TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles - Morning Manna - Dec 1, 2025 - Proverbs 17:5-9 - Mockery, Mercy and Quiet Wisdom

Episode Date: December 1, 2025

Proverbs 17:5–9 exposes four defining traits of the wise and the foolish. To mock the poor is to insult their Maker, and to rejoice in calamity invites judgment. Children’s children bless the aged, and parents become the glory of their offspring. Excellent speech does not fit the fool, nor do lies belong on the lips of rulers. And the wise know how to cover an offense, while the gossip spreads strife and destroys friendships. In today’s Morning Manna, Rick Wiles and Doc Burkhart examine these sharp contrasts, calling listeners to practice mercy, honor, integrity, and the quiet love that preserves peace. Teachers: Rick Wiles and Doc Burkhart You can partner with us by visiting FaithandValues.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

Good morning everybody, welcome to Morning Manna. We're glad to have you with us today. Many of you in the United States, it was a long four-day weekend. Hope you had a good holiday. And wherever you are in the world, we're just glad that you're here. I want to tell you that there are some big changes coming, good changes to Morning Manna. We're going to be launching a new platform later this month.

the current faith and values platform is going to be transformed into a new platform devoted to the teaching of the word of god and it's going to have a new look a new name everything um we're racing to get this done i i'm confident we're going to do it i'm confident uh it will it will be improved and tweaked and made better uh week by week throughout twenty 26, but we are absolutely committed to launching it this month. We have to. We ended our contract with the current company that hosts our faith and values platform. We made that decision back in September. We had to give them a 90-day notice of whether we were renewing for one year or leaving. And we made a decision to leave that we would build our own platform. God has provided. And that's why, John, Mark was in India for several weeks. By the way, he had to leave. He had to leave India.

Was it Thanksgiving Day? I'm trying to remember. Because a hurricane. The day before, yeah. Yeah, Cyclone came in to India where he was at. So we had to evacuate him out of India. And they're still dealing with the aftermaths of that right now. There's always, there's always drama going.

on here we always got something going on all right um it's it's it's exciting to work for the lord but there's always things happening well anyhow we are going to pick up where we left off last wednesday uh and we had just started uh chapter 17 and so today we're going to look at proverbs 17 verses five through nine let's pray invite the holy spirit then Dr. Burkhart is going to read the word and we will begin our study. Almighty God, our Father in heaven, Father, you are good. Oh, you're so good, Father. We love you and praise you and glorify you and bless you.

Father, we ask for your Holy Spirit to take charge of this morning man of class and bring forth wisdom and revelation and understanding of your word that all of us would grow and increase. increase in our knowledge of your son, Jesus Christ, and His kingdom. In his name, Jesus, we pray. Amen. Amen. Welcome morning, man, everyone. We're so glad to have you here with us, no matter where you are in the world today. And when we say, no matter where you are in the world, we mean it, because we have people checking in from Southeast Asia to Russia, South America, all points in between across the U.S. and Canada. And we usually have three to 400 people here every day, live. saying the Word of God together, and that's exactly what we're doing right now. We're in Proverbs chapter 17, and we'll be reading verses 5 through 9. So I'm reading from the King James, as you follow along with me, please. Who so mocketh the poor reproacheth his maker, and he that is glad at calamities

shall not be unpunished. Children's children are the crown of old men, and the glory of children are their fathers. Verse 7, excellent speech, becomeeth not a fool, much less do lying lips a prince. A gift is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that hath it, whithersoever it turneth it prospered. In verse nine, he that coverth a transgression seeketh love, but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends. God bless the reading of his word today. Amen. Verse five, whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his maker and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished um the subtoagin says he that laughs at the poor

provokes his maker and he that rejoices at another's ruin shall not be unpunished this one packs a lot of weight and um it's a it is a sober warning about making jest, making fun of poor people, and also laughing as somebody's troubles. Even if you don't audibly laugh out loud, if you're laughing on the inside, yeah, you got what you deserve. And I'm enjoying watching it, all right?

No, it's dangerous, dangerous thinking. So mocking the poor, is more than cruelty the Bible is telling you that it is blasphemy against against the God whose image they bear remember every human being is made in the likeness and image of God what they've done with that image and likeness that's between them and God I people have twisted and deformed

their bodies look at look at the transvestites look at the mutilation they're doing to their own bodies not condemning them the Lord has convicted

me and told me not not to condemn them they are they are they're mutilating the body which is the temple of the Holy Spirit they're mutilating the body that the Lord gave them but they were made in the likeness and image of God right and they they have deformed it okay but let's not let's not condemn them okay same thing with the poor when you mock

the poor if in mocking is not you know we're not talking about you're driving you know through an intersection and you put your window down and you call a poor person that's you know it's it's it's saying cruel unkind things about poor people you're mocking them okay it is actually blasphemy against God because every human being is a divine masterpiece to laugh at the canvas is to laugh at the artist let that sink in let that sink in it's the artist it's the artist the great artist in heaven who paints his likeness and image in the lives of every human being

don't laugh don't laugh at what he painted the Hebrew word for mock denotes stammering deriding treating

somebody with contemptuous speech yes contemptuous meaning you're better than them you're putting them down okay um it's it's the very opposite of the reverence due to somebody made in god's image okay so to to despise them is to accuse god a bad workmanship. Correct. God gets a sin.

