TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles - Date: Jan. 21, 2026. Lesson: 13-2026. Title: The Wisdom of Restraint.

Episode Date: January 21, 2026

Proverbs 20:1–3 warns against the subtle dangers of excess and the quiet strength of self-control. Wine and strong drink deceive, drawing people into mockery and loss of judgment, while wisdom calls for sobriety of mind and spirit. Honor belongs to the one who restrains himself and avoids strife, but fools rush toward conflict as if drawn to it. In today’s Morning Manna, Rick Wiles and Doc Burkhart examine how discernment, restraint, and peace mark a wise life—and why walking away from contention is often the truest display of strength. Lesson 13-2026 Teachers: Rick Wiles and Doc Burkhart You can partner with us by visiting MannaNation.com, calling 1-888-519-4935, or by mail at PO Box 399 Vero Beach, FL 32961. MEGA FIRE reveals the ancient recurring cycles of war and economic collapse that have shaped history for 600 years. These patterns predict America is now entering its most dangerous period since World War II. Get your copy today! www.megafire.world Get high-quality emergency preparedness food today from American Reserves! www.AmericanReserves.com It’s the Final Day! The day Jesus Christ bursts into our dimension of time, space, and matter. Now available in eBook and audio formats! Order Final Day from Amazon today! www.Amazon.com/Final-Day Apple users, you can download the audio version on Apple Books! www.books.apple.com/final-day Purchase the 4-part DVD set or start streaming Sacrificing Liberty today. www.Sacrificingliberty.com

Well, good morning, everybody. Welcome to Morning Manna. We are just delighted that you are here. You know why we're delighted? That you desire to be taught the Word of God. That makes me happy. And that's what motivates me. Doc and I spend a lot of time every day preparing for our Morning Manna Bible lesson.

And, you know, if you were a chef and you spent hours and hours and hours preparing a special meal. What's your joy? Seeing people come in to eat it. That's your motivation. That's why you got up early. It's why you worked so hard. You were on your feet for hours and hours

because you were waiting for the moment that the diners would come to taste a meal. Well, that's the way I am about Morning Manor. I work all day on Morning Manor because I love it. and I know that you're coming for breakfast. Because that's what this is. It's a morning Bible study. You're coming for breakfast. You're coming for your soul to be fed.

And that's what we're going to do today. Guess what? We're starting a new chapter today, chapter 20. Proverbs chapter 20. We're going to look at the first three verses. One, two, and three. In Proverbs, chapter 20, I'm going to pray Dr. Burkhart is going to read the verses.

And if you're watching on Faith TV, our time on Faith TV every day is a 30-minute broadcast. However, if you go to manna Nation.com, you can watch the rest of the Bible lesson. Today's lesson is 13-2026. 13-226. That's for the people watching on Faith TV. Let's pray, Doc. Father, Almighty God, our Father in heaven, Oh, we love you, Father.

We magnify your name. We glorify you. Father, we thank you for life. And we thank you for your son who has given us eternal life. Father, we're here as brothers and sisters from many nations gathered in this virtual live Bible study to be fed your word. So, Father, please, we invite your Holy Spirit to take charge of this Bible study and lead us in the study of the word.

In the name of Jesus, amen. Amen. And welcome to morning, man. We're so privileged to have you here today. If you have your Bibles, I encourage you right now, open them up to Proverbs chapter 20, Proverbs chapter 20, and read along with me. We're going to be focusing today on the first three verses of this chapter

as we continue our journey in Proverbs. This morning, I'm reading from the King James, and I like to read the Word of God out. loud, which I'm going to do now, but even in my private time, I like to read it out loud. And I encourage you to do that as well. It just seems, the word seems to speak to me more, reading it out loud. So join with me here as we read together. Chapter 20, verse one, wine is a mocker. Strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion, who so provoketh him to anger,

sinneth against his own soul. And then verse three, it is an honor for a man to cease from strife, but every fool will be medley. God bless the reading of his word today, Rick. Yes. If you're new, our manner of teaching is to take each Bible verse, break it into two or three segments, drill down deep in each segment, get all the nutrients out that we can extract, and then put the whole thing together so that we have a good understanding of the verse. The other thing that we do, when we're in the old covenant scriptures, we read both the authorized King James Version and the English translation of the Greek Septuagint. So those are the things that we do on this Bible study. We'll start with verse one. King James says, wine is a mucker.

Strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. How does the Septuagin say it? Wine is an intemperate thing and strong drink full of violence, but every fool is entangled with them. First one focuses on two alcoholic beverages, wine and strong drink, Both are personified. Wine and strong drink are portrayed as agents, a mocker, and raging, to show that intoxicants themselves once indulged exercise a destructive enslaving power. Let's start our study today by looking at wine.

Solomon says wine is a mucker. The Hebrew term for mucker is the same used elsewhere in the Bible for scoffer. Yes. And that suggests that drunkenness allies a man with the spirit that jeers at holiness, despises restraint, and laughs at reproof. Solomon does not just say that drunks mock people, God and values. He says wine itself is the mocker. It is personified as a scornful teacher.

It creates mockers. As the alcoholic liquid enters the person, the spirit of scoffing comes out. The drunker loses. reverence for God, man, and decency. It mocks the user. It promises the wine drinker that he or she will receive strength and joy and fellowship and courage, but that's not what it delivers.

