A COMMENTARY ON

THE BOOK OF PROVERBS

By

Rev. Dr Jeffry David Camm

Table of Contents

Chapter Description Page

Dedication 3
Copyright 3
Foreword 3
One Introduction to the Book of Proverbs 4
Two Obedience Leads To Wisdom 7
Three Obedience Leads To A Longer Life 10
Four The Wise Advice Of The Father 13
Five Pillow Talk Will Get You Into Trouble 15
Six Do Not Go Guarantor For A Stranger 17
Seven Not All Lovely Women Are Holy 20
Eight The Voice Of Wisdom Is Crying Out To You 22
Nine Come To the Banqueting Table 24
Ten The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly 26
Eleven The Things God Loves & the Things God Hates 31
Twelve If You Love Learning 33
Thirteen You and Your Character 37
Fourteen You and Your Character – Continued 40
Fifteen Your Attitudes Define You 44
Sixteen God is in Control 49
Seventeen Peace Passes all Understanding 54
Eighteen Quarrelling Brings No Reward 57
Nineteen Our Character & God’s Character 59
Twenty Who Controls You, Satan or God? 63
Twenty-One The Wise Learn by Listening 68
Twenty-Two The Cure Comes through Discipline 75
Twenty-Three Rebels Despise Wise Advice 79
Twenty-Four Rebels Are Not Saints 83
Twenty-Five The Hidden Proverbs of King Solomon 87
Twenty-Six Be Kind To Your Enemy 91
Twenty-Seven Choose Your Friends Carefully 94
Twenty-Eight Wickedness Corrupts to the Highest Levels 98
Twenty-Nine The Righteous will be Rewarded 104
Thirty The Things That God Hates 111
Thirty-One The Sayings of King Lemuel 119
Appendix: 1 The Levitical Priesthood 122
Other Books, by the same Author 140
Bible Teachings, by the same Author 140
Fully Accredited Free Bible College Course, by the same Author 140

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Dedication
This book is dedicated to the people who want to learn more about the Bible,
and who are prepared to spend many hours studying and preparing notes for
Bible College courses, Bible Study classes, Home Groups, or just for private
study.
Throughout history these are the people who move spiritual knowledge
forward, and who give challenges to others, so that they may grow in the
knowledge and understanding of God’s holy word.

Copyright
The contents of this book remain the copyrighted property of Rev. Dr Jeffry
David Camm and his estate in succession. Permission is given for extracts of this
book to be used for Teaching or Bible Study purposes. Complete copies of this
book may be made and used for evangelistic purposes, provided that the books
are not sold for profit, or gain.

Foreword
The scriptures tell us that God Almighty granted King Solomon his request
for wisdom, so that he could wisely govern over the nation of Israel. To do this
God Almighty gave to Solomon a double portion of wisdom and He was the
wisest man alive (until Jesus Christ was born).
Even though he had this “extra wisdom” we see that Solomon made some
major boo-boos in his reign as king, resulting in the kingdom being split in two, in
a civil war upon his death, resulting in ten rebellious tribes separating from the
laws and traditions of the nation of Israel, and establishing their capital city in
Samaria.
These tribes were subsequently referred to in scripture as “Israel”. They
established their own priests, and they started to worship at another site (Mount
Gerazim), which was not as instructed by God in previous Old Testament books.
Over time and generations, their theology became a little twisted and this is
why Jesus “had to go to Samaria”, as recounted in John chapter 4, to sort out
this mess, and try to bring the ten rebellious back into the fold of the nation of
Israel.
The tribe of Judah and the Levis remained loyal to the teachings of the Torah
and they remained as a remnant in Jerusalem for generations. It was to the se
descendants, that Angel Gabriel announced the news of one crying in the
wilderness, “to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord”, and it was to
gatherings of these people, that John the Baptist started to prepare the people
for the arrival of the Messiah.
It was also to this same remnant that six months later Angel Gabriel returned
to announce to Mary that she would give birth to a son and his name would be
called Jesus.

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 Jesus was taught in the synagogue in Nazareth. He grew up to start His
ministry, based upon the faithful teaching of the Scribes and Levis, from the
Torah scrolls.
He knew his Jewish history. He knew the good reports and the bad reports
during the fourteen generations that took place from King David until his own
birth. He sometimes refers to the Book of Proverbs in His teachings or parables.
Therefore it is important for us to understand them in the context of the united
nation of Israel; but also how they apply to us today, in nations around the world,
who are also in rebellion against God Almighty. In many of our actions
individually, and as nations, who deliberately decide to turn away from God’s
righteous concepts, precepts and laws.

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PROVERBS

1
The author of this book is made quite clear. In verse 1 it reads. These are
the Proverbs of King Solomon of Israel, David’s son. He wrote them to teach his
people “how to” live (~~ the technique of living) that is how to act in every
circumstance, being just and fair in everything they did.
It was the desire of King Solomon to make even the simple minded to be
wise in how they lived their lives. Solomon continues, giving advice, recognising
that growing up can also be a problem. I want to warn young men about some
problems they will face. I want those who are (already) wise to become wiser
(still) and hence become leaders, by exploring the depths of meaning, in these
nuggets of truth.
King Solomon recognised that to lead a nation requires a good, righteous,
and wise support base, from which he could train up leaders, to act on his behalf,
right across the kingdom, and hence maintain peace and prosperity for the
nation. He also encouraged his followers to search out the “nuggets of truth”
from within God’s word. They are as precious as gold “nuggets”.
He was just reinforcing the many references by previous patriarchs and
prophets to the value of the truths and secrets available to those who deeply
search the scriptures.
In Verse 8, Solomon then poses a very important question: How does a
person become wise? The first point to recognise here is that people are not
“born wise”; it is something that you have to work for, or be given, as a gift from
God, by God’s Holy Spirit.
This is achieved by taking the first step, which is to trust in the Lord.
Then Solomon makes a powerful statement, which many people and
governments still refuse to acknowledge today:

1
Throughout this book I have used the Living Bible Translation, unless otherwise specified.

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 Only fools refuse to be taught. Listen to your father and your mother.
What you learn from them, will stand you in good stead; it will gain you
many honours.

The sad thing is to realise that the breakup of families in today’s society is
one of Satan’s most divisive weapons in pulling down the things, which bring
glory and honour to God.
God Almighty treasures and honours families throughout scripture, and
therefore Satan will try to destroy anything, which brings glory and honour to
God’s kingdom here on earth. That is why we now have so many dysfunctional
families, or one-parent families, and hence little or no coordinated instruction of
the children, from both parents.
Same sex couples are an abomination against God’s laws, so it is not
considered as a proper family unit in scripture, so in this commentary it is not
considered a valid family unit either. If the Bible says it is wrong, then it is wrong
-- take it or leave it – it is STILL wrong!
Even governments have made major blunders in the concept of parenting,
stating in legislation that children can leave their parents, children can be
adopted by same sex couples, and children can even divorce their parents, thus
removing any parental control, or instruction over the children.
Unfortunately, as the word above says: Only fools refuse to be taught!
This unfortunately includes governments!

Whenever a government refuses to follow God’s laws and precepts, God

removes His blessings from the nation.

Solomon prophetically tells us of situations in the world today. If young

toughs tell you “Come and join us” – TURN YOUR BACK ON THEM! “We’ll hide
and rob and kill”, they say. “Good or bad, we’ll treat them all alike. And the loot
we get! All kinds of stuff! Come on, throw in your lot with us; we’ll split with you in
equal shares”.
Many people wonder why seemingly mature teenagers and young adults
would leave their homes and follow ISIS, now you have the reason; it is part of
God’s planned punishment on families and nations, which have turned away from
the precepts of correctly raising their children, according to God’s laws, not the
laws of the land.
The scriptures tell us to raise up our children “in the ways of the Lord”
(not in the ways of governments) and when they grow up they shall not depart
from that path.

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 But Solomon issues a warning: “Don’t do it son! Stay away from men like
that, for crime is their ways of life, and murder is their speciality”. Crime and
murder are sins, which lead to spiritual death. Stay away from people like this!
Even a bird has more sense than these people. When a bird sees a trap
being set it stays away, -- but not these men, they trap themselves! They lay a
booby trap for their own lives. Such is the fate of all who live by violence and
murder. They shall die a violent death.
But, wisdom shouts out in the streets for a hearing. She calls out to the
crowds along Main Street, and to the judges in their courts, and to everyone in all
the land: “You simpletons!” she cries. “How long will you go on being fools? How
long will you scoff at wisdom and fight against the facts?
We see this in our streets right across our nations today. People are
protesting against wisdom and the truth; fighting against it with such a passion,
resulting in fights, disputes and imprisonment, or even death.
Even in the courts today, people scoff at wisdom and truth, even though
courts are there to “establish the truth” and to make wise judgements, based
upon this “established truth”. These words were prophetically written more than
3000 years ago, and these events are happening in our lifetimes.
Then Solomon, speaking with the anointing of the Holy Spirit offers us a
way out. “Come here and listen to me! I will pour out the spirit of wisdom upon
you, and make you wise. I have called you so often, but still you will not come. I
have pleaded (with you), but all in vain. For you have spurned my counsel and
my reproof”.
It is interesting that God calls out to us, that God even pleads with us, but
we either don’t hear His call, because we are too busy doing “other things”, or we
hear Him, and we rebel against His calling and reject Him.
So God gives us a warning! “Some day you will be in trouble, and I’ll
laugh! Mock Me, will you? --- I will mock you! When a storm of terror surrounds
you, and when you are engulfed by anguish and distress, then I will not answer
your cry for help! It will be too late, even though you search for me anxiously”
(you shall not find Me).
Many Christians hold onto the scripture that whenever you are in trouble, all
you have to do is cry out to the Lord and He will answer, but that is not always
the case. If God has been calling out to you, even pleading with you and you
refuse to answer Him, then when you call out to Him, He will not answer you.
This is confirmed in 2. Chronicles 7:14 as well.
IF My people, (God followers) who are called by My name (Christians), will;
(a) Humble themselves, and (b) pray, and (c) seek My face, and (d) turn
from their wicked ways
THEN (and only then) will I, (e) hear from Heaven, (f) forgive their sins, and
(g) heal their land.

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 When you are busy and your phone rings you get a “missed call”
notification, so you can ring that person back. What are you going to do the next
time you hear the Holy Spirit calling you by name? May I humbly suggest that
you answer His call, because you do not want to be put into a situation where the
Holy Spirit is trying to warn you of an impending disaster and you refuse to listen!
When the calamity befalls you it will be too late, because God will then
refuse to listen to your pleading. No matter how much pain you are experiencing,
God will not respond to you, because when He pleaded with you, you refused to
answer. Remember, after grace and mercy comes the judgement!
Solomon continues: For you closed your eyes to the facts and did not
choose to reverence and trust the Lord, and you turned your back on me,
spurning my advice. This is why you must now eat the bitter fruit of having your
own way, and experience the full terrors of the pathway you have chosen. For
you turned away from me – to death; your own complacency will kill you. Fools!
But all who listen to me shall live in peace and safety, unafraid.
Once again Solomon repeats the warnings.
 You have closed you ears to me.
 You have closed your eyes to me.
 You have turned your back on me, and
 You have rejected me.
Because of these conscious decisions on your part, God will now allow you
to walk down the path you have chosen, even if it means your death! God’s
grace and mercy are finished, judgement has now begun.
But he concludes with a promise, but all who listen to me shall live in peace
and safety, unafraid.
Who would want to reject this promise? Who would rather live a life of
persecution, hate, and fear? Nobody, unless they are completely under the
influence and direction of the evil one – Satan.
Selah. Stop, pause, and think about that.

CHAPTER TWO: OBEDIENCE LEADS TO WISDOM

Every young man (and every young woman) who listens to me and obeys
my instructions will be given wisdom and good sense. [Obedience is better than
sacrifice]. So what do we learn from this?
It is not just enough that you listen to instructions; you must understand
them, so that you can put them into practise in your lives.
Yes, if you want better insight and discernment, and are searching for them
as you would for lost money, or hidden treasure, then wisdom will be given to
you, and knowledge of God Himself; you will soon learn the importance of
reverence for the Lord and of trusting him.

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 If you have lost money or treasure, you search for it earnestly, with a
passion, so that you can find it. You search in the likely and the most unlikely
places, leaving no stone unturned. The desire to find your lost money or treasure
overcomes you, and you become almost obsessed about it. This is not just any
casual search.
And so it must also be when you listen to and/or try to understand the
instructions being given to you in God’s word. Because if you do, then God
Almighty promises to give you wisdom -- but more important than that, is that
God will reveal Himself to you; you will get revelation knowledge about God
Himself, about who God really is, you get into and intimate relationship with Him.
Again there is a repeat about learning the reverence of God, which is not
often taught in churches today, nor how to trust in the Lord and lean not upon
your own understanding.
A Sunday school teacher was telling her class about John the Baptist
baptising Jesus in the River Jordan and then hearing the voice coming down
from heaven saying: “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased”. She
then asked the students to tell her in their own words what this meant to them.
Each of the students gave her their interpretation of what it meant to them.
However one student’s reply got her attention because this little boy said; “God
in Heaven said: This is MY beloved Son, so now start acting like it”!
We are all sons and daughters of the king, we are also the Body of Christ,
and Jesus is the head, therefore maybe it is time to start acting like it!
Western churches today think they know everything about God. They think
there is nothing new to learn. If that was the case, then all of the “western
churches” would be spiritually mature, and in perfect harmony with each other,
and full to overflowing with signs, wonders and miracles. Even unbelievers
know that that is not the case!
Therefore it is time stop “playing church” and start “becoming the church”,
just like the little boy said!!!
With this statement now firmly fixed in our minds let us continue to listen to
what King Solomon has to say. For the Lord grants wisdom. His every word is a
treasure of knowledge and understanding. He grants good sense to the godly –
His saints. He is their shield, protecting them and guarding their pathway.
Who grants wisdom? Not these worlds, not big business, not governments,
not even your pastors, only God Almighty grants wisdom and He grants that to
the godly, who are His saints.
We have to get this revelation and view ourselves from a “heavenly
perspective”. God makes decisions on what He sees in us (in our hearts) from
heaven, and gives us wisdom accordingly. That is why sometimes young children
come out with some awesome statements, because God has looked down from
heaven, seen the heart of the child to be pure and holy and has given to that
child a “gold nugget” of wisdom to be spoken to others. The Hebrew word

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“Halakha” - which means “how to”, or “the technique of” is clearly brought into
play here in this set of scriptures.
Through the Holy Spirit, God shows us “how to” distinguishing right from
wrong, “how to” find the right decision every time. For wisdom and truth will enter
the very centre of your being, (right into your spirit) filling your life with joy. You
will be given the sense to stay away from evil men who want you to be their
partners in crime – men, who turn from God’s ways to walk down dark and evil
paths and exult (revel, gloat, wallow,) in doing wrong, for they thoroughly enjoy
their sins. Everything they do is crooked and wrong.
The Holy Spirit, through the gift of discernment gives you the ability, the
technique, the “how to see spiritually”, so that you can discern the intentions of
the people around you. This helps you from being deceived and led down the
wrong paths, away from God into the darkness, and pathways leading directly to
hell. That is why it is so important that there is teaching about this Holy Spirit gift
from the pulpit to protect the godly – the saints.
Only wisdom from the Lord can save a man from the flattery of prostitutes;
these girls have abandoned their husbands and flouted the laws of God. Their
houses lie along the road to death and hell. The men who enter them are
doomed. None of these men will ever be the same again.
In our society today, many are flouting the laws of God, with pre-marital
sex, living with partners, instead of in a marriage relationship, a relationship
which God sees as holy, and which He has ordained to be righteous.
These are the clear signs of moral decay in our society, and the
ramifications are made very clear here by King Solomon. People who follow this
road are led down the road to death and destruction; a place in hell is already
reserved for them.
But God is merciful and gracious. He always gives you a way out, a way of
escape. (1. Corinthians 10:13) Follow the steps of the godly instead, and stay on
the right path for only good men enjoy life to the full; evil men lose the good
things they might have had, and they themselves shall be destroyed.
So in conclusion, you have two choices;
1. Reject God’s laws and God’s advice, choose evil, and your pathway
leads to destruction and death, or
2. Choose a path or righteousness, follow God’s laws, and listen to His
voice and receive God’s blessings and His protection.
It is all up to you, you cannot blame anybody else for your wrong choices,
even though you maybe in a hard place at present, Jesus is always ready to help
someone who cries out to Him and wants to change their situation, by following
Jesus.

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CHAPTER THREE: OBEDIENCE LEADS TO A LONGER LIFE
My son, never forget the things I have taught you. If you want a long and
satisfying life, closely follow my instructions.
King Solomon was giving this advice to his son likewise God the Father
gives that same advice to us -- as we are sons and daughters of the King.
Never (ever) forget to be truthful and kind. Hold these virtues tightly. Write
them deeply within your heart. These are the attributes of godly living that Jesus
is looking for, that Jesus wants to bless.
If you want favour with both God and man, and a reputation for good
judgement and common sense, then trust the Lord completely; don’t ever trust
yourself. In everything you do, put God first, and He will direct you and crown
your efforts with success.
God’s ways are higher and perfect in every way. Man’s ways are limited and
imperfect. God’s vision is far wider that man’s vision, so learn to trust God in all
things, even when they don’t seem to be making sense, just be submissive to the
Lord and confess your absolute trust in Him, for you will be rewarded if you do
this, in all situations and in all circumstances.
Don’t be conceited, sure of your own wisdom. Instead, trust and reverence
the Lord, and turn your back on evil; when you do that, then you will be given
renewed health and vitality.
Who would have thought that if you give reverence to the Lord and turn
away from evil, that you would be healed of your illnesses and have renewed
health and vitality. Now that is something to think about!!!
Honour the Lord by giving Him the first part of all of your income, and He
will fill your barns with wheat and barley and overflow your wine vats with the
finest wines.
But “modern-day” theologians tell you that we now live under grace, this is
“under the Law” so it no longer applies to us. However, they miss the importance
of the first phrase in this verse. “Honour the Lord.” This is a choice issue. You
can choose to “honour the Lord” and if you do, God has promised to fill your
barns with wheat and barley and your wine vats to overflowing.
Nowhere in this scripture does it say what percentage of your income you
are required to give to the Lord that is up to you and the Holy Spirits leading. If
you do, then God will. The same promises which exist in 2 Chronicles 7:14.
Or if you choose, you can decide not to honour God with the first part of
your income; it is your choice, but be warned that if you decide to follow this
path, then don’t be surprised when your crops fail and you do not receive any
blessings from the Lord.
Now, another hard scripture for today’s society. Young men, do not resent it
when God chastens and corrects you, for His punishment is proof of His love.
Just as a father punishes a son he delights in to make him better, so the Lord
corrects you (to make you better also).

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 God never chastens or corrects you without a valid reason. It is
because He loves you so much and that He can see your ultimate potential that
He does this, so that you will have the opportunity to reach your ultimate
potential, according to His time-plan for your life.
The man who knows right from wrong and has good judgement and
common sense, is happier that the man who is immensely rich! For such wisdom
is far more valuable than precious jewels. Nothing else compares with it.
There are many people, who know right from wrong, but they don’t have
good judgement, or common sense, because they fail to do what is right, even
though they know what they are doing is wrong. That is why many people within
the church fails to mature as Christians. It is easier for them to continue to do
what is wrong, than to accept self-denial (to do what is right) and honour God by
their actions. This is NOT a very wise choice.
Wisdom gives: (a) A long, good life, (b) Riches, (c) Honour, (d) Pleasure,
(e) Peace.
So let us look at these attributes individually.
(a) A long, good life; I am sure most Christians want a long, good life,
praising their Lord and preparing them for their face-to-face encounter
with our Lord, when they hope to hear Him say: “Well done my good and
faithful servant”.
(b) Most Christians know that God will provide all of our needs; we will want
for nothing, because God supplies us with the riches of His treasury,
which is beyond measure.
(c) If we follow after God’s laws with wisdom as a servant, Christ will raise
us up to a position of honour, to a position that He decides we should
have, not the hierarchy of the church, nor the hierarchy of the world.
(d) People who have good sense and good judgement find that it is not
boring to serve the Lord, it is in fact a pleasure, it is exciting and
fulfilling, as He leads us on a journey that He has already planned out
for us, as part of His divine plan for our lives.
(e) When (a) to (d) are in place you will find peace in your life and as per
Galatians 5:22, when you have peace, then Love and Joy will also
follow.
Wisdom is the tree of life to those who eat her fruit; happy is the man who
keeps on eating it. When Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, they were
forbidden from eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, but they were
not forbidden from eating the fruit from the Tree of Life. God’s word reminds us
again of this here. The Lord’s wisdom founded the earth; His understanding
established all the universe and space. The deep fountains of the earth were
broken open by His knowledge, and the skies poured down rain.
Whether the evolutionists like it or not, this is how it was done! No big bang!
Just the Word of the Lord made manifest by His power, might, and Spirit.

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 King Solomon then makes a conclusion from what he has been saying
already in this chapter. Have two goals: wisdom – that is, knowing and doing
right -- and common sense. Don’t let them slip away, for they fill you with living
energy, and are a feather in your cap 2.They keep you safe from defeat and
disaster and from stumbling off the trail. With them on guard, you can sleep
without fear; your need not be afraid of disaster, or the plots of wicked men, for
the Lord is with you; He protects you.
Here is the answer to a good night’s restful sleep. Make sure you don’t
squander your wisdom and common sense. The scripture tells us that if you have
these two attributes operating in your life then (a) the Lord is with you, and (b)
God Himself will protect you. How good is that???
Don’t withhold repayment of your debts. Don’t say “some other time” if you
can pay (the debt) now.
1. God expects us to always pay our debts on time, as a witness of good
stewardship.
2. If we can afford to make a repayment, then always do it on time, without
holding back; by doing this you are obeying God and He will bless you for
your obedience to His word.
3. Another scripture says; Owe no man anything. The only debt that is never
ever completely repaid, is the debt of love, which you should have for
Jesus and His brethren. You should continue to make repayments on this
debt for your whole lifetime, to glorify Jesus, the hope of glory in you.
Don’t plot against your neighbour; he is trusting you. The young student
priest asked Jesus, “who is your neighbour?” and Jesus told him the parable of
the Good Samaritan, about the priest, the Levite and the hated Samaritan man.
The moral of the story was that everyone that you come in contact with is
your neighbour; you cannot even plot against your enemies; you are commanded
by God to “love your enemies”.
Our lives have to be seen as an outward display of God’s love, so that
everyone we come in contact with trusts us completely, because they can see
Christ shining out of us.
Don’t get into needless fights. This begs the question: Are there some fights
that God says you can get into? He answer is YES! When you fight for justice, or
righteous these are fights which the scriptures tell us we should all be fighting,
on a daily basis. But unnecessary fights over small disagreements, is what
Solomon is talking about here.
Don’t envy violent men. Don’t copy their ways. For such men are
abominations to the Lord, but He gives His friendship to the godly. All people
who think ISIS is a great group of people had better read this statement clearly.
God considers all violent men an abomination is His sight. He considers them the

2
Alternative translation: for you shall dwell in the land

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same as homosexual deviants – an abomination is the sight of God. He will
reject them on the day of Judgement; they will spend their eternity in hell –
continually separated from God.
On the other hand, God promises His friendship to those people who are
godly in their hearts, their speech, and their actions. What a wonderful comfort to
be able to know that God is your friend. When God is your friend, the wiles of the
enemy come to nothing.
The curse of God is on the wicked, but His blessing is on the upright. This
continues to confirm what has been said in the previous set of scriptures. What is
the “curse of God”? We know that the wages of sin is death, so this is the curse
that is referred to here. The wicked have no chance to enter heaven unless;
a) They acknowledge their sins
b) Repent of their sins
c) Ask Jesus into their hearts, and
d) Follow His ways.
The promises of God are fulfilled in the second part of this scripture; but His
blessings are on the upright. When even a wicked person changes as defined
above, the promise becomes available to him also.
The Lord mocks at mockers, but helps the humble. God is not the King of
Kings that He should be mocked. He responds by mocking those who mock Him,
with eternal consequences. But if you remain humble before the Lord, He has
promised to raise you up.
The wise are promoted to honour, but fools are promoted to shame. Being
humble before God is the first step to becoming wise and as is stated God will
raise you up to a place of honour, way beyond your expectations!
It says here that fools on the other hand are promoted to shame, which will
cause their downfall, and their ultimate destiny of judgement in hell.
The moral of this chapter seems to be that it is better to be humble and
wise, than to be wicked and a stupid fool. One leads to eternal life, the other to
eternal death, but each one is given an option to choose the way he wants to
walk before God.

CHAPTER FOUR: THE WISE ADVICE OF THE FATHER

Young men (and women), listen to me as you would to your father. Listen,
and grow wise, for I speak the truth – don’t turn away. For I, too, was once a son,
tenderly loved by my mother, as an only child, and the companion of my father.
He told me never to forget his words. “If you follow them”, he said, “You will have
a long and happy life. Learn to be wise”, he said, “and develop good judgement
and common sense! I cannot over-emphasize this point”.
King Solomon makes a statement of truth here, but it is also prophetic,
because what he is saying also relates to Jesus, a child, dearly loved by His
mother and a companion to His Father.

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 King Solomon, as a child took advice from his father, King David and grew
up to become a wise person; destined for greatness before God, because of his
initial humbleness and his trust in God Almighty, which he had learnt from his
father King David.
It was from this trust, that He knew He could go to God with His prayers,
that they would be listened to and answered, according to God’s divine plan for
his life. There was a degree of trust built up between Solomon and God Almighty,
because of the advice that he had learned from his father. He came to recognise
that truth was the most important thing in life, because if you know the truth,
speak the truth, and do what is truthful, this will set you free. We see this
continually in the life of Solomon, and fourteen generations later in the life of
Jesus Christ.
Cling to wisdom – she will protect you. Love her (wisdom) – she will guard
you. Determination to be wise is the first step to becoming wise! And with your
wisdom, develop common sense and good judgement. If you exalt wisdom, she
will exalt you. Hold her fast and she will lead you to great honour; she will place
a beautiful crown upon your head. My son, listen to me and do as I say, and you
will have a long, good life.
Notice that wisdom is not something you are born with, you have to desire
to obtain it, and common sense is also something that you develop from learning
from your life experiences. Both are to be treasured and they will bring you into
God’s presence, where you can be elevated to positions of honour beyond your
levels of expectation. Here King Solomon gives us some good advice, listen to
what I say and do it and you will have a long life.
I would have you learn this great fact; that a life of doing what is right is the
wisest life there is. If you live that kind of life, you will not limp o r stumble as you
run. Carry out my instructions; don’t forget them, for they will lead you to real
living. Here again Solomon is using the Rabbinical technique of teaching by
making a statement, then building up an argument to reinforce the statement,
and then making the statement again, as a conclusion.
Solomon considers wisdom of God to be the most important gift that one
can have, because it places you continually in a place of continuous relationship
with God the Father, a place of worship, a place of protection, and a place of
continual service to your God, a place of guaranteed long life.
Don’t do as the wicked do. Avoid their haunts – turn away, go somewhere
else, for evil men don’t sleep until they’ve done their evil deeds for the day. They
can’t rest unless they cause someone to stumble and fall. They eat and drink
wickedness and violence!
Now Solomon gives a warning, which is applicable to every generation ever
since Adam was cast out of the Garden of Eden. Evil people exist to take people
away from God’s glory and fellowship, by deceiving them into sinful acts or
desires. That is their eternal purpose, because they are working under the

14
demonic power of the enemy to Christ, which is the prince of the air, Satan is his
name.
Don’t be deceived, evil people cannot do any good, everything they do is
designed to take glory away from Jesus Christ and God’s people here on earth.
Even if it seems to be good, there is evil intent behind it, so be wise and go
elsewhere, don’t be sucked into their schemes, or their programs, because they
will never exalt the name of Jesus Christ, because it is not in Satan’s nature to
glorify God.
But the good man walks along in the ever-brightening light of God’s favour;
the dawn gives way to morning splendour, while the evil man gropes and
stumbles in the dark.
Here is the conclusion; People who are wise and follow after God walk in
His everlasting light, but those who are foolish, are deceived by Satan and grope
around in the dark, without ever seeing God’s light.
Again Solomon repeats his previous advice. Listen, son of mine, to what I
say. Listen carefully. Keep these thoughts ever in your mind; let them penetrate
deep within your heart, for they will mean real life for you, and radiant health.
So what have we learned so far from this discussion? Wisdom must be
learnt, just as common sense is learnt from life experiences. That both of these
attributes, bring us closer to God and to His protection, ways of life and His glory.
Now we see also that they bring you into His glorious light, gives you a real
and long life, with radiant health.
To obey God’s word is good for us. To disobey God’s word leads you into
the hands of the evil one and his helpers, whose only aim is to bring you down to
their level of demonic deception, into darkness, sin and violence.
Above all else, guard your affections. For they influence everything else
in your life. Spurn the careless kiss of a prostitute, (or a wayward woman). Stay
far from her. Look straight ahead; don’t even turn your head to look. Watch your
step. Stick to the path and be safe. Don’t sidetrack; pull back your foot from
danger.
Your affections can cause you harm, so be ever watchful about who you get
involved with. Don’t even think about kissing a wayward woman, she will only
lead you into trouble. Don’t be sidetracked by her wiles or her perceived
promises, step back from danger, be warned -- this voyage is doomed to
destruction.

CHAPTER FIVE: PILLOW TALK IT WILL GET YOU INTO TROUBLE

Listen to me, my son! I know what I am saying; Listen! Watch yourself, lest
you be indiscreet and betray some vital information. For the lips of a prostitute
are as sweet as honey, and smooth flattery is her stock in trade. But afterwards
only a bitter conscience is left to you, sharp as a double-edged sword. She leads

15
you down to death and hell. For she does not know the path to life. She staggers
down a crooked trail, and doesn’t even realize where it leads.
Solomon again brings his attention back to his son “Listen to me! Don’t
forget what I am telling you. Don’t ignore this advice; don’t block you ears and
think this is just more bla, bla, bla from a father”. If you go down this path, then
your conscience will cut you, just like the word of God – a two edged sword. It
will go deep and separate the bone from the marrow. Solomon is telling his son
(and us) that this woman is so blinded by the enemy that she does not even
realise that she is heading for destruction. If you submit to her wiles and her
temptations, you will also follow her down that same road to death and
destruction.
In today’s society, with promiscuity and same sex relationships become
more obvious in our culture, the consequences of this advice is being seen all
around us, increased sin and violence, more marriage break-ups ending in
divorce, more single parent families and sadly more people suffering from
emotional disturbances, resulting in a rapid increase in suicides. As Solomon
stated; “This road leads to death and destruction.”
Young men, listen to me, and never forget what I’m about to say; “Run from
her! Don’t go near her house”, lest you fall to her temptation and lose your
honour, and give the remainder of your life to the cruel and merciless; lest
strangers obtain your wealth, and you become a slave of foreigners. Lest
afterwards you groan in anguish and in shame, when syphilis (and other sexually
transmitted diseases) consumes your body, and you say, “Oh, if only I had
listened! If only I had not demanded my own way! Oh, why wouldn’t I take
advice? Why was I so stupid? For now I must face public disgrace.”
It is only after you fail to take advice that the realisation of your folly
becomes obvious. Here is the possibility of contracting sexually transmitted
diseases and public disgrace. The “if only” speeches just get the “pity party”
started, but the results are a lifetime of sickness, disease and early death for
those who fail to listen to their father’s advice.
Without repentance and a change of lifestyle, the end result is early death
and a life separated from God for eternity. Pretty rugged and serious stuff, with
eternal consequences!!!
Drink from your own well, my son – be faithful and true to your wife. Why
should you beget children with women of the street? Why share your children
with those outside your home? Let your manhood be a blessing; rejoice in the
wife of your youth. Let her charms and tender embrace satisfy you. Let her love
alone fill you with delight. Why delight yourself with prostitutes, embracing what
isn’t yours? For God is closely watching you, and he weighs carefully
everything you do. The wicked man is doomed by his own sins; they are ropes
that catch and hold him. He shall die because he will not listen to the truth; he
has let himself be led astray in to folly.

16
 And so we come back to purity and morals values within your household a s
Solomon draws this discussion to a close. Be content with the wife that you have
married. Let her embrace be utterly sufficient for you. Raise up children with your
wife, not with anyone who is not your wife. Do not share your manhood with
other women, because it is a blessing from God and it is for your wife only, to be
part of the holy estate, which is marriage, for the multiplication of offspring, as
commanded by God, to go, marry and multiply.
Finally, Solomon ends with a warning, which is still valid today; For God is
closely watching you, and He weighs carefully everything you do, to decide
whether your name should remain in the Lamb’s Book of Life 3 or not.

