Spiritually Foolish Blocks of Wood

I’ll explain the odd title at the end. This post is about to get harsh, so don’t continue reading if you do not like a certain biblical, prophetic genre.

Various sectors in the Renewal Movements are turning false and evil. It’s deepening. Evil because they lead people’s minds and thoughts away from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ (2 Cor. 11:3). False because their teachings are contaminated with vices and misinterpretations, twisting, of Scripture.

Every book in the NT, except the tiny epistle to Philemon, tells the church to watch out for false doctrines, teachers, and prophets. Let’s apply the teachings of Jesus and the apostolic communities who wrote the NT to our situation today and thereby expose false teachers, doctrines, and prophets.

If you want a large sample of their names, click here:

Calling Leaders by Name to Repent

They are getting worse.

Let’s begin with Jesus taking down the religious leaders of his day in Matthew 23:

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! (vv. 13, 15, 23, 25)

“Woe to you, blind guides! (vv. 16)

You blind fools! (vv. 17)

You blind men! (vv. 19)

You blind guides (vv. 24)

You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. (v. 25)

Blind Pharisee (v. 26)

You are like whitewashed tombs (v. 27)

In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. (v. 28)

So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. ³²Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started! (vv. 31-32)

“You snakes! You brood of vipers! (v. 34)

When Jesus Used Harsh Language

Those words are clear enough. He is criticizing the religious leaders of his day, not the ordinary people. Verse 25 stand out. The leaders were full of self-indulgence and greed. Perfect description of the Christian grandees who twist Scripture to get rich and store up treasures down here on earth.

Further, verses 31-32 are particularly striking. He identifies the Jewish leadership of his days with those who were responsible for murdering the prophets back in the OT. It is easy to imagine that false leaders today criticizing those who expose their misconduct as “murdering” or “touching” them, Lord’s anointed ones. No. Just the opposite. These false leaders are “touching” and “harming” the Lord’s people who are all his anointed ones (Ps. 105:15).

Next, Jeremiah offers us wisdom to distinguish between the (so-called) wise and the false leaders.

⁸“‘How can you say, “We are wise,
    for we have the law of the Lord,”
when actually the lying pen of the scribes
    has handled it falsely?
⁹The wise will be put to shame;
    they will be dismayed and trapped.
Since they have rejected the word of the Lord,
    what kind of wisdom do they have?

The leaders today profess to be wise because they have the law of the Lord, but they handle the Scriptures falsely. They cherry-pick their favorite verses so they can benefit themselves with riches and fame and huge houses and jets and political power in the church, but ignore the verses that reveal selfish ambition and greed to be vices. They teach that everyone is to be rich and always healthy, yet ignore verses that say the opposite.

Apostle Paul Traveled on Cargo Ships

Paul and Personal Wealth

Does God Want to Heal Everyone Every Time They Ask?

The Rich Fool Is Greedy

Next, this verse is speaking of unbelievers, but it applies to anyone who claims to be wise but is actually obtuse:

Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools (Rom. 1:22).

These next verses speak to Corinthians (“you”), some of whom appeared to be wise or thought they were:

Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. [,,,] So then, no more boasting about human leaders! (1 Cor. 3:18, 21)

These men sitting on their panels on YouTube, a kind of rogue’s gallery, are actually following the wisdom of the world. They claim that if we challenge them, we are in rebellion, which is the sin of witchcraft. No, sorry. All of God’s people are anointed by the Holy One and know the truth (1 John 2:20). Gradually God’s people are figuring things out about their popular but wrongheaded leaders.

James warns against these vices that are aligned with wisdom from below:

¹³Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. ¹⁴But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. ¹⁵Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. ¹⁶For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. (James 3:13-16)

Selfish ambition comes in for a severe beating in those verses. Don’t deny the truth of James’s exposure. I like that the translators placed quotation marks around “wisdom” in v. 15, meaning certain men to whom James was writing are not truly wise. The word “disorder” (akatastasia) is striking. It appears in 1 Corinthians 14:33, where Paul is clamping down on Corinthians’ charismatic chaos. He values order, not disorder, in their assemblies. Genesis 1 is about God imposing order on the chaotic cosmos. Now James and Paul impose order on chaotic people, signaling them that disorder is a sign that wisdom is absent. Then why do certain platform speakers push for chaotic church services, like the laughing fits?

Further, platform bullying. In 1 Corinthians 5:11, there is the noun “slanderer” (also see 1 Cor. 6:10). That is a sound translation, but it could also be translated as “verbally abusive” (CSB, EHV, HCSB, NET); “abusive people” (CEB), but the word carries in it “verbally”; “abusive talkers” (NTE); “verbal abusers” (NASB); “abuse others with insults” (ERV). Those who do this and other vices in those verses shall not inherit the kingdom of God. One cannot keep doing the vices and claim Christ at the same time. Platform bullies–or any other kind of bully–should be warned by those verses to stop.

Recall that every book in the NT, except the tiny epistle to Philemon, says to watch out for false teachings, teachers, and prophets. This post could have been extended to thousands of words. But let’s stop here. The hard-hitting biblical, prophetic point has been made.

Why spiritual blocks of wood? It’s an image that has been coming to mind over the past few weeks. I finally decided God wanted me to write about it.

The main theme of this post has been wisdom versus foolishness. Certain leaders in the Renewal Movements who see themselves as wise are actually fools. They are obtuse. They have as much wisdom as blocks of wood.