It delivers weakness, sorrow, regret, shame, bondy, grief. It makes the drinker a laughing stock. Right. Alexander McLaren said, in temperance delights in scoffing at all pure, lofty, sacred things, it is the ally of wild profanity. Nobody ever knew a drunkard who did not scoff at things that should be reverence. Doc, I've always been, well, not amazed because I understood why,

But liquor stores often call themselves spirits. Right. The sign will say, wine, beer, and spirits. Right. Well, what kind of spirits? What are you selling in there? I mean, you actually say you're selling spirits? And I'll tell you something else.

And I don't know if they still do this. I haven't checked on this in... and decades but i know this doc that many decades ago when print magazines print media was still very popular right it was very common in magazine advertisements for liquor yes that if you would look into the um the glass of of whiskey or whatever the strong drink was, and you looked at the ice, you would see demons in the ice. Oh, really? I hadn't heard that one before.

Well, no, I used to see it often. The advertising agencies would deliberately put demonic faces in the ice. I don't know if that's still there because print magazines, print advertising is not that big anymore. And liquor ads were banned for a couple decades there. But I think they've been reintroduced. Yeah. Okay, so, Doc, what I, all right, so I talked about the first one, wine. Yeah. Wine is the mucker.

I'm going to let you talk about the second personified evil strong drink. Yes, the raging strong drink. And so what, wine is one thing, but what's included in this? What's that classification? The Hebrew word here, which derived from in the Greek Septuagint, is chakar. Now, what is Shakar? Shikar is any kind of intoxicating beverage beyond just simple fermented grape wine.

Okay. And grape wine had a low alcohol content. It took a lot to get drunk on it. Let's put it that way. You could, but it took a lot of work to do it. But strong drink, however, that was something a little bit had a higher alcohol content. it was easier to get intoxicated faster.

It's a whole different classification. So in biblical times, it could include beer made from dates, made from permitted dates. Could include green beers made with like barley or hops or things like that. You had honey wine, which would have a higher alcohol content than regular wine called me. And of course there are various fruit wines that were made with Palm Grants, figs, other kinds of fruits, but the idea here is that that strong drink, that Shakar is far more intoxicating them wine because it was made with fermented grains and fruits. And possibly there were additives that resulted in higher alcohol content.

Today, Rick, we have another classification beyond that, and that's the liquor. Liquor is derived from, once again, spirits that were manufactured. The alcohol was actually manufactured over a period of time. And that is far more intoxicating that even the strong drink that's listed here. But obviously, Solomon observed a couple things here. It observed that if you drink enough wine, it's a marker. And if you had drink enough strong drink, you'll be raging. Doctor, for years, I always thought that strong drink referred to whiskey and, you know, the hard liquor.

And, no, not at all. Well, one of the things, you know, as I discovered was, you know, the art of distillery making distilled liquors. That didn't even, that wasn't even invented to around 500 AD. Oh, no, later than that. After the middle age. Was it really? Is that what it was? Okay. So it wasn't even, they didn't have whiskey in the times of Solomon.

Right. If I'm reading this right, Doc, when he talks about strong drink, he's talking about beer. Yeah, some beers can have like alcohol content up to 15, 20%, which is, you know, you can't sell beer like that today. But you could ferment it that much. And so, and fruit wines, too. But, you know, but nothing like the liquor that we have today. It's a distilled creation, and so it's derived a different way. But still, the principle is the same here.

And it can, you know, we're talking about alcohol in this particular, but it would be anything that would cause you to become inebriated to any degree. It includes drugs. you know, alcohol. So really we can broaden this a little bit, but Solomon's focusing on that wine and strong drink. It said it can be a problem. And so.

Okay, so now we talked about wine as a macher. Let's now talk about strong drink is raging. The King James says strong drink is raging. The Septuagin says in strong drink is full of violence. The World English Bible says, and beer is a broiler. And the Aramaic Pashita Bible says, drunkenness is disgraceful. So we'll focus in this discussion on the concept that strong drink is raging,

full of violence, a broiler, and disgraceful. Right. Those aren't very good adjectives, Doc. Nope. So it's being described as noisome, quarrels. some, you have violent outbursts associated with it. So what happens with excess wine and strong drink? Fights, domestic turmoil, public disorder, humiliating public disorder.

It's interesting that the Septuagint says here, wine is an intemperate thing and strong drink full of violence. So the Septuagint's description of intemperate and strong drink is full of violence, kind of explains both the inward loss of self-control that comes from inebriation and intoxication and the outward injuring of others. You know, I often have heard it. I grew up in the back of a bar, Rick, before my dad reformed and became a plumber. But, you know, so we saw all the local drinkers in our establishment.

and you have this description. You have some people who say, well, it only impacts me. No, intoxication and drunkenness doesn't just impact you. It impacts others. And that's the point King Saltman's trying to get here. Now, I realize that we're skipping over Bible verses that talk about the positive effects, wine in moderation. We'll do that in a whole different lesson,

in some time, okay? Verse one here in Proverbs chapter 20 is talking about the abuse that comes from loss of self-control as a result of inebriation and drunkenness and how this very, for a lot of people today, seemingly almost innocent thing,

it exposes how this disordered appetite turns a lawful blessing, wine is a blessing, into a tyrant and a cruel one at that. I think all of us have known somebody at some time in our life who was a violent drinker. They could be easygoing, nice,

no problems with them, until they started drinking. And when they'd get drunk, they'd be mean. I think we've all seen that in our lives that's what this verse is talking about the strong drink is raging is something what happens inside a person

that once they reach a certain level of drunkenness they become violent what is it is it them doc or is it a spirit that's entered into them or a spirit that they've allowed to come in.

