TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles - Morning Manna - July 1, 2025 - Proverbs 5:20-23 - God's Eyes Don't Blink

Episode Date: July 1, 2025

In this sobering and deeply reflective conclusion to Proverbs chapter 5, the Morning Manna team unpacks verses 20–23, revealing how God views the secret motives, habits, and spiritual choices we make over a lifetime. What begins as a warning against the seductive “strange woman” is elevated into a powerful metaphor for sin in all its forms—sexual, spiritual, financial, relational. The teaching drives home that God’s eyes do not blink; He sees and ponders all our paths.Rick and Doc explore:The intoxicating allure of sin and how it captivates usThe symbolic meaning of the “strange woman” as spiritual adulteryHow our own iniquities become self-made trapsGod’s role not as a punisher, but a pondering, grace-filled Father who desires repentance and restorationThe terrifying truth that some may die without instruction, having rejected wisdom their entire livesThis episode is a call to personal holiness, a plea to break the cords of sin through repentance, and a reminder that nothing is hidden from the unblinking eyes of the Lord.Join the leading community for Conservative Christians! https://www.FaithandValues.comYou can partner with us by visiting https://www.FaithandValues.com/donate, calling 1-800-576-2116, or by mail at PO Box 399 Vero Beach, FL 32961.Get high-quality emergency preparedness food today from American Reserves!https://www.AmericanReserves.comIt’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!https://www.amazon.com/Final-Day-Characteristics-Second-Coming/dp/0578260816/Apple users, you can download the audio version on Apple Books! https://books.apple.com/us/audiobook/final-day-10-characteristics-of-the-second-coming/id1687129858Purchase the 4-part DVD set or start streaming Sacrificing Liberty today. https://www.sacrificingliberty.com/watchThe Fauci Elf is a hilarious gift guaranteed to make your friends laugh! Order yours today! https://tru.news/faucielf

Good morning everybody. Welcome to Morning Manna on this beautiful Tuesday. And we are delighted to have you with us wherever you are in the world, whatever time of the day it is, it's morning somewhere. So we're glad to have you with us. The main thing is that you have set aside, you've appointed an hour to study the Word of God, and that is amazing, and we are, we commend you. I'd teach this class that there was only one person here. I really would. I love teaching this class. Doc, I'd teach it if only Fudge was here. I just like, I just like teaching, and, But to have so many people come five days a week for one hour is humbling and very rewarding. And I can't express my gratitude to this class.

Thank you. The thing that means the most to a teacher is having students. Without students, what's a teacher's life? So thank you for being our students. And we are, Doc and I are students with you. That's right. We're learning. We are learning as we go. We're just slightly ahead, plowing a path, clearing the brush, let the sunlight come in. That's the only difference. We're spending time preparing these lessons, which is also preparing us. Let's pray.

We're going to look at verses 5 through 20 of chapter 5, verses 20 through 23. We're finishing chapter 5 today. Almighty God, our dear, precious, heavenly Father, thank you for a new day of life. Thank you for giving us your Holy Spirit to accompany us throughout today, to be our companion, to be our friend, to be our guide, our comforter, our advisor, our counselor, everything that we need. Thank you, Father. So Father, we ask for the Holy Spirit to be your teacher and to take charge of this Bible

class and teach us your word Father. Teach us about your son Jesus because if we see him we'll see you and if we see him and we see you we'll see your kingdom. Thank you Father. We ask for your anointing on this class in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. As Rick mentioned we are continuing our study in Proverbs chapter five, and we're going to be finishing chapter five today, and reading verses 20 through 23. So if you've got your Bibles, let's turn there and let's read together. I'm reading from the King James this morning. And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman and embrace the bosom of a stranger? For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord and he pondereth all his goings. His own

iniquity shall take the wicked himself and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. He shall die without instruction, this is the important part here. He shall die without instruction. In the greatness of his folly, he shall go astray. We finish off chapter 5 talking about ignoring wisdom and embracing folly. This is where we're at, Rick. Yes.

