-08:00

6 ¶ In the transgression of an evil man there is a snare: but the righteous doth sing and rejoice.

Examining this verse by contrast, with the clause after the colon helping to define the intention of the cause preceding it is clear that the Proverbs says that the sin of the evil man does not produce joy or happiness, but that it is the righteous that sings and rejoices.

This applies in life and after life as for eternity those who belong to Christ will be praising God and rejoicing in His presence while those who reject the free gift of salvation through Christ will spend eternity in a lake of unquenchable fire. This isn’t a political statement nor is it an exercise in exclusivity as God has offered the free gift of eternal life to all men regardless of race or ethnicity or national origin. Its there for the taking. Salvation is predicated only upon belief in and trust in Christ alone; no church, creed, dogma, doctrine, or works can save you. Salvation is predicated upon a belief and trust in a risen Saviour. Don’t add to it based on your favorite preacher’s agenda or your own desire to control others.

Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Acts 16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Certainly in this life, the error of sin will catch a person on fire all by itself. People who reject common sense and God’s standards laid out in the Bible often find themselves in dire situations with sexually transmitted diseases, unplanned children, poverty, alienation, prison, and the misery that comes from having no options left. When we follow our heart as our right to do we find that the wicked human heart will lead us down a path of self destruction. I’ve known many people who started out in life bent on a course of self satisfaction only to find that within a few years they had been left with little to show but a broken body, a fractured mind, and the fallout from sin that leaves behind wounded and innocent children destined to grow up to repeat the sins of their parents, without the Holy Spirit’s intervention.

If the Christian is miserable, and some are, it is because he or she has chosen a carnal lifestyle, focused on themselves and on self worship, and has no Fruit of the Spirit of God shining through them.

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

If the Christian is miserable it is because they don’t have any love for their fellow Christians, which is what the word charity means in the Bible. You can’t have a love for people you don’t know. If you don’t join with other believers in worship you can’t love them and if you attend a church where people discharge their “duty” on Sunday morning but have no fellowship with the other believers you can hardly feel love for your brothers and sisters in Christ. Now, with the internet there is even less of an excuse not to fellowship with at least a couple of other believers online worshipping God and searching the Scriptures for what God has to say to you.

1Peter 4:8 And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.

Loving and caring for your brothers and sisters in Christ is a command straight from Jesus Christ.

John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

If Christians, particularly Fundamentalist Christians, spent more time doing what God has told them to do; displaying the fruit of the Spirit and loving the brethren, and less time worrying about what other people do and whether or not others live in a way that mirrors their own or have the same personal convictions that they do they would certainly be happier and able to sing and rejoice and more likely to draw the unsaved to Christ.

The transgression of the evil man is a snare. It binds and enslaves him to his own flesh, the world’s preferences for him, and to Satan himself. It ends in physical and spiritual destruction. There is no joy in the natural outcome of living for your flesh, whether you be bound for Hell or for Heaven in the end. Don’t worry about me being a hypocrite. I’m speaking as much to myself as to all of you when I write these commentaries. When I work on them I pray for light from God. If the light God gives me condemns my behavior or calls into question my walk with Christ, then so be it.
Truth is truth, whether or not it pleases my flesh.

The righteous doth sing and rejoice regardless of his or her circumstances. If you can’t do that then,

2Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

Proverbs 29:5 commentary; of flattery and flatterers

2012-01-07T04:16:00.000-08:00

5 ¶ A man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his feet.

There have been several warnings against flattery in Proverbs, particularly that one should look out for it and not be deceived when someone tries to get an advantage over us with it.

Proverbs 2:16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;

Proverbs 6:24 To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.

Proverbs 7:5 That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.

Proverbs 7:21 With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.

Proverbs 20:19 He that goeth about as a talebearer revealeth secrets: therefore meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips.

Proverbs 26:28 A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it; and a flattering mouth worketh ruin.

Proverbs 28:23 He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favour than he that flattereth with the tongue.

The person who flatters you, who pumps you up, pays undue attention to you, and exaggerates your better traits is after something. He or she is laying a trap for you. People in authority are prone to have people flatter them to gain some advantage. Many a powerful man has been knocked out of his place by his own lust and the attentions of a young woman. People who know where they are going, though, and what their purpose here on earth is are not so prone to being found the victims of their own weakness for self worship and the flattery of another.

When someone knows what is in man as Jesus did spoken of in John 2:25 and when someone knows the condition of the human heart as in Jeremiah 17:9 then the flatterer will have a frustratingly difficult time with him or her. However, the fact is that if certain people ever change their religion it will be because they no longer think they’re God. Those kinds of weak people, even in positions of power and authority, are susceptible to the damaging flattery of someone, particularly those who seek to entrap them.

Young women are notoriously susceptible to the kind of flattery from men designed to overthrow them and bring them to ruin. Fawning words and unnecessary attention to your appearance or even your character can and often are a thinly disguised attempt to put you in a vulnerable place where you can be taken advantage of. I know you crave to hear someone remark that you’re pretty, or smart, or really nice but beware of men, young or old, who do that. Rather than receiving a compliment you may be victim of someone who wants to steal your pride from you. Of course, if you know what the human heart‘s condition is and what is in man you will not be so easily manipulated.

Beware of flattery and flatterers.

Proverbs 29:4 commentary; corrupt leaders destroy a nation

2012-01-05T03:22:00.000-08:00

4 ¶ The king by judgment establisheth the land: but he that receiveth gifts overthroweth it.

Bribery in all its forms is condemned by God. Any public official who takes or demands a bribe should be taken out and horsewhipped, not just removed from office. A key part of public service is public trust. Without it you simply have a run of the mill barbarous government. It has been said that the U.S. government is totally corrupt, bought and paid for by corporate and union interests, plus influential men of great wealth.

Both the taking….

Exodus 23:8 And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.

Deuteronomy 16:19 Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.

Amos 5:12 For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.

And the giving of a bribe is soundly condemned.

Proverbs 17:23 A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment.

This Proverb states that a corrupt government, influenced by the taking of gifts, cannot stand for long. This is a clear warning for any nation whose leaders take gifts and bribes to pervert judgment. Without a dull, glassy eyed electorate or hidden hands to prop it up for special interests such a corrupt government cannot exist for long.

How does the king, the chief executive, the leadership establish a nation? By judgment. What is judgment?

It is synonymous with justice.

Genesis 18:19 For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.

It is to be done with righteousness.

Leviticus 19:15 Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.

It is to be done in an impartial manner.

Deuteronomy 1:17 Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.

It is to be done without regard to the social status, political power, or legal status of the individuals being judged. (A stranger is a foreigner.)

Deuteronomy 24:17 Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow’s raiment to pledge:

All of God’s ways; his precepts, statutes, commandments, testimonies, and words are judgments (read the first dozen or so verses of Psalm 119.)

Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

There is no place in righteous judgment for the taking of gifts.

1Samuel 8:3 And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment.

(A word of note to Christians. The Holy Spirit will refer to verses in the Old Testament by allusions, paraphrases or quotes in the New. At times a different word is inserted into the verse to show that in God’s plan and for our edification the two words mean the same thing. The following verses show us that truth is the victory or triumph of God’s judgment just as we can see the relationship between to “bring forth” and “ send” [examine closely Exodus 3:10]. We know that Christ is THE truth (John 14:6) and God’s wisdom [1 Corinthians 1:24; 30] through whom we have victory [1 Corinthians 15:57] and Christ has the victory over Satan and death and Hell [1Timothy 1:15; Hebrews 2:14; Revelation 1:18.] That would be a good subject for a sermon, perhaps.

Isaiah 42:3 A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.

Matthew 12:20 A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory.

It is an interesting exercise to look for other parallel verses like this. I’ve found many.)

A corrupt government cannot be a just government. A corrupt government cannot stand for long. At the rate we are going the United States will be a flash in the pan in the long course of history.

Latest Reading

2012-01-04T17:46:00.001-08:00

Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in Americaby Allen C. Guelzo. This book is surprising in its depth and in the richness of its writing. Gettysburg College's Allen Guelzo deserves his ranking as one of the premier Lincoln historians. Its fascinating to see how the Civil War changed Lincoln from a profane railroad lawyer who mocked the Bible to a President who fretted about God's will. Very intriguing story.

Proverbs 29:3 commentary; keeping company with immoral people

2012-01-02T05:28:00.000-08:00

3 ¶ Whoso loveth wisdom rejoiceth his father: but he that keepeth company with harlots spendeth his substance.

I am reminded of the story of “The Prodigal Son” in the gospel according to Luke that begins like this;

Luke 15:11 ¶ And he said, A certain man had two sons: 12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. 13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

In earlier Proverbs the young man had been warned.

Proverbs 7:6 ¶ For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, 7 And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, 8 Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house, 9 In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night: 10 And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.

Clearly, in one respect, this is a prophetic reflection of God as the Father and Israel as the son, as Israel is called in;

Exodus 4:22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:

Here is the opinion of one student of ancient religion; “The connection between sexuality and spirituality is so strong and so ancient that the first “coin” ever minted granted access to sacred sex rites. The shekel in ancient Sumeria represented a bushel of wheat donated to the Temple of Inanna to feed the orphans and priestesses who lived there. In recognition of the offering, the donor received a token with a picture of Inanna on one side and a sheaf of wheat on the other. This coin was redeemed at the temple on feast days in order to participate in the fertility rites. The fertility rites included sex with the Goddess – represented by one of the Temple Priestesses – and insured a fertile, prosperous year for those who honored the Goddess in this way.

The ancient Sumerians were not the first—nor the last—to recognize a strong connection between sex and spirit. A long tradition of sex practiced in connection with spirituality lurks in the history of many world religions. Hinduism has a history of sacred sexual practices that continues to this day. Erotic teachings, derived from Tantra and other belief systems, have been incorporated into some Buddhist and Hindu sects. Ancient Judaism had separate words for whore and sacred whore, indicating a spiritual connection with sex—under certain circumstances.

Egyptians, Persians, Semites, and Babylonians all had sacred whores—variously named Horea, Houris, Harine and Hor, all precursors to the word “whore” —in their temples. Greek priestesses performed sexual rites in the Temples of Aphrodite. Rome had her Vestal Virgins and held orgies, called Bacchanalia, dedicated to Bacchus.”

Israel’s dealings with the pagan religions of Satan that God had deliberately opposed when He separated them from the Gentile world consisted of compromise and embracing the sensuality and carnality of those religions. That included consorting with temple prostitutes both male and female and mixing that religious practice with the one that God had given them.

Deuteronomy 23:18 Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the LORD thy God.

2Kings 23:7 And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove.

Temple prostitution continued down through the years and the city of Corinth had nearby Acro-Corinth (Upper Corinth, the Acropolis of Ancient Corinth) where the Temple of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of sex, had 1,000 short haired, sometimes with head shaved, temple prostitutes in a culture where both women and young boys engaged in the practice. Hence, Paul acknowledges the Biblical legitimacy of the Corinthian Christian demand that women have long hair, possibly to distinguish them from prostitutes, just before he comments that if any man be contentious that this is not a concern in other churches. Unfortunately, many agenda driven preachers don’t read the entire passage and have created a doctrine for all Christian women out of thin air.

Bringing the focus down to an individual neither the Hebrew son nor the Christian son would honor his parents if it was his practice to participate in such wicked religious rites. Although we don’t have a specific institution of religion that honors such practices today there is still and always will be a strong religious component to sexual matters. Young Christian men and women have abandoned their faith because of the allure of sex and the siren song of a lover who regards not God. This is because of the sinful nature of their own hearts and the failure of adult Christians to extol the joys of legitimate marital union with God’s blessing.

Hebrews 13:4 Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.

Certainly, the number two reason for the apostasy of Christian youth with regard to sexual matters after the wickedness of the human heart is being shown all their lives by sick example and twisted word that what God has given a man and a woman to enjoy with each other is somehow morally dirty, clumsy, or ungodly.

Clearly, by this Proverb, immoral behavior is not wisdom and it is a way by which a young man is brought to poverty.

Proverbs 6:26 For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.

It does not honor your parents to be wicked and immoral. It is not wise to follow that path. It is not what God has laid out for any Christian. It will destroy you and rob you of more than your substance, your money, your inheritance, in the end. Immoral behavior, young man or woman, will rob you of your joy and make your life a misery, plus make a shambles of the lives of the innocent children that come from it. Don’t be a wicked fool and spend your life in regret with unhappy marriages or living arrangements, unexpected children, disease, and ruin. Search out God’s word for the fulfillment of your personal desires and needs and find a partner who loves Christ, not by searching for them, but by being the kind of person you should be for Christ and waiting on God to provide.

Lastest Reading

2012-01-01T18:13:00.001-08:00

This Great Struggle: America's Civil Warby Steven E. Woodworth. This is one of the best written and easy to read books on the Civil War you will ever find. I recommend it highly. Its packed with information but doesn't overwhelm the reader.

Proverbs 29:2 commentary; when the righteous one rules the earth

2011-12-31T04:11:00.000-08:00

2 ¶ When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.

A land is spoiled by bad leaders. Men and women who trade off prosperity for deals that pad the pockets of their friends and supporters, men and women who pander to the lowest element in the people to get votes, and men who have no regard for God’s standards of right and wrong will lead a people into despair and calamity. One of the problems of democracy is that the lowest of men in character can get elected if they are good at packaging and selling themselves. One of the problems of a kingdom is that men, by virtue of their bloodline rather than their character, are elevated to the highest authority.

Satan, the devil, aka Lucifer, is the god of this world;

2Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

And through him;

Luke 4:5 And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.

…God permits the lowest kind of man and woman morally to rule over men. All human government on a national scale is by its very nature, wicked.

Daniel 4:17 This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.

So, how would a righteous man rule under such circumstances? Understand that this Proverb in context was written to God’s kingdom of Israel, which He had set apart from other kingdoms and was not counted among the nations of the Gentiles.

Numbers 23:9 For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.

The question then becomes for Christians what is the condition of the righteous being in authority? When Christ physically returns to rule, the righteous will certainly rule, and His righteous people will rule with Him for a time.

Revelation 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

2Timothy 2:12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:

Revelation 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

Those who are the righteous today are made righteous by virtue of having Christ’s righteousness in them by virtue of being born again by belief in Him having trusted in Him. They have no righteousness of their own. The wicked are wicked because they reject Christ’s authority and His sacrifice and His love for them at the Cross. Right now, the wicked do bear rule and wars and rumors of wars have covered the globe repeatedly throughout human history. That’s why Trevor and Dupuy’s Military Encyclopedia is over a thousand pages long. Over the last 4,000 years mankind has had roughly only 300 without war, one can imagine, in order to have time to reload. The wicked bear rule; death and bloodshed and oppression constantly cover the earth. As Thomas Edward Lawrence aka Lawrence of Arabia said, the Europeans have been slaughtering each other for 1500 years. They ought to be doing it well by now.The 150 million people killed by war and violence in the 20th century attest to that fact.

But, Christ is coming back and mourning time will have ended. The righteous will rule and be in authority. The people, even the whole earth, shall rejoice. So, Christian, look up.

Titus 2:11 ¶ For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

Proverbs 29:1 commentary; stubbornness

2011-12-28T02:59:00.000-08:00

1 ¶ He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.

This Bible idiom, “harden the neck”, refers to refusing to hear something, to accept it, and obey.

2Kings 17:14 Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God.

2Chronicles 36:13 And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God: but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart from turning unto the LORD God of Israel.

Nehemiah 9:29 And testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law: yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments, (which if a man do, he shall live in them;) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear.

Jeremiah 7:26 Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.

To reprove is to correct or admonish just as reproof is correction. Note again parallel phrasing which provides meaning;

Proverbs 15:10 Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way: and he that hateth reproof shall die.

Here is one use of reprove in Job.

Job 13:10 He will surely reprove you, if ye do secretly accept persons.

The simple statement in this Proverb is that the person who stubbornly refuses to hear when they are corrected and shown the error of their ways will be destroyed without any chance of being saved from the calamity in which they have put themselves.

To be destroyed usually carries with it the meaning of being killed.

Genesis 6:7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

Genesis 9:15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.

God often talks about the judgment of the wicked coming suddenly on them like one who slips and falls quickly, out of control. Here are two verses prominent in Jonathan Edwards’ famous sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”

Psalm 73:18 Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction. 19 How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.

Deuteronomy 32:35 To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.

The Babylonian empire falls overnight as the Persians and the Medes conquer the unconquerable city.

Daniel 5:30 ¶ In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. 31 And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.

Virtually the entire Assyrian army is killed by an angel of God while asleep.

Isaiah 37:36 Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they (the men of Jerusalem) arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

When the Christian hardens his neck against God’s reproof and correction he can be brought down in an instant. There are a million ways that you can die in this world; from an aneurysm to that car you didn’t see coming. Don’t think that all your plans and all of your worldly accomplishments can’t be erased in a moment. And when that happens there will be no remedy, no one to save you, and then you will face Christ Himself at His judgment seat for those who belong to Him.

2Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

The Christian is not in any danger of losing his or her salvation but may face the shame of his stubbornness and foolishness in the wake of all of God’s tender mercies. Don’t harden your neck as a response to God’s word of reproof in the Bible. God plucked you out of the depths of Hell itself. Do you not feel that He is worthy to be heard? And how do you hear but by allowing Him to speak to you through His words in His Book and through sound, solid preaching and exhortation on His precepts and statutes? How many times does He have to correct you before He has to take you out of this world because you won’t hear him?

Proverbs 28:28 commentary; when the wicked rise

2011-12-26T06:15:00.000-08:00

28 ¶ When the wicked rise, men hide themselves: but when they perish, the righteous increase.

When dictators and tyrants come up men who believe in liberty must operate in secret. Thus, it has been all through history. Finally, when the monster in charge either dies by natural causes or is assassinated, if a good person takes his place, the righteous flourish. Now, this isn’t just a political statement referring to the oppression of tyrants versus freedom loving people. This, in the Bible, is a reference to the wicked, as in Satan’s minions, those who care not for God, God’s ways, or His people. They achieve power and the faithful to God are forced underground until the wicked is overthrown.

1 Kings 18:1 ¶ And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth. 2 And Elijah went to shew himself unto Ahab. And there was a sore famine in Samaria. 3 And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly: 4 For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.) 5 And Ahab said unto Obadiah, Go into the land, unto all fountains of water, and unto all brooks: peradventure we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive, that we lose not all the beasts. 6 So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it: Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself. 7 And as Obadiah was in the way, behold, Elijah met him: and he knew him, and fell on his face, and said, Art thou that my lord Elijah? 8 And he answered him, I am: go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here. 9 And he said, What have I sinned, that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab, to slay me? 10 As the LORD thy God liveth, there is no nation or kingdom, whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee: and when they said, He is not there; he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they found thee not. 11 And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here. 12 And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the LORD shall carry thee whither I know not; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he shall slay me: but I thy servant fear the LORD from my youth. 13 Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the LORD, how I hid an hundred men of the LORD’S prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water? 14 And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here: and he shall slay me. 15 And Elijah said, As the LORD of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely shew myself unto him to day. 16 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him: and Ahab went to meet Elijah.

