TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles - Morning Manna - May 27, 2025 - Proverbs 1:13-19 - Greedy hearts lay traps for themselves

Episode Date: May 27, 2025

In today’s sobering continuation of Proverbs 1, Rick and Doc unpack Solomon’s warning about the seductive power of greed and the destruction it invites. The passage reveals how sinners entice the innocent with promises of wealth, unity, and shared gain—only to ensnare themselves in their own traps. With powerful commentary on spiritual discernment, personal responsibility, and the societal implications of unchecked greed, this episode urges listeners to choose their paths and companions wisely.Rick Wiles, Doc Burkhart. 5/27/25Join the leading community for Conservative Christians! https://www.FaithandValues.comIf you're a Faith & Values member, watch today's show with other members here:https://members.faithandvalues.com/posts/morning-manna-may-27-2025-proverbs-113-19-greedy-hearts-lay-traps-for-themselves-85151809You 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. It's Tuesday, and we are delighted to be back with you. And we are in the Book of Proverbs. We're in the first chapter of Proverbs. And today we're going to be looking at verses 10 through 19. And no, actually 13, 13 through 19. But I'm gonna have Doc start reading at verse 10 because it's one segment of Proverbs chapter one and it flows together. So we already covered verses 10, 11 and 12. We're gonna start today at 13.

So let's pray and then Doc will read Proverbs 1 verses 10 through 19. We will start our study at verse 13. All right, let's pray. Almighty God, our heavenly Father, we love you dearly, Father. We praise you, we worship you, we glorify you, we thank you. Father, all good things come from you.

Now, Father, your sons and daughters are here from many nations in this virtual Bible study, and we have assembled in one accord to be taught your word. So, we invite the Holy Spirit taught your word. So we invite the Holy Spirit to take charge of this Bible lesson and instruct us, illuminate us, enlighten us, teach us the truth of your word in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. And good morning, everyone. I'm so glad that you could join us here on the live version of our Bible study. And we are going to be focusing on chapter one of Proverbs as we continue our study and wisdom. Our focus day is verses 13 through 19, but I'll begin reading at verse 10. My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. If they say, come with us,

let us lay wait for blood. Let us look privily for the innocent without cause. Let us swallow them up alive as the grave and whole as those that go down unto the pit. And for our steady focus today, verse 13, we shall find all precious substance. We shall fill our houses with spoil. Cast in thy lot among us, let us all have one purse. My son, walk not thou in the way with them, refrain thy foot from their path, for their feet run to evil and make haste to shed blood.

Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird and they lay wait for their own blood and look privily for their own lives. So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain, which taketh away the life of the owners thereof. All right. So last, well, it's been Thursday, hasn't it, since we discussed Proverbs? Oh no, no, Monday.

We had a lesson yesterday during the holiday. So what we're studying here is in verse 10, the Father is saying to his Son, Son, listen to me. If sinners entice you, if they try to pull you into their sins, let me tell you what they're up to. Let me tell you what's going to come out of this activity. You need to run from these people. This is the message the Father is delivering to the Son. So, you know, he says in verse 10, if they entice you, don't give in, don't consent, don't say yes. If they say, come with us, we're gonna lay weight for blood. We're going to ambush someone. We're gonna lurk privily for the innocent without cause we're gonna pounce on an innocent person We're gonna spill blood just for the fun of it It says let us swallow them up alive as the grave and whole as though those who go down into the pit now

We get to verse 13 We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil. This is what the wicked are saying to a young righteous man, come with us and you can share in the bounty, in the loot. We're gonna spill innocent blood and we're gonna rob this person and we'll split up this person's wealth,

their money, their possessions. So let's look at 13. As you know, the way I like to teach is to break verses into segments and drill down into each segment, learn what that segment of that verse says, and then put the three or the two or three or four segments together, and then you have the meaning of the entire verse. Right. All right. So verse 13 has three segments. And we're going to start with the first segment.

We shall find all precious substance. The promise to find all precious substance reveals the sinner's greed. That's what's speaking through these people, greed. And their greed, the spirit of greed is the magnet that's pulling on a righteous person to come and join. Forget about your morals, come with us. Satisfy your greed. You know you have greed. You know you lust for things. Come Come with us. Yes. And we will rob and we will share. It's like the old west robbers, you know, they rob a bank and then split up the loot.