If you're new to the class, if this is your first day here, my teaching style is to break each Bible verse into segments and to drill down deep in each segment in order to get the full meaning of the verse. So verse 20, I'm going to break it into three parts. It's also important for me to say that if you only interpret these verses in chapter 5 on a surface level, you will miss the deeper meaning of these Proverbs because on the surface, all right, the way I always looked at this is,

okay, here's a father telling his son, stay away from hookers. Yeah. Listen to me, boy. Listen to me, boy, don't mess with hookers. That's a surface level understanding of these verses. And it's certainly true, but there's much more. There are metaphors here in these verses. There are deeper meanings. So let's start with chapter 20, excuse me,

verse 20, chapter five. And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman and embrace the bosom of a stranger? World English Bible says, why should you, my son, be captivated with an adulteress and embrace the bosom of a foreigner? So we have the fatherly appeal to a son to heed the father's advice and avoid future pain by staying away from the destructive allure of sin. See this is not just about, again, it's not just about sexually morally loose women. You know, it takes a sexually immoral man to be connected to a sexually immoral woman, okay?

That's right. I mean, well, it never noticed off we talk about loose women, but we never talk about loose men. That's true. As this have been innocently trapped in the clutches of the seductress. This applies to women. This could be this could be a father or mother saying to a daughter, my daughter stay away from sexually seductive men. So this has a deeper meaning. It's not just the surface level. Okay? So, there's a question, okay? There's the parental tone, my son.

So, who's speaking here? The Heavenly Father. The Heavenly Father is speaking to His children, sons and daughters, to protect themselves from moral shipwreck through discipline. All right, so the father poses a rhetorical question. Why should you, my son, asking this question? Why? Why would you do this? The why conveys a plea for reflection. Why?

Yes. What's that? It's that question that the Father is asking the sins, the question that that God is asking people, you know, why? Why will you allow yourself to be ravished? Why would you embrace the bosom of a stranger? Why? When you know the dangers? So that's, think of God, your Father, saying to you right now, Why? I don't understand. Why? Why would you do this?

It's not only sexual sin. This covers all sin. Again, the deeper meaning is, the sin that's represented here is not just sexual, it represents all sin. Why would you steal money from your employer? Why would you cheat your business partner? Why would you sue your neighbor? Why would you lie about a brother or sister in church? Why would you seditiously undermine your church pastor? Oh, now this takes on

different meaning, doesn't it? The Father asked the same question on all sins. Yes. If you are confining this to just sexual sin, you're missing the big picture. The Father asked the same question to all of us on all sins. Right. You just, we can go on and on and on with possible questions, but you get the message, you get the hint, you know where this is going, okay? And so the Father is saying this question, why? Step back and think about this. why, step back and think about this. Before you run off and do something that's going to hurt you, think about this. I'm asking you why. Okay? So there's personal

care of the father who's the teacher. So the question is, why should you, and then the second part of this verse is, be ravished with a strange woman? Now remember, the surface level here is the strange woman is an immoral, sexually loose woman. That's the surface level. The deeper meaning is the strange woman represents people outside the covenant of God. You could have a businessman ravished with a businessman, non-sexual, I'm not talking about sex, just ravished in the other person's sinful ways. Do you get the deeper meaning of this? So why, my son, would you be ravished with a strange woman, a foreigner, foreign to who?

Foreign to what? Foreign to the covenant with God. It is asking the question, it's conveying the message that you have to avoid being seduced by sin, regardless of what type of sin. What you are vulnerable to is not the same as somebody else is vulnerable too. But guess what? Both are sins. There's no good sense. Can you name me the good sense? I'll just be quiet and drink my coffee. Tell me the good sense. Hmm.

Can't think of any, right? I don't hear anything. Oh, so there are no good sins? We sure like to act like there are. You know who people consider their good sins? Their sins. Their sin is bad, but my sin is good. That's the mentality people have. You should be punished for your sin, but not me. Doesn't work that way. Sin is sin.

So, the strange woman represents not just physical appeal. In this case, you're talking about sexual adultery. This is talking about spiritual infidelity. This is talking about spiritual infidelity. An adulterer or adulteress is anybody who violates the covenant with God. Anybody. God says, hey, when you're outside of the covenant, when you're messing around with the world, you're committing adultery on me. Yes.

And God equates that spiritual adultery with idolatry. Yes, they're connected. Idolatry and adultery. Okay? But it's spiritual Again you can have a businessman who is a deacon the top donor in the church Drives to church Sunday school bus teaches Sunday school teachers. Yeah and

Would never ever Touch a woman outside of his wife and yet commits adultery with the world through business. Anybody want to go, oh my. Ooh. Or, oh me. Yeah, oh me. They're out there. They're out there. Okay. I've encountered them. I've encountered them. These verses are talking about committing adultery with the world against God.