CHAPTER SIX: DO NOT GO GUARANTOR FOR A STRANGER

Son, if you endorse a (promissory) note for someone you hardly know,
guaranteeing his debt, you are in serious trouble. You may have trapped yourself
by your agreement. Quick! Get out of it if your possibly can! Swallow your pride;
don’t let embarrassment stand in the way. Go and beg to have your name
erased. Don’t put it off! Do it Now! Don’t rest until you do! If you can get out of
this trap you have saved yourself like a deer that escapes from a hunter, or a
bird from the net.
Solomon makes it very clear that you should never go guarantor for
anybody that you do not know well. It is even advisable not to go guarantor for
people who you think you know well, because if they don’t make regular
payments on the loan, you are legally liable for the whole debt, plus any punitive
default interest charges. Your good name could be ruined and also your credit
rating, which then makes it more difficult for you to secure a loan yourself.
Solomon is adamant about this. Don’t put it off, don’t delay, don’t even go to
sleep until you have dealt with this issue. Don’t let pride get in the way, because
if you don’t the embarrassment of a bad reputation will be much greater for you
to face.
Take a lesson from ants, you lazy fellow. Learn from their ways and be
wise! For though they have no king to make them work, yet they labour hard all
summer, gathering food for the winter. But you -- all you do is sleep. When will
you wake up? “Let me sleep a little longer!” Sure, just a little more! And as you
sleep, poverty creeps upon like a robber and destroys you; want attacks you in
full armour.
Even though a colony of ants do not have a king (they have a queen) to
make them work all summer, collecting food for the winter months, God has
given them enough wisdom to realise that if they don’t work, they don’t eat.

3
In Revelations chapter 3 it refers to the people who have not soiled their clothes and therefore
have not had their names removed from the Lamb’s Book of Life. “Once saved, always saved” is
not scriptural.

17
 But Solomon says; “You don’t even have enough sense to match that of the
ants, who know that they must work to eat. You will end up in poverty and
destruction.”
Let me describe for you a worthless and a wicked man; first, he is a
constant liar, he signals his true intentions to his friends with eyes and feet and
fingers. Next, his heart is full of rebellion. And he spends all of his time thinking
of all the evil he can do, and stirring up discontent. But he will be destroyed
suddenly, broken beyond hope of healing. For there are six things the Lord hates
– no seven:
a) Haughtiness
b) Lying
c) Murdering
d) Plotting evil
e) Eagerness to do wrong
f) A false witness
g) Sowing discord amongst the brothers
Solomon says open your eyes and let me show you what a worthless and
wicked man looks like, a person that God does not like one bit.
 Firstly, he is a constant liar, you cannot believe anything he says, he
is not a reliable witness, and have nothing to do with him.
 He has a plan to destroy others and he signals to his friends with
unspoken signs of evil, with his evil eyes, hands, and feet. Everything
he does, every movement he makes, they should all be viewed with
suspicion.
 He is constantly thinking up and devising ways to do evil and bring
people down to his level, to take them away from God’s glory.
But God will not tolerate his actions forever. God Almighty will allow him to
receive His love and compassion, but if he does not repent and change his ways,
then God’s judgement will befall him without warning and he will be destroyed
beyond hope of redemption. God will allow him to be handed over to Satan
forever.
Many believe that God is a God of love and that He does not hate anything
except sin; well here are seven items that God hates; many in today’s society
may not consider all of them as “sins”, but God Almighty does.
a) Haughtiness; arrogance, conceit, pride, snootiness, self-importance,
overconfidence, superiority, hauteur, false modesty.
b) Lying; deceitful, dishonest, twofaced, insincere, untruthful, and
mendacious.
c) Murdering; killing, slaying, assassinating executing, massacring,
wasting, snuffing, put to death, bumping off.
d) Plotting evil; Intrigue, conspiracy, trickery, scheming, manoeuvrings.

18
 e) Eagerness to do wrong; keenness, enthusiasm, excitement, readiness,
zeal, impatience, fervour.
f) A false witness is incorrect, mistaken, artificial, deliberately deceptive,
not genuine, and treacherous.
g) Sowing discord among the brethren; disharmony, cacophony,
inharmoniousness, discordance, disagreement, conflict, argumentative,
creating friction, dissention.
God hates these seven things, which can be translated in the English
language into all of these other words, which we use at various times, not
realising, that in God’s eyes, He hates these things as well, and considers all of
them as sins.
Young man, obey your father and your mother 4. Tie their instructions
around your finger so you won’t forget. Take to heart all of their advice. Every
day and all night long their counsel will lead you and save you from harm; when
you wake up in the morning, let their instructions guide you into the new day. For
their advice is a beam of light directed into the dark corners of your mind to warn
you of danger and to give you a good life. Their counsel will keep you away from
prostitutes with all their flatteries. Don’t lust for their beauty. Don’t let their
coyness seduce you. For a prostitute will bring a man to poverty, and an
adulteress may cost him his life.
Can a man hold fire against his chest and not be burned? Can he walk on
hot coals and not blister his feet? So it is with a man who commits adultery with
another’s wife. He shall not go unpunished for this sin.
Excuses may even be found for a thief, if he steals when he is starving! But
even so, he is fined several times as much as he stole, though it may mean
selling everything in his house to pay it back.
But the man who commits adultery is an utter fool, for he destroys his own
soul. Wounds and constant disgrace are his lot, for the woman’s husband will be
furious in his jealousy, and he will have no mercy on you in his day of
vengeance. You won’t be able to buy him off, no matter what you offer.
Solomon again returns to his main theme throughout this whole chapter;
Listen to your mother and father, remember what they have taught you, tie it onto
your finger as a constant reminder, so it will stop you from doing stupid things.
Don’t get involved with loose women for they shall rob you blind, leading to your
destruction. Worse still, don’t get involved with a married woman, in an
adulterous relationship, because it will bring disgrace upon you, in heaven, as
well as upon the earth, and the husband of this woman will not be stopped from
his revenge upon your person, irrespective of what you say or do.

4
This is the first promise in the Bible of God’s blessings of an extended life, to all who follow this
instruction.

19
 When you get involved with a married woman you are defiling a holy
covenant established by God Almighty; do you think that He will not know about
it, or that He will be happy with what you are doing? The answer is NO! to bo th
questions.
God Almighty will know about it. For God is closely watching you, and He
weighs carefully everything you do, to decide whether your name should
remain in the Lamb’s Book of Life 5 or not. It is that serious; your eternal life could
be at stake here, so do not go around doing stupid things!

CHAPTER SEVEN: NOT ALL LOVELY WOMEN ARE HOLY

Solomon opens up this chapter with the theme, which has been going
through the last few chapters; “Remember the instructions I have given to you,
and also remember the instructions that you were given by your mother and
father”.
Follow my advice, my son; always keep it in mind and stick to it. Obey me
and live! Guard my words as your most precious possession. Write them down,
and also keep them deep within your heart.
This is why it is so important for the relationship of the fathers and their
sons should not be broken. In today’s society there are many one-parent
families, where the mother has to try to take on both roles, because the father is
“out of the picture”, with no visitation rights and no influence into the son or
daughter’s life. This makes for an unbalanced emotional development of the
child, not matter how hard the sole parent tries to replace the absent parent, it
will not succeed, because God Almighty has ordained that both parents need to
be involved in the development of each, and every child.
It does not matter how many child development degrees you have, God
gave a double portion of wisdom to Solomon, and this advice comes straight
from the word of God. His plans are perfect, and they supersede any plans given
as recommendations from a university course, because universities are
influenced by so many outside influences, many of which are contrary to God’s
word. Therefore they are doomed to failure.
Love wisdom like a sweetheart; make her a beloved member of your family.
Let here hold you back from visiting a prostitute, from listening to her flattery. I
was looking out of the window of my house one day, and saw a simple-minded
lad, a young man lacking common sense, walking at twilight down the street to
the house of a wayward girl, a prostitute. She approached him, saucy and pert,
and dressed seductively. She was the brash, coarse type, seen often in the
streets and markets, soliciting at every corner for men to be her lovers. She put

5
In Revelations chapter 3, it refers to the people who have not soiled their clothes and therefore
have not had their names removed from the Lamb’s Book of Life. “Once saved, always saved” is
not scriptural.

20
her arms around him and kissed him, and with a saucy look she said, “I’ve
decided to forget our quarrel 6. I was just coming to look for you and here you are!
My bed is spread with lovely, coloured sheets of finest linen imported from Egypt,
perfumed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come on let’s take our fill of love
until morning, for my husband is away on a long trip. He has taken a wallet full of
money with him, and won’t return for several days”.
So she seduced him with her pretty speech, her coaxing, and her
wheedling, until he yielded to her. He could not resist her flattery. He followed
her as an ox going to the butcher, or as a stag that is trapped, waiting to be killed
with an arrow through the heart. He was as a bird flying into a snare, not knowing
the fate awaiting it there.
Listen to me, young men, and not only listen, but also obey; don’t let your
desires get out of hand; don’t let yourself think about her. Don’t go near her; stay
away from where she walks, lest she tempt you and seduce you. For she has
been the ruin of multitudes – a vast host of men have been her victims. If you
want to find a road to hell, look for her house!
This is woman has no morals at all. She is after a man other than her
husband, and is well known on the streets and markets of the city. This is not the
first time she has had an encounter with this young man either, as they have
previously quarrelled. She takes advantage of his simple-mindedness and lack of
common sense, to seduce him into her bed.
If this young man had listened to the advice of his mother and father, he
would have recognised the type of woman she was; and run in the other
direction, away from the path that leads only to destruction.
So, some of you guys reading this will say; “I don’t go out onto the streets
looking for women, but I do try to hook up with girls, young women, (and maybe
even older women) at the disco or the local pub on a Friday night”.
Maybe you think this is different, because they do not appear to be
prostitutes, they are not charging for their favours, they just want a good time.
They may not be one who wants a “one-night stand”, but are looking for a long-
term relationship, but they want to try out the merchandise before they make a
commitment. Maybe it is the young man, who wants to try out the merchandise
before he makes a purchase. Unfortunately, this type of relationship don’t have a
future in God’s eyes, because in God’s eyes this relationship is no different than
that identified above, because it is a relationship outside of marriage, a
relationship which God Almighty cannot, and will not acknowledge as holy,
because God Almighty will not go against His holy word.

6
Alternative translation: “Sacrifices of peace offerings were due from me; this day have I paid
my vows”. Literally translated, she was telling him that she had plenty of food on hand, left from
her sacrifice at the temple. She was a temple prostitute.

21
 Finally, after listing all the reasons why a young man should not go after this
type of woman, Solomon give the man a choice. Run away from her and be safe,
or go to her and follow the road down to hell.

Something everybody has to learn and understand --

You cannot run with the devil and walk in the Promised Land.

CHAPTER EIGHT: THE VOICE OF WISDOM IS CRYING OUT TO YOU

Can’t you hear the voice of wisdom? She is standing at the city gates and at
every fork in the road, and at the door of every house. Listen to what she says;
“Listen men!” she calls. “How foolish and naïve you are! Let me give you
understanding. O foolish ones let me show you common sense! Listen to me! For
I have important information for you. Everything I say is right and true, for I hate
lies and every kind of deception. My advice is wholesome and good. There is
nothing of evil in it. My words are plain and clear to anyone who has half a mind.
– If it is only open (to listen)! My instruction is far more valuable than silver or
gold”. For the value of wisdom is far above rubies; nothing can be compared with
it.
Here we have the secret! Wise words are available to all. It is all around us,
in everything we see, and in every place we turn. It is even available to those
with only half a mind that is open to see or listen.
Wisdom is true; there is no evil intent in any of its words. Wisdom comes
from God and it is worth more than silver, gold, or rubies. That is why we should
grab hold of it, make it a part of us, and never let it out of our sight, let it be our
internal guiding force, as we go about our daily lives.
If we do this then we know that we will identify the pitfalls and go around
them, and not be trapped, by the wonderful trappings, which seem so good (at
the time), but leads to ultimate destruction for all who choose to follow that path.
Wisdom and good judgement live together, for wisdom knows where to
discover knowledge and understanding. If anyone respects and fears God, he
will hate evil. For wisdom hates pride, arrogance, corruption, and deceit of every
kind.
Solomon continues to hammer this main theme; wisdom, good judgement,
and common sense, are mandatory attributes for all who love, fear and respect
God Almighty. He also goes on to say that these same people should clearly
show that as Christians, they hate evil, pride, arrogance, corruption, and deceit
of every kind. This is a very good time to make a Christian audit of our own lives,
and see if we fit into the criteria ourselves.

22
 Do we clearly show, by our actions, and our speech, that we truly do hate
evil? Do we have any pride remaining in our lives? Have we taken that next step
to submit our live wholly and fully the Jesus Christ, for His service?
Do people think that we are arrogant? If they say we are, what have we
done to change our ways?
What is your attitude to corruption? Yes, you may say that you are not
involved in it, but if you know someone who is, but you do nothing about it, well
then, you are just as guilty. You are an accessory after the fact.
I, Wisdom, give good advice and common sense. Because of my strength,
kings reign in power. I show the judges who is right and who is wrong. Rulers
rule well with my help. I love all who love me. Those who search for me will
surely find me. Unending riches, honour, justice, and righteousness are mine to
distribute. My gifts are better than the purest gold or sterling silver! My paths are
those of justice and righteousness. Those who love me and follow me are indeed
wealthy. I fill their treasuries.
Solomon again identifies the benefits of wisdom, good advice, and common
sense. With these attributes in your life, you can rule as a wise king, or as a
judge making decisions. But there is more in what He is saying. Solomon refers
to God Almighty Himself, as wisdom, and confirms that God Almighty loves all
who love Him.
He even goes further indicating that if you search for God, you will find Him,
and it is God Himself who is able to reward these people with honour, riches,
justice, and righteousness. And the gifts that God gives you are worth more than
silver or gold. God looks after all those who seek and follow Him. Then Solomon
goes on to declare who the person is, he is really talking about.
The Lord formed me in the beginning, before He created anything else.
From ages past I AM. I existed before the earth began. I lived before the oceans
were created, before the springs bubbled forth their waters onto the earth; before
the mountains and the hills were made. Yes. I was born before God made the
earth, and fields, and high plateaus. I was there when He established the
heavens and formed the springs in the depths of the great oceans. I was there
when He set the limits of the seas and gave them His instructions not to spread
beyond their boundaries. I was there when He made the blueprint for the earth
and the oceans. I was always at His side like a little child. I was His constant
delight, laughing and playing in His presence. And how happy I was with what He
created – His wide world and all His family of mankind! And so, young men,
listen to me, for how happy are all who follow my instructions.
In the above paragraph we have the confirmation of whom Solomon is really
identifying. Jesus, the Son of God, made in His image, before the creation of the
universe, the I AM, who was there before the universe was formed, before the
blueprints of the earth was even thought of, before the land and the seas were
created, and before mankind even walked upon this tiny insignificant blue planet.

23
 Yes, the same Jesus who played games and who laughed in His Father’s
presence, who would leave all of this splendour and position to come down to
earth and be born of a virgin, to live like a human being, to be the perfect
example for us to emulate, by the power of His shed blood.
Here, Solomon has a vision of who Jesus is and who He is to become,
some fourteen generations before His actual birth upon the earth.
“Listen to my counsel – oh, do not refuse it – and be wise. Happy is the man
that is so anxious to be with me that he watches for me daily at my gates, or
waits for me outside my home! For whoever finds me finds life and wins approval
from the Lord. But the one who misses me has injured himself irreparably. Those
who refuse me show that they love death.”
Solomon concludes this chapter with a statement, which we all should
recognise, consider, and act upon accordingly. Those who choose to follow after
God will gain a richer, more fulfilling life, but those who reject God are headed for
an early death. It is our choice – nobody else’s!
As Joshua said to the nation of Israel 7; “so revere Jehovah and serve him in
sincerity and truth. Put away forever the idols, which your ancestors worshipped
when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Worship the Lord
alone. But if you are unwilling to obey the Lord, then decide today whom you will
obey. Will it be the gods of your ancestors beyond the Euphrates River, or the
gods of the Amorites here in this land? But as for me and my house, we will
serve the Lord!
So today, this same challenge is issued to every person reading this book.
You must make a choice; your eternal life depends upon your choices.

CHAPTER NINE: COME TO THE BANQUETING TABLE

Wisdom has built a palace supported on seven (7) pillars, and has prepared
a great banquet and mixed the wines, and sent out her maidens, inviting all to
come. She calls from the busiest intersections in the city, “Come, you simple
ones without good judgement; come to wisdom’s banquet and drink the wines
that I have mixed. Leave behind your foolishness and begin to live, learn how to
be wise.
If you rebuke a mocker, you will only get a smart retort; yes. He will snarl at
you. So don’t bother with him; he will only hate you for trying to help him. But a
wise man, when rebuked, will love you all the more.
Teach a wise man, and he will be wiser; teach a good man, and he will
learn more. For the reverence and fear of God are basic to all wisdom.
Knowing God results in every in every other kind of understanding. I,
Wisdom, will make the hours of your day more profitable and the years of your

7
Joshua 24:14-15

24
life more fruitful. Wisdom is its own reward, and if you scorn her, you hurt only
yourself.
We have already established that God Almighty is the God of Wisdom and
in this passage we see that God has built a palace, supported on seven pillars, --
the Seven Spirits of God.
This interpretation is based on Isaiah 11:2, which says, “The Spirit of the
LORD will rest on him — the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of
counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.” This
could possibly explain the seven spirits of God:
(1) Spirit of the LORD,
(2) Spirit of wisdom,
(3) Spirit of understanding,
(4) Spirit of counsel,
(5) Spirit of power,
(6) Spirit of knowledge,
(7) The Spirit of the fear of the Lord.
The Bible doesn’t tell us specifically who/what the seven spirits are, but as it
is referred to in the Book of Revelations, where the number seven is referred to
as completeness, or perfection, this would imply that the seven Spirits refers to
the completeness and perfection of the Holy Spirit.
And yes, we know that Jesus refers to a great banquet in heaven, which all
are invited to attend, provided they are part of the Bride of Christ. The
messengers have gone out into the highways and byways, into the streets and
lanes, and the cry has gone out from the rooftops of tall buildings in the busy
intersections.
The invitation is not restricted to the wealthy, or the powerful, or the
educated ones, the invitations is for all who have listened and are ready to
respond to the call. Even the foolish are invited, they are invited to come and
learn “how to” live. Halakah ≈ means the technique of knowing “how to”.
So the invitation is given for everybody, despite social standing or position,
to come and learn the technique of “how to” live and “how to” learn, and “how to”
become wise.
Now most people would think that this is a good thing, but unfortunately, not
everybody agrees with this advice.
A mocker already has his own concepts and his own agenda, and no matter
how carefully you approach the subject, and try to suggest that he change his
ways, he will react angrily and snarl at you.
Solomon’s advice is leave this person to his own devices, don’t waste your
time on him, he is already a lost cause. Concentrate your time and your efforts
on the wise person, and he will love you more for pointing out his mistakes. He
will then go on to learn more and become wiser than he was before. If you find a

25
good man and teach him about wisdom, he will go on to learn more and also
become wiser.
Both of these types of people will have learnt the basic lesson; for the
reverence and fear of God are basics to all wisdom. This is reinforced by the
statement; “knowing God results in every other kind of understanding”.
The reverential fear of the Lord is the first step on the journey to become a
wiser person, irrespective of your station in life. But the mocker says; “there is no
God; I do not believe there is a God”. But when you try to reason with Him his
response is an angry snarl. Therefore we are told, leave them alone; don’t waste
your time on them, because they will never change their minds, or their attitudes.
A prostitute is loud and brash, and never has enough of lust and shame.
She sits at the door of her house, or stands at the street corners of the city,
whispering to men going by, and to those minding their own business. “Come
home with me”, she urges simpletons. “Stolen melons are the sweetest; stolen
apples taste the best”! But they don’t realise that her former guests are now
citizens of hell.
We see it in our cities today; ladies of the night, plying their wares, seducing
men with their seductive voices, or revealing clothes; trying to make a living from
works that God has already defined as evil.
And the men of today, like the men of olden times, fall easily into their beds,
on their downward spiral into hell and permanent separation from God to all of
eternity.
Today, we see the effects of these words of wisdom all around us. People
with their own agendas, spruiking their list of items that they consider to be
important like; stop killing the whales, but they say that killing unborn babies is
ok. When you try to tell them different, they abuse you.
You can say to them; a doctor pronounces a person as dead, when he is no
longer able to detect a heartbeat (pulse), but people refuse to acknowledge that
life starts when you can first detect a pulsing heart within a mother’s womb. That
is logical, but people still argue this, even in courts of law and laws are written to
deny this logic. This is how far we, as a species, have fallen from what we were
at creation.

CHAPTER TEN: THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY

In this chapter King Solomon makes some interesting comparisons.

Happy is the man with a levelheaded son; Sad is the mother of a rebel.
Notice a woman is not mentioned in the statement about a levelheaded son, nor
is a man mentioned in the statement about a son who is a rebel. It is clear it is
the woman who cares about her sons, even when they are “bad” sons.
Right living brings long lasting happiness. Ill-gotten gains do not bring long
lasting happiness. In today’s society we are looking for instant fixes for

26
everything. Ill- gotten gains will bring you happiness for a short time, but it will
soon wear off and you will need another ill-gotten fix. This is the “ugly solution”
which leads to ultimate destruction.
The Lord will not let a good man starve to death; Nor will He let the wicked man’s
riches continue forever. The Lord judges the heart of each person, and rewards
them according to their heart. The good get blessed, the evil get punished.
Hard workers get rich; Lazy men are soon poor. By their fruit they shall be
known and rewarded accordingly.
A wise youth makes hay while the sun shines, but what a shame to see a
lad who sleeps away his hour of opportunity. Both of these youths have the same
opportunities to make something of themselves, to be productive and make a
living during the sunshine hours. One decides to do good, by working from
daylight till dark planting, reaping and making hay, whilst the other one sleeps in
and have nothing to show at the end of the day for his efforts.
The good man is covered with blessings from head to foot, but an evil man
inwardly curses his luck. People today say that the evil man had bad luck, which
is incorrect, as both men had an opportunity to choose which life they were to
lead, either to follow the good, or to follow the evil. There was no luck in the
situation at all. Each one was rewarded according to his choice.
We all have happy memories of good men gone to their reward, but the names of
wicked men stink after them. No good is remembered from an evil person, there
is a stench attached to their names.
A wise man is glad to be instructed, but a self-sufficient fool falls on flat on
his face. A wise man is thankful of the offer to help, and listens attentively and
learns. You have seen the self-sufficient person many times before, you offer to
help and her says “NO, I am fine, everything will be ok soon and continues, but
without success.
A good man has a firm footing, but a crook will slip, stumble, and fall. The
wise man has his feet squarely planted upon the rock, which is Jesus Christ,
whilst the crook will deny that Jesus even exists, and therefore has no strong
foundations upon which to place his anchor. He will slip, stumble, and fall.
Bold reproof leads to peace, but winking at sin leads to sorrow. People
don’t like to be chastised, but we are chastised by a person because that person
loves us. Acknowledgement of the reproof will lead to peace. However a person
who winks at sin, knows that what he is doing is a sin and he is deliberately
rebelling against God. As a result, No joy is possible!

You cannot run with the devil and walk in the Promised Land!

There is living truth in what a good man says, but the mouth of the evil
man is filled with curses. An evil man cannot say things that glorify God, because

27
he is under the influence of Satan, and Satan never glorifies God. But a good
man speaks the truth because he wants to glorify God.
Hatred stirs old quarrels, but love overlooks insults. Have you ever noticed
in a marriage, when you quarrel, things are brought up, which happened years
ago? That is because these issues have not been completely dealt with, or
forgiven. Jesus loves us so much that he not only forgives, but also then fails to
remember our previous faults. That is how great our God is!
Men with common sense are admired as counsellors; those without it are
beaten as servants. Do you beat your servants? You say, “Of course not”! But
how you treat people who do not have common sense may indicate that you are
treating them as servants, not as equals. It is difficult sometimes to tolerate fools,
people who speak out of turn, or say the wrong things. We have to be careful
that we do not accidently fall into this trap.
A wise man holds his tongue. Only a fool blurts out everything he knows;
that only leads to sorrow and trouble. It is very hard sometimes to withhold
information that you know about a person, or a situation. You have to be wise
and assess the outcome. If I speak all that I know, will it cause pain and sorrow?
If the answer is “Yes”, then bite your tongue and keep quiet! You will acting as a
wise man, not a fool.
The rich man’s wealth is his only strength. The poor man’s poverty is his
only curse. There would be some who argue that this is not the case, that many
wealthy men do great things with their wealth. And in some isolated cases that is
true, but the majority of wealthy men have an attitude of holding onto what they
already, and try to make more money. Their specific focus is on wealth, not on
helping humanity. On the other hand a poor person will not be able to make a
significant impact, unless they are prepared to make sacrifices. Mother Teresa is
a good example; she consciously gave up any source of financial wealth to go
out into the streets of Indian cities to help the poor and dying.
In one hundred years, I believe she will be remembered, but hundreds of
wealthy men will not. It is by their fruits that they shall be known.
The good man’s earnings advance the causes of righteousness. The evil
man squanders his on sin. Righteousness exalts a nation. Unrighteous acts
cause a nation to fall.
A nation can fall when a few good men do nothing! This is the constant
reminder for all of us; we are held accountable by God Almighty for all of our
actions, and by our lack of action as well. Whether we do good, or whether we do
evil, we shall have to give an account of our lives before the throne room on
judgement day.
Anyone willing to be corrected is on the pathway to life. Anyone refusing
has lost his chance. This is why it is so important these days to hear messages
about sin, correction, and repentance from the pulpits of our churches. I t is the
way to give people a chance to make correction in the life’s direction and get
back onto the pathway of life. Pastors, who do not understand this and do not

28
preach it, are already putting their whole congregations on the pathway to eternal
death. If they do not preach it, the blood of their congregations are upon their
heads. If they do preach it and the congregation members refuse to change their
ways, then the blood is upon their own individual heads, and the pastor is
exonerated.
To hate is to be a liar; to slander is to be a fool. This is a wake-up call for all
Christians. If you hate somebody, God (not me) considers you to be a liar, a
person who bears false witness. You are not obeying the commandments of
Moses, or the commandments of Jesus, where He said; “Love your enemies, and
all those who despise you”. If you slander somebody, you are considered by God
(not me) to be a fool, and no fool can enter the kingdom of heaven. This should
make us seriously consider what we say, on a regular basis. We have to learn
that hard lesson, of “loving our neighbour”, irrespective of what they are doing to
us. God deal with them for what THEY do, and God deals with us for WE do!
God is the ultimate judge, not us!
Do not talk too much. You keep putting your foot in your mouth. Be sensible
and turn off the flow. You notice in scripture that Apostle Peter kept getting into
trouble because he put his mouth into gear before he put his brain into gear. We
all fall into this trap from time to time. Learn to be sensible and bite your tongue,
put your brains into gear first, analyse the situation and decide if what you are
going to say is of benefit to the conversation, or not. If it evokes a negative
response, then keep quiet! Even fools are considered wise when they keep their
mouths shut!
When a good man speaks, he is worth listening to; but the word of fools are
a dime a dozen (of no value). Have you noticed when some people speak,
people stop talking and listen to what they have to say? Why do they do this?
Because they have learnt from experience that what this man says makes good
sense and they can benefit from his advice. On the other hand, when a fool
speaks, people just ignore him and continue with what they are doing. Why is
this? Because again from experience, they have learnt that everything this man
says is worthless and they can gain no value from it.
A godly man gives good advice, but a rebel is destroyed by lack of common
sense. Here we see the effects of God upon our lives. A “godly man” receives his
instructions and his advice from the Holy Spirit, which will always glorify the
Father, and assist people in their time of trials.
A rebel, is fighting against God, and is an instrument of Satan (whether he
realises it or not), so he cannot give good advice, because common sense (a
spiritual gifts) have been removed from him by the Holy Spirit, because of his
rebellion. Unless a rebellious man comes to his senses, repents, and turns away
from his wickedness, he will never ever see salvation; he is doomed to the pit for
eternity.
The Lord’s blessing is our greatest wealth. All our works adds nothing to it!
We are not saved by works, but by God’s grace and His unmerited favour. This is

29
our ultimate blessing from the Lord. It cost Him His life, so that we could be
blessed with a bridge back to the Father, through His blood. No matter how hard
we try, or “work for the Lord” this could never get us into heaven.
John 14:6 makes this very clear. Jesus said; “I AM8 the way, I AM the truth,
and I AM the life, no man (or woman) can come to the Father, except through
Me”.
A fool’s fun is being bad; a wise man’s fun is being wise. A fool can do no
good, it would not be fun for him, and it is not in his nature. On the other hand, a
wise man desires to remain wise, and he gets satisfaction out of it. He remains
blessed by God and so he has learned that to be wise, and remain wise is fun,
because it brings you closer to God, and that is a good thing.
A wicked man’s fears will all come true, and so will the good man’s hopes.
God gives you the desires of your heart. A wicked man has fear in his heart, so
God allows those fears to become manifest, and his fears will become reality. A
good man has hopes, which will glorify God and be a testament to His goodness.
Therefore makes sure that these hopes also come to pass, to bless the good
man.
Disaster strikes like a cyclone and the wicked are whirled away. But the
good man has a stronger anchor. As I write this chapter we hear the news of the
biggest cyclone to ever be recorded, a category five cyclone over Fiji, with a
centre more than 300 Kms across, and winds up to 325 Kms an hour, causing
major damage to villages and loss of life.
But the amazing thing is that at the last minute, the cyclone veered away
from the capital city and it sustained only minor damage, because many good
men were in their houses, at their workplaces, or in the churches praying to God
for them to be spared. Their anchor is Jesus Christ and because they were good
people, God listened to their petitions, and spared their land.
A lazy fellow is a pain to his employers – like smoke in their eyes, or
vinegar that sets their teeth on edge. A lazy employee never helps his employer
achieve greatness. He is usually late to work, slow at his job, and never
innovative, to identify better ways to perform an activity. Because of his laziness,
he is required to be under constant supervision, and brings no joy to his
supervisor, or his employer. Most employers these days would sack him, but that
is not “loving your neighbour”.
Reverence for God adds hours to each day (it prolongs days); so how can
the wicked expect a long, good life. This is a wonderful promise from God, but
unfortunately we do not hear it preached from the pulpits very often. Isn’t it sad
that a pastor would want to shorten a member’s life, by not teaching them this
revelation promise? A wicked person may expect to live a good and long life, but
the angel of death comes when he least expects it.

8
I AM ~~ Infinite, Almighty, Messiah.

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 The hope of good men is eternal happiness; the hopes of evil men are all
in vain. God has promised that all good men will get the desires of their hearts,
but evil men will see their desires taken away from them.
God protects the upright, but destroys the wicked. People today have a
choice; a) be righteous and good and God will protect you, or b) be evil and
wicked and God will destroy you. ISIS and other terrorist groups think they are
doing good but they are deceived, and they will be destroyed, and the world will
see the glorious judgements of our God in action.
The good shall never lose God’s blessings, but the wicked shall lose
everything. God shall reward the good people with more than they already have,
but the evil person, will have what they already possess taken away from them.
The good man gives wise advice, but the liar’s counsel is shunned. People
want good advice and they will search everywhere to find it. But a liar’s advice is
soon identified to be false and is not used again.
The upright speak what is helpful; the wicked speak rebellion. Again
Solomon rephrases the same statement. People are always seeking good, wise
advice and they will readily use it. But the wicked only speak of rebellion, and
should not be listened to, as it will result in trouble for you.

CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE THINGS GOD LOVES & THE THINGS GOD
HATES

The things God Loves The Things that God hates

Loves when business is overboard God hates people cheating in the

with honesty marketplace

People who are down to earth, who The stuck up (the prideful) fall flat on their
trust God stand firm faces

The integrity the honest people keeps The devious schemes of the wicked bring
them from falling into temptation them to ruin

A life built on principles can stand up A thick bankroll is no help when your life
to the worst tests, because they trust falls apart, because it has no help for the
in God heart

A good moral character makes for An evil life is a very hard life, because it is
smooth travelling through life built upon the wrong value system

A good character is the best insurance Criminals get trapped in their own sinful
against evil, because it is based upon lusts and follies
God’s values

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NIL When the wicked die that’s it – there is no
hope of eternal life with Christ

A good person is saved from much A bad person runs straight into trouble
trouble (because God has angels because his eyes are blinded by spiritual
protecting him) darkness

The common sense of a godly person The loose tongue of the godless person
preserves and protects them spreads destruction. If you spread gossip
God says you are a sinner.

The whole town cheers when good But the whole town celebrates when things
people are doing well go bad for bad people.

When right living people bless the Evil people turn a city into a ghost town in
city, the city flourishes and is a great no time
place to live

Quiet discretion accompanies good Mean-spirited slander is heartless and

sense and pleases God does not please God

A person with integrity can be trusted No gossip can be trusted with a secret
with a secret and will not betray a
confidence
The more you follow wise counsel, the Without good direction, people (and
better are your chances for success nations) lose their way

A person who has a cool head, who Whoever makes deals with strangers is
does not rush into rash decision sure to get burned (ripped off, dishonoured
making will avoid rash bargains and cursed)

A woman of gentle grace is respected Rough men rob and steal

When you are kind to others, you bring When you are cruel to others you hurt
blessings upon yourself yourself.

A person who does good work gets But workmanship gets p[aid for with a bad
paid with real money cheque

Take your stand with God’s loyal If you chase after phantoms of the evil one
community, (those who are obedient to you will surely die.
Him in word and deed) and you will
live

God loves a person with pure integrity God cannot stand people who deceive
others

God’s loyal people with triumph and The wicked will not get off scot-free, but
win the victory will be held accountable for their sins

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NIL A gold ring in a pig’s snout is like a
beautiful face on an empty head, it has no
value at all.