The Hebrews who had to hide from a wicked king weren’t hiding from an Assyrian, an Egyptian, or a Persian. They were hiding from one of their own, someone who should have been extolling God but who was a murderous hypocrite, brazen enough to claim God’s blessings but foolish enough to worship other gods, including himself. Beware of the leader who proclaims faith in God with his mouth but with his actions causes Christians to hide just as you would rail against a Communist or Muslim controlled government that persecuted Christians as in Indonesia or Vietnam. (Sometimes the wicked is a system and not just a person, as in the medieval Roman Catholic Church.)

Throughout major and minor persecutions of Christians under Roman emperors, including some who wanted to steer the empire back toward paganism and away from the paganized state Christianity that their predecessors had created; Christians who escaped the burnings, tortures, crucifixions, and being eaten by nearly starving wild animals in the arena had to hide themselves until such despots died or were overthrown, praying the next pagan would be more tolerant or at least nominally one of their own.

Paul says in 2Timothy 4:17 Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.

Christians today, the righteous only by virtue of having the Spirit of Christ implanted in them by the new birth, are being martyred at a much higher rate than in the Roman Empire rivaled only by the murders committed by the spiritual Roman Empire in the Medieval period of Western history. Perhaps Islam will experience a Reformation of its own which will make its governments more tolerant of other religions politically. Perhaps Vietnam and China will morph into modern, secular democracies with an impartiality toward religious expression, even if a negative impartiality as in Europe and America.

As it stands today in the United States, you can still say your Merry Christmas’s, you can still pray at work even if not openly, you still have a legal right under the Civil Rights Act to your particular day of religious observance that you can demand free from your work responsibilities without fear of retribution, and you can still unite together as a church, the body of Christ, and even command tax benefits if you don’t venture too far into political demagoguery. In fact, many politicians proclaim their faith in Christ, on both the left and the right, although it’s more fashionable to express that faith on the right. Enjoy it while you can because a day will come when you or your spiritual descendants will be driven underground if the Lord doesn’t return first to call His church out. Of course, we can rejoice that when the wicked Beast of Revelation, who is popularly called “The AntiChrist”, is vanquished by Christ and He sets up His millennial reign on earth the righteous will not only increase but will flourish under His authority as the faithful believers rule with Him for the thousand years before eternity begins.

Proverbs 28:27 commentary; giving to the poor, not hiding your eyes from their plight

2011-12-24T05:22:00.000-08:00

27 ¶ He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack: but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse.

The Bible here promises that if you are generous to give to those who are less fortunate than yourself you will not lack what you need. This verse, written under the Law, to the inhabitants of the kingdom of Israel, promises a physical reward for a physical offering.

Christians, too, are told of the importance of generosity, particularly to their poorer brothers and sisters in Christ, and to all men in general.

Ephesians 4:28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.

The Christian attitude toward giving is clearly preached by Paul as he talks to the Corinthian church.

2 Corinthians 8:10 And herein I give my advice: for this is expedient for you, who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago. 11 Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have. 12 For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not. 13 For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened: 14 But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality: 15 As it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.

The context here is in helping poorer churches. In this context of Christian helping Christian Paul goes on to say;

2Corinthians 9:6 ¶ But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. 7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: 9 (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever.

Notice how the early Christians lived in Jerusalem.

Acts 2:45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.

Acts 4:34 Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, 35 And laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.

This is not about giving to the church organization so that the Pastor can have a new study or so that the basketball court can be under roof. This is about what a truly New Testament church should be doing for the poorer believers in its own congregation and for churches it is associated with that are going through rough times. A Christian church that spends money on new buildings and parking lots and yet has one elderly person in their midst without a family who can’t pay their heating bills is hardly worthy of being called a New Testament church. In fact, the Christians in Rome early on, at least, were known for being generous in feeding not only their own poor but the pagan poor as well.

Many Christians have expressed a belief that our country should be run this way if it is to be a Christian nation. However, the actions of the church are voluntary, in obedience to Christ, not peformed at the point of a gun. In any event, we have two huge issues in governance that would hinder the proper application of this on a national scale.

The first is in how the government throws money at people who refuse to work when work is available and feel that aid is owed to them by virtue of their race or ethnicity or for any other reason in order to gain their political support and vote.

2Thessalonians 3:10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.

The second is the largesse awarded to those who don’t need it in the form of tax breaks in order to get their political support and money.

Proverbs 22:16 He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want.

Anyway, if you truly wanted to run the country Biblically you would first go to a person’s family to demand that they help them in their poverty before you threw it on the taxpayer.

1 Timothy 5:3 ¶ Honour widows that are widows indeed. 4 But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to shew piety at home, and to requite their parents: for that is good and acceptable before God……….16 If any man or woman that believeth have widows, let them relieve them, and let not the church be charged; that it may relieve them that are widows indeed.

So, government taxation is an entirely different issue than Christian giving. We are told by Jesus Himself to pay our taxes faithfully as a testimony which even He did (read Matthew 17:24-27) but there is little comparison to be made between having your property confiscated so that a government agent can attempt to purchase someone’s vote with it and you giving out of a heart of love to help someone less fortunate then yourself. I will admit that some people have declared that they are happy to pay taxes if that will help others and that’s a wonderful attitude. But, again, taxation generally is by force of law and Christian giving is voluntary out of love. Not the same.

The Christian must remember that all of his money and personal possessions he has by God’s grace and kindness toward him so that all of his resources should be available for God’s use. The actions of the Christian should be voluntary out of an unfeigned love of the brethren, which is what the word “charity” means in 1 Corinthians 13. If it meant our day to day definition of charity then this verse would make no sense;

1Corinthians 13:3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

As God promises in this Proverb that the person who hides his eyes from the poor’s plight will suffer many curses under the Law, under Grace God promises us that if we are generous and bountiful in our giving that we will not suffer lack.

Philippians 4:15 Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. 16 For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity. 17 Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. 18 But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God. 19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Proverbs 28:26 commentary; do you trust your heart?

2011-12-23T02:30:00.000-08:00

26 ¶ He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.

I can remember in the 1970’s the mantra was all about following your heart, doing your own thing, blah blah blah. It was the battle cry of idiots. We have had generations of Christians who have trashed their lives and hurt the lives of their children by replacing what is right and what does God want me to do with how do I feel about this or that.

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

There is a problem with the human heart, at least the spiritual and emotional one we refer to when we talk about the seat of our emotions and desires.

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Your heart is not just wicked. It is desperately wicked. It’s wicked in a way that a person is desperate when they are trapped in a burning building. In some of the more horrible nightclub fires it’s been a known fact that people trapped in a tangle of bodies will actually pull an attempted rescuer in to his death, much like a drowning victim will drown an attempted rescuer, in unthinking desperation. Your heart desperately craves sin. It is of the flesh. Never follow your heart unless it is firmly in Christ’s hands. Then you can follow Christ. I didn’t say “imitate” as in pretend to be or mimic as some of the modern Bible perversions read but follow. Seek not to imitate Him but to obey Him and to do things that He would want you to do in the way He would want you to do them.

Walk wisely in Christ. Do not trust in your own heart but put your trust in Christ’s heart. Deliverance from day to day sin or even Hell does not come from following or trusting in your heart. It comes with first trusting in Christ and then letting His word change you day by day.

Proverbs 28:25 commentary; the proud heart

2011-12-21T02:58:00.000-08:00

25 ¶ He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife: but he that putteth his trust in the LORD shall be made fat.

Fat, depending on the context in which the word is used, often (but not always) represents bounty, success, and an abundance of blessings. Historically, human beings lived between times of feast and famine. A person who was fat certainly had no lack.

Genesis 45:18 And take your father and your households, and come unto me: and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land.

Genesis 49:20 Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.

Psalm 92:14 They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing;

The proud heart, the arrogant, self-worshipping fool, whether he be unbeliever or Christian, stirs up conflict as he or she always places himself above everyone else. They are self centered and gloating, always thinking of themselves as above reproach, or THE manly one, or THE godly woman.

The proud heart looks with contempt at all that are around him, cannot permit contradiction or competition, and creates disturbance to everyone and to himself. His family becomes a train wreck and his life a misery for himself and others. The proud heart trusts in himself only. But the one who trusts in the Lord shall be made abundant and bountiful in blessings.

One of the many sins that are listed in the first chapter of Romans as being the result of man worshipping the creature rather than the Creator is pride.

Romans 1:30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

In the last days, in the church itself according to the context, this will become and has become an issue.

2Timothy 3:2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

Christians are to put their trust in the Lord, not in themselves. The philosophy of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s self reliance, not dependent upon anyone, of being your own person without caring one whit what others think or care about, Ayn Rand’s religion of self, of going your own way, Thoreau’s marching to the beat of a different drummer, etc. etc. are not Christian, but are pagan idolatry. We are to depend on the Lord, His words are to be our final authority in all matters of faith, practice, and doctrine. We depend on each other and live in a Christian community of believers who are accountable to each other as well. If you are proud and haughty of heart don’t expect to be blessed by God. Your lot will always be strife, contention, and frustration.

1Peter 5:5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.

Proverbs 28:24 commentary; using God as an excuse

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24 ¶ Whoso robbeth his father or his mother, and saith, It is no transgression; the same is the companion of a destroyer.

Jesus made a similar statement with regard to withholding help from your parents for so called religious reasons.

Mark 7:10 For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death: 11 But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free. 12 And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother; 13 Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.

(Corban is a gift dedicated to God.) The person in this Proverb steals from his parents and justifies it with his mouth as well. This could easily be applied to caring for children as some Christian cults have had people charged under our secular law for allowing their children to die from starvation while having dedicated money they could have fed the child with to their church. This is, of course, wicked and twisted, having no value for good in God’s sight as the Bible in both Testaments makes clear.

Modern Christian churches will borrow money for additions to the building in which the church meets or to increase the size of the parking lot or for some audio-visual aid for the enhancement of services while there are poor church members, often elderly and infirm, who can’t eat a proper diet or even pay their heating bills. Since the modern church has thrown their poor onto the state in defiance of what the mandate was for churches as exemplified in the New Testament this is similar to the complaints made by God against self righteous religious people.

The person who takes money that should help parents or family, or should be used to help the poor in their midst and declares that the reason they can’t do what God has told them to do is because they have dedicated the money to God is associated with “a destroyer.” The destroyer was the angel of death whom God sent to waste the Egyptian firstborn while sparing the Hebrews who had the blood sprinkled on their door lintels in the Passover.

Exodus 12:23 For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.

The implication here is that you cannot use God as an excuse to not give proper time and resources to aid your family by saying that that time and those resources are dedicated to Him and can’t be used for their need. God will not accept that. Don’t use church as an excuse not to be a dutiful parent or child, a faithful friend, employee, or an honest broker in all you do representing Christ in the world. As Bob Jones, Sr. is reported to have said, “Duties never conflict.” The person who does not take care of his family has denied the faith and is worse than in an infidel as per 1 Timothy 5:8. The church body that does the same is no New Testament church but a modern parasite on society that deserves the contempt the unbelieving world lays on it, no matter how often they street preach at “gay pride rallies” or picket abortion clinics (sarcasm.)

The point is that God doesn’t want you to use Him as an excuse not to act as He has defined clearly how a Christian is supposed to act.

Proverbs 28:23 commentary; a word of rebuke is better than flattery

2011-12-18T04:57:00.000-08:00

23 ¶ He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favour than he that flattereth with the tongue.

Previous Proverbs have said;

Proverbs 27:5 Open rebuke is better than secret love.

Proverbs 27:6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

Proverbs 9:8 Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.

It is far better for the benefit of a friend to correct his or her errors than it is to flatter them. Although flattery at first will be received gratefully, eventually it will be turned to disappointment when they realize you didn’t do anything to keep them off a self destructive path. Although rebuke might not be taken well at the outset, if it is done with the right intention, to help, to direct, and to guide then in time it will be viewed gratefully.

No one likes to hear bad things about their behavior and certainly, if it’s done self righteously or arrogantly, it won’t be received well. When advice is based on experience or on a clear understanding of God’s words, His admonitions, and His instruction, even when it is rebuke it will help. A true friend is less concerned with someone’s immediate approval of their comments as they are with that person’s long term benefit. Rebuke, if done in love, is far better than flattery, which is merely a shameless attempt to gain approval.

A preacher’s efforts to skin the hide off of his congregation to keep them from wallowing in their self destructive impulses are far better and will be appreciated more in the long run than one who soft soaps everyone and tells them how wonderful they are. We’re humans. We’re not wonderful. Our primary instinct that we inherited from our first ancestors, Adam and Eve (Y-Chromosomal Adam and Mitochondrial Eve for you compromisers with the current fashion fad of science), is to sin against God. And even if that did not end up in a burning lake of fire for eternity, sin by itself would still burst out into flames and destroy us in this life, given enough time. Tell the truth; rebuke, exhort, plead if you have to, but stir people up to seek the better way of God’s way.

It is much easier to appease the egos of people sitting in the pews than it is to convict them of gossip, lying, dissimulation, fornication in thought, a desire for revenge, covetousness, cruelty, pride, self righteousness, and not staying immersed in God’s written word and prayer. But, in the long run, as lives are changed and train wrecks of lives are avoided people will be grateful.

John 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

Proverbs 28:22 commentary; the "get rich quick" attitude revisited

2011-12-17T04:00:00.000-08:00

22 ¶ He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him.

Here is another warning about hurrying to be rich. Remember, earlier in 23:6 there was a discussion of what an evil eye is.

What is “an evil eye”? From a purely literal and practical point of view there is this paragraph in Matthew where Jesus is telling His disciples where to store what is truly valuable;

Matthew 6:19 ¶ Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. 23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! 24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Apparently there is something wicked in the greedy way the person with the evil eye sees things. Again in the parable of the householder, which is typically understood as it is not our concern that some work most of their lives for Christ and some come to Christ at the end of their life and yet both are saved. Notice verse 15.

Matthew 20:1 ¶ For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. 2 And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. 5 Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? 7 They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. 8 So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. 9 And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. 10 But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny. 11 And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, 12 Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. 13 But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? 14 Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. 15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? 16 So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

And then in Luke Jesus reproves the people listening to Him for rejecting what He has said,

Luke 11:29 ¶ And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. 30 For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation. 31 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. 32 The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. 33 No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. 34 The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. 35 Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. 36 If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.

A single eye is healthy and whole while an evil eye is sick and imperfect, worldly and focusing on the wrong things. Our Creator, God, has made us for His pleasure (Revelation 4:11). He wants us to see things His way voluntarily (Isaiah 1:18.) The warning here is that the person who views wealth in the wrong way, who wants to get rich quick, will eventually be destined to poverty. Now, this verse was certainly written under the Law given to Moses but the principle definitely applies to us living under Grace.

The way you look at things, your viewpoint, determines usually how you live and what you hold valuable. There are tons of get rich quick schemes out there that people try to get you hooked into. Rarely does either a business or a career yield quick riches. If it does it usually ends up in ruin. Many people who have won great lottery fortunes have wound up filing for bankruptcy. We have a hard time with wealth suddenly acquired. Look at the stories of athletes from poor backgrounds who can’t handle the money they make and wind up in prison or ruined.

Proverbs 28:21 commentary; don't play favorites

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21 ¶ To have respect of persons is not good: for for a piece of bread that man will transgress.

To have respect of persons is to show partiality to a person because of social position or rank. Sometimes it involves accepting a bribe such as a Congressman voting for a particular appropriations bill that helps out a corporate interest in return for a job offer once he retires from Congress. Or, it could be a local official granting a waiver for some rule to a person of importance in the community.

Deuteronomy 1:17 Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.

Deuteronomy 16:19 Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.

God doesn’t show partiality because of your social status that you obtained or were born with on earth.

Romans 2:11 For there is no respect of persons with God.

Gill points out how people will show that partiality, that respect of persons, for the most basic of needs, as he points out the Roman Cato said, “that he might be hired, for a morsel of bread, to speak or hold his peace.”

When you consider the parties involved more than the merit of the case there is injustice. When a parent supports his or her favorite child over another regardless of their rightness or wrong there is injustice. When a Pastor refuses to hear a complaint against an important contributor in the congregation there is injustice. Having respect of persons is not something that God wants from Christians, either.

James 2:1 ¶ My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. 2 For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; 3 And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: 4 Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of* evil thoughts? 5 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? 6 But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? 7 Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?

(* of can mean by, with, through, and from depending on context. Here it means “judges with or judges having. Compare “of” and “through” in Romans 3:30 and look at Luke 4:2.)

Judge and discern rightly, not with prejudicial favor toward someone who can do you some small good regardless of the merit of their cause.

Proverbs 28:20 commentary; the faithful man versus the get rich quick huckster

2011-12-14T02:34:00.000-08:00

20 ¶ A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.

To be faithful constitutes a lot of things in the Bible. Faithful to God, faithful to your word, faithful to covenants and promises, faithful as dependable among others. The contrast here is important to note as the faithful man in this Proverb is put up against the man who wants to get rich quick. It is in the contrast that we find what is meant by faithful in this particular verse.

A person who honors his commitments, pays his debts, and keeps his word, and, of course, follows the logical flip side of that argument; doesn’t make excessive promises, keeps his debts small, and doesn’t offer guarantees he can’t keep shall abound with blessings. We don’t know too many people like that. Modern life compels many Christians to go into great debt, to spread themselves so thin with their time that they can’t honor every word they say, and, of course, urges them to just keep piling on debt and making promises of time that it is impossible for them to honor. Honor your word and be faithful and God promises that you’ll abound in blessings.

In church settings we like to limit a person’s faithfulness only to how often he attends church functions and how much money he gives. But, this is a rather narrow view of faithfulness. You can’t be faithful to Christ while making promises you can’t keep outside the church. A promise you make to an unsaved person, such as your employer, sports, community service, or something like going to visit or help an aged parent on a regular basis are extremely important as testimonies manifesting your following Christ.

Proverbs 20:6 ¶ Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?

Don’t over extend yourself. But keep your promises. Your word is a testimony. Your faithfulness to Christ includes your testimony. Don’t use church as an excuse to avoid keeping your word. The key is to not make promises that you can’t possibly keep. Think about what you say. You are faithful to Wednesday night service. Don’t promise a child’s coach or your employer you’ll be available on Wednesday night then, and go back on your word. When you stick your nose up in the air and say, “well, its church”, you encourage the unsaved person to blaspheme because you lack all credibility. It would have been better not to promise at all than to promise and not be faithful. Bob Jones, Sr. said that the greatest ability is dependability.

Are you faithful to Christ in all your doings with people who are unsaved or with weak Christians? Are you a testimony and an example?

The contrast here is with a person who seeks to get rich quick. He makes many promises that he has no intention of keeping. He hurries to be all things to all people for the sake of getting their money. Every contact is a prospective customer, even people in the assembly of believers. He can’t make a phone call or a visit without trying to find a way into making it a business opportunity. He’ll press his card into your hand before or after the service and make every effort to pressure you into doing business with him, perhaps, he’ll say, because he’s a brother in Christ.

