Category Archives: Warnings

September 6, 2016

Sleeping In the Pit

By Anthony Baker
Pro 22:14
“The mouth of strange women [is] a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the LORD shall fall therein.”

Chinhoyi Caves

Not long ago I had the wonderful opportunity to visit Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe. There I got to preach in several churches and see many come to know Jesus Christ as Savior! Hallelujah!

But I did a little sight-seeing, too!

Walking down to the Sleeping Pool

Walking down to the Sleeping Pool

Months before I went to Zimbabwe (Africa) I did a little research. What I found out was that there was a particular cave in Chinhoyi which was known for it’s beautiful, naturally-lit blue (318 feet deep) pool at the bottom – the “Sleeping Pool.”

The Sleeping Pool could be accessed by one of two ways; either walk down a bunch of steps through a tunnel in the ground, or be thrown to one’s death from the top, just like what happened to many people hundreds of years ago.

We chose to walk down the steps.

The Mouth

The mouth of the Chinhoyi cave is a huge opening in the ground. It was through this opening that the unfortunate enemies of some ancient warlords would be thrown … and “sleep” forever.

The “mouth” of a strange woman is a deadly pit, also. And as beautiful as it may seem, the fall to the bottom of this pit is just as deadly as the one in Zimbabwe. It is into this alluring pit that God will allow the fool – the one who despises wisdom – to be cast.

The Pit

Solomon describes the mouth of a strange woman as a deep pit. Why is that? Could it be because there is always this sense of intrigue and danger that draws men to take risks? They flirt with what they know could kill them as they peer over the edge, seeing just how far they can go. Men will flirt with sin, too.

image

The pits of adultery and illicit love are deep, dark, and deadly; few men survive the fall. But would a man listen to Wisdom, he would flee far from the edge. It’s to the fool that God says, “You chose your pit, now fall into it.”

Sorta gives new meaning to “sleeping around,” doesn’t it?

 

*For additional info on the caves, click HERE and HERE.

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September 5, 2016

A Good Excuse?

By David

Proverbs 22:13 

The slothful man saith, “There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.”
The lazy person claims, “There’s a lion out there! If I go outside, I might be killed!” (NIV)

The chances of seeing a lion outside my house or anywhere in the vicinity, is extremely unlikely. I live in rural England, close to the border with Wales, where the largest creatures around are usually cows, which are not known to be carnivorous. There are occasional reports in the media that large cats of African origin have been seen, although this often appears to be an excuse made by farmers when they cannot locate all of their stock. But this proverb is not about lions, it is about laziness and the excuses human beings make to justify bad attitudes.

I wonder what would have happened if Jesus had been lazy? I guess that His ministry on earth would have been seriously curtailed. Fewer miracles, fewer people brought into the Kingdom, and demoralized disciples perhaps? And that is exactly what happens when modern day disciples are lazy. If more people in each church decided to get involved in the various ministry areas, spreading the load might just ensure that the word is spread more effectively.

If you want to know what Jesus thought about lazy people turn to Matthew 25:14-30 and read the parable of the talents. The key verse is the master’s response when he found one servant had buried what he had been given in the ground. Jesus told it like this:

“Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
“His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 25:24-30 NIV)

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August 9, 2016

Avoid the Thorny Way

By Anthony Baker

Proverbs 22:5

Thorns [and] snares [are] in the way of the froward: he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them.
Corrupt people walk a thorny, treacherous road; whoever values life will avoid it. – NLT

Whose Fault?

People who drink and drive should expect problems down the road. People who use illegal drugs should expect problems, also. Why is it, then, when these people get caught, harassed, or arrested by law enforcement, they blame the whole thing on the police?

Recently a man’s dog was shot and killed. After seeing his owner arrested for mouthing off to machine gun-toting policemen who had surrounded the house of a criminal, the 80 pound Rottweiler decided to attack. What was the arresting officer supposed to do but defend himself? Yet, the community where this happened is calling for the policeman to be punished. Why? Because a fool who couldn’t keep his foolish mouth shut forgot to restrain his killer dog?

Taking a Different Path

The simple fact that Solomon is teaching is that if one wants to avoid the pain and suffering of thorns and snares, take a different path.