One thing's for sure. They've lost control. They've lost control. You've got it. All right. So let's go to the second part of this verse. And whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. The closing segment of this verse one, it shifts from the character of wine to the character

of the drinker. Remember, wine is a munker. What is now saying is that the one who drinks the wine is deceived. The wine is the mucker. The drinker is deceived. Right. Let astray. Right.

Goes off course. All right. The verb suggests the person has been misled, even seduced. That's what I was asking, Doc, does an evil spirit enter into them? When they're drinking the liquor and they start to get into a drunken state, they're no longer in control of their mind. And they've entered an altered state of consciousness, which is what marijuana and other types of drugs do takes into another state of consciousness.

Are you vulnerable to a demon entering into you? Like you said earlier, the liquor stores say they sell spirits. You're going to see it. Some of you have never seen it. You've driven by liquor stores for years and you never saw it. I'm telling you, after today's lesson, you're going to go past a liquor store and say, he was right. They have it right up there on the sign.

They sell spirits. They're not bashful about it. Drunkenness begins with self-deception. The drinker says, I could handle it. I know when to stop. They're deceiving themselves. Seems incredible that men and women, some of them with the greatest abilities when they're sober,

would render themselves as fools. merely for the excitement of strong liquors. And yet that kind of self-ruin is common wherever this warning is ignored. I've been around a lot in business. I've been to a lot of business conventions and conferences and, you know, travel to many countries. And you never see people getting just flat out drunk.

people that you would never you watch them up on the stage in the conference they're speakers these are people that have high reputations and yet if you go into one of the parties at midnight they're drunk

and they're making fools of themselves what would lead a person of that stature to do that to themselves well they can't live with their ordinary selves so that comes someone else Yeah, yeah, you got it. So the deceived person acts an unwise part in this drama. He or she lets the cup steal away his or her heart, their time, their money, their reputation.

Again, they choose momentary pleasure over long-term good. some Bible scholars believe that this phrase can mean that such a person will not become wise. It's not that we're teaching it here right now is, hey, you're not wise. If you do this, you're not wise. There are other Bible teachers who are saying, well, let's just tell you, you will never become wise. Right. The liquor is going to prevent you from becoming wise because your life is derailed by liquor that robs you of the discipline, the sobriety, the teachability by which wisdom is gained.

Doc, have you ever met a wise drunk? No. I've met some interesting drunks. Doesn't go together, that's it? No. It doesn't. And so, you know, there's an interesting, talk about wisdom. There's an interesting contrast here between the wise man, the wise man, the wisdom. wise woman and the foolish drunkard. So we've learned previously in Proverbs that it's the fear of the Lord that's the beginning of wisdom, right? So what would be to reverse that? Well, the reverse is

that drunkards act fearless. Isn't that the case? I've never met a drunk coward. Never. Suddenly they're brave. Or they think they're brave. They're fearless. And they end up playing with temptations and scorn their normal moral and behavioral boundaries in their life and those set by God for successful living. But make no mistake. I often heard it said that, you know, drunkenness is somewhat hereditary. That doesn't make a difference at all. To me, people choose to be drunkards. They choose it. They're led astray by choice. The drinker chooses the path that meant to dull conviction. That individual is fully responsible for the harvest of sorrow that comes from the drunkenness. Now, what's unfortunate here is Satan entraps people into a life of alcoholism when they looked to alcohol

for courage or for comfort or just to escape instead of to the Lord. and do them what the Lord says and to rest in his promises. People medicate their emotional pain with liquor, as King Solomon observed, in this day and age. It can also include drugs, sex, pornography, gambling, and other vices for younger generative, video games. And very soon, we're going to be in an immersive AI world. where people will be completely lost to themselves, and to me there's no difference between that and this. So Satan is looking for people with deep pain and issues in their heart and life. And what is he doing?

He's offering them a temporary escape. The unfortunate thing is that that escape plan that Satan has set up for you is actually a trap that is going to be eventually sprung on you through alcoholism, addiction, and these other things that dull the senses, Rick. You're right. Doc, I was just thinking this is somewhat, I mean, it's related to what we're saying. You were talking about medicating, people medicating themselves because of their emotional pain. And I was thinking as you were talking, I think most people today spend more time, more hours per day out of reality than in reality.

Yeah. When you think about it with the media, the movies, the internet, the social media, look at all the things that we do, television and everything. They're not in reality. They're spending most of their days in an alternate reality. And isn't it ironic they call them reality shows when there's artificial as anything? Absolutely. Well, I want to look at this phrase, and whosoever is deceived thereby.

is not wise. Whosoever is deceived thereby. The deception lies in the fragrance, the promise of the drink versus the reality of the hangover. The hangover is the reality, Doc. Yeah.