And at the core, the sin is pride. Because the proud man or woman is measuring himself or herself against those who are weak. Instead of measuring himself against God and finding. himself you don't you don't measure up when you when you measure yourself against god but remember the the bible says that god will raise up the poor out of the dust yes and doc i see the resurrection in that yes that's true yes i see the resurrection he raises the poor out of the dust and there will be a day he will raise up the poor in the week to judge their mockers right and that comes from first samuel uh chapter two and in that same passage though verse seven it says god makes the poor

and makes the rich god does yes that messes up a lot of modern day theology doesn't it it does it does to mock the poor is to mark the poor is to mock the incarnation Jesus Christ himself deliberately took the form of of poverty weakness I mean why so we would become rich yes so a humble poor man or poor woman's rags if they are humble are more honorable in god's eyes than a proud man's purple robes where the finest suits and dresses that are available today

class class arrogance is just as ugly and sinful as racism because the person is looking down on another human being and saying I'm better than you right but here's here's the bottom line this first is telling us God will not be mopped he records every sneer he records it and he will repay it with perfect justice one way or the other doc his books are balanced every day yes that that's a principle i learned a long time ago god balances his books every day you may not see it but he moves something from one column to another column every day every day every day did you want to say anything no i you're you're on a roll there i agree with you uh the idea here is that god uh will defend the poor jesus said you're always going to have the poor with you and what does the world try to do they try to eliminate poor they try to eliminate poverty

without realizing that the reason why there's poverty in the world's cause of sin okay and because God allows the poor. God makes the poor, it says. I mean, it's black and white in First Samuel. God makeeth poor and make us rich. And so there are some people who are poor because God made them poor. Okay. So we have to keep that in mind. And that's one of the reasons why we shouldn't judge the poor. We should be poor in spirit ourselves, but not judge people on their poverty materially yes so the scripture says whoso mocks the poor reproaches his maker okay so i've talked about the the meaning of the ancient hebrew word for mock okay so let's talk about the word reproach it's the same word used in the bible for blaspheming god's name

That's right. That was a shocker to me when I did this study. It's the same word. In our day today, if you were to laugh or mock, let's say, I don't understand Picasso, but people seem to respect the work he produced and everything. But if you mock it and everything, aren't you mocking Picasso himself? if you're mocking a product of Picasso, you're mocking him, right? Well, in the same way, if God makes the poor and you mock the poor,

you're doing more than just mocking them, you're making fun there. You're blaspheming God. And you're right, that's the word that's used there. And that's one of the reasons why this verse in particular was seen by the early church fathers as a reason that the church must care for the poor. Why? Because they identified with Christ. They were Christ's brethren. It was an opportunity for us as believers to minister to Christ directly here on earth by ministering to the poor. And in a way, mockery of the poor is atheism of the heart. Because if God isn't their maker, then they're just accidents, evolutionary accidents. And they're worthy to be despised. after all it's survival of the fittest right and they're just not fit therefore they should be mocked

and despise or maybe even eliminated which is the goal of some in the world today so this proverb brick overturns the world's current value system the poor and spirit which should be you and i are rich in the kingdom of god and so by us ministering to the poor materially here on earth we're identifying by being poor in spirit to them. So this sin of mocking people, Rick, is doubly wicked because the poor can't do anything about being poor. They know they're poor. They know they're already under the weight of that. And so throwing that additional mocking and laughter and reproach on them is a double sin because they can't do anything about it. That's why God is always toward the poor so so doctor the one of the most stark examples of this right now are the

Palestinian people yes there's nobody taking care of them except God yes I mean who which nation in the world is defending the Palestinian people right I mean they they are despised they're hated they're not one not They're mocked. They're mocked. And they're mocked by religious Christians in this country. They are mocked. And many of those Palestinians are Christians themselves.

But they're poor. They're despised. They're told... I mean, you have people who say, you never existed. Yes. There's no such thing as Palestinian people. You're not even real.

And this is a very very... very real viewpoint in the Jewish and Christian Zionist world. Right. The Palestinians don't understand. The church is going to be held accountable for the way we treated the Palestinian people during this time. The suffering is unimaginable, what's going on, especially the last three years. It's been horrible. And the delight in their suffering.

