Deceived by the devil 4 “Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.” There are a lot of intelligent people in the world today – many or most are very educated with many hours of learning in higher education – and they are able to give advice in many fields. Intelligence is the ability to learn – whether it be in a classroom setting or from everyday experiences and observances. The I.Q. Tests of years ago did not show the real intelligence of people (children) since it was rooted in the ability of the individual to read well. Some people are slow readers or have some debilitating problem (such as dyslexia) that prevents them from reading well and so they often do poorly on those tests. Today they are catching up with those who have founded Christian education in understanding these factors more clearly. Paul tells us that anyone who seems to be wise (skilled in letters, learning, philosophy or oratory) in the things of the world, he/she should not consider that to be true wisdom. Paul says they should become what the world calls “fools” in order to gain true wisdom – that from God. The Bible is clear that the beginning of wisdom is the “fear of the Lord” (Psa 111:10; Prov 9:10). Solomon also says “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge . . .” God is the source and sum of all knowledge and wisdom and we are deceived if we thing that man has the answers to life’s problems. Many men and women have worldly knowledge and they can tell you many things – some can even quote Bible verses – but they do not have the true knowledge or wisdom. God has vindicated His instructions and knowledge over and over again throughout time. Just a couple examples will prove helpful: Archeologists use the Bible when they search for places to dig to uncover ancient artifacts. A number of years ago a group of ungodly men proclaimed the Bible to be false because the only place they ever heard of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were in the Bible. There was no secular record or uncovered documents that named them, so they decided the Bible was in accurate. Some years after they made this great announcement about the Bible being wrong, a group of archeologists uncovered the ruins of some ancient city and found some clay tablets. Among the names of cities and all found on the tablets were the names, “Sodom and Gomorrah”. The scoffers then said, Well, maybe the Bible is true.” Again in Europe there was a disastrous plague called the “Black Plague” that killed many people. The cause was the unsanitary conditions people lived in at that time. Garbage was thrown into the streets, feces were evident everywhere and the rats and other vermin ran around freely carrying diseases and the death that came with it. God told Israel that there was to be no garbage or unclean thing within their camp. It all had to be disposed of outside the perimeter of the camp and people. Bathrooms were the great outdoors but they had to bury their waste. This eliminated much of the flies and vermin that carried diseases. We could go on with numerous other ways that God showed man knowledge and wisdom, but suffice these two examples to tell us that God is the source of knowledge and wisdom. He has given man the ability to research and understand much. Most of the early scientists were Christian and they discovered most of their knowledge and understanding by praying, reading the Bib le and applying what God said to their testing and outcomes. Paul says we are to become fools (fools in the eyes of the world) in order to be wise. If we think we (mankind) has the answers to today’s problems just look at the League of Nations and later the United Nations and see how well we have been doing. Look at the many man-caused crises and look were we are today. If we think that the world’s knowledge is true wisdom, we have been deceived.
Posted on: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 17:35:27 +0000
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