The desires of good people lead you But wicked ambition always ends in angry
straight to the best frustration

The world of the generous expands The world of the stingy shrinks and gets
and gets larger and larger smaller and smaller

The person who blesses others is NIL

abundantly blessed in return and those
who help others are helped
themselves

Blessings are upon all those who are Curses are on those who have no mercy
honest and play the game fair and and drive a hard bargain
square, without ant fine print or hidden
charges

The person who seeks after goodness The student who follows evil will himself
shall find delights in the Lord become evil

A God- shaped life blossoms like a A life devoted to worldly things, is a dead
flourishing tree life, just like a dead stump.

Common sense tells you that to exploit If you do exploit or abuse your family you
or abuse your family is a stupid way of will end up with just a fist of air – with
life nothing to show the world

A good life is a life which bears much A violent person will destroy souls
fruit, just like a fruit-bearing tree

If good people barely make it into What is in store for the wicked ones?
heaven.

CHAPTER TWELVE: IF YOU LOVE LEARNING

Verse Comment
If you love learning, you love the In every type of academic or sporting
discipline that goes with it. event, to learn means to train your mind
How short- sighted to refuse and your body, so that it performs to its
correction. best performance. This is wise instruction.
However, it is short sighted in fact unwise
to refuse, or reject correction, because you
will never improve your performance if you
do.

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A good person basks in the delight of A good person delights in the knowledge of
God, and he wants nothing to do with God, and they want to follow His ways
devious schemers. only, and are not likely to be trapped by
devious deceivers with “get-rich” schemes.
You can’t find firm footing is a swamp, A swamp is a place of decay and is not
but life rooted in God stands firm firm in its formation, but is constantly
changing.
On the other hand God is the rock upon
which we can rely, and know we are
always on a firm footing.

A hearty wife invigorates her husband, A wife who is bright and who encourages
but a frigid wife is cancer in the bones her husband is like a crown which can be
proudly displayed for all to see, but a wife
who is frigid (cold and without
complements) is like a cancer which
destroys the bones and eventually kills the
husband. Are you helping your husband to
live a longer life, or are you killing him with
your frigid attitude?
Selah! Stop, pause, and think about that.

The thinking of principled people The people who think righteously, exalts a
makes for justice; the plots of nation; but the thoughts and actions of the
degenerates corrupt wicked are deceitful and lead to corruption,
and ultimately to the destruction of the
whole nation.
The words of the wicked kill; the Those who are wicked cannot do anything
speech of the upright saves but kill, because that is their nature; but the
speech and the actions of the upright (the
righteous ones) save them from
destruction.

Wicked people fall to pieces – there’s History shows that wicked people and
nothing to them; the home of good nations fall and end up in pieces; but the
people holds together homes of righteous people stands firm
because God is guarding it.

A person who talks sense is A man is commended because of his

honoured; airheads are held in righteous behaviour, but a fool who speaks
contempt many words without substance (not making
any sense) is despised.

Better to be ordinary and work for a A man is worthy of his hire. Therefore a
living than act important and starve in person who works well is rewarded, but a
the process fool who pretends to be important will be
ignored, are not paid and will face
starvation.

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Good people are good to their A good person cares for his livestock and
animals; the “good hearted” bad will make sacrifices for their welfare, but a
people kick and abuse them wicked person will mistreat and abuse his
animals and will be rewarded with
hardship.

The one who stays on the job has food God blesses and rewards those who are
on the table; the witless chase whims faithful to their employers, but those who
and fancies keep changing jobs are shifty and
unreliable and have little to show for their
life, because they chase after dreams,
which do not come to anything.

What the wicked construct finally falls History shows that what wicked evil men
into ruin; while the roots of the construct eventually is captured,
righteous give life, and more life overpowered and destroyed, but the root of
the righteous bring forth much fruit and
multiplication of fruit though the
generations.

The gossip of bad people will get them Your destiny is in the power of your
into trouble; but the conversation of tongue.
good people keeps them out of If you speak gossip about people God
trouble. considers you to be ungodly and this gets
you into trouble, but if you guard your
mouth (and be careful about what you say)
you will find that you will be protected from
troubles.

Well-spoken words bring satisfaction; A well-spoken wise man has satisfaction

well done work has its own rewards with himself and with others around him.
His work is rewarded because it is good
and he is respected among his peers.

Fools are headstrong and do whatever Fools rush in where angels fear to tread,
they like; but wise people take advice. and as a result get into serious trouble, but
wise people listen to advice given to them,
weigh it up, and if it is sound advice, they
will implement it.

Fools have short fuses and explode Fools react to situations without thinking
too quickly; the prudent quietly shrugs things through, but a prudent (wise) man
off insults will shrug off insults and continue to serve
God without and angry responses.

Truthful witness by a good person A truthful person is believed and tension in

clears the air; but liars lay down a a situation is removed; but the wicked lay
smoke screen of deceit. down a smoke screen of half-truths and
deceit, to cause more harm, or to get their
way and/or advantage. They shall
eventually be rewarded with destruction.

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Rash language cuts and mains; but Gossip is rash language; and it cuts to the
there is healing in the words of the core of people’s emotions and hurts them
wise for ever, but the wise person only offers
encouraging words which act like healing
balm
Truth lasts; but lies are here today and Jesus said; “I AM the truth,” and His word
gone tomorrow is unchanging – it lasts forever, but lies are
exposed and end up on the garbage heap
with no value.

Evil scheming distorts the schemer; If you plan an evil scheme it will distort
peace-planning brings joy to the your view on things, and you will become
planner more evil yourself, but planning for peace
brings joy in abundance to the planner.

No evil can overwhelm a good person; Evil cannot overwhelm a good person
but the wicked have their hands full of because his protection is from the Lord; but
it wicked people have their hands full of evil
and they are already overcome by it (even
if they do not know it yet).

God cannot stomach liars’ He loves Honesty is the best policy, because God
the company of those who keep their loves to be in their presence, but God
word hates liars and removes His presence from
them.

Prudent people do not flaunt their A fool is easily discovered because he

knowledge; talkative fools broadcast talks without knowledge on any subject;
their silliness. but a wise man conceals his knowledge
unless he is asked for it.

The diligent find freedom in their work; Diligent people love to work and they use
the lazy are oppressed by work all their knowledge and skills to do the best
job they can, but the lazy person complains
about his work and is never satisfied with
what he achieves.

Worry weighs us down; but a cheerful Worry is a disease straight from Satan and
word picks us up. it only brings sickness and grief; but the
cheerful word of a righteous man does
good like a medicine.

A good person survives misfortunes; A good person is able to recover quickly

but a wicked life invites disaster when misfortune comes because his faith
is in God and His blessings, but the wicked
man is already in sin, and it is multiplied
upon his head by many disasters.

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A lazy life is an empty life; but “early to A lazy person has nothing to show for his
rise” gets the job done labours, but a righteous man gets up early,
works all day and is able to show the
rewards of his labours for many years to
come.

Good men and women travel right in Good men and women who follow after
life; but sin detours take you straight to righteousness are not trapped by sin and
hell. live a good life; but people who fall into sin
and do not repent of their sins takes the
road straight to hell.

CHAPTER 13: YOU AND YOUR CHARACTER

Scripture Comment
A wise youth accepts his father’s We are required to accept the rebukes of
rebuke; a young mocker does not. our Father in heaven, because they are to
correct us, and to lead us back onto the
right path. All those who refuse to do so,
are like children who mock at authority,
which ultimately leads to their destruction.

The good man wins his case by It does not matter how truthful a good man
careful argument; the evil-minded is, the evil man will never accept the truth.
person only wants to fight His main aim is to fight and win.

Self-control means controlling your We have to learn to “respond” to

tongue! A quick retort can ruin statements – not “react” to them. To
everything. respond means to control our tongue, think
through the issue clearly, and then lay out
your facts/arguments in a logical and well-
controlled, emotional manner.

Lazy people want much but get little, Lazy people want to sit back and receive
while the diligent people are large benefits, low rental housing, and
prospering. reduced charges for transport, medication,
and other services, whilst an honest,
diligent worker, prospers from his labours
and is rewarded with respect in the
community.

A good man hates lies; wicked men lie Lying is a sin and therefore good men hate
constantly and come to shame. lies and liars, because of their sins. Wicked
men have lost their self-consciousness to
sin, and lie constantly without any shame,
with no consideration of their eternal
destiny.

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A man’s goodness helps him all A good man is helped through his life
through life, while wicked men are because God is with him, but a wicked
being destroyed by their wickedness man is destroyed because Satan is with
him.
Some rich people are poor, and some Some rich people are “earthly rich” but
poor people have great wealth. morally poor, whilst some poor people are
“earthly poor” but morally rich.
God does not look at our earthly treasures,
but He searches out the hearts of all men.

Being kidnapped and held for ransom Why would a poor man not worry? He
never worries the poor man knows that nobody will pay money for him.
For him to be dead is maybe better than
being poor, because he will be with his
Father in heaven.

The good man’s life is full of light. The A good man has the light of Christ shining
sinner’s road is dark and gloomy. upon him and living within him, whilst a
sinner’s life is covered by Satan’s
darkness.

Pride leads to arguments; be humble, Pride comes before a fall. There is never a
take advice and become wise! winner in any argument, because it always
affects a relationship, which has to be
repaired. Learn to be humble, (not weak)
and then you will become wise because
God establishes the humble and raises
them up for His glory.

Wealth from gambling quickly A person who wins from gambling never
disappears; whilst wealth from hard saves the winnings, but tries to make more
work grows money by gambling and it eventually all
disappears.
A hard working-man, values his money,
and invests it wisely and sees it growing
over time.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick; When things that you hoped for don’t turn
but when dreams come true at last, out as expected, you worry and your heart
there is life and joy feels sick, but when you see the realisation
of your hope and dreams come true,
(irrespective of how long it has taken) you
are filled with new life and your heart is full
of joy.

Despise God’s word and find yourself If you reject God’s word, do you still expect
in trouble. Obey it and succeed. God to bless you? NO! It will lead you into
trouble because God’s protection is
removed from you for a time. But if you
read God’s word and obey it, you will be
blessed and succeed in all that you do.

38
The advice of a wise man refreshes Those who listen and accept the advice of
like water from a mountain spring. a wise man are made aware of possible
Those accepting it become aware of dangers ahead, and are therefore looking
the pitfalls on ahead. for them, so they don’t stumble and fall.

A man with good sense is appreciated. The man who gives wise counsel is
A treacherous man must walk a rocky appreciated and those who take his advice
road. do not stumble and fall.
However, a treacherous man is a man who
refuses to listen to wise counsel, and
therefore does not see the pitfalls up
ahead and falls right into them. For him the
journey of life is like walking on a rocky
road, with plenty of objects to trip you up.

A wise man thinks ahead; a fool does A wise man, plans for the future, and
not and even brags about it. stores up supplies for the lean years. A fool
does not plan ahead and even brags about
it, but he ends up without food or shelter.

An unreliable messenger can cause a If you listen to a messenger from Satan

lot of trouble. Reliable communication you will end up in trouble, but reliable
permits progress. communication comes only from God, and
when we listen to God’s messengers only,
we grow spiritually in knowledge and
wisdom.

If you refuse criticism you will end up Those who refuse criticism are people who
in poverty and disgrace; if you accept refuse to change their ways and end up in
criticism you are on the road to fame. poverty and disgrace.
If you accept criticism, you are able to
change your ways and are now on the
road to fame and fortune.

It is pleasant to see plans develop. It is great to see a building take shape,

That is why fools refuse to give them when you see the plans become a reality.
up even when they are wrong. However, the plans of fools are doomed
before they start, because their
expectations are based upon wrong
values.

Be with the wise men and become It is said that if you sleep with dogs you will
wise. Be with evil men and become end up with fleas.
evil. Similarly, if you be with wise men you will
become wise. On the other hand if you
stay with evil men you will become evil like
them. All people are influenced by their
surroundings.

39
Curses chase sinners, while blessings Choose which ones you want – blessings
chase the righteous. or curses. As for me, and my house, we
will serve the Lord.

When a good man dies, he leaves and A good man passes on an inheritance to
inheritance to his grandchildren; but his grandchildren, but the wealth of a
when a sinner dies, his wealth is sinner is stored up and given to the
stored up for the godly. righteous, the godly and not to the sinner’s
children or grandchildren. So be righteous
and receive a double blessing.

A poor man’s farm may have good A poor man labours in good soil on his
soil, but injustice robs him of its riches. farm and receives a bountiful harvest, but
wicked men use trickery to rob him of the
money from his harvest.

If you refuse to discipline your son, it If you spare the rod, you spoil your child.
proves that you do not love him; for if If a child does something wrong, he needs
you love him you will be prompt to to be corrected. He may not know it is
punish him. wrong, or he may not understand the
ramifications of his actions and this could
lead to more serious trouble.
If you really do love your child, you will
correct him, so that he does not get into
more serious trouble later.

The good man eats to live. While the For any good man eating is not the first
evil man, lives to eat. priority in his life; but for evil man eating is
more important than living a righteous life.

A wise woman builds her house, while a A wise woman is careful and prudent with her
foolish woman tears hers down, by her finances and does not make any rash
own efforts or actions. decisions hence her house is built on a sound
foundation, which is Jesus Christ. However, a
foolish woman spends more on her and does
not exercise care for her house, or for her
family, which leads to her downfall.

Notice a man is not mentioned in this verse at

all.

To do right honours God, to sin is to As Christians, we are to be the image of Christ

despise Him. in all we say and do, and this brings honour to
God. If we sin, we are in rebellion against God,
and what He suffered on the cross for us, and
we are despising Him by our actions.

A rebel’s foolish talk should prick his own What a foolish man says identifies his own
pride! But the wise man’s speech is stupidity by speaking without thinking, but a
respected. wise man thinks before he speaks, and is
therefore respected because what he says
makes sense.

40
An empty stable stays clean – but there is If you want to make an income you must be
no income from an empty stable. prepared to clean up the mess in the stable. If
you want to be seen righteous by Jesus, you
must clean yourself up so there can be a
spiritual reward.

A truthful witness never lies; a false In the 10 commandments we are commanded

witness always lies. not to be a false witness, for the wages of sin
is death.

A mocker never finds the wisdom he A man who follows Jesus and his laws has no
claims he is looking for, yet it comes easily trouble finding wisdom, because the fear of the
to the man with common sense. Lord is the beginning of wisdom. However, the
person who does not follow Jesus, is always
looking for something, but there is no peace in
his heart, so he never finds wisdom, because
wisdom comes only from God.

If you are looking for advice, stay away Good advice only comes from people who fear
from fools God, read His word, seek His face, and be
attentive to what the Holy Spirit says to them.
All other advice will ultimately lead to
destruction.

The wise man looks ahead. The fool Because a wise man listens to the Holy Spirit,
attempts to fool himself and will not face he can plan ahead and be prepared for trials
the facts. before they come upon him. A fool refuses to
acknowledge what is right in front of his nose,
and takes no evasive actions to avoid
destruction, until it is too late.

The common bond of rebels is their guilt. We look to ISIS at the moment and see that
The common bond of godly people is their this is a true situation. Their guilt and shame
good will. keeps them captive and they keep on killing
others. But godly people have had their guilt
and shame taken away by the blood of Jesus
Christ, so they no longer need to kill and
destroy, because of the good will of the Father
who sent His only Son to die for us on the
cross.

Only the person involved can know his Many people try to understand what you are
own bitterness or joy – no one else can going through, but only the individual person
really share it. can understand the hurt, the bitterness, or the
pain, that anyone is really suffering. This also
applies to joy; only the individual experiencing
joy can really understand what it is like for
them.

The work of the wicked will perish; the History shows what happened to many wicked
work of the godly will flourish. rich men, they even had their own empires, but
because of their wickedness their empires
came crashing down around them, whilst the
godly man’s works bought him riches, which
continued to flourish as a blessing for
generations.

41
Before every man there lies a wide and The road to hell is a freeway and many people
pleasant road that seems right, but ends with good intentions die on this road, because
in death. it seemed to be the right path to follow (at the
time). But the road to heaven is a narrow path
and very few people find it, or reach the end of
the pathway into heaven.

Laughter cannot mask a heavy heart. You can put on a mask, laugh, and appear to
When the laughter ends, the grief be happy, but when you are all alone and the
remains. laughter stops, the grief and pain in your heart
still remains.

The backslider gets bored with himself, This is a good test of your spiritual
but the godly man’s life is exciting. thermometer. Are you bored or are you
excited? This will tell you whether you are
backsliding or not.

Only a simpleton believes what he is told! The Oxford Dictionary says a “simpleton” is a
A prudent man checks to see where he is gullible person, or someone who believes
going. everything they are told. These types of people
are easily fooled and misled. The prudent (or
wise) man checks what he has been told to
see if it lines up with the word of God, and if it
does, only then does he accept it before
moving on.

A wise man is cautious and avoids A wise man takes one-step at a time, but a fool
danger; a fool plunges ahead with great rushes in where angels fear to tread, and as a
confidence. result, ends up in destruction.

A short-tempered man is a fool. He hates A man, who has a short fuse will easily lose his
the man who is patient. temper, and is considered by God to be a fool.
Because of this he hates a man who is wise
and patient, because God considers him to be
a blessing.

A simpleton is crowned with folly; the wise The gullible man’s values are worthless,
man is crowned with knowledge. because when they are tested they are shown
to be of no value. But the wise man’s values,
are based upon knowledge and experience,
and hence are valued beyond measure.

Evil men shall bow before the godly. Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Those who
love God shall do this as praise, but the evil
ones shall do it by force, before the godly.

Even his own neighbours despise the In the parable of the Prodigal Son, he had
poor man, while the rich have many many friends while he was rich, but as soon as
friends. the money was no longer available his friends
despised him, and went on their way leaving
him all alone to eat the food for the pigs.

42
To despise the poor is a sin; blessed are Many people despise the poor and the needy
those who pity them. refugees at the moment, and God says, (not
me!) that they are committing a sin. However
God will bless all those who have pity on
these, the least of my children.

Those who plot evil shall wander away Those who plot evil become trapped in their
and be lost, but those who plan good, own evil schemes and are eventually lost, but
shall be granted mercy and quietness. those make plans for the goodness of others,
are granted blessings of mercy, peace, and
quietness from God as their reward.

Work brings profit; talk brings poverty. Work (with actions) brings a wage and profit,
but a fool who talks, but (does no action) ends
up in poverty.

Wise men are praised for their wisdom; People praise a wise man, but they despise a
fools are despised for their folly fool because all their scheming results in
nothing but poverty and disaster.

A witness who tells the truth saves good A false witness commits perjury and conspires
men from being sentenced to death, but a to pervert the course of justice, which may
false witness is a traitor. cause an innocent man to be sentenced to
death. If he is captured he will also end up in
prison. On the other hand a man who tells the
truth is glorified by God, and his reward is he
helps to save innocent lives.

Reverence for God gives a man deep Reverence for God is the beginning of wisdom.
strength; his children have a place of A person who fears God is protected by God
refuge and security. and so are his children.

Reverence for the Lord is a fountain of The reverential fear of the Lord is the
life; its waters keep a man from death. beginning of wisdom and it gives continuous
life; the rivers of living water flowing down from
heaven, keeps a man from eternal death.

A growing population is a king’s glory; a When you see a nation on the increase you
dwindling nation is his doom. see the signs from heaven that God is blessing
the nation. However, when you see the
nation’s people fleeing, it is a sign of the
nation’s impending doom. 9

A wise man (or woman) controls his/her How many times have we seen reports on TV
temper. He knows that anger causes where somebody lost their temper and
mistakes. domestic violence resulted in one or both of
the partners being injured needing hospital
treatment; or in other cases a death results
and the other person is placed into prison.

9
Countries like Syria, Iran, and Turkey please take note.

43
A relaxed attitude lengthens a man’s life; To be relaxed in yourself, you must know who
jealousy rots it away. you are in Christ and this leads to an extended
life.
People, who are jealous, are the ones who
covet what another person has. We are told in
scripture not to covet other people’s goods, or
lifestyle.

Anyone who oppresses the poor is Anyone (or any government) who oppresses
insulting God who made them. To help the the poor is insulting God and will be dealt with
poor is to honour God. in God’s time, because God does not like
being insulted.
However, helping the poor honours God and
those who do this will be rewarded in this life
and in the one to come.

The godly have a refuge when they die, When godly people die their spirit goes to live
but the wicked are crushed by their sins. in paradise waiting for the sound of the trumpet
so they can rise to meet Jesus in the clouds.
But the wicked can only wait for the
destruction, which was prophesied, would be
their reward, for rebelling against God.

Wisdom is enshrined in the hearts of men Wisdom is second nature to people who fear
of common sense; but it (wisdom) must God and have common sense. But fools have
shout loudly before fools hear it. shut their ears to wisdom and so it must be
shouted from the rooftops before they even
hear it. However, being fools they will still
probably ignore it.

Godliness exalts a nation, but sin is a Godliness (righteousness) exalts a nation, but
reproach to any people. sin (rebellion against God) is a reproach to
God and to all the people, because God
removes His blessings from them.

A king rejoices in servants who know what A king rejoices when he sees his servants
they are doing; he is angry with those who working harmoniously together, because
cause trouble. peace and prosperity follows, but the king
becomes angry with all who cause trouble
because they interrupt peace and prosperity
suffers.

CHAPTER 15: YOUR ATTITUDES DEFINE YOU

Verse details Comments

A soft answer turns away wrath, but harsh A soft voice reduces stress and soothes the
words cause quarrels possibility of anger, but harsh words increases
stress, brings on anger and causes quarrels
and sometimes, even death.

44
A wise teacher makes learning a joy; a I am sure we can all remember a teacher from
rebellious teacher spouts foolishness our school days, which made attending the
subjects he/she taught, a pleasant experience;
and we can also remember other teachers that
we did not like, because they did not seem to
teach us anything, or they taught the subject
material incorrectly.

The Lord is watching everywhere and There is nowhere on the earth that we can go
keeps his eyes on both the evil and the that the Lord is not watching us. Notice the
good order, God keeps an eye on (1) the evil and (2)
the good.

Gentle words cause life and health; Gentle words bring life and health because
griping brings discouragement gentle words reduce stress. Griping, or
complaining, causes increased stress,
removes joy, brings discouragement, and
ultimately reduces life and health, hence it
helps cause an early death.

Only a fool despises a father’s advice; a We are told to honour our father and our
wise son considers each suggestion. mother and this extends our lives. Therefore
when a father gives advice to a son or a
daughter, it should be listened to, because of
the father’s life experiences. It should be
evaluated calmly, before any decision is made.

There is treasure in doing good; but If you do good to others God sees it and
trouble dogs the wicked rewards you with His blessings. But God also
sees what people do which causes trouble,
and allows them to be placed into situations
where they receive a reward for their actions,
but unfortunately, that reward is trouble to their
souls.

Only the good can give good advice; Only the good can give good advice and good
Rebels can’t counsel. On the other hand those who are
already in rebellion against God, cannot give
good advice because it is against their
rebellious nature.

The Lords hates the gifts of the wicked, If you are wicked and refuse to repent, God will
but delights in the prayers of his people. not accept your gifts made to him, irrespective
of what they are. God only receives gifts or
prayers from a people with a contrite and
repentant hearts.
That is why it says in 2 Chronicles 7:14;
IF (conditional) my people, who are called by
My name will (1) Humble themselves, (2) seek
MY face, (3) pray, and (4) turn from their
wicked ways, THEN (fulfilment of the
conditions) I will; (1) hear from heaven, (2)
forgive their sins, and (3) heal their land.

45
The Lord despises the deeds of the God hates the ways of the wicked, but loves
wicked, but loves those who try to be those who repent and try to mend their ways.
good. If they stop trying, the Lord will However, if they backslide God will punish
punish them; if they rebel against that them, as a warning to repent again, and come
punishment they will die. back to the ways of the Lord. If they continue
to rebel against God’s word, even after they
have been warned by God, they will die in their
sins. This is a very serious warning for all
Christians, once you are saved you cannot
continue to sin and think everything will still be
OK, because it will not be!

The depths of hell are open to God’s The people in Hell have heard God’s message,
knowledge. How much more, the hearts of because Jesus went down into hell and
all mankind. preached to them, so that those who had never
heard a message about salvation through
Jesus Christ could have an opportunity for
salvation.
How much more are the hearts of men able to
hear God’s message, if they are still alive. It is
our responsibility to make sure that they do
hear it, and see it being practised in our
individual and collective lives, as the Body of
Christ operating here on earth.

A mocker stays away from wise men, but A mocker is a person who makes jokes about
he hates to be scolded. all situations, always pointing out the bad
things, which have been done, and never
giving any credit for the good things that a
person does. But when they do something
wrong themselves they do not like to be
scolded. They like to give out, but they do not
like to be treated, as they treat others.

A happy face means a glad heart; a sad Out of your mouth your heart speaks. So your
face means a breaking heart. face is a mirror for your heart. If you are
smiling, your heart is happy. If you are sad, it is
not well with your heart.

A wise man is hungry for truth, while a Wise men always weigh up the evidence to
mocker feeds on trash. make sure it lines up with the truth of God’s
word, while a mocker (fool) believes everything
he hears and reads, without verifying its
accuracy.

When a man is gloomy, everything seems We are told to praise the Lord in all situations,
to go wrong; when he is cheerful, (not for the situations) so that the Lord can do
everything seems right what is right for us. Even though the situation
may seem difficult, it seems right because we
have faith that God is in the situation with us.
However, when we are gloomy, we are not
giving praise, glory, or honour to God, so the
situation seems to be all wrong.

46
Better a little with reverence to God, than You have seen many documentaries where
great treasure and trouble with it. people who know God, living with next to
nothing seem happy, whilst people who are
multi-millionaires commit suicide because they
cannot buy happiness, no matter how hard
they try.

It is better to eat soup with someone you Because you love the person you are with, the
love than to eat steak with someone you soup tastes great, but when you are eating
hate. with a person that you hate, the steak does not
taste good no matter how well it has been
prepared and cooked. Your relationship with
people will determine your taste for the food.

Selah! Stop, pause, and think about that!

A quick-tempered man starts fighting; a A cool tempered man will sometimes walk
cool-tempered man tries to stop them. away, so that a fight cannot start. This takes
courage; he is not a coward for doing this.

A lazy fellow has trouble all through his God protects the ways of a good man, so that
life; the good man’s path is easy! his path is made easy, but the lazy man has no
respect for God, so God allows him to fall into
traps, as a warning for him to change. As we
have already seen in a previous scripture, God
sends the warnings, but if the person continues
to do evil they will die in their sins.

A sensible son gladdens his father. A Fathers take credit for their good sons, but
rebellious son saddens his mother disown the rebellious ones. Because mothers
love all their sons, a rebellious son causes her
to grieve.

If a man enjoys folly, something is wrong! A person who loves what is evil is not
The sensible stays on the pathways of honouring God, but a person who searches
righteousness. after righteousness is always on the right path
and God watches over him.

Plans go wrong with too few counsellors; Sometimes this verse is hard to understand.
many counsellors bring success. Moses sent out 12 princes to spy out the
Promised Land and 10 came back with a
report that said it was impossible to take the
land.
(Many counsellors, but the wrong counsel).
Beware of the counsel of the ungodly. But
Joshua and Caleb said that they could take on
these nations and win because God had
already promised the land to the nation of
Israel.

Everyone enjoys giving good advice and The scriptures tells us not to think about what
how wonderful it is to be able to say the we are to say, because the Holy Spirit will give
right thing at the right time. us the right words to say, at the right time –
that is, if we are attuned to God and trust His
Holy Spirit to speak through us.

47
The road of the godly leads upwards, If we really trust in the Lord, then we will move
leaving hell behind. higher and higher in spiritual maturity, hence
upwards towards heaven, leaving hell way
behind us, because our focus in now on Jesus
Christ and heaven, not on Satan and hell.

The Lord destroys the possessions of the Pride comes before a fall. Therefore they will
proud, but cares for the widows. not receive any blessings from God, in fact
God will allow their fields to be destroyed, they
will plant, but others will reap the harvest.
God always provides for the widows in the
scriptures. The widow in Zerepath who fed
Elijah during the famine, the widow whose son
Elisha brought back to life and the widow
whose son died, and Jesus brought back to life
while the coffin was on its way to be buried.

The Lord hates the thoughts of the God loves to hear kind words spoken, but
wicked, but delights in pure kind words. hates the thoughts of evil men even before
they are spoken, therefore we should think
before we speak, because out of the heart the
mouth speaks.

Dishonest money brings grief to all the No matter who obtained dishonest money in a
family, but hating bribes brings happiness. family, whether it be by wrongly claiming
Centrelink payments, or not declaring all of
your income on your tax returns, the whole
family will suffer the consequences of this evil
deed.
But those who hate bribes, who strive after
righteousness, will be happy and rewarded by
God.

Selah! Stop, pause, and think about that!

A good man thinks before he speaks; the A good man speaks from a good heart and
evil man pours out his evil words without a hurts no one with his words. An evil man
thought. speaks from an evil heart, and gives no
thought to what he says; or the implications of
what he says upon those who hears his words.

The Lord is far from the wicked, but he 2 Chronicles 7:14 says that God will not even
hears the prayers of the righteous. listen to the prayers of unrighteous people. But
He will listen from heaven, forgive their sins,
and heal the lands of the righteous ones.

Pleasant sights and good reports give A merry heart does good, like a medicine.
happiness and health. When we see beautiful things and hear good
reports it brings joy to our hearts.
The opposite is the case for evil sights and bad
reports.

48
If you profit from constructive criticism you God corrects us because He loves us.
will be elected to the wise men’s hall of Constructive criticism is given by a person who
fame. But to reject criticism is to harm loves you so that you can correct you ways,
yourself and your own best interests. become wise, and improve your position.
Those who reject wise counsel are just plain
stupid, and will never amount to anything.

Humility and reverence for the Lord will This is a basic lesson that all Christians must
make you both wise and honoured. learn, put God first with humility and reverential
fear, and God will raise you up.

CHAPTER 16: GOD IS IN CONTROL

Verse Details Comments

We can make our plans, but the final God’s ways are higher than our ways, and
outcome is always in God’s hands God’s ways are always perfect. Therefore,
even if we make plans (which we think are
perfect) they still have to be lined up
against God’s eternal plan for us, and
sometimes He changes our plans to line up
with His.

We can always “prove” that we are If we cannot convince God that we are
right, but is God convinced? right, then our arguments (irrespective of
how well we debate them) are still wrong.

Commit your work to the Lord and it If you commit your work to the Lord, it will
will succeed. line up with God’s intentions, because your
heart is focussed on God and His word.
Because of this, God will bless you with
success, because He wants you to be a
positive witness for Him in all you say and
do.

The Lord has made everything for His This puts a different thought process on all
purposes – even the, wicked for the evil we see in the world today. They
punishment. are there for God's purposes - for His
punishment, and so that we can teach
them about the Love of Christ and bring
them to a place of salvation.

Pride disgusts the Lord. Take my word Pride comes before a fall. History has
for it. Proud men shall be punished. shown this statement to be true many
times over. God allows people to be raised
up, but when pride takes over He brings
them down to earth once again.

49
Iniquity is atoned for by mercy and If you has a reverential fear of the Lord you
truth; evil is avoided by reverence to will avoid evil. If you fall into iniquity,
God. repentance brings forth the mercy and truth
of God’s word for you. Jesus rejoices in
each sinner who repents and comes back
into the fold of grace and mercy.

When a man is trying to please God, If you want complete peace in your life,
God makes even his worst enemies to then try to please God, with your thinking,
be at peace with him. what you say, and what you do; at all times
following, and being obedient to His divine
word; because God will put influence upon
your enemies, forcing them to be at peace
with you.

A little gained honestly, is better than There is no peace in a person’s heart of

great wealth gotten by dishonest wealth gained by dishonest means,
means. because the person always worries that
someone will find out and it will be all taken
away from him.
An honest man gives thanks to God for
what he has and there is peace in his
heart.

We should make plans – counting on There are many records in the scriptures
God to guide us where people made plans, some were
victories and other were great failures.
The victories were when the people
enquired of God and talked about their
plans with Him, so He could guide their
paths to bring success to their plans and
glory to God.

God will help the king to judge the We often hear of a man being put in prison
people fairly; there need be no for a crime he did not commit. This proves
mistakes. that the judges making these judgements
do not go to the Lord for guidance,
because God never makes mistakes.

The Lord demands fairness in every If God established this principle, then
business deal. He established this God’s law must be followed. For those who
principle. refuse to follow God’s laws, God allows
punishment to follow after them. They don’t
win in the long run!!!

It is a horrible thing for a king to do We see what happened to King David

evil. His right to rule depends upon his when he did evil. His first born son to
fairness (for his throne is established Beersheba died. A king’s rule is
upon righteousness) established upon righteousness, because
righteousness exalts a nation.

