Counterfeit Wisdom

The Kingdom Light – Episode 1111

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On today’s program, I’m gonna cite several examples of counterfeit wisdom – or what I like to call “profound puffery.” You know, stuff that sounds really wise or profound, but isn’t. The enemy uses it all the time to convince people to do certain things, act a certain way, or to simply get you to believe in some false sense of virtue. The goal is to deceive you entirely about what is good and moral and just. Kinda like how the serpent deceived Adam and Eve in the Garden. It’s the same old lies dressed up and presented in new ways.

– Show Intro –

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I know we’ve all had times when we convinced ourselves to go ahead and do things we deep down knew we shouldn’t, right? We somehow managed to rationalize our way into thinking it would be okay, but we got there in stages. That little voice told us it’s not really all that bad – it’s no big deal. Then it said, even if it’s a mistake, you’ll learn from it. Eventually, you kept listening until it had you thinking it was actually a GOOD idea to do it. So, you did it. And how’d that work out for ya?

[clip from “Justified” – Raylan says, “There are other things than smart.” Art replies, “Yeah, those are NOT smart.”]

Folks, we’ve all made mistakes. I’ve made some doosies. My point is that we were all born with the predilection to do the wrong thing, even when we know we shouldn’t. Satan knows this, as well. He knows that if he presents us with an opportunity to fail, it often takes a very small push to put us on the wrong path. That’s pretty much what happened in the Garden of Eden.

But he also knows that we like to feel like our actions are justified. So he has developed many ways to trick us into taking a bad road while appealing to our sense of right and wrong and making us feel morally okay with the decision. He uses high-sounding terminology, self-gratifying rationalizations, and yes – he especially likes to use wise old sayings and Bible scriptures taken out of context.

We like to believe we are good people. The enemy uses that. The world’s version of moral teaching for young people is to tell them things like you’re a good person – when the truth is we’re all born with a tendency to do bad things. It takes discipline and training to do right. The world argues, but we’re all born with a sense of morality – we know right from wrong. And that’s true, but what they don’t tell you is that conscience is a gift from God. Every day is a struggle between our spirit who knows what’s right and our flesh who desires to sin.

The half-truth is often a very effective tool. Similarly, worldly arguments that contain these half-truths can sound very convincing. And, as I said, satan loves to use the Word of God out of context to mislead people – it’s one of his specialties. This is especially convincing to those who only have the tiniest rudimentary understanding of scripture – if that.

Some of the deadliest tragedies that have ever taken place were the direct result of the Bible being taken out of context. Cult leaders and other false teachers have used people’s own lack of understanding of God’s Word time and time again to lead them astray. And satan still does it to this day – WHY? Because it still works. There are millions of people out there who don’t have a true Holy Spirit informed comprehension of scripture. And these people are like low-hanging fruit just waiting to be plucked…and deceived.

Too often, we are guilty of simply giving mental ascent to something without exercising the discipline of seeing if that something lines up with God’s Word. Or our understanding of the Bible is so lacking that we can’t verify anything. That’s called following blindly or just going with the flow. This is not wisdom. To the contrary, it’s dangerous.

I often see dear friends and loved ones posting things on social media, in which they use a Bible verse to justify their stance on a controversial topic. That within itself isn’t the issue, but it can be a problem when you lack the proper understanding. Now, this is the point where some of you may hear a little voice rise up and say, who are YOU to tell ME what I DO or do NOT understand?! Are YOU claiming to be WISER than ME?!

First of all, I am what GOD says I am. I would never claim to be anything more or less than that. Second, wisdom comes from hearing, learning, and applying the truth of God’s Word. It takes time and effort. It’s not a matter of pulling a verse-of-the-day card out like it’s a fortune cookie. We all have to put aside our pride and realize how little we really do know and then seek after the knowledge of truth – which is ONLY found in God.

You see, I’ve learned enough to know that I still have a lot to learn. But I have, thankfully, gained a bit of wisdom over the years. And I know without a doubt that none of that would have happened if I hadn’t first sought after a relationship with my Creator. You can read the entire Bible through, cover to cover, and not gain any insight until you’ve encountered the One who inspired those scriptures.

Before you use God’s Word to justify your worldview, you’d better establish a relationship with Him and know for sure that you understand His Words. Even satan knows God’s Word, but he has no desire to serve Him. Do you? See, that’s another big part of it that people don’t get. If serving God and His purpose isn’t part of our daily routine, we probably have no business invoking His words to serve OUR purposes.