The person who hungers to get rich quick has no problem making merchandise of the Lord. A church where networking, not worship, is the main activity is a sorry church. People who are in a hurry to get rich quick will compromise every precept God lays on a Christian’s heart in order to be successful and often are only limited by the constraints of the law, if that even, in order to keep from being arrested. True success is a rock climb that takes great effort and time. It can’t be accomplished by a Christian quickly and without effort lest he trample on some important precept of God’s word.

Now, about faithfulness to church attendance, a clear and simple rule should be to unite with your brothers and sisters in Christ for worship, prayer, fellowship, and service whenever at all humanly possible. It means not making unnecessary commitments on those times when you have that opportunity. Work, family emergencies, sickness, and testimony opportunities may interfere with that but we all agree that that should be your goal. Church is a place where many blessings are gained through encouragement and edification. Once again, though, keep in mind not to use church as an excuse not to honor your word, your responsibilities, or opportunities to manifest Christ before others. Sticking your nose up in the air, Bible tucked under your arm, as you inform your nephew that you can’t make his birthday party because there is a speaker at church that night may or may not be a good way of drawing him closer to Christ. You might want to think very carefully about that. Don’t let anyone outside of the Bible dictate what it means to serve Christ. You also serve Christ by your witness in the world and that witness is not served well if you are viewed as an uncaring, sanctimonious boor who is a member of a cult that controls him rather than a Spirit filled Christian from whom the love of God exudes like a sweet perfume and who cares for lost souls.

Those of us who are in church on Wednesday night and Sunday or even Saturday should be praying that those who are not are declaring Christ by their very actions at work, with family, or in some other situations. The person who has to work on Wednesday night could sure use some prayer help to have an opportunity to show Christ to someone with whom they work rather than condemnation or scoffing because they aren’t sitting in the pew. If someone tells you on Sunday that Wednesday they’ve been asked to attend a township meeting then maybe instead of telling them that they’re backsliding and they’ll answer at the judgment seat of Christ for every sermon they missed you should help them pick out the right tracts to carry or figure out a plan on how they can witness while there. When was the last time a church member felt comfortable telling you they were going to an out of state family reunion next Sunday and what do you think would be a good way to get a chance to talk about Christ?

Still, most people miss church for reasons like “my yard needs mowed”, “I’m tired”, or “my show is on TV”, so excuses are just that, pathetic reasons for not feeling a need to hear God’s word preached or to fellowship with other Christians in worship and praise.

A Christian should be faithful in all things and should not seek to be wealthy in the world’s goods, and certainly not hastily.

Latest Reading - Livy's History of Rome

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This is translated by D. Spillan and Cyrus Edmonds. Titus Livius' History of Rome is an exciting and fascinating work that I highly recommend. Livy, as Livius is called, is an entertaining and informative writer with a great handle on describing battles, comparing sources, and inserting his own opinion on the truth or error of the sources he uses. It is believed he died in AD 17.

Proverbs 28:19 commentary; following vain persons and poverty

2011-12-11T04:27:00.000-08:00

19 ¶ He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough.

This really has some bearing on young people. It is absolutely essential that you pick your friends well and not follow after people who “ain’t ‘bout nothin’”, as we used to say in Georgia. Get down to the work of life early and you’ll have plenty of what you need to survive. But, follow these worthless people to the sports bars every night and to riotous, pointless entertainment every weekend and you’ll one day find yourself worrying about where your next meal is coming from.

The Bible is filled with warnings about following after such people. Vain and vanity are meaningless and empty.

Isaiah 40:17 All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.

Psalms 26:4 I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers.

(Dissemblers are deceitful people who believe one thing in their hearts which they intend to do but say another with their lips as in a false promise. See Jeremiah 42:20,21. The boy who tells a girl he loves her just to get her to sin with him is a dissembler, among other things.)

Proverbs 12:11 He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding.

One of the surest ways to end your life in abject poverty is to hang out with the other losers down at the Arooga’s or some such similar place several nights of the week. Get your education and training; work hard to provide for your family and for your old age, give bountifully to the Lord’s work with due diligence and discretion, and find your entertainment and your enlightenment in God’s word and in your relationships. Spending countless hours following vain persons on the television or the computer is just as bad. Make your life mean something in eternity, and don’t waste your time on the meaningless and pointless frivolity and vanity of a world that just wants to anesthetize your mind so you can be controlled more easily.

Psalms 62:9 Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.

Proverbs 28:18 commentary; upright or perverse?

2011-12-10T04:46:00.000-08:00

18 ¶ Whoso walketh uprightly shall be saved: but he that is perverse in his ways shall fall at once.

The phrase “at once” is used for “at one time”.

Numbers 13:30 And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.

Deuteronomy 7:22 And the LORD thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee.

Luke 23:18 And they cried out all at once, saying, Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas:

1Corinthians 15:6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.

Under the Law, in God’s Hebrew kingdom on earth, the man who obeyed the commandments and followed God’s standard of righteousness would be protected and guided by God.

Psalms 84:11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

Proverbs 2:7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly

Previous Proverbs have shown us that a man who walketh uprightly has understanding, is sure and confident, and works righteousness.

Psalms 15:2 He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.

Proverbs 10:9a He that walketh uprightly walketh surely………..

Proverbs 15:21b ……..but a man of understanding walketh uprightly.

Perverse is a synonym of crooked and of froward.

Deuteronomy 32:5 They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation.

Proverbs 4:24 Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.

Proverbs 8:8 All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them.

It is the antonym of perfect (which means “complete” in the Bible; see 2 Chronicles 8:16; James 1:4; and Colossians 4:12.)

Job 9:20 If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.

We have seen how a perverse person’s life can become unraveled quickly when his perverse, immoral behavior is exposed to public scrutiny. In the same way, a private person’s perverseness can expose him for the wicked person he really is and bring him down at one time. People don’t usually fall in regards to shame and derision, contempt and disgust, by degrees. That’s how a person’s reputation is built up, step by step. But, when you come crashing down because of your perverse ways it often happens rather quickly and at one time.

So, if you’ve been hiding something or things in your life and you have not walked uprightly, especially if you pretend to be what you aren’t, expect the crash to come rather suddenly, quickly, and at one time regardless of the spin you try to put on your porn obsession, adultery, fornication, drunkenness, gossiping, thefts, lies, and wrathful spirit.

So, take this as a warning for the Christian. Walk uprightly, walk with Christ, stay in His word, and fellowship with other believers in accountability and counsel. God will keep you and guard you. Walk perversely and expect your fall to come quickly, immediately, and at once, when you are found out.

Proverbs 28:17 commentary; the unrepentant murderer

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17 ¶ A man that doeth violence to the blood of any person shall flee to the pit; let no man stay him.

When God blessed Noah and his sons after they left the Ark and gave them permission to eat the flesh of animals for the first time (compare Genesis 9:3 with Genesis 1:29) He also commanded that, unlike in His dealings with Cain after the murder of his brother, Abel, He would now ordain capital punishment for the murder of a man, whether it be by a beast or a man.

Genesis 9:5 And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. 6 Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

In fact, the shedding of innocent blood pollutes a land when justice is not executed.

Numbers 35:33 So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: for blood it defileth the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it.

And again, with the exception of the cleansing of the promised land of Canaan from child sacrificing, bestiality loving, temple prostitute (male and female; the dog and the whore of Deuteronomy 23:18) using, incestuous degenerates; the Canaanites, God told the Hebrews that they were not to kill.

Exodus 20:13 (Deuteronomy 5:17) Thou shalt not kill.

Which the Lord Jesus Christ defined as murder.

Matthew 19:17b ……but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. 18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness...

Here it is said that the man who commits murder will flee to his own destruction, the pit.

Psalm 30:3 O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.

Psalm 55:23 But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in thee.

It is the place of torment, Hell, prepared for Lucifer (Satan) in his judgment.

Isaiah 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. 15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

And for those angels who chose or choose to follow him.

Matthew 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

[Important doctrinal note for Bible believers (the rest of you can go back to sleep): The Devil, Satan, aka Lucifer is not a “fallen” angel but a cherub (Ezekiel 28:14), one of the living spiritual creatures that are the spiritual prototypes for all living things (Ezekiel 1 and 10; Revelation 4). He has wings and is a reptilian dragon (Job 41; Revelation 12:9; 20:2; Isaiah 27:1) but can appear as an angel of light to deceive you as do his preachers (2 Corinthians 11:13-15) and he is the god of this world system (2 Corinthians 4:4). Angels don’t have wings (compare Daniel 9:21 with Luke 1:19; Revelation 21:17.) If you see an angel with wings start running….and praying. You’re in big trouble. You might invite an angel into your house unaware but I doubt you’d think your guest was just a poor stranger if he had the big wings of the mythological angels the Roman church borrowed from Persian Zoroastrianism (Hebrews 13:2). Angels are appearances, representatives of things and persons that can act as those things and persons and for all practical purposes are those things and persons. See Judges 2:1 for an appearance or angel of God; see Matthew 18:10 for angels or appearances of children, see Acts 12:15 for one reference to an appearance or angel of a man; and see Revelation 1:20 for appearances or angels of churches.]

This Proverb would say to not prevent the unrepentant murderer from fleeing to his own destruction. That would be under the Law of Moses. Under the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ even a murderer could obtain forgiveness if He called on the name of the Lord. The assumption here is that he is unrepentant and flees to his own destruction without receiving the free gift of forgiveness by faith in and trusting in Christ. Let no man prevent him from his fate then but every murderer in every prison in the land should hear of Christ’s forgiveness and as much as it might rattle you, Christ might just decide to save that murderer. It may not be our way but it is certainly God’s way to forgive, even a murderer, if in sincerity and simplicity he asks for salvation.

Proverbs 28:16 commentary; the hungry prince

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16 ¶ The prince that wanteth understanding is also a great oppressor: but he that hateth covetousness shall prolong his days.

To lack understanding is to lack wisdom.

Deuteronomy 4:6 Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

Just a note, things connected by “and” usually have like meanings or are in the same class but sometimes can be opposites based on the context. Notice how Paul uses “abound” in his letters if you have a computer version of the Bible that lets you search words and verses.

Covetousness is idolatry, worshipping things other than God. For instance, placing something in front of you that is more important to you than your relationship with Jesus Christ.

Colossians 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:

Here, in contrast, it is not being satisfied with what you have.

Hebrews 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

To covet is to lust after something that you don’t have.

Romans 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

The ruler, which is what a prince is, who is possessed by a spirit of covetousness is oppressive. He’s never satisfied and always wants more; whether it be wealth for himself or territory and power. We have seen this many times in history, even over the last century. Leaders like Hitler were never content with any territory they had but always wanted more, living space, as he called it in German.

Let this be a lesson for the average Christian. Be content with what you have if YOU wish to prolong your days. A life of always hungering for that which you don’t have is not the life God has willed for any of us. It is sin.

1 Timothy 6:6 ¶ But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. 9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Proverbs 28:15 commentary; roaring lions and ranging bears

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15 ¶ As a roaring lion, and a ranging bear; so is a wicked ruler over the poor people.

Saddam Hussein, Robert Mugabe, and other tin horn despots have ruled over miserable people, impoverished by the outright theft their leaders have perpetuated on them and the corruption their families and cronies have been allowed to perform.

The roaring lion is said to have found his prey.

Amos 3:4 Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing?

There is great symbolism here as a lion and a bear figured well into David’s introduction to King Saul.

1 Samuel 17:34 And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: 35 And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. 36 Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.

Some commentators insist this is a prophetic reference to the Beast of Revelation, the end time ruler that is commonly called The AntiChrist, although that is a reference in the letters of John to anyone who denies Christ’s divinity and is not found in the Book of Revelation.

So, from a prophetic point of view the verses in 1 Samuel and this Proverb would be like saying that David, a type of Christ, kept God the Father’s flock, as in the believers, safe from the lion and the bear, two types of Satan.

John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and my Father are one.

This has been the subject of a great many sermons, I am sure. But, back to the literal take on these verses. Rulers who make their people poor, who rule over them like wild predators, are wicked. People in the halls of governments that strip the prosperity from an inventive and industrious people by deals made with other countries and outright theft of their own, padding their pockets and the pockets of their wealthy corporate friends whom they intend to work for once their days of tax supported plunder are over are wicked rulers. Since the world is under the operative control of Satan (2 Corinthians 4:4) until Christ returns to take over the kingdoms of the world (Revelation 11:15) it is highly unlikely that any UN sanction or threat from the World Bank is going to change that, especially as those entities are part of a greater wickedness, where predatory men and institutions have a global reach.

One way, then, of viewing this Proverb, in light of current events, is to see how our global governors; giant international corporations and world reaching global institutions are like wild predators who will eventually carry the plunder until they rule over a world of grey mush; a mass of poor people, slaves pleased with any crumb thrown their way, compliant and fearful. At least, until the Prince of Peace returns, it will be that way.

Proverbs 28:14 commentary; Fear God

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14 ¶ Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It is an awe and reverence toward God. It is obedience to His commandments, statutes, judgments, precepts, and ordinances which you obey not to get to Heaven or to pay for your salvation, which is impossible, but because you love and fear God. It is something that American Christians have lost in this feel good, its your thing age of the people’s rights, which we dispensationalist minded call the Laodicean church age for the last church listed in the Book of the Revelation.

Job 28:28 And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

Psalm 111:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.

Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

Proverbs 15:33 The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.

Psalm 33:8 Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.

Psalm 2:11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

Deuteronomy 6:2 That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.

Hebrews 12:28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:

Many have hardened their hearts. Too proud to unite with a church body. Too cold to read the Bible every day. Too busy to pray unless some tragedy faces them. Very few concern themselves with their so called faith except in a proud proclamation of their right to eternal life by virtue of their belief in Christ failing to acknowledge that it isn’t about their decision but about God’s mercy and Christ’s sacrifice. In fact, I would go on to suggest that most Christians have faith in their faith more than they do in an Almighty God.

They talk about the power of prayer rather than the power of the One to whom they pray. They talk about the dead going to a better place rather than going to face the One that made them. They talk about God as if He were nothing more than an idea, a force, rather than an entity, a person if you will, with a will.

Abraham Lincoln learned the fear of the Lord. He went from mocking the Bible to viewing God as a power to telling people as the Civil War raged that he knew there was a God who had a will and who wasn’t on the side of either belligerent and had judged the nation for slavery. He announced the Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet as a promise he had made to this God, a promise which he dare not go back on (From Gettysburg College’s Allen Guelzo in his book “Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.) Now, whether or not you believe he was sincere or just another politician trying to look pious and spiritual, my point is that the fear of the Lord IS the beginning of wisdom and, for the Christian, the beginning of joy and happiness once he or she receives Christ.

But, for the Christian who hardens their heart and has no time or place for God, a great deal of trouble awaits in this life and after, not the least of which is their standing at the Judgment Seat of Christ to give an account of things they have done and why. You aren’t in danger of losing your salvation but what joy you are missing out on now and then. This is not the great judgment of the unsaved but of those who have believed on Christ.

Romans 14:10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

2Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

Fear God, trust Christ, depend on the Holy Spirit, and know the joy and peace He gives.

Proverbs 28:13 commentary; what sins are you hiding?

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13 ¶ He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

When we hide our sins we are handling poison that can destroy us. We have promises in the Bible for us if we go to God, our Creator, for forgiveness. It is only through Jesus Christ that we can have forgiveness of sins, and mercy.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

First, remember that sin is a transgression of God’s Law, His standard of righteousness, from 1 John 3:4. Even though the Christian is not in any way justified by the Law or the keeping of it, it is still God’s standard of righteousness.

Psalm 103:11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. 12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

1John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Notice that there are two conditions for having mercy; confessing your sin and forsaking or turning your back on it, repenting of it and doing a 180, going the other way. Our base natural instinct is to sin against God. We inherit that from our parents so it is pointless to say you were born this way or that way. We are all born to sin of various kinds and any given person is capable of any sin. We first must have Christ and then God forgives our sins based on what Christ did on the cross at Calvary. Then, when we sin after that we go to God to forgive us, expecting that He will. However, one important factor of repentance is forsaking your sin. Turn your back on your sin. Reject your desire to do it even though that desire may haunt you for a long, long time.

Christians are notorious for asking for forgiveness for a sin they have no intention of walking away from. Now, I am aware that it is not always easy to do. We are frustrated by the failure of our good intentions. You have to submit your thinking to God’s word and let Him speak to you through it and make you a fit vessel for His use. For Jesus said;

John 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

So, you may have a sin that denies your constant efforts to turn away from it. You need to apply the medicine of God’s word every day, and even often throughout the day, to have it removed from you. But, first, you must have a will that it be removed. You must give it up. What is the sin you’ve been covering? Gossip? Lying? Envy? Covetousness? Inordinate sexual desires? Are you implacable? Pride? Arrogance? You know you’ve been hiding something. Are you bitter toward your spouse? Is it impossible for you to forgive a wrong done to you? Do you have an unforgiving spirit?

If you expect God to show you mercy today, to relieve the pain in your own heart, then look to your heart for the sin you’ve been holding onto like someone who just can’t bear to bury a deceased loved one and keeps the decaying corpse around the house. Bury the dead by confessing your sin to Christ and be forgiven, turn from it and walk the other way. If you aren’t able to do it then look to God’s word to relieve you of the burden you’re carrying before it kills you. It’s already robbed you of your joy and your testimony. How much more power will you surrender to it rather than Christ?

Proverbs 28:12 commentary; freedom of religion

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12 ¶ When righteous men do rejoice, there is great glory: but when the wicked rise, a man is hidden.

In countries where there is freedom of religion and freedom of conscience righteous men and women are free to rejoice, to give thanks, and to give glory to God. But, when a country is ruled by wicked men and women or a wicked culture that does not regard freedom of religion and conscience the righteous must hide. You don’t find outspoken Christians in one of those wicked nations where Christians who speak up glorifying God and rejoicing in their salvation are murdered or locked away.

2Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

The greatest gift that America has given the world, the greatest ideal, is not our economic system but our commitment to freedom; freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of conscience, and the like. Within certain arguable bounds our government permits people to speak their minds and worship as they so choose. Yes, there are many divisions of religion here, many denominations and many arguments as to what true faith is but that is also our strength in that no one church organization can openly rule the rest. As long as the government stays secular the more freedom Christians will have to worship and to serve Christ.

There will be a constant struggle as to what the bounds are of expressions of faith but this argument is also good in that the dialogue implies that there is freedom and that we are only arguing about what the limits should be in order not to infringe upon another’s right to enjoy their freedom. When righteous men are free to rejoice, there is great glory. But when the wicked rise, who wish to impose their own brand of faith whether it be in a god or gods or whether it be in man alone, so that no one else is free to follow the dictates of their own conscience in who or what they worship and how, then the righteous are hidden, the man is not to be seen who glorifies the God of the Bible, the One who created all things.

In America you have the freedom to believe and to worship and walk God’s way or the freedom to go to Hell in your own. You have the freedom to search out the difference. It’s a freedom we must always guard.

Proverbs 28:11 commentary; exposed by a poor man of understanding

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11 ¶ The rich man is wise in his own conceit; but the poor that hath understanding searcheth him out.

To be wise in your own conceits is to be self righteous and full of self worship. You’re puffed up and think you’re better than other people. Previous Proverbs have said;

Proverb 26:5 Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.

Proverb 26:12 Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.