They had a business. And then usually what would happen is that one or two would be more greedy than the other ones and And take off with the money. All right, so This is the promise To share the loot To lure others with the false hope of gaining wealth through unjust and violent means Yes And it is present throughout every layer of society, including governments.

Governments carry this sin out every day. Let's kill that leader and take that country's wealth. Boy, Rick, boy, you nailed that on the head. I mean, isn't that what it is? This is what we're looking at. That in private meetings of government officials, they're saying to others, come on, join us. We're gonna kill that guy and we're gonna take that country's wealth.

We're gonna use violent means to enrich ourselves. So it exposes the deceptive allure of material riches. Because we're the believer, for the child of God, we have to always remember that true riches come from our Father, not from exploiting others. I've been around, I'll say professing Christians, I'll say religious people, that in business, oh man, you don't want to stand between them and a dollar. Oh, I mean, Sunday in church, they're wonderful. Sing in the choir, teach Sunday school. They're in the choir, you're right, they're deacons,

they're Sunday school teachers. But on Monday through Friday, don't get between them and a dollar. They'll knock you over. I'm not gonna say his name, I'm just thinking of a... He's passed away, all right? I'm not going to say his name. He was a prominent Christian businessman, and I knew him personally.

And his business ethics were not sanctified. That's a polite way of saying it. And I can still hear this phrase. When I would confront him with the unethical ways he did business, he would just shrug his shoulders and go, well, that's business. That's the way he rationalized it. I'm a Christian on Sunday, but hey, through the week, that's business. If I have to knock you over and take everything, that's the way it is. It's survival of the fittest you know yeah well man I I've been countered as people you know outside of the church

you can figure out okay they're not saved they're probably crooked but in the church and what I've discovered is there are people outside of the church who are more honest than people in the church. When it comes to money. And they don't see greed as a sin. They don't see their greed as a sin. They'll defend it. They'll come up with justifications of why they were allowed to be greedy.

But greed is a serious sin. See, we have all these sins. We have sexual sins. We have all these sins and we go, oh, that's bad, bad, bad, bad. And then people in the church will commit greed and they go, but that's business. That's life. I got to pay my bills, got to do what I got to do. Okay. Got to get ahead. So you got to rob the poor in order to pay your bills.

Yeah. You've got something. You've got something I want. I'm taking it. Yeah. I've got something you've got something I want I'm taking it Yeah, I've seen this I You know I could tell a lot of stories I'm just not gonna do it look it's out there, okay, I Used to be naive and think that people in the church weren't greedy I used to be naive and think that people in the church weren't greedy. But then after I got robbed a dozen times, I said, you know what? I see a pattern developing. There's a pattern.

There's a pattern here. Yes. See, there are tares and there are wheat. You want to do business with wheat, not tares. So the term precious substance means the sinner's obsession with treasures of this world that are fleeting. They're here now, it's temporary wealth, it's of this world. But they're confident they're going to get their hands on it. Yes.

And that confidence comes from their arrogance as evildoers. Yes, and part of the clue in this is that we shall find in the Hebrew that means like we're just laying back and it's good, it's just going to come to us. They're not like we're seeking it. But that it's coming to us, this is going to be easy. You know, this it's like low hanging fruit off of a tree you know so uh so as we lust for blood we'll be able to gain this wealth with ease because there'll be no one to stand in our way right yes

boy greed is a killer is a killer. So we know true riches come from knowing God, having a relationship with God, that's the true wealth. And the Proverbs are about instilling the value of the fear of the Lord as the most valuable asset you can have. The second segment of verse 13 is, we shall fill our houses. Now notice we, all of us evildoers together we're a community

We're we have a brotherhood We recognize our fellow snakes You know when we and this goes on in the church, you know, we know who the snakes are Because we're one of them. It's a we. We shall fill our houses. We an hour. So what we're learning here that what the Proverbs is desiring for us to know is that participating in evil

schemes will entangle you in a cycle of destruction. How many good Christians have been burned because they got involved with crooked people. Sometimes they get burned so much they get sent to prison. Yeah. What happened? They got entangled with a crooked person who offered them said, hey, join with me in this business and you're gonna get rich.

And all discernment and common sense just went out the window. You can join with me in this business and you're gonna get rich. And all discernment and common sense has went out the window. So fill our houses. This speaks about the center's selfish ambition to amass wealth. Yes. We're gonna fill up our house, it's gonna come out the windows.