This is not confined to just sexual sin. The message here is yielding to temptation, whatever that temptation is. That temptation can be to take somebody's money through legal means. You know, prisons are, in America, prisons are overly populated with black men because many of them have their thefts legally. They steal legally and they don't go to prison. Hello? Did the audio drop here, Doc? I had a preacher when I was a teenager. He used to do that.

When he'd make a point, he'd stop and go, hello? Yeah. But yeah, you're right. White businessmen steal legally. They have lawyers. Lawyers make it legal to take what belongs to somebody else. But what drove the decision was lust. Lust for gain. You have something and I'm going to get it. And I'm going to do it legally so you can't do anything about it. But by the time we get to the end of this, you're going to understand where I'm going with this message. The message in Proverbs 5 is to avoid temptation that eventually will estrange your soul from God's covenant and His grace.

Question, why would you be ravished with a strange woman? Why would you be captivated with a foreigner? Why would you be captivated with a foreigner? Again, the surface level is a young man just fully enjoying the body of another woman okay ravishing himself okay I don't have to describe it you know what I'm talking about but what it's really talking about is why do you have an infatuation with sin oh and that's a different question, isn't it? Now God is saying, why are you infatuated with sin?

Why does sin entice you? To be ravished is to be in a state of captivation by sinful allure. The sin allures you and then you are captivated. And when you're captivated, you ravish the sin. You ravish your time with the foreigner who is outside the covenant of God. To be ravished is to be in a state of intoxication. What happens to people who sit in bars and get drunk? Do I need to finish the sentence? They do things drunk people do.

They usually have a one-night stand in a hotel room with somebody else sitting in the bar who is drunk. That's right. Both of them are in a state of intoxication. Both of them are captivated by sin. But they were in, but what enticed them there? No one forced them to go to the bar. No one forced them to buy a drink. No one forced them to make that first move toward that woman or the man.

So the Father here is asking, what enticed you? What is it about sin that you like? What is it after all the warnings I've given you here, everything I've talked about, the blessings of wisdom and the foolishness of folly, what is it about sin that entices you? What is it that draws you away? That's a great question, Rick. Right, and now you're getting personal, Doc. I'm allowed to.

getting personal, Doc. I'm allowed to. Because to answer the question, you have to reveal something about your heart. Yes. And that's what the father is doing. He's asking a question to elicit a response from the student who is a child, son or daughter, saying, I'm asking a question, not accusing, I'm asking you a question. What is it about the these sins that captivate you? What is it that makes you get in a spiritually intoxicated state of mind. See, the passion for the sin blinds the mind to the consequences of the sin. Have you ever heard a loving mother explain away her wayward son's behavior like, well, it's those friends he has that gets him drunk. My boy is a good boy. But it's his friends that convince him to get drunk.

He just got in the wrong crowd. A lot of moms say that. You just watch the news every night, the local news every night. Somebody gets shot, somebody gets hit by a car, and then they arrest the guy, if it's a young person, generally. Mom is out there. He's a good boy. He started running with the wrong crowd. Well, the father would ask here, what is it about that crowd that entices you?

Yes. What is it that draws you away? Right. Again, the word ravish, captivated. It means consuming passion. It means consuming passion. You know, I have shared this before. My mom and dad ran a bar for a few years in my younger years before he went into the plumbing business. But I remember a conversation my dad had with my grandmother and grandma, she was always embarrassed that dad and my mom ran a bar. We lived in the back of the bar.

We had an apartment in the back of the bar. So the kitchen for the bar and our kitchen were shared. It's the same. Yeah, your living room, your living room was the bar room. Almost. I mean, was the bar room. Almost. I mean, it was that close. You could hear the jukebox playing and everything. But grandma, one day, I remember asked my dad,

why, Sonny, do you sell alcohol? And he just straight up said, people like it. And isn't that the nature of sin, Rick? He just straight up said, people like it. And isn't that the nature of sin, Rick? Why do people get enticed by it? Because they like it. They like it. They enjoy it.

Whether they get a benefit from it or not is beside the point. But they enjoy it. They're enticed. Their flesh revels in it. They'll spend money. Yeah. So the word ravish implies loss of self-control. If somebody is ravishing someone, they've lost control. Again, I mean, I don't want to become graphic, okay? Two lovers in bed,

okay, they're ravishing each other. They've lost self-control if they're not husband and wife. It is a state of spiritual drunkenness, and it is the opposite You cannot be holy while you are ravishing a sin. They are incompatible. So you temporarily have suspended your holiness in order to ravage a sin that appeals to your heart. So to be in a ravaged state is to surrender your God-given dignity to I'm going to take a break away from holiness and I'm going to ravish sin for just a few minutes. I'll be back. I'll be back. Okay.