The Christian is told not to be wise in his own conceits. Neither over the Jews;

Romans 11:25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

Nor over other Christians in his own congregation.

Romans 12:16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.

Rich people are not necessarily wise because they have money and poor people are not necessarily stupid because they have not. Solomon, the king and the preacher, noticed this in his life.

Ecclesiastes 9:11 ¶ I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

The poor man that has understanding can expose the rich man without wisdom, which is what understanding is, for the fool that he may be. Here are wisdom and understanding given as synonymous, as in many cases, words connected by “and” are synonymous and are alternative words to each other in definition;

Exodus 36:1 Then wrought Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whom the LORD put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that the LORD had commanded.

Deuteronomy 4:6 Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

For instance, this is the nature of the inspiration given to men from God to write the Bible, to translate it, or to copy it, if such inspiration has, indeed, been put on them. The Bible is not usually word for word dictation but the results of the wisdom God gave unto men who were sometimes exiles, poor, despised, and ignored who obeyed and honored Him, and whom He chose to preserve His words.

Job 32:8 But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.

2 Peter 3:15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;

So, with regard to this Proverb, don’t mistake being clever, resourceful, cheap, arrogant, manipulative, and selfish for wisdom. You might be exposed for a fool by someone you wouldn’t permit to shine your shoes. Just remember Paul’s admonition to us.

Romans 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

Proverbs 28:10 commentary; so you like to see people trip and fall?

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10 ¶ Whoso causeth the righteous to go astray in an evil way, he shall fall himself into his own pit: but the upright shall have good things in possession.

The Christian is only righteous by virtue of having the Holy Spirit living inside of him, something which happened at the new birth when he or she first trusted in Christ. A Christian knows he has no righteousness of his own no matter how spiritual and holy he THINKS he is. You may be genteel, have been taken all sorts of business oriented sensitivity training, watch your speech very carefully, and just be an all around polite person but you are only righteous because Christ is righteous and you have Christ’s Spirit inside.

This Proverb can very easily be applied to Christians. The person who would seduce and deceive a Christian into committing sin, that person who delights in wrong doing and in convincing people who should know better to follow them will fall into the pit he digged himself.

The upright, a synonym for the righteous, who is only upright because Christ holds him upright, has eternal life, a relationship with his God, and God’s very words to read and to hear, to comfort and to exhort him each and every day. He possesses all things in eternity in Christ.

1 Corinthians 3:21 ¶ Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; 22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; 23 And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.

Do not be deceived, Christian. Anyone who tries to seduce you into sin is not your friend. Who tries to make you go astray either with unbelief or doubting or wickedness is a fool and to be avoided. And you, who think it amusing to get a believer to do wrong or to doubt his faith or his salvation. Beware.

Proverbs 28:9 commentary; is your prayer an abomination?

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9 ¶ He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.

Proverbs 21:4 told us that even the plowing of the wicked is sin. Here, under the Law given to Moses for the Hebrews, even the prayer of someone who turns his ear away from the law, is an abomination.

Proverbs 15:8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.

Proverbs 15:29 The LORD is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous.

Because of Christ and the Holy Spirit, God will never turn away from hearing us. This is a great tragedy, though, to think of a blood bought born again Christian who does not care to hear God’s words and by the use of to hear in the Bible, obey God’s words written for Christians. What a shameful thing. There are many people who believed on Christ, who still claim to be His, and yet, neither care to unite with the body of Christ in fellowship and worship, nor care to hear God’s words of grace from the New Testament about God the Son dying for our sins, and rising from the dead for our hope of eternal life, about loving each other, not getting revenge, not envying or coveting, living in peace with all men, and how God would that all would be saved if they would only hear; such sweet, gracious words of peace with God and man.

We have been shown such mercy as God has washed us from our sins in His own blood. How can we neglect the hearing of His word either plain from the Scriptures, or preached? They will not hear God speak to them but they will pray when they are in trouble. Their prayer, indeed is an abomination.

Ask yourself if your child was at death’s door or perhaps your spouse, if you would not plead with God for mercy, and yet, you, right now will not darken the door of a church building nor read or hear His word preached. Ask yourself if you expect someone to talk at your own funeral about how you have “gone to a better place” or are “at rest in the Lord.” How sickening it is that you don’t care any more for the One from whom you will beg for mercy than to ignore what He has said in His Bible. You’d rather be anywhere on Sunday morning than at worship with your brothers and sisters in Christ; sporting events, work, or some entertainment, perhaps a dinner. I understand that there are reasons why people who are sick or those caring for the sick might not be able to unite in worship with others likeminded but at least they could take the time to read His word each day and fellowship with Him. But, when the time comes they who refused to hear or obey or even read will cry for His mercy. How dare you.

I’m not spiritual enough to judge whether or not you are saved and I’m certainly far less of a decent human being than most of you are but, at least I know my Maker and I thank Him, praise Him, and worship Him every day and not a day goes by that I don’t read or hear His word. You who treat the One who made you with such contempt when you aren’t in pain, grief, or afraid are abominations. You should be ashamed.

Proverbs 28:8 commentary; from ill gotten gains to pity on the poor

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8 ¶ He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor.

This is one of those verses that crosses Christians up when they try to use claim it. This was written under the Law given to Moses for the Hebrews. Under that Law it was wrong to charge interest to impoverished fellow Hebrews or foreigners on a loan.

Leviticus 25:35 And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner; that he may live with thee. 36 Take thou no usury of him, or increase: but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee.

Here we see that usury is increase or profit charged on a loan, which is what we know as interest.

A stranger is a foreigner.

Exodus 22:21 Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

A stranger and a sojourner are synonymous as a person who sojourns in a place is foreign to it and just passing through, abiding only temporarily.

Genesis 23:4 I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.

An example of a sojourner today might be a migrant worker, a foreigner or stranger from another country, or you, a sojourner on this earth, just passing through, whose home is a far country.

The Holy Spirit, in this Proverb, is saying how a person who gains wealth dishonestly and oppressively might one day see it taken from him by someone who will show mercy on the poor. It would be ironic justice if the money he took from people were used to help that same group of people impoverished by him.

This is unlikely to happen today as the ill gotten gains of a criminal would just go into the coffers of the state who would spend it quicker than you could say “Jack Spratt could eat no fat, his wife could eat no lean.” I doubt any money Bernie Madoff pays in fines will go to show pity on the poor. Its even doubtful the investors he scammed will see much money.

However, there is a principle here. If a Christian is one of those who would make a dishonest profit and charge exorbitant interest God might well take his money and give it to someone who would show mercy on the poor.

Proverbs 28:7 commentary: you are known by the company you keep

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7 ¶ Whoso keepeth the law is a wise son: but he that is a companion of riotous men shameth his father.

Notice the contrast here creating a definition as the Bible does in many places. The wise son keeps the law; obeys it, guards it, stays close to it. But the opposite type of son hangs out with party people. The first one is a wise son and by the understanding of the phrase makes his father glad whilte the second son shames his father.

Young people, you are often known by the people you keep company with. I used to be one of the riotous people it refers to here back when I was unsaved, and in some part, even afterwards for a time until God’s word took hold of me. I was not the kind of person you want to hang around to keep your reputation from being dragged through the dirt. That condition began with me hanging out with the wrong people and learning from them while I ignored the good people in my life. Guard your good name, keep your reputation clean. I have been denied employment recently based on events that transpired nearly thirty years ago.

Proverbs 22:1a A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches…….

Ecclesiastes 7:1a A good name is better than precious ointment…..

(I have heard that ointment for burial purposes, as was applied to Jesus’ head in Matthew 26, could cost as much as a year’s earnings for a Hebrew.)

What characterizes riotous men? For one, they are party people.

Proverbs 23:20 Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: 21 For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.

You know the kind of young person who hangs out at the local sports bar every night after work or the older person who has to stop off at the club for a drink or two before he can go home. On weekends they overindulge: drink too much and eat too much. Its always happy hour for them, sort of like the premise of the TV show, Cheers. The Prodigal Son in Luke 15 wasted his entire inheritance on riotous living and wound up eating with the pigs.

Riotous living looks like fun for awhile but unless God has mercy on you and you repent of your lifestyle your life will usually come to ruin if riotous living is your life code. The Christian is not in danger of losing his or her salvation but you hardly appear saved to others or have any kind of testimony for Christ with a drink in one hand and a noisemaker in the other falling down drunk on New Year’s Eve. Listen to my advice carefully. Make friends with people of good character regardless of their social status or political views. Make friends with people who are, as we used to say down South, about something.

The frivolous, immoral party girl like the one glorified in the songs by the pop artist Kesha or the wild boys extolled by many different artists are fools and if you make the mistake of associating with them outside of presenting the gospel in an attempt to save them from Hell, then you will not only appear unwise but bring shame to your parents, most likely.

A wise son or daughter will spend their time with people who will help them, build them up, strengthen their faith, and who display Christian character and the Fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5. Do your friends drink alcohol, stay up late, and are they irresponsible, loud mouthed, going nowhere losers or do the following things emanate from them like a good smelling ointment?

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

It’s your choice. Are you a wise son or daughter or are you a fool who causes unbelievers to blaspheme the name of God because of your foolish companions? Think carefully. You may answer for your choices thirty years from now in this life or at the very least at the Judgment Seat of Christ at the end of it.

Latest Reading

2011-11-26T08:47:00.000-08:00

Rights and Duties: Reflections on our Conservative Constitution by Russell Kirk. Introduction by Russell Hittinger. Dallas, TX: Spence Publishing Co., 1997. Russell Kirk was one of the great conservative thinkers of the 20th century. This book is a must for people to understand the origins and intents of our founding documents and of the people who changed those documents through amendment. Our constitution is more than just words on paper but a rich body of social, religious, and political traditions that go back thousands of years. Liberals won't like it. Neocons will be disturbed by it. But, it is basic stuff. I took a year to read it to try to soak it all in.

Proverbs 28:6 commentary; a tale of two Christians

2011-11-26T06:36:00.000-08:00

6 ¶ Better is the poor that walketh in his uprightness, than he that is perverse in his ways, though he be rich.

There are several ways of looking at this Proverb from the most obvious, literal way to some very spiritual ways for the Christian. The first thing that is important to note is we need to have a handle on what a person’s ways are. Is it their manner of living, their personal attitude, the way they handle problems, or just what are a person’s ways?

In the following verse, ways is a reference to the Law given by God to the ancient Hebrews through Moses.

Deuteronomy 5:33 Ye shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.

So, the commandments of the Lord are called His ways.

Deuteronomy 8:6 Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.

A man’s ways are the way he lives day by day and moment by moment, step by step.

Job 31:4 Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?

Man’s ways are often and usually different than God’s ways. Here we see ways as thoughts by the method of parallel phrasing.

Isaiah 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.

When man’s ways line up with God’s ways for him, then he is right. As one of the fundamental understandings of the Christian is that he is wholly incapable of pleasing and obeying God without God’s intervention through His Holy Spirit by the method of speaking to the heart through His words in His Bible how can we take this verse, written literally under the Law, to the Christian, saved purely by God’s grace and mercy?

Jesus said that it is out of the thoughts that evil and sin proceed.

Matthew 15:19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:

And Paul, speaking through the wisdom given to him by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 3:15) says that we are to bring our thoughts into subjection to Christ.

2Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

He also says that the Bible will discern those thoughts, knowing what our real intentions are.

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

So, let’s move beyond the obvious and literal explanation of this verse under the Law, that it is better to be poor and right with God than it is to be rich and perverse in your ways, something which is obvious to every one with any common sense. Just as the reverse is true, it being better to be rich and right with God than to be poor and wicked.

The American Christian who has everything to commend himself as spiritually rich; freedom of religion and conscience, a great church, much access to the Bible, commentaries, great preaching, and an opportunity regularly to meet with the saints and to spread the gospel and yet, is perverse in his thoughts and actions is in far worse shape than the Sudanese Christian who has not even so much as seen the printed word, a copy of the Bible, but has committed himself to Christ’s keeping and faithfulness to Him even in the face of torture, mutilation, and death by an oppressor of another religion.

The poorest Christian in the jungles of the Phillipines hedged in on every side by fanatics of other religions, hunger, disease, and hardship who has to walk miles to hear any preaching of God’s word and that under great danger, and who has to share a Bible with someone else, and yet is faithful to Christ, is far better off in his or her relationship with God than the Christian in Pennsylvania who attends church when nothing good is on TV, rarely cracks open his Bible, and thinks of prayer as some meaningless poem you mutter hurriedly before dinner or repeat with your child before bed, and who views things of God as for church and the rest of the week follows the perverse ways of the world.

The most impoverished Christian in the heart of Africa who is barely able to eat enough to keep body and soul together and who is oppressed on every side by corrupt leaders and haters of Christ and Christians but is faithful to Christ and His ways is far better off than the Christian in the heart of Alabama who listens to every TV or radio preacher, lots of gospel songs by his favorite celebrities, and calls himself a Christian and yet, is so carnal and worldly he reeks of it.

It is better to have nothing and Christ than to have everything you ever desired and not to have Him or to claim His mercy and grace and then live like the devil. We need to think on that the next time we start being fearful of some politician whittling away at our freedom. Perhaps God will make us poor so that we can be rich.

Proverbs 28:5 commentary; understand and see God's judgment

2011-11-25T06:49:00.000-08:00

5 ¶ Evil men understand not judgment: but they that seek the LORD understand all things.

All of God’s ways are judgment.

Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

All of mankind is facing God’s judgment for the sin of Adam, which we inherited, much like a cat inherits its need to hunt or a dog to run in a pack. Sin is one of a human’s few instincts, something he hungers to do. But Christ is the remedy for sin.

Romans 5:19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

Even under the Law of Moses people who walked in God’s ways tried to do right.

Psalm 119:1 ¶ ALEPH. Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD. 2 Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart. 3 They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways.

Evil men do not get it. They don’t see that they are natural born sinners by instinct. They don’t see the human’s spiritual heart as wicked.

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Evil men don’t understand. They simply don’t see that fornication, covetousness, envy, malice, a love of violence, revenge, perversion, etc. are all a consequence of turning your back on God, on who He is, and on His love for mankind expressed at the cross of Christ and, most of all, on His judgment. (See Romans 1:16 to 2:3.)

When God’s judgment is on a person or a nation they often do not understand it and seek to find temporal causes. After more than a century and a half of ripping apart God’s word with so called “Higher Criticism” and destroying the faith of many so called Christians even the Kaiser embraced occultism and Germany was released to a barbaric paganism and Hitler’s persecution of the Jews and suffered horribly in two major wars that nearly destroyed it. And yet, men will look to political and economic reasons for the wars and read back into history their own justifications. Why? They don’t understand God’s judgment.

Great Britain had, perhaps, the greatest empire in the history of mankind. It is said that the “sun never sets on the British flag.” And yet, within a generation of the disastrous revision of the Authorized Version of the Bible and its replacement by the Revised Version on the mission field, within a generation of their genocide of Indians on the Deccan Plateau by starvation, and after attempting to go back on their promise for a Jewish homeland in Palestine; the land given by God to the Jews, their empire began coming unglued. Men, unaware and unbelieving in God’s judgment, will look to purely political reasons or economic reasons but ignore the possibility that God’s view of history by way of the Bible’s statements is different than their own.

Can you, as in individual, see events in your life as God’s judgment steering you toward His will or trying to turn your heart from sin and idolatry to Him? Do you understand judgment? Are you receptive to the Holy Spirit’s leading?

As it said back in Psalm 119:2 I quoted earlier that those that seek Him with the whole heart are blessed. They that seek the Lord may not know who Disraeli or Gladstone were or who Bismarck was but they do know God’s word. They know what He has promised and they know what the eventual outcome of human history will be and if they are immersed in God’s word they know His will for their lives and how they should live before men. They understand all things that are important to God in their lives; their salvation first and then their sanctification; being made a useful vessel for His work and that the affairs of all men are under God’s judgment. They know that, as Ben Franklin said, in a speech he gave to the Constitutional Convention on June 28, 1787, “I have lived sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth – that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?”

It was Abraham Lincoln who implied in his October 3, 1863 Thanksgiving proclamation that the Civil War was a judgment on the entire nation for slavery. But, most men do not understand why nations are sifted like wheat and why individual people rise and fall. They’ll say, “oh, it was such and such a cause,” and write books about that opinion. But, even the men who engaged in our war for independence against Great Britain knew that a divine hand was involved. If I get the quote right I believe it was John Page who wrote to Thomas Jefferson and said, “Do you not think that an Angel rides in the Whirlwind and directs this Storm?”

Now, do you understand what’s happening to America today?

Proverbs 28:4 commentary; the conflict we are in

2011-11-23T06:25:00.000-08:00

4 ¶ They that forsake the law praise the wicked: but such as keep the law contend with them.

Psalm 12:8 The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.

Of course the law being talked about here is the law of God given to Moses. We remember that;

1John 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

And people who like to sin, who live by it, whose very character is defined by it, not only want the freedom to do it but take great pleasure in being confirmed in their obsessions by other people doing the same.

Romans 1:32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

However, we are not justified, since Christ’s resurrection and the beginning of the church age, by keeping the law.

Galatians 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

But, as under the law in Ancient Israel, men who did wrong according to the law were in constant conflict with those who followed the law, so today, there is a spiritual and sometimes political war going on between those who follow Christ and seek to obey Him in their human frailty and those who worship their own lusts and desire to sin. There will always be a conflict between those two groups as long as there is faith on the earth.

Those people, in our country for instance, who seek to ignore God, make the country God neutral, so to speak, or simply flaunt their contempt for His word and His people will always have constant conflict with the people who worship God. As the godless get more and more powerful and faith gets more and more watered down with less of a dependence on God’s word and more of a dependence on the opinions of, the agendas of, and the fear of men in pulpits across the land and people in the congregations the godless will take their vengeance on God’s people.

Tribulation and martyrdom are the natural and eventual outcomes for the people of God in that situation. As government has afforded citizens a constitutional right to murder their unborn children for the purpose of simply another type of birth control, as sexual perversion of all kinds becomes more normalized and more accepted, as non-Christian religions and ideals become pre-eminent, as more and more of mainstream Christianity moves from the supernatural power of God’s word to the weakness of a fluid civil religion, as a constant state of warfare becomes necessary to support the globalist one world agenda, and as wealth becomes gathered in fewer and fewer hands and the middle class is erased with one group owning the wealth and the other needing government help just to survive as they work for faceless corporations or government itself, the spiritual and political war will become more intense. In America, this began with Christians looking more and more to government as God’s agent on earth and then, eventually, as a replacement for God, until their faith lost its salt and became as tasteless as the white of an egg.

There will come a time and is already here when people who actually believe the Bible will be marginalized, looked at as fruitcakes, in the way of progress, unpatriotic, unworthy to be parents, to hold a good paying job, to serve in government, the armed forces, and eventually will be driven back to the days of the early church to worship in private homes under peril of being arrested.

There will always be conflict in the public and private spheres of life between those who forsake God and those who keep His word.

Amos 3:3 Can two walk together, except they be agreed?

2 Corinthians 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

This Civil War has been going on since the tragedy of the Garden of Eden. It will not end until we enter eternity and God is acknowledged for what He is, Lord of all.

