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As I concluded in part four, this huge increase in the pool of human knowledge -- which has included the study of the works of the ancient philosophers, as well as advancements primarily in the areas of science and medicine -- has sadly resulted in some very negative fruit. In his vain quest to glorify his own mind and exalt himself as the master of his own fate, man's ego has become so seriously inflated, that he no longer even fears God, or feels the need to believe in God, and even dares to challenge the very laws of human behavior which God established from the beginning of time.

Instead of embracing the truth of the Holy Scriptures, many people have become puffed up in the vanity of their minds, and foolishly push God and His Word to the side, while they turn to science as their new god. This new god promises to someday cure all diseases, and to extend life indefinitely; not through faith in Jesus Christ, but through medicine, cybernetics, nanotechnology, and related disciplines. I am reminded of what the Psalmist wrote in the following verse:

"The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts."


The prediction which the Apostle Paul made in 2 Timothy 4:3 regarding people having itching ears and embracing doctrines which are not of God may have possibly been inspired in part by Paul's own encounters and experiences during his multiple missionary journeys throughout Syria, Cilicia, Asia Minor, Greece, etc. Many times he encountered "educated" Jews and Gentiles who were so bored with their intellectual lives, that all they longed for was to hear something new to tickle their ears. They were not the least bit interested in the Truth and Wisdom of God. Consider the following example of Paul's encounter with the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. The Stoics had been around since about 300 B.C. with their fatalist philosophy of indifference:

"Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection. And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is? For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean. (For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.)"


So the Apostle Paul obliged those proud people as he stood up on Mars' Hill in Athens and preached the Gospel of the Kingdom to them. As you can see by the verses below, sadly, the results were far different from the thousands of people which we see being won to the Lord in Jerusalem in the first few chapters of the Book of Acts. Far away from the original happenings of the Gospels, these heathen were still involved in their pagan beliefs. Not only that, but they were simply too wise in their own eyes to accept the foolishness of the Gospel, and the idea that people could be resurrected from the dead:

"And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter. So Paul departed from among them. Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them."


Considering that Mars' Hill was a popular place for orators, it is possible that there may have been hundreds, and maybe even thousands of people who heard Paul preach the Gospel that day. In spite of this, only a small handful accepted his words with gladness. Because of their satisfaction with their own worldly wisdom, they were unable to accept the Wisdom and Salvation which comes from above. What is ironic about this, is that these very people who claimed to be so wise, didn't even know what they believed in! Consider how Paul started out his speech to them:

"Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you."


The fact that the Apostle Paul told those vain fools that they ignorantly worshipped an unknown god, reminds me of something which Jesus also said to the woman of Samaria in John chapter four. Please consider the following verse:

"Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews."


The reason why the Lord may have possibly said this to the woman, is because as I explain in other articles such as "The Fruits of Disobedience", many of the Samaritans were pagans and heathen who had moved into Samaria and northern Palestine during the Assyrian and Babylonian occupations centuries earlier. They worshipped other gods, and not the God of Israel. Some of the Samaritans were biological Jews. However, they were looked down upon by their fellow Jewish brethren further to the south in Judea, not only because of the place where they lived, but also because they were of mixed blood. This is why we are told that the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans, as we see by the following verse:

"Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans."


This is also one of the reasons why Jesus was despised by the Jewish religionists in Jerusalem. While He was born in Bethlehem -- which is located about six miles southwest of Jerusalem -- He spent His boyhood, and young adulthood, in Galilee, which was a region located in the extreme north of Palestine, beyond Samaria, to the west of the Jordan River, and bordering what was then a part of Syria. In fact, this is one reason why Jesus spoke Aramaic. It was probably due to this very same reason that Nathanael made the following comment to Philip when he first heard about Jesus:

"And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see."


Returning to the main topic of this series, considering the overwhelming Scriptural evidence I have presented here which clearly reveals our Heavenly Father's, Jesus', the Apostle Paul's and others' disdain for philosophical knowledge and earthly wisdom, how can any Christian still argue in favor of studying such things? It is for these very reasons that I personally prefer to receive my education directly from the Lord via the Holy Spirit, as we discussed earlier in this series.

Honestly speaking, each time I delve into the Scriptures, it is a new and tremendously inspiring experience. God is more than capable of teaching me all of the Truth that I need to know straight from His Word. Through many hours and years of diligent study, the Lord has led me to uncover many wonderful treasures in His precious goldmine, which I have gladly and freely shared with you, my online friends. I am reminded of the following verse:

"Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old."


Of course, I am by no means the only person who has ever discovered this vast treasure of wisdom which is hidden in God's Word. In the Bible we find a number of verses which reveal how its authors were likewise amazed by how profound God's Word really is. Consider the following sample verses:

"Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law."


"Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it."


"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!"


". . . For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven."


". . . Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."


"Thy word is very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it."


My friends, in case you were not already aware of it, it is in a one-on-one relationship with the Lord, sitting at His feet -- just as the Disciples and Mary did -- that we all can truly learn about the riches of the Kingdom of Heaven. Let me share with you the story of Jesus, Mary and Martha:

"Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her."