So here are some more examples of the world’s profound puffery – or satan’s counterfeit wisdom. Notice how each one sounds nice but lacks depth. Also note the appeal to SELF rather than servanthood to God. When you know what to look for, it becomes easier and easier to see the deception buried within each and every one of these:

• You can be anything you want to be.
• You deserve to be happy.
• You are enough.
• Believe in yourself.

These all sound amazing, don’t they? Surely there can’t be anything wrong with thinking these types of things, right? Look again. Closely. These are all self-deluding half-truths that can lead a person to failure, depression, and worse. They sound great on the surface, but they lack substance. They can’t stand alone. Without any supporting statements, they’re easy to pick apart. Here, I’ll show you…

You can be anything you want to be, really? How? If you want it bad enough? If you work hard enough? Lots of people try very hard to be things they were never meant to be. Most fail. Those who get there and realize it doesn’t fulfill them – what good is it? If what you’re striving to be doesn’t line up with the gifts and abilities you were given, your desire and this petty expression have put you on a dead-end road that could waste your whole lifetime. SO, at best, it’s a conditional statement that never tells you the conditions. And at worst, it’s a lie.

You deserve to be happy, right? By who’s measure? This leads to the question, why aren’t you happy? If you deserve it, how come it hasn’t happened? How do you make it happen? This statement gives you NOTHING to work with. It never addresses what happiness actually is, and it asserts your worthiness of it without quantifying what that even means.

You are enough – so that means, what? You don’t need anything or anyone? Does it assert that you alone are sufficient? That you should be able to handle anything that comes your way? What happens when you find out you’re NOT enough? This statement is a lie from the pit of hell that tells you don’t need GOD. That’s what it really says.

Believe in yourself – uhm, okay. That’s it? Nice pep talk. It’s just more of the same empty platitudes. Try telling this to someone who is battling loneliness and depression. They’ll tell you to pound sand. It does nothing at all to address any long-standing mental illness that could be going on. In other words, it’s highly ineffective against that person’s demons.

My experience has taught me that I can’t simply BE whatever I want. But I’ve learned I have a purpose in Christ. As for what I deserve, thank God I haven’t gotten what I really deserve. Instead, He has given me a happiness I could never be worthy of within myself. I know I’m not enough on my own. But with Him, I can do all things. Dude, I don’t have all the answers, so I have to believe in something far greater than myself. I believe in a God who loves me. And THAT gets me through every single day.

How about this one? A friend of mine shared a post recently that talked about Jesus being all about love – which is true. The post went on to say that, if we claim to follow Jesus, we ought to love people who are different from us – which is STILL TRUE. But it took it further, implying that our opposition to certain lifestyles somehow equates to hating them. I submit that the author of this post frankly has no clue.

First, Jesus is indeed all about love, but He’s also all about righteousness. In His love for us, He warned us about sin. He acknowledged the existence of sin and its deadly results, encouraging us all to refrain from it. Ultimately, He died on a cross and shed His own blood in order that we could be free from the power of sin. When we acknowledge sinful behavior, as He did, we do it out of love for those who are sinning. When you embrace a sinful lifestyle, you are rejecting Christ, so Christians should love you enough to tell you the truth about that and encourage you to repent and accept the forgiveness Jesus offers.

Second, these types of posts often speak of concepts like love without any notion of what love even is. They equate it with sexual desire, which is another thing entirely. God established sexual desire as part of creation, but like so many other things, it has been perverted. His Word plainly states that sex is designed to be shared between a husband and wife. It explicitly forbids any and all other sexual behavior, calling it deviant and an abomination. That’s not me hating on anybody, it’s just me relaying what the Word of God says.

For those out there who would say, I don’t believe you, that’s not in the Bible – I encourage to read for yourself such passages as Romans chapter 1, 1st Corinthians chapters 5 and 6, 1st Timothy chapter 1, Hebrews chapter 13. And trust me when I tell you, there are plenty of other places – though once should be enough. Let me get back to my original point…

The world is full of bad advice that sounds like wonderfully insightful stuff until you dig just beneath the surface to find it’s all a bunch of meaningless fluff. Call it profound puffery, counterfeit wisdom, or whatever you like. It’s meant to fool you, control you, and lead you far away from truth.

The only way to find real truth and gain Godly wisdom is to SEEK AFTER IT! How? Through a personal relationship – One on one – with your Creator, the One who loves you more than you can possibly know. Getting to know Him, and the deep love He has for you, will forever change your life. That’s a promise you can count on.

God will reveal to you the purpose He has for you, and you will finally understand what you were created for. If you haven’t yet started that journey, call out to Him now, right where you are. He’ll meet you there. When He does, He’ll give you something all those empty fluffy platitudes never could…meaning.

And that’s what happens when you step out of the darkness of this world, and into the Kingdom Light!

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