Proverbs 28:3 commentary; the poor oppressing the poor

2011-11-22T07:08:00.000-08:00

3 ¶ A poor man that oppresseth the poor is like a sweeping rain which leaveth no food.

People who forget where they came from and turn and oppress people who, like they once were, suffer from poverty and want are like the hard rain that doesn’t refresh the land but exposes the roots and washes away the crops, ruining the harvest.

We have, in this country, politicians who came from poor backgrounds but through circumstance, talent, and the generosity of others were able to rise up out of poverty and yet, they take advantage of the poor from which they came. As H. Rap Brown, the militant from the 1960’s complained, poverty programs are buyoffs and aren’t designed to end poverty. These politicians use poor people as a guaranteed pool of votes by their throwing change at them. Other politicians, viewing themselves as part of an elite, who have earned their way out of poverty or have been helped, treat other poor people as inferior and oppress them because they didn’t or weren’t able to “grab the brass ring.”

We have, in this country, people who came from poor backgrounds but in the same manner were raised up to run a business or be a part of a large corporation that preys on the poor and takes advantage of their lack of knowledge and naievete’ or desperate need for work.

African-Americans, even radicals like H. Rap Brown, have complained of some of their own people being as much the oppressor as the “white establishment.”

This is a great Proverb to remind a poor person “on the rise” in ancient Israel not to forget where he came from and not to take advantage of his own people. But, what about the Christian? Part of the Christian’s calling is to take care of the poor in the church.

Romans 15:26 For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem.

Galatians 2:10 Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do.

The Christian is never to think too highly of himself, particularly in respect to his brothers and sisters in Christ.

Romans 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

The Christian has no right or excuse to oppress his brothers or sisters in Christ or any person for any reason.

Galatians 6:10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

Even an Elder in the early church, in his spiritual authority, is not to oppress or “lord it over” his flock.

1Peter 5:3 Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.

This goes both ways. Many Christians assume that if a brother or sister has risen from poverty to own a business or to have money that they can treat their debt obligations to them rather cavalierly. I have known people who were discouraged because the Christians that availed themselves of a brother or sister’s business services didn’t feel compelled to pay their bill promptly in the same way they would have if the business had been owned by a non-Christian. Oh well, he’ll understand.

Within the early church there was to be an equality; not like modern communism which allows for no God or Godly authority, nor like modern socialism, fascism, or capitalism that allows only for theft by taking or selfish indulgence, manipulation, and exploitation of others, but by a voluntary giving out of love for the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not done at gunpoint for fear of losing life or property nor is it done by trickery or deception to relieve one of his hard earned cash unfairly so that another may benefit. Here was Paul’s advice to the early church, not a commandment, but an urging to live as you preached.

2 Corinthians 8:7 ¶ Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also. 8 I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love. 9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. 10 And herein I give my advice: for this is expedient for you, who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago. 11 Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have. 12 For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not. 13 For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened: 14 But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality: 15 As it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.

So, as the poor in the world because we don’t value the world’s idea of wealth (if we’re faithful to God’s word), we are not to be oppressors of anyone, particularly not the poor in the church, but anyone anywhere. When Christian brothers and sisters, poor in the world, oppress Christian brothers and sisters or an unbeliever, it is indeed like a torrential rain that destroys and leaves nothing of use in its wake. May God have mercy on a church body with that going on in its midst.

Proverbs 28:2 commentary; a political statement

2011-11-21T06:11:00.000-08:00

2 ¶ For the transgression of a land many are the princes thereof: but by a man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged.

Many leaders over time destroy a country by their stupidity and pride. Over time, successive leaders will, through pride, corruption, and greed fritter away a nation’s wealth or in one or more poorly thought out wars reduce a nation to poverty and helplessness. One of the stated strategies of the communist governments of the Soviet Union and Red China was to engage the United States in as many brushfire wars as possible to bankrupt and demoralize the country. One of the actions of many of our presidents after Eisenhower has been to get involved in as many brushfire wars as possible to justify some geopolitical agenda or policy. We are a bankrupt nation just as many others. So, tell me, if you can, who was the enemy; the ones who wanted to harm us or the ones who did?

It would take a great leader, Godly, moral, and with an understanding of the realities of world politics to turn our nation to a steady and sane course. Notice I did not say “turn our nation back” because we have never been on a sane course. Things got out of hand very early in our nation’s founding. The founders didn’t deal with slavery and that failure nearly ended the country’s existence as a nation, the question of how to treat the Native Americans was out of control very quickly and much to our discredit great evil was done, we had a great revival of religion that took a wrong turn and we began to think of government as God, we became an imperial power against the advice of wise Christians like William Jennings Bryan when we conquered tired Spain’s remaining colonies, we disturbed the balance of power in Europe during World War One and made World War Two possible, we let the United Nations whose founding documents and policies were written by Soviet agents dictate strategy and tactics in the Korean Conflict with every action of the United States and its allies reported to the Chinese Communists even before it happened right down to the number of artillery shells we would use, and the list goes on and on. Internally, we have had good intentioned social policies administered carelessly and wastefully so much so that we can no longer afford to care for the people these policies were meant to help.

We’ve had many leaders in office in all three branches of government who have led us down the path we find ourselves on. But, one good man of understanding and knowledge can turn us onto a path of fiscal sanity and a foreign policy that is consistent with our principles. Of course, he will have to deal with a Congress full of leaders who hunger to fill the coffers of their own supporters and to be re-elected. We need to start being careful in electing a President, though. We need someone with experience but not corruption, with understanding but not arrogance, with knowledge but also with a transparency that lets us know the real intention behind his choices. We need a man who loves Jesus Christ but does not respect political religion in the least; who desires to be a competent and honest leader of our country but not a messiah or the national pastor.

Look down the list of the kings of Israel and Judah and see how each one added his own bit of leadership to put the kingdoms in the position of receiving God’s judgment. Read the account of each one’s reign carefully and you will see a pattern of disobedience to God’s commands for them, very clearly laid out and very simple to understand in the Law given to Moses. One man of understanding and knowledge can prolong the life of the state, but is that man even in sight? Of course, it’s hard to find a leader that has qualities that the American people themselves don’t have. That’s why our country needs to be transformed from the ground up with a national revival of faith and devotion to what is right and not just what is mine. America will never get good leaders until America gets right with God. It should not be “God bless America” on the portable sign along the road but “America, bless God.”

Proverbs 28:1 commentary; paranoid or unafraid?

2011-11-20T05:29:00.000-08:00

1 ¶ The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.

The Hebrews were warned that if they, being a people created by God, rejected His standards, despised His judgments, and turned their back on a national relationship with Him then He would bring all kinds of ruin on them, in Leviticus 26:14-39. One of the punishments that God would bring would be faintness of heart, fear, paranoia, and running from an enemy that wasn’t even pursuing them.

Leviticus 26:37 And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth: and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies.

But, just before that, He had told them that their obedience to Him would translate into great courage against their enemies, with God on their side.

Leviticus 26:7 And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. 8 And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.

The Christian has no earthly nation from which to fight. His warfare is not of the flesh (2 Corinthians 10:4). The Bible believing Christian conducts no war of murder and slaughter of men in the name of God. His wafare is spiritual in conquering sin and deception.

The righteous, under the doctrines of Christianity in the letters written by Paul, are righteous by view of the fact that they have the Spirit of the righteous Christ in them. They have no righteousness of their own based on the flesh as the Christian knows that He can’t keep God’s standard of His own will.

Romans 3:22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

Philippians 3:9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

But, if a Christian is not submitted to Christ through His words written in His Book and if they adopt a manmade religion of ritual and obedience to the law of men who place their own authority higher than God’s…….

2Timothy 3:13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

Romans 16:18 For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.

…then by comparing this Proverb written under the Law to the Christian, who is a type of the nation of Israel of old, we can see that fear, paranoia, hatred, and being deceived will be his or her fate. Christians who have not submitted to God’s word will live in fear of everyone; the government, homosexuals, Muslims, the Vatican, secularists, or anyone they perceive as being an enemy of the God of the Bible, and by extrapolation, their enemy. They will burn Korans, scream unintelligible Bible verses through megaphones at “gay pride” parades, dare the government to take their weapons from their “cold dead hands”, rail against Rome, and spew venom at public schools and anywhere where their version of the Christian faith is not promoted.

The Christian who has chosen to turn His back on God’s word and to follow men, shutting their ears and eyes to what God has said, and chosen the religion of faith in a demagogue on television, in the halls of Congress, or behind any given pulpit in the land will run when no one pursues, and will be unable to stand. Why? Because he or she does not have the assurance that God will triumph in the end, that Christ is returning to take over the kingdoms of the world, or that he or she is actually on the winning side. He or she wants to build a physical kingdom of God on earth as they see it without the King present and without His authority to do so.

Why? Because they have itching ears….

2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

The faithful Christian will be bold as a lion when facing death, sickness, temptation, and the wickedness of this present evil world. He will face persecution without fear or uncertainty and live with peace and joy in his or her heart even when life itself is in the balance. His fortune, his earthly home, even his own flesh will be of less importance to him than Christ’s glory and triumph over a sinful world and the sin of his own heart. He will be thankful of everything God gives or permits including illness, loss, grief, poverty, and pain just as he will give thanks for all of his success, pleasures, and happiness to God alone. He will not be angry or love violence, or take pleasure in sin as entertainment. He will unite with a local church body in worship and good works spreading the gospel of Christ, read His Bible, hear it preached, pray constantly, and focus on heaven, not the earth. He or she will feed the hungry, comfort the sick, and attend to the things of God, which do not include greed and selfish promotion.

Are you running now? Or standing bold as a lion? Your salvation is not found in the halls of Congress or the White House. Your enemy is not some deceived, lost person who is a child of Satan. Surrender to God’s word and be made fearless.

Proverbs 27:23-27 commentary; work hard and work smart

2011-11-19T07:10:00.001-08:00

23 ¶ Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds. 24 For riches are not for ever: and doth the crown endure to every generation? 25 The hay appeareth, and the tender grass sheweth itself, and herbs of the mountains are gathered. 26 The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of the field. 27 And thou shalt have goats’ milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and for the maintenance for thy maidens.

Christians are told to not be slothful in business in Romans 12:11. These Proverbs encouraged the Hebrew of old and the Christian today to work hard and to work smart. We are not to take things for granted, even in faith, but to apply ourselves to our employments, whether they be for our own business or under the authority of someone else.

Farmers of old were fairly self sufficient producing almost everything they needed to clothe, feed, and house themselves and their families. Of course, they had no expectations of cheap, plastic junk made in China or cell phones, computers, televisions, etc. like we do today.

Our work ethic is given in many verses but with regard to our employments it is specifically said;

1 Thessalonians 4:11 And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; 12 That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.

Ephesians 4:28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.

The more self sufficient you are, the better for you. We all can’t be completely self reliant but our efforts should be toward being as debt free as possible and capable of producing something useful that we can rely on to help sustain us. Being dependent on others or a government is not a good testimony for the Christian. There are circumstances where we have no choice but to lean on the help of other people but our efforts from a very young age should be to work hard, prepare for our old age, and to give our children the best start in life we can provide, both spiritually and physically. Sadly, in our consumer culture since World War II we tend to view being entertained and experiencing pleasure as a need and a vital necessity so much of our earned money is spent on those two frivolous pursuits which tend to make us unprepared for the realities of life and eventually make us dependent on others for support.

Young people, work hard and work smart, say no to yourself at least once a day, take your entertainments and pleasures as a treat to yourself and not a daily need, put away money for your own old age, and teach your children to be as self reliant and disciplined as is possible for you to teach. Just remember your needs; your wants won’t kill you. Never spend money you don’t have. Finally, remember;

Philippians 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Proverbs 27:22 commentary; hard to separate a fool from his foolishness

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22 ¶ Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him.

In Proverbs we have been taught that foolishness is the opposite of knowledge.

Proverbs 12:23 A prudent man concealeth knowledge: but the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness.

Proverbs 15:2 The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright: but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness.

Proverbs 15:14 The heart of him that hath understanding seeketh knowledge: but the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness.

And that it is sin, not just silliness as some would use the word today.

Proverbs 24:9 The thought of foolishness is sin: and the scorner is an abomination to men.

Solomon, in Ecclesiastes, links it to madness and wickedness;

Eclesiastes 7:25 I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness:

Eclesiastes 10:13 The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness: and the end of his talk is mischievous madness.

Look at the company it keeps, according to the Lord Jesus Christ;

Mark 7:20 And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: 23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

Here, in this Proverb, a fool’s foolishness, which is clearly more than just some kind of silliness or childishness, can’t be separated from him. Remember, in context, this verse is right after a verse about seeing what a man’s true character is by how he handles praise.

John Gill points out several verses in relation to this verse, like Isaiah 1:5 and Jeremiah 5:3 concerning Judah.

Isaiah 1:5 Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

Jeremiah 5:3 O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

A fool will continue to do evil no matter how hard he is pressed or punished. He simply will not change because it is part of his nature to do what he does. A fool will not even so much as believe in God.

Psalm 14:1 «To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.» The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

This, is in spite of the fact that all existence declares the truth of God.

Psalm 19:1 «To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.» The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.

Romans 1:19 ¶ Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. 20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: 21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

He refuses to be corrected for his wickedness: his foolishness.

Proverbs 12:15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.

If you have had the Gospel of Jesus Christ shared with you and you insist on rejecting God’s mercy and plunging willfully headlong into Hell and a burning, Christless eternity then you are a fool. If you think you are going to have eternal life with Christ on any other terms than depending on His righteousness and not your own to get to Heaven then you are a fool. If, although saved, you will not read the words of God, hear them truthfully preached, and let them change you by degrees into the person Christ wants you to be, then you are a Christian fool but a fool nonetheless. And lest the Holy Spirit of God show you mercy and break through your foolishness you will likely remain one even though you be ground up and crushed like wheat under the efforts of a mortar and pestle.

Proverbs 27:21 commentary; how does a man or woman handle praise?

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21 ¶ As the fining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold; so is a man to his praise.

A previous Proverb mentioned the process of fining or refining silver and heating up gold to purify it. A fine state is a pure state. A fining pot is a pot in which you melt silver to rid it of impurities.

Proverbs 17:3 The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts.

Matthew Henry points out that as a fining pot removes the impurities from silver and as the furnace does the same for gold so does praise test whether or not a man is conceited or if he gives God the praise and glory offered to him. He might be like Herod, full of self praise and self worship, deserving of the same fate.

Acts 12:21 And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them. 22 And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man. 23 And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.

Earlier in this chapter we read;

Proverbs 27:2 Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips.

Offering praise to a person is a sure way to tell what he or she is about. If they, in turn, give the glory to God that is one thing but if they become puffed up with their own glory it is another. The athlete who glories in his efforts with screaming, dancing, and prancing in the end zone or jumping up on the boxing ring ropes with hands outstretched in self praise encouraging the adulation of the crowd is a stone, cold fool, as are the fans who adore him. The type of glory that men enjoy is merely a poor counterfeit of the glory of heaven where those who belong to Christ will praise Him for eternity in what will make any Super Bowl event look like a pale joke.

I am not very impressed either with the athlete who drops to his knees and supposedly offers a prayer to God as that is simply a way of drawing attention, again, to yourself. Paul tells us with the wisdom given to Him by the Holy Spirit with regard to our personal convictions;

Romans 14:22 Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.

Jesus warned about the false piety of many public prayers;

Matthew 6:5 ¶ And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

We’ve had so many presidential candidates supposedly told by God to run for office that I can’t help but wonder who He told first and if their god, little “g”, perhaps, can’t make up his mind. We’ve also had a president speak publicly about how God told Him to invade a country, which is patently absurd in the light of doctrine given to Christians in the letters written by Paul.

So, if you want to find out what a man or woman is made of, the Proverb tells us, see how they handle praise, and who they give the glory to for their successes. Beware yourself of how much self glory you heap on your own successes. Remember;

Psalm 108:1 «A Song or Psalm of David.» O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.

Proverbs 27:20 commentary; the eyes of man (and woman) are never satisfied

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20 ¶ Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.

So perfectly true in the consumer age. Ever since the powers that be decided back in the 1930’s that we must be a nation of consumers and ever since Sigmund Freud’s nephew, Ed Bernays, created modern advertising and got us buying things we didn’t need, eating things we didn’t eat before, and never satisfied with anything we had we’ve just wanted NEW STUFF.

The lust of the eyes is one of the world’s ways of drawing you away from the Lord.

1 John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

Christians should reject consumerism because it makes us unthankful and we never have enough. But we learn it at a young age. We teach our children to covet things at Christmas and on their birthdays. It gives us great joy to spend money on them for things that teach them nothing about nothing. I know children who have so many toys that they don’t even open some of the ones they get at Christmas and they get packed away. I know adults with sheds and attics full of the latest whosiewhatsits, much of which they’ll never use. The eyes of man are never satisfied.

Hell and destruction are never full. There is never a time when the Bible says, “Enough. Hell is full.” And so men and women never say, “I’ve had enough. I’ve got everything I need.” We need to learn to be happy with what we have and to focus on only what we need.

1 Timothy 6:6 ¶ But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

Adam and Eve could have whatever they wanted but one thing and that’s what they wanted. We inherited that. We have a problem with our eyes. They see, they want. Job had to make an agreement, so to speak, with his eyes.

Job 31:1 I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?

Jesus warned men in those days;

Matthew 5:27 ¶ Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: 28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

King David had an eye problem.

2Samuel 11:2 And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.

And yet, God had warned the Hebrews about this very thing.

Deuteronomy 5:21 Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour’s wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour’s house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

While men use pornography to generate that dissatisfaction with their spouse, women have romance novels to make them feel unsettled, as if maybe they could get more than the hardworking yutz they have who isn’t clever, funny, and dashing like the guy in the Harlequin books.

And let me tell you something. If you live in a constant state of dissatisfaction with what you have, your social status, your possessions, or your spouse you have a sin problem. You’re not focused on Christ. You’re focused on your SELF. I refer you to the Proverb before this one. God is not pleased with your attitude, Christian. It’s all through His Bible.

Genesis 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

For the descendants of Adam and Eve that scene plays itself out a thousand times in a lifetime. It is the shame of American Christianity along with pride, self righteousness, a desire for revenge, no compassion for lost souls, etc. etc.. It is akin to envy.

Be content. Be satisfied. Fill your eyes with God’s word.

Psalm 119:16 I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.

Proverbs 27:19 commentary; examine your SELF

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19 ¶ As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man.

Examine your heart as you would examine your face in a mirror or, as this verse suggests, in your reflection in water.

Christians are told;

2Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

To examine and to prove are synonyms as in the following verse. The Bible defines its own words through parallel phrasing among other things.

Psalm 26:2 Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.

Your heart, the Bible says, is desperately wicked.

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Do you have any idea what it means to be desperately wicked? The human heart wants to sin against God so badly that it is desperate to do it. You know, like when a nightclub is on fire and people are so panicked and desperate that should someone come in to try to help them the jumbled mess of terrified, desperate people will grab the good Samaritan and keep him from escaping the fire, as well. It’s happened several times in history.

