THE BOASTING OR PRIDE OF MAN:

THE BOASTING OR PRIDE OF MAN:

                        FOOLISHNESS:

The opposite of righteousness or wisdom is foolishness. A person doing contrary to righteousness is a fool. Foolishness is making wrong choices, cultivating wrong choices, and getting wrong results. Here is what is spoken of foolishness in the scriptures:

(1)          Foolishness has been trampled down by wisdom. In other words, to be wise is much better or greater than to be a fool. The record in Ecclesiastes 2:13 states: “Then I {Solomon} saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness.” Wisdom given by God- the Gospel generally enlightens the soul with surprising discoveries and necessary directions in the pursuit of what is right and convenient; but foolishness or sensuality clouds and eclipses the mind, and is as darkness to it; it puts out men’s eyes, makes them to stumble in the way and wonder out of it. The eyes of a wise man, is his head. His head is Christ- 1Corinthians 11:3. Nevertheless, fools are headless. Anyone including a woman or anything (idol) can be his head. Fools walk in darkness, and are ever and anon at a loss, or at a plunge, bewildered, that he knows not which way to go, or embarrassed that he cannot go forward. A man that is discreet by God’s given wisdom, and is considerate has the command of his business, and acts decently and safely, as those that walk in the day. But a fool who is characterized by being rash, proud of worldliness, ignorant and sottish, is continually making blunders, running upon one precipice to the  other, believing too much on his family members who mismanage his business plunging him into debts, his projects, his bargains, are all foolish, and ruin his affairs.  

(2)          
Foolishness is a simple or complex stupidity. Proverbs 7:7 states: “And beheld among the simple ones, I {Solomon} discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding.” In addition, Verse 22 indicates: “He goeth after her {prostitute} straightaway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks.” Young man void of understanding is a youth whose mind is governed by lusts- 1Timothy 2:22, who extenuate the tricks of juveniles, robbing God of the first and best of their time through debauching their minds, laying foundation for bad life ever, fortifying their resolutions in support of sin, arguing that they have no choice and branding themselves as digital generations. They had turned into sons and daughters of Belial- Confer 2 Corinthians 6:15. Their life is short, dying prematurely. Their earthly life is full of disrespect, carelessness, grossly abusive and total disgrace to the society.

(3)          Foolishness is hot temper. The record in Proverbs 14:17 states: “He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly: and a man of wicked devices is hated.” See what Cain did to Abel in Genesis 4:8. Foolish men who are peevish and touchy, are soon angry upon every the least provocation, deal foolishly. They say and do that which is ridiculous and so expose themselves to contempt. Foolish men are malicious. Malicious men are justly dreaded and detested, for they are more dangerous and mischievous to all societies. A man of wicked devices stifles his resentments until he has the opportunity of being revenged, and is secretly plotting how to wrong his neighbor and to do him ill turn.

(4)          Foolishness is wickedness- Genesis 34:7 and atheism- Psalms 14:1. Atheists believe on nothing because they are foolish and absolutely nothing before God. The fundamental basics of atheism are: (i) there is no God. They have rejected all deities. (ii) There is no Judge, Governor, and neither Creator of the world. Man is his own god. (iii) They have based their reasoning on their acquired knowledge and convictions.  

(5)          
Foolishness is rejection of God. Job 2:9-10 states: “Then said his {Job’s} wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God, and die. But he {Job} said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.”

(6)          Foolishness describes thoughtlessness something equated to believing on rituals/ traditions or taboos, denominations or religions, corrupt bible versions, political/ religious leaders who cannot save. The record in Galatians 3:1-4, states: “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I {Paul the apostle} learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? Have ye suffered in vain? If it be yet in vain.”

(7)          
Foolishness is lack of intelligence. Romans 1:21-23 states: “Because that, when they knew God, they glorify him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart were darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.” Men can be clever in mind, but at the same time be foolish in spiritual matters.

(8)          Foolishness describes spiritual blindness. Jesus Christ rebuked the Pharisees and the scribes in Matthew 23:16-17, saying: “Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?”

(9)          Foolishness explains the situation of being lost and indeed lack of preparation for Christ’s second coming. See Matthew 25:1-13, where the Greek word translated foolishness is whence the English word “moron” was derived.