In fact, this is exactly what the Apostle Paul did following his shocking conversion on the road to Damascus. Some people erroneously claim that he was a man of the world who studied the arts and philosophies of his time. In my article called "A Biblical Cafeteria, Or the Whole Course?", I traced the life of Paul, and I can tell you for a fact that nowhere did I find Paul engaging in any of these activities. What we do know is that Paul was born in Tarsus of Cilicia, which was located just north of Syria. We also know that at an early age, Paul was taken to Jerusalem where he was trained to be a dedicated Pharisee under the tutelage of Gamaliel. Paul tells us these things in his own words in the Book of Acts, as we can verify by the following group of verses:

"But Paul said, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city: and, I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the people."


"I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city [Jerusalem] at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day."


". . . Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question."


While Paul -- then known as Saul -- studied under Gamaliel in Jerusalem, we really have no idea what his specific course of instruction included. Whether it may have included the arts and philosophies is not known. However, there are no hints of this whatsoever in either the Book of Acts, or in Paul's own Epistles. Studying to be a Pharisee was primarily a religious matter, and not a worldly matter. Prior to his conversion, it seems likely that Paul was a lackey of the High Priest and the Sanhedrin, which was the religious council comprised of seventy elders, as had first been formed by Moses in the Old Testament.

Maybe Paul was career-minded and interested in moving up in the ranks. If he wasn't actually a member of the Sanhedrin -- I suspect that he was too young for that at the time -- maybe he was a high-ranking temple guard. After all, for the High Priest to grant him the authority to go after the Christians in Damascus, Saul must have had close ties with him. Saul was their chosen man for the hour. He was a typical man-pleaser who prided himself in observing the Torah. In speaking of his own actions and pharisaical zeal prior to his conversion, Paul writes as follows in his Epistle to the Galatians:

"For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it: And profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers."


When Paul appeared before Festus, King Herod Agrippa II and his sister Queen Bernice in Acts chapters twenty-five and twenty-six, after having been imprisoned for several years in Caesarea, he informed them of his activities as a very dedicated, angry Pharisee who sought to stamp out the young Christian Church, as we see by the following set of verses:

"I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities."


In light of the testimony of Paul's own words, it does not seem likely to me that he engaged in studying such worldly things as Greek and Roman philosophers. Paul was just very deeply involved in his own Jewish religion. In fact, being as he was a Jew, it makes it even less likely that he would do so, because for literally millennia, the Jews viewed the Gentiles as being inferior to themselves. In fact, this is true to this very day as well, as is clearly evidenced by the racist contents of their most holy book, the Babylonian Talmud, which I briefly mentioned in part one of this same series.

That being the case, it is even less likely that Paul took the time to study the philosophers of his era. And even if he did study them due to the Hellenistic influence of that age -- which cannot be proven -- it seems rather obvious from all of his own words which I have presented in this series, that he eventually, and definitely, forsook them at some point following his amazing conversion on the road to Damascus. In fact, I was just reminded of the following verses which are found in his Epistle to the Philippians:

"But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,"


Of course, in my view, the most powerful verse which reveals Paul's total disdain for worldly traditions, human wisdom and misguided philosophies, is one which I have shared with you several times already. That is, of course, this one:

"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ."


In speaking of his own knowledge of the Lord following his conversion on the road to Damascus, Paul makes it clear in his Epistle to the Galatians that his primary source of information was the Lord Himself, as we can clearly see by the following two verses:

"But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ."


Between his in-depth knowledge of the Torah, as taught to him by Gamaliel, and his new relationship with the Lord following his amazing life transformation, Paul must have been a real spiritual powerhouse. While Paul did hobnob with the educated class of his day, his purpose in doing so was NOT to embrace their worldly wisdom. Rather, his main goal was to reach them with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We find a clear example of this during one of his journeys to Ephesus. While there, and after having been rejected by the Jews at the local synagogue, Paul had an extended opportunity to preach "in the school of one Tyrannus", as we see by the following group of verses:

"And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God. But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus. And this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks."


Notice carefully that these verses twice state that Paul was "disputing" with them. The Koine Greek word which is used in that particular verse means to dispute or to reason with. So, clearly, Paul was disputing with, reasoning with and trying his best to persuade his listeners to believe in Jesus. In other words, Paul was NOT just calmly accepting their vain, earthly wisdom and philosophical arguments. He was telling them that they needed to forsake such nonsense, and embrace Jesus Christ.

Similar to the Apostle Paul, as I explain in the article "The Only Credentials You Need!", we too have absolutely NO NEED for the wisdom or philosophies of fallible men. Even if there is any worldly wisdom and truth to be found in the writings or teachings of these other philosophers, sages, doctors, New Age gurus, theologians, psychologists, or whatever name or title they may go by, as Bible-believing Christians, why do we even need it? Just like the First Century Disciples, or like Mary, or like the Apostle Paul, or like many others, we too can sit at the feet of Jesus and have daily fellowship and communion with Him.

