The phrase “wisdom of the wise” has a hidden charm to it that is worthy of extra caution!
Without a doubt we are all attracted to wise behaviour and thought. Who has not learned that wisdom is highly beneficial, and something to earnestly seek?
Yahuwah Elohim [the Hebrew name for the LORD God] tells us in the Proverbs:
Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding! (Proverbs 4:7)
Father wants us to ‘Get wisdom!’
But beware . . . there are two kinds of wisdom.
There is the “wisdom from above”, and there is the worldly “wisdom of the wise.” We need to discern the difference between the ‘wisdom from above’ and the worldly ‘wisdom of the wise’.
This phrase is found in one of the apostle Paul’s warnings:
For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. (1Corinthians 1:19)
In this verse, Paul is warning the Believers in Messiah to guard against the foolish (and rebellious) ‘wisdom of this world’ as described in the very next verse:
God has shown that this world’s wisdom is foolishness! (1Corinthians 1:20b).
The Wisdom of this World
The wisdom of this world is a wisdom that is opposed to the wisdom that is from above.
The wisdom of this world is against the eternal, superior wisdom that comes from Yahuwah Elohim.
The wisdom of this world is a deceptive wisdom that is very subtle, crafty, sophisticated, and captivating!
We have all been taken in by the wisdom of this world at various times in our lives.
This worldly wisdom of the wise has unlimited appeal to it! This worldly wisdom can have a glitz and sparkle to it, or it can have a softness and sweetness to it, or it may appear magical and mysterious, or even intelligent. It can even appear somber, moral, honest, and reasonable.
The ever-appealing, ever-changing, wisdom of this world has many different tentacles, reaching out to snare those who reject the truly brilliant wisdom from above.
I am not talking about the knowledge needed to pass the exams in the classroom. I am talking about the worldly ‘wisdom’ that reasons away the truth and the Lordship of Messiah Yahushua [the Hebrew name for Christ Jesus].
Paul continues to expose the major problem with the wisdom of this world — it does not know Yahuwah [the LORD]: “the world by wisdom knew not God” (1Corinthians 1:21).
The wisdom of this world rejects the authority of God and His written Word. As a result, the wisdom of this world is ultimately a dark, corrupt, and blinded wisdom. It is a wisdom that is blind to the true LIGHT of Yahuwah’s heavenly wisdom (2Corinthians 4:3-4).
The worldly ‘wisdom of the wise’ is not from above! It is earthly, sensual [soulish], demonic (James 3:15).
Always Learning — Yet Not Knowing Truth
There is an abundance of the wisdom of this world, broadcasting constantly through numerous audio and visual outlets. The wisdom of this world is really a wisdom that distorts reality, numbs our senses, and robs us of sobriety and God’s truth!
No wonder that in the last days, the wisdom of this world will dominate multitudes. Therefore multitudes will be lovers of pleasure, they will be prideful, confused, disoriented, aimless, hopeless, and rebellious. Many take in huge amounts of random worldly, mystical ‘wisdom’, knowledge, and amusements, resulting in lives that are unsettled, deceived, frivolous and meaningless.
As the apostle Paul said, they are ‘ever learning, and are never able to come to the knowledge of the truth‘ (2Timothy 3:7)!
What can we do? What is the solution?
How can we guard ourselves from so much of the wisdom of this world that bombards us? How can we be delivered from this crafty, deceptive “wisdom of the wise”?? — delivered from twisted teachings of false notions, false gods, false practices, and man-made agendas and entertainments??
Where can we find the true, pure, liberating wisdom from above?
Let’s consider two basic keys to have in our ‘spiritual pocket’ that can help us guard against this deception, and can help us find the true, enduring wisdom from above!
Finding True Wisdom: Two Basic Keys
True Wisdom – The First Key:
As Believers in Yahushua Messiah [Jesus Christ], we must begin to cultivate an unshakable “LOVE for the Truth” (see 2Thessalonians 2:10).
The Truth we must LOVE is the Word of Yahuwah Elohim, the written Scriptures, the Bible.
Yahushua Messiah declares of His Father’s Word: Your Word is Truth! (John 17:17).
When we have an unshakable Love of God’s Truth, then we will begin to easily recognize the difference between the crafty, subtle, and mystical wisdom of this world, and God’s eternal wisdom that is from above. When we have a LOVE for the Truth, then we will begin to recognize the true, eternal wisdom that is from Yahuwah, the Mighty One of Israel.
The following verse teaches us what God’s true wisdom FROM ABOVE is like:
The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy (James 3:17).
