Proverbs 22:24-25, “Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.”
I love the book of Proverbs in the Old Testament. I encourage everyone to listen to Alexander Scourby (or your favorite voice) read the Bible. It is so edifying for all of us to HEAR the Word of God being read. You can hear the entire book of Proverbs read in under 2 hours. Proverbs 4:7, “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.” The Bible says that WISDOM IS THE PRINCIPLA THING! Remember, talent seeks attention, but wisdom pays attention.
Our text Scripture passage from Proverbs 22:24-25 warns the reader not to become close friends with someone who has a hot temper. Most humans have some degree of a temper. Some people are normally calm, and it takes a lot to get them angry. But some people fly off the handle quickly, and those are the type of people that you want to stay away from.
Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001) used to rightly teach that you won't become in 5 years what you want to be, you will become what you decide to be around. That is so true! That is why we read in Proverbs 13:20, “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.” That is why on a regular basis I strongly encourage all of my web visitors to listen to audio sermons, and watch video sermons on YouTube, because preaching helps us to THINK RIGHT! By God's grace, I have collected a wonderful family of several thousand sermons on my website ministry. I now have 3,138 sermons and Bible studies by Dr. Jack Hyles, my favorite Bible preacher. We all need Bible preaching!!!
Sadly, less than 1% of my thousands of web visitors take advantage of the sermons available on my ministry websites. Oh, how I wish I could encourage people to start listening to preaching. We all like different preachers. That is okay! Some people don't like a bombastic, in your face, type of preacher like Pastor Jack Hyles. That is okay. For those type of people, I recommend listening to Pastor Jeff Owens, who is mild but still speaks the truth without compromise or apology. Or perhaps, Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold, who is gentle and one of the best preachers today. Pastor Arnold is a 100% free grace Gospel preacher, and I love him for it!!! I hope you will start listening to Bible preaching, if you aren't doing it already.
You will become in 5 years what you decide to be around, not what you decide to be. This is why we all need to choose our friends carefully. Everybody has a bad day once in awhile, but if someone is always negative, angry and quick to blow up, the Bible warns to stay away from such a person, lest you become like them.
I have proven to myself that when I watch movies, I pick up on influences in the movies. We all imitate the things that we see and hear. It is part of our human nature to imitate the people, things, philosophies and influences in our daily life. That is why my favorite Bible verse is from Proverbs 4:23, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” We must guard our thought life! We need to always think objectively, questioning every quote, sermon, saying, advice, et cetera, to determine if it is in alignment with the inspired Word of God (1st John 4:1). The Devil is a beautiful liar! Old Satan is one slick dude. The serpent was so subtle that he tricked Eve without her even knowing it, until the damage was already done (Genesis 3:1-15).
We should always be kind to everyone. People just want to be loved. But we need to be careful not to form very close relationships with greedy, wicked, hostile, hateful or manipulative individuals. And by the way, that includes rotten pastors! There are some pastors who are filled with a sinful spirit of envy, hatred and hypocrisy toward good preachers. There was a pastor many years ago in Indiana, who hated and railed on Pastor Jack Hyles because of the sins of other people. That wicked pastor hated Dr. Hyles, envious of his success, and continually slandered Pastor Hyles. I wouldn't want to attend that kind of hateful church.
Pensacola Christian College (PCC) is another horrible place. They have a poor reputation for how they treat students and church members. People matter! Sadly, at PCC the cult system always comes first, but individual people don't matter! Any religious group that rejects, shuns and ostracizes certain people is a cult! I begged the leaders at PCC, and their Campus Church pastors in 2022, for a second chance, just so that I could attend Campus Church, but they all refused. That is what I am talking about. People don't matter to PCC, they just want more money.
Jesus was willing to leave the 99 sheep to go help the 1 lamb in need; but at PCC they think the exact opposite, they couldn't care less about the 1 hurting person (divorced people like me), since they still have the 99 loyal cult followers. That is heathendom, not Bible Christianity! PCC is a terrible place, full of self-righteous hypocrites who refuse to forgive, give second chances, or even lift a finger to try to reconcile. I have done what I can, but they refuse to make the peace. God sees my purity of heart in this matter. SHAME on Pensacola Christian College. PEOPLE JUST WANT TO BE LOVED!!!
So if you don't want to become cold-hearted, holier than thou, abusive and cruel toward hurting sinners, then you shouldn't fellowship and toke up together with the PCC crowd. Thankfully, although we cannot control the way that other professed Christians behave, we CAN decide and control our own temperament. I am going to love everybody, just as God unconditionally loves me. I have already forgiven all my enemies, long ago. God knows that I do not live with a burden of hatred. I do not hate a living soul on earth. Life is much too short to live carrying a burden of hatred. Haughty groups like PCC are so big, and have so much money, that they just don't care about individual people. But God sees their wickedness and lack of compassion, and what PCC has done to wound me, for which God will hold them accountable in eternity. Vengeance is the Lord's (Romans 12:19-21).
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