The above story reminds me of something that happened to me years ago. One night our German Shepherd was acting like a stranger was close by. There had been some suspicious activity down the street already, so I took my shotgun (we lived out in the county) and walked with my dog through the shadows around our house over toward the street. Just before we came out of the shadows, I saw six policemen with M-16 assault rifles walking in my direction. Little did I know they were looking for a criminal who had just shot at another policeman.

My heart nearly stopped. “Oh God…please don’t let them see me…for the love of all that’s holy, dog, pleeeeezzzzz don’t bark…”

The dog stayed silent – I took a different path – and we both survived.

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July 12, 2016

Credible Witnessing

By David

Proverbs 21:28  

A false witness shall perish: but the man that heareth speaketh constantly.
A false witness will be cut off, but a credible witness will be allowed to speak. (NLT)

When I was growing up my father used to tell me a story about a boy who constantly shouted wolf when there was no wolf. Eventually the villagers began to ignore his cries because whenever they responded to the call there was no wolf. One day the boy found himself confronted by a large hungry wolf. He shouted for help but no help came. The villagers thought that it was another prank. They never saw the boy again.

My father told me this story to encourage me to be truthful and completely accurate in all things. The ability to twist stories or to lie blatantly is not confined to small children. It is a significant problem in society in general. In the UK in recent years there have been several incidences of prominent politicians being caught out lying, and even more of politicians fiddling their expenses. A number have been sent to prison. Few are viewed as credible on their release. Except one perhaps, the one who came to faith during his incarceration who now speaks for God, instead of addressing Parliament.

Credibility is especially important for followers of Jesus. The early apostles set an example by living their faith. Some didn’t make the grade and perished because of giving false witness. What a difference between Ananias and Sapphira and the rest of the team. What a difference the Holy Spirit makes.

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47 NIV)

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July 1, 2016

Pride Comes Before A Fall

By David

Proverbs 21:24

Proud and haughty scorner is his name, who dealeth in proud wrath.

How many of us have been warned in the past that pride comes before a fall? The saying is said to come from Proverbs 16:18 but there is a clearer definition of this age-old warning in Wiktionary: ‘A person who is extremely proud of his or her abilities will often suffer a setback or failure, because he or she tends to be overconfident and to make errors of judgment.’

Followers of boxing will be aware that fighters who swagger from the dressing room to the ring and ridicule their opponents often have cause to eat humble pie at some point during a fight. In some cases face meets canvas within seconds of the bell for the opening round. Whether down to overconfidence or basic errors in judgment, the result is the same. Members of the sporting press usually ridicule such falls from grace in fight reports, while the Internet means that the falls of the proud are recorded for posterity on YouTube.

Perhaps the writer of this proverb was talking about a different type of pride? The sort of pride that says man is all there is, and that God does not exist? The Psalmist calls such a person a fool: ‘The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.’ (Psalm 14:1/Psalm 53:1 NIV). If we deny God, then it could be argued that we are proudly elevating man to a position where he does not belong. Can man create a universe? Of course not. He can only speculate on how the universe came into existence. Sadly, many people spend hours engaged in proud but foolish speculation concerning the existence of God instead of humbly surrendering to Him and giving to God what is His. Paul spoke about this indirectly while teaching about the foolishness of loving money:

If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.
Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, which some have professed and in so doing have departed from the faith. (1 Timothy 6:3-7, 20-21 NIV)

What is the condition of your heart reader? Are you a proud fool heading for a fall, or a humble servant surrendered to God and wealthy beyond imagination in God’s promise of eternal life?

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June 30, 2016

Soul Trouble

By Chris Jordan

Proverbs 21:23.

“Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles.” (KJV).
“Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles.” (NKJV). 

Powerful Words:

The Book of Proverbs has a lot to say about the words we speak – our mouth, our tongue, and our lips. I don’t think many people realize just how powerful our words are, but Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.”

What do you think would happen if, for the next 24 hours, every word you spoke became a reality? If you said, “I wish you were dead!” to someone, and they dropped dead. If you said, “I’m so fat and ugly,” and poof! Instantly you became fat and ugly. I think if we experienced one day like that (assuming we survived it), it would radically change the way we speak.

