PROVERBS 21

Proverbs 21

v3: We are now under the new covenant. Jesus was the final sacrifice and now we live justly by faith in that sacrifice.

v5: If you keep at something, you will see results, but if you give up easily because nothing appears to be happening yet, you won't have anything.

v9: It's preferable to live in a little apartment at the top of someone else's house than to live in a mansion with a woman who likes to pick arguments with you.

v15: Christians enjoy doing good to others, even though, to the wicked doing so doesn't seem rewarding and may in fact seem silly. However, all those selfish unbelievers have to look forward to is eternal destruction in Hell.

v16: See the warning in Hebrews about falling away.

v17: If you spend all your time and money on living it up, in the end you'll have nothing to show for it.

v20: Following on verse 17, wise people are careful with their money and thus have money. However, fools spend all their money on stupid stuff and things they don't need and end up with nothing.

v21: This life, righteousness and honour is found in a relationship with Jesus Christ.

v23: Alot of people could have avoided a lot of their problems if they just talked less.

v27: If you don't love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, then don't go through the motions of serving Him in hopes you'll make it into Heaven anyway.

v30: There is no teaching in any other religion, belief system, spirituality, or philosophy that can disprove or lead to a better path of life or salvation than Christianity.

v31: As Christians, we practice safety and take appropriate precautions to avoid bad things happening and, indeed, it is right and wise to do so. However, we ultimately rely on the Lord for our safety, health, protection, and welfare. It is also a good idea to prayerfully and wisely consider what people, especially         those in power, are telling you you must do in order to stay safe.

MEDIA-RELATED STUFF

    Didn't know Peter Sherman was still doing voicework until I heard him on WLS Chicago a few weeks ago.

Liked Ben MacMurchy's recent video about working in a call centre. Not that Bmac will ever reach the heights of this man, but I kind of compare the contents of the video to Gene Shepard.

101.5 The Wolf Peterborough, why did you play "Thriller" last night for Halloween. Don't you have plenty of rock songs glorifying Satan in your playlist?     

Sad to have just learned of the death of Peter Benner, station manager of CHCR-FM Killaloe.

Also shocked to have learned of the death of WTAM Cleveland's Mike Trivisonno.

PROVERBS 20

Proverbs 20

v1: This verse isn't condemning the consumption of alcohol entirely. Rather, Solomon is simply telling his son to be judicious.

v2: By being disobedient to the King of the universe, the wicked are sentencing themselves to His wrath on judgment day.

v3: If you don't constantly stick your nose in other people's business, people will respect you and you will have done the wise thing, whereas if you don't mind your own business you'll end up causing bad blood between the different people you've been meddling with as well as between them and yourself.

v4: It's cold in March and early April when you plant a crop. The lazy person will always use the difficulty in starting something as an excuse never to do anything. It indeed can be a challenge to begin something, but once you've done so the task tends to get easier and you have more motivation to see it through. 

v6: Most people are quick to say they're a good and loyal person, but truly loyal people are hard to find.

v9: As it says in 1 John, Christians never become totally sinless in this life.

v10: Cheating people in your business dealings is looked on as a serious matter in God's eyes.

v12: God, through His Spirit, gives us the ability to see the world through His eyes and to understand what He tries to communicate to the people He created.

v13: Don't wait around. Work and you'll have something to show for it; don't work and you won't.

v15: In the end, our knowledge of God will profit us more than any precious material thing we could think of.

v18: If you've got a big decision to make or if you're thinking of undertaking something significant, seek good advice. Don't go off half-cocked.

v22: God can execute vengance on the evildoer and save you, the righteous follower of Him, way better than you can save yourself or avenge yourself against that person who has wronged you.

v29: Our culture prizes youth over age, but this verse indicates there are advantages in all stages of life.

