FOOL...NOW AND THEN...

Greetings...Believers in God....I mean believers in Jesus...I mean..."In the beginning was the WORD/JESUS...and the WORD/JESUS was with God... and the WORD/JESUS.....WAS GOD." (John 1:1)

In 1959...Elvis Presley released a song...sandwiched between the song One Night (1958)...and A Big Hunk O' Love (1959)...was a song called...NOW AN THEN...THERE'S A FOOL...SUCH AS I. When this song was recorded... you hear the low tones...of the pre-J.D. Sumner bass singer...Ray Walker. During the recording of this song...Elvis wanted Ray to come over...and sing on the same microphone as Elvis sang...and the rest was history.

One of my favorite Beatles albums is...The Beatles...Live At the BBC. This is a great review of the roots of the Beatles...rough, raw, and brilliant...songs ranging from country...rhythm and blues...to rock and roll. At the beginning of the project...there is what is listed as "speech" which is the introduction by the boys...

"I'm Ringo and I play the drums."
"I'm Paul and I play the ..uh, uh..bass (slight laugh)"
"I'm George and I play a gui-tar"
"I'm John and I too play a guitar...and sometimes I play the FOOL."

"The FOOL has said in his heart, there is NO GOD..." (Psalm 14:1 and Psalm 53:1)

In Jesus' Sermon on the Mount...Jesus was talking about the Law...righteousness...who can...or better yet who can't keep the Law...and people's attitudes about other people. Murder is compared to heart attitude as people were calling people names...and how that attitude puts them in danger of the hell of fire...Gehenna...a perpetual burning garbage dump outside of the walls of Jerusalem.

"But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother...shall be guilty before the court; and whoever shall say to his brother RACA (empty head) shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever shall say...YOU FOOL, shall be guilty enough to go into the hell of fire."

FOOL= dull or stupid (as if shut up), heedless, blockhead, absurd, foolish, dunderhead.

Well...obviously...at least to me...Jesus is not referring to the mere utterance of the word FOOL...but to the attitude behind the heart of the utterance.

The only thing worse than someone saying in their heart...that there is NO GOD...is when I...Rodney Lewis Boyd...who professes with my lips that there IS A GOD...but with my actions...ACTS LIKE THERE IS NO GOD...or at the very least that...GOD IS NOT BIG ENOUGH TO HANDLE MY PROBLEMS. I proclaim FAITH...but I live by things revealed to my senses.

The crazy thing about FOOLS...is that they think they are RIGHT...and everyone else is WRONG. They proclaim free thinking...and crucify anyone who thinks that there is a God...or that Jesus is real...or that a gathering of like minded, sinners, hypocrites who gather together (aka church)...are the FOOLS. They preach the age of enlightenment...scientific advancements...medical breakthroughs as their PROOF that THERE IS NO GOD.

"There is a WAY that seems RIGHT to a man...but its END is the WAY OF DEATH/DESTRUCTION."
(Proverbs 16:25) This statement is preceded by..."PRIDE goes before DESTRUCTION...and a HAUGHTY spirit before STUMBLING." (Proverbs 16:18)

NOTE: The Book of PRO-VERBS (Positive-Action) is full of references and contrasts of FOOLS to the WISE.

The question is...how do you deal with a FOOL (or someone who has said in his heart that there is no God)?

Well...we are called to be ready (adjusted, ready, prepared) to give a defense (apologia=a plea, answer for self, clearing of self) to EVERYONE WHO ASKS YOU to give an account for the HOPE that is IN YOU , yet with GENTLENESS and REVERENCE...and keep a GOOD CONSCIENCE so that in the THING IN WHICH YOU ARE SLANDERED (what you believe)...those who REVILE your GOOD BEHAVIOUR IN CHRIST...may be put to shame." (I Peter 3:15-16)

We are called to do the above...without FEAR and INTIMIDATION and TROUBLED...of those who want to harm you...because you are ZEALOUS for your faith. (I Peter 2:13,14)

SO....what to do...what to do. We feel so pressured in defending what we believe that we enter into a DEBATE...with the FOOL...and many times our emotions are drawn out...and we start speaking from emotion rather than faith.

"Do not answer a FOOL according to his folly...lest you ALSO BE LIKE HIM." (Proverbs 26:4). NOTE: It does not say...don't answer a fool...but don't answer according to his foolishness. Don't let the fool dictate to you how to answer.

"ANSWER a fool...as his folly (foolishness) DESERVES...lest he be wise in his OWN EYES."
(Proverbs 26:5) NOTE: This is the problem in the first place...there is a way that SEEMS RIGHT to a man...but the end is never building up...it is always tearing down. There is always an under current of strife and a lack of peace on that man/woman's life...who says in their heart that THERE IS NO GOD..and it seems RIGHT TO THEM.

Over my 39 years as a Christian...I have seen...and have been someone who has turned my back on my faith in God. I took on the mantle of a FOOL...as I lived my life as if I believed THERE WAS NO GOD.

Proverbs 26:11/I Peter 2:22...likens this type of person as DOG...that RETURNS to its VOMIT...is the FOOL who REPEATS his FOLLY (foolishness)."

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY

You have got to WATCH WHAT YOU ARE DOING...especially when you share your faith. Larry Norman sings..."Ya gotta love everybody...but don't be blind...sometimes people try to mess your mind...you gotta watch who ya know." (Watch What You Are Doing). In Jesus' teaching about how to properly JUDGE (take the log out of your eye before you try to take the speck out of your brother's eye)...he talks about CASTING PEARLS before SWINE. His recommendation..."Do not give what is holy to dogs...and do not throw your pearls before swine...lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and TEAR YOU TO PIECES." (Matthew 7:6). Yes...share your faith...yes defend your faith...yes you will suffer maybe to the point of death for what you believe...but be wiley as a serpent...harmless as a dove (Matthew 10:16).

Love and Non-Foolish Kisses
Rodney "I Am A Fool For Christ" Boyd