...…My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge because you have rejected knowledge.…(Hosea 4:6) KJV

Some people of the world say that the whole idea behind education is that knowledge is power. While this statement maybe true, we know that the power of knowledge and understanding of the Holy Scriptures is taught in no Christian private nor public school, neither colleges or universities. These institutions teach philosophy as knowledge which is what God calls empty and deceitful fundamental principles of the world.

The power of knowledge comes from God, Himself. In (Colossians 2:8), through the apostle Paul, God wrote: Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. This biblical verse is very clear. With the powerful knowledge of the word of God, what Paul is doing is warning the church of Jesus Christ against philosophy. 

Paul warns the Colossians about being taken captive by a particular “hollow and deceptive” philosophy that was making inroads into the church.  The visit that he made to Athens where certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him, had led him to confirm God's word (Acts 17:16-33).  

Paul warns the Colossian church body of believers not to be taken captive by empty and deceptive human speculation. This distinction is important. As we live in the world, studying philosophy can be unavoidable as it maybe required by certain college majors, but if studying  “empty and deceptive” philosophy, we are instructed to be taken not captive by it. 

What does it mean to be “taken captive”? When men are taken captive in war, they are forced to go where their captors lead them. They may only be permitted to see and hear certain things, or to eat and sleep at certain times. In short, captives are under the control of their captors. This is what Paul is warning the Colossians about. He’s urging them to not let their beliefs and attitudes be controlled by non-Christian knowledge.  

Paul the apostle also warns: For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”  Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom;  but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

God has made foolish the wisdom of the world. Doesn’t this count against the study of philosophy? It certainly does! Philosophy is human wisdom. The wisdom of the world. This passage of scripture teaches that the study of philosophy and human wisdom is both foolish and a waste of time.  

God has made foolish the wisdom of the world. Why? The answer is clear: “For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe” (I Corinthians 1:21). This clearly indicates the limitations of philosophy and human wisdom. Philosophy by itself could never have discovered the powerful knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

In understanding the spiritual world, in the sight of God Most High, knowledge is the ability to understand good and evil. The truth of the Lord says that the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.  And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:8-9).

Knowledge of divine and understanding spiritual things are necessary to salvation. As we begin to search the Holy Scriptures, we will find that the gospel of Christ is the power of God to salvation (Romans 1:16).  Therefore, the knowledge and understanding of the gospel of Christ, is power! 

Through His servants the prophets, God provided His laws to the people and gave some knowledge and understanding of good and evil.  God instructed to obey His law and statutes, repeatedly warning: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction (Proverbs 1:7). 

Throughout biblical history, many the people of the Lord that has perished, being destroyed by God for lack of knowledge. Because others rejected to teach them knowledge, or because they rejected knowledge themselves.

The bible is filled with examples as to how many  people during the process of salvation has perished lacking knowledge.

Disobedient Saul, the first king of Israel is just one of many examples of fools despising instruction and knowledge of the Lord. Saul  ruled Israel  in the days of the judges. The bible describes that king Saul was tall, handsome and humble. And that Saul began his reign with a brilliant victory over the Ammonites. But success rapidly went to his head, and humility gave place to pride. He offered sacrifice, which was the exclusive function of priests, showing his presumed self-importance. He deliberately disobeyed God, causing God to tell Samuel;  “I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions” (I Samuel 15:10). Later, Saul perished in the way God has said he would die by falling on his own sword (I Samuel 31:1-4).

The following instructions of the Lord governing kings were to be observed: “When you come to the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’ you shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses; one from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall not return that way again.’ Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself. “Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel (Deuteronomy 17:14-20). 

King Solomon and Zedekiah, were another two kings (presidents) who rejected the knowledge of good to do evil. President Solomon and Zedekiah did all contrary to what the Lord had instructed kings to do, which led to their downfall (I Kings 10:26-29; 11:1-43) (2 Chronicles 36:11-21).

Since the beginning of time, God has been saying:  Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure’  (Isaiah 46:9-10).

The basic message is, do as I say not as you will. Remember those that have perished for lack of knowledge. Regardless of what your decision is, the end is near and His counsel and will shall stand.

God has seven Spirits: the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11:2). Unfortunately, people who has not enough knowledge and understanding of the spiritual world often times gets confused about the use and purpose of each of the Spirits. But the Bible makes clear that when God gives of His Spirits, He does it with the purpose of accomplishing His work. 

In (Exodus 31:1-12), we read: Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to design artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze,  in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanship.  “And I, indeed I, have appointed with him Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and I have put wisdom in the hearts of all the gifted artisans, that they may make all that I have commanded you:  the tabernacle of meeting, the ark of the Testimony and the mercy seat that is on it, and all the furniture of the tabernacle—  the table and its utensils, the pure gold lampstand with all its utensils, the altar of incense,  the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the laver and its base— the garments of ministry, the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments of his sons, to minister as priests, and the anointing oil and sweet incense for the holy place. According to all that I have commanded you they shall do.” 

The knowledge of the Lord is obtained in two ways: from Him to do His work or  acquainted through the instruction of His word: Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a just man, and he will increase in learning. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding (Proverbs 9:9-10). The heart of the prudent acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge (Proverbs 18:15).                                         

The Spirit of Wisdom of God Almighty also advises: “Talk no more so very proudly; let no arrogance come from your mouth, for the Lord is the God of knowledge; and by Him actions are weighed (I Samuel 2:3). 

The Lord God weighs our actions through His Spirit of Knowledge. Actions are what a person does during his life time whether good or evil, which determines His salvation to eternal life in Jesus Christ. This is so powerful! The knowledge of good and understanding leads to salvation.

Once you learn and understand the knowledge of good and evil as opposed to the philosophy as knowledge, it shall open the blind eyes of your understanding (2 Corinthians 4:4).