That's, oh, that's what breaks my mind. heart people celebrated oh we we ground that place to rubble really you want to celebrate that or we killed californian babies you you really want to celebrate that that doesn't break your heart that doesn't cause you to weep and people people have no homes they're sleeping outside yes mothers are having babies outside there are no hospitals because they blew up all the hospitals Babies are being born outside. I mean, we have no idea, no comprehension of all, what the Palestinian people are going through.

And yet you have people in America's religious church world who are celebrating their trouble, rejoicing at it, saying God is wiping them out because they don't deserve to exist. Yeah. All right. Now you want to know what this verse, means right but you're right doc the the poor can't retaliate the Palestinian people have no way

I'm not talking about Hamas I'm talking about just the average everyday person they have no way to defend themselves they certainly don't have a way to retaliate so they're just victims to be crushed and why because wealthy super wealthy people including President Donald Trump, are coveting their land. And they say, if we could just get rid of these poor people, we could put hotels and casinos on that land. Oh, we'll put them to work. Yeah, as maids in the casinos.

See, this is, yeah, go ahead, Doc. I've said, this verse really is a mirror, isn't it? If we find pleasure in scorning the week, We really have forgotten who made us, right? Yes. And we should be seeing Jesus in the poor. We should be seeing Christ in the Palestinian. But they're Muslims.

That's the latest thing that's going on now. We've got to hate Muslims again, right? We've got to hate them. That's the latest thing. You see it on social media among the conservative talk about. We've got to hate the Muslims now. No, we don't have to. We have to love them.

We have to love them to Jesus. what doesn't mean we endorse violence or anything like that but you're telling me an infant what did that infant do every time i i see um the media and politicians um and influencers suddenly changed their their messages to uh we have to hate arabs we have to hate Muslims or you have to hate powers we have to hate iranians that tells me doc that the powerful are planning a war yeah you got to hate your enemy you got to hate them so they're getting the they're getting the people whipped up into fury to support a war that they're going to launch maybe in 30 60 90 days they're getting the public ready for it to justify it um anyhow

all of these examples that we're giving these are examples of of mocking the poor right yes this is what it looks like in real life is it's not it's not just making fun of some beggar on the corner by the way don't you know there's don't do that you know when you see somebody begging don't don't don't make um unflattering remarks about them all right just to keep your mouth shut than to say anything if you can't say something uplifting then just keep your mouth shut

because I'm telling you it's God God does not take lightly people making fun of poor humans that's what this verse is telling you

and what about the second part of this verse Rick oh yeah he that is glad at calamity shall not be unpunished calamities somebody's troubles you hear that somebody was in a car wreck somebody was diagnosed with stage four cancer somebody's business went bankrupt whatever it is and whether you verbally rejoice or inwardly rejoice this scripture says god sees and hears it and you will not escape punishment okay you're you're saying i find a light in another person's woe

now let let god deal with the people it may be the lord himself is punishing those people that's right okay but don't rejoice at it don't rejoice at it okay You know, I, you know, I remember Doc as a, as a child, you know, if my dad was punishing my brother, I knew not to stand there and snicker. Or I might get a little bit of the same thing my brother was getting. All right. Don't snicker. All right. You know, don't, don't make, don't roll your eyes and laugh because your brother or sister is being paddled, okay? that's what the lord is saying here even if it's the lord who's doing the paddling of somebody that's right don't you rejoice don't don't find delight in it don't say hey they're getting what they deserve i'm so glad they finally got brought down that's an attitude in a lot of people

oh i'm so glad they finally got brought down i'm i'm i don't i'm not shedding a tear for that person right you're rejoicing you're rejoicing that in that person's calamities he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished right okay so calamity is any disaster poverty sickness death disgrace anything because disgrace is part of it too somebody is publicly humiliated all right the news media is publishing very unflattering things about them and you're rejoicing in it now these are the things that should move a christian to compassion look bottom line is this finding pleasure in another person's problems is satanic yes it's just that simple Satan accused Job with delight. The world rejoiced when Christ was crucified. It's satanic.

Okay. Just, you know, Obadiah, thou should not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day of his calamity. Okay. so you you really it really means that you're hating your brother or your sister instead of having love for them but it's it's that subtle snide attitude of well they got what they deserved yeah this proverb is telling us maybe maybe you should get what you deserve then right that's exactly what it means you know so the final judgment will be the ultimate reversal are the proud who laugh will well

i'm talking about judgment day there's no reversal no appeal to the final judgment on judgment day so be careful what you say about others be careful about what you wish on others okay don't be hoping for somebody's calamity yes I can't tell you and I yeah I lost track I don't even pay attention to it anymore I can't tell you over 26 27 years how many people prophesied my demise and laughed about it oh yeah they predicted my death they predicted my destruction they predicted my collapse they predicted i mean just it's it's been going on for 27 years yes but but the lord and his mercy just kept me going and and i know people who got angry because i didn't die because i

