ignorance

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

Hosea 4:6

Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.

Isaiah 5:13 & 14

Webster�s definition of the word �Ignorance� is: destitute of knowledge or education: lacking knowledge of comprehension: resulting from or showing lack of knowledge of intelligence: Unaware, uninformed. Ignorance is costly. I don�t know if people ever stop to think about how much of a price they pay because of their ignorance. How many times have you heard the saying, �What you don�t know, won�t hurt you?� That in-it-self is a statement of ignorance. According to God, what you don�t know can get you killed! Most (if not all) of the heartaches and trials that people suffer or go through are a direct result of their ignorance in a certain area.

In this study we will talk about two kinds of ignorance. Both of them can be very costly, one more so then the other. There is �natural ignorance� which is simply just ignorance of every day natural human knowledge. And then there is �spiritual ignorance.� Ignorance of God�s Word. Ignorance in either of these areas can really cause you some big problems. Think about how much more you could and would have if it weren�t for ignorance. For some it has cost them a better home then their present one. For others a better paying job: It�s the difference between them getting a pay check and signing their employees pay check. Some folk�s ignorance has robbed them of millions, and even billions of dollars. I mean they have all the potential, talent, and ability that million and billionaires have, they just lack knowledge. Potential without knowledge is DEAD! Ignorance is the number one cause of our over crowded jails and correctional institutions. It gave birth to gangs, and gang violence. It�s the reason why that young man or woman is laid out on the street somewhere strung out on crack cocaine, or some other kind of drug. Ignorance breeds sickness and death, and most accidents happen because of it. If that little child had only knew that sticking that piece of wire in the electrical outlet would kill him or her they wouldn�t be dead today.

You�d say, �Now Brother Foster I can agree with some things you�ve said about ignorance, but sickness, death, gangs, and over crowded prisons and drugs? How can this be? I�m glad you asked! Listen Beloveth, if you don�t know what it takes to stay healthy, (and most people don�t) ignorance has one up on you! If you don�t know what it takes to stay alive, ignorance has one up on you! If you don�t know what it takes to stay out of gang involvement and drugs, chalk up another one for ignorance! You�d say, � But what you�re saying is common knowledge. Everyone know these things, don�t they? With the increase of it all, it is apparent and evident they don�t.

                                                       Money Finds the Knowledge

Listen Beloveth, the more knowledge you have the better you will fare in life. Stop and think about it: Why don�t you make the salary of a doctor (if you are not a doctor)? It�s because you don�t know what a doctor knows. Why don�t you make the salary of a lawyer? Because you don�t know what a lawyer knows. Why don�t you make the salary of a computer technician? Because you don�t know what a computer technician knows. The reason you are making a �burger flipping salary� is because you know how to flip burgers. So don�t get mad at the doctor, lawyer, or computer technician when they come to the drive-thru in their Mercedes, Jaguars, Cadillacs, and BMWs and see you flipping burgers; just say to yourself, look at what my ignorance is costing me. Think about it Beloveth, you pay a doctor good money because he knows more about your physical anatomy then you do. Did you know you can represent yourself in court? But why do you pay a lawyer good money to represent you? He knows more about the law then you! Listen to this and don�t ever forget it: Money will always find it�s way into the hands of the man or woman that has the knowledge. You pay your good hard earn money to others because they know more then you in certain areas. You want money? You want to prosper? Get as much knowledge as you possibly can in a certain area and people will pay you well for it.

Most of our children in school don�t realize the real value of knowledge, so they place very little value on it. Knowledge to them is not at the top of their agenda. Most of them are going to school because their parents make them, not out of a thirst for knowledge. We as parents who have already taken the wrong road have now come to realize just how valuable knowledge is. So we do our best to stay on our children about going to school, and getting a good education. We as parents must teach our children the real value of knowledge. When I was in high school I never knew the value of knowledge. Gaining knowledge to me was not a priority. I never could see any lasting value of learning all �that stuff� those teachers was trying to teach me. As a result I dropped out of school. I only wish I knew then what I know now. Mom wouldn�t have had to get on me about going to school, reading books, and doing my homework. Were it not for the fact that I�d given my life to Christ and gotten a new beginning I would have been a casualty of ignorance like so many others.