Yes. That's the reality. But the fragrance is the promise of the liquor. All the fun you're going to have. All fun you're going to have. Adam Clark said, it deceives by its fragrance,

intoxicates by its strength, and renders the intoxicate ridiculous. So this deceived person is not wise. Solomon does not classify alcoholism as a sickness. He brands it doc as a lack of wisdom. Yes. Would that revolutionize the way we treat alcoholics? I believe it would.

I think it would change everything, Rick. I mean, we lean towards people who have drinking problems. They have alcoholism, disease. But Solomon, richest, wisest man to live, said, no, you're not wise. You've got a wisdom problem. Charles Bridges said, He is not wise, for he barters his reason for a short-lived central gratification.

He creates a self-inflicted madness. And Matthew Henry observed that strong drink makes men fools and madmen. He said, it strips even the greatest and the most gifted people of their reason, the gravity, their honor, until they play the clans. clown before heaven and earth. We got some quotations from some of the great preachers of centuries ago. Well, I'll do the Adam Clark quote again, even though you quoted it before. I think what he's saying is important.

He says it deceives by its fragrance. Think about that. Intoxicates by its strength and renders the intoxicated ridiculous. Just the fragrance. Albert Barnes. Intemperance makes the tongue a scoffer and the hand a brawler, and the man who yields himself to these influences shows that he is destitute of that prudence and self-government,

which are the marks of a truly wise life. Alexander McLaren said this proverb paints wine as a jester and strong drink as a fighter, and then Bransy and wise, the man who gives himself, himself into their company. What he's doing, McLaren is saying here, is he's bartering, clear vision, and revered feeling for a mullet of heat and laughter. Charles Spurgeon said, he who would keep his conscience tender and his lips truthful must keep far away from that which makes men just with sacred things and stagger in the paths of duty.

Drunkenness is the devil's back door to many sins and the destroyer. of many a fair profession. G. Campbell Morgan said, here the sage declares that to surrender the master of one's faculties to wine or strong drink is, in itself, a confession of folly. The man who does so cannot be called wise

because he has put his reason and reverence under the feet of a mocking tyrant. One more quote, William are not. The chief deception lies in the silent, stealthy advances which it makes upon the unsuspecting taster, follows by the sure spring and deathly grip of the raging lion. That takes us to verse two.

The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion, whoso provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul. Septuagent translation says, The threat of a king differs not from the rage of a lion, and he that provokes him sins against his own soul. So King Solomon, he's in a pretty good position to talk about a king. There's a lot of things here, you know, he lived it. He uses the imagery of the lion. He used the same imagery back in Proverbs chapter 19 and verse 12. The roaring of the king or the lion is not merely a noise. It is a

paralyzing biological signal that a deadly predator has identified its vulnerable prey and is ready to strike. I've told you know this before. You know, I grew up in a country. I grew up in Western Maryland. I heard plenty of bobcats. You know, they got a high-pitched screech. You know, it sounds like a baby screaming. I've got bobcats in my yard.

I mean, we see them walking along the creek, along the bank of the creek in our yard. They're traveling along the creek bank. They just go through our yard on their way to wherever they're going. Big, big bobcats, okay? Bobcats would never bother me. You can scream all they want. But when I lived in, when I lived in Tennessee,

and I had property out in the mountains between Chattanooga and Cleveland, I heard a mountain lion really close. And I don't tell you, Doc, I said to myself, Ricky, you better go inside. Yes. Okay. That's wisdom. That's wisdom.

I was like, I don't want any of that. Whatever that works. That's what that roar does, right? That roar, that screech is meant to send terror into the prey, right? It's not a screech talk. It's a roar. Yeah. It's a bobcat screeches.

The lion roars. Right. And you just freeze. You absolutely. freeze in that whole valley would go silent every dog would stop barking i mean crickets would stop chirp at it there would be total silence the king lion roared and what that roar was saying i'm moving in close i'm i'm going to eat something and you better get out of my way i run this mountain now i'm in charge here that's what that's what king solomon is talking about

about here. He's talking about a fool who provokes a king, makes a powerful person angry. This doesn't just have to be a political king. It's going to be anybody with power. Right. And we see this, though, today in the modern world with the Internet, the things that people say online, I mean, the fact that they're still alive is amazing. with some of the things that they say about political leaders and powerful individuals, you know, in old days, those people would just be taken out. And so what Solomon is saying here, he's saying that this verse is about fearing the king, the terror that the king inspires in others, when his anger, explodes

that everybody in the castle, everybody in the palace ran for cover when the king was angry because the monarchy, the king holds in his hand the power of life and death, he can order somebody to be executed

and it's done right away. Nobody's going to challenge it. The king said kill. And that's why it's foolish to anger somebody like this. So just as the forest goes silent when the lion roars, it is absolutely foolish to challenge a king and continue talking when the king has roared. There's some great wisdom in that.

If you're still talking, the king has roared. you're still talking. The roaring line is not sleeping. He's active. It's not the snoring lion. It's the roaring line. You're not afraid of a snoring line. But when he wakes up, he roars,

now you've got a problem. So the king's anger is not a grudge, but it's an active threat. If it's on the edge, It's ready to be, it's ready to execute judgment. You could say that the roar is an act of mercy. It's a warning before the bite. Yeah, it's the warning to everything else.