Although what we say may not always literally or instantly come to pass, there is still a supernatural power or energy behind those words. Proverbs tells us that our words can be pleasant like a honeycomb, words of wisdom, knowledge and understanding, or words can be deceitful, wicked, perverse, or foolish. Words can bring life or death, blessing or cursing. Today’s Proverb tells us that if we guard our mouth and tongue – and speak only words of life – we will keep our soul from trouble.

Idle Words:

Jesus Himself said, “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matt. 12:36-37). Now that’s a sobering thought, isn’t it? When we get to Heaven, we will have to give an account of every word we have ever spoken.

Lying words.              
Gossip words.
Slanderous words.     
Curse words.
Hurtful words.           
Critical or judgmental words.

Knowing that truth, shouldn’t we be motivated to guard our mouth and tongue? In doing so, we will be guarding our soul from trouble.

Graceful Words:

The Bible says, “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” (Eph. 4:29). Not only do our words bring death and destruction, they can also bring life, peace and blessing, and even impart God’s grace to other people’s lives.

Loving words.            
Kind words.
Helpful words.           
Encouraging words.
Accepting words.       
Forgiving words.
God’s Words.

What kind of words are you speaking?

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June 20, 2016

Fe Fi Fo Fum

By Anthony Baker

Proverbs 21:16

The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead.

It wouldn’t take much to imagine a fairy tale attached to this proverb. If we ponder the meaning of the last word, a tragic version of Jack and the Beanstalk might unfold.

The Giant Dead

Go ahead and think of the “congregation of the dead” as an assembly of gruesome zombies. No one would want to have supper with them, not unless they wanted to be the main course. Think also of a cemetery, a place where the dead have surely congregated and remain to this day. Either one would be a mental picture worthy of us staying on the right path.

giant

From “Jack the Giant Slayer”

But one could also think of the “congregation of the dead” as something else. One commentary points out that the early church Fathers regarded the Rephaim [the Hebrew word translated as “dead”] as “the giants,” in accordance with their interpretation of Gen. 6:1–4.* So, picture with me, if you please, a spiritual version of bone-crushing, fe-fi-fo-yelling, monsters.

What could be scarier than foolishly wandering off the path of understanding, only to run into a congregation of 50ft-tall man-eaters? Not much one can do.

The Wanderer

Sadly, there are many who wander away in their own wisdom. They think the way of understanding is too boring, too uneventful, and too safe. They believe they know a better way, so they take off on their own into the dark.

Unfortunately, Solomon uses language that implies a sense of permanence. He says that the one who wanders away “shall remain” with the dead, or giants, or whatever. By that he means a “rest as at a journey’s end; death will be his unchanging home.”**

The Wayward

Too often parents and grandparents say that children need to “sow their wild oats,” meaning that they should be allowed to act with indiscretion and abandon while they are still young. Tragically, many of those young people wind up trapped by the congregation of giants, never to be seen again.

Would Solomon have suggested sowing oats in a giant’s field?

Sources:

*Proverbs, ed. H. D. M. Spence-Jones, The Pulpit Commentary (London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1909), 407.

**Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), Pr 21:16.

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May 9, 2016

The Here and Now

By Anthony Baker

Proverbs 21:7

“The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them; because they refuse to do judgment.”

Karma

Maybe you’ve heard people say, “What goes around comes around.” The meaning is, like a big circle, life has a way of coming back around. Some people call it karma.

I don’t believe in karma, however. As a matter of fact, karma is a theological idea that is linked to the unbiblical teaching of reincarnation. Karma doesn’t deal with the hear-and-now, only the yet-to-be-known. It pushes the consequences of this life into the unknown of tomorrow, leaving one never knowing for sure what tomorrow holds.

Some may read this proverb and conclude that it is similar to the idea of karma, but it is not. The consequences in this verse deal with the ones committing the wickedness, the judgement of which will be known in due time. In other words, this proverb deals with consequences that will be felt by the wicked doing the crime, not their poor, unwitting, future incarnations.