(10)    Foolishness is open disputation against the Gospel- for instance feminism support, and continual complains. 2Timothy 3:23, states: “But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient.” Murmurers or complainers will not enter God’s kingdom- Jude 16.

 Nevertheless, before digging deeper into it, may we go to the passage in 1 Corinthians 1:17-20, which Paul the apostle made it plain, that: “For Christ sent me {Paul the apostle} not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but to unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written {that is Isaiah 29:14}, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made the foolish the wisdom of this world?”

Wisdom of words, rendered in Greek ouk en Sophia logou properly demonstrates the level of human foolishness.

In the New Testament, logos, here logou, is taken not only to express a word, speech, saying coming from the mouth of man, and so on, but doctrine, or matters of teaching.

In 1 Thessalonian 1:5, and other several passages, it seems to signify reason or that mode of rhetorical argumentation so prized among the Greeks, which currently is evident from universities, and theological colleges.

Ears, and fancies, be tickled, and pleased with the eloquence of speech, the elegancy of diction, and accuracy of expression, the cadency of words, and beauty of oration, with manner, and not legitimate preaching, something called the prosperity Gospel.

The wisdom of words is attributed to the force of enticing words, strength, and persuasion of oratory, and not energy of divine power (from God) attending the doctrine of the cross.

The wisdom of words, brought foolishness in this wise:

(i)                         It cannot believe in the death and resurrection of Christ. They reason, or plainly the wisdom reasoned that death is the end of life, and Christ, as a dead man cannot save the people of the world from their sins;

(ii)                     It has brought the victims to the extreme part of darkness, majority selling their souls to Satan, in the exchange of fortunes and fame. This has been the hidden agenda for the formation of secret societies. Illuminati- devil worship, for instance is believed by those involved to be for illuminating their souls through education. The preaching of the cross is foolishness to them. They want to enjoy all in the world.

(iii)                  It had made people to trust in riches of the world, rather than the eternity promised in the Gospel; and:

(iv)                   It had brought arguments, based on scientific researches, philosophic or professionalism, backed by technological innovations.

Paul, the apostle, declared that he was not sent to pursue the Gospel using wisdom of words, neither to acquire degrees, exaggerated credentials to authenticate, substantiate the truth he proclaimed or preached, elsewhere called the Gospel.

The people in this world, who had imposed themselves as servants or men of God, had in most frequent occasions relied heavily on such claims. As a result, they had turned into greedy wolves, desperate or empty of the word of God to be preached, making confusing/ deceptive noise unwarranted in the scriptures, idle or thirsty for financial gains, and specifically not perfectly sure whether or not they would make it into heaven. Greed had overridden their personal judgment, making them to preach false gospel. The word of God is very far from human eloquence, and even not compatible with, to, the degree of education achieved. Both illiterate and academic giants are called. There is no marginalization in the Gospel. The message is “People need salvation.” The response is “Here I’m LORD, send me.”

The simple, plainest and grandest presentation is that Christ was crucified for the sins of the world. Christ is the only person who can rescue, save a person from sin. Sin is foolishness of the world and ultimately or definitely the foolishness of man.

Christ’s crucifixion demonstrates the Spirit of God, elsewhere called the Holy Ghost.

Revivals in religions had been attributed to human eloquence possessed by exaggerated educated, pious men, who in most cases want to capitalize from scriptural ignorant people globally for their own enrichment. Religion without God is wickedness, unrighteousness or plainly foolishness.

To be with God, is to be with the Lord Jesus Christ. The people in the world need not to be tricky, neither deceptive. The high number of denominations we see, or ministerial establishment, extensively revealed the depth of human foolishness, as far as the Gospel is concerned. The nervous truth announced by plain common sense, in homely phrase, is that Jesus Christ is the means or way to conviction and conversion of sinners. You either be saved, converted to Christian faith by Christ, and finally sent to heaven, or be condemned, convicted, sent to God’s prison to face the damnation in the lake of fire by joining denominations/ religions. See Matthew 23:15. In Colossians 1:17: “And he {Jesus Christ} is before all things, and by him all things consist”. In John 1:17: “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” In Judith 16:14 (Apocrypha) “Let all creatures serve thee: for thou spakest, and they were made, thou didst send forth thy Spirit, and it created them, and there is none that can resist thy voice.” In Wisdom of Solomon 7:1-2 (Apocrypha) “I myself also am a mortal man, like to all, and the offspring of him that was made of the earth, And in my mother’s womb was fashioned to be flesh in the time of ten months, being compacted in the blood, of the seed of man, and the pleasure that came with sleep.” This is a choice within human domain, but the final determinant is God himself. Paul the apostle wrote, that: “All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any”- 1 Corinthians 6:12.  Christ had the full authority to take the fool out of all that believed in him, only if they can completely surrender, but Satan shall increase the fool inside unbelievers, evident in the rhetorical argumentations accrued by exaggerated education received worldwide.