It's a warning before the bite. You got one chance to shut up. You got one more chance to run for your life. I just roared. I say no more after my roar. I eat. I devour. So the wise man hears the roar and corrects his course before the lion's teeth sink in.

But the fool just keeps on going. Just continues blabbed his mouth and post things on the internet, saving, and provoke powerful people. There are people in power right now in the world. I would not want to make them mad. We're in a dangerous time right now. We are in an extremely dangerous time right now. We're in a time that people are going to be executed for saying things. Not openly taken into a court, you know, found guilty of saying,

no, they're just going to die. Yes. They're just going to die. Be careful what you're saying. on the internet. I'll go let you talk about this. I've said platy here.

Well, you talk about the lion's war there. King Solomon is using the lion's war to teach political and spiritual prudence. All right? So a king's wrath is likened to a lion's fearsome war. So what King Solomon is doing

and he was in a position to explain this to anyone that wanted to learn it emphasizes that it's power to terrify to overwhelm and to destroy. So the King James Version says the fear of the king. Septuagint says the threat of the king. But we're not talking about Reverend awe here. And the reason why is because of that word king there.

The word king there is not the same word you would use for King Solomon. It's a different kind of king. It comes from the Hebrew word Mellek. And Mellek is also a derivative of another name you hear throughout the Old Testament, Mollick. And the god Mollack was associated with fear and terror, of human sacrifice. And so when both the King James Version and the Situagin talking here, it's saying, if you're in the midst of a terrible king and he roars, you better pay attention. So this is both a warning and a threat. The lion's war is announcing that danger is near

and an enraged king, and this a terror king, signals imminent judgment on those who would dare challenge the authority. So the lesson to take away here, it shows us how foolish it is to treat royal displeasure lightly, to provoke one who bears a sword. is to stand in the path of force far greater than oneself. You better be willing to pay the price. Now, on the one hand, that terror does serve a political and social function. It does help to restrain evil. If there were no fear of the court or no fear of the lion's roar,

the authority of the executive, if you will, society would just devolve into a chaos of a bunch of hyenas. Now, we can also take away an end-time last day's meaning in this proverb here. Think about this. If the wrath of mortal man can freeze the blood, how much for a fearful thing it is, Rick, it's going to be to fall into the hands of the living God, like it says in Hebrews 1031.

So this earthly king here, Rick, is a shadow of the lion of the tribe of Judah that will one day roar. Let's look at the second part of this verse. Whoso provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul. The second half moves from description to moral evaluation. The person who provokes or stirs up the king's anger sins against his own. own soul. Yes. In other words, he brings needless ruin and trouble upon his own life and his own well-being

and safety. That word provoketh implies deliberate, reckless incitement, not a rebukew. Yes. It is the conduct of one who needlessly pokes the lion. and, you know, pokes the bear. Like, what are you doing? Why would you do that to an animal like that? The phrase says, sins against his own life, his own soul.

That can mean both moral guilt and self-injury. It offends God's divine order. Yes. And at the same time, it destroys your own safety. The King James Version says, Senneth against his own soul. The crime is against the king, but the damage is to the person's soul.

Yes. All right. The Hebrew phrase implies that you're gambling with your life. The English Bible translates it as forfeits his own life. So to anticipate, antagonize the one who holds the sword,

like it's an act of suicide. Absolutely. It's a form of self-murder. You're courting the wrath of one who holds the power of the sword. So you show contempt for the life that God has entrusted. Right. It's suicide. And just like it, but it's just like if it's suicidal to provoke an earthly king,

like Solomon is observing here, it's infinite badness to provoke the king of heaven. Yet, the sinner does this daily banking on God's patience and mercy. So the question is, why does a man provoke a lion? Only because his pride has blinded him to reality. Is that the truth? He thinks he's an exception to the rule of the jungle. to provoke here means or at least implies an outburst of arrogance or checking the limits of the king

it's poking the bear in this case poking the lion it's describing a man who through pride or folly insults the dignity or breaks the laws of the king the sovereign and king solomon here is appealing to a basic instinct of survival. He's saying, use wisdom in this. Even if you do not respect the king morally, or whoever the leader is, even if you don't respect them morally, you need to respect the power

for the sake of your own skin. Later on in his life, he wrote Ecclesiastes and in Ecclesiastes 716. This was looking back, over a lifetime as king. He said, do not be righteous over much. Why shouldest thou destroy thyself? And so beyond that physical execution, there ends up being a spiritual toll. Living in conflict with authority creates a sieged soul. You're paranoid, you're defenseless, you're restless. You can't have peace while you're at war with the king, right? And the implied

opposite is to, if you will, if you're going to think about this, if that's the bad side, the opposite is to seek the king's favor, like we learned back in Proverbs 16. Instead of provoking his anger, the wise men appeases it and turns the roaring lion into his protector rather than the devourer. That's where wisdom is. Okay, so Doc, while you were talking, the Holy Spirit. prompted me to look at Revelation chapter 10. Basically the first three verses. This is about, I felt like the Holy Spirit said,

talk about the roaring line at the end of the world. Revelation 10, verses 1 through 3, John said, then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clove with a cloud and a rainbow in his head His face was like the sun And his feet like pillars of fire He had a little scroll open in his hand

He set his right foot on the sea And his left foot on the land And cried out with a loud voice Like a lion roaring Yes Wow So doc there's going to be a roaring lion at the end of the world.