50
The king rejoices when his people are Therefore a nation rejoices when they see
truthful and fair. their leaders being truthful and fair in all
respects to the people that they govern.
Similarly, Jesus rejoices when He see His
people (Christians) being truthful and fair to
each other, and to the unbelievers who are
yet to acknowledge Him as their Saviour.

The anger of a king is the messenger God was going to destroy the nation of
of death and a wise man will appease Israel because of their disobedience, but
it. Moses (the wise man) argued with God
and convinced Him to change His mind.
God agreed not to destroy them, but for
their evil they were forced to wander in the
wilderness for 40 years until all the people
over 20 years of age who left Egypt had
died, except Joshua and Caleb.
Remember, when God called Moses to
serve Him, he was 80 years of age. When
God chose Joshua and Caleb to serve
Him, they also were over 60 years of age.
There is no age limit on serving God.

Many favours are shown on those who How much more will favours be shown
please the king upon those who please God Almighty. God
has promised to pour out His blessings
upon all those who please Him.

How much better is wisdom than gold The people of the worldview strive after
and understanding than silver silver and gold, as a sign of their success
here on earth. But you cannot take any of it
with you when you die. The people of God
strive for wisdom and understanding, so
that they can store up treasures in heaven,
where robbers and moths do not have
access to it.

The path of the godly leads away from The roadway to Hell is a super highway
evil, he who follows this path is safe. and millions travel this path to destruction;
the path of the godly is narrow, and it leads
away from evil. Few find it, but it leads on
to glory.
Which path are you travelling on today?

Pride goes before destruction and Pride is the opposite to humbleness;

haughtiness before a fall. Haughtiness is the opposite of humility,
meekness, and modesty. These are the
attributes that God wants in all of His
believers.

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Better poor and humble than proud God can raise up the poor and humble
and rich man, but God can also subdue the proud
rich man and take away all of his
possessions, if he fails to recognise and
honour God in his life.
God blesses those who obey Him; Are you happy, or are you blue,
happy is the man who puts his trust in It depends on your obedience to God,
the Lord. It is not about you. Those who put their
trust in God will be spared from the sword,
and the rod.

The wise man is known by his A wise man seems to have all the answers
common sense; and a pleasant and they make sense. If he teaches, he is
teacher is the best. pleasant and kind and his students learn
much from him. Even long after they have
left school they will remember what they
have been taught, by a wise man; but what
was taught by a foolish man is soon
forgotten.

Wisdom is a fountain of life to those To those who seek after and find wisdom
possessing it, but a fool’s burden is God gives extended life, while the foolish
his folly die at a younger age.

From a wise mind comes careful and A wise man can speak his thoughts in such
persuasive speech. a way to convince his audience that what
he says in right, but a fool with not be as
successful.

Kind words are like honey – enjoyable Kind words bring peace to any situation,
and healthy. like healing balm to a wound. We should all
strive to say kind words only. Hateful and
spiteful words are like a sword cutting deep
to the bone, leaving hurt and wounds
which need further attention.

Before every man there lies a wide What we think, without confirmation from
and pleasant road he thinks is right, Jesus, always leads to destruction and
but it ends in death. death. That is why we are told to take all
our supplications and questions to Him, so
He can re-direct our paths back onto the
CORRECT PATH.

Hunger is good – if it make you work When you work, your hands are not idle,
to satisfy it. so the devil has a harder job to divert your
attention to other things.

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Idle hands are the devil’s workshop; Out of the heart the mouth speaks. If you
idle lips are his mouthpiece. are idle, you have two choices;
 Seek the Lord and do what is right, or
 Open your heart to the evil of this
world.
There is no middle ground on this
issue.

An evil man sows strife; gossip An evil man can never do any good
separates the best of friends because it is against his nature. The
scriptures tell us that God considers gossip
to be ungodliness. In both situations evil
abounds and God is not glorified at all.

Wickedness loves company – and A drug dealer cannot work in isolation; he

leads others into sin. needs others to drag down to his level of
sin. So it is in many situations in the world
today.

The wicked man stares into space with The evil of man is not spontaneous, it is
pursed lips, deep in thought, planning carefully planned to deceive even the most
his evil deeds. unsuspecting Christian, who has a small-
cleft opening into his heart.

White hair is a crown of glory and is Whiter hair is seen as a sign of wisdom
seen mostly among the godly. upon a man, but the world has told women
to cover their white hair, to disguise their
wisdom and take glory away from God.

It is better to be slow-tempered than That is seen in many of the movies about

famous; it is better to have self-control Hitler. He had a terrible temper and made
than to control an army. many of his wrong decisions because upon
his anger, instead of good judgement. This
resulted in the downfall of a complete
nation.

We toss the coin; but it is the Lord who Have you ever thought about this? Yes,
controls the decision. Australians are famous for playing 2-up,
but have you ever thought that it is God
Almighty who decides is it falls down heads
or tails. God does miracles in many ways
we are yet to understand, but in all things
God’s ways are perfect.

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CHAPTER 17: PEACE PASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING

Verse Comments
A meal of bread and water in Spices, like quarrels, cause indigestion,
contented peace is better that a and hence the meal is not enjoyed, but the
banquet spiced with quarrels peace of God passes all understanding
and it is a blessing to all who find it.

A wise servant takes charge of an We know the saying: Spare the rod and
unruly child and is honoured as one of spoil the child, well here the Master of the
the family house recognises that the servant is
teaching the child the proper ways to
behave and he is therefore rewarded by
being treated as one of the family.

As silver in a crucible and gold in a When you put silver in a crucible it is

pan, so our lives are assayed by God melted, the dross (waste particles) are
removed and the silver becomes purer.
Similarly, gold in a pan is separated from
the mud by the sluicing of the water
through it. God uses similar methods to
shake us and sift us, to make us a purer
part of the Bride – a bride without blemish

Evil people relish malicious As has been seen in our previous studies,
conversation, the ears of liars itch for God considers malicious conversations
dirty gossip and dirty gossip to be ungodliness and that
is why it is considered by God to be a sin.

Whoever mocks poor people, insults Jesus said that there will always be poor
their Creator, gloating over misfortune among us, but we are to exercise mercy
is a punishable crime and compassions towards them. Anyone
who does not has committed a sin in God’s
eyes.

Old people are distinguished by The scripture tells us to honour our fathers
grandchildren; children take pride in and our mothers. It is the first promise of
their parents God, which guarantees that we will have
an extended life. Grandparents see the
seeds of their labour flow into a second
generation. Some are even more blessed,
to see the seeds of their labour flow into
their great grandchildren, or their great-
great grandchildren.10

10
When I was born, there were 5 generations of my family alive.

54
We do not expect eloquence from We are told to pray for our leaders, so that
fools, nor do we expect lies from our they do not fall into this trap, because God
leaders. holds them to a higher level of
accountability than us.

Receiving a gift is like getting a rare Any gift you receive has a love stamp
gemstone, any way you look at it, you attached. That is why the gift of Jesus
see beauty reflected Christ is so precious.

Overlook an offense and make a bond The love of God covers a multitude of sins;
of friendship, fasten on to a slight and therefore when we exercise God’s love to
– goodbye friend others in forgiveness, we are rewarded.
When we complain about something,
Satan has an opportunity to step in a
cause division and distress.

A quite rebuke to a person of good A person of good sense will “respond” to a

sense does more than a wack on the quiet word, whilst a fool will “react” to a
head of a fool wack on the head and learns nothing from
the experience at all.
This is the test of spiritual maturity –
whether you “respond” or “react”.

Criminals out looking for nothing but If you go out looking for trouble, then
trouble will not have long to wait – they trouble will come looking for you, because
will meet it coming and going. satan is always looking for people to
deceive, kill, or destroy.

Better to meet a grizzly robbed of her A grizzly may kill your body, but your spirit
cubs than a fool hell bent on folly remains intact, whilst a fool will damage
your spirit if you join in his folly.

Those who return evil for good will The scriptures tell us you reap what you
meet their own evil returning sow. If you sow evil that is also what you
will reap.

The start of a quarrel is like a leak in a Many times biting one’s tongue is the first
dam wall, so stop it before it bursts sign of wisdom; it stops further destruction.

Whitewashing bad people and God does not like anything false.
throwing mud on good people are Pretending that bad people are good, and
equally abhorrent to God that good people are bad, is the same sin
in God’s eyes.

What is this? Fools out shopping for The reverential fear of the Lord is the first
wisdom? They would not recognise it step towards wisdom, but fools would not
even if they saw it. recognise wisdom, otherwise they would
no longer be considered as fools.

55
Friends love through all kinds of This is the basic test of any church or
weather, and families stick together in congregation. Do they love you under all
all kinds of trouble situations? Are they really a family that stick
together in all kinds of trouble?

It is stupid to try to get something for Money does not grow on trees; neither does
nothing, or run up large bills you can wisdom. People, who think they can get
never repay. something for nothing, forget that there is no
such thing as a free lunch; there are always
consequences, just like running up bills you
cannot repay. Bankruptcy has its own
repercussions and punishments.

The person who courts sin, marries People, who court sin, are blinded by satan,
trouble, build a wall, invite a burglar to the possible outcomes, and hence marry;
and the result is no peace in their marriages.
It is better to build a wall and invite a
burglar, who will then be prevented from
entering.

A bad motive can’t achieve a good God cannot repay evil with good hence any
end, double-talk brings you double- talking which is not truthful, will bring no
trouble peace.
Having a fool for a child is a misery, it Having a fool for a child is a clear reflection
is no fun being the parent of a dolt of their parents, who did not teach them
correctly
“Dolt” = an offensive term that deliberately
insults somebody’s intelligence. Therefore
no joy will come of this outcome.

A cheerful disposition is good for your A merry heart does good like a medicine,
health; gloom and doom leave you but doom and gloom lead to an early death.
bone-tired.
The wicked take bribes under the Those who take bribes are only fooling
table; they show nothing but contempt themselves, God is watching and His justice
for justice it eternal.

The perceptive find wisdom in their Perception requires deep thought and
own front yard; fools look everywhere wisdom is the reward, but fools never think
but never find it. things through, so they miss their
opportunity to receive any rewards.

A surly, stupid child is sheer pain to a Raise up children in the knowledge and
father and a bitter pill for the mother to admonition of the Lord and they will bless
swallow you all of your life, but raising up a fool only
causes pain and heartache.

It is wrong to penalise good behaviour, This is the definition of corruption, when you
or make good citizens pay for the punish the innocent to protect the guilty. But
crimes of others. today, many nations follow this policy.

56
The one who knows much says little, When people are tearing their hair out over
an understanding person remains some disaster, the wise man is not seen or
calm heard, but sits quietly and remains calm,
saying very little.

Even dunces who keep quiet are Our mouths speak the words from our
thought to be wise; just as long as they hearts. If there is no peace in our hearts,
keep their mouths shut; they are then the fools are exposed very quickly.
smart.

CHAPTER 18: QUARRELLING BRINGS NO REWARD

Verse Comments
The selfish man quarrels against every We have a choice; our way, or God’s way. God’s
sound principle of conduct, by demanding way is always perfect and brings blessings and
his own way peace; our way only leads to destruction.

A rebel does not care about the facts. All A rebel is like a lazy journalist, and does not let
he wants to do is yell. the facts interfere with a good story. A rebel
believes that if he yells loud enough, and long
enough, he will get his own way. Like the selfish
man above, your own way leads only to
destruction.

Sin brings disgrace Sin brings disgrace, but the blood of Jesus frees
us from the punishment of sin and this truth will
set you free from that ‘sin’ disgrace.

A wise man’s words express deep A wise man thinks before he speaks, but a fool
streams of thought. engages his mouth before his brain.

It is wrong for a judge to favour the wicked This is the basic definition of corruption: To
and condemn the innocent. persecute the innocent to protect the guilty.
God’s word makes it clear; corruption is a sin
and this judge will have to give an account of his
sin before the judgement seat of heaven.

A fool gets into constant fights. His mouth Out of your mouth, your heart speaks. When
is his undoing! His words endanger him. your heart is not right with God, it cannot be right
with mankind; hence get you heart right with
God; or face eternity without him.

What dainty morsels rumour are; they are Not all things that taste good are good for you.
eaten with great relish. By accepting a rumour, you are spreading
gossip and God considers gossip to be
ungodliness, and ungodliness is a sin.

57
A lazy man is brother to a saboteur. Have you ever considered that a lazy man is a
Another translation: brother to a terrorist, or to a person who
He also that is slothful in his work is knowingly wastes what he has? A terrorist takes
brother to him that is a great waster. away what is lawfully not his, whilst a waster
gives away what is his, but it benefits no one.

The Lord is a strong fortress. The godly When we run into the fortress of our Lord, the
run to him and are safe. enemy is defeated because he cannot penetrate
God’s armour of protection around us.

The rich man thinks of his wealth as an God raises up and God pulls down. God can
impregnable defence, a high wall of allow a person to become rich, but our God can
safety. What a dreamer! also remove that wealth. When we trust in
money as our defence, we are fools and
dreamers. It has no protection for us at all.

Pride ends in destruction; humility ends in Pride comes before a fall, which leads to your
honour. ultimate destruction. But God Himself raises up
the humble to positions of honour in His house.

What a shame! Yes, how stupid, to decide It is easy to make snap decisions, but without
before knowing the facts. knowing the facts, there is a very good chance
that your decision will be wrong, making you
look like a fool. It is better to wait, collect all the
facts, and then you make your decisions
carefully, based upon all of the evidence.

A man’s courage can sustain his broken A courageous man takes his strength from the
body, but when courage dies, what hope Lord, but a man who does not know the Lord
is left? has no hope and no courage, hence he dies and
satan claims another victim.

The intelligent man is always open to new An intelligent man is always looking for new
ideas. In fact, he looks for them. ways to do things, to make his life easier. From
these new ideas come new inventions.

A bribe does wonders; it brings you before I have always been taught that to give a bribe
men of importance. was wrong.
Another translation: A man’s gift makes In fact in Australia, you can be sent to jail, if
room for him, and brings him before great found guilty of giving, or receiving a bribe.
men. But that is not what is meant here. The bribe
(gift) gets you to see a man of importance that
you may not normally be able to see, because of
your low status, but it does not ask this man to
commit a crime. If there is criminal intent in
paying the money, then it is wrong.

Any story sounds true until someone tells That is why when you go into court to give
the other side of the story and sets the evidence, you have to swear to tell the truth, the
record straight. whole truth (not just part of the truth) and you
make this oath before God, the ultimate judge.
Lawyers are skilled in telling part of the truth to
assist their clients, but the judge and the jury
have to make their decisions, based upon all of
the facts, not just some of them.

58
A coin toss ends arguments and settles Can you imagine two great armies facing each
disputes between powerful opponents. other on the battlefield and the two generals
settling the war by tossing a coin into the air?
No! Neither can I. We are told to trust in God,
not on chance.

It is harder to win back the friendship of an When you offend a friend you injure his trust and
offended brother than to capture a fortified this takes many years to heal. It is better to go to
city. His anger shuts you out like iron bars. him, confess your faults, and ask for his
forgiveness.

The ability to give wise advice satisfies Knowing that your good advice has helped
like a good meal. someone is refreshing and satisfying. But giving
bad advice leaves a bad taste in your mouth,
and no peace!

Those who love to talk will suffer the Proverbs chapter 6 says that you are trapped by
consequences. Men have died for saying the words of your mouth. Out of your heart your
the wrong thing. mouth speaks. If you say the wrong thing, your
heart is revealed and you suffer the
consequences. God does not look at the
outside, God looks at the heart.

A man who finds a wife finds a good thing; This is a true statement and I can testify that it is
she is a blessing to him from the Lord. true. A godly wife is a blessing from the Lord.
(33 years and counting.)

The poor man pleads and the rich man A poor man pleads his case and God hears Him
answers with insults. and he is rewarded, but a rich man answers with
insults and in not rewarded, in fact his riches
maybe taken away.

There are “friends” who pretend to be There are many who pretend to be your friend
friends, but there is a friend who sticks while you have wealth or position, but like the
closer than a brother prodigal son, when the money runs out, so the
friendship vanishes.
But Jesus is the friend who has promised to
never leave us nor forsake us, no matter what
are the circumstances. He sticks closer than a
brother; through thick or thin and He always has
your best interests at heart.

CHAPTER 19: OUR CHARACTER & GOD’S CHARACTER

Verse Comments
Better to be poor and honest than rich Honesty and righteousness are God
and dishonest. character attributes and He will protect and
rewards all those who exhibit these
examples, whilst dishonesty is a character
trait of Satan and his destination is
destruction.

59
It is dangerous and sinful to rush into Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
the unknown Before you go into any situation you should
pray for guidance. It is dangerous and sinful
to ignore the advice of God in His word.
(Pray to God in ALL situations)

A man may ruin his chances by his A man who refuses to acknowledge his own
own foolishness and then blame it on mistakes has a fool for a judge and brings
the Lord. disrespect upon the Lord.

A wealthy man has many “friends”; the When a wealthy man’s money runs out so
poor man has none left. does his “friends”.

Punish false witnesses. Track down The 10 commandments are quite clear.
liars. Thou shalt not bear false witness. To lie is to
deliberately hide the truth and this is against
Christ, because Jesus said; “I AM the way, I
AM the truth, I AM the life; no man comes to
the Father except through me”.

Many beg favours from a man who is A friend who is generous is better than a
generous; everyone is his friend. millionaire who keeps all his money to
himself.

A poor man’s own brother turns away  Are you embarrassed by your family
from him in embarrassment; (in the members?
name of the Lord) how much more his  Are your friends ashamed of you?
friends! He calls after them, but they  These characteristics indicate the level
are gone. of spiritual maturity each person has
around you --- including you.

He who loves wisdom, loves his own The person who loves wisdom sets his heart
best interests and will be a success. on the things of God, because the search for
reverential fear (of God) is the first step
towards wisdom. Those who search for God
are always a success (in the end).

A false witness shall be punished and Neither the false witness, nor the liar will
they shall be caught. ever succeed, because both go against
God’s laws and therefore God cannot bless
their endeavours.

It does not seem right for a fool to If a fool succeeded, he would no longer be a
succeed, or for a slave to rule over fool, so it is foolish to even assume that a
princes. fool will succeed. For a slave to rule over a
prince indicates that the prince is weak and
unable to claim his rightful place of
leadership.

60
A wised man restrains his anger and When you overlook and do not react to
overlooks insults. This is to his credit. insults, you build up credits in heaven, which
cover a multitude of sins.

The king’s anger is a dangerous as One word from an angry king can result in
that of a lion. But his approval is as people being put to death; but to receive
refreshing as the dew on the grass. praise from the king lifts a person to new
heights of respect among his neighbours.

A rebellious son is a calamity to his A rebellious son reflects badly on the father
father, and a nagging wife annoys like who failed to teach him properly, whilst a
a constant dripping roof. nagging wife is continually interrupting the
peace of the household.

A father can give his sons homes and The home and the riches are just temporary
riches, but only the Lord can give them comforts, but God gives a wife who is a
understanding wives. lifelong comfort.

A lazy man sleeps soundly – and goes Man shall not live by bread alone. You need
hungry to work to earn the money to buy the bread.
NO WORK? NO EAT!

Keep the commandments and keep Many people say we live under the new
your life; despising them means death. covenant, so we do not have to keep these
Old Testament commandments. But our
legal system embodies these laws, so even
our lawmakers consider that we should keep
them.
If you do not obey God’s laws, you are not
obeying God, therefore why would you
expect Him to preserve your life in your
rebellion against Him?

When you help the poor you are Helping the poor pays dividends from the
lending to the Lord – and He pays Lord. If you refuse Proverbs 21:13 applies;
wonderful interest on your loan! He who shuts his ears to the cries of the
poor will be ignored in his own time of need.

Discipline your son in his early years If God says to discipline your child, then you
while there is hope. If you do not you are in rebellion against God if you do not
will ruin his life. obey His instructions. The result as
predicted will be a ruined life, because God
cannot bless anything, which goes against
His word.

A short-tempered man must bear his Most short-tempered men are also
own penalty; you cannot do much to unteachable. Therefore, no matter how
help him. If you try once you must try a much you try, they rarely change their ways,
dozen times. unless the Holy Spirit works on their insides.

61
Get all the advice you can, and be As you get older you should be getting
wise the rest of your life. wiser. That is the indicator of spiritual
maturity.

Man proposes, but God disposes. Despite what humanity designs and
proposes (no matter how good it may seem
at the time), if it is not part of God’s plan for
your life, then it will not succeed. God’s
ways are always perfect, because His ways
are higher than our ways, and let’s face it —
He is wiser than we are!

Kindness makes a man attractive. And God raises up the kind and the humble, and
it is better to be poor than be this is recognised by others. Righteousness
dishonest. exalts a nation, and God will bless you, even
if you are poor in wealth, you will be rich in
spirit.
Dishonest people are never rich in spirit, nor
are they happy, because they are always
worrying that somebody will steal their
dishonest wealth.

Reverence for God gives life, The reverential fear of the Lord is the
happiness and protection from harm beginning of wisdom. Wise people have
extended lives, they are happier and have
God’s protection, but people who do not
have reverence of the Lord are always in
trouble.

Some men are so lazy they won’t even If they don’t have a considerate helper, they
feed themselves. die an early death.

Punish a mocker and others will learn That is why sometimes punishment is
from his example. Reprove a wise necessary for wrongdoing, not only for the
man and he shall become wiser. person who did wrong but also as an
example to the whole group, so they don’t
make the same mistake and therefore suffer
the same consequences.

A son who mistreats his father or Unfortunately, this is not taught in our
mother is a public disgrace. schools anymore, and as a result sons and
daughters are falling by the wayside, in
some cases without any chance of a way
back to salvation.

62
Stop listening to teachings that The scriptures tell us that in the last days
contradicts what you know (in your there will be a falling away and that many
heart) to be right will be deceived by wrong teachings, which
sound too good to be true.
Pastors and teachers will produce sermons,
which tickle the ears of the hearers, not
correct them with Bible-based instruction.
Therefore as Apostle Paul warned, test
everything you hear and make sure it lines
up with the Gospel message. If it does not it
must be rejected.

A worthless witness cares nothing for The commandments are clear; thou shall
the truth – he enjoys his sinning too not bear false witness, because in God’s
much eyes it is a sin. We know from Romans that
the wages of sin is death, but salvation
comes through the blood of Jesus Christ,
which leads us to eternal life.

Mockers and rebels shall be severely The scripture tells us that we cannot mock
punished God and think we can get away with it.
God’s grace and mercy flows, but then
comes the judgement, and mockers and
rebels against God will not escape His fury.

PROVERBS CHAPTER 20: WHO CONTROLS YOU, SATAN OR GOD?

Verse Comment
Wine gives false courage; hard liquor More and more evidence is emerging that
leads to brawls; what fools men are to alcohol is directly linked to violence, as the
let it master them, making them reel alcohol activates parts of the brain, which
drunkenly down the street normally are under control. Violence comes
from the evil one, not from God. Only fools
let the evil one (Satan) take control of your
body through alcohol, (or drugs)

The king’s fury is like that of a roaring Kings and people in leadership have power
lion; to rouse his anger is to risk your that can be released in an instant; but when
life. it is released the person who is responsible
could lose their lives. There is power over
life and death in the tongue. A wise man
knows when to keep his mouth shut and
protect his life.

It is an honour for a man to stay out of It is easier sometimes to get into a fight than
a fight. Only fools insist on quarrelling. to stay out of it. To stay out of a fight
requires courage and the knowledge that
what you are doing is for the good of all.

63
If you won’t plough in the cold, you Ploughing is necessary to prepare the
won’t eat at the harvest. ground for the seeds to be planted and is
usually done in the winter months, so the
land can lay fallow during the cold months,
killing any weeds and preparing the ground
to receive the seeds in spring for the
harvest. If you are not prepared to suffer the
cold to prepare the soil, then God cannot
bless your fields with a good harvest.

Though good advice lies deep within a A counsellor is not there to tell you what to
counsellor’s heart, the wise man will do, but to advise you of possible options for
draw it out. the specific situation you are facing. The
wise man is a person who uses his skills to
extract the right advice from the counsellor
and then be able to apply it to the situation
for God’s glory.

Most people will tell you what loyal The test of who your real friends are comes
friends they are, but are they telling when there is a crisis in your life. Real
the truth? friends don’t judge you, they just jump in
and help you through the mess and bring
you out the other side, still remaining the
friendship and in fact making the friendship
stronger.

It is a wonderful heritage to have an In today’s society many people would say

honest father. that it is wonderful to have a father, with so
many single parent families trying to raise
their children. But this statement goes
further than that.
You can have a dishonest father, which
causes grief, hurt, even hatred and it is not a
heritage that you would want to pass onto
your children.
But an honest father is someone you are
happy to leave in charge of your children,
knowing that they will be loved, cherished,
and protected.

64
A king sitting as judge weighs all the The Bible makes many mentions of
evidence carefully, distinguishing the righteous judges, people who look behind
true from the false. the scenes to deliberate carefully on the
evidence to determine a righteous and just
verdict. When King Solomon ordered that
the baby by cut in half by the sword, he had
no intention of hurting the child, but he was
watching for the reaction of the two women
who claimed that the baby was hers. The
real mother was prepared to give up her
rights to the child, so that it would not be
harmed; she loved her child so much. As a
result she was awarded custody of her
baby.

Who can ever say, “I have cleansed The scripture tells us that any person who
my heart; I am sinless”. thinks he is sinless is a fool and the Spirit of
God is not in Him. We all are sinful and it is
only through the cleansing blood of Jesus
Christ that we can remain cleansed, by
confessing our sins and asking Jesus to
forgive us our sins on a daily basis.

The Lord despises every kind of In today’s society, the line between right and
cheating. wrong is so blurred that people do not
realise that what they are doing is in fact
wrong, that cheating is a sin.
Yes they understand that cheating on an
examination is wrong, but going 61 Kms an
hour in a 60 zone is not cheating, it is only 1
Km over the speed limit, so that is ok, when
in fact it is not ok, it is a sin, just like
cheating on the exam paper.

The character of even a child can be The scripture tells us to bring up a child in
known by the way he acts – whether the things of God and he will not depart from
what he does is pure and right. this righteous path. What he says or does
reflects directly back to the parents who
taught him, (or failed to teach him).

If you have good eyesight and good God created you in His image. Be thankful
hearing, then it is God who gave them that he has given you good eyesight to see
to you. His beautiful creation, and good hearing to
hear the praises of the birds and animals,
which God also created to be living on this
earth with us, for His glory.

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If you love sleep, you will end in God gave us sleep as a way to refresh our
poverty. Stay awake, work hard, and bodies, but too much sleep is a clear sign of
there will be plenty to eat! laziness.
God commanded us to wake up out of our
sleep and to seek His face and His
righteousness, so that all things can be
added unto us.

“Utterly worthless”! says a buyer as he So then; Was the buyer lying when he
haggles over the price. But afterwards stated that the object was worthless? Was
he brags about his bargain! he trying to cheat the shop owner by offering
a low price?

Don’t go ahead with your plans without All of your plans are “supposed to be”
the advice of others; don’t go to war ordered by the Lord. Make sure that you
until they agree. discuss these plans with other like-minded
people and then if they agree, you can
proceed. Remember that if your plans are
“ordered by the Lord” you are in fact going
to war against the enemy, because your
plans are to take back territory in some form
or other.

Don’t tell your secrets to a gossip Secrets are things that are precious, to be
unless you want them broadcast to the kept hidden, from the world, unless God
world wants it broadcast, then tell it to a gossip, as
they cannot resist to tell others the secret
news.

God puts out the light of a man who The scripture tells us to honour our father
curses his father or mother. and our mother and we will be rewarded
with an extended life. On the other hand, if
we curse our father or our mother God has
promised to promptly terminate our lives.

A fortune can be made from cheating; God proclaims that there will be blessings
but there is a curse that goes with it. and curses for those who follow Him. Here
is a case when getting rich by illegal means
result in a curse being placed upon the
fortune; hence it will never be a blessing to
the owner.

Don’t repay evil for evil. Wait for the We are commanded to repay evil with good,
Lord to handle the matter. to love even the evil doer. We are not to
judge them, that is God’s job and He will do
it in His own way and in His own time.

The Lord loathes all cheating and all If it is not honest and righteous, God cannot
dishonesty. bless it, because He will not go against His
own word.

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Since the Lord is directing our steps, 1 Corinthians 10:13 says that the Lord will
why try to understand everything that never test you beyond your level of faith and
is happening along the way? He will show you a way out of all trails and
situations. These issues are brought into our
lives for the sole reason of teaching us to
trust Him more, not to harm us.

It is rash to make a promise to the People make emotional pledges at the front
Lord before counting the cost. of churches to accept Jesus as their saviour
and to follow His teachings, without counting
the cost of that decision.
Yes, it is wonderful to accept Jesus Christ
as your saviour and to pledge the rest of
your life to Him. But many fall away when
they realise that this requires them to
change their lifestyles, their friends and their
direction in life; as they come the feel the
presence of God leading them in the
direction he has called them to follow.

A wise king stamps out crime by If people know in advance that they will die if
severe punishment they commit certain crimes, they will be
more reluctant to go ahead and do them.
Today’s society has gone soft on crime and
criminals know that today they will get a slap
on the wrist, 100 hours of community
service (which they don’t have to do) and
they are back on the streets again.
There is no real deterrent so they continue
to commit crimes.

A man’s conscience (his spirit) is the A man’s conscience exposes the hidden
Lord’s searchlight exposing his hidden motives behind his actions. Even if the
motives. actions may seem commendable, God
knows the intentions of His heart, which are
exposed by his spirit.

If a king is kind, honest and fair, his History shows that harsh kings produce fear
kingdom stands secure. in their subjects and plots to overthrow
them. Honest, fair kings are rewarded by the
Lord and their kingdoms have sustained
peace and justice.

The glory of young men is in their Young men rush into situations and waste
strength, of old men their experiences. their energy, their strength, and their glory;
but old men are wiser, use their experience
and search out the weaknesses before they
attack.

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Punishment that hurts chases evil from God chastises those He loves and it can
the heart. sometimes hurts as we are going through
the process, but it is cleansing the evil from
our hearts and is worth it in the long run.

CHAPTER 21: THE WISE LEARN BY LISTENING

Verse Comment
Just as water is turned into irrigation Whether the water wants to turn or not,
ditches, so the Lord directs the king’s the lay of the land determines the
thoughts. He turns them wherever He direction of the water flow. Whether the
wants to. kings wants to think along a certain path
or not, the Lord controls His mind and
changes the direction of the King’s
thought patterns, to the direction He
wants the king to focus upon.

We can justify our every deed, but God Our deeds may look good and appear to
looks at our motives. be done for the “right reasons”, but God
knows the intentions of our hearts and
rewards accordingly. That is why the gift
of Spiritual Discernment is so important
within the Body of Christ today. We must
be able, (with the help of the Holy Spirit)
to look at the hearts of people and
discernment their intentions, to determine
is their “heart motive” brings glory and
honour to Jesus.

God is more pleased when we are just Justice and fairness are two of the
and fair, than when we bring Him gifts. attributes of the heavenly Father and we
are reflecting Christ, when we exhibit
these qualities in our lives. Gifts are
good, but God is more pleased when we
display His attributes.

Pride, lust, and evil actions, are ALL sins. God deals with each of these issues
differently;
 Prideful people lift themselves up, but
God brings them crashing down.
 Lust after something that is forbidden
and you break the commandments of
God. The wages of this sin is death.
 All evil actions glorify Satan, not God;
therefore they cannot be blessed by God.
All of these actions are rebellion against
God’s laws, and for this the wages of sin
is death.

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Steady plodding brings prosperity; hasty It is a very wise king or commander who
speculation brings poverty. carefully plans his attacks before he goes
(Careful planning puts you ahead in the onto the battlefield, consulting the Lord at
long run. Hurrying and scurrying puts you each step of the way to make sure that
further behind.) God Almighty is with him, all the way to
victory. But a person who goes into a
battle without any clear plans, are
destined for a sure defeat.

Dishonest gain will never last, so why If you make it to the top by lying and
take the risk. cheating you will never be at peace,
because you will always be worrying that
somebody will blow the whistle on your
dirty deeds, and you come crashing
down again. Anyway, God cannot bless
your achievements, because they do not
reflect honesty, integrity, and
righteousness, so you are destined for an
early grave.

Because the wicked are unfair, their It is great that the boomerang gets a
violence boomerangs and destroys them. mention in the Living Bible Translation
(The wicked are buried alive by their loot, published in 1972 in the United States,
because they refuse to use it to help especially as now their wickedness and
others.) violence has boomeranged back onto
their nation; really a prophetic translation
of the effects that violence has upon a
whole nation.

A man is known by his actions. An evil A man is not known by what he says, but
man lives an evil life; a good man lives a by what he does. We are commanded by
godly life. the scriptures to bear fruit, which must
remain. The fruit of an evil man will be
evil, propagated down through his
children for four generations, as a curse.
But the fruit of a righteous man is
promised to be a blessing for a thousand
generations.
It is better to live in the corner of an attic A crabby woman never gives you any
than with a crabby woman in a lovely peace. Therefore, even though it is a
home. lovely building, it will only be a house of
pain and turmoil. As is stated, get up into
the attic, separate yourself from the
crabby woman, because it is the only
place you will find peace. It is a place to
go and cry out to God, requesting that he
give you a heart to endure the crabby
woman, and that she will change her
ways, as a crabby woman will have a
crabby end, without any surety of eternity
with God.