My friend you were never there. Okay. I think there's a lot of spiritual schizophrenia. I think there are a lot of people that are struggling with one or two sins and they haven't conquered it? Or it has reappeared? Or something that's happened? I think part of it is, you know, the modern church movement, we don't talk about sin. I'm gonna say we, I mean, collectively.

We don't talk about sin from the pulpit anymore. We really don't. We don't identify sin. We don't point it out. I'm not saying. We really don't. We don't identify sin. We don't point it out. I'm not saying point out people, but I'm saying pointing out sin and saying this is against the word of God. This is not right.

This is something you should avoid because we're fearful of offending people. We don't wanna lose people in our churches because we're motivated by numbers instead of discipleship. So there, I think part of the failure is, well first of all, the pulpit needs to be righteous first. That's an issue in itself. But then that pulpit needs to preach righteousness too, because people can identify it. They don't know righteousness from unrighteousness, Rick, to be honest. I mean, generally as a church culture, you know, they're allowing churches, churches now are allowing people who are

living out of woodlock to be church members and serve in the worship team and you know, maybe even if they're in a homosexual lifestyle. Some churches are allowing that. And so there's no distinguishing of sin, but the writer of Proverbs here does not hold back. He says there is a folly. There is a sin that kills. What is it that entices you about that? What is it that draws you away? But part of it, Rick, I think is the lack of preaching of righteousness from the pulpit today. You know, Doc, my son Jeremy, with his ministry Soul Refiner, and their main course is Conquer Series, which is to enable men with the grace of God to escape the bondage of pornography addiction. But Jeremy's estimate is that maybe 50 percent of the pastors in this country are addicted to porn.

I can believe that number. That's shocking. That's shocking. Again, there are other sins that they would never do. But in the secrecy of their home, they're committing a sin. So everybody, I'm not judging anybody, every one of us needs to ask the question. No, every one of us needs to answer the father. No, no, every one of us needs to ask the answer the Father's

question. There you go. Yes, the question's already been asked. The question has been asked. What is not? Why? The Father's saying, what is it that I haven't given you? What is it that I haven't given you? What is it that I haven't promised you? What is it that I haven't offered you? What information have I not given? But where, the Father said, where am I deficient in my care for you? That you would go outside my home and ravage yourself with a foreigner. So you're going outside the covenant, outside the house of God, outside the kingdom. You're going outside

into the world to be intoxicated with the world. And again, this is not confined to just sexuality. It has to do with business, relationships, the way you treat people. Before I move on here, a couple other points. Re-emphasize the strange woman, the foreigner, is the source of the temptation. The foreigner, the person outside the covenant, is the source through whom the temptation is coming. The strange woman embodies folly. What the Bible is saying, hey, you want to get a look, you want to put a face on folly? Here it is. A strange person outside the covenant of God. Male or female,

doesn't matter. It's somebody outside the covenant of God who offers temptation to you in some manner that there's something in your heart that it appeals to the strange woman is a We're still in verse 20. The third part is, and embrace the bosom of a stranger. So I've already identified the stranger. So this is talking about the foolishness, the folly of having intimacy with sin. In you're embracing the bosom of a stranger. You're ravishing the bosom of a stranger. You're in this intoxicated state.

Now you are embracing the bosom of this foreigner. The Hebrew word strange is Zara. Zara is somebody outside the covenant. That's it. It's not limited. Once again, it's not limited to the sexual relationship there. You went outside of our promise. You went outside of my provision, my protection. What is it that enticed you to do that?

I just keep coming back to that question. What is it? Why? Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ embrace of the temptation. The embrace of the stranger, the foreigner, symbolizes a deliberate rejection of God's moral order at that moment. Not a complete rejection, but in relation to that particular temptation. Verse 21, for the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord and he pondereth all his goings. before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings. This is where we pull the blanket up over top of us.