Yes. There's some messages in here for us, okay? Learn from it. Learn from it. So. Okay. Let's get back to our messages here. I got some questions for you, Doc.

Okay. Does this proverb prohibit Christian believers from confronting evil powerful people. Well, this proverb by King Solomon is not forbidding all confrontation of unjust rulers. What he's driving out here is he's condemning that insolent,

provocative behavior that springs from a contentious and rebellious spirit. I believe, you know, we should stand up against tyranny in all its forms, but there's a way to do it. Our weapons of warfare are not carnal, but spiritual. So, of course, it doesn't forbid it, but somewhat twist it to sound that way here. But sometimes when you're doing it for the sake of righteousness, you're doing it with the knowledge that you could be executed.

You could be martyred. You're taking it very serious. He's talking here about fools, fools that are just mouthing off to a king, a powerful person, daring that person to do something. That's not what we're talking about. In this case, we're talking about, you know, if you're a Christian and you have to stand up against an evil person, you do it for a cause of righteousness,

but you do it knowing that you most likely will be martyred. Yes. All right? So another question. Did our Lord Jesus Christ give us an example how to speak to an earthly king? Yes, absolutely. And when he was accused by Pilot, so Pilot was an earthly authority, he gave no answer and didn't provoke, though he had the power to destroy. I mean, think about this, the lion of the tribe of Judah submitted to this earthly lion to save the souls of those who were provoking him.

It's just what a picture that is. Dr. Let's look at the quotations from the Bible commentators and scholars and theologians from centuries ago. I'll let you start first with Adam Clark. Yes, Adam Clark said, as the terrible growl of the lion forbids approach, so the indignation of a sovereign ought to restrain men from rashly opposing his authority. He who, through pride or passion, excites it, throws away his life. by his own folly. Charles Bridges said,

Here is a solemn warning against the headstrong spirit that delights in contention with rulers to strive with him who bears the sword is to rush upon the devouring lion, and he who does so is his own murderer. Yes.

Alexander McLaren said the growl of the lion is meant to keep fools from his spring. So the sense of a king's power ought to keep men from provoking him. he who will not learn this elementary prudence writes his own death sentence. Charles Spurgeon said, He who plays with the wrath of kings

plays with edge tools. And if it be madness to rouse a lion in his den, what shall we say of a man who wantonly stirs up one who can command the headsman's axe? He sins against his own life. G. Campbell Morgan said, this proverb does not glorify despotism, but declares the folly of provoking authority.

Listen what he's saying here. Wisdom is teaching men to act as to avoid the needless awakening of wrath and thus to preserve both their life and their influence. One more, William R. Not, the sage sets a lion and a king side by side. that we may learn how perilous it is to trifle with either. He who thrust himself into the lion's mouth or into the monarch's anger is not a martyr but a fool who ascend against his own soul. Yes. One more verse, verse three, King James,

It is an honor for a man to cease from strife, but every fool will be meddling. The Peshitta, no, excuse me, the Septuagint says, it is a glory to a man to turn aside from railing but every fool is entangled with such matters kind of almost two different messages there between King James and the Septuagint. So we'll start with the King James Version

it is an honor for a man to cease from strife the Septuagin says to turn aside from railing well railing is how you'll have strife Yes. The verse declares that true honor is found not in winning the arguments, but in wisely stepping back from needless quarrels. It redefines greatness in terms of peace rather than aggressiveness. It just does not go in today's world.

Right. We've got this macho mentality. Hey, I won. I took you down. I crushed you. I humiliated you. I embarrassed you on an internet debate, whatever. I mean, that's the mentality.

But Solomon said, true greatness is, not that you won the argument, but that you step back so that no fighting and quarreling would erupt. Yes. Shaveth, that's the Hebrew word for cease. It means to sit still, to dwell, to keep away, to keep aloof. It implies a deliberate decision to sit out the fight, sit out the conflict.

It is the active choice of passivity in the face of provocation, a deliberate choice to be passive, rather than to be aggressive when you are being provoked. Cease from strife does not mean to be a coward and silent in the face of an attack on obvious truth. But it means to refuse to enter into prolonged disputes where pride, not principled, is at stake. physics teach us that it takes more energy to stop a moving object than to let it keep rolling the same principle holds in arguments it requires more spiritual strength to slow down and stop the momentum of an argument than to let it escalate so Solomon is telling us is that To keep away from strife and argument requires deliberate restraint, deliberate self-control, deliberate patience.

You have to work at developing these skills, these gifts. The restraint is described as an honor. The Septuagin translation calls it a glory. So what we see here is that the Bible is bestowing both public and heavenly purpose. on the man or woman who can master their temper and their tongue. Amen. The ability to de-escalate a fight is a mark of aristocracy in the soul. Only a man or woman who is secure in their identity in Christ can afford to walk away from a fight without feeling them in.

Yes. Why? Your flesh says, I'm going to stay win this fight. I'm going to win this argument. But your soul says, your Heavenly Father will be more pleased with you if you just walk away and keep the peace. So you have to choose. Do I want my pride to win or to want my father to be pleased? Father in heaven's pleas when you walk away from a fight.