Human eloquence and exaggerated education had been for a long time employed to undermine the spread of the Gospel. They had turned the scriptures into their own translations, what they could preach in sweet deception, in order to convince people to make huge donations for the support of their organizations. Satanic bibles, developed by man, are now presented in a smooth atmosphere as Christian bibles. People who called themselves, just lip service, siding, or quoting from these bibles are jokers, apostates, living in immoralities. This also applies to so many bible commentaries.

When God promulgated his Gospel, he called the Jewish people, through their patriarchs whom we know very well. He chose Moses, to deliver the Israelites, out of Egypt, knowing perfectly, exactly, that Moses was struggling with natural impediment in his (Moses’) speech. Among the disciples later called apostles, chosen by Christ, were originally fishermen, the job despised, and was considered to be meant for those with poor education (semi illiterate) or those without education absolutely.

Paul, of Tarsus, a Benjamite, a man advanced in Greek education, properly eloquent in human terms, was called into divine service forcing him to abandon the pride of the world.

God can call anybody, regardless of his status, changed him into the vessel he wants, and actually removed the person’s foolishness or stupidity, by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Before Christ, it is not the degree, neither lack of education that matters, but rather the total, complete believing on the Son of God. The inner person when sanctified, brought into friendship, by God, meant that the person belonged to God. It revealed total or complete surrender, the claim of love- being freed from the world of hate, and not limitations developed from individual desire, choice or preference.

Each man, person, in terms of sin, stands directly a fool, before God, for righteousness is only by the Gospel, which indeed revealed the nature elsewhere called character of God.

Righteousness is union with God. Foolishness is atheism, trust in fellow men, and actually union with Satan.

To the ancient Greeks, divinity was only the Greek man, because by birth, he was Greek, by education, he was Greek, and by worship, he was a worshipper of the Greek god, deity, called Zeus.

To Christians, divinity is only from God, through his Son, Jesus Christ. A person cannot be a Christian without Christ, and a person is permanently a fool without Christ. In other words, in comparison to the Greek man, true divinity is only with Christians. Christian is by regeneration- new birth, by sanctification in the blood of the Lamb, by studying the word, meditating day and night and of course being found doing righteousness to the full observation of those who did not believe. “Do no evil, so shall no harm come unto thee”- Ecclesiasticus 7:1, Apocrypha. “…if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door” – Genesis 4:7. To Christians, righteousness is character, and the norm of character is likeness to God. The character includes aspects as love and duty towards God, which mandatorily be seen in the love and duty to the neighbor.

Here is what human eloquence does:

(1)          It glorifies man, rather than God or Jesus Christ. Most current vague pastors preach for fame, but not interested on the Gospel that can bring change in characters. They are after the kingdom of the world, and not after God’s kingdom.

(2)          It builds on the foundation of man, not Christ. Christ said as recorded in Luke 6:49, that: “ But he that heareth {God’s word} and doeth not is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great”.

(3)          It offers room for denominational expansions, ministries, religions, and not for Christ’s Church.

(4)          It presents magic as miracles.

(5)          It demonstrates lack of the Holy Ghost.

(6)          It makes none effect the power of the cross.

(7)          It develops into doubt the hope of eternity. It centered on natural selection, and not God’s creation.

(8)          It appeals to man, rather than God.

Therefore human foolishness is:

(a)          Lack of the Gospel or counterfeiting the Gospel;

(b)          Human eloquence, or education denying Christ;

(c)           Sin, rejection of Christ;

(d)          Using the Gospel for prosperity- that is fabricating things, searching the scriptures to support their greed for materialism; and;

(e)           Doubt for eternity, because of not understanding the preaching of the cross.