didn't come they got angry yes well and that that phrase there that hebrew phrase is is more than just indifference it means an active gleeful participation in somebody else's pain you you get a kick out of it you like it you enjoy it and it's that same spirit that you have in the older brother in the parable the prodigal the older brother he was angry that his father showed mercy to the prodigal son he was glad that the younger son was getting what quote what he deserved aren't you glad we all don't get what we deserve if we all you know get what we deserve we might be in in the grave or in prison or worse so so calamity is God's school to rejoice at the student is to mock the teacher amen to

rejoice at the students troubles is to mock the teacher and it's it's doubly wicked, especially when it's God that's doing the chastising. It means we're laughing at God's decision to chastise. We're inviting God to do it doubly to us. So the righteous response is to visit the fatherless and widows and their affliction, not to gloat over it. Okay. And so this glee, this belly laughing at those that are going through trouble, Billy laughing at the poor is the absolute opposite of the gospel. Christ wept over the coming calamity of Jerusalem. He wept over it. He didn't rejoice over it. There are people today that within the radical right of the conservative movement that rejoice at the idea of Israel being

destroyed. I don't rejoice at that. That doesn't bring me any kind of joy or anything like that at absolutely no that's the opposite of the gospel i want everyone to prosper and be in health even as their soul prospers i want them to hear the gospel i want israel to hear the gospel as much as i want palestine to hear the gospel so for us to rejoice in anyone's calamity or potential calamity really reveals the hardness of our heart doesn't it yes yes um i i encountered somebody recently at a social event who brought up Benjamin Netanyahu's name in a very positive way and I just said I have a different opinion I think he's one of the most evil men on the planet okay the guy looks shocked it's almost like I like I committed a sin

like he cursed Jesus almost right yeah right and I said I think the man is one worse than Herodd the Great. The guy became very offended by me. He actually walked away simply because I said I'm a defender of the Palestinian people. And he was a Christian. He was very offended, you know, that I would defend the Palestinian people. But you still would wish calamity on Benjamin Netanyahu, would you? No, no. The man is he needs Jesus. yes and this is the thing that i can't um this is the thing i can't comprehend about our god as many tens of thousands of children that net yahoo killed in the past three years god was still save his soul if he repented i can't comprehend that kind of love

talk because you know why when i sought the lord about it he's like with the children are with me they're okay I have them all the children killed by Netanyahu I have them yes it's his soul that I don't have the Lord's waiting for his soul okay so I just want to say this before we move on we've got in this verse they're the twin these are twin sins twins twins sins mocking the poor and rejoicing at calamity and both of these sins

are grounded in pride and they reveal a heart that's at war with God you cannot be in harmony with God and mock the poor and rejoice as somebody else's troubles both sins are pride okay one looks down on the poor the other one looks down on the fallen both sins are blasphemy one yes one against god's image the other against god's justice

amen that's right okay both sins are self-destructive the mockers and the gloaters are digging pits for themselves to fall into. And then both sins are contrary to the incarnation of God in the human flesh. Jesus Christ identified with the poor and with the suffering. And both sins are contrary to the cross. Amen. Where the innocent suffered that the guilty may go free. There's a lot in this one.

proverb you got the gospel in here the whole the gospel is inside this verse yes because the poor and spirit inherit the kingdom and the broken are healed the church is called to be the opposite of the world we're called to be a hospital for the poor a refuge for the fallen and so as you said doc the gospel is inside this one verse in proverbs in the old covenant scriptures let's go down um i'm gonna go i'm gonna skip the commentators because we're we're running late here today uh we had technical problems before the start of the class and so i'm gonna go down to verse six children's children are the crown of old men and the glory of children are their fathers

Yes. Hallelujah. All the translations are the same. God bless-paring kids. Yes. Absolutely. Children's children. The sons of sons, the daughters of daughters, okay, the third generation, fruit upon fruit. And what this is saying is that grandchildren are God's reward for finishing the race of life. They're a reward. And so you have this word crown. They are the crown of old men and women. The Hebrew word here is the same word that was used for the turban on a high priest. It's the crown.

it's a royal diadem the highest honor that can be placed on a person's head so you see you see covenant theology in in this verse Abraham seed was multiplied God's promises were kept you see that God keeps those all right who who remain in the covenant um this crown is public the world sees it okay um grandchildren silence the scoffer because the righteous man's name the righteous woman's name lives on in flesh their grandchildren and so this is teaching us that the crown is earned decades of instruction decades of discipline decades of prayer um and it's just saying to you that if you have grandchildren this is the this is the greatest gift the lord can give you in this life right you know beyond salvation

I'm talking about, you know, physical blessing, grandchildren. Because, Doc, they're the mirror of your life. Absolutely. I'm going to go down to, and the glory of children are their fathers. Yes. The glory. The glory of children are their fathers. Okay.