Examine your heart. Face what you really are. You have no trouble believing that an animal inherited its instincts from its first ancestor but can’t believe that mankind inherited the sin nature from Adam, probably our only instinct as a human baby has to be taught almost everything else but particularly how to be good. Many of us have a hard time facing the truth about ourselves and our need of a Saviour. We think of ourselves as pretty good people, not as bad as some, so why wouldn’t a just God give us a pass? But we’re not being compared to other people. Our comparison is Christ and He was perfect. Are you perfect, without sin?

You’ve told lies. That makes you a liar. You’ve taken things; time from people, money from an employer who was paying you but not to do what you were doing, material objects from others or work that didn’t belong to you. That makes you a thief. You haven’t forgiven when God commanded it and in spite of the fact that He forgave you. You talk about the confusing things in the Bible but you won’t even obey the most clear cut standard and precept of God.

We Christians need to examine our hearts like a woman examines her face in one of those magnifying mirrors when she puts on makeup. Then we need to throw ourselves into God’s word to be cleansed, asking forgiveness and mercy, and seeking Him with our whole heart. Why did you talk about that person at dinner? Were you really “concerned?” Why did you hesitate at the newsstand? Was it really disgust you felt at the nearly naked girl in the bikini, or something else? Why do you covet things you don’t have and don’t need? Why do you love violence, even the “clean” violence of sports and movies? Why are you working where you are working? Living in the house you are living in? Driving the car you drive? Wearing the clothes you’re wearing…or almost wearing?

I imagine if you dig behind the façade of modern life you will find sin there and a wordly attitude, hungering for the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 2:15,16) and the things you want are pleasant to the eyes, something tasty, and maybe even give you a leg up on your neighbors, your family, or your friends (Genesis 3:6).

Maybe if you examined your heart like you do your face in the mirror you’d realize you need more of Christ and less of your SELF.

Proverbs 27:18 commentary; waiting on the master

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18 ¶ Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof: so he that waiteth on his master shall be honoured.

John 12:26 If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.

It is interesting that the fig tree in prophecy is a type of Israel (Hosea 9:1), both in the Old Testament and in the Gospels where Jesus finds the fig tree not bearing the fruit for which it was purposed and curses it (Matthew 21:19.) Certainly, Bible commentators in the last century have been scratching Christians’ ears much like I do my cats’ with preaching about their own understanding of the meaning of such prophecy and away from the more important subjects like the Christian’s own faithlessness and worldiness and bringing shame on the cause of Christ. So, I’ll leave the brilliant expositors of the future to their works and try to do what I have always been trying to do here and bring some practical understanding of how this can be applied to the Christian today.

Look at the connection with John 12:26. Read it again. Our service to Christ; living as a testimony to Him for others to see, showing Christ in our daily lives, preaching the gospel, teaching others about Christ, and being faithful to His doctrines are like nourishing the fig tree. In doing so, we are taking on individually what ancient Israel was called to do as a nation and yet refused to do, preferring man made religion based purely on surface ritual lacking any real commitment of the heart.

We are called to love one another;

John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

Romans 12:10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;

And, indeed, doing good to all people,

Galatians 6:10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

As I have said before, the definition of “charity”, as in 1 Corinthians 13, is the active, beneficient love that Christians in the body of Christ are to have for each other. The conclusion of that chapter shows that it is more important than either faith or hope.

We are called to take care of those who can’t take care of themselves and to reject the world’s ideals of greed, lust, revenge, envy, pride, and covetousness;

James 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

These things do not save us but are evidence of our salvation.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

The honor that God bestows on us for waiting on Him comes later when we face Him. We may work long and hard to make something grow, laboring each day as we seek to have Christ shine through us rather than ourselves. We pray to God, let Him speak to us through His words in His Book, worship with other Christians regularly, seek God’s face and seek to be changed by Him into the person He wants us to be.

It’s important to remember that the fig tree we keep and guard and care for doesn’t grow if we keep trying to graft our own SELF onto it. It grows only as we step back and let Christ Himself flow through its branches. At some point, if we have died to SELF and Christ has been manifested in our lives and in our actions after we have been saved we may one day hear;

Matthew 25:21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

Proverbs 27:15, 16 commentary; the terrible wife

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15 ¶ A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike. 16 Whosoever hideth her hideth the wind, and the ointment of his right hand, which bewrayeth itself.

Proverbs 19:13 A foolish son is the calamity of his father: and the contentions of a wife are a continual dropping.

Contentious people are angry and start trouble.

Proverbs 21:19 It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman.

Proverbs 26:21 As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle strife.

They are argumentative as Paul uses the word here in his final word on whether women should have long hair or not. He gives a long set of reasons why the Corinthian conviction that women should have long hair is a good one and then ends up with this to overthrow any divisiveness, which is, of course, left out of most preaching by people who insist women must have long hair to be Godly women.

1Corinthians 11:16 But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.

Living with an angry, drama loving, argumentative woman is a very unhappy circumstance to find oneself in. You can try to hide her but you might as well try to hide the wind. As Dr. Ruckman says in his commentary, “every time she opened her mouth, the morning shift at the plant knocked off for lunch.” Hiding her would be like trying to hide the Icy Hot muscle pain cream you’ve got on your hand when the smell of it gives you away.

The Proverbs also tell us twice;

Proverbs 21:9 & 25:24 It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.

Let this be a lesson to young, Christian men. Choosing a wife is perhaps the most important decision you’ll make in your life next to trusting in Christ. Traits that are cute or humorous when you’re learning about each other become monstrous problems once you’re married. Ruckman also quotes an old saw, “a sweetheart is like a bottle of wine, while a wife is like a wine bottle.” And, of course, many an unsaved boy who chose a woman for how much of a “hottie” she was lived to regret it for the rest of their lives.

Stay away from women, and the same applies to young girls choosing a husband to stay away from men, who are angry, love drama, and are argumentative. They will be like a steady drip, drip, drip on your head for the rest of your life.

And women and men who insist on contradicting every word that comes out of their husband or wife’s mouth in a little power game of oneupsmanship are fools. I’ve known guys who, no matter what their spouse had accomplished or done, simply had to point out that it was nothing like what they had accomplished or done. They are fools and men of little consequence, usually, just little boys insecure in their manhood. I’ve known women that would never let a moment go by in which they didn’t take the opportunity to belittle or demean their husbands. These women, too, are fools and people who “ain’t ‘bout nothin’” as we said down South.

Are you a contentious spouse sarcastically putting down everything your husband or wife says? You need to ask for Christ’s forgiveness. You’re just wicked.

Proverbs 27:13 commentary; why are Christians so untrustworthy?

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13 ¶ Take his garment that is surety for a stranger, and take a pledge of him for a strange woman.

(See Proverbs 20:16 for the earlier placement of this verse.) Remember that the Law not only was to govern the ancient Hebrew’s spiritual life and obligations but his civil life as well, unlike the modern Christian, whose life should be managed by the doctrines of grace given in the New Testament letters from Paul to the churches with the indwelling Holy Spirit guiding him or her.

Here, a person is to give his garment as a pledge to guarantee the debt of a foreigner to an Israelite and the Hebrew was told to be sure to get a pledge from him if he was trying to guarantee the debt of a foreign woman (there would probably be all kinds of problems with that debt if the relationship changed course, as they often do) and as was stated previously promising to guarantee someone else’s debt is not a wise thing to do.

Proverbs 6:1 My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, 2 Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth. 3 Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend.

Proverbs 11:15 He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it: and he that hateth suretiship is sure.

Proverbs 17:18 A man void of understanding striketh hands, and becometh surety in the presence of his friend.

These are warnings, not only about suretyship but the people who were not of Israel, who didn’t worship Israel’s God, the Creator of all things, the God of the Bible. Foreign people and foreign worship, customs, and standards of behavior were constant thorns of irritation for Israel and even helped bring about their downfall.

I could go off on an application to Christians that many commentators would about how you should only offer to co-sign or back up a note for a Christian and not an unbeliever. But, that’s simply wrong. The principle here is not to be surety for anyone. Sadly, there are many Christians who are as dishonest or unreliable as any pagan person and many atheists who are more honorable and honest than Christians. Don’t promise another’s debts. If you have the money they need and you think the cause is worthwhile then give the money to the Lord by giving it to them. If they can pay it back ask them to pay it forward and help someone else.

But, most debts we incur are not of necessity or out of wisdom. Most of the debts people ask you to guarantee are poorly thought out and come out of irresponsibility on their part. If you are not in a position to help that person with the money they need, and only for essential things, then I would certainly not go against the Biblical principle and promise to guarantee their debts. But, this is my own opinion. If someone wants to start a business let them save their own money or seek out investors, not come to you to ask you to put your good credit and name on the line as a guarantee of their debt to a bank. Once again, my own opinion. In my youth I would have been one of those guys you would not have wanted to lend money to or to not get a pledge from when I was vouching for someone. I had terrible judgment and bad character.

Why are people who call themselves Christians as unreliable today as others? It’s probably for the same reason that Christians have similar rates or worse of drug addiction, divorce, and immoral or amoral living as others. Why is it that for all the preaching and hammering on personal moral behavior in pulpits that so much of it seems to go in one ear and out the other? Repeatedly, throughout history, Christian leaders have pointed out the Bible’s role in setting the believer apart to be of some use to God.

The Waldensians had a saying, “The Holy Scriptures alone are sufficient to sanctify the believer”, I have read. They would attempt to memorize, to be able to recite by heart, the entire New Testament.

Bishop Becke, an Anglican priest of the Reformation, promised that reading the Bible a half hour a day would relieve the Christian of blasphemy, gambling, and other sins. John Burgon, the Anglican champion of the Received Text in the late 1800’s who opposed the revision of Westcott and Hort (see his books The Last Twelve Verses of Mark and The Revision Revised) gave a lecture I’ve read to his Anglican priest students in which he also recommended daily half hour Bible reading never to be interrupted or put aside for the young preacher of his day. Thomas Cranmer, the archbishop of Canterbury under Henry VIII, wrote in the preface to “The Great Bible”, that the Christian must read the Bible every day, implying that if you don’t you certainly aren’t in a position to receive a sermon on Sunday. Daniel Walker Howe in his book What Hath God Wrought, part of the Oxford History of the United States series, talks about how, even up until the early 1800’s that Bible reading was important to the common American, that is before the so called Second Great Awakening took off, followed by emotional fixes in place of a daily letting God speak to them through His word and replacing God with government action.

Paul admonishes the young Pastor, Timothy, in 1 Timothy 4:13 , to “give attendance to reading” also tells the Corinthians, the Ephesians, and the Thessalonians to read his letters, making sure the congregations hear and see them. The early church leader, Tertullian, writing about 200AD states that the originals or authentic copies of the letters from the Apostles were still available in the churches which they started and nourished, implying that you could read them.

God commanded through Moses, in expectation of the Israelites eventually demanding a king, in Deuteronomy 17, that their king should read the Bible they had, which was the Law given to Moses, every day of his life so that he would learn to fear the Lord, keep all the words of the Law and do them, and so he wouldn’t get arrogant and think himself above the Law.

Joshua commanded the Israelites to constantly have the Book of the Law on their tongues and in their minds.

Joshua 1:8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

In the Bible, the Holy Spirit, speaking through a Psalmist, says this about how God views his word, small “w”.

Psalm 138:2 I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.

In earlier days in America, the Bible may have been the only book in a person’s house. Many of the early Americans learned to read by daily Bible reading within their families. Remember the country song about Bible reading called “The Family Bible”, written by Jim Ed Brown, I believe, and sung by both Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash?
“Rock of Ages, Rock of Ages cleft for me.

There's a fam'ly bible on the table
Each page is torn and hard to read
But the fam'ly bible on the table
Will ever be my key to memories.

At the end of day when work was over
And when the evening meal was done
Dad would read to us from the fam'ly bible
And we'd count our many blessings one by one.

Refrain:
I can see us sittin' 'round the table
When from the fam'ly bible dad would read
I can hear my mother softly singing
Rock of Ages, Rock of Ages cleft for me.

This old world of ours is full of troubles
This old world would oh, so better be
If we had more bibles on the table
And mothers singing Rock of Ages cleft for me.

Refrain:
I can see us sittin' 'round the table
When from the fam'ly bible dad would read
I can hear my mother softly singing
Rock of Ages, Rock of Ages cleft for me.

Rock of Ages, Rock of Ages cleft for me...”

There is also an old poem by Amos Wells that I’ve been inspired by about reading the Bible entitled “When You Read the Bible Through”.

“I supposed I knew my Bible
Reading piecemeal, hit and miss,
Now a bit of John or Matthew,
Now a snatch of Genesis,
Certain chapters of Isaiah
Certain Psalms (the twenty-third);
Twelfth of Romans, First of Proverbs
Yes, I thought I knew the Word;
But I found that thorough reading
Was a different thing to do,
And the way was unfamiliar
When I read the Bible through.
Oh, the massive, mighty volume!
Oh, the treasures manifold!
Oh, the beauty of the wisdom
And the grace it proved to hold!
As the story of the Hebrews
Swept in majesty along,
As it leaped in waves prophetic,
As it burst to sacred song,
As it gleamed with Christly omens,
The Old Testament was new,
Strong with cumulative power,
When I read the Bible through.
Ah, imperial Jeremiah,
With his keen, coruscant mind,
And the blunt old Nehemiah,
And Ezekiel refined!
Newly came the Minor Prophets,
Each with his distinctive robe;
Newly came the Song idyllic,
And the tragedy of Job,
Deuteronomy, the regal,
To a towering mountain grew,
With its comrade peaks around it,
When I read the Bible through.
What a radiant procession
As the pages rise and fall,
James the sturdy, John the tender
Oh, the myriad-minded Paul!
Vast apocalyptic glories
Wheel and thunder, flash and flame,
While the church triumphant raises
One incomparable name.
Ah, the story of the Savior
Never glows supremely true
Till you read it whole and swiftly,
Till you read the Bible through.
You who like to play at Bible,
Dip and dabble, here and there,
Just before you kneel, aweary,
And yawn thro’ a hurried prayer;
You who treat the Crown of Writings
As you treat no other book
Just a paragraph disjointed,
Just a crude, impatient look
Try a worthier procedure,
Try a broad and steady view;
You will kneel in very rapture
When you read the Bible through.”

Preachers, evangelists, and scholars like Dr. Samuel Gipp who wrote the wonderfully easy to read book An Understandable History of the Bible and people like Dr. Peter Ruckman, frail and human as they are, encourage Christians to read, read, and read the Bible. Dr. Ruckman tells a story that when he took over a Baptist church in the early 1960’s that the deacons smoked in the church. There were ashtrays in the pews in some churches back in those days. He chose not to preach on the ills of smoking but pounded on daily, personal Bible reading as something apart and distinct from Bible study. He claims that within two years, not only had smoking ceased in the church, but he only knew of one family that smoked at home. He claims, like the preachers of old, that daily Bible reading will change you.

Whether it be the God of the Bible through the Bible itself, theologians, preachers, persecuted Medieval Christians, poets, and songwriters there are people throughout history telling you to read that Bible you have gathering dust on the shelf or laying on your desk.

I am not much of an example. I’ve accomplished very little in life. I’m prone to sin and failure at every turn. Do not expect too much from me as judging by my track record I’ll let you down. But God has changed me and is changing me through His word. With the exceptions of a few short periods of complete and utter insanity over the last several years God has been molding me with His word. My wife sees it. Some of my family know it. Perhaps others do, as well. God has removed from my heart, several things that were not good and added a few that were. It’s been a slow process but I am certain that from what someone as carnal and degenerate as I’ve been all my life can see accomplished in his life by God with my only action being to read and believe and to trust and wait, that you, better person than I’ll ever be on this earth, can experience so much more.

What Christians are missing in their lives today is the joy, love, and peace that God wants to give them through His words in His Book, and not only that, but victory over sin and other foolishness. Why are Christians often no more trustworthy or moral than the world at large? Because the Bible is not center stage in their hearts. Because of that the God of the Bible, the Lord Jesus Christ, isn’t sitting on the throne of their hearts.

As Jesus Himself said;

John 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

Proverbs 27:14 commentary; too much praise

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14 ¶ He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him.

At first I saw this as very clearly a simple Proverb about how even something that you normally would love to hear, like approval and a blessing from a friend, could be a real nuisance if done excessively or at the wrong time. For instance, you wouldn’t care to have your friend call you on the telephone early in the morning, waking you up, to tell you how wonderful you are. In fact, you’d eventually look on that person as a pain in the neck or mentally unbalanced. In other words, your approval can become a curse rather than a blessing by being given excessively and at inopportune times.

The commentators talk about, as the earlier Proverb about “open rebuke” being better than “secret love” so does excessive verbal blessing eventually become meaningless and annoying. So, when does a blessing become a curse?

Proverbs 26:28 A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it; and a flattering mouth worketh ruin.

When blessing becomes flattery and someone is tempted to believe the excess coming from a friend’s mouth it can lead to a higher view of oneself than is warranted and then the ruin that can follow from pride. Christians are told;

Romans 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

And the warnings given in Proverbs are abundant about not thinking too highly of yourself;

Proverbs 16:18 ¶ Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. 19 ¶ Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.

Proverbs 25:27 ¶ It is not good to eat much honey: so for men to search their own glory is not glory.

Proverbs 26:12 ¶ Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.

This Proverb is a particular problem for a child. You may have a gifted child or a child who seems very intelligent emotionally. You want them to have all the opportunities to excel, to take their natural abilities and rise high with them. But, be careful about excessive praise. Give them a chance to prove themselves by their behavior and actions rather than just their potential.

When I was a child I was bookish and an avid reader. I could retain information and loved to talk about what I’d read. Certain members of my family had far too high an opinion of my potential and not enough sober realization of my limitations. As a result of these errors in judgment I was pushed too far too fast for my actual abilities. By skipping parts of grades and being placed in “gifted” groups and “honors” courses when I really didn’t have the actual ability to match the demands placed on me my emotional growth was harmed, my maturity was stifled, and I suffered a great deal.

Let me put it another way about how we live through our kids. We don’t let kids play sandlot baseball anymore. We want them to play on organized teams hoping that they’ll one day be professional superstars. We don’t just hope that our child will be able to handle college or trade school and get a decent job so he or she can support himself. As soon as we realize our child is bright we begin dreaming of them being a great doctor or lawyer, being famous and important. We push and push our children and heap praise after praise on them. I remember a friend in college who committed suicide. He had gone to college at only 16 years old, gifted beyond his years. His name was Shelton Darity. Such a nice kid. One day he drank a deadly poison whose name I can’t remember and was found in his cubicle at the math building I believe. The note he left said, “There’s nothing wrong. I’m just tired.” He always talked about the high hopes his family had for him and how he just wanted to live a normal life. But, when I went down to talk to the campus police with others who knew him, stunned and grieving, all they talked about was his great promise and the waste of his death. None of us really considered that he had been pushed too far, praised too much, and not afforded the right to just be a person.

Now, Shelton was a genius and I wasn’t so I’m not making a comparison that way. My point is that flattery, excessive approval, praise, and blessing is not necessarily a good thing. It can lead to pride or it can lead to despair, fearing that you can’t measure up to what’s expected of you.