Consequences

One of the hardest things to do is convince children that their bad actions may result in painful consequences – in this life. Recently, a father I know (not me) was telling his daughter that she was being rude to others and that her selfish, hateful comments would get her in to trouble. No sooner than he warned the young girl, a cry of pain rang out. The little girl had gotten slapped by her older sister, which then resulted in the little girl getting a spanking, too.

When we refuse “to do judgement” and go about with our “robbery” like nothing in this life will ever happen, we live as fools.

“The wicked conceive evil; they are pregnant with trouble and give birth to lies. They dig a deep pit to trap others, then fall into it themselves. The trouble they make for others backfires on them. The violence they plan falls on their own heads.” – Psalm 7:14-16 NLT

It is unwise to think that we can live however we please and push the consequences down the road. The end of the road may be just around the corner, and there a toll must be paid.

 

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May 6, 2016

Vanishing Profits

By Daniel M. Klem

Proverbs 21:6

6 The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death.
6 A fortune made by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a deadly snare. (NIV)

I have worked with many dishonest people.

When I sold cell phones for a time, I worked with someone who was not afraid to stretch the truth to sell a phone.

“Of course you can set your own music as ringtones!” He would say for a device that does not play music.

“This phone will give you a signal everywhere you go!” He would say for an older device using old technology.

“You can return this anytime you want during your contract!” … Just not true after 30 days!

“I did not know you were their salesman!” He would say to the rest of us after putting a sale in his name.

Initially, he had great sales numbers. It looked like he was going to earn a great commission.

Unfortunately, most of his sales came back after customers realized they did not get what they wanted.

This meant his supposedly high commission was, in fact, quite low. Sometimes it was because the higher-ups in the company figured out he was stealing sales, and they would send the commission to those of us who earned them.

Taken Away

In Luke chapter 19, Jesus shares the parable of the minas, in which a nobleman travels and leaves his money in the care of some servants. Some grow his money while he is gone, but one simply hides it. Those who grew the money were given much responsibility, while the lazy one had everything taken away and given to the better servant.

In Matthew chapter seven, He shares that there will be many who speak and act in His name, but Jesus will tell them “I never knew you.” They are the ones who did everything for personal gain.

The reason these are all related is that in Matthew chapter 6, Jesus tells us to store up treasures in Heaven. We cannot store up treasures in Heaven if we lie through word and deed. If we do, all we think we have stored in Heaven, God will say “All the good you think you did is worthless, because it was a counterfeit.”

In this life or the next, we can lose everything through our dishonesty and selfishness.

Gracious God, forgive us of our deceitfulness and selfishness. Give us Your truth, and help us to be honest and grace-filled.

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April 23, 2016

Think Before You Promise

By Anthony Baker

Proverbs 20:25

“It is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy, and after vows to make enquiry.”
“It is a trap to dedicate something rashly and only later to consider one’s vows.” – NIV

Bad Deals

Have you ever made a bad deal? For instance, have you ever committed to an agreement thinking you were going to make a profit, only to find out later that you lost money? If you have been in that position, when did you figure out you were on the losing end of the deal?

Some people sign contracts and then once the job has begun try to renegotiate every little detail. Others will agree to do a project of some sort, agree on a price, but in the end haggle over the agreed amount. One person I know was promised a certain amount for a job, but then when it was completed, the person for which he worked decided to pay him less. He was told, “I have been thinking about what I promised, but now I don’t think the job was worth that much.”

Bad Vows

There are people who treat God the same way. The make promises, but then, when the real cost is figured, try to renegotiate.

For example, a businessman might say, “God, if you bless my investment, I will give you fifty percent of the profit.” He may even call a meeting with his staff and proclaim, “I am dedicating fifty percent of my business to the Lord!” But then, later that evening, he sits down and starts planning for the future and realizes he could have used that extra money. The next day he goes into the office and says, “You know, I think I promised God too much.”

Solomon says that we fall into a “trap” when we make rash vows or promises unto God. It is our responsibility to think about these things beforehand, not afterwards. Once we make a vow to God, we are wise to keep it.

“A man who makes a vow to the LORD or makes a pledge under oath must never break it. He must do exactly what he said he would do.” – Numbers 30:2 NLT

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