The glory, the splendor, the beauty, what you boast about. The things that children point to with pride, okay? It's saying that a godly father is a son or daughter's greatest ornament. He's gone. To wear their parents like a crown, to say, that's my dad. That's my mother. Right. Okay.

if you have a godly father a godly mother you are blessed you are blessed and the glory of children are their fathers um so doc i'm i'm trying to speed things up because i i want to get through all these verses today uh first seven excellent speech becomes not a fool much less do lying lips a prince okay um all the other translations basically the same uh subtoigent faithful lips are not fitting for a fool much less lying lips for a righteous man okay they're contradictory all right a fool can't speak faithfully and and a righteous person should not be lying so let's begin with the first part excellent speech becomes not a fool the this term excellent speech it literally means in the ancient

hebrew lips of excess right uh meaning not too much but noble lofty lips of excess you know excess meaning abundant noble lofty refined or maybe even arrogant yes can be we know what a fool is all right we've studied fools all through our study of proverbs so it's telling us that beautiful words from a corrupt heart it's the same as pearls on a pig it's it's an obscene mismatch it just doesn't work okay beautiful words coming from a corrupt heart it's the same as a pig wearing pearls the phrase is teaching that character authenticate speech that eloquent words without wisdom is just noise.

Amen. And we get this a lot with politicians. Politicians, they have speech writers who write these beautiful speeches. And you're listening to them going, you don't believe a thing you're saying.

Oh, yeah, you're speaking lofty words, but you don't believe it. You don't live it. Right. So it's how do I one image okay I've said it's like you know

beautiful words coming from a fool's mouth like you know it is like pearls on a pig well it's also like sewage in a cup a golden cup

it's like the images don't match sewage in a golden cup so you it's telling us just you know don't accept words from somebody just because the words sound wonderful

correct check the heart who's speaking um do you have anything you wanted to add to this well just to reinforce the fool's mouth is going to betray him just let a fool talk

and more and more of his foolishness is going to be exposed. And, you know, this teaching, the morning man of teaching on a daily basis, really, I think in many ways, I know for me, it's helped me personally because it's set the tone for each day for me in the words that I speak throughout the whole rest of the day now, in that I have to balance the words that I speak throughout the rest of the day based upon what I learned in morning mat in each day and so what i've learned is sometimes saying less is more yes and you know the bible says let not many of you become teachers and you know there's a lot to that in the sense there's a lot of people teaching a lot of stuff out there today rick a lot of people

teaching a whole bunch of different things but a lot of them are teaching foolishness just plain outright foolishness but that your words are going to be a mirror to your soul if my speech is lofty but my life is in the gutter i'm a fool okay uh and so those are things we need to consider throughout the day as we're speaking to others as we're even as we're speaking to god have you ever occasionally say oh you know i can't believe the lord allowed that to happen or something, just off-the-cuff remark. I'm learning now. No, I can't let words like that.

My lips. I can't. Yeah, I'm finding myself in the same situation, Doc. The next phrase is much less do lying lips a prince, much less, being infinitely worse, much less. a prince being a noble person, all right, a prince or princess, a noble one, a leader, a person of rank and responsibility. For a leader to be lying, destroys relationships, organizations. because the prince is supposed to be

God's representative Right Look a lot of these people in government have no idea that they were appointed to their position by God Right And so when they're lying

they're committing treason against heaven But they think they're getting away with it in this life. Right. And as much damage as the fool on the local level can cause, that is multiplied a thousandfold by those that lead, by the prince, by the president, by the king, whoever it might be. And that is why God judges rulers more strictly. And we see that both in James chapter three and also in the 82nd song. God judges leaders. God judges kings based on their speech and so when a leader lies he's not just lying to the people he's lying to god and there are examples in scripture of people who were judged by god you've got ahab who would later on be judged

you have herod who would later on be judged and if they're going to be judged how much more should disciples of Christ be wary of the words that come out of their mouth, that we don't massage the truth, that we don't tell a white lie, that we don't say, you know, try to withhold the truth from, you know, from a situation because it might make us look bad. So your words are your bond, your integrity. And this really isn't taught today. We're taught that you can say whatever you want to say. be truthful, be arrogant in your truth, really, when actually we're trying to be hateful with it. And so there's going to be a payday someday for those that allow their lips to run amok. But as disciples, we should be bringing our lips before the Lord every day and putting them on the altar. Every single, I have to, I have to. I remember, Doc, I heard this Anglican priest years ago. He's retired.

