The Wise Fools

For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up. (Hosea 8:7)

We are a generation that behaves as if it is wiser than God. That is why we are doing things that are standing in the way of God’s revelation through nature and especially the scriptures. It is no surprise then that we are experiencing frustration where we expect to get the most fulfillment. Our wisdom is continually proving worse than folly when we are reaping the fruit of our exertions.

I know I am very offensive to some of you because I am pointing at Biblical worldview in direct opposition to a worldly wise way. I hope you will bear with me when I point out some of those wise decisions we are constantly making and some of the outcomes we expect, especially because we are able to see some older wise people as they reap the harvest of their decisions.

Our generation is obsessed with self. To say that I am God is what my decisions mean though my mouth speaks otherwise.

This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. (Matthew 15:8)

My mouth can be so spiritual even as my decisions point people to the other direction.

The sad fact is that I may be actually deceived that I am pursuing the right spiritual goals. I might be even very visible as an advocate of the scriptural way of life as I might have a wide array of verses that speak very loudly concerning my choices.

Mammon is not money but the god who uses money to pursue his goals. This he does by slowly diverting our attention from the sole focus on the Divine to any other object, which object does not even need to be the devil or anything devilish to satisfy him. His objectives are met by simply diverting something slightly larger than 0% from the object of my ultimate worship.

And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. (Joshua 24:19)

Anything less than full commitment of my whole being is actually an abomination to Him. It therefore means that I can be almost full of His worship yet live as an insult to Him.

I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. (Isaiah 42:8)

I will not repeat the things I have written on recently. I will lightly touch on our time and priorities as I develop this thought. But I want our running thought to be, ‘how prominent is God’s revelation to my daily life?’ By revelation I do not want us to become mystical as if God is so hidden that only a select few can access that revelation.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: (John 10:27)

God is not hidden to those who seek Him. He actually seeks them so that He can have fellowship with Him. It actually is His desire to constantly commune with His people.

But probably your pastor preaches that only a select few like him/ her can hear the voice of God. But I will have to burst your bubble because that is not what the Bible teaches. That pastor of yours is taking you back to the dark ages when the Bible was hidden and available only to the select few who were the pastors of the day, otherwise called the ecclesiastical class or clergy. It was therefore an offense for the laity to read, leave alone know the Bible. In the history of inquisitions the greatest crime for the Catholic Church was to know, read, believe, practice and preach the Bible. Yet I see a great many churches behaving alike, even churches whose statements of faith declare the belief in the sufficiency of the Bible for all one requires to live their faith.

We are very wise parents nowadays. Or are we?

Many parents understand parenting to mean material provision. Thus a successful parent is one who can get their child the best comforts and toys. This is the reason we must trim our family (refer to the post ‘abortion’) and have as many parents as possible to work. Sadly for most only two parents are available though at times, especially in some single mother families there has to be a steady supply of working ‘uncles’ to supplement that single income. Most parents treat a parent as abnormal if they insist on one parent being available for the children. It is treated as utter deprivation for the children.

Time is money is a mantra for our times. Many parents will therefore replace their parenting time with the equivalent, even more in toys and comforts.

We have parents who will buy a TV that occupies a whole wall, buy enough movies to watch for a lifetime and subscribe to satellite and cable TV to ensure the family is thoroughly entertained in their absence. Though a child needs to attain the age of majority to qualify for a cell phone, I see children younger than ten having very expensive handsets. A parent is buying his time with the equivalent in toys.

But the sad part is that this parent is deluded by Mammon into thinking that he does all these things due to his love for them when the fact is that he so loves himself that he is looking for any way to run away from the bothersome pests. He is so full of himself that he will (many are women) pay any price to be left alone.

You see children demand too much love from their parents. They demand too much time also. They ask too many uncomfortable questions that a parent feels safe looking for money instead of confronting those questions. This parent may therefore buy encyclopedias and internet so that the child can get their answers there instead of disturbing him.

These children will grow up with alternatives to living parents because they are flying all over the world to keep them in comfort. They will therefore internalize selfishness even better than those parents.

Fast forward to the time these parents will have to retire either because they feel they have made it or because their health cannot compete with all that greed. By this time their children are all grown with their own children who must endure the torture they went through.

These parents now desperately need the company of their children and grandchildren. But their children reciprocate perfectly. A cry for company is interpreted as a need for a toy, only that these toys are now much more expensive than the ones they bought their children. In fact the children might go to complain to their parents that they are too demanding, even more demanding than their children.

‘What have we not given you?’ they will sometimes boldly ask when the parent asks for more time with them. ‘We recently bought you a talking encyclopedia that cost an arm and a leg. Why aren’t you content?’

You see to these children any cry for attention is interpreted as the need for a new toy. Your continued cry for their company will eventually cause them to employ somebody to keep you company so that you stop disturbing them. They cannot afford to take you into their residences as you will disrupt the order of their organized lives as they do not have time to waste with these old bothers.

Should you start showing signs of senility, which are accelerated by the lack of stimulating company, they will very quickly dispatch you to the most expensive old people’s centre because to them that is the ultimate toy for your age. At least they have demonstrated their love exactly the way you taught them by sparing no cost to keep you away from them.

I need to also highlight that even as you were buying your absence from your children, you most likely were doing the same with your friends so that all your pillars will appear to have let you down at the same time.

And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. (Luke 16:9)

This is not a sermon. I just want us to think about our parenting with the big picture in our mind and that is the reason I am not giving any solutions. But I am sure the solutions can be found when you read the Bible and take it seriously. But there are some other posts that have looked at these issues wholesomely.