My friends, we can sit at the very feet of the Son of God, the Creator of the Universe who knows ALL things! What need is there to go snooping around in the Devil's territory? Do you honestly think that you're going to find something better there? Do you think maybe God is holding out on you? If you do, then beware, because that is the very same lie that the Devil used on Adam and Eve! We are told that our God is a jealous God, and that He will have no other gods before Him. To seek out the vain wisdom of these other worldly men after having known Jesus and His Word, is to slap God in the face! It is for this very reason that the Apostle Paul writes as follows:

"For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?"


My friends, if you truly and honestly hunger for the truth in your life, God has promised in His Word that He will reveal it to you, if you humbly and earnestly seek His face and just ask Him to show it to you. Trust me when I say that He will indeed deliver that which you seek. Please consider this set of verses:

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened."


"And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive."


"And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him."


Before closing, allow me to ask you a few questions. When you do ask the Lord to show you the truth, and to fill you with His Wisdom, where do you think He is going to lead you? To the philosophical writings of mind-wandering worldly men? To some demon-possessed eastern yogi or maharaja? Or perhaps to some dead, spiritually-dry secular humanist? How about to some deceptive New Age guru or telephone psychic? Or maybe to the questionable quatrains of Nostradamus? Or to Muhammad and his quagmire of the Qur'an? Or how about to all of those phony philosophers and off-the-track teachers such as Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Socrates, Buddha, Pliny, Confucius or Maimonides?

Of course not, my friend! When you ask the Lord to lead you to the source of all Truth and Wisdom, He is going to take you directly to His Book which He authored Himself through His real Prophets and holy men who feared His Name, and who were filled with His real Spirit of Truth! That is exactly where He is going to lead you, and nowhere else! Jesus made His feelings very clear regarding all of these deceptive mind-benders who came before Him, and who would also come after Him. It is made plain as day in the following two verses. Do you believe them?:

"All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them."


"For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect."


If you are being led to any of these false philosophers who are clearly condemned in the Bible, then perhaps you need to check your "hotline". Perhaps there is some static in there. If you are feeling depressed, or confused, or negative, or uncertain about the things you are reading, then perhaps it is not of God and you need to abandon it immediately. Please remember that God is not the author of confusion. The Devil is. Consider the following verses:

"For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints."


"Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it."


In contrast to all of that worldly nonsense, God's Word will only bring peace and joy into your life. It will not bring doubts, confusion and depression. Likewise, neither will it fill you with false pride and vanity, or with a feeling of superiority. Most of all, reading God's Truth will not cause you to look down to yourself for the answer, or to the world and its so-called "wise" men, or to the north, south, east or west. It will only cause you to look in one direction; and that is straight up to Jesus, who is the Author and the Finisher of your faith, as we see by the following verse:

"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."


And that, my friends, is the Word of God with a bark on it. In conclusion, I truly hope and pray that this series has shaken up some of you and opened your eyes to the deceptive nature of secular wisdom and human philosophy, as well as the faith-destroying path it may lead you on if you are not careful. If you are already on such a dangerous path, then I hope that this series will motivate you to forsake the ways of darkness, and return to the Right Way and the Right Path, following none other than Jesus Christ, who is the one true Light of the world.

With these thoughts, I will bring this article to a close. It is my hope that you have found it informative, enlightening, and I pray that it has been a blessing in your life as well. If you have an account with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or with any other social network, I would really appreciate if you'd take the time to click or tap on the corresponding link that is found on this page. Thanks so much, and may God bless you abundantly!

For additional information and further study, you may want to refer to the list of reading resources below which were either mentioned in this article, or which contain topics which are related to this article. All of these articles are likewise located on the Bill's Bible Basics web server. To read these articles, simply click or tap on any link you see below.

For additional information and further study, you may want to refer to the list of reading resources below which were also mentioned in this current series, or which contain topics that are related to this series. All of these articles are likewise located on the Bill's Bible Basics web server. To read these articles, simply click or tap on any link you see below.

A Biblical Cafeteria, Or the Whole Course?
Are You a Burning Ember for the Lord?
Christian Witnessing: Winning the Sheep and Waging the Warfare!
Do You Stand Up for Your Faith?
Is Science Better Than the Bible?
John Lennon's "Imagine" and Secular Humanism
Lying Wonders of the Endtime
Modern Deceptions: Return to Israel, the Fig Tree and This Generation
Parable of the Sower: Salvation and Service
Science and Technology: The Forbidden Knowledge?
Study, Work and Don't Be Ashamed
The Faith of a Little Child
The Fruits of Disobedience
The Office of Prophets and Teachers
The Only Credentials You Need!
The Public School System and School Prayer
Tradition or Truth? Old Wine or New Wine?
What Does "The Truth Shall Make You Free" Really Mean?
Who is Building Your House?

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Please avail yourself of other areas of the Bill's Bible Basics website. There are many treasures for you to discover.