He lives up in Melbourne. It was humorous the way he told his story, you know, surrendering his life to God. he said he he had a vulgar foul mouth and you know that that sanctification process is the Lord was taking more and more control of his life and he said one day the Lord told him you know I want you to give me your mouth he said I told you you don't want my mouth I'm I assure you you don't want my mouth I'm I assure you you don't want my mouth. And Lord said, no, I want your mouth. Okay. And he told the story of how he had to surrender his mouth, okay? And when you said, put your lips on the altar, that's, that's what I saw. The Lord was challenging him. Put your lips on the altar. Give me, give me your mouth. Give me your lips. Here's, in a nutshell, here's what this verse means. God has a standard for

speech and a person's speech must match their station in life their position know your place and speak accordingly in other words if you are a fool then you need to talk like a fool and if you are a nobleman a noble woman which would be a son or daughter of god then you need you must talk like what that's what it's saying like anything different is is just weird if you're going to be a fool talk like a fool if you're going to be noble talk noble because to do otherwise is obscene it's it's as obscene as a pig wearing a string of pearls it just doesn't go right okay I'm going to get down to our our next verse which is verse eight a gift is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that have it whithersoever it turneth

it prospereth the subtuagin says the one who receives gifts finds them like a precious stone wherever it turns it prosperous okay now doc a lot of the old commentators said this gift refers to a bride right yes i never saw it that way i never i just it never occurred to me that it was a bribe well what they taught i'm talking about the commentators back in the 1700s the 1800s they said the gift in this verse is a bribe something something offered to persuade to influence to manipulate judgment see a bribe is not necessarily hey here's a bag full of money i'll give it to you if you do something for me all right that's what we think of a bribe but bribes come in different forms and shapes yes and to use um to use president trump as an

example we often say he's transactional he doesn't do anything unless he gets something right okay that's like borderline like it's not it doesn't mean he's pocketing money but other words if you want him to do something you have to do something for him okay so the precious stone here the precious stone according to the commentators is the beauty of the bribes they're attractive they're valuable they work they work that's what is teaching is saying that the beauty of the bribe blinds the person who receives it and the recipient sees the bribe as a tool of advantage they're being helped they're being promoted they don't see it as a bribe

they could they could they could actually say it's a blessing look at this yeah that's right so give you an example today there's a story it's about a month old now that a lot of social media influences out there are getting paid to promote

Zionism or Israel or something like that right and it's true there's no doubt about it times of Israel have a whole big article about it, that there's a giant mechanism that pays social media influences to say positive things about Zionism. They do it for anything else, too. They do it for Islam and other things as well. But I just find it fascinating that it's easy to talk positive about a gift that you've received, right? And Rick can tell you a story after story of times that

he's been approached to buy various people over the years hey would you promote this product would you promote this service or this thing but and really you know talk nice about it and stuff like that it's the same thing isn't it it is all right so I'm gonna I'm gonna I would tell you true some true stories that actually implicate me they're not flattering to me I didn't know it the time doc but now that i look at this verse i'm now convicted and realized wow my judgment was clouded all right so i'm talking about over you know 30 years ago working uh working for tbn in in davis fort worth okay there were always people who wanted to get in to see paul crouch

always always a line of people you know and important people okay and so what they would do doc is you know some people would come to me they'd get they'd get my name okay Rick Wells was director of marketing he he's close to Paul Crouch he has access to Paul Crouch and they would they would call me or they would visit actually come and visit and say, I want a meeting with Paul. You know, and his schedule's really tight. It was, you know. Well, what can I do?

Doc, I'm, I just realize now that I, it often said to people in that situation, well, I would, if I were you, I would make a very big donation. That will get his attention. You know, I didn't mean it as being wrong. But now when I look at the scripture, what was they telling people? If you want to access, you have to bribe somebody. Yes.

And Paul didn't put it in his pocket. It wasn't like that, you know. But it got his attention. It got his attention. So that when... He certainly wouldn't have called it a bribe, would you? Oh, no. No, but I said, but what I was telling them was, if you want to jump ahead of the line, if you want to get his attention, you might want to send $100,000 or something like that. Okay. And that'll get his attention. That's just the way people, that's the best human nature. Okay. How do that work? Because if, if a large don't nation say a hundred thousand dollars landed on all crows his desk his secretary said mr so-and-so

sent this to you or who is this well he said gentlemen that would like to meet with you see what has happened the door has opened the door has opened okay that's what this that's what this is saying a gift is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that has it the gift was meant to persuade okay to influence to actually manipulate judgment decisions then at the time 30 years ago I didn't I didn't see this is wrong I do now okay and so we have to examine we have to examine the that we say the things that we perceive is right how does it line up with the word of god does it does it meet the the word standards right because doc gifts have psychological power they they they flatter people

you know oh look at this gift given to me oh i must be important look at this wonderful gift and if the gift is given for the purpose of getting something then it then it is a brine it's not a gift if if there are strings attached right do you do you really think that the majority of people give a million dollar donations to Donald Trump or doing it because they love America or because they want access to Donald Trump. They want access. Right. They want access.

Just as simple as that, okay? Just as simple as that. That's the way politics works. You want your picture taken with somebody like the President of the United States. You're going to pay $20,000 to $50,000. not to the politician but to a political campaign right okay you get your picture ticket I guarantee you you everybody you see standing beside a famous politician paid a lot of money to stand there for 10 seconds to allow a photograph to be

taken okay that's the way it works you know that's the way it works um you know i uh several years ago um you know i was i was invited down to marlago for political fundraiser and uh and the day before the event um a representative of of the uh congressman that they were raising money for said uh called me and said rick uh you can you can get your photo taken with President Trump for $20,000. I don't have $20,000 for a photograph, okay? But it showed me the system. Yeah.