Yahuwah’s wisdom is indeed lovely, full of good fruits, and worthy of embracing!
When we have a genuine love of God’s Truth and His wisdom, then we will love the things that Yahuwah loves, and we will hate the things that Yahuwah hates.
When we have a genuine love of Yah’s Truth and His wisdom, then our heart’s desire will be to boldly declare, as King David did:
- “I have chosen The Way of Truth!” (Psalms 119:30).
We must love God’s truth more than our own pleasure and leisure! We must love His truth more than our own wisdom, or worldly wisdom. We must love God’s truth more than our own prideful insights and understandings.
We must love God’s truth enough to learn the written Word of God [the Bible], and then adjust our life to be in harmony and agreement with His Word. We must have a love of God’s truth and His wisdom that tells us that Messiah’s work on the cross is the power and the wisdom of God. (See 1Corinthians 1:18-25)
When we have a love for God’s truth — when we accept God’s written Word as The Supreme Authority for all our beliefs and conduct, then whenever we stumble or fail in our obedience, we will return to Father with repentance. And we will seek Father’s strength and grace [His enablement], so that we might not deviate from His path!
[For more understanding on this, see: The Holy Spirit Will Guide You Into All Truth and A Way That Seems Right: Avoiding the Strong Delusion. Also, see the list of links below for more indicators of the wisdom of this world.]
Our Firm Commitment
This is a spiritual battle — a battle between the wisdom of this world versus God’s eternal wisdom.
Loving the truth requires a firm commitment to obeying Yahuwah and His written Word [the Bible]!
We must have a solid commitment to seek/study Father’s Word, and begin to learn and apply the truth of His infinite wisdom to our behaviour. This commitment helps us to be overcomers; helps us to avoid becoming deluded, and avoid believing lies (see 2Thessalonians 2:10-11)!
Our solid commitiment to Yahuwah’s written Word helps us gain the discernment needed to recognize God’s wisdom that is from above, and recognize worldly wisdom that is a “Spiritual Mixture” — mixing error with truth. The worldly ‘wisdom’ of Spiritual Mixtures is earthly — soulish or demonic.
Furthermore, the wiles of the devil can ensnare us at every turn, so it is essential that we learn to discern the Holy Spirit’s guidance, as well as make sure we “put on the whole armor of our Mighty One, Yahuwah Elohim”, as we are instructed in Ephesians 6:11-18!
This armor is extremely essential, but for now, let’s proceed to our second basic key.
True Wisdom – The Second Key:
The second key we need in our ‘spiritual pocket’ is a Two-Part Prayer.
This Two-Part Prayer is from one of King David’s Psalms:
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. (Psalms 51:10)
Prayer – First Part: Ask Father to “create in me a clean heart!” This is the beginning of the cleansing described in 1John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Confessing our sin should be from a truly contrite (sorrowful) heart, in which we are humbled, broken, and ashamed of our sin.
Let us be as King David who said: For I will declare my iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin (Psalm 38:18). Father God promises to be close to those who are of a broken heart and to save those who are of a contrite spirit (Psalm 34:18).
Asking Father for a clean heart is a cleansing process that is to be on-going for Yahuwah’s children. Our frequent prayer for a clean heart by confessing our sins helps us to grow more sensitive to the spots and blemishes that tarnish the Light of Father’s wisdom and guidance.
A clean heart is a necessary ingredient for gaining more wisdom and understanding, as we saw in The Key To Gaining Understanding.
Prayer – Second Part: Ask Father to “renew a right spirit within me!” This prayer is vital. This prayer takes courage and honesty, because so many times it happens that we do not have a right spirit!
If we are in the habit of asking Father to ‘renew a right spirit within me,’ then we become more sensitive to ‘a wrong spirit.’ A wrong spirit can be an argumentative spirit, a proud spirit, a devious spirit, a critical spirit, a covetous spirit, a rebellious spirit, a religious spirit, and can include a myriad of other ‘wrong spirits.’
We must want to be delivered of any ‘wrong spirit’ and ask Father to renew a ‘right spirit’ within us!
What are evidences of a ‘right spirit’ ?
A right spirit will exhibit such honourable characteristics as excellence, honesty, humility, goodness, graciousness, thankfulness, forgiveness, purity, and faithfulness. When we are of a right spirit then we can easily love others, easily forgive others, and easily serve others.
King David’s prayer reveals his longing for deliverance from his enemies, as we can see in Psalms 143:9-12. David wanted to be of a right spirit in order to be able to do Father’s will (see Psalms 51:10-13).