Those who perish in foolishness:

(1)          Unbeliever: Denominational or religious members.

(2)          Gainsayers: Denominational, religious leaders- clergies, who derived their livelihood, from deceiving their adherents; and:

(3)          Those who proclaimed to be saved, yet the work of Christ, of the cross, are not seen, in their lives. They seek prosperity using the word.

The preaching of Christ, is foolishness to them, because their hearts, inner convictions, had chosen hell, rather than the picture of heaven, they lip servilely deceived.

Christ is the only wisdom of God who can remove the foolishness of man existing as the power, guilt, and pollution because of sin. The foolishness appeared as the wisdom of the wise, which comprised of:

(1)         
Philosophers, who in their investigations seeking nothing less than God, whose highest discoveries mount to nothing in comparison of the grand truths relative to God, the invisible world, and the true end of man, which the Gospel has brought to light.

(2)          Theologians, who doubted everything they preach or discover. They are the architects behind the fake translated bibles flooding the world and bible commentaries.

(3)          Desperate unemployed people, who sourced power, money from Satanism, to run their organizations, and;

(4)          Any sinner, who upon defeated from the observance of the Gospel precepts, opted to get support from the easy to read, corrupt biblical translations seen worldwide. Skeptics and deists, by their schemes of natural religion cannot save souls. No sinner can be converted from his/ her errors, by way of sowing seeds, which is fleecing money from followers, paying tithes, neither by attending Sunday services. One cannot bribe his eternal way.

The record in 1 Corinthians 1:25, stated: “Because the foolishness of God is stronger than men.” What is the foolishness of God, is it the preaching of the cross? Exactly there is no need to misunderstand this as the concept of atheism. The preaching of the cross has been the answer given by many. Anyway, the plain observable, indisputable truth, the truth of the matter, is that the foolishness of God is man himself. When God created man in his image, his plan was man to be as him, have characters like him, and worship him, live-forever (without depth). Nevertheless, man did not bring the expected result. He failed. He disappointed God. Man, exposed the weakness of God immediately he transgressed in the Garden of Eden. He fell into the snare, trap of Satan. To this essence, a man, who is naturally a fool cannot, should not, dare his finger to point out the foolishness of God.

Christ was crucified for man’s foolishness, or plainly, as could be put, to correct the foolishness of God, which was exposed, or seen in man. Because sin made man foolish, the crucifixion of God’s Messiah was seen to be wiser than man. The crucifixion was, and is, wiser than Solomon, whose wisdom surpassed the world. Christ is the power and the wisdom of God. This power and wisdom of God is given to man, on the way of the cross, in other words, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. See the passage 1 Corinthians 1:24.

God alone can overcome his own foolishness or weaknesses. To the medical practitioners, there is no power, neither medical ethics seen in blood concerning the saving of souls. In fact one can be ridiculed for  believing on a man who died thousand (s) of years ago on the cross, on the hands of Romans authorities, to save his (man’s) soul, and more efficiently, importantly determine the man’s eternal destiny. But this man in not in the grave, even though he died. He resurrected, and is on the right hand of God.

Christ alone, is the wisdom of God, having all the treasure of wisdom and knowledge in God; yea, in redemption by blood of his cross, which he used to reclaim, rescue man from foolishness, called sin.

Was Christ’s crucifixion, seen as the weakness of God? The answer is NO! However, if the people of the world view it on that perspective, then it was stronger than them, because it saves, and will continue to save. Christ crucifixion was the strength of God, and indeed the strength of the Gospel. See the record in 1 Corinthians 15:13-19.

The weakness of God is stronger than man, because man cannot understand the depth of the weakness. God cannot be corrected by man. He alone corrects his weakness. The more man thinks negative about God, the more he grew evil continually.

The weakness of God, which he corrected by having his Son crucified gave righteousness to the empty, desperate, foolish man in the fundamental state described or rendered salvation.

Compare Rehoboam’s words to Israel: “….My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s loins” (1 Kings 12:10).

God’s weakness or foolishness is more powerful than man is, whether in this world currently, or the world to come. It is like saying: “My heavenly Father’s finger is thicker than the world’s loins, governments/ economies, brought all together.”