IGNORANCE.....
THE DEADLY REFUGE
PART SIXThe
folly of choosing Ignorance as a Refuge
in the 21st Century
By Steve Van Nattan
HAVE
YOU READ:
PART
ONE: FIRST THOUGHTS
PART
TWO: SIX REASONS TO STAY SIMPLE
PART
THREE: HOW SHALL WE THEN GET KNOWLEDGE?
PART
FOUR: LIFE AND SOCIAL ISSUES
PART
FIVE: WHERE SHALL WE FIND KNOWLEDGE
PART
SIX: HOW SHALL WE THEN LIVE? WHAT
TO TAKE AWAY FROM THIS DISCUSSION Now,
apply the principles I have given you in the two examples above, based on the
Word of God, to everything in your life. Use only the Bible, not human reasoning,
to get a verdict on anything, and stop mixing the profane and the holy. Ezekiel
44:23 And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane,
and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.
24 And in controversy
they shall stand in judgment; and they shall judge it according to my judgments:
and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all mine assemblies; and they shall
hallow my sabbaths. It
is time for you and me to go for a verdict on everything in our lives. We are
taught here to stand in judgment between that which is profane and that which
is holy. If it is profane (common and part of life), keep it there. If it is holy,
guard it zealously to make sure the profane does not compromise the holy. If you
listen to jazz with no guilt, and you keep it only as profane (common) amusement,
DO NOT listen to the Gaithers jazz up Amazing Grace so that it would be acceptable
to any night club crowd in Las Vegas. DO NOT play Dolly Parton, the whorehouse
madam of "Working Nine to Five," singing Christian hymns to you. In
the verses above, the word profane does not only speak of that which is sinful.
In the Hebrew it also means anything common or not sacred. Some things that are
not holy are simply ordinary, like an apple or a Ford. They certainly are not
holy, but common things that are not sinful can be part of our life. But, they
cannot be allowed to mix up with that which is holy. Telling jokes is fun.....
a merry heart is good like a medicine according to Solomon. But, making jokes
out of Bible truth is Satanic. It is an unholy mixture. HERE
IS AN UNHOLY MIXTURE OF COMEDY BASED ON BIBLE TRUTH.
God did not inspire
the Word of God to be used as a joke book. It may be funny, It may seem clean,
But, every word of God is meant to teach spiritual truth, not Hee Haw hick burp
silly ass folly. HERE
IS BILL GAITHER'S STAND UP COMEDIAN MARK LOWRY
The humor is clean, but
Bible truth is used several times for the punch line. God is no longer God, He
is feeding lines to a comedian for laughs. There
is a war going on in America, but worse, a war in the Lord's Church. It is a war
by Satan and the world for the soul of Bible believers. Largely speaking, Satan
is winning. Forget saving America. If you will not get fully into the battle to
save The Church, and your home, you are the enemy of Christ. There is no DMZ.
The lines of battle are fully engaged, and you may be losing for lack of knowledge,
and because you make stupid choices based on your lusts and folly. Proverbs
1:22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight
in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Proverbs
1:25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
26
I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
27
When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind;
when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
28 Then shall they call upon me,
but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
29
For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
30
They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
31 Therefore
shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
32 For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity
of fools shall destroy them.
33 But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely,
and shall be quiet from fear of evil. Get
knowledge, or get a bomb shelter.
CAVEAT There
are people in this world who are ignorant out of no fault of their own. It would
be cruel to expect them to suddenly come up to speed with those who are better
informed. Indeed, there is something refreshing about meeting some old country
boy who is innocent of all the ways of Gotham and Bourbon Street. These
folks must be given a special leniency when teaching and preaching. There
was with us, in the recent past, a theologian and pastor named Leonard Verduin
of Michigan. He was a reluctant Dutch Reformed mover and shaker who did all his
own research and spoke nine languages and read twelve. He was known to be a very
erudite and aggressive in mental combat with intellectual bullies. When a visiting
German theologian at Calvin University in Grand Rapids launched into an attack
on the level of American academics in its seminaries, Verduin cornered the theologian
during a coffee intermission, and he demanded the German snob prove his point.