Being of a right spirit keeps us in harmony with the ‘spirit of Messiah’ who is living within us. Being of a right spirit helps us keep up our shield of faith, whereby we are more able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one (Ephesians 6:16; Romans 8:9-11).
When we are of a right spirit, then we will humbly yield to the Lordship of Messiah from our heart, we will humbly deny ourselves of our selfish ways, and thereby, we will more easily discern the difference between Father’s wisdom and worldly wisdom.
(See also our study on the Prayer: Lead Me In Your Truth: Part 1 – The Basics.)
The Beginning of Wisdom
As we follow the Lamb wherever He goes (Revelation 14:4), we grow in our desire to know Yahuwah and His written Word, and therefore we yield to, and follow, the excellent wisdom that comes from His Word. We are more and more convinced that His wisdom completely surpasses the wisdom of this world!
Let us now recall how Father’s wisdom BEGINS:
The fear of Yahuwah [the LORD] is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. (Proverbs 9:10)
According to this Scripture, Father’s wisdom begins when we have a genuine, reverent fear of Yahuwah! This is not a slavish, suppressive fear, but a fear that comes from knowing who the heavenly Father really is — knowing His abundant, extravagant LOVE for us.
The result of a genuine, reverent fear of Yahuwah is that we will desire to please Him, by walking in obedience to His Word:
Praise ye Yahuwah [the LORD]. Blessed is the man that fears Yahuwah [the LORD], that delights greatly in His commandments. (Psalms 112:1; see also Deuteronomy 6:1-2).
Those who fear Yahuwah, and tremble at His Word (Isaiah 66:2-5), are those who delight to walk in obedience to His commandments. It is these who will begin to know the riches of Yahuwah’s infinite, superior wisdom, power, and love.
Only Yahuwah’s wisdom can demolish the traps and snares that worldly wisdom offers. The wisdom that comes from doing the written Word of Yahuwah is True and liberating wisdom for Thirsty Souls!
“We should greatly fear and be exceedingly cautious to avoid all things that have a tendency to make us lose the spirit of prayer [or dilute our resolve to pursue a ‘set-apart’ lifestyle]. Thus we should decline those worldly occupations and associates which scatter the mind, avoid pleasures which excite the passions, and stay clear from everything calculated to awaken the love of the world, and those old inclinations that have caused us so much trouble!” — Francois Fenelon
May each one of us be sensitive, humble, and vigilant to guard against the crafty, subtle, and rebellious worldly wisdom that bombards our senses daily.
Let us be committed to walking in obedience to the written Word of God.
Only then can we recognize and discern God’s true wisdom that is from above.
Let us beware of, and diligently avoid, the deceptive worldly ‘wisdom of the wise.’
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The following are some of the many false religions or cults that are active today: Anthroposophy, Black Mass, Children of God, Christadelphians, Christian Science, Freemasonry, Inner Peace Movement, Jehovah’s Witnesses (Dawn Bible Students), Mormons (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints), New Age Movement, Religious Science, Rosicrucianism, Scientology, Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship, Spiritualism, Theosophy, Unification Church (Moonies, One World Crusade), Unitarian Church, Christian denominations that twist the Scriptures to fit their ‘pet’ doctrines. Also, Eastern religions or cults, such as Baha’i, Buddhism, Confucianism, Divine Light Mission, gurus, Hare Krishna, Hinduism, Islam, Shintoism, Transcendental Meditation, and the practice of yoga. — from the Blessings and Curses Article at Derek Prince Ministries
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Here are some links revealing Worldly Wisdom – the dangers of Walking in Spiritual Mixtures – Walking in Darkness:
- Should Christians Practice Yoga?
- The Spiritual Deception of Yoga
- A Course In Miracles – A Christian Examination — Examining its origins and its tenets
- The Lie of the New Spirituality — Never underestimate the ability of Satan to duplicate religious experience. We must avoid the notion that sincerity equates truth!
- Cults and World Religions — 8 pages of links to articles about Cults and World Religions
- Pharmakeia and Sorceries in the Last Days
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Related Articles:
- The Wisdom of the Fear of the LORD
- Thy Torah is My Delight
- Walking In Newness of Life
- Lead Me In Your Truth: Part 1 – The Basics
- The Wise and Foolish Virgins: Steps To Obtaining Wisdom
- Let Us Follow On To Know Yahuwah
- Wisdom
- 5 Characteristics of The Foolish
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Cold Waters to a Thirsty Soul
Cold Waters to a Thirsty Soul 
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