NO ONE IS BORN THAT WAY

When I repented of my sins at 14, one of the issues I had to deal with right away (it being 1998) was that of homosexuality. Though I'd never thought much about it and I thankfully grew up in an atmosphere where it was viewed as at least somewhat unnatural, in hearing the left-wing part of the world's propaganda on the subject, I knew I had to get some answers. I knew people couldn't have been born that way because children don't have romantic attractions or sexual feelings and I had heard about various causes over the years.

     lays out such causes and shows the complex nature of what makes one attracted to the same sex and, by extension, what makes one heterosexual as well.

PROVERBS 19

Proverbs 19

v1: It's better to be poor and do the right things than to be a fool before God, constantly speaking folly.

v5: Purgery is a serious offense, and according to Revelation, all liars wind up in the lake of fire for eternity.

v6: If you have power, influence or money, everyone acts like your friend.

v8: If you become a Christian (Acts 2 38) then it means you love your soul because you don't want it to suffer eternal death in Hell, and all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose (Romans 8 28.)

v9: A re-iteration of verse 5. As we constantly see in the Book of Proverbs, important truths are worth repetition.

v11: We need God's wisdom to be able to see all sides of a situation and not fly off the handle at the least little things.

v13: A son who is an idiot brings nothing but chaos and problems to his father and a nagging wife is like Chinese water torture.

v17: See what Jesus had to say about the sheep and the goats.

v18: People today have an attitude that they shouldn't discipline their children in any way because they're only young once, but a child who doesn't learn what they need to learn while still a kid is less likely to learn how to get along in life as a less malleable adult. Additionally, when this man or woman-child starts getting into trouble because they've never been taught any better, those parents who didn't do their job are going to come to grief constantly rescuing their wayward youth or grown child from numerous scrapes.

v19: People who are quick to anger just keep having it bite them in the butt over and over again.

v20: If you listen to and practice wisdom, then you will be able to pass that wisdom on to the younger generation when you are old, both verbally and by example.

v29: All those who are presently mocking God and refusing to follow His wisdom are going to find themselves being punished on judgment day. 

THE INSANITY OF SOCIALISM

    One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. In our society there are more and more calls for socialism and increasingly socialist policies despite the fact that from Russia to Cambodia to Cuba, socialism has never worked. 

Now, the liberals in the sixties may have had some good ideas, but these days civil rights for black people has turned into police not being allowed to enforce the law and fascist dictums about what we can read, view and say. 

That's right, I said fascist, because socialism or communism always becomes fascism. When the socialists in a particular nation can't get the people to go along with their vision of how the world should be they force the people to comply.

We'd better make an abrupt turn around from this left-wing direction in which the West is headed or we'll be the next China, Vietnam or Romania, or, for that matter, the next Spain or Nazi Germany. 

PROVERBS 18

Proverbs 18

v1: If you really want to grow in Christ, you first have to have the desire to do so. Then you have to spend time by yourself, praying and studying the Word. Of course, fellowship is also necessary, but that time alone with the Lord is so valuable because it shuts out the noise of the world.

v8: Gossip truly can hurt people.

v9: Just as he who wastes material things wastes resources, a lazy person is the same way in that he wastes time.

v10: If we are in Christ then no evil in any ultimate sense can befall us. To live is Christ and to die is gain.

v11: Conversely, the rich man who is worshipping his wealth, relying on it for his protection as opposed to Jesus, is going to be sadly disappointed when that city wall of wealth is burned up along with everything else in the end according to 2 Peter.

v13: We have too much of this in our society today, especially about things in the news that happened in places hundreds or thousands of miles away.

v15: A true Christian seeks (and finds) knowledge about all areas of life, not just the most important area of how to follow Christ. I have noticed, however, that most Christians just want to go on thinking whatever they've always thought.

v17: As said above, there is too much jumping to conclusions in our society today. Christians who were quick to jump on the George Floyd bandwagon last year ought to keep this verse in mind.

v22: Despite what our culture thinks, marriage is an honourable thing and a good wife is a real blessing to a man.

v24: To have a friend you must be a friend. Jesus was a friend to us and showed it by dying for us at Calvary.