Foolish Talk – When Too Much is Never Enough

I recognize that in the last post I harped a lot on Christians and the whole church dynamic.

Believe me, it’s not my goal to offend Christians. I have many close relatives and friends who identify as fellow believers in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

But if we profess to believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, then it should be a foregone conclusion that we should believe in and adhere to His commands.

It should also be a foregone conclusion that we want to be on the right side of the battle when He comes to set up His Kingdom on earth.

We do not want to be counted among His enemies; we want to be counted among those who are faithful.

If this is true for you – I know it sure is for me – then it is our responsibility to weed out foolishness in our midst.

It is our responsibility to look inside ourselves and ask the questions: Is there foolishness in me? Am I a companion of fools?

With this in mind, please be informed that you are going to continue to see references to the Church and Christianity throughout this series.

I’m going to call a spade a spade and I don’t do it because I like to put people down. Foolishness is foolishness and must be called out as such.

If you’re like me, you’re tired of all the lies and hypocrisy that seem to constantly bombard us by those in “the Way.” From all that I’ve studied in church history, I can confidently say that this is 100% due to the doctrines and information we’ve been handed and our ignorance and unwillingness to consider anything else.

Ignorance may seem like bliss, but it’s not the truth.

It cannot last.

If you really want to be a seeker of truth, you cannot afford to be ignorant of history and you cannot continue to swallow the lies that were passed down to us by our forefathers.

Will a man make gods for himself which are not gods?

Most Gentiles dread the implications of this prophecy from Jeremiah, but you must take it at face value.

You can’t remain ignorant of it. You can’t “spiritualize” it. And you can’t explain it away.

It will come to pass, Gentile . . . {dramatic pause for effect}

I’m sure that I will be coming back to this verse later. Meanwhile, let’s continue with our discussion on fools.

In our last post, we talked about the word “keciyl” – the fool who hates knowledge, yet at the same time is convinced that he is always right.

But these are only a couple of facets of the fool’s character.

Let’s flesh this out a little more and explore what other revelations King Solomon had about God’s view of fools and foolishness.

Fools have a lot to say.

There’s a reason you find a lot of fools and foolishness in the pulpit – because one thing a fool loves to do is talk . . . and in this day and age, it would be safe to add “write.”

When you combine the characteristic of unswerving belief in your own rightness with an abundance of words, your message becomes, in the eyes of a fool, “anointed from on high,” and must therefore be made known to the entire world.

Modern-day fools, in their arrogance, know-that-they-know-that-they-know that they have a handle on “knowing God,” and you, dear peon, have to think like they do. In fact, they will make it their life’s mission – or crusade – to make sure you understand God within the framework they’ve created.

They have “the anointed message” . . . “the spirit-led knowledge” . . . and anything you have to offer is merely carnal knowledge that “puffs up.”

So you’d better duck if you find yourself standing in their way.

If I’m being completely honest, I must confess that I sympathize a little with the fool in this area, because I am intimately acquainted with this facet of foolishness.

When you’re proclaiming the topic that you are passionate about, when it’s pouring forth from your lips, it’s easy to mistake the gushing for “the anointing.”

This is what charismatics have been trained to recognize and believe by their mentors and they’re absolutely convinced that when the gushing comes, it can be nothing less than the spirit of God talking through them.

Restraining the Juggernaut

One of the hardest lessons I’ve learned over the last 10-15 years is how to keep my mouth shut and when to keep my fingers off the keyboard. This is especially difficult when I see the daily tripe being passed off as “prophetic messages” on charismatic television, publications and websites.

Now, while it is important to write when God says “write” and speak when God says “speak,” it is also important to remember the divine wisdom of Solomon, who penned:

So, there’s a balance to be struck here.

And with the proliferation of social media in our society and the platform it gives to any ambitious person with an alleged “divine message,” this balance is tilting heavily in favor of the outspoken and reckless.

Look, it’s one thing to connect solid pieces of information, come up with a conclusion and stand firmly on that conclusion. I still do that, to this day.

It’s quite another to subjectively pull something out of your own framework, tack on a “thus saith the Lord” and call it “divine revelation.” That’s where things get dicey.

Somehow, we need to swing the pendulum back in the other direction and show a little restraint.

We need to embrace the truth that just because one has a passion to write (or speak) something does not mean that one has the Father’s permission to write (or say) it.

This is such a hard lesson to learn, and I’ve been guilty of this in the past (especially on my other blog), but I’ve learned – well, I’m learning – that just the fact that words come easily doesn’t prove that it’s “the anointing” or “the Spirit of God” talking (or writing) through me.

This is especially true if what I’ve said (or written) does not line up with Torah.

If what I have written (or said) does not line up with Torah, it’s just “spiritual junk food.” Ignore it.

A Fool’s Pride

Combining a hatred for what God considers knowledge with an abundance of words and the opinion that you’re always right easily makes room for a sense of pride.

The fool not only thinks that his way is the right way and hates the very knowledge he claims to have been pursuing, but he has also developed a sense of pride in his own paradigm. This pride causes the fool to perceive his way as an edifice that protects him against anyone who would speak or act against his beliefs.

When challenged, these fools have a whole set reasoning as to why they are right and you are wrong. And that arrogance becomes clear as they spout the edicts and doctrines they hold dear.

When I read this verse, my first mental image is that of a preacher behind a podium ranting and raving to his audience, or maybe some obnoxious, self-proclaimed prophetess who just got shown from Scripture how misguided her “revelations” really are.

Perhaps your mental image of the fool in this verse may be a little different, but I’m sure it carries a similar kind of “vibe.”

The bottom line is, if we understand this verse through that lens, we’re (once again) being misled by the translators.