69
An evil man loves to harm others; being Jesus told us that we have to love our
a good neighbour is out of his line. neighbours, and even our enemies, and
those who do evil against you, or despise
you. But a man, who is evil, cannot
respond as Jesus commanded, because
he wants to hurt people and he has no
love inside of him. His heart is as hard as
a rock.

The wise man learns by listening; the The simpleton learns by example, but he
simpleton can only learn by seeing has enough intelligence to realise that
scorners punished. punishment will come if he does what the
scorners do; so he resists the temptation
to fall into this trap, and avoids
punishment. Wise men, on the other had
do not need to see the outcome before
they change their ways, they learn by
listening to what has been said by others.

The godly learn by watching ruin So, following on from the previous verse
overtake the wicked. we have:
 The wise man learns by listening,
 The simpleton learns by example,
and the
 Godly man learns by watching ruin
(God’s punishment) catch up and
overtake the wicked.
 But the wicked man does not learn
anything!

He who shuts his ears to the cries of the One of the great symbols of the Salvation
poor will be ignored in his own time of Army is their tradition of Self Denial, held
need. once a year, where members and
officers make a conscious decision to
give up something, to help those in need
in other countries. Because they have
refused to shut their ears to the cries of
the poor and needy in other lands, (or in
their own countries) God has promised
that when they are in need they will not
be ignored. God will open His storehouse
and provide for their needs.

An angry man is silenced by giving him a The last thing an angry man expects is
gift. for somebody to come up to him and give
him a gift. It is so unexpected, it astounds
him; he is lost for words. And for the
giver there is also a blessing, as the word
says; It is better to give than receive.

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A good man loves justice; but it is a A good man strives for righteousness
calamity for evildoers. and justice because righteousness exalts
a nation, whereas the evil man is terrified
of justice, because the word says that
your sins will find you out. Justice shines
a light on your sinful nature and evildoers
want to remain in the darkness, where
their sins remain hidden also.

The man who strays away from common As has been stated already, common
sense will end up dead! sense is the first step towards wisdom,
which is the first step towards God. If you
move towards God, you will receive His
protection and long life. On the other
hand if you stray away from common
sense you become a fool, you do not
have God’s protection and will have a
shortened life, in pain and turmoil.

A man who loves pleasure becomes God is very clear in His Ten
poor; wine and luxury are not the way to Commandments. “I AM the Lord thy God,
riches. I AM a jealous God; thou shall have no
other gods before me”. A man who loves
pleasures has put pleasures as a god
before the God of creation. Because he
has done this God Almighty cannot and
will not bless any of his activities, they
are all destined to fail, and hence the
man becomes poor. Wine and luxury are
not the way to riches. They maybe the
examples of a lifestyle of the rich and
famous, but they had to become rich first,
before they could do these things.

The wicked will finally lose; the righteous The righteous please God and are
will finally win. blessed by Him with eternal life, whereas
the wicked rebel against God, are judged
by Him and end up in Hell, eternally
separated from God, in permanent pain
and turmoil, or as Australians say:
suffering a 24/7 BBQ.

Better to live in the desert than with a It does not matter where you live with a
quarrelsome, complaining woman. quarrelsome, complaining woman, you
will never have any peace. To live alone
in the desert is probably the only place a
complaining wife will not live hence the
only place a husband can find peace.

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The wised man saves for the future; but Many people do not realise the truth in
the foolish man spends whatever he this scripture until they approach
gets. retirement age and then look at their
finances, to see if they have enough
saved up to live on when they retire.
The wise man has wisely invested in
property, shares, or in a superannuation
scheme, to provide for his welfare in
retirement; but the foolish man, spends
everything he gets during his lifetime,
does not put away anything for his
retirement, and is left to live out his
retirement years living frugally on the
aged pension. This is not what God
intended for His people.

The man, who tries to be good, loving, God does not look at the outside, God
and kind, finds life, righteousness, and looks at the intentions of the heart. If you
honour. try to be good, loving, and kind, God
sees your intentions, which are all God
attributes, and He blesses you with
righteousness and honour, which are the
outward signs for others to see that God
is alive in you.

The wise man conquers the strong man The strong man relies on his physical
and levels his defences. strength to obtain a victory, but the wise
man relies on his wisdom from God to
give him the strategies to use that
strength against the strong man and
bring him into submission.

Keep your mouth closed and you will Even as fool is considered a wise man
stay out of trouble. when he keeps his mouth shut. If you
open your mouth what you say can lead
you to trouble, and even to death; so it is
very important to know when to speak
and when to remain silent.

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Mockers are proud, haughty, and We know the following;
arrogant. Pride comes before a fall,
Haughtiness means ~ arrogance,
conceit, pride, snootiness, self-
importance, overconfidence, superiority,
hauteur, modesty. None of these words
speaks well of a person.
Arrogant people never seem to want to
listen to other people’s views; they give
the impression that they know
everything, which is unfortunate,
because the only person who knows
everything is God Almighty, and He will
not listen to an arrogant person, because
their heart is in the wrong place.

The lazy man longs for many things, but We are seeing this attitude more and
his hands refuse to work. He is greedy to more in our civilisation nowadays. People
get, while the godly love to give! expect to get everything, but they are not
prepared to work for it.
In Australia, people expect Centrelink
payments as a “right”, not as a helping
hand, to tide them over until they get
another job. In some families we are now
encountering third generation people
who have never worked a day in their
lives, but they demand all of the
government benefits “as a right”. They
fail to realise that other people had to
work, pay taxes, and even go without, so
that the money is available for them to
receive the benefits. They are social
vultures; they do not understand that is
better to give than to receive.
God’s people love to give, as they
understand they will eventually receive a
blessing for their giving.
God loathes the gifts of evil men, Have you ever thought that you could
especially if they are trying to bribe Him! bribe God? Well, some “conditional
prayers” are almost bribes.
“Lord if I do this thing for you, then will
you do this for me”? “See, I bring you this
gift, as an act of faith, to show you that I
love you”.
God looks at the intensions of the heart.
If the heart is not right with God, then
God cannot and will not bless your
requests.

73
A false witness must be punished; an “Thou shalt not bear false witness”, is
honest witness is safe. one of the Ten Commandments. It is a
well-established rule of God, given to
Moses on the clay tablets. There are
always ramifications for the sin of bearing
false witness. Your false witness is
ultimately exposed and you lose your
honour and respect in the community
and maybe serve jail-time for this
criminal offence. It is always better to be
an honest witness, because you are safe
from persecution.

An evil man is stubborn, but a godly man An evil man will not listen to reason, his
will reconsider. (Alternate translation) mind is already blinded by satan, and so
The wicked man is brazen; the godly his mind is still in darkness. The godly
man is thoughtful. man considers all of the evidence,
weighs it up, and thoughtfully reconsiders
his position, based upon all of the facts.

No one, regardless of how shrewd or well Man can make plans, but if these plans
advised he is, can stand against the do not line up with God’s plans for their
Lord. lives, they are destined for failure.
The classic story of David and Goliath
makes this point very clear.
Goliath proclaimed his victory before the
battle even started. David prayed to God
and proclaimed God’s victory over
Goliath and it happened, just as David as
David said it would. As a result, the
Philistines became the servants of the
Jews. The battle belongs to the Lord!

Go ahead and prepare for the conflict; We must always prepare for a battle. In
but victory comes from God. times past the Singers and Musicians
were sent out into the battle first, to give
praise and honour to God, and to
acknowledge that the battle belongs to
the Lord. The rest of the military are
there to mop up the pieces after God has
won the battle.

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CHAPTER 22: THE CURE COMES THROUGH DISCIPLINE

Verse Comments
If you must choose, take a good Your good name and the love of people around
name rather than great riches; for you, remains on earth after you die. No matter
to be held in loving esteem, is how clever you are, and how much riches you
better than silver and gold. acquire, you cannot take it with you. These
things do not benefit you on the eternal road.

The rich and the poor are alike Whether we like it or not, Jesus loves us equally,
(equal) before the Lord, who the rich, the poor, the believer and the unbeliever
made them all. alike, for He died for all sinners, and collectively,
that is all of us. Jesus judges us all with the
same set of rules, irrespective of our
background, our age, or our ethnicity. We are
either people who have an intimate relationship
with Him, or we do not.

A prudent man foresees the A good manager looks at the obstacles, plans
difficulties ahead, and prepares ahead, and makes allowances for these
for them; the simpleton goes obstacles, so the job is not delayed.
blindly on and suffers the A simpleton (fool) does not look ahead, does not
consequences. adequately plan his job(s) and there is failure
and disaster, as a result. The same applies in
our spiritual lives; if we do not regularly come to
Jesus and check His plans for our lives, we are
like the fool and we will stumble around in the
darkness and suffer the consequences.

True humility and respect for the Notice there are two criteria that must be fulfilled
Lord lead a man to riches, before this promise can be accomplished.
honour and long life True Humility is not a sign of weakness, but is a
sign of humbleness before God.
Respect for God is the evidence of a reverential
fear of the Lord.
Once these two attributes have been
accomplished, then God can allow you to
become rich, receive honour and reward you
with long life.
The rebel walks a thorny, A rebel walks a path, which includes many
treacherous road; the man who dangers and pitfalls, but a man of God, who
values his soul will stay away values his own soul, will do everything in his
(from there) power to stay away from these situations. He
walks before the Lord, so the Lord makes the
crooked ways straight for him.

75
Teach a child to choose the right Notice it is mandatory that parents are
path; and when he is older, he responsible for teaching their children, so that
will remain upon it. they can be blessed later in life, by a child who
follows after God – the right path.
However, in today’s society, we find that more
and more parents are leaving that responsibility
to the teachers in the schools.
In Australia, the “safe schools program” is
definitely NOT teaching the child the right path to
walk on. It is like encouraging children to
participate in unprotected sex; you can get very
bad diseases from the adventure, which have
lifetime after-life effects.
Because they are being taught the “wrong path”
it is not surprising that the rate of crime, violence,
sexual and drug offences are on the increase
among the younger generations.

Just as the rich rule the poor, so There are many instances recorded in history
the borrower is servant to the where the rich landowner took advantage of the
lender. poor farm workers and treated them more like
slaves than free men and women.
Likewise we have seen and heard about ruthless
lenders who have put people off their farms and
sold them, even when they were not behind on
their loan repayments.
The unjust tyrant will reap We have seen in our own lifetime this taking
disaster and his reign of terror place. Despotic dictators, who were ruthless in
will end. the way they treated people, with mass graves
and gas chambers as evidence of their cruelties,
being brought to a swift end.
Now in 2016, we see the atrocities of ISIS in
Syria; but God will not be mocked, His word is
true. These tyrants will also reap disaster upon
his head and upon the heads of his whole family
(for four generations, for their evil actions.)

Happy is the generous man, the You may not have a lot, but if you are prepared
one who feeds the poor. to share what you have with the poor, then God
Almighty will bless you mightily, so you can
continue to bless others.

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Throw out the mocker, and you A person who mocks can never say a good word
will be rid of the tension, fighting, about anybody, as it is not part of his character.
and quarrels. If you have him on your house or your business,
you will have endless trouble.
You have three choices’
1. Do nothing and continue to suffer, or
2. Pray real hard for God to change his attitude
and give him a heart filled with love, not filled
with the root of bitterness, or
3. Kick him out of the house, or your business,
until he changes his ways.

He who values grace and truth is Notice the order. The (king of kings) values
the king’s friend grace more than He values truth, because
“Grace” has a SPECIAL meaning.
G = God’s
R = Riches
A = At
C = Christ’s
E = Expense
You have grace because Christ went to the
cross. You have truth, because Jesus said in
John 14:6, I AM the way, I AM the truth, I Am the
Life, no man (or woman) comes to the Father
EXCEPT through me. What does I AM mean?
I = Infinite
A = Almighty
M = Messiah
The Lord preserves the upright, The plans of the wicked are controlled by Satan
but ruins the plans of the wicked. and his cronies (even when the people involved
do not even realise that.) God Almighty takes the
plans of the wicked, which were designed to hurt
people and turn them around for good, so they
bring ruin to the evil-doers but Go upholds the
plans of the righteous because they exalt each
nation.

The lazy man is full of excuses. “I I have heard many lazy men make excuses as
cannot go to work!” he says. “If I they why they cannot work. Their back hurts,
go outside I might meet a lion in they have the flu, their mother is sick, and many
the streets and be killed”. more, but meeting a lion on the streets – now
that is a new one!

A prostitute is a dangerous trap; If you are cursed by God, He allows you to be

those cursed of God are caught trapped by your own sinful lusts and you and
in it. then forced to suffer the consequences of your
actions.
If you do not want to end up in Hell, maybe now
is a good time to confess your wrongdoing,
repent, turn from your wicked ways and come
back to Christ.

77
A youngster’s heart is filled with Most teenagers go through a stage of testing the
rebellion. But punishment will boundaries; it is part of them growing up. But that
drive it out of him. is different to rebellion, which rejects any form of
authority over their lives. This is a demonic
influence and must be dealt with in its early
stages, before it gets too much of a stronghold,
which will require not only physical punishment,
but also spiritual intervention.

He who gains by oppressing the Neither of these actions is righteous, therefore

poor or by bribing the rich shall God cannot, and will not bless it!
end in poverty.

Listen to this wise advice; follow Trust in the Lord, with ALL of your heart and lean
it closely, for it will do you good, not upon your own understanding. For the ways
and you can pass it on to others. of the Lord are higher than our ways and they
Trust in the Lord. are perfect, whereas, the ways of man are
imperfect and most times lead us into
destruction.

In the past, haven’t I been right? King Solomon is reminding Israel of all the
Then believe what I am telling wisdom and correct advice he has given them in
you now, and share it with others. the past, and encouraging them to continue to
trust in his judgement and guidance.
We know today, in the science of statistics that if
you have enough data you can accurately predict
forward for one third of the data you have in the
past.
If you have seen the sun come up every day of
your life for sixty years, you can accurately
predict that the sun will come up in the morning
at a certain time, with a high degree of
probability.

Do not rob the poor and sick! For This is a warning that many organisations and
the Lord is their defender. If you even government have forgotten. God will not be
injure them, He will punish you. mocked, nor will He allow His word to be mocked
either. If you do this, expect to be punished from
the Lord, there is no escaping His punishment,
except by confession and repentance.

Keep away from angry, short- If you live with dogs you will eventually catch
tempered men, lest you learn to their fleas. So it is when you live with a short-
be like them and endanger your tempered man, his attributes and his habits are
soul. transferred to you. This risks your eternal soul.
His soul is already lost.

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Unless you have the extra cash King Solomon makes this warning in several
on hand, do not countersign a places throughout the Proverbs. Never go
(promissory) note. Why risk guarantor for a loan, If you have done so, then
everything you own? They will do whatever you can to be released from it,
even take your bed! because if the lender defaults on the
repayments, you are liable for the whole amount
of the loan that is outstanding.

Do not move the ancient The ancient boundary marks of the nation of
boundary marks. That is stealing! Israel are clearly defined in Scripture, in God’s
Holy Word. If you try moving those boundary
pegs, then you are trying to steal from God, and
guess what, He is a righteous judge – you will
not get off scot-free, there will be an eternal
judgement for these crimes11.

Do you know a hard-working This statement is true! God raise up those who
man? He shall be successful and bear witness to His ways and who bring honour
stand before Kings. and glory to His name.

CHAPTER 23: REBELS DESPISE WISE ADVICE

Verse Comments
When dining with a rich man be If a man is rich, he does not need to invite you
on your guard and do not stuff for a meal, unless it is for his ultimate benefit.
yourself, even though it all tastes Beware and be on your guard, because you may
so good; because he is trying to become trapped in a web of intrigue and
bribe you, and no good is going dishonest practises, which will be extremely
to come from his invitation. difficult to extract yourself.
Even if you do extract yourself from the situation,
you will still be blemished because of your
association with this rich, evil man.

Do not weary yourself trying to In 1929 this became historically very clear. Many
get rich. Why waste your time? rich people went to work in the morning, but by
Riches can disappear, as though close of business on the stock exchange that
they had the wings of a bird! day, they had lost all of their savings as Wall
Street crashed, and the whole world economic
structure was thrown into chaos. Many people
jumped out of windows of multi-storey buildings,
because they could not face their families and/or
their shareholders and tell them that the
companies were bankrupt.

11
Palestinians and Muslim nations please take note.

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 In 2008 this event was repeated and only due to
prompt action by some governments, was a
similar catastrophe averted. But be warned, it will
happen again, and we have to be prepared for it.

Do not associate with evil men; Evil men never do any good works, because it is
do not long for their favours and against their nature. Even when it “appears” to
gifts. Their kindness is a trick; be good works, you are being deceived, so be
they want to use you as their very wary when you come in contact with them.
pawn. The delicious food they They are not looking after “your best interests”,
serve will turn sour in your they are looking after their own best interests, so
stomach and you will vomit it, be awake, be on guard, and if it looks too good
and have to take back your to be true, it probably is!
words of appreciation, for their
“kindness”.

Do not waste your breath on a As a Christian we are told to give them 70 x 7

rebel. He will despise even the chances, but here in this scripture we are told to
wisest advice. ignore a rebel altogether. Why do you think that
the wisest man on earth prior to Jesus would tell
us that? Was it because several pieces of wise
advice had been given to him previously and he
had already ignored all of them, or was it that
Solomon was not as wise as Jesus Christ was,
so his advice was flawed? I do not have the
answer, although I go with the last option.

Do not steal the land of Again we have confirmation that God has a
defenceless orphans by moving special place in his heart for widows and orphans
their ancient boundary marks; for and He Himself makes sure that they are
their Redeemer is strong; He protected and not exploited. When they are, He
Himself will accuse you. comes down on the oppressors like a tonne of
bricks and not only accuses them, but also
punishes them as well.

Do not refuse to accept criticism; Some people like to criticize others, but cannot
get all the help you can get! accept it themselves. Constructive criticism is a
good thing; it points out your mistakes and allows
you to modify your approach to situations and
problems, so that the result brings glory and
honour to God, and that is a Good Thing!

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Do not fail to correct your God Almighty does not make this an optional
children; discipline won’t hurt choice; it is a direct commandment from Him.
them! They won’t die if you use a Discipline is the responsibility of the parents. It is
stick on them! Punishment will not the responsibility of the school system, or the
keep them out of hell! PCYC, or the Juvenile Justice System, NO!
It is the responsibility of the parents and
therefore any parents that refuse to properly
discipline their children are in direct rebellion
against God’s word, and hence are rebelling
against God Himself, which is a sin.
Jesus (Himself), commanded that we all go out
and make disciples, which are disciplined ones,
and it is to start in each home, where children
live, or are brought up.
The word here is quite clear. Discipline will not
hurt them. It is even more specific, when it says
that they will not die if you use a stick on them.
Today, many so-called “do-gooders” cry out that
hitting you child is abuse. They think they know
better than God does and this is an eternal
mistake, because the next line explains why they
need to be punished. It is to keep them out of
hell, which is eternal punishment.

My son, how I will rejoice if you Notice, right throughout this passage, King
become a man of common Solomon has been emphasising that common
sense. Yes, my heart will thrill to sense is a quality that He loves and that God
your thoughtful, wise words. also loves. You do not learn it at school, or at
university, it is a God-given gift, available to all
and unfortunately used by just a few.
Common sense is the first outward sign of the
reverential fear of God, which in turn, is the first
sign of wisdom. We all have the opportunity to
have it, and use it, to make our world a better
place to live in.

Do not envy evil men but Again, Solomon reminds his son (who will later
continue to reverence the Lord all be the king under which the nation of Israel is
the time for surely you have a thrown into civil war. This resulted in the split of
wonderful future ahead of you. the ten tribes who rebelled against God, and
There is hope for you yet! established their kingdom in Samaria, and the
tribes of Judah and Levi who remained in
Jerusalem and faithful to God). Solomon could
see a good future for his son, provided he
continued to follow God, and not be swayed
away from His chosen path. There was eternal
hope available to him, but alas he chose another
way and destruction fell upon the nation of Israel.

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O my son, be wise and stay in Solomon continues to point out to his son the risk
God’s paths; do not carouse with of associating with the wrong crowd, because if
drunkards and gluttons, for they you do, then the result is poverty. Too much
are on their way to poverty. And sleep leads to laziness, and laziness leads to
remember that too much sleep poverty and being clothed in rags.
clothes a man in rags. Listen to This was a sever warning, given by the richest
your father’s advice and do not man of that time, to a son who wanted for
despise an old mother’s nothing. He lived in a palace, had the finest food
experience. Get the facts at any and clothing, and because he was heir to the
price, and hold on tightly to all the throne of Israel the freedom to do almost
good sense you can get. The whatever he wanted.
father of a godly man has cause Again Solomon brings him back to reality, listen
for joy – what pleasure a wise to your father’s advice, and do not reject the
son is! So give your parents joy! experiences of your mother either.
Do not ever make a decision without first making
sure that you have all of the facts, make sure
that your decisions are based upon the true
facts, using wise judgements. Make your
decisions based upon godly principles and this
will always bring joy to your parents.

O my son, trust my advice – stay Promiscuous living causes a man’s downfall. A

away from prostitutes. For a prostitute lies in wait to snare each man, steal all
prostitute is a deep and narrow of his wealth, and leave him as another unfaithful
grave. Like a robber, she waits husband. The ten commandments make it very
for her victims as one after clear that adultery is a sin and all those who
another become unfaithful to their practise it will be judged before God.
wives. God’s word has not changed, so that judgement
still applies to our lives today. This sin also
applies to women, who entrap menfolk and
cause them to be unfaithful to their wives.

Whose heart is filled with anguish Solomon concludes his advice to his son by
and sorrow? Who is always making the comparison of who his is (the heir to
fighting and quarrelling? Who is the throne) and where he lives ( in a palace) to
the man with bloodshot eyes and that of a man on a downward spiral into
many wounds? Is it the one who alcoholism, always fighting, always quarrelling,
spends long hours in the taverns, with bloodshot eyes, and bloody nose from many
trying out the new mixtures? Do fights, suffering from hangovers and having
not let the sparkle and smooth bouts of the DT’s.
taste of strong wine deceive you. This type of man has lost his way and is surely
For in the end it bites like a heading for destruction and an early death.
poisonous serpent; it stings like This is the choice we all have. Jesus has
and adder. You will see promised each of us a place to rule and reign
hallucinations and have delirium with him. We are joint heirs with Jesus, to the
tremens, and you will say foolish, throne of God, to rule and reign with Him over
silly things, that would embarrass this whole universe. But we have to choose
you no end when sober. You will which path we follow, either the righteous and
stagger like a sailor tossed at godly path to heaven, or the downward spiral
sea, clinging to a swaying mast. path, of sin, which leads to eternal destruction.
And afterwards you will say, “I did The choices have not changed since Solomon

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not even know it when they beat gave this advice to his son. It is still the same
me up …. Let’s go and have choice today and that each one of us must make.
another drink!” As Joshua said to the nation of Israel. “Choose
this day who you will serve …. As for me and my
house, we choose to serve the Lord.12

CHAPTER 24: REBELS ARE NOT SAINTS

Verse Comments
Do not envy godless men; do not We are commanded in scripture to always do
even enjoy their company. For things that glorify God. Godless men never do
they spend their days plotting anything that glorifies God, so if you stay with
violence and cheating. them, you will become like them. This does not
glorify God in you, but it will lead to your
destruction if you continue down that path.

Any enterprise is built by wise To be successful in business is no accident it

planning, becomes strong requires careful planning, wise spending, and
through common sense, and keeping every part of the business up to date,
profits wonderfully by keeping with new ideas and technologies. Businesses
abreast of the facts. which fail to do these basic things, flounder and
fall by the wayside, when the economy is in
recession.

A wise man is mightier than a Many people would argue this statement and say
strong man. Wisdom is mightier that it takes a strong man to win a battle – and
than strength. that is true, but a strong man would lose that
same battle, if he did not have a wise man to
plan the battle for him, and to tell him the
strategies to use to defeat his enemy.

12
Joshua 24:15

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Do not go to war without wise As I commented above, a strong man would lose
guidance; there is safety in many a battle if he did not have a wise man to give him
counsellors. the correct strategies to overcome his enemies.
The scriptures have many places where the king
asks his advisors for guidance before going into
battle.
When Joshua went into battle and first sort out
the Lord in prayer, the battle was won and Israel
was the victor. When Joshua went into battle and
did not first sort out the Lord in Prayer, the battle
was lost and Israel was defeated.
It is important to always go to the Lord in prayer
before taking on any enemy, because the Lord’s
strategies are always perfect, and God never
calls a person, or an army to go to battle to fail,
because that would not bring glory and honour to
God. When God sends you into a battle God
always wins!

To plan evil is as wrong as doing Jesus said that if you look at a woman with lust
it! in your eyes, you have already committed
adultery with her. If you think about doing evil
you have sinned in your heart, and we know that
the wages of sin is death.

The rebel’s schemes are sinful, The definition of a rebel is one who is in rebellion
and the mocker is the scourge of against authority. On the other hand, the mocker
all mankind. is the scourge of all peoples. What is a mocker?
A mocker is a person deserving scorn, a
counterfeit. What is a scourge? It is a whip to
cause punishment to people. So let us unpack
that statement again.
We have a person who is in active rebellion
against established authority, a person deserving
scorn, a counterfeit, a whip, to cause punishment
to all of mankind.
In today’s society we would call such a person a
“pain in the butt”.

You are a poor person if you You are a person of weak character, a person
cannot stand the pressure of with little or no internal fortitude, who is unable to
adversity. stand the pressures put upon us, the pressures
of adversity.
Scripture tells us that it is in the adversities that
God refines us; that God strengthens us, and
that God teaches us to trust Him more; and to
listen to the Holy Spirit, that still small voice,
which is always there to give us good advice.

84
Rescue those who are unjustly Always stand for righteousness, because
sentenced to death; do not stand righteousness exalts a nation!
back and let them die. Do not try If you know that somebody has been wrongly
to disclaim responsibility by convicted of any crime and you do nothing, then
saying that you did not know you are just as guilty, as the people who wrongly
about it. For God who knows all accused him and put him into prison in the first
hearts, knows yours and He place.
knows that you knew! And He will God looks at the intentions of the heart, so he
reward everyone according to his knows not only what you know, but also what
deeds. you intend to do with what you know. God
rewards each person according to his deeds,
both good and bad, unless he confesses,
repents, and turns from his wicked ways. Only
then can He bless you!

My son, honey whets the Honey is good for the physical body, and feeds
appetite, and so does wisdom! your physical body. Wisdom is good for the soul.
When you enjoy becoming wise, When you enjoy becoming wise your spiritual
there is hope for you! A bright body is being fed and maturing, becoming more
future lies ahead! (of you) Christ-like, therefore God has His eyes upon you
and your future is secure.

O, evil men, leave the upright Solomon gives a warning to evil men to leave the
man alone, and quit trying to honest and upright man alone, or suffer the
cheat him out of his rights. Do not consequences. Notice that God has different
you know that this good man, rules for good and evil men.
though you trip him up seven Even if the good man is tripped up seven times,
times, will each time rise again? he will rise up again, because of God’s strength
But one calamity is enough to lay within him. But the evil man has only his own
you low. strength the fight the adversities, and one
calamity is enough to destroy him.

Do not rejoice when you enemy I have seen many situations where people say
meets trouble. Let there be no “that he got what he deserved, he should be
gladness when he falls --- for the punished for his crimes”. There is pleasure in
Lord may become displeased seeing this many being punished. But that is not
with you and stop punishing him! loving your neighbour! God gives us all a
warning in this proverb verse. “He may become
displeased with you, and stop punishing the
enemy”. He may turn his displeasure upon you
instead, and nobody wants that!

Do not envy the wicked. Do not We are commanded to follow the ten
covet his riches. For the evil man commandments. Do not covet your neighbour’s
has not future; his lights will be goods, for to do so means that you are sinning
snuffed out. against God, and there are consequences to
you, for doing that. How many times have we
seen rich men come to grief because of his evil
God has shortened his life.

85
My son; watch your steps before This is a warning that many governments have
the Lord and the king, and do not been giving recently to young people. Do not go
associate with radicals. For you and join ISIS and other radical groups, because
will go down with them to sudden God Almighty, not Mohammad, is in control and
disaster, and who know where it their efforts will come to nothing; in fact they will
will all end? lead to disaster, or even death for those who
associate with this evil force. If God Almighty can
open up the ground and swallow those who
mumbled against Him in the wilderness, He can
do it again, if He needs to remove them from the
face of the earth.

Here are some additional proverbs

It is wrong to sentence the poor This is the first evidence of a corrupt justice
and let the rich go free! system; persecuting the poor, to protect the rich.
God Almighty has something special to say
about corrupt judges. They will be judged by a
higher set of rules than either the rich, or the
poor and eternal damnation will befall any who
fail this test.

He who says to the wicked “you He who says that the evil are innocent have
are innocent” shall be cursed by breached the 10 commandments, because they
many people of many nations, have just borne a false witness which is a sin,
but blessings shall be showered punishable by death, and so they will be cursed
on those who rebuke sin by many people from many nations, because
fearlessly. justice has not been served. But do not worry,
God Himself will deal with them, according to His
perfect timing. However, those who fearlessly
rebuke sin will be rewarded by both God and
man.

It is an honour to receive a frank It is better to hear a person say that they do not
reply. agree with you, than to have them fester and plot
against you, which could be the downfall to both
of you. His plotting brings you down, and the root
of bitterness now established in him, will bring
him down as well.

Develop your business before King Solomon spent seven years building the
you build your house. temple for the Lord, before he started building his
own palace, and as a result, God blessed his
businesses and peace reigned in Israel for forty
years.

86
Do not testify spitefully against an Here are so many sins a person commits if he
innocent neighbour. Why lie does this.
about him? Do not say, “Now I  He is not loving his neighbour,
can pay him back for all of his  He is bearing false witness against him,
meanness to me!”  Trying to get even is also a sin, because out
of your heart your mouth speaks, and it
displays the hate, which is dwelling within
your heart.

I walked by the field of a certain A lazy man never prospers, but calamity comes
lazy fellow and saw that it was for himself and his whole family, and there is no
overgrown with thorns, and escaping it.
covered with weeds, and its walls
were broken down. Then as I
looked I learned this lesson.
 A little extra sleep
 A little more slumber
 A little folding of the hands to
rest,
Means that poverty will break in
upon you suddenly, like a robber,
and violently like a bandit.

CHAPTER 25: THE HIDDEN PROVERBS OF KING SOLOMON

Two hundred years after the death of King Solomon, after the civil war in Israel,
which caused ten tribes to rebel and separate themselves from the word of the Torah
and established their own kingdom in Samaria, King Hezekiah, the king of Judah,
discovered these hidden proverbs13 and had them copied by his aides. It is true that
God protects His words.

Verse Comments
It is God’s privilege to conceal It is God’s right to hide or reveal information to
things, and the king’s privilege to people as He chooses. Even in scripture the
discover and invent. You cannot prophets are told to hide what has been revealed
understand the height of heaven, to them, until the time of revelation is to come.
the size of the earth, or all that God allows kings to find information and /or
goes on in the King’s mind. revelation at the appropriate time, so that he can
govern his people wisely.

13
1 Kings 4:32

87
When you remove dross from Dross is the impurities in silver and corrupt men
silver you have sterling (silver) are the impurities in the king’s court. The
ready for the silversmith. When silversmith will not be able to make fine jewellery
you remove corrupt men from the if the impurities remain in the silver, nor will the
king’s court his reign will be just king be able to govern fairly with corrupt men in
and fair. his court, because they will give him incorrect
advice, for their own gain.

Do not demand an audience with The scriptures are simple. Do not raise yourself
the king, as if you are some up above your station, but it is better to come to
powerful prince. It is better to wait the table and sit in a lowly seat and then be
for an invitation rather than to be invited and elevated to a position of respect,
sent back to the end of the line, instead of being asked to leave your present seat
publicly disgraced! and go sit in a lower setting, so that someone
else can be elevated over you. You public
disgrace will be seen by all who attend the table.

Do not be hot headed and rush to Do not “react” to a situation! It is better to

court! You may start something “respond” to the situation, peace will reign, and
you cannot finish and go down all will not be lost, and neither side will have
before your neighbour in public embarrassment.
shameful defeat. Do not tell
anyone else, lest he accuses you
of slander and you cannot
withdraw what you have said.

Timely advice is as good as Timely advice is to your spirit what golden apples
lovely golden apples in a silver are to your body, tasty, nourishing, and good for
basket. you. The silver basket reminds us that precious
things are to be well presented.

It is a badge of honour to accept Some people find it very hard to accept criticism,
criticism whilst others refuse to totally refuse to listen to it
altogether. Neither of these people corrects their
mistakes, but the man who listens and changes
his ways will be blessed by the Lord.

A faithful employee is as A faithful employee works for his employer, as

refreshing as a cool day in the unto the Lord and therefore all he does is to
hot summertime. please him. He is a blessing to his employer and
will be richly rewarded in his old age.