I remember someone who used to be a preacher writing, and I can’t remember where it was or who said it, but it was someone who seemed to be gifted at speaking and putting the Bible in context but everyone “wanted a piece of him” and eventually he could not take the pressure to be perfect, to always have the next sermon be more brilliant than any previous, to be terrified of making a mistake or having people pick apart his moral failings, no matter how small. He finally gave up the ministry because he just came to believe that he would eventually let everyone down.

Many preachers and teachers have dealt with the excessive praise and blessing that becomes a curse because it is accompanied by expectations that are unreasonable and unfair. I am reminded again of the gifted child having scholarships and praise heaped upon him but not being allowed to learn and grow like a normal human being and being expected to be perfect.

So, in this respect, try to think of this Proverb the next time your child scores the home run, the touchdown, or aces the big exam, and someone tells you how they’re going to go far and should look into this or that school or program for the gifted. Be very careful about how much praise you heap on them, rising early in the morning with a loud voice. Your blessings may become a curse.

Proverbs 27:11,12 commentary; the prudent and the simple

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11 ¶ My son, be wise, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him that reproacheth me. 12 ¶ A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished.

Here is a father who wants his son to do right and be wise that no one may be able to tell him, “you didn’t raise him right.” Two types of people are referenced here; the prudent and the simple. We’ve already seen that a prudent person is wise by the Bible’s own way of defining words in 16:21 and18:15 by parallel phrasing. The simple are inexperienced, young, and naïve as in 1:4; 7:7 and don’t know anything in 9:13.

This verse was repeated word for word in 22:3, too. Now, evil has several different meanings in the Bible. It is the opposite of good in the very second chapter of Genesis. It carries with it the thought of intended malice and violence in Genesis 37:20, Amos 6:3, and Jonah 3:8, again shown by contrast and parallel phrasing. It is trouble, calamity, and disaster in Isaiah 45:7; Matthew 6:34; and I Timothy 6:10. So, it is a general term that doesn’t always mean simply sinful iniquity. To render it to mean only that would blaspheme God in Isaiah 45:7 and make Matthew 6:34 a joke. However, here it can obviously be trouble and sinful iniquity, which go hand in hand.

In this verse, a prudent or wise man looks ahead and sees trouble or sin and avoids it but the naïve and inexperienced walk right into it and suffer the consequences. Christians are warned first;

1Thessalonians 5:22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.

And comforted with;

1Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

For these reasons prudent Pastors do not counsel women alone. For these reasons there is no such thing as Christian dating, where a couple is getting to know each other alone, without the company of other Christians. For these reasons, a Christian isn’t going to be passing out tracts at the local public swimming pool or in the bar on the corner.

For these reasons a Christian isn’t going to have movies in his or her home with sexual or gratuitously, as in having no point but to excite, violent content, remembering;

Psalm 11:5 The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.

(Admit it, guys. You love violence. You love feminine beauty. There is about a millimeter distance between gratuitous violence and sex, and violent pornography which is what most horror and action/adventure movies are, anyway. I heard a British movie reviewer even say that the Passion of the Christ was a sadomasochistic thriller for gay men. Keep this in mind the next time you watch a movie not based on an actual historical event. All leading women in thrillers and romances are a type of the bride of Christ, all heroes are a type of Christ, and all villains or “the other guy” are a type of Satan, the flesh, or the world. Now, tell yourself if the movie you’re watching presents it correctly or perverts it for your flesh.)

For these reasons, Christians should be careful and cautious about acquiring credit cards and unnecessary debt.

Romans 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.

If you are wise and not simple, you’ll see trouble ahead and avoid it like the plague; you know, like you do the boss at work.

Go into everything with your eyes open. Never expect anything for nothing and don’t think that you are so spiritual that you’re going to be the one to defy the odds and walk right into a trap of Satan or your flesh and walk right back out unscathed.

It’s the simple and unwise who get ambushed, not the wise.

Proverbs 27:9-10 commentary; a friend close by

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9 ¶ Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man’s friend by hearty counsel. 10 Thine own friend, and thy father’s friend, forsake not; neither go into thy brother’s house in the day of thy calamity: for better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off.

Matthew Henry takes these verses together and they seem to have a connectedness. The sweetness of friendship, from God’s point of view, doesn’t manifest itself in a few laughs or an afternoon watching a game or a shopping trip, but in the trust that comes from good and passionate counsel. A true friend’s concern for your success or failure and, moreso, your welfare, is of much more value than a person’s friendship who just hangs out with you for a few laughs.

The Proverbs go on to say that a neighbor near to you, someone you can reach quickly and can talk to without waiting, is better to turn to in a crisis or a tragedy than even a brother who is far away. So, it is better to have a friend who gives you good and sound counsel than one who is just for trivial matters and a friend who lives close by is better to count on in time of trouble than a brother or sister who lives far away.

In addition, the Proverbs point out that such a friend you should not turn your back on. Even a dear friend of a parent, if nearby, is better than relying on a relative who is far away.

Christ is always close to us. He is always there for our benefit and to commune with us. We are always close to Christ in prayer.

Psalm 145:18 The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.

We have been brought near to God by the shedding of God’s own blood.

Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

We should be in a constant state of prayer, speaking to God.

Romans 12:12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;

1Thessalonians 5:17 Pray without ceasing.

By this constant contact we can have peace of mind and calm assurance.

Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

Christ is the Christian’s dearest friend and greatest help in time of trouble. He is that friend that sticks closer than a brother.

Proverbs 18:24 A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

Prayer accomplishes things because there is someone on the other end of the prayer who is real, living, and who loved you enough to die for you in the flesh, to take on your sins against Him, and to pay the price you owed to Him for your sin. Prayer does not accomplish things because you think something hard enough or wish for it fervently. It is because God is not a concept or an idea but a living being with a soul, a spirit, and a body; all three of which can act independently of each other and yet be in perfect harmony unlike your soul, spirit, and body which must remain together for you to physically live.

For many people prayer is just wishful thinking or, as the atheists believe, a person talking to the ceiling or themselves. But, if you have truly trusted Christ as your Saviour, then He is your friend as well. His counsel, His Bible, is hearty counsel and He is closer than a brother.

John 15:15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

Speak to Him now in your heart, in your thoughts, sitting in your kitchen, upon your bed, at work, wherever you are; thank Him, praise Him, and ask Him for the yearnings of your heart. Ask what He is going to do with you this day and be aware of what He does. Most of all, seek His will and His counsel. There is no one you can trust more to care for you.

1Peter 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

Proverbs 27:8 commentary; Godliness with contentment is true success

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8 ¶ As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place.

Wandering in the Bible takes on the meanings of moving about aimlessly and of searching for something you can’t find. In our modern culture we value individualism and “our rights” to the extent that we don’t know what our place is nor would we accept it if we did. Paul, speaking with the wisdom that the Holy Spirit gave him tells the Corinthians;

1 Corinthians 7:17 ¶ But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all churches. 18 Is any man called being circumcised? let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision? let him not be circumcised. 19 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God. 20 Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. 21 Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather. 22 For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s servant. 23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men. 24 Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.

There is a discontent in our society, an uneasiness with where you are and what you have. We are not satisfied with the home we have, the job we have, our social status, our entertainments. Americans are always wanting something else or as the Achilles character says, played by Brad Pitt in the movie “Troy” when asked what he wants, “I want what every many wants; more.”

In the 1970’s when I was in college life was all about “finding yourself”. No status quo was acceptable. We were to, as the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie title said, “Stay Hungry.” Our culture, so wrapped up in movies and music and advertising a lifestyle of dissatisfaction, coveting, and lusting had the problem wrapped up in The Rolling Stones song, “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction.”

The word of God condemns that attitude. We Christians are to stay in our place, which is in God’s word.

Psalms 119:10 With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.

We are to be satisfied with the simplest of our needs being met.

1 Timothy 6:6 ¶ But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. 9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

This expands on a thought found in the Old Testament, under the Law.

Proverbs 23:4 Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.

Young people, learn a trade, work with your own hands.

1Thessalonians 4:11 And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;

Our culture, our advertising, and much of our business is dependent on you never being quite satisfied with what you are or what you have. They always want you to want more, more, more, and you will spend your life in an unending and futile quest to have the most and the best. But the phrase “he who dies with the most toys wins” is a lie as Paul pointed out in the 1 Timothy verses above. It is only he who dies with Christ who wins. In eternity you will not remember the features your cellphone had or how spiffy your new car was. All of the things you have worked overtime for to accumulate and gather around you will be burned up in that day. It is only what you have with Christ that will last. Sit down and think about it. Admit it. The stuff you have doesn’t make you happy, hasn’t helped you or your children grow spiritually in Christ, and is a nuisance at best.

On a different note, the person who is always out wandering from his place and getting into trouble is criticized as well. First, there are those who won’t keep at home. They used to be called gadabouts, always searching to start drama, wandering from bar to bar or house to house.

The first verse is about a man but also contains a prophetic message about the Beast of Revelation (popularly called the “Antichrist”, a word not found in Revelation) which is not the point of our Proverb necessarily. Try to think of how this affects you.

Habakkuk 2:5 Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people:

The following verses are about women.

1 Timothy 5:13 And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.

Titus 2:5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

And again, our culture and its popular entertainments want us to be dissatisfied with the spouses we have which is Satan’s purpose for everything from pornography to romance novels. But here we are told;

Proverbs 5:15 ¶ Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well. 16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets. 17 Let them be only thine own, and not strangers’ with thee. 18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. 19 Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love. 20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? 21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.

Just remember, and this is a warning to others in developing countries as well who lust after the lifestyle that they perceive to be American, our culture thrives on discontent and dissatisfaction with what you have, who you are, what you look like, and how you view those around you. Our relationships, our dreams, hopes, and those things we desire are based on a throwaway culture where no person or thing is as important as getting another, different person or thing. This attitude is not what a Christian is called to want. This is the world’s dead end. I have recently posted the world’s message from 1 John 2 in conjunction with the temptation Satan laid out before Eve and Adam.

For those of you who are contentious, I am not saying, and I don’t think the Bible is saying, to be content with grinding poverty or injustice or to be satisfied with the crumbs the powerful throw your way and not working hard and smart. What I am saying is about not spending your life in a miserable, unhappy funk because you always are wanting something you don’t have. I’m not discounting education or becoming better at what you do or moving your family out of a dirty, dangerous place. I am certain that everyone knows exactly what I’m talking about and how this Proverb can be applied to a Christian in today’s world.

Be content. Stop wandering.

Proverbs 27:7 commentary; sweet words for a hungry soul

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7 ¶ The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.

Taken very literally; a person who is sated with the delicacies he desires, for that moment, wants no more and, in fact, wants nothing to do with them. The starving person will eat almost anything. But, look at this. In the Old Testament, under the Law, the body and the soul were talked about as one thing. Even, as Jesus spoke before the resurrection the Jews were still under the jurisdiction of the Law given to Moses. They were not born again. They carried no Spiritual presence of God within them predicated upon their belief and trust in Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, as their Saviour.

Matthew 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

But, after the resurrection, when a person can be born again spiritually by believing on Jesus Christ the soul is separated from the sins of the flesh.

Colossians 2:11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:

Pleasant words are likened to a honeycomb in the following Proverb.

Proverbs 16:24 Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.

The words of the pure are pleasant in this verse.

Proverbs 15:26 The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the LORD: but the words of the pure are pleasant words.

God’s words are said to be sweet.

Psalm 119:103 How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Now, let’s take this very Old Testament Proverb, written under the Law, and give it a spiritual application to Christians.

One of the things that is amazing about American Christians is their self righteous certainty that they’ve gotten all of God that they will get or need. They sit in a church and hear a preacher exhort them to do right or, if he’s got an agenda, to vote a certain way or to hate certain people. Leaving, they feel smug and self satisfied, full of themselves and sensing that they’ve done what God expects. Some of them don’t even make the effort to meet with a body of believers as the church regularly and often. Often, in churches across the nation, and this is true of even Fundamentalist churches, humanism is taught from the pulpit like a lecture on philosophy in a college lecture hall.

These Christians are full, they leave the building in which the church meets and want nothing more to do with God’s words. They might mutter a hurried prayer each day or even read a verse or two for “inspiration”. But, unless some tragedy or calamity confronts them it is doubtful they’ll even crack open the Bible. Some will go to the Bible for a story or a lesson or some moral principle underlined, particularly, though, for verses to comfort or support.

They lack the love and hunger for God’s words that the hungry soul of years before thirsted for every day. It is ironic to hear preacher’s talk about the “old time religion” when their religion is anything but old when daily Bible reading is not a part of it.

“The American version of Protestantism was a religion of a book, and to practice the religion required being able to read the book. In many a log cabin, parents taught their children the rudiments of reading in the only book they had; a Bible……” (page 192 of Daniel Walker Howe’s Pulitzer prize winning “What Hath God Wrought”.) By the way, this was always a King James Bible, called “the common Bible” in colonial America. Bible reading was important to be an American and to be a Christian. Christine Leigh Heyrman, in her book “Southern Cross: The Beginnings of the Bible Belt” also underscores the importance of Bible reading in early America. The book “Pagan Christianity” points out that it was the Puritans who believed that God spoke to His people principally by the weekly sermon, which they required you to attend by law, rather than Bible reading at home, as well.

The hungry soul will find even the harshest, bitter judgments of the Bible sweet. The hungry soul will come to the Bible to be fed and filled every day, to have God speak to them from His own words each day. Hungry souls will “take up and read” as Augustine reported he heard a disembodied voice tell him. Whether or not you believe what Augustine said, the hungry Christian soul will want to read and to hear God’s words. They are sweet to his taste and we know from the Bible that….

Job 34:3 For the ear trieth words, as the mouth tasteth meat.

As I said, many Fundamentalist preachers do not teach and exhort a love of God’s words read and heard directly from the Bible. Mostly that is because they want to control what you think and believe about God’s words rather than guiding you and keeping you from heresy, in spite of the Baptist doctrines of soul liberty and the priesthood of all believers. As Dr. Ruckman has so accurately pointed out, from most fundamentalist pulpits all you hear is about attendance and giving.

Christians need to know about the power of God’s words. The Christian needs to come to the Book expecting that God will use it to change Him, not merely by the Christian’s assent to the doctrines and moral teachings of the Book, but by a supernatural power the Bible has been imbued with by God to reach into the person and make him or her different. The Holy Spirit can take His own words and change your heart, your circumstances, and your life even while you simply read a list of names in a book of the Bible. It is daily Bible reading, expectation, and submission to accept whatever God’s will is for your life that enriches a Christian’s life far beyond his mere wish to be a “good Christian”.

God’s words go beyond your intentions. They take you further than your seemingly heartfelt desire. The Bible is the principal way that God speaks to His people; read, heard, preached, and taught, and there is no substitute for daily reading of it accompanied always with much prayer.

Ephesians 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: 18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

Paul tells the young preacher, Timothy, to “give attendance to reading” in 1 Timothy 4:13 and I assure you he wasn’t talking about Plato. The king of Israel was to read the Scriptures every day.

Deuteronomy 17:19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them:

And the psalmist makes these declarations;

Psalm 119: 9 ¶ BETH. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.

11 ¶ Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

Christian, be a hungry soul and fill yourself with the delicacies in God’s words in His Bible. Even the bitterest of words will be sweet to your ears in its judgments. And, as Dr. Ruckman has said, “either the Bible will keep you from your sins, or your sins will keep you from the Bible.” Amen to that.

Proverbs 27:5,6 commentary; faithful wounds of a friend

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5 ¶ Open rebuke is better than secret love. 6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

Peter was rebuked openly by Paul for his inconsistent testimony.

Galatians 2:11 ¶ But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. 12 For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. 13 And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. 14 But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?

It was better for Peter for Paul to rebuke him publicly as a Christian brother than for Christ to have Peter’s secret devotion at his trials when Peter denied him.

John 18:25 And Simon Peter stood and warmed himself. They said therefore unto him, Art not thou also one of his disciples? He denied it, and said, I am not.

I would also rather have a friend openly tell me that I am wrong and steer me away from the disaster that is often the consequence of sin than to keep silent out of some presumed type of loyalty and let me walk off a cliff. What good is your friendship if you don’t have my best interest at heart and you don’t care enough to warn me about what is not in my best interest?

It is better to have open rebuke from a friend than to have a quiet acquiescence to my foolishness. A real friend will be faithful and true to you even if what they say hurts for a moment but the person who truly is your enemy but pretends to be your friend, even his affection is deceitful. We are told in the Christian church to let love between us be sincere and without the pretense that dissembling and dissimulation affords.

Romans 12:9 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.

If you truly love somebody, as we are called to love our brothers and sisters in Christ, then you will not withhold the truth from them, even if stating it to their face is hurtful for a time. Your open correction of them is more valuable than your secret affection. A true friend’s affection is genuine and “faithful” but a false friend’s affection is a deceit and a lie.

How many of you have been betrayed by the silence of a “friend” or realized that this friend’s love was not real, after all? They could have been a spouse, a dear friend, or a work colleague but in the end you would have been better served by someone who you thought of as an enemy than a false friend like this. Men often resent the correction or concern of their wives because they want to be “large and in charge”, as in one of the urban definitions of being on top of their game and knowing the score. They can’t stand to be warned that something is wrong. A mature man would do well to listen to his wife’s concerns unless, of course, he doesn’t view her as his best friend which is an entire other problem we won’t go into here.

Remember, Joab’s kiss (2 Samuel 20:9,10) and Judas’ kiss (Luke 22:48) were deadly. Be true to your friends and church brothers and sisters. Their lives, maybe even the destiny of their souls, may depend on it.

Proverbs 27:4 commentary: do you envy someone else?

2011-10-31T05:01:00.000-07:00

4 Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?

Christ was turned over to his executioners out of envy. Roman governor Pontius Pilate knew this.

Matthew 27:17 Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ? 18 For he knew that for envy they had delivered him.

Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers for envy, as the martyr, Stephen, explained to the Jewish council, the religious elite, before they stoned him to death.

Acts 7:9 And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him,

Several times the Jews were moved with envy against Paul’s teaching.

Acts 13:45 But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.

Acts 17:5 But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.

Envy is listed as one of the sins of mankind that God released mankind to as a result of mankind’s persistence in idolatry, worshipping and acknowledging anything but God even while having reasonable evidence of God’s existence and sovereignty. I won’t quote the entire passage from Romans 1:16 to 2:1 here but you can read it. Here is the verse it’s listed in. Notice the company envy keeps.

Romans 1:29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,

But what exactly is envy? First, it is linked to strife.

Philippians 1:15 Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will:

It is malicious and hateful.

Titus 3:3 For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.

It is a consequence of loving the world system rather than God and the basis for war.

James 4: 1 ¶ From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? 2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. 4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. 5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?

Envy is your resentment at the fact that another possesses something you don’t have. Older women will resent a young woman’s youth and beauty. Men will resent another’s success. Both men and women will resent someone for the material possessions or the spouse or money that others have. Sometimes its envy over status, or wisdom, or the approval of other people, a job or position that you lusted after but were denied. You’ll find ways to criticize, undermine, or hurt the person but you’ll never admit your envy. You’ll accuse them of not being submitted to Christ, of being worldly, of being wicked even, but you won’t admit the simple fact that you hate them for having something you lust after but can’t have and they do.

