Heralds Digest

  “Make no friendship with an angry man, And with a furious man do not go, Lest you learn his ways And set a snare for your soul.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭22:24-25‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ In public relations, it is generally conceived that there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies, only permanent interest. Unfortunately, the people’s permanent interest is mostly the pursuit of a snack for the body that sets a snare for the soul. Therefore, the scriptures admonished believers against this unfriendly fellowship, particularly when it is with a man or woman whose temperament is not tamed by the Spirit of the Lord. Anyone who introduces marriage, business, or project proposals to an angry man or woman on the basis of the mundane interest, like beauty, wealth, power or position opportunities, is bound to chew more than the mouth can swallow. Precisely, the dirty politics and lifestyle of malice, bitterness, envy, and animosity, which are the variants of anger, will be nurtured in all unfriendly fellowsh...

  “Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭22:6‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ The scriptural pedagogy of parenting is clear on the combination of learning and culture for all parties involving in the execution of the training curriculum. While the “ Train up a child in the way he should go ” underscored the learning portion of the curriculum, the “ when he is old he will not depart from it ” emphasized the culture. Unfortunately, the emphasis on culture has been dangerously downplayed by those who are divinely engaged in the business of parenting today. And in order to adjust the curriculum to adopt the new mindset, the learning portion has to be interpreted differently, as merely ‘guide along ’, ‘counsel smoothly' , ‘educate softly’, etc; but not necessarily ‘train up’. Obviously, training up a child involves a call to learning up for parents. In fact, the ‘learning up’ of parents is always a strong motivation for the ‘training up ’ of a...

  “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, But the Lord weighs the hearts.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭21:2‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ Advances in the field of investigative journalism have provided solutions to many problems in life, particularly the misleading judgement from hasty generalization. Otherwise, the diverse human perspectives on all subject matters in life are easily exploited by the privileged people in our world against an honest pursuit of the truth. And although the products from investigative journalism are admirable to people; in most cases, the penalty of time, talents and treasure for the exercise is often on the high side and mostly discouraging. Whereas, the righteous children of the Lord can also explore the privileges of searching the hearts; not on the field of investigative journalism, but on their knees in prayer. Rather than harping on the human knowledge from surface discretion, deep discretion is leveraged by those who care to seek the face of the Lord for guidance and clearer...

  “Diverse weights are an abomination to the LORD; And dishonest scales are not good.” Proverbs‬ ‭20:23‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ Addressing fairness from a personal perspective is always easy, until the subject matter is honestly treated from the perspective of others. For example, a seller of goods and services that uses diverse weights (i.e., different standards of measuring quantity or quality of sold goods or service offerings) can justify fairness on personal assessment of the balance of market forces, economic challenges, etc. Whereas, a different consideration from the perspective of buyers, who shouldered the consequences, like damage, destruction, and possibly death, is entertained. Invariably, even though fairness is naturally considered an instrument in the hands of kings (or all principalities in position of authority), divine perspective on all matters in life provides the best inspiration of fairness. And with conflict of interest among parties at home, workplaces, and all social ci...

  “Strike a scoffer, and the simple will become wary; Rebuke one who has understanding, and he will discern knowledge.” Proverbs‬ ‭19:25‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ It is simply an abuse of grace for the redeemed of the Lord to rebuff every opportunity towards truly becoming an instrument in His hands for righteousness. Even while many scoff on righteousness as finalized at the first work of grace, the reality is that the pursuit of righteousness merely starts with the experience of being born again. This is the very first step of faith that guarantees salvation from sin and unrighteousness. Notwithstanding, practical righteousness continues from this first step with concrete training, consistent correction, and constant rebukes along the way. These terrain marks the rough roads on which real redemption in life, career, and the family business are built. Unfortunately, pilgrims with the hyper-grace mentality do often transgress from the path of real redemption by refusing clear instructions in righte...

  “A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭18:24‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ Friendliness is simply the cultivation of symbiotic fellowship, where all parties involved have equal rights of both belongings and becoming. In another words, fruitful fellowship suggests a good mixture of sacrifice and self-serving. Otherwise, the strings of natural friends begin to grow weak and eventually break away. And while many unfriendly fellowship thrives in promoting the self-serving belongings, the scriptures tells of a type with an absolute sacrifice belonging. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary provided the perfect model of a friend who sticks closer than a brother. For example, a battered partner in a marriage relationship cannot receive the grace to be friendly without a good relationship with Jesus. Therefore, we all need the grace of a perfect friend who stick close to all perfect fiends in order to understand h...

  “The words of a talebearer are like (wounds, KJV) tasty trifles, And they go down into the inmost body.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭18:8‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ Isolated translation of the description given to talebearer’s words as wounds by KJV, compared to tasty trifles by NKJV, appears contradictory. Literally, the use of tasty trifles suggests a greedy swallow of delicious wafers by the mouth; but with a disappointing lack of satisfaction after the swallow by the stomach. Whereas, the use of wounds suggests the after-effects  of the greedy swallow to all parties involved (speaker, hearers, and third parties). Notwithstanding, the uniform impact of the greed and self-centredness in tale bearing is the temporal and motivational massaging of the body. It is believed that those who are carried away by greed, deception and the tale bearing through wicked vices are equally greedy in their own perception of the opportunities in life. But unlike tasty trifles, truthful words are found from the touchy te...