One who does not give the gift he Both the man and the cloud appear to be good,
promised is like a cloud blowing but neither of them live up to their expectations.
over a desert without dropping Neither of them delivered what they promised;
any rain. one did not give the promised gift, whilst the
other did not give rain in due season, leaving the
desert parched for days to come.

88
Be patient and you will finally win, Patience is a gift from the Lord. When you use it
for a soft tongue can break hard wisely, even the hardest person, is brought low,
bones. and submits to your requests.

Do you like honey? Do not eat Honey is good for you in small doses. But like
too much of it otherwise it will anything, if you eat too much of it, your body will
make you sick! reject it, and you will be sick. The only thing you
cannot have too much of is Jesus!

Do not visit your neighbour too It is good to be a good neighbour, but it is not
often otherwise you will outwear good to be a busybody, always checking up on
your welcome! what your neighbour is doing, like you, they need
their privacy.

Telling lies about someone is as Each of these actions causes injury and harm to
harmful as hitting him with an the person, but it also causes harm to the
axe, or wounding him with a accuser, because lying is a sin and God will hold
sword, or shooting him with a you accountable for each one of them, until you
sharp arrow. confess them, repent of them, ask forgiveness
for them, and then turn from your wicked ways.

Putting confidence in an If you put your confidence in an unreliable man

unreliable man is like chewing your spirit of discernment is not working, and as
with a sore tooth, or trying to ruin a result there will be pain for you, until you
with a broken foot. change your priorities and learn to test the spirits
of the man BEFORE you trust him.

Being happy-go-lucky around a We have to learn to be sensitive around people,

person who heart is heavy is as and not deliberately hurt their feelings. What we
bad as stealing his jacket in cold say or do, can just be as painful to them as
weather, or rubbing salt into his physical injury.
wounds.14

If your enemy is hungry – give I think if you asked most people do they want a
him food! If he is thirsty, give him reward from God, they would say yes! Others
something to drink! This will may look at you with suspicion and ask you what
make him feel ashamed of is the catch? But in both cases a reward is
himself, and God will reward you! possible. By giving your enemy food and drink
when he needs them, you catch him completely
off guard, it ruins his plans to defeat you, makes
him feel ashamed and he will retreat from the
battle. Do you realise that this strategy would
work against ISIS in Syria and Iraq, if the military
changed their tactics? Why do I say this?
Because it is in God’s word and He never makes
mistakes!

14
Alternative translation: like putting vinegar upon soda

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As surely as the wind from the In Australia the north wind brings rain and the
north brings cold, (or rain) just as winds from Antarctica (south winds) bring the
surely a retort causes anger! cold, but in either case it is uncomfortable, just
as a retort can cause you to get angry with the
person making this unnecessary comment.
The scripture tells us not to get angry with our
neighbours. It is not beneficial to either person.

It is better to live in a corner of an The attic is a place of refuge from the quarrelling.
attic, than in a beautiful home It is the only place that the man can find some
with a cranky, quarrelsome degree of peace. But it is also a place where a
woman! man can turn to God in prayer. It can become a
“War Room” where earnest prayers are sent up
to God, to change your heart and the heart of the
quarrelsome woman. The attic can become a
place of victory and change the whole
atmosphere in the house!

Good news from afar is like cold Good news is a blessing, just as water is to a
water to the thirsty. man dying of thirst. It is life giving.

If a godly man compromises with If a godly man compromises with evil, then he
the wicked, it is like polluting a has opened the door for Satan to come in and
fountain, or muddying a spring mess with his head. We know that clean water
and salt water cannot come out of the same
spring; neither can righteousness and evil come
out of the same heart.

Just as it is harmful to eat too If you eat too much you become sick, which is
much, so also it is bad for men to instantaneous, but obesity is a longer and more
think about all the honours they permanent result, with dangerous health effects.
deserve. Likewise men who think about all the honours
they deserve to receive, turn their minds off the
things of God, onto things of man, which then
turns into pride, which leads to their downfall.

A man without self-control is a A man who has little or no self-control is

defenceless as a city with broken vulnerable to Satan, because he knows which
down walls. buttons to push to set you off. Self-control is one
of the 9 fruit of the spirit, which is referred to in
Galatians 5:22. We need to make sure we have
all 9 fruit working in our lives daily, to keep Satan
off our backs.

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CHAPTER 26: BE KIND TO YOU ENEMY

Many people reading this chapter heading would be asking; “is this guy crazy or
what”? But the more you read the Bible, the more it starts to make sense, and
Jesus tells us “to love our enemies”, to “pour coals of love upon their heads”. It
may seem hard when they want to cut off your head, but God’s word must be
obeyed, otherwise we have sinned!

Verse Comments
Honour does not go with fools Most fools would not understand what the word
any more than snow with “honour” really means, and it does not sit well
summertime, or rain with harvest with them. Likewise snow falling in summertime
time. is a rare event, and it gets people’s attention.
In 1964 we had a white Christmas in Goulburn,
and it was special, with newspapers and TV
crews coming to cover the event, it got
everybody’s attention. Rain at harvest time is
also special because there is a great risk that the
crop will be ruined.

An undeserved curse has no An undeserved curse is like water falling on a

effect. Its intended victim will be duck’s back – it just runs off without and
no more harmed by it that a damage. But the real damage is to the person
sparrow or swallow flitting who uttered the curse in the first place, because
through the sky. God knows the intentions of your heart and He
knows the words you speak, even before they
leave your mouth.

Guide a horse with a whip, a A horse is sensitive to a whip and will promptly
donkey with a bridle, and a rebel obey, and a donkey with obey a bridle because it
with a rod to his back. is attached the softest part of its body, but a
rebel refuses to obey anyone, so the only
solution is a rod to his back, to beat him into
submission.

When arguing with a rebel, do Rebels already have their minds made up! They
not use foolish arguments as he believe that they are right and everybody else is
does, or you will become as wrong. Therefore you have to make his belief
foolish as he is! Prick15 his system seem so silly, that even he will start to
conceit with silly replies. question it.
For example;
1. “So you think that the earth is flat. OK that is
fine. Can you tell me of just one person who
has gone to the ‘edge of the earth’, saw that it
was the end, and then returned to tell the
story”? No? Maybe they all fell off the edge!

15
Alternative translation: Reply to a fool, as his folly requires.

91
 2. If the earth is flat, why does the sun not shine
upon all the earth at the same time? That
question should get him thinking.

To trust a rebel to convey a There is a grave risk that a rebel would convey
message is a foolish as cutting the message to your enemy instead of the
off your feet and drinking poison. person who the message was addressed to, so
he could get a victory over you. By giving the
message to a rebel (a person who is already
against you) is just as painful as cutting off your
own foot, or drinking poison. NO good will come
of it.

In the mouth of a fool, a proverb A paralysed leg is visible but of no value,

becomes as useless as a because it has no strength and cannot support
paralysed leg. the individual. So it is with a fool who tries to use
a proverb as part of his argument – it will be
useless.

Honouring a rebel will backfire A slingshot is designed to release a free stone

like a stone tied to a slingshot! against an enemy, but a tied stone in a slingshot
is just as likely to release itself back against the
warrior holding the slingshot, doing serious
damage, therefore not a great idea.

A rebel will misapply an In today’s society they call it “the spin doctor”, a
illustration, so that its point will no person who can put different slants onto the
more be felt, than a thorn in the same illustration, to add to or take away from the
hand of a drunkard. effect, which was originally intended.

The master may get better work It is a sad state of affairs when a rebel puts hate
from an untrained apprentice ahead of his livelihood and that of his fellow
than from a skilled rebel. workers. His senses of loyalty and honour are no
longer working, because the root of bitterness is
now in full operation in his life, and hate has
been manifested against his employer.

As a dog returns to its vomit, so a Fools never learn from the previous mistakes, so
fool repeats his folly. they are set to continually repeat them.

There is one thing worse than a Many would be surprised that King Solomon
fool and that is a man who is considered a conceited man more dangerous
conceited. than a fool. The Encarta UK dictionary explains
why; Conceited ~~ too proud, having or showing
an excessively high opinion of your own qualities
or abilities. Conceited ~~ creatively witty,
imaginative, fanciful, witty, or ingenious. This
type of person is capable of thinking outside of
the box and therefore is a dangerous individual,
if he becomes a rebel.

92
The lazy man will not go out to A lazy man will use any excuse to get out of
work. “There might be a lion work, even at the expense of his own physical
outside!” he says. He sticks to his well-being.
bed like a door to its hinges! He But a fool is a person who thinks that be staying
is too tired to even lift his food in bed, he can become wiser than seven wise
from his dish to his mouth! Yet in men that get out of bed, go to work and become
his own opinion he is smarter rich.
than seven wise men.

Yanking a dog’s ears is no more If you start yanking a dog’s ears, do not be
foolish than interfering in an surprised if you are attacked! Similarly, if you get
argument that is none of your involved in an argument that is none of your
business. business, (even if you trying to help) do not be
surprised if one or both of the participants tell
you to shove off. If you refuse to take the hint,
the situation may turn ugly and you may end up
in hospital.

A man who is caught lying to his Lying is a sin - and whether you like it or not, all
neighbour and says, “I was just sins have consequences. This sin has the
fooling”, is like a madman potential to get you killed. It is not a wise move to
throwing around firebrands, lie to your neighbour, because there may come a
arrows, and death! time in the future when you need his help and it
will not be given, because your trust-relationship
with your neighbour has now been fractured and
it takes a long time to mend.

Fire goes out for lack of fuel, and Gossip is considered ungodliness by God
tensions disappear when the Almighty. It causes hurt and takes glory away
gossip stops. from God in your life. It can create situations,
which later leads to emotional distress and even
suicide, because the affected person cannot face
the alleged shame pointed in their direction.
But when gossip stops, the tension is reduced
and relationships can once again be mended
and/or restored. This must also mean that the
relationship between you and God must also be
restored, because your “gossip actions” were
ungodly.

A quarrelsome man starts fights A quarrelsome man is always looking to start a

as easily as a match16 sets fire to fight, whilst a wise man is always looking to walk
paper away from one. This clearly shows the difference
in spiritual maturity. When offended, an immature
man will “react” to the offence, whilst a wise man
with “respond” to the offence causing no violence
at all.

16
Alternative translation: like hot embers to coals and wood to fire.

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Gossip is a dainty morsel eaten Because gossip is wrong and people are
with great relish. basically sinful in their nature, most people will
grab onto gossip as onto a delicacy in a special
restaurant and eat it quickly before it is taken
away from them. Unfortunately, gossip, like spicy
food has the habit of repeating itself and you
become further embroiled in the gossip, whether
it is true or false. Basically God considers gossip
to be “ungodly” therefore those who gossip is in
rebellion against God. If that is the case, then do
not expect any blessings anytime soon.

Pretty words may hide a wicked People look at the outside to decide beauty, but
heart, just as a pretty glaze God looks at the intentions of the heart. When
covers a common clay pot. you see pottery being manufactured in its raw
form it looks so bland, even ugly, but when the
design is painted upon the outside and then it is
put into the kiln and fired at extreme
temperatures, the outside molecules of the
pottery melt and the paint is included in the new
molecular structure. When it cools it is no longer
ugly but shining and bright, with a completely
new surface, nothing like the original
manufactured.

A man with hate in his heart may Here is a very good example of a wolf in sheep’s
sound pleasant enough, but do clothing, he appears to be kind and fluffy, but
not believe him; for he is cursing underneath there is a different body, with sharp
you in his heart. Though he claws and teeth ready to tear you to pieces.
pretends to be so kind, his hatred Hatred does that to a person, it cannot be hidden
will finally come to light for all to forever, it must eventually surface and whenever
see. it does it causes hurt and heartache.

The man who sets a trap for Numbers tells us “your sin will find you out”; it
others will get caught in it cannot remain hidden. So the trap you set for
himself. Roll a boulder down a hill others, will be revealed and that trap will be
and it will roll back and crush hanging around your neck for public humiliation.
you. Newton’s second law says that for every action
there is an equal and opposite reaction, so do
not be surprised when the boulder starts coming
back towards you.

Flattery is a form of hatred and This caused me to think very carefully, because when
wounds cruelly. you flatter somebody, I thought you are heaping
praise upon them, but now upon reflection, you are
saying something in a sarcastic manner, about their
qualities, which you do not have and you hate them
because you are envious of their achievements.
What started out as praise, turned out to be hatreds
in disguise and its results will always bring pain and
suffering.

94
CHAPTER 27: CHOOSE YOUR FRIENDS CAREFULLY

Verse Comments
Do not brag about your plans for Man can make plans, but only God can
tomorrow – wait and see what implement plans, which are perfect. Pray that
happens you are included in God’s plans and that your
participation will be a blessing to you and all
those around you.

Do not praise yourself – let When you praise yourself, you are replacing God
others do it! as #1 in your life and God’s word is pretty clear
about that. Exodus chapter 20 says that God is a
jealous God and He will not allow us to have
other Gods above Him, without there being
consequences for our decisions.

A rebel’s frustrations are heavier A rebel is always thinking of ways to upset the
than sand or rocks “establishment” and whenever he fails there is no
way for him to vent his frustrations, so they get
heavier and heavier on his mind and his
emotions. Beware it only takes an added
toothpick to cause an explosion.
Jealousy is more dangerous and Jealousy is an insidious expression, because
cruel than anger. you desire something you cannot have, and you
will react to this by actions, which would be
normally way out of character. Jealous people
ultimately hurt the people they love.

Open rebuke is better than Open rebuke brings a problem into the open and
hidden love. it must be dealt with, whilst hidden love is of no
value whilst it remains hidden. It cannot be acted
upon, nor can it be responded to by the recipient
of that hidden love, while it remains concealed.

Wounds from a friend are better And Judas Iscariot came to Jesus and kissed
than kisses from the enemy! Him. This was the agreed sign of identity to the
soldiers who came to arrest Jesus.
What Judas did not understand was that he was
part of a bigger plan that would ultimately change
the world forever.
Wounds from friends are painful, but the kiss of
the enemy has eternal ramifications.

Even honey seems tasteless to a No matter how nice the food is there comes a
man who is full; but if he is time when you just do not want to eat anything
hungry, he will eat anything. else, because your body is ready to reject further
food intakes. However, when you are hungry,
you will be happy to eat foods that you do not
like, just to fill the empty tummy.

95
A man who strays from his The prodigal son is a good example of a man
homes is like a bird that wanders who strayed from his home and got himself into
from its nest. all sorts of trouble, resulting in his losing all of his
fortune and ending up working in a pig farm,
eating the pig food because he was so hungry.
But he came to his senses, returned to his home,
and was welcomed upon his return.

Friendly suggestions are as A friend’s suggestion always makes you feel

pleasant as perfume. good because it shows that your friend cares
about you. Just like perfume make the air smell
better, so do friendly suggestions change the
atmosphere.

Never abandon a friend, neither Your friend will help you because he is your
yours, nor your father’s. Then friend. Your father’s friend will be help you, to
you will not need to go to a honour the friendship of your father. In both
distant relative for help in your cases, the help is confirmation of the continued
time of need. friendship between the parties concerned.

My son, how happy I will be if you A sensible son brings honour in the marketplace,
turn out to be sensible! It will be a for the father, but a stupid son only brings
public honour to me. disgrace, scorn, and humiliation.

A sensible man watches for All through the scriptures, there are situations
problems ahead and prepares to where God announced that things would happen.
meet them. The simpleton never The wise men looked ahead in anticipation for
looks, and suffers the the signs and were prepared to meet whatever
consequences. was prophesied. However, the simpleton just
kept his head down, did not look for the signs,
and did not recognise them when they occurred,
so was completely unprepared for the events
and therefore suffered the consequences.

The world’s poorest credit risk is If the person is a stranger, you do not know
the man who agrees to pay a anything about his character therefore to offer to
stranger’s debts. pay his debts is a great risk, as he may not have
any intention of repaying you for your kindness.
If you do decide to pay a stranger’s debt, do it as
a gift, with no expectation in return, except from
God above who sees the intention of your heart
and will reward accordingly.

If you shout a pleasant greeting You are lying in bed relaxing and have no
too early in the morning, he will intention of getting up for at least another hour
count is as a curse. and then comes the greeting from a friend
outside your window. It is a pleasant greeting,
but the timing makes you want to wring his neck,
because now you must get out of bed and
entertain your friend.

96
A constant dripping on a rainy Let’s be frank here. Both drive me nuts! The
day and a cranky woman are more she whinges, the more frustrated I become.
much alike. You can no more If I am in my bed and I hear a dripping tap, I have
stop her complaining that you to get up and turn it off, otherwise I am unable to
can stop the wind, or hold onto sleep, because the constant drip, drip, drip is like
anything with oil-slick hands. a hammer hitting inside my head. Unfortunately
you cannot turn off a cranky woman, although a
hammer would come in handy!

A friendly discussion is as A discussion on topics of common interest

stimulating as the sparks that fly always lifts your spirits and stimulates your mind;
when iron strikes iron. in fact it changes your whole attitude for the day,
like and energy drink does.

A worker may eat from the As it says in scripture; even a bullock is allowed
orchard he tends; anyone should to eat the corn that he is grinding, so should a
be rewarded who protects worker be able to eat of the fruit of the orchard
another’s interests. that he cultivates for his master. This is not
stealing; it is one of the benefits of his
employment package.

A mirror reflects a man’s face, A man may look honest and kind, but if he
but what he is really like is shown associates with robbers and gamblers, he
by the kind of friends he chooses. probably does not have either of these
characteristics in his heart.

Ambition and death are alike in Three things in life are certain; birth, death and
this; neither of them is ever taxes. However, these days, with abortions on
satisfied. the increase, birth is no longer a certainty.
Once we have ambition is our hearts we are
always trying to fulfil its goals and continue to do
better. The more we achieve, the more we want
to achieve; there is always a higher mountain to
climb. On the other hand, death comes to all of
us, (unless you are Enoch or Elijah) and death is
never satisfied with just one person in a family. It
is always seeking to take them all.

The purity of silver and gold can When silver or gold is heated in a crucible, all the
be tested in a crucible, but a man dross, (the impurities) comes to the surface and
is tested by his reaction to men’s are skimmed off, leaving only the pure metal
praise. behind. The impurities in man are identified by
how he reacts to praise. Either pride
righteousness, or humbleness will be exhibited
when praise is bestowed upon him.

You cannot separate a rebel from Foolishness is included in the DNA of a rebel.
his foolishness, even though you NO matter how small the particles the
crush him to powder. foolishness remains.

97
Riches can disappear fast. And The 1929 crash on Wall Street clearly proves
the king’s crown does not stay in that riches can disappear almost overnight, when
the family forever – so watch the value of the currency takes a dive and
your business interests carefully. billions of dollars are wiped off the share values.
Know the state of your flocks and On the other hand we see kingdoms established
your herds; then there will be which last for centuries, in fact dynasties are
lamb’s wool enough for clothing; created, but others only last for a few years. This
and goat’s milk enough for food is because God raises up kingdoms and it is God
for all of your household after the Almighty who pulls them down.
hay is harvested; and the new If we look at the situation right now we have
crop appears, and the mountain Queen Elizabeth who has just celebrated
grasses are gathered in. reigning for 60 years and in Thailand, King
Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) has been king
since 1936, a total of 80 years.
But despite these long reigns there will come a
time when these family reigns will end, either
peacefully, or as a result of internal wars and/or
rebellions. Therefore it is wise to keep abreast of
developments and make sure that your own
assets are in order, so when the turmoil comes
you will be prepared and protected.

CHAPTER 28: WICKEDNESS CORRUPTS TO THE HIGHEST LEVELS

Verse Comments
The wicked flee when no one is The scriptures say that Satan comes like a
chasing them! But the godly are roaring lion, but we know he has no teeth and
bold as lions! slinks away at the first sign of a spiritual attack
by Christians, who know their power and
authority using the power of the word of God.
Because we know the power of God’s word, we
have the authority of that word operating each
time we proclaim it, because God’s Word has
said it shall not return void but shall accomplish
everything that it was sent out to do. It is time for
the godly Christians to rise up and stand their
ground! We are victors not victims, so do not
act like victims!

98
When there is moral rot within a Over the last 70 years we have moral decay eat
nation, its government topples at the Australian character, as decay does to a
easily; but with honest, sensible tooth. Most of the time you cannot see it, but it is
leaders, there is stability. there and when the time comes to go to the
dentist, because you feel the first symptoms of
pain or torment, then usually it requires action by
the dentist, either a filling or worse, a tooth
removal.
This same analogy works with Governments and
its leaders. Over time, we have seen laws being
passed in this country (at both state and Federal
levels) that contradict God’s Laws and yet the
political leaders think that God is not watching.
They think that they can go ahead and deceive
the people with hidden items within the Budgets
and cost over-runs, which are almost criminal
and think they can get away with it! Guess what?
God is watching and sooner or later (in His
perfect timing), God will intervene and His
judgement will come upon the leaders of the
nation, and upon the leaders of the churches,
who remained silent.
God holds all leadership responsible for the acts
within a nation, and the wake-up call is that it
starts within the church!!!
In 2028, God will judge Australia again (He
judges every nation, every 40 years) and it will
be interesting to discover what He will find;
 Will there be honesty, integrity and
statesmanship in Canberra, or
 Will there be continued mudslinging, “rorting
the system”, illegal award of contracts,
“beneficial back-hand payments”, and other
items too bad to mention, that the politicians
think are OK.
 Will the government still thumb their noses at
International laws and treaties (which they
have signed) and continue to “do it my way”?
 Yes, the present government policy has
stopped the boats, but the illegal activities,
which followed, make our government no
better than the people smugglers they were
trying to stop.
 NO government is above the law and the
sooner our government gets this revelation
the better!!! FOR THE WHOLE NATION!!!

99
When a poor man oppresses When a rich man exploits the poor, God will deal
those even poorer (than himself), with Him in His time, but when a poor man, who
he is like an unexpected flood owes debts, oppresses a man who is poorer than
sweeping away their last hopes. himself, then all trust is humanity is lost. But
God’s action is swift and He calls in all of the
debts that the oppressor needs to pay and will
not give any extension of time to pay them.

To complain about the law is to Many people complain about the law, go into the
praise wickedness, To obey the streets, and get into street battles over issues
law is to fight evil. contained in laws. But if you told them that God’s
word says that what they are doing is praising
wickedness, many would dispute that this
scripture even existed. This scripture needs to be
preached from the pulpit and then practised in
the streets!

Evil men do not understand the God is the ultimate judge and His laws are not
importance of justice, but those subject to review or change, because God’s
who follow the Lord are much word is unchanging. Evil people have no interest
concerned about this. in God’s laws; they thumb their noses at God
and think they are above the law of the land and
God’s law as well. Unfortunately, after mercy
comes the judgement and this judgement is
eternal!

Better to be poor and honest, God honours and blesses an honest man,
than rich and a cheater. whether he is rich or poor, but a rich man who is
a cheater God despises and his wealth will not
bring him happiness, or good health.

Young men who are wise obey God says it is wise for a young man to obey the
the law; a son who is a member law, because that shows reverence to God
of a lawless gang is a shame to Almighty. But a man you is a member of a
his father. lawless gang, a member, who defies the laws of
the land is supposed to be a shame for his
father, yet Muslim fathers are happy that their
sons are rebels, members of ISIS and other
Militant Islamic groups. This clearly shows that
these fathers do not worship Almighty God, but
another god who lifts up evil and tries to make
people believe it is the right path, when even the
Quran says that Jesus is the right path, listen,
and obey Him17.

17
And when Jesus came with clear signs He said, “I have come to you with wisdom and in order
to make clear to you some of the (points) in which you differ, therefore, fear Allah (God), and
obey me”. (Sura #43, Zukhruf :63) Want to know more about Jesus in the Quran? Please click
the link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8dodbmselicy2dl/IN%20SEARCH%20OF%20THE%20TRUTH.pdf?dl=0

100
Income from exploiting the poor If you exploit the poor and vulnerable, God
will end up in the hands of Almighty is putting you on notice. All the money
someone who pities them. you have taken from the poor, or the wages you
have not paid them will be taken away from you
and given to someone else, who has
compassion for the poor. It is not a good thing to
exploit the poor, because it displeases God, and
if God is displeased with you, there will be no
peace, no blessings, and plenty of hardships, as
your reward.

God does not listen to the This is a warning that everybody should realise
prayers of men who flout the law. that God is not fooled by the prayers od
unrighteous people, because looks at the heart,
not at the outward appearance.

A curse on those who lead astray God has promised to curse all those who lead
the godly. But men who godly people astray, this includes pastors as well
encourage the upright to do good a loose women. But those who encourage
shall be given a worthwhile people to be upright (which means right standing
reward. with God) to do good, shall be rewarded, which
is not a little thing, because it says that the
reward will be worthwhile – sizeable, profitable to
the recipient.

Rich men are conceited, but their Have you ever noticed that rich men have an air
real poverty is evident to the about them they are; proud, vain, smug,
poor. arrogant, superior, stuck-up, and bigheaded. But
even the poor can see that they do not have
Jesus Christ in their lives, because if they did,
they would be exhibiting none of these
characteristics.

When the godly are successful, God blesses those who are godly in their hearts
everyone is glad. When the with success and everyone is happy and gives
wicked succeed, everyone is sad. praise unto the Lord, but when the wicked are
successful, people are sad, because they
recognise that God is dealing with issues in their
lives, and have allowed to wicked to become
successful as a witness of His displeasure.
When God wants to judge a nation He gives
them wicked rulers.

A man who refuses to admit his Samson was a great, strong man, but he had a problem,
mistakes can never be he liked loose women and it was his downfall. He lost his
God-given power and was blinded and forced to grind
successful. But if he confesses corn, but he came to his senses and repented of his
and forsakes them, he gets mistakes, and was given another chance to destroy the
another chance. Philistines. He pulled the temple down upon himself and
many hundreds, which were gathered in the arena to taunt
him, killing more in that one act than he had previously
done in his whole life.

101
Blessed is the man who revers This statement is very clear. If you have a
God, but the man who doesn’t reverential fear of God Almighty, then you have a
care is headed for serious promise from God that you will be blessed.
trouble. However, if you do not care about God, there is
another promise for you, and that is that you are
headed for serious trouble. So you have a
choice, blessings, or curses --- you choose!

A wicked ruler is a dangerous to A wicked ruler can bring death to the poor, just
the poor, as a lion or a bear that by speaking the words, and the poor have no
is attacking them defence, except to pray to God Almighty to
protect them from this unrighteousness.
Remember, righteousness exalts a nation, but
unrighteousness only brings destruction.

Only a stupid prince will oppress At the moment we have two such cases. The
his people, but a king will have a King of Thailand came to the throne in 1936 and
long reign if he hates dishonesty has now reigned for 80 years, the longest
and bribes. reigning king in their history. Likewise Queen
Elizabeth has just celebrated her diamond jubilee
reigning over the Commonwealth for 60 years. In
both cases their sons could destroy this legacy, if
they rule unwisely.

A murderer’s conscience will This is where there is a divergence between Old

drive him into hell. Do not stop Testament thinking and New Testament thinking.
him! Jesus says, “I will show you a better way”.
While we were yet sinners He died for us, giving
us the opportunity to get a second chance,
because in God’s eyes, all sins are forgivable,
EXCEPT the sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit.
This means that this murderer has the option of
salvation, under God’s grace through the blood
of Jesus, which was spilt on the cross for our
sins. He does not need go to hell, and we have
been commanded by Jesus to go and make
disciples, by telling everyone one this good
news.

Good men will be rescued from It is good to know that men who God sees (not
harm, but cheaters will be man sees) as good will be rescued from harm,
destroyed. but cheaters will be destroyed by Him – not by
us, because God is the ultimate judge. We are
commanded not to judge others, unless we wish
also to be judged. We must learn to leave the
judging to God Almighty, our job is to preach the
word, so that it will not return void, but will
accomplish all that it was sent out to do.

102
Hard work brings prosperity; This is a true statement. People who value and
playing around brings poverty. have a good work ethic become successful,
whilst people who rely on government handouts
remain in poverty, all of their lives and set the
attitude for the next generation as well.

The man who wants to do right You often hear of people, who went from having
will get a rich reward, but the nothing to becoming very wealthy, but it never
man who wants to get rich quick, happened overnight, they planned and worked
will quickly fail. hard to achieve their goals. However, there are
many people on the Internet now peddling ‘get
rich quick’ schemes, which take your money, but
gives nothing in return, so you will fail. We now
have a word for it, they called it “scamming”.

Giving preferred treatment to rich This happens many times and we do not even
people is a clear case of selling realise it. For example, when you board a plane,
one’s soul for a piece of bread. they will announce that the first class passengers
can board at any time they choose, because they
have paid a premium for their tickets, they
receive “preferred treatment”. What the airline is
doing is selling their corporate souls for a piece
of bread, which will dry up in hard economic
times. However, the airline that treats all
passengers as equals will continue to flourish,
even in hard economic times.

Trying to “get rich quick” is evil God makes is quite clear ‘get rich quick’
and leads to poverty. schemes are evil, and evil is a sin, and the
wages of sin is death. “get rich quick” schemes
leads to an early death.

In the end people appreciate If you call a spade a spade, then people know
frankness more than flattery. where you stand on many issues and you get
respect for your position and your value systems,
but people who flatter you, change their value
systems to meet the need of the day.

A man who robs his parents and The basic rule of the Bible says, “Honour your
says, “What is wrong with that?” father and mother, as this is the first promise of a
is no better than a murderer. long life”. If you rob your parents you are
breaking this first rule in scripture and God
cannot, and will not, bless your actions, in fact
your life will be shortened by your actions.

Greed causes fighting; trusting Throughout history we have seen this to be true,
God leads to prosperity. right up until our current time, with wars and
ultimately poverty; but those who trust in the
Lord, shall renew their strength and God protects
them and leads them into prosperity.

103
A man is a fool to trust himself! We are told that God’s ways are higher than our
But those who use God’s wisdom ways, therefore God’s plans are perfect and
are safe. better, (in all situations) than ours. We would be
stupid to trust in our plans under those
circumstances, because in doing so we are
placing ourselves in a position as God. We know
that the reverential fear of the Lord is the first
step towards wisdom. If we do not trust in God’s
plan for our lives, then we are not one of His
disciples.

If you give to the poor, your This statement is clearly borne out in the account
needs will be supplied! But a in the Book of Acts, where a non-Jewish
curse upon those who close their centurion, got God’s attention because of his
eyes to poverty. giving of alms to the poor. God even sent angels
and disciples to his household, so that he, his
whole family, and all that were within his
household could be saved. Alternatively, nations
that close their eyes to the poverty in their own
countries, (and in the countries around them),
are cursed by God.

When the wicked prosper, good “When God wants to judge a nation, He gives
men go away; when the wicked them wicked rulers”18.
meet disaster, good men return. In the upcoming elections (in both the USA and
in Australia in 2016) if wicked men get into power
do not be surprised if good godly men leave
these countries and establish their businesses
elsewhere, because God will lead them to where
He can prosper them. When the time of
judgement has passed, God will encourage
these good godly men to return, but not
beforehand.

CHAPTER 29: THE RIGHTEOUS WILL BE REWARDED

Verse Comments
A man, who is often reproved but As it says many times in scripture; after mercy
refuses to accept criticism, will comes the judgement. God has given this man
suddenly be broken and never many warnings, and opportunities for him to
have another chance. listen to the criticism, repent, change his ways,
and go forward under God’s grace and mercy;
but He has rebelled against God, be refusing to
take heed of the warnings, so suddenly disaster
shall befall him, and he shall never recover and
have a second chance. People should take
serious note of this verse of scripture.
18
John Calvin made this statement, which has been proven to be true.

104
With good men in authority, the It comes back to that same old godly precept;
people rejoice; but with the “righteousness EXALTS a nation”. When godly
wicked in power, they groan. righteous people are in authority, God “has to
bless the nation” and as a result, the people
rejoice, because they see the favour of God
upon their lives. But when wicked people come
to power they quickly see God’s favour
disappear from their nation, and trials, hardships,
and poverty, make the people groan under the
punishment of God above.

A wise son makes his father A son is the image of what the father has taught
happy, but a lad who hangs him. If the son has been taught the ways of the
around with prostitutes disgraces Lord when he is young, the scriptures say that he
him. will continue to walk in them all of his life. This
witness of wisdom makes the father happy and
contented. However, if the son hangs around
with loose women, then it is clear that the father
did not teach him correctly when he was a child,
and he has rebelled against authority and
allowed Satan to now direct his lifestyle. This
lifestyle disgraces his father, but without
repentance will lead to his eternal downfall.

A just king gives stability to his Even in the world today, we see what happens
nation, but one who demands when bribes are expected to be paid “to get
bribes destroys it. things done”. There is disrespect for the laws
and for moral values, and the nations go into
moral meltdown. We are seeing this happening
in many western nations right before our very
eyes, and yet the people are blinded to the
reality of what is happening. But when the scales
are removed from their eyes it may be too late to
recover, without pain and suffering.

Flattery is a trap; evil men are A merry heart does good like a medicine and that
caught in it, but good men stay is why godly men sing His praise. But flattery is a
away and sing for joy. camouflage of the enemy, to trap evil men and to
hold them captive in their sins.