Get your blankies and get ready. Personal now. For the ways of man, part one, for the ways of man, the ways of men and women. See, man is the species. God created man and he made them male and female. For the ways of males and females. He's talking about the scope of human actions, that all human activity is under divine surveillance. Why do you think Satan is driving technology to build a surveillance state,

worldwide surveillance state? Because he can't be God. He has to imitate God and the only way he can do it is through physical technology. Right. And he, Satan wants to know how you're sinning. Yes. That's it. I mean, really. Yeah, go ahead, Doc. I'm sorry. I was just going to say why, why are they setting up surveillance? They want to see if you're breaking the law, right? Isn't that the purpose of the surveillance? Can are you jaywalking? Are you speeding?

Are you more than that, Doc? It's also for blackmail. Oh, sure. I understand that. But, uh, but Satan is using it for blackmail too. I mean, yes, but you're right. It's it. He has his version of the law.

They're not doing the surveillance state to catch people doing something good. So the Lord has two eyes, but Satan needs billions of eyes, cameras. He can't do it with two cameras. He needs billions of eyes, cameras. He can't do it with two cameras. He needs billions of cameras. But the Lord has two eyes. So the ways of man is talking about human conduct, human activity.

Ways signifies the patterns of your life. Your ways are your patterns, your habits, for the habits of a man, the habits of a woman. So it's saying that there's divine oversight of our habits, our ways, our patterns, not just specific activities, but overall the way that you live. What are the ways that you go through life? Your ways are being observed, not just your activities. So if you see this as just specific activities, you miss the bigger picture. This is saying God observes your ways,

your patterns, your habits, the way you think, the way you talk, your motivations. He observes your ways. So obviously the teaching is align your ways and your habits, your patterns with wisdom. Be aware that God is watching. See again, if you're thinking that he's got a notepad, oh, just did something bad, write that down, okay. No, it's bigger than this. He's watched your ways for decades. He's watched your habits. He knows the way you think.

He knows the way you are motivated. It's your ways. It's our ways that get us in trouble. your ways. It's our ways that get us in trouble. So the ways of man now, see there's personal responsibility. Not the ways of animals, it's the ways of men and women. He observes the ways of men and women. The ways of men and women are before the eyes of the Lord. So it's reminding us of this all seeing presence of God. That we're all held accountable, not for just what we did yesterday,

but for what we did 20 years ago, if it's never been repented of. The ways, the habits. God sees all actions, but he sees more than the actions. He sees the motives. That's why Jesus, what does Jesus say? Hey, the law says, That's why Jesus, what does Jesus say? Hey, the law says, if you have sex outside of marriage, you committed adultery.

But I say, if you just think about it, if you're looking at someone, you've already done it. See, God's seeing your ways. He's seeing into your heart, into your mind. That God's all-seeing eyes observe every step which makes it impossible to keep a secret from Him. That's right. So, if you have a problem with sin, don't pretend God doesn't know about it. Just talk to Him about it.

You will be surprised how kind He is, how loving, how understanding He is. I know there are some religious people right now, their girdle just tightened up. No, your father already knows. Sit down with him and talk and say, I have a problem with I need grace to break this, that this temptation never again appeals to me. Guess what? He'll give you the grace. He's not looking for a way to whack you. Yes, he's not looking for a way to redeem you. He's not looking for a way to smack you. He's looking for a way to bless you. Amen. Amen.

So the eyes, the eyes of the Lord convey intimate awareness. Convey intimate awareness. We are to have constant awareness of God's presence, that God's intimate knowledge of every deed, every thought, every word. Jesus said every idle word will be held accountable. Every idle word. There's very sophisticated record keeping in heaven. And the records, the only eraser that works is repentance. Repentance is a marvelous eraser. So if you have sins in your record in heaven it's simply because you haven't repented of them.

sins in your record in heaven it's simply because you haven't repented of them and the Lord will give you the grace to repent see we can't even repent without his grace yes it'll give you the grace to repent it'll give you God is the great eyewitness of the universe. He will summons himself to appear in court on judgment day. The judge will say, who was an eyewitness to this sin? And he will say, Your Honor, I was. He will be the eyewitness. He will be the state's key witness on judgment day. That's right. And he's presiding over the trial. The judge himself saw you. The judge, yeah. But you know something else here doc? This implies unblinking gaze.

God's eyes don't blink. I want you to ponder that one. His eyes don't blink. The recorder is on 24-7. There's no blinks. Nothing gets, there's no skip. Should I keep going? And the third part, and he pondered all his goings. He pondered. If I do this, I'm pondering. I'm thinking. God ponders.