Envy is wickedness and next to pride is the Christian’s greatest downfall and they go together like a hand in glove. You see, Satan, was envious of God Himself.

Isaiah 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

You envy because you have never cast off the values of the world system. In America we are taught to covet, to lust after, and to envy from the moment we turn on the television the first time. Advertising is a practice designed to create envy, lust, and coveting. Television and radio and the internet could not exist without it. We are bombarded night and day by images and words designed to make us envy and lust and covet. In my youth, the suburban lifestyle was jokingly called “keeping up with the Joneses”.

The world system teaches values that God hates.

1 John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

These are the very things that Satan tempted Eve with in the Garden of Eden.

Genesis 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to line up “good for food” with “lust of the flesh”, or “pleasant to the eyes” with “lust of the eyes”, or “make one wise” with “pride of life”. And when you cannot have the things you lust after, the things you covet, then you begin to look upon the one who does have them with envy. Adam and Eve saw these things as more important than the relationship with God that they had.

Cain, the founder of the first man made religion, killed Abel for envy. Just read Genesis 4:3-8. Envy is the foundation upon which war stands, as the verses in James show. Admit it to yourself and to Christ, much of the reason you don’t like a particular person is that you’re jealous, envious of something they have that you don’t; whether it be looks, youth, money, strength, spouse, possessions, children, position, or status.

Do you envy someone else in the church? Do you envy the Pastor? Examine yourself. Your envy is not pleasing to God. Your envy is wickedness. The Holy Spirit has told us what our attitude as Christians is to be toward what we possess.

1 Timothy 6:6 ¶ But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

The proverb says that it is more dangerous than wrath or anger. Be warned.

2Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

Proverbs 27:3 commentary; a fool's wrath

2011-10-29T08:15:00.000-07:00

3 ¶ A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool’s wrath is heavier than them both.

A stone can be so heavy that it takes many strong arms to move it.

Genesis 39:1 ¶ Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the people of the east. 2 And he looked, and behold a well in the field, and, lo, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks: and a great stone was upon the well’s mouth. 3 And thither were all the flocks gathered: and they rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again upon the well’s mouth in his place.

Or an appearance (which is what an angel is Isaiah 63:9; Judges 2:1) of God.

Matthew 28:2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.

Sand, and particularly wet sand, is also very heavy and weighty (notice how heavy and weighty are synonyms based on the way they are used in context in our Proverb.)

Job 6:3 For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea: therefore my words are swallowed up.

So, the fool’s wrath weighs him down and destroys him and sometimes those around him.

Job 5:2 For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one.

In the Middle Ages there was a torture and execution method known as peine forte et dure where a person was crushed slowly under a great weight. Christian martyrs were sometimes pressed to death in this way as related in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. In some Muslim countries today homosexuals are crushed to death.

A fool’s abiding wrath is heavier than the stones that killed prisoners in olden days and now. It weighs heavy in his heart like Nabal’s and will result in his death (1 Samuel 25:3, 37.) A fool has a hot temper, gets angry quickly, and has trouble controlling his wrath. Remember, that wrath is anger when it has boiled into action.

Genesis 49:7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.

Hosea 13:11 I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath.

Although, like fierce and cruel, wrath and anger are fairly synonymous.

Ephesians 4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:

Who of you boasts of having a short fuse, a hot temper? “Oh, I’m quick to get angry but also quick to forgive and forget,” you say? You are a fool.

Proverbs 12:16 A fool’s wrath is presently known: but a prudent man covereth shame.

Get on your face before Almighty God and plead with Him to deliver you from such foolishness and evil. Curb your wrath, learn to turn it over to God. Read the Bible and pray for God to change you with it. God is not pleased with your wrath, fool. Must He deal with you now and chastise you for your evil ways?

James 1:19 ¶ Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: 20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

Proverbs 27:2 commentary; don't praise yourself

2011-10-28T06:46:00.000-07:00

2 ¶ Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips.

In the part of the Bible written to Christians for doctrine by Paul under the wisdom given to Him by God (2 Peter 3:15), given by inspiration from God (Job 32:8; 2 Timothy 3:16), with understanding which is synonymous with wisdom as something that goes hand in hand with it (Job 39:17; Proverbs 2:6), it says this;

2Corinthians 10:18 For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth.

All self praise and boasting are trash. Let your work be such that others may praise you but do not extol yourself. All glory is to the Lord anyway. We have heard this self praise time and time again and often mistake such boasting as confidence when actually the person is merely trying to convince himself that what he has done is great or sell you on what he or she has done. As with the arrogant and proud what we are really looking at and hearing is a weak, little person trying to convince others of how important they are.

Matthew Henry includes in his commentary the Latin saying; “Proprio laus sordet in ore—Self-praise defiles the mouth.”

We know Christians who brag about everything from their church attendance to how well they’ve raised their children and yet, those of us who actually believe the Bible know that it is only God’s mercy and grace that has given them both the ability to attend church and the blessing of a well behaved child. In fact, most of the people who brag about their child rearing ability, those who boast about it, did not raise their children with daily devotions, Bible reading, and prayer. But God was merciful.

And yet, we brag. If I hear one more “I’ve always tried to do the right thing,” I might just scream. No, you haven’t. You’re human. Most often you choose to do the wrong thing and in most of your decisions you did not seek God’s counsel anyway. Stop praising yourself and get on your knees and praise a most merciful and gracious Creator and Sustainer for the fact that your sexual morals, your tendency to substance abuse, and your life of self worship as a young person didn’t result in your early death and that you are even conscious and not on life support or, worse, on death row.

It is not fitting for a Christian not to give God all the glory and to praise his own efforts at all. It’s also probably not fitting for them to glorify in others who do praise themselves whether it be the football player who dances in the end zone or the fighter who climbs on the ring ropes with his arms upraised for his own glory. These types of things were rarely tolerated in sports before 1950, in any event.

So, Christian, seek God’s approval but don’t engage in self praise. You’re probably just a legend in your own mind, anyway.

Proverbs 27:1 commentary; now is the time

2011-10-25T06:40:00.000-07:00

1 ¶ Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.

At other times God has said;

Luke 12:16 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: 17 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? 18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? 21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

James 4: 13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: 14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. 15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

We should not boast about what great things we will accomplish tomorrow, next week, or next month. We only have today. Life can turn on a dime and you can be alive one second and the next be in eternity. All boasting is foolishness anyway.

This Proverb is not against preparing for tomorrow, for doing things that will afford oneself or one’s family a better life, or some temporal security which, within our power, it is prudent to do. It is about bragging on the great plans we have, all plans of which are completely in God’s hands. He may not allow us a tomorrow.

Another thing that can be said is to not put off any needful thing until another day, a day which you might not have. When the Holy Spirit directs you to witness to someone, to do some thing to tell others of Christ, don’t put it off as you don’t know what the day will bring, for you or them.

Finally, save your words of vanity. If you knew that this would be your last day, what would you do? If you knew that tomorrow you would be in Heaven or in Hell what would change about your plans? I would hope that if you haven’t trusted Christ yet that you would declare your faith in Him now. There may not be a tomorrow in which to do it.

All that is required to have eternal life is to believe on Jesus Christ and to trust in His righteousness, not your own, to get to Heaven. Give up all of those things that you think about yourself and how good you think you are. Just follow the literal statements in the Bible in order to be saved right now. Don’t let any TV preacher or religious celebrity fool you. The answer is found right in God’s word.

Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Paul told the Philippian jailer;

Acts 16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

Jesus Himself said;

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
And Peter admonished us;

Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

If anyone adds any words to those verses reject what they say.

It is the simplest thing in the world and yet it’s the hardest. You haven’t done it yet, have you? Pray for Christ’s salvation and God will send His Holy Spirit into you to live and dwell there until He calls you home to Him. Once you have spoken and prayed that belief to Christ then read His Bible and pray about what you read, asking for guidance.

At some point you should unite with a body of believers, even if it’s only two or three who believe and will discuss the Bible with you and pray and worship Christ with you but a good church family is a blessing and will help you in your spiritual walk, believe me. Notice I didn’t say you had to accept someone’s political or economic beliefs, to deny your family, to quit your job, or to sell all your possessions and home and move to a compound. I didn’t tell you to beat your children black and blue or wear a Moslem Burkha. You should avoid angry, paranoid, and hateful Christians, as well as preachers with ANY political agenda or jingoistic, hyperpatriotic or any masochistic, America hating ideology. Just believe and trust in Christ and let His words have their way with you. God wants to use you to save others right where you are and He wants you to grow in grace and grow in Him. You’ll be amazed at what can happen in your life.

I know you’re thinking you have time to think about eternity later, that you have your own spirituality now, that you’re a good person. But, there is no tomorrow for you. Don’t boast of it. You don’t know what the day will bring.

Proverbs 26:28 commentary; lies and flattery

2011-10-23T05:00:00.000-07:00

28 ¶ A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it; and a flattering mouth worketh ruin.

Christians are told not to lie to each other;

Colossians 3:9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;

Ephesians 4:25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.

And by extension to other people as well as we are to always try to maintain a good reputation before the world. Liars are not acceptable to God. Look at the company liars keep here.

1 Timothy 1:9 Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10 For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; 11 According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.

The liar has nothing but contempt for the people he or she is deceiving. An example would be the swindler, Bernie Madoff. A closer example would be the person who deceives those around them. We have politicians, scientists, religious leaders, teachers, and people from all walks of life who have been caught in lies. All of us know at least one person who is a pathological liar.

Jesus said that the Devil was the father of lies.

John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

There are fewer more clear cut commands for the Christian in the Bible than the admonition against lying. Don’t distort the truth. Don’t exaggerate it. Don’t change it to suit your agenda. Your testimony should be such that you don’t even need to underscore your statements with an oath. When you confess, declare, or swear to something as true it should not be “by” anything.

Matthew 5:33 ¶ Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: 34 But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: 35 Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. 36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. 37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.

The liar will often get what he or she wants by flattery and deceit. They destroy and ruin others, cheating and defrauding them. Beware of these people. Don’t be so keen on hearing good things about yourself. That sets you up for the phony who will play you like a violin to get what they want. A liar is afraid of the truth. It’s not good enough for them to get what they’re looking for, whether it be approval or something you have that they want, like your money. A Christian should never be afraid of the truth nor should he or she be willing to entertain the lies that people tell. It’s an old saying that it’s hard to con an honest man. When you lie to me, I know you hate me. When you flatter me, I assume you are setting me up. All we need is an “attaboy” or a pat on the back sometimes but we all know the difference between that and flattery that works ruin.

Proverbs 26:27 commentary; the boomerang effect of a Christian's sin

2011-10-21T07:26:00.000-07:00

27 ¶ Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.

That evil that men do often comes back to get them. The web of deceit we weave is the one we become entangled in. Haman learned this;

Esther 7:10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king’s wrath pacified.

The Holy Spirit warns us through David, the Psalmist, about the unrepentant wicked person’s fate.

Psalm 7:15 He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made. 16 His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate.

And again, for the enemies of God.

Psalm 9:15 The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken.

And again, for those who would persecute the innocent.

Psalm 10:2 The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.

Psalm 57:6 They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. Selah.

We don’t always see this happen so it can be very frustrating, as it was for the prophets of old who I’ve quoted before in their frustration at the wicked seemingly getting away with murder, but it does happen quite often.

We can use these verses in a rather smug and self satisfying way in pointing to those we believe oppress us but let’s look at it from our own perspective of the three fingers pointing back at us when we point at another.

The Christian who chooses to sin, to do wrong, particularly if that wrong is done to another, can expect, by virtue of his or her having the Holy Spirit inside theme, that their wickedness will come back to bite them. One of the proofs you have the Spirit of God dwelling in you by way of the new birth, of being born again (John 3:3, 7) is that a true Christian will not get away with much for long when he or she, living by the flesh, decides to do the work of the flesh. Brother or sister, you’ll get caught and that rather quickly. No one told you that when you “got saved” did they? Sort of puts a different twist on things, doesn’t it?

Romans 8:13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

There is an old saw that God has three things that start with “c” for the Christian who insists stubbornly on sinning. First, there is conviction. You are bothered by your sin. It haunts you. Your conscience isn’t seared by it yet and you know you’re wrong.

But, you’re stubborn and pigheaded so you push on, doing your own thing, but claiming the blood of Christ to get you to heaven. “After all, we’re only human, right?” Then comes chastisement. You got caught. But, for some that isn’t even enough. They are adamant that they’re going to pursue their little dance with sin.

If you refuse to hear, to obey the Holy Spirit, then God can provide your coffin. You can be taken home to face Christ at the Judgment Seat.

Just be sure that your stab at pleasing the old man, the flesh, particularly if it involves some innocent person, will come back to haunt you. It’s almost a sure thing if you really are saved. Some of you are involved in a sin right now. I’m not talking about not coming to church six days a week or giving half your paycheck to missions. I’m talking about SIN; cruelty, maliciousness, hatefulness, bigotry, prejudice, meanspiritedness, gossip, a vengeful attitude, disrespectful, abusive, self righteous, materialistic, putting things other than God in the place of God, you know, the garden variety, normal human attitudes that lead to many more and much worse things.

Remember this Proverb the next time you pick up the phone and “request prayer” for some wayward, blacksliding (in your estimation) brother or sister. Remember this Proverb the next time you “express your concerns” about the Pastor to a brother or sister. Remember this Proverb the next time you plot revenge or plan to get something you want that rightfully belongs to someone else. Just watch the dog you release on another turn around and bite you.

Proverbs 26:24-26; beware the dissembler

2011-10-20T08:11:00.000-07:00

24 ¶ He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him; 25 When he speaketh fair, believe him not: for there are seven abominations in his heart. 26 Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be shewed before the whole congregation.

In 2 Samuel 20:9, 10 Joab pretends to ask Amasa a friendly, cordial question only to disguise his murderous intent.

2 Samuel 20:9 And Joab said to Amasa, Art thou in health, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with the right hand to kiss him. 10 But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab’s hand: so he smote him therewith in the fifth rib, and shed out his bowels to the ground, and struck him not again; and he died. So Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bichri.

To dissemble is to disguise your true feelings behind a false appearance.

Joshua 7:11 Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff.

Psalms 26:4 I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers.

Jeremiah 42:20 For ye dissembled in your hearts, when ye sent me unto the LORD your God, saying, Pray for us unto the LORD our God; and according unto all that the LORD our God shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it.

Galatians 2:13 And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.

You have known people in your life who claimed to like you or even love you but who were hiding hatred and contempt for you in their heart. Matthew Henry said that love is great armor but a terrible cloak. People who hide their hatred, despising another in their heart, by protestations of love or affection are among the most wicked of men and women. This person’s hatred will be revealed. It usually comes out in small behaviors if not outright betrayal.

The person who pretends to be your friend but, in reality, despises you will repeat your confidences to others, avoid spending time with you as much as possible, deceive you in the smallest matters, show envy at your slightest success or good fortune, act jealously of what you have that they don’t, and generally do anything they can to betray you, all the while bragging about how they’ve stood by you through thick and thin.

Watch for these people in the congregation. They are friendly with the preacher but, at the first opportunity, will stab him in the back. They are approving of your good fortune or success with their lips but behind your back denounce how you must have done something wrong to obtain either. They will be oh so friendly to the young woman and young man while bitterly envying her beauty and health and his strength and good looks, running them both down in very spiritual ways.

Always beware of people who are overly generous with compliments and approval. The more exaggerated their compliments, the more out of place, the more you must wonder in your mind what they really think. And, ladies, if a person complimenting your looks or dress makes you feel dirty or uncomfortable you can be sure there is something there you should be very wary of as sexual objectification is also a form of contempt and hatred. To the preacher or teacher whose sermons or lessons are “the most profound”, “unbelievably on point”, or some such wonderful, ego building epithet keep a sense of caution in your mind. Some attempted treachery may be afoot.

Beware of people who hide hatred and contempt in their hearts behind approving words and gestures. The back you keep from being stabbed may be your own.

Proverbs 26:23 commentary; fakes, passionate fakes, but fakes nonetheless

2011-10-19T07:46:00.000-07:00

23 ¶ Burning lips and a wicked heart are like a potsherd covered with silver dross.

Commentators like Henry make two applications to this verse. Both have to do with the first part. One application he makes which goes well with the next verses is that, and I’m paraphrasing, lips that profess love, loyalty, faith, friendship, and allegiance with a passion and fire but coming from a false, wicked heart are like a broken piece of pottery covered with the castoffs of the process of refining silver.

Dross is defined in such a way in the following verses;

Psalms 119:119 Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross: therefore I love thy testimonies.

Proverbs 25:4 Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer.

Isaiah 1:22 Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water:

The silver looks good from a distance but up close you realize that its just pretty trash covering a broken piece of pottery. Such is the profession of someone who claims with tears and much emotion that they have trusted Christ as their Saviour but when God examines them closely it’s just a phony profession. I am very wary of politicians and those who seek power over the lives and money of the populace and constantly talk about how God has told them to run for office. I have often wondered why we can’t have a debate where we try to find out who God told first. (Just joking.)

Jesus warned about false prophets, who may be preachers in our context as “to prophesy” can mean to not only foretell but “forth tell” as in preaching God’s word, or even regular Christians in Matthew.

Matthew 7:15 ¶ Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
21 ¶ Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

When I first joined an Independent Fundamental Baptist church I thought everyone would be like Dr. Ruckman; folksy with common sense, human but with good intentions, a plain understanding of the Scriptures, and desiring to draw people closer to Christ through God’s words in His Bible knowing that not everyone will agree with everything he says and not being too concerned about it. You never see him in the main stream news telling people how to vote or throwing his support to one candidate or another, marching down the street against abortion with his arm around a Catholic priest, or trying to have a “revival” meeting in the park across from the White House for the cameras. I heard him say things like “if you have to work a shift on Sunday morning don’t get too upset, you can come to church on Sunday night or Wednesday”, and “not my own children or any of my students believe everything I believe so I’m not a very good cult leader if you accuse me of running a cult”, “I may have to apologize to a bunch of people at the Judgment Seat of Christ. I doubt it, but I might have to”, and also “there is nothing more ridiculous looking than a woman trying to ride a horse in a ankle length dress or in a canoe that’s overturning. Use some common sense folks.” (I’m reciting those from memory so they aren’t perfect quotations.)

I have been disappointed to see that there are many in the pulpits across the land who have a personal agenda, who twist the Bible, and who desire to control the congregation for their own purpose, drawing them away from Christ and to that preacher. It is really apparent to me that there are a lot of Christians in America in positions of religious and political authority who, from a distance and hearing their professions of faith appear to be passionate Spirit filled Christians who want to turn the nation back to Christian values and principles but, upon closer examination have an agenda where they are using God for a purpose, like a broken piece of pottery covered with glittery trash draws you to it. They look and sound genuine from a distance but up close they don’t bear up to much scrutiny.

Burning professions of faith with a wicked heart are like a broken piece of pottery covered with silver dross. Look very closely at those people on TV, folks. Look very closely and compare what they say with the Bible’s clear admonitions to Christians. Don’t be deceived.