The good man knows the poor The good man knows the poor man’s rights and
man’s rights; the godless do not fights for them, going out of his way to make sure
care. that justice prevails, but the godly, do not care
about the poor, they are only concerned about
themselves and making more money!
The laws passed by a government reflect
whether the government is good or evil,
depending on whether they protect the poor or
not!

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Fools start fights everywhere People who go out into the streets and protest
while wise men try to keep are fools! I did not say it! God’s word says it!
peace. If you have a problem with this statement, then
take it up with the Author of the statement and
see if you can get Him to change His mind, but
do not hold your breath, because God’s word is
unchanging!

There is no use arguing with a A fool has already made up his mind and the
fool. He only rages and scoffs ideas are set in concrete. You need a jack-
and tempers flare. hammer to eat away at his views and point him
to the truth, but in the meantime, he rants and
raves, and scoffs, trying to convince you that
YOUR ideas are all wrong. In the meantime the
anger level is rising and tempers (on both sides)
will flare up and ignite. This is not a nice solution
to any problem.

The godly pray for those who Now we know that Muslims want to kill the
long to kill them. infidels, that is all those who do not believe and
follow Allah, so it is very hard to be obedient to
this commandment for the Lord. But it is what we
SHOULD DO! Pray for all those who hate you
and want to see you fail. Paul actually says to
pour heaped live coals of love upon their heads,
so that the love of Christ burns away all of the
hate in their hearts, so that God’s love can be
manifested in its place.
So praying for those who hate you is all about
bringing them to a place where God’s love can
enter their hearts. Our job is to pray so that God
can act upon our prayers.
Next time you want to put up a critical post on
Facebook, or other media site, put up a prayer
for them instead!

A rebel shouts in anger; a wise We know these people very well, because we
man holds his temper in and see them on the TV news almost nightly,
cools it! screaming abuse at authorities, and at each
other on the streets. But the wise man is
nowhere to be seen, he is quietly holding his
tongue and where he is there is peace and
harmony.

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A wicked ruler will have wicked This has been seen to have taken place in the
asides on his staff. White House over the last 7 years. More and
more of the top “security” positions have been
filled with Muslims, link to extremism, and to
terrorism. If the aides are wicked, then so is the
ruler. I did not say it; God’s word says it! If you
have a problem with this statement, then take it
up with the Author of the statement and see if
you can get Him to change His mind, but do not
hold your breath, because God’s word is
unchanging!

Rich and poor are alike in this; This is a true statement! Even atheists depend
each depends on God for light. upon God for light.

A king who is fair to the poor This is shown in history and even today in the
shall have a long reign. lives of the King if Thailand, and the Queen of
the Commonwealth. Both have been fair and just
to the poor in their respective nations and God
Almighty has blessed both of them with long
peaceful reigns.

Scolding and spanking a child There are people today who think they know
helps him to learn. Left to better than God does, and they proclaim that
himself, he brings shame to his spanking a child is child abuse; but that is not the
mother. case. If you spare the rod, you spoil the child and
a spoilt child grows up to be a spoilt adult, who is
already on the way to becoming a rebel, who
shouts, screams, and rages, when he cannot get
his own way. Unfortunately we see too many
examples of this type of behaviour in our
Parliaments these days. They have not learnt,
they refuse to learn, and they do not like their
views being challenged. These are the type of
people we have running the country! NO wonder
it is in such a mess!

When rulers are wicked, their In my lifetime, there have been the graves of
people are too; but good men will Hitler, Mussolini, as well as Chinese leader Mao
live to see the tyrant’s grave. Ste Tung. Now we await the graves of others
ISIS leaders and their followers. If they do not
turn from their wicked ways, and turn to Jesus,
His grace, and mercy will cease, and judgement
will come upon their heads.

Discipline your son and he will If you discipline your son, and make clear guidelines
give you happiness and peace of for him to follow, with clear boundaries, and
mind. punishments, and then you will have peace of mind
as he follows them, all the days of his life, because
you have been obedient to God’s word and raised up
your child to know God.

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Where there is ignorance of God, This proverb has been played out in many cities
the people run wild; but what a across Europe right before our eyes, over the
wonderful thing it is for a nation last year, as thousands of Muslim “refugee men”
to know and keep I Laws! flees from ISIS into European countries. Their
lack of knowledge of the “real God” is clearly
evident, as they fail to respect the women of their
“host” countries, and the laws of these “host”
countries. This even goes against the laws about
respecting “hosts” in the Quran as well. In the
legal world we say that “ignorance is not a valid
form of defence” and so it is here as well. They
will be held accountable by the “real God” for
their actions against people who offered them
shelter, protection, food, clothing, and a place to
stay in safety. These are all the things that a
“host” is required to offer in both the Bible and in
the Quran, but they have turned their backs on
their own teachings and refused to accept these
gifts from the host, so now mercy stops and
judgement begins. Unfortunately, when God’s
judgement is unleashed, His judgements will
affect the righteous in these countries as well.

Sometimes mere words are not When God sees a person, or a nation turning
enough --- discipline is needed. aside from His ways, His precepts, and His
For the words may not be Laws, He sends dreams, visions, messengers,
needed. and prophets, to warn the people, to steer them
back to the correct path. When these
messengers, prophets, dreams, and visions are
ignored, God sends signs in the heavens, upon
the earth, and under the earth, to get humanity’s
attention, to indicate that He is not pleased with
what is taking place upon the earth. However, if
we still ignore Him, His mercy stops, and His
judgements start. The severity of this judgement
is His to determine, the discipline is His to
decide. It can be a sifting and a shaking of the
nation’s economic values, or a drought, a flood,
an earthquake, etc. or God can send wicked, evil
rulers to sit in positions of power and reign down
evil and terror upon the people. It is His call.
We have seen that happen this week in the USA,
when an executive order was issued by the
President of the United States to remove the
words “Under God” from the oath of allegiance in
the USA.
This statement’s removal shall have drastic
consequences for this nation in the years to
come. If it is now proclaiming from the highest
level of government, that the USA is no longer
“UNDER GOD”, so do not expect to be “under

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 God’s protection”. Do not expect to be “under
God’s” divine guidance, nor His blessings.
All Christians in the USA should be on their faces
right now, pleading for God’s mercy and for this
decision to be immediately rescinded by the next
president, as one of his first actions after being
elected, otherwise God will remove His eyes off
this nation, which He has blessed for so long.

There is more hope for a fool We have seen throughout these proverbs that
than for a man with a quick King Solomon did not have a high regard for
temper. fools. Being a person that God Almighty gifted
with a double portion of wisdom probably had
something to do with that. However here,
Solomon makes it very plain that there is
someone who is worse off than a fool is -- and
that is a man with a quick temper.
Galatians 5:22 lists the fruit of the Holy Spirit in
their priority order, with love being the highest
fruit and self-control being the lowest form of
these fruits. So, as we grow in maturity in Jesus
Christ, we have to learn to develop these fruits
from the lowest – to the highest, because you
cannot have peace until the previous 5 fruits
have been placed in their proper places in your
life, nor can you have joy in your heart, if you do
not have peace. You cannot exhibit the love of
God to others, if you do not have joy and peace
in your heart. So what Solomon is saying some
13 generations before Jesus Christ was born is
confirmed by Apostle Paul in the Epistle to the
Galatians, several hundred years later.
For people nowadays who claim we lived under
grace and do not have to bother about the Old
Testament teachings, maybe this a good wake
up call.

Pamper a servant from Nowadays, we probably lose sight of the

childhood, and he will expect you significance of the differences being referred to
to treat him like a son! here. The status of the servant was vastly
different in these times. Even though the baby of
a servant was owned by his master from the time
of its birth, his status would always be that of a
servant, even if the master was the slave’s
biological father, because in these times, the
Master has sexual rights over their slaves. If the
Master treated a slave like a son (maybe
because at that time he did not have one from
his wife) that slave would expect that this
treatment would continue as he grows up, with a
position of status within the household, and

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 being able to order other servants to do his
bidding. If that continued only misery would be
the result, because sooner or later the Master
must make a choice, either adopt this slave-child
as his legitimate son and heir, or take away all
his privileges, and treat him a the slave he really
was.
A hot-tempered man starts fights I am sure that have seen how easily it is for a
and gets into all kinds of trouble. “discussion” to turn nasty, because someone is
unable to control his temper. A hot-tempered
man is a troublemaker, he is always ‘looking for
a fight’, and he is always willing to suffer the pain
and the bruises which result from them. If you
know that type of man, pray for him, but do not
befriend him, as you will become like him also.

Pride ends in a fall, while humility We all know the saying; ‘pride comes before a
brings honour. fall’, well, now you know where it comes from,
right here in the scriptures!
We have seen many instances in history where a
man’s pride has been his downfall. Samson is
the classic case!
On the other hand, Joseph was prepared to
humble himself in Potiphar’s house, be wrongly
accused by Potiphar’s wife, and be sent to
prison, where he remained for several years
under guard until God raised him up to become a
great ruler in Egypt.
We even have a song about this which says:
Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and He
shall raise you up, higher and higher, and He
shall raise you up.

A man who assists a thief must A man who helps a thief has no respect for the
really hate himself! For he knows Law, or the consequences of his actions. If the
the consequences, but he does it thief is caught, then this man can be charged as
anyway. an accomplice, and possibly even go to jail.
People who help law-breakers need to carefully
consider the long-term consequences of their
actions. Because it is a crime God Almighty
cannot bless you either.

Fear of man is a dangerous trap; There are three things we cannot see, but we
but to trust in God means safety. can see the results, so we know they are there.
1. We cannot see the wind, but we can see the
effects of the wind by the bending of the trees.
2. We cannot see faith, but with it, Peter walked on
water, Paul raised people from the dead and
thousands of others have performed miracles,
signs, and wonders by putting their faith into
action. Faith is a positive force from God.

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 3. Fear is a negative force from Satan, and he uses
this force to try to prevent God’s glory being
manifested by people who use their faith. Faith
casts out all fear!

Do you want justice? Do not fawn God Almighty is the ultimate judge, jury, and
on the judge, but ask the Lord for executioner. Jesus Christ is our advocate in the
it. courtroom of heaven, and Satan is the accuser
of the brethren. Judges here on earth are not
perfect, therefore their decisions can sometimes
be misguided, or they even be bribed, or put
under political pressure to make unjust
decisions. If you want true justice pray to the
Lord for it – in all situations.

The good hate the badness of Notice that the good person does not hate the
the wicked. The wicked hate the wicked person, only what he does. This is true
goodness of the good. Christian love in operation. Christians should not
hate people who are your enemies, only the
things that they do.
On the other hand, a wicked person is tormented
by the good he sees you doing. It pricks his
conscience, because he knows deep down in his
spirit, that what you are doing is right, and what
he is doing is wrong. But he is so far gone down
this path of wickedness that he believes he is
trapped, and can never return. That is the
deceiving message that Satan uses to keep him
trapped in his wickedness, but the love of a
righteous person can lead him back to Christ, to
repentance and salvation.

CHAPTER 30: THE THINGS THAT GOD HATES

Proverbs 30:1 says; these are the messages of Agur, son of Jakeh, from Massa,
addressed to Ithiel and Ucal.
Question: "Who was Agur son of Jakeh (Proverbs 30)?"
Answer: Proverbs 30:1 says the chapter’s words are “the sayings of Agur, son of
Jakeh.” Agur was writing “to Ithiel and Ucal” (NAS); these men could have been
disciples, or friends of Agur, although some Bibles translate the meaning of the
two names with the assumption that they do not refer to actual people at all.
Most commentators believe Agur lived in the same era as Solomon. We do not
know much about Agur, except what we can glean from this one chapter.
The name Agur comes from a Hebrew word meaning “collector”. Agur and Jakeh
are only mentioned here in the Bible and are otherwise unknown.
Agur’s proverbs offer insight regarding his thoughts on life. Agur was weary and

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worn out (verse 1), he did not consider himself wise (verses 2–4), and he
considered God’s words completely true (verses 5–6).
In Proverbs 30 Agur expresses to God a request that the Lord remove lying from
him and give him neither riches nor poverty (verses 7–9).
Agur’s teachings include a warning not to slander servants (verse 10) and an
observation that many people see themselves as better than they really are .
(Verses 11–14)
Agur then begins a numbered list of sayings that includes three things never
satisfied (the barren womb, the land’s need for water, and the end of a fire,
verses 15–16).
Verse 17 adds that the person who mocks his parents will experience judgment.

Verses 18–19 list four things that are beyond Agur’s understanding:
 an eagle in the sky,
 a serpent on a rock,
 a ship on the seas,
 and a man with a woman.
In verses 21–23, is a list of four things that cause the earth to tremble:
 a slave who becomes king,
 a well-fed fool,
 an unloved married woman,
 And a servant, who replaces the wife in the household.
 Verses 24–28 note four small things that are very wise:
 ants,
 rock badgers,
 locusts,
 And lizards.
Verses 29–31 specify four proud things:
 A lion,
 a rooster,
 a goat,
 And a king with his army.
 Verses 32–33 advise that, if you have been foolish in exalting yourself,
you need to stop; also, prodding someone to anger is unwise.
These simple yet profound observations on life reveal many aspects of this
otherwise unknown man, named Agur. For example, Agur realized God’s wisdom
was greater than his own was. He understood the temptation of riches. He knew
many aspects of life and that God’s creation would remain a mystery beyond his
own understanding. And Agur knew the importance of controlling anger, avoiding

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foolishness, and living for God. He encourages his readers to refrain from a life
that dishonours God, because this results in judgment. Rather, Agur promotes
living life with a proper fear of God, and concern for other people.

Verse Comments
I am tired out, O God, and People today cry out these same words. “Lord I am
ready to die. I am too stupid to all stressed out, I no longer have any strength to
even call myself a human continue, and I am ready to die”. They have
being. I cannot understand forgotten the scriptures, which tell us that in our
man19, let alone God. weariness, when we are weak, then God’s power
makes us strong. When we try to do things “in our
strength” we fail, but when we put our trust in the
Lord, “He renews our strength”. He then goes on
the make a statement that nobody should make,
because Proverbs 6:2 says that you are trapped by
the words of your mouth. Do not say that you are
too stupid, because Satan can then later use those
words against you! Yes. You may not understand
humanity, and you may not have yet learnt wisdom,
but you are made in God’s image, so you are
definitely NOT stupid!
Yes, we know that God’s ways are higher than our
ways and sometimes we cannot understand God’s
ways, but that is because we have not reached a
level of spiritual maturity, where God Almighty can
reveal these things to us.

Who else but God goes back God travels all over the Universe at His pleasure
and forth to Heaven? Who and there are no restrictions upon Him. God
else holds the winds in His controls the four winds which travel all over the
fists, and wraps the oceans in earth, and He alone directs their paths. God alone
His cloak? Who but God has controls the oceans and even determines ow far
created the world? If there is each wave shall travel up the beach – so far and no
any other, what is His name -- more! As It says in Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning,
and Hs Son’s name – if you (before time existed), God created the Heavens
know it? and the earth” (out of nothing). And His Son, Jesus
Christ, was present at creation – as the “Word of
God”, and nothing was made without Him being
present and involved with its creation, and then in
John 14:6, the Word became flesh (took upon itself
and earthly body) and dwelt amongst us.

19
An alternate translation says; I have not learnt the wisdom of man, let alone the wisdom of
God.

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Every word of God proves The word of God is true and unchanging; despite
true! He defends all who come what modern-day “false teachers” and “false
to Him for protection. prophets” try to tell you.
Test everything that is spoken against God’s word;
It is the only eternal reference. When people cry out
to God, He will hear them, He will answer them,
and He will give them protection.

Do not add to His words, lest Here Agur is counselling his friends not to add to
He rebukes you, and you are God’s word. Do not try to make it better, because
found to be a liar. God’s word is perfect.
In the Book of Revelations Jesus reveals through
the Holy Spirit to Apostle John that this does not go
far enough.
Jesus tells John not to “ADD TO, OR TAKE WAY
FROM” the word of God; both actions have serious
repercussions!
This means that religious organisations that today
have “extra books”, are in fact in rebellion against
God’s word. God does not need “extra books” to
explain Himself! God’s word, as it stands now, is
more than sufficient! If you add to God’s word, then
there will come a time when you will be found out to
be a liar, because man is imperfect and God is
perfect and so is His word.

O God I beg two favours Matthew 6:33 says, Seek ye first the kingdom of
before I die. First, help me God and His righteousness and then all things shall
never to tell a lie. Second, give be added unto you.
me neither poverty nor riches.
Just give me enough to satisfy If you faithfully fulfil this scripture, then you not lie,
my needs. because you have sort the kingdom of God and
found it, and with righteousness comes the ability to
overcome the lying spirit. God has also promised
that He would supply all of our “needs”, which
means we will never lack for anything we need. It
does not say not that will have our “wants” supplied.

For if I become rich, I may I have heard many successful people say; “I do not
become content without God. need God, because I did all this by myself”! But
And if I am poor, I may steal, later God proves they are wrong by setting up
and thus insult God’s Holy circumstances that takes all of their money and
name. property away. It is fool who says he does not need
God. But this scripture has two parts, so let us now
look at the second part. I am sure that many
robbers would never have thought that God
considers robbery to be an insult to His Holy name.
But is just what it is!

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Never falsely accuse a man to This is one of the most terrible things a person can
his employer, lest he curse do, is falsely accuse someone of a crime. Not only
you for your sin. does it break God’s law (thou shall not bear false
witness) but it leave the accuser open for future
discipline and ridicule when the true facts are made
known.

There are those who curse The scripture is clear. Those people who honour
their father and mother, and their fathers and mothers, God has promised to
feel themselves faultless, extend their lives; so, by cursing your father and
despite their many sins. They mother, you are taking years off your lifespan.
are proud beyond description, Grace and love covers a multitude of your sins, but
arrogant, disdainful. They if you refuse to acknowledge that you are a sinner,
devour the poor with teeth as then you lie and the spirit of God is not in you. As a
sharp as knives. result, the actions of this person do not glorify God,
but Satan.

There are two things never **Hell is never satisfied, it will continue for eternity
satisfied, like a leech forever willing to accept new recipients.
craving more: No three! No ** The barren womb continually hungers to be filled
four! Hell, The barren womb, a with child.
barren desert, and fire. ** A barren desert continually hungers for rain, and
** Fire – which continually hungers for more fuel to
burn brighter.
A man who mocks his father Unfortunately, in our society today we hear too
and who despises his mother often of children and teenagers mocking their
shall have his eyes plucked parents, disobeying them and causing them all
out by ravens and eaten by sorts of grief.
vultures. Satan is encouraging this type of behaviour
because He knows what God’s punishment is for
these types of people. They are “dead meat”;
salvation is lost for them, unless they repent, turn
from their wicked ways, and come back to
obedience, under God’s laws. This scriptures needs
to be preached more often from pulpits around the
world.

There are three things too  Now being the descendant of Sir Sydney
wonderful for me to Camm, who designed the Hawker Hurricane,
understand – no four! the Hawker Jet Trainer, and the Hawker Harrier,
 How an eagle glides (more commonly known as the “Jump Jet”) I
through the sky have a pretty good idea about eagle wing
designs, and vacuum under/over wings and how
 How a serpent crawls upon
it causes lift etc. but that still leaves three other
a rock
items that need attention.
 How a ship finds its way
 Serpents have pads underneath their feet that
across a heaving ocean,
are in fact suction cups, which allow them to
and
defy gravity and even walk upside down.

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  As a sailor, I marvel at how the boat glides
across the waves, displacing its own volume of
water, which allows it to stay afloat, whereas,
we sink if we fall into the water, that is unless
you are Apostle Peter, and Jesus is calling you
to step out of the boat and walk upon the water.
 The growth of love  God says in Proverbs 31:10, “If you find a wife
between a man and a girl20 you find a good thing” and this is a true
statement, but the growth of “filial love” between
a man and a girl is a slow process, which takes
years to develop into “agape love”, which Christ
encourages us all to have for one another.

There is another thing too: People in today’s society have become de-
how a prostitute can sin and sensitized to sin. What the Bible says is “sin”, is no
then say, “What’s wrong with longer treated as “sin” by society.
that?” Sexual perversion is a sin – but it is now OK.
Even the Australian Federal Government has
included pornographic links on their “safe schools
program” which is being rolled out into all public
schools in Australia.
Moral decay is happening all around us, (even in
many churches) and still the Body of Christ
continues to sleep.
God’s word says homosexual behaviour is an
abomination in the sight of God, but now some
church denominations says it is ok, we will even
ordain practising homosexuals as priests and
clergy.
God is NOT ASLEEP! He will hold those churches
accountable for their sinful actions, by defiling
God’s word. These churches shall become “less
esteemed” and be only allowed to minister unto
men, but forbidden to minister unto God. They shall
forever be known as the Abiathur Priesthood!21

There are three things which  Can you imagine, the earth trembles when it see
makes the earth tremble – no, these things coming to pass, because the earth
four it cannot stand; knows that terrible judgement will come upon
 A slave who becomes king, those involved;
 A rebel who prospers  A slave who becomes king, leaves several
things to consider,

20
Alternative translations: “The way of a man with a maid, or Why a girl will let herself be
seduced (by a man)
21
Do not know about the Abiathur Priesthood, and then please read the Appendi x: The Finger of
God is Pointing at You!

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  The king had no heirs, and so the throne was
wrestled from its rightful next of kin by an
interloper – the servant.
 The king was tricked into giving the throne to the
king.
 There is civil war and the servant rises up with
his army and seizes the throne.
 A rebel who prospers! Now we see them rise
up, with their millions, their nice houses, and
their fancy cars, but destruction is just around
the corner. Many have no peace, commit
suicide, or lose their fortunes. The moral is that
money cannot buy happiness, nor can it buy
salvation.

Comment: There are many rich oil Sheiks who are on the roadway to hell,
because they have a distorted view of their wealth and their belief system in
Islam. But even in Islam in Hadith 42:6, the writer tells us that it is Jesus (son of
Mary) who is coming back, as a just ruler over ALL Muslims, and He will decide
who gets into heaven, or who goes to hell. Maybe they need to rethink their
futures and find out which rules Jesus shall use.

 A bitter woman when  A bitter woman is a person who has the root of
she finally marries bitterness well and truly established in her heart,
 A servant girl who and she is in need of strong deliverance,
marries her mistress’ preferably BEFORE she gets married, otherwise
husband the husband is in for a rough time in their
marriage. Unfortunately, despite what you do, it
is never good enough! The only positive to come
out of this is that the man will learn patience!
 A servant girl who marries her mistress’
husband, (while she is still alive) has broken the
trust given to her by the mistress. No blessing
can come from this marriage, because it has
transgressed God’s laws on marriage, through a
deceptive relationship.

There are four things that are Ants are very wise, if you take the time to observe
small, but unusually wise. them. They know when it is going to rain and build
1. Ants: they aren’t strong, up mounds of soil around the openings to their
but store up food for winter, nests, to prevent water flooding them. If it is going
2. Cliff badgers: delicate little to be a flood, they move all of their eggs and their
animals who protect queen to higher ground and build a new nest above
themselves by living the predicted flood level. How do they know these
among the rocks, things? Scientists are still working on that one!
3. The locusts: though they But the wisest thing that they do is work together
have no leader, they stay as a team; collecting and storing food for the colder

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 together in swarms, winter months, so that there is food for the newly
4. The lizards: they are easy hatching eggs and for the queen during the winter.
to catch and kill, yet are Cliff Badgers scurry around the cliff faces,
found even in king’s collecting their food and hiding in the cracks away
palaces! from their predators. Locusts spend most of their
lives underground, and then hatch and come to the
surface, only when there is an abundance of
food to be eaten. How they know this is still a
mystery. They have no leader, they have no queen,
but they seem to have a sense of combined
communication, which allows them to swarm and all
fly in the same direction to a food source. They only
live a few days, mate, lay eggs, and the cycle
begins again. Lizards seem to be everywhere!
Some are easier to catch and kill than others, but
you find them even in King’s palaces, where some
species are treated a s “royal pets”
There are three monarchs in We have seen the film (The Lion King) and it
the earth –no four; describes the true nature of this beast, but even
1. The lion, king of all within a pride of lions there is discontent, and
animals. He will not turn jostling for positions, and ultimate supremacy of the
aside for anyone. pride. The Peacock struts around, showing off his
2. The peacock! beauty, a prideful bird, which is killed more often
3. The he-goat, and because he is showing off how beautiful he is, than
4. The king as he leads his checking for predators. The billy-goat leads his
army flock of goats to green pastures, protects them from
predators and lives to an old age in the animal
world, and see his children and grandchildren grow
up into “goat-hood”. And lastly, the King who
leads his army into battle; a man who has sent out
spies, and checked out the defences of the enemy;
developed a strategy with his generals, and now is
there at the head of his army to encourage his
troops and make ready his army for war.

If you have been a fool by  Pride comes before a fall, but God raises up the
being proud, or plotting evil, do humble
not brag about it! Cover your  Plotting evil leads to destruction and God can
mouth with your hand in never bless it.
shame.  Do not broadcast around your evil deeds, it only
leads to more punishment from the Lord.
 If you are guilty of any of these , then cover your
mouth, or to put it more bluntly ~~ Shut up! Out
of your mouth your heart speaks. Cover your
mouth with your hands in shame, because what
you are saying reveals your true feelings and
God judges the heart of a man, not his head!

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As the churning of cream  For many hours as a child I watched as my
yields butter, and a blow to the mother churned cream from the dairy into butter;
nose causes bleeding, so collecting the buttermilk as well, and then
anger causes quarrels. slapping the mound into shape. Putting the
butter to rest overnight; to be used next morning
on hot steamy toast. The toast was made by
putting it before the open fire in the kitchen, on a
long “toasting fork” made from # 8 fencing wire.
 A blow to the nose causes bleeding, something
every boy knows from experience, by either in
giving or receiving!
 Anger causes quarrels, so it takes a brave man
to walk away from a fight, to allow peace to
return without bloodshed. Walking away from a
fight is not a sign of cowardice, but a sign of
wisdom.

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE: THE SAYINGS OF KING LEMUEL

These are the sayings of King Lemuel of Massa, 22 taught to him at his mother’s
knee.
O my son, whom I have How many mothers today have the wisdom of this
dedicated to the Lord, do not queen, and purposefully dedicate their sons to the
spend your time with women Lord? It is a wise woman who does this. It is also a
~~ the royal pathway to wise woman, who gives their sons advice to not
destruction. spend too much time with women, because that is
the pathway to destruction, and if you are not
careful, you may also lose your kingdom!

And it is not for kings, O A king must always be sober (as a judge) when he
Lemuel, to drink wine and hears complaints and administers justice, with all of
whiskey. For if they drink, they his faculties operating satisfactorily. We are all
may forget their duties and be know that you cannot drink and drive, nor can you
unable to give justice to those be a drunken king and thrive.
who are oppressed.

22
Of king Lemuel, the oracle

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Hard liquor is for sick men, at This saying causes much controversy in today’s
the brink of death, and wine is society.
for those in deep depression. The Salvation Army was formed by General Booth
Let them drink to forget their 150 years ago, because of the effects that alcohol
poverty and misery. had upon families, with family violence and money
wasted on booze, instead of proving food for the
wife and the children.
Giving hard liquor to a dying man is not
recommended by doctors, even though it may dull
the pain. Treating people with depression; by
suggesting that they drink wine, is no longer a
recommended practise. Drinking wine keeps them
IN their depression and increases their misery and
poverty. This is not a good saying today.

You should defend those who In the world today we see much poverty, violence
cannot help themselves. Yes! and terrorist attacks; ISIS beheading of Christians
Speak up for the poor and and other religious minorities, and the world just
needy and see that they get looks on and does very little.
justice!

Yes, some governments are sending in troops to try to stop ISIS, but it leaves
people who are helpless, and this action by western countries, is being used
against the west, by ISIS infiltrating into European countries, and then deploying
violence in a new set of circumstances.
Let is face up to reality here. ISIS is the frontline insurgent militia of Islam, a
religion of hate, violence, and deception. This is borne out by the fact that no
“wealthy” Islamic nations are prepared to take any refugees. This is even though
they are all signatories to the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights.
Makes you wonder!
Now we have a Saudi prince pledging 32 Billion dollars to make sure that Islam
is promoted in the United States of America, which they want to change into an
Islamic state, with a new name, and a new flag. My suggestion is, The Islamic
Republic States of America. The new flag is suggested below.
Now, what I have suggested maybe
confronting and even offensive to some
American Christians, but I am doing it to
wake you up out of your sleep! For far too
long, the US church has been a lukewarm
church, that has sent out missionaries to other
countries, but has let the fires burn down low
at home. People are leaving denominational
churches in the USA in droves, because it is
difficult to see the difference between the
“church” and the “outside world”.

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Gay rights, “marriage equality”, and transgender issues, are all items carefully
planned by Satan and his cronies to diminish the power of the Christian church
the USA.
When Christian church leaders in the USA stand up and say that it is ok to ordain
gay priests into the ministry, Satan has had a clear victory!
Why do I say a victory? Because He has just had a Christian leader proclaim that
God’s word no longer applies in the USA.
No longer do they honour the proclamation on their coins, which states “IN GOD
WE TRUST”! This Christian leader is proclaiming to all and sundry that
homosexuality is no longer an abomination in the sight of God, even though that
is what God’s word clearly says!
So my question is this: “Who is speaking up for righteousness, honesty, justice
and for the poor and needy? Who in the US church is still following the
scriptures”? They need to rise up, and be counted, before judgement comes
upon your nation.
John Calvin made a now famous statement; “When God wants to judge a
nation He gives them evil leaders”. The candidates for the upcoming election
in the USA, clearly fits this criteria.
Christians right across the USA need to be fasting and praying like never before,
so that God can raise up a Christian leader, a strong man with good
knowledgeable Christian values. A new leader, who will listen to the still small
voice of the Holy Spirit and lead the nation back to God putting God back into
schools, government buildings, even into the Congress and the White House.
It is your time to act! It is your choice!
Choose this day who you will serve, whether it is the gods of your ancestors who
came here from other nations, or the gods of the original people, or the God of
Israel. As Joshua stated in Joshua 24:15, “But as for me and my house, we
choose to serve the Lord”!
Now that I have said my little piece, let us get back to Proverbs chapter 31, from
verse 10.
If you find a truly good wife, she is worth more than precious gems! Her husband
can trust her, and she will richly satisfy his needs. She will not hinder him, but
help him all her life. She finds wool and flax and busily spins it. She buys
imported foods, brought by ship from distant ports. She gets up before dawn to
prepare breakfast for her household, and plans the day’s work for the servant
girls. She goes out and inspects a field, and buys it; and with her own hands she
plants a vineyard. She is energetic, a hard worker, and watches out for bargains.
She works far into the night.
Now I have been married for over 33 years, and I have to say that my wife fits
many of these characteristics, and I am very proud of her achievements since we
got married.

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Not only did she have to leave her family and her culture to become a
“missionaries’ wife”, but had to learn new languages, customs and cultures, as
we moved across 43 countries preaching the gospel, and at the same time being
the wife of a Government consultant to 16 governments. When we came back to
Australia she went to TAFE, studied and got her qualifications in childcare and
has been working in the industry for the same employer now for nearly 12 years.
Every morning before breakfast, Rani takes up her Bible, and reads and prays
for at least an hour. She is very strict on this, and I recognise God’s direction on
her life in this. I have learnt over time to listen when she says; “I think the Holy
Spirit is saying this …..”
She has not yet gone out, seen a field and bought it, but I would not be surprised
if she does in the future.
Oh! But when there are bargains? Yes, Yes, Yes! I do not know how she does it,
but my wife can smell a bargain miles away from the shops. “Let us stop here
and see if there are any specials today”? We have gone into large department
stores and found end of line sales, where maybe there are only two items left at
marked down prices, and we buy them for less than you could in a second-hand
store. This is the way the Lord blesses us for our service to Him over all these
years. He promised us that if we served Him, if we came to seek His face, and
His righteousness, then He promised that He would supply all of our needs.
(Matt. 6:33) And He has been faithful to His promises!
Verse 19-24; she sows for the poor; and generously gives to the needy. She has
no fear of winter for her household, for she has made warm clothes for all of
them. She also upholsters with finest tapestry; her own clothing is beautifully
made – a purple gown of fine linen. Her husband is well known, for he sits in the
council chambers with the other civic leaders. She makes belted linen garments
to sell to the merchants.
As I read this scripture, I can tick off almost all of the boxes here and proudly say
that my wife does these things, and not just for a few days, but for many years.
How she gets the time, or the energy, is beyond me. I know it comes from God. I
do not sit in the local council chambers, or in the seats of State or Federal
Government, with other leaders, because I do not believe that is where the Lord
has called me to be, but I do know them and they know me also. I have been
asked on several occasions to give counsel on important issues, and I have
prayed long and hard before I give them an answer, because I know that God
needs to be glorified in their presence, with his wisdom and with his justice and
righteousness.
That is why, (if you know me well) I am always harping on about righteousness,
because righteousness exalts a nation, and all nations under heaven need the
exaltation of the Lord.
Verse 25-29; she is a woman of strength and dignity, and has no fear of old age.
When she speaks, her words are wise, and kindness s the rule for everything
she says. She watches carefully everything that goes on throughout her
household, and is never lazy. Her children stand and bless her; so does her

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husband. He praises her with these words; “There are many fine women in the
world, but you are the best of them all”!
This last set of verses clearly is a testimony to who my wife is. Through 33 years
of marriage, moving from place to place around the world to be a government
consultant, or in ministry, Rani has been faithful, strong and always listening to
what the Lord is saying to His people. God has really blessed me with a
wonderful gift. As it says in verse 10; if you find a truly good wife, she is worth
more than precious gems!
Verses 30-31; Charm can be deceptive and beauty does not last, but a woman
who fears and reverences God Almighty shall be praised. Praise her for the
many fine things she does. All of these good deeds of hers, shall bring her
honour and recognition, from even the leaders of nations.
As Rani and her sister are now trying to bring four orphaned Christian children
from Pakistan to Australia, who have lost their mother, their father, and their
grandmother, due to illness and Christian persecution, the fight goes on.
We continue to serve the Lord, as we have been called to do, ever changing,
ever exciting, and ever rewarding, as the journey with Jesus continues.
But this is not the end! This is just a small chapter in this eternal story of heaven.
Come and join the story with us! It is exciting!