That's right, it means to overflow. Yes, there's no end to satisfying our greed. We'll have all that we lust for and more. That comes from a heart that believes security comes through material possessions. Not only material possessions, but an abundance of material possessions. Filling houses reveals the futility of hoarding wealth. They should be using their resources to bless others. Instead, they're filling up their house. Buying and buying and acquiring and acquiring

and storing and storing and just, you know, again, the gentleman I was talking about earlier who said that's a business that was this fits his pattern. Doc, I watched the man stockpile. He bought things that he just bought stuff and he could never have enough barns. In fact, that's what he was after our barn. I said literally he honestly lusted for our barn, lusted for our church building. He lusted for it. He took over our property, pushed us out, and filled up our church building with his

stuff. Wow. Wow, this is what I'm telling you. This verse I'm seeing a face. I'm seeing a face of somebody that fit this verse hoarding wealth. Couldn't get enough unethical business practices. Why? He couldn't get enough. Unethical business practices. Why? To make more money, to buy more stuff. To fill up his barns with stuff he couldn't use.

I saw that guy buy a Model T Ford. He probably drove it two times. It went in the barn that he took from us and it sat there. Then he went and bought something else. It was an insatiable lust to buy things. But he saw it as God was blessing him. And like, no, the devil's, you're using unethical business means to acquire wealth and pretend to be a Christian businessman.

We need to fill our house. Our house is our temple, our body, our mind. We need to fill it with the true wealth, which is the wisdom of God. Now, there's a third part, we shall fill our houses with spoil. This segment of verse 13 warns that spoil is temporary. It's unsatisfying. Spoil refers to any ill-gotten gains obtained through theft, unethical practices, even violence. That's a spoil. Again, governments do this all the time. That's

why they fight wars. Yes. They fight wars because another country has something they desire. They lust for it. That's, that's basically it in a nutshell. That's why wars go on. What are wars about? They're not about principles of democracy. Always get a kick when we're fighting for democracy. What war did we ever fight for democracy? It's always about land materials, access to food, access to water. Oil, gas?

No. So spoil is the tainted, corrupted fruit of sin. And people who pursue spoils have a destructive nature of greed. So this promise by the wicked, speaking to a righteous person saying, come on, join us, share in the spoils. It is a deception that offers quick riches, fast track to wealth. And that's very tempting to people.

You can find out where your weak spots are. Everybody's got weak spots. Verse 14, cast in thy lot among us. Let us all have one purse. So this segment, the first segment is cast in thy lot among us. This speaks of the seductive appeal of belonging to a group. Yes. Don't you want to belong? Hey, we're important. We have power. We have wealth.

We have influence. All right. I just read this morning that Donald Trump Jr. has opened up a private club in Washington DC. I'm not going to... Okay, let me preface this. I'm not saying Donald Trump Jr. is evil or wicked. That's not what I'm saying. Okay. But he has a private club. Doc, the membership is a million dollars. There's a club and you ain't in it. There's a club and you ain't in it.

People are lining up to give him a million dollars to be in his club. For what purpose? To share in the spoils. Now I'll be honest about that. It is to share in the spoils. And if they're investing a million, they're expecting to make more than a million. They want to return. There's going to be an ROI. So this is the seductive appeal to belonging to a group, a community. You're somebody important. You've been brought into the inner circle. Now cast in thy lot among us. This implies gambling. There's gambling involved in this. You're gambling.

It's a risk. It's a risk. Hey, come on. It's dangerous. Play the game. Yeah, you might get burned. Come on in. Cast in your lot. Roll the dice. Come on. Show us what you got. Join our club. Let us share the risk, but we also share the reward. Yes. Yes. Yeah, you might get burned. Yeah, we're playing with fire. But man, this is, this is exciting. Come on in and join us. See how that appeals to people.

There's danger, there's risk, there's adrenaline. Cast in your lot among us. Roll the dice, join this secret club. Fully commit to our wicked schemes. Yes. Once you cast in your lot, you're in. You can't deny to a judge that you didn't know what you were doing.

Once you cast your lot, you're in. Now you gotta go all the way. And whatever we do, you're part of it. Right. You're giving up your independence, you're giving up your freedom. Once you cast your lot in with them. What is a gang?