The German told Verduin that in seminary he had had to memorize parts of Faust
and recite them. Verduin at once launched into a perfect recitation of Faust in
fluent German, and the Teutonic pest quickly excused himself and headed for the
men's room. But,
when Verduin was discussing Bible truth with anyone, he watched their face closely.
If he detected a point at which his conversation was resulting in the other person
losing the train of thought, Verduin would at once back up, define his terms that
might have confused the listener, and he then dropped the level of dialogue a
couple levels in complexity or theological discussion. And, he did this in a way
that the other person never knew what Verduin was doing. This is because Leonard
Verduin had the heart of a servant. Any book by Verduin is a treasure worth reading.
Start with The Reformers and their Stepchildren. It is a defense of the
Anabaptists. This book caused his Reformed contemporaries to both respect him
and fear him. He told the story exactly as his research proved it. When
you are dealing with a preacher who is indeed "a dumb old country boy,"
but one who is not proud of it, DO NOT make a fool of the man. Get right down
there where he lives intellectually, and exalt Jesus and leave the man with something
to take home and chew on at his level. Why
should you do this? Now,
if you don't get it, YOU are the one who needs a very simple answer down at your
level..... That is exactly what Jesus did. Nowhere will you find Jesus getting
high toned and overly intellectual after his brilliant seminar in the temple with
the doctors when he was twelve. My theory as to why he did that is that he was
lead by his Father to establish the fact that he could go toe to toe with the
best theologians of his day if he needed to. But, with the common people, Jesus
kept it simple, and he taught everything with a parable so that they could not
miss the point. Now,
when you find a preacher who is dumb, is proud of it, and intends to stay that
way, REBUKE THE SON OF BELIAL. A lazy slob who has climbed into a pulpit in the
Lord's Church, and who is too lazy to study and grow mentally, needs to be beat
around the head and chest with a blunt instrument..... That is, the King James
Bible. After you finish giving the old boy his whipping, politely part with a
kind word and pay for his coffee and pie. Also,
be careful about over doing it. You are not the standard of intellectual competence.
God can send you someone who will be four degrees higher than you in the Theological
Lodge, give you the secret hand shake, and you will end up dumb struck and foolishly
impressed. Later, God will find you weighed in the balance and found wanting.
This article I am writing is not an apologetic for pride and arrogance.
LAST
GRENADE Malachi
2:7 For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law
at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. The
Ancient Rabbis tell us that what is implied is that the priests should keep knowledge
and let everything else be de-emphasized. And, so that you and I cannot miss the
point, the rest of the verse tells us the source of knowledge..... The law from
the mouth of God. The implied truth here is that a priest of God should be full
of useful knowledge. In the case of Jesus, that included who to pay tax to, how
to get into the Kingdom of God, and which side of the boat to throw the net on.
If you have no idea how to catch a trout, you have work to do, my son. Jesus knows
all about fishing as well as how to avoid Hell fire. So,
if you have chosen to be ignorant of evil, blessings on you. But, if you pastors
and fathers have chosen to be ignorant of all things in this life, you are a fool.
God simply does not need, "A dumb old country boy" who knows no more
about the Kingdom of God than where to park his butt in the pew. And, as always,
I say that in all good Christian charity. 2
Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not
to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2
Corinthians 2:11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant
of his devices.
LEAD,
FOLLOW, OR CARRY AMMUNITION LINKS: HERE
IS THE END OF YOUR LIFE IF YOU KEEP HUGGING IGNORANCE TED
TALKS- I strongly suggest that, if you want online time to add knowledge to your
hard drive, search Ted Talks. Some of their topics are disgusting, but they are
famous for finding people to talk about things they have done themselves or researched
seriously. HOW
TO TAKE BACK YOUR LIFE AND MIND FROM SMARTPHONE AND SOCIAL MEDIA THOROUGHLY
CONSCIOUS IGNORANCE
Stuart Firestein talks about identifying what you are
ignorant of with a view to finding knowledge to eliminate that ignorance. Pastors
should watch this. Sir, what are you doing when you teach the Bible to the people?
Are you giving them loads of facts which you expect them to remember? Or, are
you lighting a fire in them to hunger and thirst after righteousness and find
if themselves? If you want a church full of robots, keep loading on the facts.
If you want noble Bereans, who search "to see if these things be true,"
then you must draw them into the fact gathering process. In other words, you must
stop trying to be the center of attention and the brain boss.
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