But that's the illusion of it though. Anybody else, you say, well, I've got a picture of President Trump, they'd be showing that and they would be using that to, yes, for influence. yes yeah it prospers me right whether so ever it turneth it prospered that's the that's the that's the illusion of a bribe yes yes that people are using a photograph to get access to someplace else so they'll pay a bribe they'll pay the fee to play in order to get a photograph of somebody important that they can then use on somebody else

to get inside to see them right it's just a cycle all right so it says wherever it turns it prospers okay what it says is the gift the bribe appears to work it works in every direction that's what we're just talking about in politics it works it just works okay yeah you you put a photograph of you standing beside the president of the united states you put that photograph on your office wall i guarantee you you're going to get a lot of people coming to visit you why what do they think they think you know the president yeah right that's why and so they're there there are there are people who work that system very hard and there are people who who excel at getting photographs taken with important people right

Excel. I mean, they work it hard. Okay. Why? Because they are using it in business for influence. Oh, let me show you all the pictures. Let me show you my pictures. Look at me. Here's me with the president. Here's me with the senator. Here's me with the governor. Okay. You go talk to those people. They have no idea who that person was. You say, who is John Smith? I don't know. I'm talking about the president or the governor. I have no idea. Well, here's a, you know, you took a picture. I don't know. I was asked. My staff told me to stand there and get a picture taken, okay? But the person who stood there is telling everybody, I know the president, I know the governor, I know the senator, okay? See, here's a picture of me with him. Wherever the gift turns, it prospers. It works. Okay.

It, the success is deceptive because it's prosperity gained by corruption. it's temporary it's unstable but it gives the illusion that every door has been open every obstacle can be removed that this person has the ability to make things happen okay so it's a false prosperity because it was given with the wrong motive with wrong murder so but doc it does it on the surface it it appears that it achieves its goals in this world it does in this world yes and and the sad thing is for the people who use these methods

they deceive themselves because it's working and so they continue to use wicked methods because it's working and they don't see that they're being taken deeper and deeper into a life of deception

okay one more verse here uh verse nine he that covers a transgression seeks love but he that repeats a matter separates friends subtoogen says he who conceals a fault seeks friendship but he who repeats a matter alienates friends right so he that covers a transgression seeks love to cover a transgression it means more than to forgive something it means to hide it to prevent it from being circulated to refuse to magnify what does magnify mean to enlarge it you use a magnifying glass you're you are enlarging something okay when you

magnify something you are enlarging it so to cover our transgression means more than to forgive it means that you will not circulate it i'm talking about somebody a transgressions a fault a mistake a sin you refuse to magnify it he that covers a transgression seeks love it's not ignoring a sin or a fault it's saying you will address it privately with mercy and not broadcast it publicly you know doc the people that broadcast it publicly they're the ones that rejoice on another person's calamity they're the same people it's the same spirit the reason I'm going to broadcast your sin publicly is because I'm hoping you fall and I can rejoice in it so I'm going to help your demise I'm going to

help it along I'm give it a little bit of momentum okay but does this does this mean that we're ignoring sin Rick no it says you you deal with it privately and with mercy right you know I yeah I told you about that dear couple in my early days as a Christian art and Betty Williams they were the sweetest couple you'd ever meet though but the gifts of the spirit operated in them okay and you know when I was in my mid late 20s going to church with them you know if I were with a group of of other young Christians and I saw Art and Betty coming you know

into the room i would i would jokingly say hey if you got to repent of something you better do it soon because i'm better do it now i'm telling you i knew i knew i knew a couple like that too did you yes but doc they never did it publicly right art would take you aside he'd love on you he'd put his arm around it he'd just put in your ear Hey, Rick, I was praying for you. And this is what the Lord taught me. And you're like, oh, no, oh, no. You know, see, he did it privately with mercy, with love.