A gang is a group of guys who commit criminal acts for gain. Once you cast in your lot, put that tattoo on your arm. Once you put that tattoo on, you're in. And there's an implied loyalty in gangs and mafias and stuff like that. As long as you remain loyal to their wicked schemes, they'll protect you, they'll watch out for you, they'll do everything to make sure you remain in the club. But if you betray them, what happens? You're gonna die.

That's right. Look, these clubs are on Wall Street. These clubs are in London. You're gonna die. That's right. These clubs are on Wall Street. These clubs are in London. These clubs are in Washington. They're in your hometown too. Yes, every town's got one of these clubs. They run the city. They run the county. They know where the planning and zoning is going to be done two years from now, and they buy the land before they, their planning commission that they control makes the decision. They know it.

They buy the land before their own commission issues the change of zoning. They're in the club. So, to cast a lot means that you're gambling, that you're partnering with centers and that there is a risk involved for the opportunity to share illicit rewards. And it's a binding decision. You surrender your integrity to join the club. You surrender your integrity to join the club. You surrender your freedom.

Your freedom, yes. And it's a deliberate choice. You weren't duped. You made a decision to join. And it means that you've chosen allegiance to men over God just for the opportunity to pursue ill-gotten gains. How many times have we read news articles about somebody that actually on the surface was a pretty good person, but they got pulled into a corrupt gang and they participated in the crimes and they went to

prison. It happens a lot. It happens a lot. It happens a lot. And it happens in the church, the church world, you'll get a crooked businessman will join a church and then entice the pastor, pastor, if you open up your church membership to me, I'll see that you get five percent of all the money I make. Does that happen, Doc? It sure does, more than I'd care to admit, but I've seen it over and over again. Yes, and what happens eventually is that it's a scam, it's a Ponzi scheme, It's a scam. It's a Ponzi scheme and

Sadly the pastor ends up going to prison And these stories get repeated over and over again. Just when you think Surely and hurt you learn from this they'll happen again. Yes So it says let us let us all have one purse This is warning of the dangers of collective sin. Hey, we're going to put all of our sins into one purse. We all own it. We share in it. My sin is now your sin. And your sin is my sin. And all that we make together, we share. All for material gain. So one purse means shared wealth.

And it speaks of tempting others It speaks of tempting others with the illusion of unity and mutual profits, even though it's gained through unjust means. Yes, we're all gonna get rich, Rick. Yes, we're gonna do some stuff. Yeah, you don't wanna tell your mother about it. You don't even have to do it. But listen, when you when I do it, because you're sharing in the purse, you're doing

it too. Because you know, you know what we're doing. Yes. See, there's where the conscience gets seared. You know what the others in your clique are doing. So there is a deceitful nature of communal greed. That's what this is talking about, a communal greed, the sharing of greed in loot, bounty, seized from innocent people through unjust or even violent means. The third part is that this, well, it's not a third segment, it's the implied unity. That unity with sinners

leads to shared guilt and judgment. Yes. Yes. Because there's a false sense of camaraderie. And I don't know how this affects women. I know it affects men a lot. It's a powerful lure, temptation to guys. Come on, join us. We wanna be part of a tribe. Don't you wanna be in the tribe? Come on, join the tribe, don't be a sissy.

Join the real men, watch what we do. We'll show you the way it's done. People sear their consciences. They know that what they've done is wrong. Verse 15, my son, walk not thou in the way with God, not harm them. And the first part of this verse is, I will not let you go to the cross, but I will not let you go to the cross,

but I will not let you go to the cross, but I will not let you go to the cross, but I will not let you go to the cross, your companions wisely to seek friendships that strengthen your relationship with God, not harm it. Again, we see the tender address, my son, my son, my daughter, listen to me, heed my wisdom. Listen to me, heed my wisdom. Do not walk in the way with them. Walk not is talking about an active choice to reject the lifestyle centers. Do not walk in their ways. Separate from evil influences in the way with them. Do not adopt the habits and the actions and the mindset and the words and the thinking of evildoers and It it says this is an ongoing process throughout life. Yes

Just because you You made the right decision yesterday doesn't mean you're not vulnerable to making the wrong decision today. That's why we have to stay vigilant. And Satan's always enticing saying, come on, lower your standards, put down your guard. You're too religious. Chill out. And that's the moment he's going to spring a trap for you. The second segment of this verse is, Refrain thy foot. So this speaks about self-control. That resisting temptation begins with a conscious decision

to stop before committing the sin. Yes. Refraining the foot says that there's a moment. You're almost ready to do it, but you can catch yourself, you can stop it. You're right on the edge of committing that sin. Refrain thy foot. Don't step over the line

Satan's enticing you. Come on move that foot cross that line What do we send with our hands. That's why in the one parable the center is bound by hands and feet. Oh, that's a good point. I hadn't thought about that before. Yes. There's a reason for that. But this phrase, refrain thy foot, the imagery is conveying movement, direction.