There are other proverbs that weren't against being quick to anger. peacemaking is a fruit of grace. The renewed heart, the heart that's renewed through the word of God, through communion, fellowship with the Lord, having the Holy Spirit dwelling in you. This is the fruit of grace. And that heart that has found peace with God seeks to live peaceably with others

as far as possible. So this grace it requires the believers active cooperation with the grace you have to choose again and again to lay down the weapons

of strife and arguments and you have to choose to pursue reconciliation Yes Reck Solomon here is completely inverting what the worldly definition of honor

is in the ancient and to some degree modern world honor is often defined by saving face basically it's the root pride right having the last word once again pride winning the argument once again the last word and so he is you know saying this and saying yes it's it's a struggle it's a fight but he's also saying that wisdom declares that true honor is found in the strength to stop And so this honor or glory is both before God and men. Over time, those who avoid needless quarrels tend to be trusted more. They're sought out as counselors and remembered for wisdom rather than inflicting wounds not everyone else there.

The Septuagint uses that phrase, aside from railings. are things like verbal abuse, taunting, insults, harsh words, man, that's social media today, isn't it? A wise person chooses to sidestep rather than answering kind. It's a glory and a honor to turn aside from a shouting match. And really, it's a mark of spiritual nobility that we truly are, sons and daughters of the king. When a believer lets go of a personal slight refuses to,

take the bay to escalate tension and seeks peace for Christ's sake. Strife is a massive dream on spiritual, emotional, emotional, and mental energy. The wise man is hoarding his energy for battles that actually matter, like the fight of faith, rather wasting it on some silly, stupid squabble. So Jesus is our ultimate example. First Peter, chapter 2, verse 23, Peter said this, speaking about Jesus, when he was reviled he did not revile back. When he suffered, he did not threaten. But he entrusted himself to him who judges righteously. And the fool calls the peacemaker or coward, Yella. God calls peacemakers

as children. Rick, both you and I, when we were young, we were exposed to all. all the classic westerns and everything back from the 40s and 50s. And lots of young men in America during that period of time learned morality based on Westerns, right? Yes. But there's two, and I'm just sitting here, I don't know why the Lord brought this to my mind, there's two movies that come to mind there,

probably some of my favorite Westerns, and that's Shane and High Noon. And in both of them, you have the main character that has to deal with this very issue, where he's being challenged and the cost of going into the gunfight, if you will, or does he keep the peace? And it's difficult. And, of course, these are dramatic reproductions of it. But God calls peacemakers as children.

That's the earmark of a true believer, Rick. Amen. You want to be called his son or his daughter. Right. John Wesley said, it is an honor to retreat from strife and to make the first motion towards a reconciliation. Men think it is their wisdom to engage in quarrels,

but he that thus medals is a fool. Yeah. Listen, Alexander McLaren had, this quote, it's really good. He said, it's generally best to let the glove flung down lie where it is. There are better things to do

than to squabble. The man who could command his temper so as not to be sucked in by the whirlpool is a strong man. Chief Campbell Morgan said, it is honorable for a man to stop striving to stint it rather than to stir it

to be first in promoting peace, it requires a greater man to withdraw from a strife than to maintain it. Doc, a few moments ago, you were talking about the word reviling. Someday, I don't know, sometime here in 2026, I want to do a Bible study here on Morning Mata about railing and reviling. because those words describe narcissists. A reviler is somebody that is a name caller, an insulter, somebody that is verbally abusing another person. They're slandering them, but they're doing it to their face. They're reviling.

They're provoking them the anger. They're deliberately trying to get the person to fight. And see, that's a narcissist, but I can go into a whole other Bible study on that topic, but we'll get there someday, hopefully in 2026. The second part of this last verse, verse three, the authorized King James Version says, but every fool will be meddling in the subtuage and says,

but every fool is entangled in such matters. So, Doc, I'll let you try to explain this. Well, that Hebrew word there for meddling is really a very vivid word. It can mean to expose or to lay bare or to roll forward. So think of it like a snarling wolf. The fool bears his teeth when angered during an argument. So the fool exposes his anger instantly. He cannot keep his teeth covered.

Alexander said this about it. Every fool will be meddling. The fool is bearing his. teeth, he is ready to snarl and bite. He has no self-command. Now, notice the nature of the text here, that phrase, every fool. Salomon saying is saying something very profound here, and for our students today, listen carefully, because you're about to learn a universal wisdom key. Every fool, this is a universal trait of foolishness. you will never find a fool who's a peacemaker.

If there's drama, if there's a dispute, if there's a controversy, the fool is going to gravitate toward it like a moth to a flame. And so the fool, and this is a trait of every fool, all right? If they do this, you know they're a fool. So that fool lacks the internal breaking mechanism of the Holy Spirit. They don't have the spirit of God. When he feels an emotion, he's got to express it.

When he sees a fight, he's got to be in on it. He's a slave to whatever's going all around him. He's a slave to his own volatility. The King James says, every fool will be meddling. And the situagent says every fool is entangled. So what is it saying here? What does it mean? The fool, very often, involves himself and strife that really are

of his business. They don't belong to. He takes, we're going to come to a phrase later on in Proverbs, chapter 26, where it says he takes a dog by the ears. You know, dogs don't lie to be grabbed by the ears, right? And inserting his own opinion where it was even asked. And the Septuagin says entangled, entangled with such matters. He thinks he is controlling the argument. by this involvement that he has here. But the argument's trapped him. That's what's happened.

