The Lost & Lukewarm

Are You an Ignorant Idiot or an Educated Fool?

"It doesn't matter how smart or reasonable you are. If the opposition is too stupid to understand, you'll never win. So do not speak in the hearing of fools, for they will despise the good sense of your words. If Jesus couldn't convince them, neither will you."
— The God Pill

The Bible warns that "everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak" (James 1:19), and that "the way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice" (Prov. 12:15).

As Lao Tzu eloquently said, "Those who know do not speak, and those who speak do not know."

So, I ask you: Are you following the way of a wise man—

—or of a FOOL? 🤪

"You cannot always be right; you should try being wrong sometimes because you might learn something."
— Johnny Depp

The Idiot Test

When presented with new information, do you listen to UNDERSTAND, or do you hear to RESPOND?

Is your first impulse to:

A) Point out the EXCEPTION?

or...

B) Understand the RULE?

Now, pause and examine yourself carefully: 🔎

Are you idealistic or realistic?
Is your approach based on logic and reason or feeling and emotion?
Do you operate on probability and actuality or possibility and potentiality?
Do you embrace the norm or reach for the outlier?

Consider the time-honored phrase:

💡 "The exception proves the rule." 💡

Put another way, the exception is the reason the rule exists.

Again, the exception demonstrates why we have a rule.

And rules are 👉 IMPORTANT 👈.

"To every rule there is an exception—and an idiot ready to demonstrate it. Don't be the one!"
― Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood

"A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion."
― Proverbs 18:2 (ESV)

"If a wise man has an argument with a fool, the fool only rages and laughs, and there is no quiet."
— Proverbs 29:9 (ESV)

Remember

What's more dangerous than believing something without evidence is rejecting the evidence in favor of what you believe.

So, sit back, relax, open your mind—

—and come to 👉 LEARN 👈, not to argue.

If your mind is already made up, my job is not to convince you; it is only to deliver the message.

"Learning without thinking is useless. Thinking without learning is dangerous."
— Confucius

"Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent."
— Proverbs 17:28 (ESV)

"And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them."
— Matthew 13:14-15 (KJV)

✠ P.S. If you freeze under pressure—your chest tightens, your thoughts scatter, and you surrender the moment—this is not fragility; it is emotional volatility. Pressure does not break men—it exposes who is in control. A man who governs his reactions is dangerous: calm when others panic, deliberate when others unravel. The Kingdom Council 🏛️ trains you to remain dangerous under pressure. Because the man who controls himself does not just win the moment—he owns it.

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We Are All Screwed Up—All of Us

By Ryan M. Maes Leave a Comment

"As the Scriptures say, 'No one is righteous— not even one.'"
— Romans 3:10 (NLT)

We all have SECRET thoughts.

We all have FORBIDDEN desires.

We all have HIDDEN sins.

We all have a PAST.

We all stand 👉 GUILTY 👈 before the Lord—every single one of us.

You are not alone, my brother.

God sees you...

"Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the LORD."
— Jeremiah 23:24 (ESV)

The truth is that we all have 💀 SKELETONS IN OUR CLOSET 💀—

—yet we are often unaware of our own DEPRAVITY, as the world seeks to blind our eyes and harden our hearts.

In our flesh, our transgressions frequently go UNNOTICED—

—and we fail to recognize just how far we've BACKSLIDDEN.

"The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?"
— Jeremiah 17:9 (NLT)

Often, only the eyes of God can REVEAL it.

Only the mind of God can PERCEIVE it.

Only the strength of God can BEAR it.

Only the hand of God can LEAD it.

Only the peace of God can SOOTHE it.

And only the power of God can 👉 TRANSFORM 👈 it.

You are not alone...

Seek the LORD while he may be found—

—and call on him while he is near (Isa. 55:6).

Praise be to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who called us out of darkness and into his marvelous light!

"In Christianity, it's not 'due'; it's 'done,' based on what Christ has done."

*Related: "Check Your Heart!"

✠ P.S. When a man hides sin, carries guilt, and pretends he is fine, the indictment is simple. Sin does not die in the dark—it grows there, and isolation does not strengthen a man—it softens him. The Kingdom Council 🏛️ is where hidden battles are exposed, compromise is rejected, and obedience is lived under accountability. A man who hides his battle will lose it—because what is concealed is never conquered.

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From Exodus to Eternity: The Eternal Kingdom Typology

By Ryan M. Maes Leave a Comment

"And who was it who rebelled against God, even though they heard his voice? Wasn't it the people Moses led out of Egypt? And who made God angry for forty years? Wasn't it the people who sinned, whose corpses lay in the wilderness? And to whom was God speaking when he took an oath that they would never enter his rest? Wasn't it the people who disobeyed him? So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter his rest."
— Hebrews 3:16-19 (ESV)

We have the model of redemption for the Israelites in the Hebrew Bible.
By extension, this applies to us.
They're on the trajectory to enter the Promised Land.
However, due to disobedience and unfaithfulness, they don't.

Who makes it?

Those under the age of accountability.
God brings them in.

Who else?

Joshua and Caleb.

Now, Moses was a man of faith.
We'd consider him saved.
He was once a slave.
He was delivered from his captors.
He's on the trajectory to enter the Promised Land
(which we recognize as a typology of the Eternal Kingdom).
Yet, he only views it from afar; he does not get in.
This is due to moments of DISOBEDIENCE.

Now, this doesn't mean Moses won't be in the kingdom.
But it provides us with a TEMPLATE.
Not only for our rescue and deliverance.
But also for our instruction, edification, and ultimately, our 👉 SALVATION 👈.

"For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ. Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person's work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames."
— 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 (ESV)

✠ P.S. When a man wrestles with doubt, the issue is not unanswered questions—it is pressure testing his convictions. Men do not backslide because God is unclear; they backslide because obedience becomes costly. The Kingdom Council 🏛️ exists to raise up men who refuse compromise and stand under Biblical authority. Because faith that bends to pressure eventually breaks.

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