When I arose this morning, I had a Bible passage on my mind: “Always learning, never coming to the knowledge of truth.” This actually comes out of 2 Timothy 3:7, and I will expound on that further in just a moment. In the meantime, speaking of “learning”, take a look at this scripture:
Ecclesiastes 12:12 In addition, my son, take heed: one can write many books - there's no end to it; and one can study so much that it wearies the flesh. (CJB)
I know many people who exemplify both verses! Some are "always learning but never coming to the knowledge of truth," while others read and study until their eyes fall out – and they wear themselves out on a daily basis, and yet STILL don’t know YHWH’s Truth! As a matter of fact, by all this endless reading and studying all sorts of "sources" I have found they are usually further away from the Truth than they’ve ever been!
I know people who have "read and studied" their way right out of belief in YHWH/Y’shua/Torah to ultimately become atheists. Others have decided to chuck this “Torah stuff” and return Christianity; or they’ve decided “God gave them certain ‘new’ revelations” (which often do NOT line up with Scripture - but since “God gave them the revelations” they MUST be true) and they are now keeping only bits and pieces of Torah because they have been enlightened by this “new knowledge.” And still others simply "leave the Messiah and the New Testament" because, hey, "they are myths."
I also know of at least one former Facebook "friend" who insisted she "didn't need teachers, because she was quite capable of doing her own homework and research" - who at some point, actually allowed herself to be turned on to Islam and, last I heard, she was talking about moving to Afghanistan to marry some Muslim. (Boy, is SHE ever in for a rude awakening! Hope she’s enjoying life inside her Burkha where she’s no longer allowed to read books, drive, or open her mouth to voice an opinion for fear of being beheaded.)
And - not too long ago - I was reminded that there are simply many imposters who are a lot like satan ... they know Scripture, and use it to their own advantage in some way (usually, for monetary gain - and trust me, there are SEVERAL of those types on Facebook!). One such person recently had my entire Facebook group (and, apparently all of his approximately 5,000 Facebook friends) fooled into thinking he was the most godly man on the planet, well on his way to "starting a Facebook ministry"....
Fact is, he is not only an imposter who uses fake names for various Facebook profiles, but also a major Heroin and Meth addict with a prison record for selling and distributing drugs, who refuses to work (and even kept his family homeless for several years because his drug habit was more important to him than anything), who recently began shacking up with another woman when his wife kicked him out and and filed for divorce - which means he can now add "adultery" to his list of infractions! But hey, people are LOVING him because he knows how to "talk the talk"....
Anyway, moving on with my original post, it seems hardly anyone ever really gets INTO Scripture for themselves. They SAY they do, but their fruits, behavior and lifestyles, reveal otherwise. They get many of their ideas from reading extra-biblical commentaries or by following some pastor sitting in prison, or by listening to various podunk YouTube or self-proclaimed Facebook pastor/rabbi/teacher with ear-tickling messages. They don't mind following some divorced pastor, rabbi or radio host, or even someone who is deeply entrenched in some scandal who - in reality - should be SHUNNED because, according to Scripture, he has no business preaching at all….
Unfortunately many, it seems, simply don't have enough common sense nor Bible knowledge to be able to discern good from bad, and so they simply slog their way through life, believing themselves to be all-knowing and all-knowledgeable.
The bottom line, however, is this: Scripture commands us to AVOID even the appearance of evil:
2 Timothy 3: 1. But know this: That in the latter days hard times will come: 2. and men will be lovers of themselves and lovers of money, boasters, proud, revilers, unyielding towards their own people, deniers of grace, wicked, 3. unloving, addicted to irreconcilable malicious gossips, ferocious, haters of the good, 4. treacherous, rash, inflated, attached to pleasure more than to the love of Elohim, 5. having a form of respect for Elohim but wide from the power of Elohim. Them who are such, repel from you. 6. For of them are they who creep into this and that house and captivate the women who are plunged in sins and led away by divers lusts, 7. who are always learning, and can never come to the knowledge of the truth. (AENT)
Jeremiah 6:13 "For from the least to the greatest of them, all are greedy for gains; prophets and cohanim alike, they all practice fraud 14 they dress the wound of my people, but only superficially, saying, 'There is perfect shalom,' when there is no shalom. 15 "They should be ashamed of their detestable deeds, but they are not ashamed at all; they don't know how to blush. Therefore when others fall, they too will fall; when I punish them, they will stumble," says ADONAI. 16 Here is what ADONAI says: "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask about the ancient paths, 'Which one is the good way?' Take it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not take it.' (CJB)
The last verse is, unfortunately, more true than we realize. There are way too many people who are always reading, studying and even teaching their respective viewpoints - while at the same time they have never really come to the knowledge of Truth, and "will not take" the "good way."
This is a very disheartening topic, as most fall into unfortunate categories:
ReplyDeleteMat 13:14) ”And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘You will keep on hearing but will never understand; you will keep looking, but will never see.
Mat 13:15) For the heart of this people has become dull, their ears can barely hear, and they have shut their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts. Then they would turn back, and I would heal them.’
Mat 13:16) “But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.
Mat 13:17) Amen, I tell you, many a prophet and tzaddik longed to see what you are seeing and did not see, and to hear what you are hearing and did not hear.”
Mat 13:18) “You then, hear the parable of the sower.
Mat 13:19) When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the one having been sown along the road.
Mat 13:20) “The one sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy.
Mat 13:21) Yet he has no root himself but lasts only a short while; and when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he falls away.
Mat 13:22) “But the one sown among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word; and the worries of the world and the seduction of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
Isa 30:8) Now go, write it on a tablet for them and inscribe it in a scroll, so that it may be as a witness for the last day, forever.
Isa 30:9) For this is a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to obey the Torah of Adonai.
Isa 30:10) They say to the seers, “Do not see,” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right. Speak to us smooth words. Prophesy illusions.
Isa 30:11) Get out of the way! Turn away from the path! Let’s hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”
I know that these situations frustrate me!