So the positive side of this teaching is you must intentionally allow the Holy Spirit to steer your lives. You know, Doc, I wasn't even thinking about it this morning. As I ended my morning prayer, the last words I said as I was getting up to walk into the kitchen, I looked down at my feet and I said, Lord, there are my feet. Guide them. I don't recall ever saying those words in my lifetime. I don't recall ever praying over my feet. It's probably coming from studying these verses so intensely that it just came out of my spirit.

But I just looked down at my feet and said, Lord, they're my feet. Guide them. Direct my steps. It might be something we need to pray every day. Lord, guide my steps. Choose the path that my feet walk in. Steer me away from sin. Remember we're sheep.

We don't have enough sense to stay away from wolves. That's right. Shepherd, rescue us, guide us. Hey, that wolf looks like a dog. I'm going to go over there and be its friend. So we seek the Holy Spirit's guidance in I have to resist sin before its birth. The temptation stage is your last stage that you can cut it off. Once you act, you've given birth to the sin. You got a baby. Hey, here's a little baby sin. I just gave birth to it. Your sin baby, yes.

You got your sin baby. From their path, segment three, from their path. Refrain thy foot from their path. So this warns that the path of sinners is a deliberate course and that righteous men and women must recognize it and avoid the patterns of behavior that contradict God's Word. Their path is speaking of the destructive lifestyle of sinners. We have to remind ourselves and our families and our friends that the way of evildoers will always lead to pain, ruin,

separation from God. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but eventually it does. As, as those feet are going on the wrong path, Satan's he's there every day. Come on, come on, come on. Take another step. Take another step. Just keep taking another step step I got something for you up here just take another step. So there is a obviously a distinctiveness of the sinner's way. It's distinctly different than the righteous way.

You can't walk one foot on one path and one foot on the other path. You're gonna split your crops trying to do that. That's not gonna work. There's no way you can have one foot on the righteous path and one foot on the sin path because that righteous path is narrow. The sin path is broad and wide. broad and wide. I mean, you think about it, the imagery that I have in my mind is that the righteous path is, it's like this nature trail. And just beyond the trees, there's an eight-lane highway. And Satan's Hell's transportation department is widening it to make more lanes because there's so much traffic.

But over here on the Nature Trail, the Righteous Path, there's a few people walking with you. But it's bumper to bumper over there on the pathway to hell. And they're trying to make more lanes. Yes. Verse 16, am I going to do it? Yeah, let's go. We're on a good pace here. Yeah, we gotta get to 19.

Okay, for their feet run to evil and make haste to shed blood. First segment, for their feet run. These are intentional actions of the sinners. You have to tell your feet to run. Yes. And notice the previous verse says, don't walk that way. And then verse 16 says, for they run. Eventually you're going to be running.

Yes, you'll run with the... They'll say, hey, you want to run with the big dogs? Come on. Come on, you're on our path. Come on, run with the big dogs. You're just walking, you need to run. Their feet run. This speaks of sinners actively, eagerly pursuing wickedness.

Evil stems from deliberate enthusiastic choices to disobey God. The deeper you're going to sin, the more wicked it becomes. It just goes down deeper and deeper and deeper. And we can find ourselves suddenly in a world where we go, how did I get in this mess? You walked into it. And then you ran. And then you ran with it.

Then you ran. So there's reckless speed of those who pursue sin. They chase it. If you're running you're chasing something. You're lost or out of control at this point. You might be chasing it. It could be money. It could be an immoral sexual relationship with somebody. It could be fame, riches, power, prestige, but there's something that has, there's a magnet power that's pulling on your sin nature, on your natural man saying, come chase me. You start walking, but then that power becomes so strong you start running

And now you've lost all self-control There are warning signs they're flashing lights you're not paying attention to anything you're chasing it You're out of control now This is a a pursuit that's in motion. Unrestrained sin gains momentum. Unrestrained sin gains momentum. The more you commit the sin the faster you will go into it Over time So there's a momentum of sin the the energy the pace quickens

And So for their feet run where, where are their feet running? To evil. That's the second part. To evil. They're running to evil. Not running from something, but to something. Yes. To evil reveals their heart. They're now actively energetically pursuing evil.