He didn't stand up on a chair and in the room and say, let me tell you what God showed me. Okay. See, that's, that's the opposite of what this verse is teaching us to do, okay? it's telling us that love expresses itself seeking forgiveness and restoration not revenge or exposure okay you that's what it's teaching us right it if you expect God to cover your sins and your faults and your weaknesses and your mistakes then you have to do the same for others amen you don't run around telling everybody it doesn't deny the sin it doesn't say that sin doesn't exist nor does it overlook the sin but rather confronts it but confronts it with

love like you want to be corrected right isn't that how you want to be corrected yes And, Doc, one way, one way that people, religious people justify doing this, I'm talking about broadcasting another person's sins or failures or weaknesses or false, the way that they do it, they put a religious covering on it, they go to somebody and say, I'm really concerned about so-and-so. I'd like you to join me in prayer for them. what is it well can keep a secret there you go there it is can you keep a secret there you go they're about to tell a secret okay and they just go from person to person saying can you keep a secret so it's no longer a secret yeah um so a lot of people think that they you know they're they've been appointed as god junior you know it's up to them it's up to them to bring judgment it's up to them to bring punishment for people

but when you when you broadcast a person's failure all you're doing is deepening the wound in that person that person needs healing And when you're broadcasting it, you are, you're, you're, you're cutting the wound deeper. Right. And when you're broadcasting, aren't you going back right to the first verse, verse five, you're mocking the poor. Once again, you know, it's a whole circle, isn't it? Yeah, it comes all the way back around.

It's mocking and, and rejoicing as somebody's calamity. Hey, you fell. You made a mistake. We, we found your. weakness right now I'm going to tell everybody about it and when you fall I'm going to rejoice and I'm going to I'm going to spend time telling people about your mistake hoping that you fall and God says this is a sin this is a serious dog I think it's a bigger sin than the sin that the person committed to to spread

word of us another person's sin I think is a bigger sin then the sin that the other person committed. Wow. So we have to be very careful when those that are in possessions of leadership fall within, whether it's in politics, especially at the church, there are people who actually get gleeful when they see someone fall. Yes. I mean, really. I mean, or they love the juicy gossip of some ministry leader or something like that who's in some sort of scandal or anything. We should, as the church, we shouldn't, hide sin but we cover the transgression we should love the transgression i mean love over the transgression and so don't do we do we receive do we desire restoration or revenge

what is that we desire we do we desire to see that individual restored or do we desire to say you're getting what you deserve right bad man you you bad woman you don't i see i see i see YouTube videos, ministries, and from time to time, the host will say, well, the Lord gave me a word of knowledge about a famous preacher. And the moment I hear that, I'm like, I don't believe it. I don't believe it. What you're really saying is you got some gossip. and you're going to code it with calling it a word of knowledge right because i don't believe god gave you a word of knowledge about another person's sin and with the purpose of you talking

about it on the internet i don't believe that it contradicts everything the word says i believe that i believe that youtube hosts got some gossip and said i'm going to milk this i'm going to make this sound like I got a word of knowledge. Oh, the Lord, yeah. Yeah. So I just, it just, it contradicts the word. Okay. So the second part of this verse says,

but he that repeats a matter separates very friends. It means very good friends. The person who repeats a matter, repeats a sin, repeating verbally, telling others. A person's sin. person's failure, person's weakness, a person's fault. It's talking about spreading it, circulating, gossiping about it, constantly bringing it up, constantly bringing it up. Reopening the wounds.

Something that somebody repented of years ago, and that person is constantly bringing it up, constantly telling people about it, you know? And sometimes, Doc, the hearer of this stuff doesn't realize oh wait a minute they don't know oh that sin happened 15 20 years ago because the the gossiper is talking about like it just happened yesterday right okay and the hearer has no idea oh that's 20 years old you know but they're being made to believe it just happened last tuesday see the person is constantly bringing up a wrongdoing okay and that that gossip is magnifying sin it's making it bigger it's re-igniting wounds it's it's it's breeding division and suspicion and separation so love covers gossip uncovers

all right it's just that simple gossip uncovers love covers and yet there are there are super religious christians who believe it is their duty to expose other people's weaknesses there are there are youtube ministries built entirely on that premise right that's the only thing they do to get on YouTube every day and talk about somebody else and how do they justify god has called me to expose sin in the church okay why i thought the holy spirit was in charge of that okay so what's what is this teaching us that even strong relationships very good friends cannot withstand the erosion of repeated fault exposure it will separate the very best of friends it will destroy relationships okay a gossiper will turn friends into strangers turn friends into

enemies because what you do even though let's say whatever the wrong door is okay didn't do anything wrong against or towards a friend but the gossiper is telling the friend do you realize who you are a friend of and then the separation starts like you know what i i don't respect that person anymore i don't trust that person anymore i don't want to be seen with that person anymore because the gossiper is driving a wedge between the friends for the purpose of isolation the gossiper is deliberately trying to isolate a victim right and so they're going after the victim's friends and associates and they're pumping that person's head full of gossip to turn those people against that whoever this the victim

the target okay so anyhow listen I'm I'm gonna wrap it up here I appreciate we're way way way over the time limit because we have technical problems here today thank you everybody appreciate you being here I hope I hope you learned something out of today's lesson and pass it on to others and then doc and I will be back here tomorrow with more morning now One last thing before we sign off for today. Today is Cyber Monday. And for a lot of online sites,

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So anything else we need to add today, Rick? No, sir. That's it. we'll be back here tomorrow all right god bless everyone we love you we'll see you on the Tuesday edition of morning manna