Two Kinds Of Intelligence
There are two kinds of intelligence on earth; godly and ungodly. Ungodly intelligence stems from ignorance and rejection of God leaving mankind to live within the sphere of extremely limited intellectual pursuits that seem great to them, but they are feeble at best, and vastly insufficient to understand things beyond finite human intellect.
Godly intelligence, of necessity, relies on Divine Revelation from God. This spiritual revelation is necessary for the intellect to rise from Spiritual ignorance to Spiritual understanding. All those
who have received this revelation transcend the plane of mere human intellect and see things
as they really are because, what is seen is only temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. This intellectual understanding is from the "INFINITE" mind of God not the paltry "finite" mind of man. It is incredibly superior in every possible way.
People who have never received this revelation are generally antagonistic toward those who
have received it because they speak of things that the finite mind cannot grasp, and worldly intellectuals hate anything they cannot understand. Because of their hatred they attack those
who have received divine revelation deeming that what believers accept as knowledge is foolishness. This is in accord with 1 Corinthians 2;14 - “For the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God FOR THEY ARE FOOLISHNESS TO THEM, neither can they know them because they are SPIRITUALLY DISCERNED.”
Let me put it in the words of Jesus Christ. "Be not amazed if the world hate you because you are not of the world even as I am not of the world. Is the servant greater than his master? If the world hates me it will hate you. According to the words of Jesus himself Christians should expect that their words will be rejected and hated by worldly people.
There are two parallel universes so to speak and they exist in the lives of men. Both are spiritual
in nature. One refuses to acknowledge the spiritual aspect of their universe and depends on
weak human knowledge and understanding, and the other surpasses human understanding and can only be seen by those who know God personally. You will know if you possess spiritual understanding, and you will also be ignorant of whether you don't because spiritual discernment
is only given to those who have humbled themselves and repented of their sins and prayed to
God to forgive them, and received that forgiveness through faith in Jesus Christ. The natural (unsaved) person's spirit is dead in sin and blind to reality of spiritual nature as the scriptures reveal to those who search them diligently.
All supposed wisdom outside of Christ is folly because Jesus Himself declared himself to be the source of all real truth. Apart from Christ, man only has "wisdumb." He can't attain to wisdom apart from divine revelation which begins at the point of salvation. As a matter of fact, the Bible expressly says that “the wisdom of men is foolishness to God. We find that in how man measures intelligence apart from God with a man made system that we use to measure intelligence called
an IQ (Intelligence Quotient). It is obvious that natural systems come from worldly men and are measured in the intelligence of worldly men. In Isaiah 55, however, God tells mankind that their thoughts are not his thoughts nor their ways his ways because his thoughts are higher than the thoughts of men and his ways higher than the ways of men. Bearing that in mind, it is no wonder that an infinite God would be declaring that the so-called wisdom of men is foolishness to him. The difference is obvious or should be. A finite mind cannot hope to understand the mind of an infinite being because they think and act on absolutely different levels. The divine revelation given to repentant sinners at the point of salvation begins to solve that problem, and continuing revelation improves it.
The Bible clearly teaches that all men are evil from their youth. "Romans 3:23; "For ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." That's not so hard to understand. Our God-given conscience convicts us all the time of the sin in our hearts and in our lives.
Everyone is spiritual whether they want to be or not. The Bible says some are children of the devil (A spiritual entity) and some are children of God (the supreme entity). The Bible also makes it clear that those who die serving the devil are doomed to eternal torment by their own choice, since God provided a way for them to escape. The Bible also makes it clear that those who love and serve God will live at peace forever with him on a new earth where there is only righteousness. The choice should be simple.
Atrocities have been committed by religious people but none of them were Christians but rather what some people have falsely believed to be Christians. (ie; Catholics who sent knights on crusades to kill Muslims). Jesus was very clear when he issued this command: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you and pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you.” That eliminates any basis for atrocities for those who truly love and obey the Lord.
None of us can use our own goodness to compare ourselves with anyone else or any group of people since we are all individually responsible for our own sins, and cannot stand before God and blame anyone else on the day of judgment. I know that everyone will be clear when they stand before him concerning their sin and their accountability and he will not have to say a word. The unregenerate will be convicted through their own conscience of the wicked way their lives were lived. God will sit in all his holiness and power to preside over this judgment and none will argue with him because their lives will be opened in court for all to see including every person individually. Those who will be punished will know they deserve it. Nobody will argue with God on that day!
As far as why I personally chose to believe one way is right. That is quite simple. I have had an ongoing personal relationship with God for over 44 years. I have spoken with him and he has spoken to me. He has answered many of my prayers that only were prayed to him and not shared with anyone else. I have been given power to cast out demons from people and houses and have done so. I have been given great power in preaching God's word to Christians and non-Christians alike. I have been healed instantly through prayer in the name of Jesus Christ and have prayed for people who were instantly healed in Jesus' name including my son in our home.
However, the greatest miracle of them all was when God reached down to me and changed
me from a drunken, dope using, dope dealing, fornicating, liar filled with hate for my father, and forgave me for that and much, much more and made me one of his own children. Since that time
I have been used of God in many ways including raising our seven children for him, counseling, preaching, teaching, street and prison evangelism, teaching home Bible studies, writing and publishing a book and more.
I cannot be arrogant as some of you might think in my sure knowledge of these things, because I know that my salvation and anything good that comes from it is by God's mercy to me, and that without him I would still be a vile wretch cursing him and his Son and living a life of service to the devil. The truth is; He alone is worthy of all glory, honor and praise! He is the majestic ruler of the universe and everyone and everything in it. He sustains us by his power and might and nobody can tell him what to do. While men fritter away their lives on lesser things, he patiently waits for them to wake up to the reality of who he is. He sends his Holy Spirit to speak to and convict
men of sin and their need of salvation through Jesus Christ. If he hasn't yet spoken to you dear reader, it is because you haven't been listening, aren't willing to listen or believe something is
more precious to you than his love and your salvation in secured for eternity. Whether you continue in ignorance of this great gift or not is entirely up to you. God is willing to forgive you
and open your spiritual eyes so you can get past anything that keeps you from the truth. He will not force it upon you. He has given you the free will to choose whether to seek him out or live without him. It's everyone's personal choice and nobody can do it for you and nobody else will be accountable for your sins but you.
WHAT WILL YOU DO?