And this pursuit is not accidental, but it's a choice that they made on purpose. Their feet take them where their hearts desire to go. Their feet wouldn't go there if their hearts didn't desire it. Guard the issues of life. I mean, guard your heart from it. Flow the issues of life. I mean, guard your heart from it. Flow the issues of life. Guard your heart. Your feet will take you to what your heart lusts for, what your heart desires. Your heart is either desiring something good in God's kingdom or it is lusting for something in the world. Your feet will take you wherever your heart desires.

Yes. And you know what? Your feet can only take you where you're looking. Have you ever tried looking in one direction and walk the other direction? You can't do it. That's right. So your gaze is fixed on evil, it'll run to it eventually. That's a good point, Doc. You run to wherever you are looking. You can't run backwards, you can't run sideways. You run forward.

Right. backwards, you can't run sideways. You run forward. Right. That's because your eyes are focused on a goal, an objective. So the pursuit of evil automatically means a rejection of good. You can't pursue evil and good at the same time. Then the third segment, and make haste to shed blood. They're in a hurry to hurt somebody. They're in a rush. They're going to hurt somebody to get something they're lusting for.

Somebody standing in the way of what they lust for. Could be a husband standing in the way of a wife that some other guy desires. Well, he's gonna have to move. I'm gonna have to hurt him somehow. David did it, King David. Isn't this the basis of Davidson? He sent Bathsheba's husband to the war front to get him killed so he could have his wife. Right. But how did it all begin?

His gaze. His gaze. Yes, he was pursuing something he wasn't supposed to have. But it also tells us that sins progression can escalate to grave consequences if not rejected early. There is a bad ending to this. That there could be a violent climax to what you're pursuing. How many love triangles ended up with a murder? Got out of control. Eventually one of the lovers took out one of the other lovers. You read about it every month in newspapers. Happens all over the world. But the shedding of blood signifies the disregard for the sanctity of human life. Yes.

So the phrase warns that haste in pursuing sin blinds a person to the cost of that sin. That they're willing, if they have to, to hurt somebody. Doesn't always mean physical bloodshed. You can destroy another person's life. Yes. another person's life. Yes. Verse 17, I'm going to wrap this up here. Okay. Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. Why are we talking about birds here, okay? so Verse 17 is assuring believers that wickedness The success of wickedness is short-lived it will come to an end

Surely for the net is spread in vain in the sight of any bird. Surely in vain. It talks about the futility of sinners, the schemes of sinners. That evil plan, even though they're shrewd, they're cunning, ultimately will fail. Surely. The word is surely in vain. That means there's divine truth. It's not going to work. Eventually, God's going to cut them off. Yes. And if we look in nature, okay, if you lay a net in front of a bird, that bird is going to avoid the net.

But what Solomon is saying here, listen, they've got the net laid right in front of them, and they're ignoring it. Even birds are smarter than these people. Yes. You're right. The net is spread. The traps are laid openly yet deceptively. The net is Calculated traps. The allure of sin is subtle. The trap is there. You're going to fall in it. It's spread out there. You can see it, but you're blinded by your lust for something in the sight of any bird. This is speaking of a bird's natural instinct.

It's discernment given to it by God. It's discernment given to it by God in the sight of any bird. It says traps are ineffective when they're seen. Yes, but not for humans. No, you can lay a trap right in front of them. They'll look at it and say, that trap doesn't apply to me. That's right. Verse 18, And they lay wait for their own blood, they lurk privately for their own lives. Privilely, secretly. But they lay an ambush for their own blood, They lurk secretly for their own lives. They ambush themselves. So this is verse 18, segment one, and they lay wait. There's a deliberate nature of wickedness. Sin is not a casual misstep, but it is committed on purpose. They lay wait. It speaks of the sinners scheming.

The planning. Predators, they plan, they plot, they scheme. They commit themselves to evil plans that are carefully plotted, requiring vigilance to avoid the traps. They know those traps are there. So there's patience in their evil intent. And so we ought to learn from this the deceptive, calculating nature of evildoers that they will carefully scheme and plot to hurt you hurt somebody else it's not an accident they had a plan and they carry out these plans and every time they succeed it just makes them bolder.