The Hebrew word for “rages” in this verse is the word “‘abar” and it means “to pass over or by or through, alienate, bring, carry, do away, take, take away, transgress.” This word is directly related to the word “Hebrew,” (or “‘Ibri”) which means “opposite side.” ^[1] or “one from beyond.” ^[2]

Abraham was the first to bear the name “Hebrew,” likely because he left his people, in effect “crossing over to the other side” in pursuit of a God that was completely foreign to his upbringing.

So, even though we’ve seen many a fool’s rage, we can observe that rage and anger really have nothing to do with this verse. Rather, we see that a fool will not “depart from evil” like the wise but will in effect “cross over” towards evil and be self-confident in doing so.

Here, we see the word for “evil” here is “ra’.”

Remember what we learned about “ra'” in a prior post? (Check out: “Nothing New Under the Sun”)

We learned that “Ra'” or “evil” does not necessarily mean the worst of sins like “murder, rape and pillage,” but in the context of Proverbs, can mean anything that can run counter to Wisdom, which is rooted in YHWH’s instructions.

We also learned that if we continue to burrow down that rabbit hole, there are undeniable connections between “Ra'” (the sun god) and Egyptian culture, which was centered around the worship of the god-man.

Let that sink in.

According to Proverbs 14:16, the wise man will depart from anything resembling “Ra’,” while the fool [keciyl] will cling to and be self-confident in what he refuses to depart from.

A Fool’s Authority

To the casual, uninformed listener, fools will sound very credible because they speak with a false authority.

The rod has always been a symbol of authority and discipline in the Bible.

It’s easy to observe (both from Scripture and our own exposure to the celebrities of modern Christian media) that it’s very possible for a person to speak foolish things in an authoritative manner.

In fact, a fool has many manipulative techniques that they will use to strengthen your perception of their “authority.”

How many times have you heard someone preface their words with “the Spirit of the Lord told me the other day” or, if they forget the preface, tack on a “thus saith the Lord” at the end?

This is a clandestine effort – a devious tactic – used to strengthen their position, nullify your views and intimidate you into silence.

“Who would dare challenge ‘the Word of God?’ . . . Certainly not you, mortal!”

Reproduction: The Goal of a Fool’s Discipline

Since fools can proclaim gushing words with authority, it’s very easy to influence impressionable seekers to open themselves up to poison disguised as “loving discipline.”

Many a sincere neophyte has fallen victim to this strategic manipulation.

I’ve been in the prophetic movement’s worship services, where the unaware engage in the exuberant worship that ramps up their emotions to a crescendo and then drops them down to their knees, where they cry out “More, Lord! More, Lord!”

Their desire for “More!” may be sincere – as long as it’s within the framework they’ve been taught – but it’s a misplaced desire, because the “More!” they’ve been seeking is not the “More!” the Father desires to give.

False prophets and teachers, however, are more than willing to give them the “More!” that they seek.

After the worship circus finally dies down, as if on cue, the authoritative fool – the master of ceremonies – enters the stage and gushes empty words and the seeker laps them up.

The message is laced with just enough gooey tidbits of Scripture to convince the listener that they’re getting a message from God, but what is really happening is the promotion of a perverted mentor-disciple relationship.

While “speaking the truth in love” may be coming out of the teacher’s mouth, there’s always this subtle undercurrent woven into the tapestry of the message that if the authority of the speaker is questioned, the worst kind of hell awaits.

The speaker claims to be “giving all the glory to Jesus,” but the truth of the matter is that he/she is laying out a snare for the naïve.

And as they take it all in, the seekers don’t even realize that their adoration is being captured.

If you don’t believe me, challenge the words of one of the disciple’s favorite teachers. Show them how some of their favorite teachings run counter to God’s words.

More often than not, you’ll see sarcasm, anger and rage rear its ugly head, especially on social media.

The reason for this sudden onslaught of chaos is that the disciple has become convinced that the teacher’s words are God’s words, and as they follow their “god’s” words, the disciple is gradually cloned into the image of that god.

I’ve seen this so many times, both in ministry and on a personal level – foolish men and women seeking out followers with the goal of “reproducing” their ideals in another.

One could easily argue that this is the natural order of things. It’s only natural for parents to reproduce their ideals in their children . . . for teachers to reproduce what they’re trying to teach to their students . . . for pastors to reproduce spiritual values in their congregation.

This is true, but when these ideals and values are based upon a twisted version of the truth – whether at the familial, ministerial, or scholastic levels – it inevitably ends up being the perpetuation of lies.

Usually, in these types of relationships, the follower is forbidden to develop a healthy personality and mindset of his or her own, because the foolish leader has put down boundaries and restraints that inhibit growth.

This setup ensures that those hungry for status remain at the top while the faithful slave remains at the bottom, eagerly waiting for acknowledgment and affirmation.

Any revelations that the followers may get that are considered “outside the lines” of what the leader thinks is right are merely “knowledge that puffs up.”

But Wait! There’s More!

So far, we can see that King Solomon – the world’s wisest king – wrote the following to describe a fool.

• Fools are always right in their own eyes.
• Fools hate knowledge.
• Fools are prideful.
• Fools have a lot to say.
• Fools can speak, operate and discipline under a pretense of authority.

Things are already starting to look quite a bit different from our prior image of a fool, am I right?

Remember, this is all within the context of a king warning his son about choosing the path of Wisdom as opposed to the path of the Strange Woman as he pursues “the knowledge of God.”

Granted, these five characteristics of a fool can apply to a wide variety of people. But there is still more to observe regarding the ways of a fool [keciyl].

Once you understand these ways, it will be much easier to avoid the allurements of the strange woman.

Stay tuned.

Don’t forget to leave a comment!