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APPENDIX 1: THE LEVITICAL PRIESTHOOD

Many people in western society have lost, or failed to understand the role of
the Levitical priesthood. Others look and think – it is in the Old Testament, so it
does not apply to us, because we live under grace, not under the law.
It is true that we now live under grace and not under the law, but it is not true
that we should disregard what is written in the Old Testament, because it is a
shadow of what is to take place in the New Testament.
The Levitical Priesthood is no exception. They were ordained into this
office to minister unto God – not unto man. They were to minister to God in the
temple, whether there were any people in the temple or not.
How many pastors (priests) do you know, that would minister to empty seats?
Not many. That is because they have not understood their responsibilities of
ministering unto God.
In the following study, you will see that God sent an unnamed prophet to Eli to
give him a message. This message is still relevant today, because the
prophecy states it will be in operation until Christ comes again.
So this prophecy starts in the Old Testament and will finish when Jesus comes
back, at the end of the “Age of the Gentiles”.
We are all commanded to be sons and daughters of the king; a royal
priesthood before the throne room of grace. How can we act like priests if we do
not understand their role, function and responsibilities?
Notice the prophecy clearly indicates two (2) very different types of priests,
which will be allowed to exist within the Body of Christ, right up until Christ
returns for His bride.
On the next page, you see the Levitical Line of the Priests.

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125
The Zadok Priesthood
Discerning the Difference between “Holy” and “Phony” Ministries!
The book of First Samuel tells us that an unnamed prophet came to Eli (the
High Priest) with an awful message. This unknown man delivered an amazing
prophecy -- one that has everything to do with what we see going on in the
church today.
This divine word reveals much about dead, dry, ungodly ministers and
churches that are in operation in the world around us - right now!
The prophecy tells of two priesthoods that would develop and continue, from
that day onwards, until the very end of time. Both of these priesthoods would be
ministering in the church. One would be cursed with abominable shame; but the
other would be a ministry after God's own heart!
The unnamed prophet tells Eli: "Behold, the days come, that I will cut off thine
arm, and the arm of thy father's house, that there shall not be an old man in thine
house". 1 Samuel 2:31.
He is describing a curse upon the ministry of Eli! But then he continues: "And I
will raise me up a faithful priest that shall do according to that which is in mine
heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before
mine anointed for ever" (verse 35).
This prophecy of two priesthoods is being fulfilled today -- right before our
eyes. Indeed, both ministries are operating simultaneously, in nations all across
the world! Firstly, the prophet speaks of the ongoing ministry of a self-centred,
backslidden, compromising priesthood. He describes those priests who are “of
the spirit of Eli”, mentioning two specific things:
1. Priests who please man more than God
a. Such priests are “people-pleasers”, more than “pleasers of God”.
"Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering ...and honour thy
sons above me..." (verse 29).
b. Eli was soft on sin! He never made any decisions that would offend his
two sons. Only once, in over fifty years of ministry, did Eli correct them.
They had been committing adultery, raping women, committing the vilest
acts. Yet even then, all Eli could say to them was, "Why do you do this?"
c. This man had no righteous indignation! He was not “a keeper of the
Law”. He never shared God's wrath and hatred toward sin. He represents
a priesthood of ministers who are afraid to reprove God's family, that is -
the congregation today!
d. Unfortunately, there are churches today that you can attend for up to
a year, and yet never hear one word of reproof. A church could be
totally corrupted; half of the congregation divorcing, adultery rampant,
teenagers sleeping around, children unruly.

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 e. The whole congregation has been given over to pleasure(s), or sport(s),
or other forms of entertainment; but there is never a word of correction
from the pulpit!
f. Instead, the pastor caters to the people's weaknesses and cravings. He is
afraid to offend anyone -- afraid the offerings will go down and he'll
lose his income.
This is the first characteristic of the evil ministry developing in Eli's soul. And it
is the mark, of every ongoing, compromising, priesthood, of today!
They cater to their own needs and comfort rather than give themselves
toward the needs of the flock. “They ... make (themselves) fat, with the chief
(or best portion) of all the offerings of Israel, my people" (verse 29).
When the people brought the meat offering to the priest, it was supposed to go
into the seething pot to be boiled. Afterwards, the priest dipped a three-pronged
hook into the pot, and whatever came out on the hook went onto his table.
But Eli's two sons didn't want the boiled, sodden meat. They wanted the red,
fresh raw filet mignon! So they brought their father the prime cuts. There was no
sodden flesh on his table. That's how Eli got fat, lazy and careless. If he would
have dealt with his sons, he might have lost his filet mignon!
Eli was concerned with his own interests, his own table. And that is what is
happening in many dying churches today:

Many preachers are interested only in their own comfort, in caring for
themselves -- instead of spending time on their knees, for the sake of the
people entrusted into their care!

The prophet is saying, "You are self-absorbed, Eli -- feathering your own nest!
To you, the ministry means nothing more than food on the table, security for you
and your family. You are treating this position as a “profession”, NOT “a
calling from God”. You don't really care about the flock. You are more
interested in what goes onto your table, than in what goes into the people's
hearts.
Yet, you never once think about how your compromise and selfishness, brings
reproach to God's honourable name. You never consider the people who watch
as your sons steal the prime meat. You are soft on sin, afraid to reprove --
because you're consumed with things that make you comfortable!"
The Unnamed Prophet Pronounced Three Terrible Judgments on This
Priesthood!
Every “so-called minister” who is of the seed of Eli -- compromising, soft on
sin, concerned only for himself and his family will know these three judgments:

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 1. A loss of all spiritual power and authority.
"...they that despise me shall be “lightly esteemed”. Behold, the days come,
that I will cut off thine arm [strength], and the arm of thy father's ho use [their
inheritance]." (Verses: 30-31).
To be "lightly esteemed" by the Lord meant a loss of God's favour and
blessing! It meant your work has had no impact against Satan's kingdom.
Such a minister may be esteemed by others -- but in God's eyes he is a
lightweight, someone in whom God puts no trust!
God said, "You despise me by not preaching my whole counsel. You're not a
man of prayer. You're not concerned about my people, but only about your
success and reputation. You just want to make sure there's a crowd. You have
lightly esteemed My Word -- and now I am going to lightly esteem you! Go
your way -- do your own works. You are lightly esteemed in my eyes!"
This cutting off, by the removal of God's anointing, leaves the Eli priesthood to
busy themselves with helter-skelter programs; works of the flesh that looks good.
It all sounds like important kingdom work, but God refuses to touch it! It is simply
busy activity; lightly esteemed ministries, undertaken by lightly esteemed
ministers!
2. They will be bypassed by the true anointing and blessing of God in
the last days.
"And you will see the distress of my dwelling, in spite of all that I do good
for Israel..." (Verse 32, NAS).
In other words, "When I choose the time to pour out My Spirit, you'll be
standing in ruins!" And that's exactly what is happening in Britain, Australia and
America today: Preachers are standing in churches that are dead, dry and
ruined! God has said to them, "I will pass you by!" This priesthood will be
standing there among the ruins as God blesses and anoints another priesthood.
That is men of God who have paid the price!
Right now, in these last days, His anointing is falling on those who have given
their lives to Him, who are prepared to serve Him and Him alone, without any
thought for their own well-being. The Spirit is laying hold of these praying,
fearless men.
But those of Eli's seed are being bypassed, left to play their church games!
God is saying, in essence, "In spite of all I do, you will not see the good! You will
not be part of my last-day, holy remnant. You are lightly esteemed, and you will
go about your ministry with no real spiritual authority!"
3. They will lose God's touch in the very prime of their life.
"...all the increase of your house will die in the prime of life" (verse 33, NAS).
This verse is taken two ways.
First, it was fulfilled literally when Saul sent Doeg up to Nob to slay eighty-five
priests who were of the seed of Eli. But the verse also has a spiritual application.

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It is saying that this priesthood will look good up to a certain point. The ministers
will be very active and busy.
Just at the point when they ought to be at their best -- full of energy, power,
wisdom, holiness, and ready to be used the most -- a spiritual death will take
place. God is going to leave them! They will be left standing before the people
as dead men, while in the very prime of their lives!
Yet perhaps the most tragic of all the prophecies given by this unnamed man
of God is that this backslidden, compromised priesthood would never be cut off
from God's altars! The evil ministry would continue to the very end.
"Yet I will not cut off every man of yours from my altar that your eyes may fail
from weeping and your souls grieve". (Verse 33, NAS).
God will not cut them off! Compromising, spiritless, dead men are going to
exist until the last days, when the Lord returns. But, God says, "What a grief
they're going to be. They will be a cause for weeping!"
Now, I want to show you another kind of priesthood. It is the other ministry of
priests that the prophet said God was raising up.
"But I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who will do according to
what is in My heart and in My soul; and I will build him an enduring house,
and he will walk before My anointed always" (verse 35, NAS).
This holy ministry is the “Zadok priesthood”! It is made up of faithful, holy
ministers of God, who walk and live according to His desire, not their own
desires. And such a priesthood remains to this very day! Everything that this
unnamed prophet prophesied is fully illustrated in David's kingdom. David is a
type of Christ, and Israel is a type of church.
David had two priests who fulfilled these two prophetic priesthoods to the
letter: Abiathur and Zadok. "And hast thou not there with thee Zadok and
Abiathur, the priests?" (2 Samuel 15:35).
1. Let Us First Consider Zadok. [~~means "one who's proved righteous"]
"Now these are they that came to David to Ziklag. ... And Zadok, a young man
mighty of valour, and of his father's house twenty and two captains" (1
Chronicles 12:1, 28).
Zadok was the first young priest to recognize God's anointing was now upon
David! Men were fleeing to David, coming from all over, to join his forces. Zadok
recognized that the Holy Spirit had left Saul. Saul’s ministry now was all hype,
flesh, with no call or touch of heaven.
And Zadok said, "I don't want any part of that kind of ministry. It's dead -- God
has gone from it. I'm going with David, who has the Spirit's anointing resting
upon him!" So Zadok went to David at Ziklag -- never to leave him for the rest of
his life! Through every rebellion, Zadok stood with him, a man proved righteous.
David had captured the priest's heart -- and Zadok never looked back.
Thank God, there are men of God like this in many pulpits today. These are
men of prayer, who are committed to Jesus, having walked away from all flesh,

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entertainment and worldliness. You know it when you hear them preach --
because something registers in your soul!
When others forsook David, Zadok remained faithful. David was running from
his son Absalom, who had rebelled. And when David came to the brook Kedron,
the Scripture says, "Now behold, Zadok also came... and Abiathur went up..." (2
Samuel 15:24, NAS). Notice here that both Zadok and Abiathur are with David.
Both are at the brook Kedron with him, and both go back to Jerusalem at David's
order.
So, while Absalom defiled David's concubines in full public view, and Israel
went berserk with wickedness and revelry, two holy men stood in God's house --
Zadok and Abiathur.
And so it is today! While the whole world is going to hell amid unheard-
of wickedness, God still has His holy men serving at His altar. He still has a
Zadok priesthood, faithful in all God's Word!
2. Consider Now the Abiathur Priesthood! [~~ means "at peace with God”.]
He was with Zadok as they took the ark back to Jerusalem. Indeed, at this
point, Abiathur appears to be holy, dedicated, devoted, and loyal to David. He
will have nothing to do with Absalom's rebellion. He goes about his ministry
looking as pure and uncompromising as Zadok.
But why is he never mentioned in the Word after this? Why isn’t he named
among the prophets? Why does his name die out? Something happens.
Suddenly Abiathur is "lightly esteemed" -- and Zadok is made the example of
the holy, remnant priesthood. Why? It is because Abiathur had “the spirit of Eli”
in him!
All those awful prophecies spoken by the unnamed prophet fell upon him. And
it all happened quickly! The unnamed prophet had said that not all of this kind
would be cut off. Abiathur’s father and eighty-three other priests who wore an
ephod were slain by Doeg. Only Abiathur escaped! He ran to David -- and the
ministry he represented survived, which was according to prophecy. Yet just as
the prophet had spoken, Abiathur -- the seed of Eli -- in the prime of his life and
at the peak of his blessings, was seduced by the call of success. He lost his
place with God's anointed!
You see, David had another son, Adonijah. His name means "success and
prosperity". This young man pretended to introduce a "new move" into the land,
by naming himself king.
Yet it was only another rebellion -- not a move of God -- but a snare of Satan!
This is the very ministry the prophet had warned of: “self-exaltation and
success”.
"Then Adonijah...exalted himself..." (1 Kings 1:5). It was self-centeredness, pride!
Adonijah said, "I will set myself up as king!" This young man was raised under a
ministry of "no reproof": "And his father had not displeased him at any time in
saying; why hast thou done so?" (Verse 6).

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 Notice here: Everything the prophet had prophesied of this kind of ministry had
come to pass. All of the elements he had said would happen under this kind of
priesthood were in this man, Adonijah! "And he conferred with Joab, the son of
Zeruiah..." (Verse 7).
Adonijah surrounded himself with ungodly men! There was not a holy man
among them; not Zadok, not Nathan, not any faithful men of David (see verse 8).
Scripture says that this group met at "the stone of Zoheleth" ~~ which means
"place of the serpent". This was a group of self-serving, success-driven, ego-
stroking rebels.
They cried out: "Here is something new, something that works! Away with
David's old worn out ways; God is doing a new thing in the land!"
Up to that point, Abiathur had been loyal to David. But now the word was out:
"There's a new move taking place -- some great, new thing happening in the
land. And it's very exciting!" It grabbed the heart of Abiathur -- because it looked
like a ticket to success and prosperity. Now he could make it! He had found a
new man and a new message!
I meet many people who come to this country from places in Europe, Africa
and Asia where churches are dying. They hear about some new work happening
in the churches here, and they become hungry to see it happen in their church –
“a new move of God”.
Once, when I was overseas, I told one pastor friend, "You and your wife used
to be on your faces continually, weeping before God. That's why your church was
so blessed. But you've gotten so busy, you don't know God anymore!" This
couple began to weep, crying, "You're right!" But instead of repenting, they went
to America -- looking for some new program that might make their ministry work!
That is the ministry of Abiathur! He got caught up in a fleshly, ungodly work of
Satan. And he gathered with the others at the stone of Satan, eating, drinking
and shouting, "Long live King Adonijah!"
When David was told about it, he cried out, "Get me Nathan, the Prophet!"
You see, when God wants to do something that really counts for His eternal
purposes, He calls on those who have been shut in with him. David is a type of
Christ here. And he cried, "Forget Abiathur. Go get Nathan, the Prophet! I lightly
esteem Abiathur. Tell Nathan to get the trumpet and the oil, and to go anoint
Solomon to be king over Israel!"
So Solomon was anointed king. And the first thing he did was to kill Shimei,
who cursed David. Then he began dealing with all of David's enemies -- and he
called forth Abiathur. Now, I remind you that the unnamed prophet said this Eli-
Abiathur ministry would never be cut off; and Solomon knew all about this
prophecy.
Abiathur should have been executed for treason. But instead, Solomon told
him: "You cast your lot in with my brother Adonijah. You tried to bring down this
kingdom. And because of that, you deserve to die. But I'm not going to kill you.

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You carried the ark of God for my father, David, and you were afflicted with him.
Because of those things, I will not put you to death at this time. Now, go to
Anathoth, to your own field, to do your own thing. You are lightly esteemed!"
"So Solomon thrust out Abiathur from being priest unto the Lord; that he might
fulfil the word of the Lord, which he spake concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh"
(verse 2:27).
The Eli priesthood is still here today! But God says to their kind, "Go, do your
own thing. I lightly esteem you!"
3. Ezekiel Understood the Prophetic, the Importance of These Two
Priesthoods!
Both the Zadok and Abiathur priesthoods were operating in Ezekiel's day.
And, like the unnamed prophet, Ezekiel prophesied they both would flow, as two
streams of ministry to the very end: "...mark well the entering in of the house,
with every going forth of the sanctuary" (Ezekiel 44:5).
God was telling Ezekiel, "Stand at My house and see all the people coming
and going. Discern all the activities going on here. It's all an abomination!
They're bringing strangers and foreigners into my house to defile it!"
Likewise today, the abominations going on in churches are so horrible, God is
saying, "Enough -- I've had it!" Ungodly ministers have brought into the holy
sanctuary rock-and-roll, entertainment, utter foolishness, singers who use drugs
and alcohol and don't even know Christ, or what He stands for.
These people stand ministering in the pulpit, and the congregations don't even
know the difference! "And ye have not kept the charge of mine holy things: but ye
have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves" (Ezekiel 44:8).
He was saying, in other words: "You've brought in foreigners, people who do
not know me, to keep charge of my sanctuary!" These were foreign elements --
wicked, unholy, unseparated, still of the world. God's house was being profaned!
So God appointed an Abiathur priesthood, to minister to a people, whose
hearts were set on idols! The shepherds had strayed far from God. They were
filled with the spirit of Eli, chasing fame and success -- and the people loved to
have it so! Thus, God appointed idolatrous priests to give the people what they
wanted. "Like people, like priest!" "Yet I will appoint them to keep charge of the
house of all its service, and of all that shall be done in it" (verse 14, NAS). How
blind such ministers are!
God says of them; and they shall not come near unto me..." (Verse 13).
They stand in the pulpit lightly esteemed by God, full of self and idolatry,
nowhere near to the Lord. Yet they go through all the motions: preaching,
teaching, counselling, in fact, all the ministerial duties. But they don't know the
difference! They have no discernment, no witness of the Spirit of God!
Beloved, if you do not repent and surrender all to Jesus -- if you hold onto an
idol in your heart -- you will end up listening to a minister who preaches to your
idolatry!

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 God made a promise in His Word that if His people would repent and
return to Him with all their hearts, He would raise up for them Zadok
Shepherds!

"Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord... and I will bring you to Zion: and
I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with
knowledge and understanding" (Jeremiah 3:14-15).
Ezekiel prophesied that a Zadok priesthood would be very much alive and well
in the last days: "But...the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of My sanctuary
when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to Me, to
minister unto Me, and they shall stand before Me, to offer unto Me the fat and the
blood, said the Lord God. They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall
come near to my table, to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge"
(Ezekiel 44:15-16).
There will be no mixture in this priesthood: "...they shall be clothed with
linen garments; and no wool shall come upon them, while they minister..." (verse
17). Wool mixed with linen represents mixture -- a little bit of God and a little bit
of the flesh. But God says, "My priesthood is made of pure linen. There is no
mixture!"
This Zadok priesthood will be fearless against sin -- and will have the power to
lead people into righteousness and holiness.
"And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the
profane; and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean" (verse
23).
These are the marks of the Zadok priesthood:
1. They are not afraid to reprove with the power and authority of the Holy
Ghost.
2. They make it very clear to you what is wrong and what is right, until you
gain the knowledge and wisdom to make right choices yourselves.
3. These men know and recognise the voice of the Lord. They know what
God speaks, because they sit and wait on Him! They don't pray, "Bless
me, bless my programs, give me money..." Rather, they cry out: "Oh,
Jesus, I love you! I want to know Your mind and Your heart!" “Show me
Your ways, Oh Lord”.
You may be saying, "It's good to know all this about preachers." But God is
saying to you right now: "What about you?"

Dear Saints, Did You Know This Message Is All About You?

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 Scripture says, "(He) hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father;
to him be the glory and dominion for ever and ever..." (Revelation 1:6). Beloved,
this verse is true for the whole body of Christ! Everyone who calls himself or
herself by God's name is to be a priest unto the Lord.
So, I ask you: Which priesthood best describes your walk with God?
Are you of Zadok? Or are you an Abiathur priest?
Are you self-centred -- running around to conventions and seminars, looking
for comforting answers? Or do you receive reproof with joy, knowing that God
wants to cut the cancer of sin out of you, in order to heal you?
Do you buy tape after tape of some evangelist, to try to get a word from
heaven? Or are you learning to discern God's voice for yourself, by giving quality
time to Him in the secret closet, in prayer and fasting, seeking God’s face?
Everyone who lives by the name of Jesus should be learning to hear God's
voice. He wants you to hear His word in your own heart! If you learn that, you
can go to any church anywhere and know within five minutes if the Spirit of the
Lord is there. If it's really Zadok, your hands will go up in the air. You'll say, "I'm
hearing something good. Something is registering in my soul. This is God!"
Or -- you will discern what is of Abiathur. And it will make you sick to your
stomach! You will flee, because you cannot stand the stench of this flesh!

Oh, God -- give us the spirit of the Zadok priesthood right now! We pray that
you raise up this priesthood in our church, in our city and in our nation, so we
can hear your voice, and respond to Your Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Sons of Zadok

Everyone knew that the Sons of Zadok were different. There is a clear path
explaining how man is to minister to God and what He requires of this ministry. In
this day, we are challenged to examine our faith and belief structure, under the
guidance of the Holy Spirit and in light of the Word. The King-Priest blessings are
framed in powerful perspective, along with the demand for righteousness and
holiness. It is time to release the Sons of Zadok!
Sons of Zadok minister under the great High Priest, Jesus. Only the Sons of
Zadok were to minister unto God. Eli ministered unto the people. Zadok
ministered unto God.

Who Are the Sons of Zadok?

Few people even believe that God needed ministering to, or that no one would
know where to begin. Unmistakably, the essence of Ezekiel 44 was 'what
characterizes the person who may minister to God.'
Ezekiel 44:14 was a pivotal verse, separating those who minister to the people
and declaring who will NOT minister to God.

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 Only the Sons of Zadok were to minister to God. They ministered to God
through their sacrifices, their leadership, all the while walking in holiness. Their
prayers were mingled with their anointed, sweet smelling savour at the altar of
incense. Their holiness exuded from their lives as they offered sin and peace
offerings. People knew... they were different!
Ritual was/is not observed by the Sons of Zadok: They entered/enter into the
presence of the Lord during their duties. They taught the difference between the
holy and the profane. They talked differently and they walked differently. Their
lives reflected the purity and holiness of the Lord.
Demonstration in the Holy Ghost and power is not the unusual but rather the
ordinary for the Sons of Zadok. Only the Sons of Zadok (righteousness) could
come before the Lord and minister unto Him. Those who walk in holiness
compromising no aspect of Word or walk, and who teach the people to be holy -
qualify. To minister to God begins with clean hands and a pure heart.
Its rewards are different; instead of accolades from men, the Sons of Zadok
find accolades from the Lord. His Presence insures that peace reigns and 'every
dedicated thing in Israel shall be theirs' (Ez. 44:29) Peace will rest upon the
congregant’s houses, as they minister to them holiness, and the ways of the
Lord.
The bottom line is: Choose whether you will be a minister TO THE PEOPLE
only, or a MINISTER UNTO the People and UNTO GOD.
Will you continue to be what you have been, or will you become a Son of
Zadok? There is no middle ground: either you are a Son of Zadok, or you are
not. That is why it is necessary to know what is and what is not related to the
Sons of Zadok.
What it means to be a Son of Zadok speaks of the “baptism of fire” by the Holy
Spirit. The sensitivity to the Spirit of God, and the determination to have Jesus,
as my 'only' Lord.
(Ezekiel 44). "Who will ascend into the Presence of the Lord or who shall
stand in His Holy Place?" Psalm 24:3. Its rewards are different -- instead of
accolades from men, Sons of Zadok find accolades from the Lord through His
Presence (Ezekiel 44:29). Sensitivity to the Spirit of God and determination to
have Jesus as their only Lord is their secret and their power.
Demonstration in the Holy Ghost and power is not the “unusual”, but rather the
“ordinary” for the Sons of Zadok. They minister to God through their sacrifices
and their leadership, all the while walking in holiness. Their prayers are mingled
with their sacrifices (worship). The Earth Splits With The Sound.
1 Samuel 1-4 tells us that the Sons of Eli represents the “flesh-religion”, set
apart from God; but the Sons of Zadok represent a spiritual heritage, based on
intimacy with God.

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 That which is precious to Eli (the system) is its people and its goods. That
which is precious to the Sons of Zadok, are their vows to God, and they have
one rule -- they must obey the voice of the Lord in all things (Zechariah 6:15).
Righteousness and “rejection of the system” characterize the Sons of Zadok.
Eli ministers to the people, and Zadok ministers to the Lord.
The system always substitutes something, to take the place of, or modify the
real thing. Righteousness is fluid like a river.
Ezekiel 47 shows the origin in the Throne Room of the Temple of God. Sons
know that one does not "take time to pray" because there simply is no
meaningful time without it. We were made to commune with God.
Religion/the system can only minister to man. In Eli's times, holiness was not
emphasized. Zadok does not practice "being in" God's Presence, they just "live
in" His Presence continually.
Everywhere Zadok and his Sons find themselves there is great honour and
blessing. I Kings 1:39-40 says, "And Zadok, the priest, took a horn of oil out of
the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon to be king. And they blew the trumpet; and
all the people said, 'Long live King Solomon.' And all the people played on flutes,
and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth split with the sound of it." Talk abou t
the sound being released through their worship and intercession! We need to
release the Sons of Zadok in houses of prayer and worship right across our
nations today!
Ezekiel 44:15; But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the
charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they
shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to
offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord GOD:
Ezekiel 48:11; It shall be for the priests that are sanctified of the sons of
Zadok which have kept my charge, which went not astray when the children of
Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray.
Ezekiel 40-48; deals with the glory of the future kingdom that Israel will enjoy,
when the nation is reborn (chapter 37) and her enemies defeated (chapters 38-
39) at the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Twice it is repeated that the sons of Zadok will enjoy special blessings and
special privileges in that kingdom because they remained faithful to God despite
the apostasy and idolatry of the nation.
Zadok was a priest who lived and served during the reigns of David and
Solomon. He was of the line of Eleazer, Aaron's son (as opposed to the line of
Ithamar; 1 Chronicles 24:3) and became the fulfilment of God's judgment upon
the house of Eli (1 Samuel 2:35) at the outset of Solomon's reign over Israel (1
Kings 2:27, 35).
As a young man, the Bible says that Zadok was mighty of valour (1 Chronicles
12:28). He was not only a priest but also a warrior. He remained true to the Lord
and the king when others were carried away by the rebellions under Absalom (2

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Samuel 15) and Adonijah (1 Kings 1). His progeny served faithfully in Judah's
great revival under King Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 31).
Because of this steadfast commitment, the Lord will richly reward Zadok and
his sons when Jesus Christ returns to rule and reign on the earth.
There's an important practical lesson for us to learn from this interesting
statement in the book of Ezekiel. Just like Zadok and his sons, we find ourselves
in a time when God's people on a massive scale are going astray.
Despite the apostasy, the apathy, the ignorance, and the lukewarm condition
of today's church, God calls on us to stand fast, be faithful, and remain true to
the charge He has given to ALL of us.
And there are ETERNAL blessings and privileges that await those who will
answer the call.
I believe the Sons of Zadok minister 'to' the Lord and not 'to' the people. Also
the Sons of Zadok will teach the difference between the holy and the common
(unholy).

Where Are the Sons of Zadok today? [More than One Kind of Worship]
Are you satisfied with the worship you are seeing and hearing in the body of
Christ today? This is a question I heard the Lord speak to me some years ago.
I did not have to think long for an answer, as I have now been in worship
ministry for more than 50 years. I had been very unsatisfied with what I had been
hearing in churches and Christian meetings and on Christian television for a very
long time.
I knew that there was a higher place. A place where the true worship of the
Great Almighty God, could be experienced, by His children who truly loved Him.
We had experienced this type of worship in the meetings in Singapore and
Thailand in the early 1980’s and longed for it to return to the Body of Christ.
Jesus had promised in John 4:23, "But the hour comes, AND NOW IS, when
the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father
seeks such to worship Him".
In saying this, Jesus made it obvious that there is more than one kind of
worship. And further He stated that there is such a thing as “true worship” which
is done in the spirit, rather than in the flesh. And He said the hour for that real
worship was starting right then.
Yet today in the Body of Christ, I see very little of this type of worship. I
estimate that less than 10% of all worship in churches across the nations falls
into this category today, which is a pity, because where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is freedom.

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 Appearance of Worship
Part of the problem is our great advancements in technology. Virtually,
everything can be programmed now. If you do not have a great voice, that is no
problem. The right equipment can be make anyone sound good!
I am not against the wonderful equipment that can be had today. I believe God
is the inventor of it all. After all, we are told that Satan himself was created with
tabrets and pipes right in him. (Ezek. 28:13).
However, equipment can become the instrument that is used to mimic reality.
A person can be made to appear to worship, when in fact his heart is not
worshipping God at all. You can be taught to look right and sound right, even
when you are not right in your own spirit.
Skill has become more important than anointing in many of our services. But I
still believe it is not by might, nor by power but by My Spirit, says the Lord. Give
me an anointed musician any day over a “skilled” musician who has no anointing!

Horizontal Worship
In the Old Testament there is a bit of information about a man called Zadok.
Now the name Zadok means "righteous". It means, just, or to make right in a
moral sense. Zadok and his sons were priests but they belonged to a special
order of the priestly calling. These men were men of great integrity, who were
deeply committed to the call of God on their lives, to worship Him who had called
them. They were sanctified and consecrated to the work that the Lord had
called them to do.
In Ezek. 48:11 the Word says, 'It shall be for the priests that are sanctified of
the sons of Zadok, which have kept My charge, which went not astray when the
children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray."
The Levites were called to minister to the house of the Lord. Their
responsibility was to care for the holy things and for the tabernacle itself. But the
sons of Zadok had a different calling. They were called to draw near to God
Himself and to worship Him only.
You could say the Levites were called to horizontal ministry. They ministered
outward, in regard to the tabernacle and to the Jewish people. The sons of
Zadok had a vertical worship. They worshipped upward to God.
Horizontal ministry is necessary. It is not a bad thing. However this ministry is
'to' the people and not as much 'to the Lord.' The vertical ministry of Zadok is
unique and it is a very high call to God Himself, before it ever touches the people
of God. Both ministries are necessary.

Zadok Anointing
Most importantly I do believe the ministry of the Sons of Zadok is unto or 'to
the Lord.' We are told in Revelation 1:5-6 that we have all been made to be kings
and priests unto our God. Every Christian is a priest unto God.

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 Yet as surely as there were those who were Levites and those who were sons
of Zadok in Old Testament days, so there are both kinds of priestly ministry
today. The reason we find ourselves unsatisfied with much of the worship today
is that it does not come to us by the Zadok anointing. It is often ego driven and
self-centred.
But when you sit under a true Zadok anointing you will know it. Under that
anointing you will find release from yourself, as you soar upward into the throne
room of the Most High God. You will become lost in His presence and will no
longer suffer from the fear of man. It is under this great anointing that you will
experience realms of His Spirit, seeing visions and hearing the heavenly
orchestra and choir. In this anointing you will also find healing and miracles to
flow because you are in His Divine presence.
The worship that comes from a Zadok anointing will lift you higher and higher
as you climb the Mount of Ascension, to where He becomes the very centre of
your being. And at last, as you fall before His throne, you will know the
satisfaction that comes from the union of God and man. In this place you know
that He is satisfied with the worship as well.

The Zadok anointing does not have anything to do with technology, or

voice training, or learning to play an instrument well. It has to do with a
spiritual endowment, an anointing given by God, and developed under His
instruction. The worship produced under that anointing comes from the
spirit of a man, touched by the Spirit of God.

The purpose of the Zadok anointing is to minister unto God. Yet when you are
in the presence of that anointing, (even if you are not moving in that anointing
yourself), you will be ministered to as well. For that anointing draws the presence
of God, and He is always so powerful and generous, that when He draws near,
you cannot keep from being blessed in numerous ways.
This is not about laying hands on people, although I very much believe in that
ministry as well. This is about the awesome presence of God as He Himself is
drawn to His people, by true spiritual worship.
This is not even what has come to be called "soaking music" for it has a
prophetic edge, as God speaks to His people, through new songs and the
prophetic word, which is released by that anointing.
I do believe that this wonderful anointing is going to be poured out upon the
Body of Christ in this hour. Though we have travelled all over the world, I can
count on one hand the number of people with the Zadok anointing I have known.
Yet I believe it is coming. The cry of God's people for true worship is growing
now. Surely He will answer this cry from the hearts of His people.

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 Are you ready to cry out to God for the release of the Zadok anointing to
fall upon the Body of Christ in your church, your city and your nation?

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