Yes. But eventually they fall into a trap. So it's just for their own blood. Their own blood. Yes. Evil actions will eventually rebound on the perpetrator. And that alleviates you and me from taking vengeance on them. This is an example of vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord. The Lord is saying in this verse, you just trust me. I see what they're doing and I got a trap for them. And birds are smarter than them for their own blood. It speaks of the ironic consequence of sin, that those who plot ultimately bring destruction on themselves.

Yes. There is a cost to wickedness. It is an expensive game. And Satan loves to see people destroyed in their sin. He loves it. He brought them in, trapped them, and then they actually believed that Satan was going to protect them. Yes. And he's actually setting them up for their own blood. Not only does he use them to bring about bloodshed of innocent people, but in the end, he sets them up to shed their own blood.

Okay, game's over. This is where you bleed. And Satan's like, next fool bring another idiot to me because sin will eventually enslave you. They lurk secretly for their own lives. They have secret sinful plans. They plot. They don't know. They're not aware, but they are unwittingly plotting their own demise. Right. And Solomon brings it back full circle here. Back in verse 11, it talked about, hey, come with us. Let's lurk privily. And now here in verse 18, you

know, they lurk privily for their own lives. So the implication is, of course, you're trapped by your own trap. Yes, evil schemes will eventually backfire under God's judgment. So the focus is on their own lives and that speaks of the self-destruction of evildoers. That the consequences of sin are inescapable. Then verse 19, this is our last one for today. So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain. It takes away the life of its possessors. Let's look at the first segment. So are the ways of everyone.

This speaks of the consistency of God's moral order. So, when you see so, so, hey, you can take this to the bank. So are the ways of everyone. No exceptions. It speaks of the fate of sinners that we just read from verses 10 through 18, that there's a universal principle in play. So are the ways of everyone. The ways is talking about their lifestyle.

Everyone warns that no one escapes the consequences of wickedness. That is greedy of gain. Revealing the condition of the heart. That the greed is the driving force behind these wicked schemes. Again, without going into detail, we've talked for years on true news about the New World Order, about the Bilderberg Group, the trilateral commission, the world economic forum, I can go down the list of globalists. What was driving them?

What was the one word that drove them? Greed. Yes. Greed. We're going to take control of the world. We want control. That's what they lusted for, control of the world. It's the driving force which taketh away the life of the owners thereof This greed is eventually going to take their life Greed will enslave them and trap them That there's a tragic irony that greed destroys the greedy. See, death is greedy too. Yes. The mouth of hell wants more.

Death and hell are greedy. And hell is enlarging itself. Why? Because there's so many people coming in. I mean Satan is the father of greed and so death is greedy for more souls. So, death is greedy for more souls. Alright, that's it. We're at the long lesson. We're at 20 minutes after the hour. Yeah, but we're good. Just a little over the hour there.

So alright, folks. We'll pick back up tomorrow on verse 20 as we continue our journey through Proverbs chapter 1. And I hope you're gaining a lot of succinct wisdom here in our studies. I enjoy the book of Proverbs because every time I go back through it, I see something else. I think the reason why is your life encounters new issues

and new problems all the time. And as you go back through Proverbs, you see different applications about different problems and issues that you hadn't seen before. And so we went through the book of Proverbs with our staff several years ago, and I have all my notes from back then. And, and I'm looking through those notes and the new notes and I'm just going, man, Proverbs is just deep. And the reason why is because it's inspired by the Holy Spirit. Amen. And speaks to us today, if a man wants to live righteously, I would suggest take a dose of Proverbs every single day. Doc, are you discovering what was happening with me is that my notes from years ago, I really can't use them right now today.

Yeah, I've got those kind of notes too. Wow, I'm seeing this differently than I saw three, four, five years ago. Because you're different. You have different experiences and different knowledge, and you have a deeper understanding of the Word of God. Right. So it's that line upon line, precept upon precept, and it applies to wisdom as well. And so I get great peace from the Book of Proverbs. So all right, listen, let's let everybody go. Everybody has things to do today. Be blessed. We'll be back here tomorrow. God bless you. We love you

We'll see you on tomorrow's edition Of morning manna. God bless you. We'll see you then on Wednesday morning