He thinks about the ways, the patterns, the habits of each man and woman. He contemplates. This isn't a swift pound of the gavel, you're guilty, I'll burn your heart. No, that's not the way it is. The judge sits back and ponders the ways of every man and woman. Amen. I bet I could sell boxes of adult diapers right now.

I could sell boxes of adult diapers right now. I'm preaching to myself too, folks. There is a thorough examination of all human conduct. When you say, I would never do what that person did, yeah, that's true. But God saw what you did over here. He observes and ponders all our ways. Ways again habits patterns over many many years. See we have this concept it's by the minute. Oh there's a mistake dang you're done. Gotcha. You know like a fly-slaughter. Gotcha. I had a fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Shive. Nobody would marry her. She was Mrs. Shive's. Nobody would marry her. Nobody would have married Mrs. Shive.

She literally carried a ruler in her hand. I got whacked more than once with a ruler. You just look at her wrong. You got that ruler. Okay. Um, the worst trouble I ever got in this size was, okay, so the school principal was miss Snyder miss. She was Mrs Snyder, but I'll tell you. No sane human on Earth. And I'm not saying that you're a human. So the school principal was Mrs. Snyder. She was Mrs. Snyder, but I'll tell you,

no sane human on earth would have challenged Mrs. Snyder's control of that school. If you were sane, I'm talking adults, there were nobody that would dare challenge her. And I, one day in fifth grade class, we were supposed to be doing art. And so I drew this landscape and I had these mountains. And I had King Kong on one mountain and Godzilla on the other mountain, I wrote Mrs. Snyder and Miss Shives. You know, Miss Shives, I didn't know was standing behind me looking at it. That was bad, Doc.

It was really bad. I got, I'm talking about the whacking I got. That's back when teachers could whack a student and it was legal. I mean, I got that ruler, she used that thing on me. And then she took my drawing down and gave it to Mrs. Snyder, the principal. and gave it to Mrs. Snyder, the principal. So anyhow, he ponders all our doings, okay? So God doesn't just look for this one mistake and then whack you with his ruler. He's watching us over our lifetime,

over decades and decades of behavior, our attitudes, how do we think? Are we sincere in our passion for Him? Where do we stumble? What is it that causes us to go astray, to get off that path? Why does he have to send out an angel search team? Hey, they're not on the path of righteousness anymore. He said, get out there and find him. Oh, he wandered off on another path. Get him back. Get him back. Okay. He pondereth all his goings, his goings. He thinks about and examines all your paths through life. I mean, I don't think, I don't what you know after we're with the Lord. I don't think he's gonna show us our our lives No, I don't see it. I don't see it. You know, right? There's no tears

Yeah, what would be the point in him showing but if he did? Imagine he's showing you well here and when you were in your teenage years here's how you went off on this path and I, you weren't even saved and I sent an angelic rescue team to get you. I got you back on the right path. And then in your 20s you did this and in your 30s you went off on this path and then your 40s. See, he sees all of our paths, but He's a loving Father and He's

always bringing us back to the right path. His desire is not to punish us, to whack us, to be mean to us. His desire is to get us home on the right path and cross the finish line and be with him forever. Amen. It's the devil who desires you to get on the wrong path and stumble and be on that path that inclines to show to hell. If we could just see in the spirit realm, all the activity that's going on around us every day. He examines all his or her paths in life. Pondereth, examines, deliberate scrutiny. He's examining. He's pondering it. What makes them do this?

Why do they make these choices? What can I do to help them avoid it? What roadblocks can I put up ahead that prevents them from taking that the next wrong exit. You know we're traveling on highways, interstates and where they're doing construction. I hate barrels. I hate orange barrels, Doc. And who is this Bob anyway with hate orange barrels, Doc. And who is this Bob anyway with Bob's barrels?

Yeah, and who gives him the right to put these barrels out there on a rainy night? And you get to these places where there are, you don't know, there are exits, there are other lanes. Are you supposed to go left into this other little lane that's divided by barrels, or are you supposed to go right and go off? Is this a detour? I hate it. I hate it. Have you ever taken one of those detours and found out, I wasn't supposed to get off that road.

It was rainy, it was dark. I didn't know where I was at. I took the wrong road, the little lane with the barrels. I wasn't supposed to go there. Your father knows that we can do this, that we're capable of making these errors of Bob's barrels, it's Diablo's barrels. And you come, oh, what am I supposed to do? And you make a wrong choice. God knows that.

