RANDOM THOUGHTS ABOUT KNOWLEDGE

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children." - Hosea 4:6. 

That's probably not talking about that "book smart" type of knowledge or that "woke" stuff that people are on. Well - what does The Bible say knowledge is then? 

Proverbs 1:7 - "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction." 

Oh ok, well that's the [beginning] of knowledge. I look at the beginning of something as the ROOT. Where it all starts. So if fear of the Lord is the [beginning] of knowledge and people will perish because of the lack of knowledge then that means they are missing the root right? Fear of the Lord? Plus it says that thou hast rejected knowledge. So that means that people don't want to fear the Lord?

*side note - FEAR of the Lord is reverence or respect. God Himself is not scary so we shouldn't be literally scared of him but we >should< be concerned about what could happen to us if we don't do what He tells us to! So it's not a literal fear but more of a serious respect. He's a father to us/He has done so much for us and we should honor Him and what He tells us to do.*

Wait, who is saying this in the verses listed above?

*Goes back to Hosea chapter 4*

It starts with "Hear the word of The Lord you Israelites..."

So that's obviously a prophet speaking. Also, it's the word of the Lord. So it's the Lord speaking through someone.

*Continues reading but earlier in the same chapter*

This was Hosea. I mean that was pretty obvious by the name of the book, but hey you never know. Ha. Jesus spoke in the book of Matthew!

Anyways...

"The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge, for the ears of the wise seek it out." - Proverbs 18:15 

Hmmm. I read that as a discerning heart is what gets knowledge - but it could also go as if you have a discerning heart you will want to acquire knowledge. I actually know it's the latter because of the next line that follows it.

So the discerning heart wants knowledge. The beginning of knowledge is the fear of The Lord.

Ok.

"For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding." Proverbs 2:6 

Soooooo..... The beginning of knowledge is the Fear of the Lord - and the Lord gives wisdom, KNOWLEDGE, and understanding....

So if the beginning of knowledge is fear of the Lord - a discerning heart acquires knowledge - and the Lord gives knowledge through what he says then IT'S OBVIOUS that REAL knowledge can be found in the Lord.

It says that knowledge comes out of his mouth. So that means it's the word of the Lord right? What's the word of the Lord? The Bible right?  

Right.

Of course they didn't have the same Bible that we have today - but we DO have the Bible today. The Bible has the answers. So if you're confused about something, Proverbs 2:6 clearly states "For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding." 

We can find true knowledge in his word through prayer, revelation, his word, visions etc....as long as it comes from him. If we decide not to take heed to the knowledge that ONLY he can provide and go against it and do our own thing then we will perish. It's simple. 

It's honestly clear as day. There are a lot of people (including me sometimes) that really don't see what's going on. There's so much bad stuff going on in the world today, and we know it - it's obvious. Why are we still trying to find other meanings behind things then instead of just calling evil what it is - evil? What's with all of this "nah, you're wrong" stuff when it's clearly written in the Bible? 

It kind of reminds me of the story with Eve and the serpent. 

WAIT. 

So the tree in the garden's full name isn't just "Tree of Knowledge"...it's "Tree of Knowledge of good and evil" 

That's deep. Too deep for me to go into right now. 

The super generic point that I'm trying to make though with this story though is - 

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Facts:

Genesis 2:15-17 

"The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

God said don't eat from that tree. He even said what would would happen if you ate from it. 

What Eve thought:

Genesis 3:2-3  

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

When did God say "don't touch it?" Where did she get that info from? Still somewhat a decent idea to follow though lol. Just don't even go near it. ha.

I won't lie - I didn't realize that she didn't have all of her facts right by myself. It was brought to my attention in this video

Lies disguised as "knowledge":

Genesis 3:4-5

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

WHAT? 

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This still happens today. You'll literally say what God has told you or what's in His word - and people will literally lie against it. That's why it's important to KNOW instead of just think. 'Know' is the root word of knowledge after all. 

Anything that is contrary to the word of God is a lie. Simple as that. You can't believe that The Word is true and something that goes against it is true at the same time. That doesn't make any sense. 

Another thing that I'm tired of hearing is "have an open mind" and "expand your knowledge" through other forms - rather than seeking God for answers or looking in the Bible. 

Quick Summary:

Fearing the Lord is the root of knowledge. If you're wise, you'll seek knowledge. The Lord is who gives knowledge. It comes from his mouth. Be careful - there's people and things out there that will lie to you and tell you straight up false information. Know is the root word of knowledge. You gotta "know what you know." If you don't fear the Lord then you're missing the beginning of knowledge itself. If you're missing the beginning of knowledge, that means you're "lacking" in knowledge and -  "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children." - Hosea 4:6. 

Don't get destroyed. Get knowledge. Real Knowledge. 

I just realized that the end of that scripture says "I will also forget thy children." Yikes. 

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Also, if you haven't already made the decision to make Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior, I suggest that you make that decision today! 

"If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord" and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." - Romans 10:9

After that -- join a good faith based Bible based church -- get baptized -- read The Word everyday! Pray everyday! Trust me, I did it. It's still and will forever be the best decision that I have ever made in life!

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns about the faith. 

Let's figure it out together with God. livingoutvisions@gmail.com