CAN A person be highly educated and yet behave stupidly? Some men and women boast of being lettered, informed, exposed and enlightened. They brag that they live by common sense. And they claim they are people of reason and logic. But many do not realise that an educated person can be a knowing fool. Yes, a person can have a wealth of knowledge and yet lack wisdom.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, an English preacher, was right when he said, “Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom.”
Wisdom is the application of knowledge. Thus it is expected that knowledgeable men and women learn to make wise judgments. Unfortunately, however, many worshippers of the ‘god’ of science do not learn. They read, critically listen, observe, experiment and analyse but never learn. To learn is not just to know but to change or transform.
Is it rational for a critical thinker to waste his resources on a project which will take him nowhere? An educated person’s hatred, mockery and criticisms against Jesus Christ in this age of abundant knowledge are pure acts of stupidity and senselessness. A person who speaks and writes to incite people to hate and reject Jesus Christ lacks sense. And a person who works to make Christ Jesus unpopular fights a useless battle.
Have such persons not read and understood the plain writings on the wall? An attack on Christians is an attack on Jesus. And an attack on Jesus Christ is a futile kick on the goad. Man’s hateful campaign against Jesus Christ is like sand’s campaign against water. Obviously, the sand will always lose. Christ Jesus knows no failure. He never loses a battle. Christ’s attackers ought to know that Jesus is indestructible! But how can they know since their minds are darkened.
Someone may wonder how Jesus is attacked. Now, blasphemous publications that Jesus Christ is a myth, an imaginary being and non-existent constitute an attack on Him. And such publications are completely stupid and senseless. Attackers ought to know that they are wasting their precious resources fighting a battle they do not have the capacity to win.
Governments, kingdoms, organisations and individuals may connive and fight against the Lord and His Church, but they will not succeed. For Jesus had said, “… I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).
Herod, Pharisees and the teachers of the Law could not stop Jesus Christ from accomplishing His earthly assignment over 2000 years ago. Even death could not keep Him in the grave. The priests, Sadducees, elders and rulers in Jerusalem could not prevent the apostles from bearing witness about Jesus Christ. And today, ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Kim Jong-Un, Boko Haram and Satan himself cannot annihilate Christ and His Church.
There is no doubt that most of the apostles were martyred, but that did not discourage the soldiers of Christ to march on to make Christ known to the unsaved world. Indeed, the rapid and vigorous preaching of the gospel amidst intense persecutions including imprisonments and deaths is just incredible. There is an unseen power working with the ministers of the gospel to save people who belong to the Lord. These are the souls who God foreknew and called even before the world began.
Moreover, knowledgeable Christians are informed that the world will always hate and persecute them for their faith and relationship with Jesus who was Himself hated greatly. Jesus prophesied: “… Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me” (John 16: 2- 3). Clearly, the world hates Christ without a cause.
However, Christ Jesus is in control of every situation true Christians go through. Sometimes, it may appear to the enemies of Christ that they are succeeding or winning, but the reality is that they are losing. They are uneducated about the fact that God makes sovereign choices. He allows the door of salvation to be closed in a continent, country, city, town or village and get it opened in another.
Today, it may look as if Christ Jesus has been defeated in Europe, America and some parts of Asia, but He is not. The widespread rejection of Jesus Christ in these places is just an indication that the door of salvation has partially been closed to them. However, the Lord is working with His genuine ministers to save souls in Africa and other areas where the door of salvation is opened.
In Acts 16:6-7, we read about how the apostles were forbidden to preach the gospel in some cities in Asia. The Spirit of Jesus has power to make sovereign choices. He inspires and directs His true ministers where the testimony about His birth, death, burial and resurrection should be preached for the salvation of souls from the controlling power of sin. He opens and closes the door of salvation without the approval of anyone.
jamesquansah@yahoo.com
By James Quansah