So he ponders, he weighs in his mind every action With precision he's he's he's his pondering is with precision But he he looks at our secret thoughts Why how I've got to get that out of him I got to remove that from her Why? How? I've got to get that out of him. I've got to remove that from her. What did Satan do to us in our childhood that causes us to stumble in our adulthood? Oh, believe me, Satan does his worst damage to people in their childhood. You think we have problems now? You just wait until the children of this generation are adults.

So pondering means a deliberate assessment of a person's motives. He's not just pondering actions, he's pondering motives. He's asking that question, why? What makes you think this way? What makes you act this way? I'm pondering it, I'm thinking about it. I'm observing your ways. You've done this before. See, we forget things, but God says, no, I remember you did this before.

This is part of your ways. We've got to fix your ways. Don't resist the Holy Spirit fixing your ways. In fact, voluntarily ask him to fix your ways. Voluntarily ask the Lord, show me what's there that's got to come out. Show me all my goings, all my paths, where am I messing up? So there's this gaze, unblinking gaze of God's eyes on every human throughout life, not just, oh, I haven't looked in, I haven't checked up on this person for a while I'm gonna look in no, it's he's watching every human throughout their entire life their ways their patterns

Verse 22. Oh man, I gotta speed it up here. His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself And he shall be holden with the cords of his sin This is talking about self inflicted wounds Sinners shoot off their big toe with their own gun Okay His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself Okay. His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself. The sin of the sinner will ensnare him.

There's a trap. Satan set a trap. If you don't repent and get off that path, you're going to step in the trap. We are ensnared by our own choices. And our, the motives of our heart, the desires, the lust, whatever it is that's in our heart that Satan can work with. And again, he put a lot of those things in us in our childhood.

So he had material to work with in your adulthood. But they act like a trap. They bind us in a cycle of sin, condemnation, guilt. It's a cycle through life. And God observes our patterns, our habits, our ways throughout decades of living. ways throughout decades of living. The iniquities is simply just anything evil that we do. Anything. It says, his own iniquities, his evil deeds, shall take himself. Take is the Hebrew word for take implies capture. Think of a trap, an animal steps into the trap, goes around his legs and the rope pulls

him up into the tree and he's hanging upside down. You've been captured. It's a trap. But it's not... Somebody else's sins aren't going to capture you. It's your sons. Yeah, it's not somebody else's trap. It's your own trap. Yes, you made it.

You built it. You constructed it. Well, I would say that Satan designed it just for you. He designed it for you. It was personally made by Satan for you. Because you know what? Satan observes your ways. He observes your patterns, your habits. Satan can get us broken and bruised and wounded and in a cycle of self-destruction and like a spinning plate. You know how at a circus, carnival, you got a guy that can spin plates? So Satan will get you spinning like a plate. He's got you on a

continuous cycle of self-destruction. And all he's gotta do is keep you spinning. Once in a while he comes back, oh, he's starting to wobble. We're gonna spin that plate again. Gotta keep him spinning another five years. And we're there spinning on his stick because he knows our ways. He knows what it takes to make us spin like a plate. Hate the devil. The best thing you can do, the best revenge you can do to the devil is to stop falling for his tricks.

His own iniquities, you own them. Not your brother, sister, neighbor, you. You own them. It's your choice. It's your choice. And he shall be holden. This is talking about cords. The cords of your sin will hold you. Hoden, the word HEN conveys inescapable restraint. The Hebrew word used here for HODEN means to be seized tightly. Fastened down, locked down. You know, it's pitiful to see an animal in a trap. Yes. It's pitiful because they can't get out. There's just no way out. It sees them tightly. See, they're holding, they're holding to the trap.

And sin's grip tightens over time. Satan will entrap you gradually until he springs the big trap. And it's only God's grace that opens the trap. You can't do it yourself, only grace, and that grace only comes to you through repentance. With the cords of his own sin. So it's the binding power of sin is what holds you in the trap.

See, you're in the trap, but now you're held by cords. There's bondage and it's strong bondage. And the cords of your sin will bind you until you surrender to God's grace. Grace springs open the trap. Again a lot of religious people when they see somebody entrapped they expect God to bring swift punishment. Just beat him. Just put her away, Lord. Teach her a lesson. But that's not God's ways. God's ways is no, I'm waiting on them to appeal to me for grace. If they repent and beg for grace, I open the trap and they can run. God is not religious. I'm so glad he's not religious. Amen. But just know this sin is a cruel Sin is a cruel master. And the cords of sin will bind your soul in misery until there is repentance for the sin and an appeal for God's grace.