He lives in this perpetual web of drama and relational drama. Entangled with reviling shows how easily the quarrelsome person is trapped. Once he enters strife, it cannot easily withdraw without humiliation. So he just has to fight on, going deeper and deeper. ring. I can't resist. I see hints of narcissism in this verse. Oh, yes.

The fool is the one who is always meddling, stirring, starting, prolonging quarrels in fights, unable to leave matters alone. If you know somebody that does that, the Bible calls that person a fool. And I would advise you to put distance. between yourself and that person. Now, when they're in your family, very close, that's not easy. You've got to decouple from that person somehow. Emotionally, you've got to decouple.

Meddling suggests intrusion and agitation. You've got two things. Intruding into something that doesn't involve you and agitating somebody. So the fool pushes himself into disputes that are none of his business. And he turns a small matter into a big fight. So let's say two people are arguing about something, he's not really a big deal. But the fool gets, he puts himself in there and turns it into a big fight.

Right. The King James says, we'll be meddling. He meddles by choice. He refuses the way of peace and therefore he bears the guilt for the havoc, the trouble that he causes. So where's the connection to narcissism? I'll give it to you very briefly.

Narcissists need their daily narc supply. They get it by stirring up strife, calling name as reviling, provoking anger in other people. They deliberately start arguments. They feed off the negative energy that they generate from these fights. Conflict gives the fool a sense of importance. See, the narcissist has a false self.

And they also have, they see themselves as superior, but in order to maintain that false self, they have to attack your real self. Amen. I don't know if that's making sense, but they have a false self. And in order to maintain it, they have to attack your real self.

And then they feed off of the negative energy that they get from you as you try to deal with what they just said or did to you, okay? Without strife, the narcissist feels invisible. But in the heat of an argument, he's, he or she is powerful. Yeah. See, they're insignificant without strife.

But if they can get a fight going, they've got power. There are people that live like this every single day. They absolutely plot in scheme and strategize how they're going to start a fight with somebody. Because they need that negative energy, their soul. suckers. They're sucking the energy out of your soul. He rages and is confident. That's proverb 14, verse 16. So when when the narcissist succeeds in provoking an angry outburst from you, he or she is satisfied. They got what they were after. They made you angry, and now they can suck out your negative energy to feed their warped soul. If you find you,

yourself constantly in the middle of arguments at work, church, or home, be aware that constant friction is a symptom of folly, not a sign of fighting for truth. You, if this is happening to you, you're constantly in the middle of some fight, you're either the one who is starting the fights or you are closely related to somebody who loves to fight. You've got to figure it out. Peacemaking. Peacemaking is a fruit of grace. As I said earlier, it comes from a person who's found peace with God and tries to live peaceably with everybody to the best of their ability. Doc, let's look at the quotations.

We'll wrap this up for today. All right. We'll start with Charles Bridges here, Rick. He said that the world counts at bravery to stands up for one's right in every petty cause. But scripture counts it nobility. to yield when God's truth is not compromise. Listen to that. While a fool must need to be prying and provoking

till the spark becomes a flame. Albert Barnes says this proverb teaches that real dignity lies in self-control, in love of peace, the readiness to enter into quarrels is not courage, but weakness revealing a mind that cannot govern itself. Alexander McLaren said, to keep out of strife is often harder than to conquer in it.

He observed this and requires a higher type of strength. The fool, unable to bear being overlooked or contradicted, rushes into the fray and is hence known for what he is. Gerald Spurgeon, it's a grand thing when a man can hold his tongue and keep his temper. This is true chivalry of the spirit. The fool, in the other hand, is like tender to every spark and counsel. sport to be ever thrusting himself into broils. Oh, man.

You're just picturing somebody that you know is like that. Oh, I've got several, Doc. G. Campbell Morgan, Honor and Folly are here sharply contrasted. One keeps away from strife, the other lives in it. The man of wisdom values peace more than self-assertion. The fool in his meddling, sacrifices both peace and character. One more quote, William are not.

The proverb sets a crown on the head of the peacemaker and a fool's cap on the busy body. To cease from strife is to imitate the prince of peace. What to be always embroiled is to wear the livery of folly. Wow. That's it for today. Thank you so much. We appreciate your time here today at Morning Manna.

We hope you share Morning Mata with your friends, send them to manonation.com. The classes are also on our YouTube channel, Rick Wiles today, and let them know that the class starts 8 a.m. Eastern Time, but the videos are there 24-7. They can go back and get the archives. But help us this year in 2026 to greatly enlarge the class that attends Morning Mata every day. I just dream of reaching a massive number of people with the Word of God. That would be what a delight and honor. If we could just reach hundreds of thousands, someday a million people with Morning Manna.

I love you so much. Thank you for being here. You encourage me to do this work. This is what I desire to do for the remaining days of my life to teach the Word of God. the world has fallen apart it's going crazy but our our father's kingdom is solid

yes amen let's learn his kingdom learn his ways learn his principles so that when we step into his kingdom we feel at home that's right we should feel at home we see hey

I know how this place operates I love you see you tomorrow God bless you we love you