Think of this term as being shackles. You are holding, you're in shackles. The final verse here, 23. He shall die without instruction, and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray." This is sobering ending to chapter 5. The final consequence of rejecting wisdom over a lifetime. Remember God's pondering the ways, the patterns, the habits of a person over a lifetime. If they get to the end of their life and they are still rejecting the gospel, still rejecting wisdom, still rejecting repentance, still rejecting grace, he shall die. He shall die without instruction. Instruction in what? The ways of the Lord. Amen. Remember, think of this.

This is what it says, he shall die without instruction, and the greatness of his folly he shall go astray. Think of a drunk, imagine this, picture this, a man who's drunk at night, could be a woman, a man or woman drunk, and they're walking home, they're drunk. And they decide to go through the cemetery as a shortcut. And they don't know that there's an open grave That's been dug for a funeral scheduled for tomorrow and They go through the cemetery staggering they can't see they're drunk They stagger and fall into an open grave and die

That's what this is talking about That's what this is talking about. They will fall into an open grave's ways without instruction, resisting and rejecting all through your life the wisdom of God. Each one of us know people in our lives who reject God, reject God's wisdom. They might say, oh, I believe in God, but they reject his wisdom. They reject his gospel. I've had people say, well, I believe in God, I just can't do the Jesus thing. Well, I believe in God, but I don't believe God wrote the Bible. I just don't believe that. I believe in God, but I don't believe he wrote the Bible.

I believe the Bible was written by men. You've rejected God's wisdom you've rejected the gospel and that person continues to the end of their life. They're going to fall in the grave They're going to stagger like a drunk into an open grave in the cemetery With they're going to die without instruction And the greatness of this folly shall go astray. This is the disorientating outcome of persistent foolishness over a lifetime. Go astray, the Hebrew word means wandering aimlessly. Yes, like a drunk. Like a drunk.

So the folly is foolish, foolishness, rebellion. Rebellion against God is foolishness. It's idolatry, it's witchcraft. The greatness of his folly, not just folly, it's great. It's magnified. It's foolishness on steroids. Why? Because it leads to spiritual death.

That's it for Chapter 5. I'm 15 minutes over the time limit. But we're done with Chapter 5. We start on chapter 6 tomorrow. So be prepared for that. And we'll continue our study in the book of Proverbs. Appreciate the lesson today, Rick. And based on the comments here on our live chat here on faithandvalues.com, people really touched by the lesson today. Gave a lot of thought. Yeah, and they're still with us.

Yes, they're still with us. They stayed with us all through this lesson. People generally don't walk out mid-lesson, and so that's a good sign. So, but by the way, people ask all the time, you know, how they can share Morning Manor and we have done our best to try and make it easy for you to be able to do that. We actually post the recorded edition of Morning Manor on various social media platforms including YouTube, X, Rumble, TikTok, and I think a couple others too. And we also post it daily on truenews.com. And now each day at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., we do a live rebroadcast or live stream of Morning Manor on truenews.com. And so if you're looking for a way to be able to share this with

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while we're doing our study. And so we appreciate you being here. Usually between 300 and 400 people from a dozen or so different countries around the world join us each day. And this is a ministry of faith and values fellowship here in Vero Beach, Florida. Uh, this is our church. And so, uh, with this is the way we get together for our worship services, our time together. And so if it's a blessing to you, we ask that you bless accordingly. So any thoughts or final words for we sign off for this Tuesday edition, Rick?

Just two things quickly. We have some big improvements coming in the fall. It's going to take us some months to put things together, but there are big improvements scheduled for this fall. And also want to remind everybody that since we ended True News, Morning Manna is the flagship podcast of this ministry. And yes, we lost friends and supporters when we stopped the newscasts, but we also gained people who found out about Morning Manna.

And now 100% of the financial support of faith and values comes from those who are fed the word of god in morning manna so i just want to remind you that your your gift is it is more important than you understand if you think oh i'll get around to it. Please, please get around to it. All right, so we need you to get around to it every month. We need you every single month. We have to walk by faith. We trust God every month. That's it for me. I'll see you tomorrow. God bless you. We love you. We'll see you on the Wednesday edition of Morning Manor.