The people who do well in this life are those who have taken time to educate themselves in the many different fields of life. This is not to say that everyone that gets an education does well; for some will do nothing with their education and still live as low as the person who never got an education. Its knowledge acted upon that will bring you the pleasures of life.

If I could just give a special word to the young people, I would say to them, learn to value knowledge. Put a priority on gaining knowledge. As I were, so are many of the young today. They�re not going to school because they know the importance of gaining knowledge. They�re going because their parents are making them.

                                                       The Choice of Ignorance

Another important thing about gaining knowledge that most don�t realize is that it�s a choice. Ignorance is a choice! Most people are ignorant of what it takes to make money by choice. I don�t care what kind of position you are holding or how low of a position you are holding, you are there by choice. You see it was me who decided to drop out of school. It was me who decided not to study to become a doctor, lawyer, computer technician, or business executive. I can blame no one but myself. I can�t turn my nose up at any one that is successful because (for the most part) they paid a price to be where they are. They didn�t start out with any more than you and I. They just decided to do something with the knowledge that came their way. This may be a hard saying but it�s true: People are where they are in life because that is what they have chosen!

As you can see from the natural standpoint, if your knowledge is limited, it could handicap you or even be your own destruction. As we talk about spiritual ignorance I want you to see that it can be a lot more deadly and dangerous. There may be many things that you fell to gain knowledge of naturally speaking, and it was not a matter of life and death. But people are perishing every day for lack of spiritual knowledge. When God said, �my people are destroyed for the lack of knowledge�� and ��my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge�� He wasn�t taking about natural human knowledge. We are living in the most advanced and technological age of all mankind. The breakthroughs that man has come up with in technology today are astounding. So it is obvious God wasn�t talking about natural human knowledge destroying or killing His people.

The next obvious question would be, �What kind of knowledge was He talking about?� It�s called �revelation knowledge.� Knowledge that is revealed to us by God from His word. This knowledge is called the Holy Bible. The Bible is knowledge that is revealed to us from God concerning �The creation of man, the fall of man, and the Restoration of man back to His Creator and Maker.�

                                               A Different Kind of Knowledge

I CORINTHIANS 2: 10-14

10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; [notice why] that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned [or understood].

Here�s something that very few have caught on to; and that�s the fact that the Bible (even though it is written in English and various other languages) is a different kind of knowledge. According to this passage of scripture the Spirit of God must reveal it to you. This is why many read the Bible and say they don�t understand it or get anything out of it. This is also the reason many have misinterpreted it, and led many astray. Simply because they try to interpret the Bible in light of natural human knowledge. In order to understand the scriptures and rightly divide the word of truth you must compare spiritual things with spiritual. If you don�t you will misinterpret it every time. Without the Spirit of wisdom and revelation opening up the scriptures, the Bible will simply be another book.

What a lot of people don�t realize is that the Bible (or knowledge of God) is hidden knowledge. Even though most everyone own a Bible, and may read it from time to time; they really don�t know the magnitude of the words they are reading. For when the revelation of what they are reading dawns on there heart it will change their life drastically. Do you know it is possible to have hundreds of scripture committed to memory and still never really have the revelation of them? Satan doesn�t mind you memorizing scriptures as long as you don�t get revelation of what you memorized.

Now some of you still don�t believe me when I say the knowledge of God is hidden. Look at I Cor.2:7, �But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery [hidden truth] even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory.� Notice also Prv.2:2-5, �So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.� From reading this passage of scripture here in Proverbs wouldn�t you get the impression that the knowledge of God is hidden? This is just one passage, but there are many such phrases throughout the book of Proverbs that infer the same. Notice these descriptive words used by the writer of Proverbs: ��if thou seekest her�� and searchest for her�� as for hid treasures� ��find the knowledge of God� What is God trying to tell us here? THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD IS HID TO THE NATURAL MIND.

                                                     Spiritual Knowledge

Now I said all of that to get to this: As with natural ignorance, so it is with spiritual ignorance. If we don�t gain spiritual knowledge of who we are, what we are, and what we have because of what God has done through Christ Jesus, we can live a very dull, defeated, and hellish life here on the earth, and end up dying and going to hell. The Bible is a wonderful book, and in it, God reveals His plan, Will, and Purpose for every life. He tells us how we cannot only have life, but live life to its fullness. If the people of this world and even God�s own children ever get a revelation of what God has already given, made, and provided for them in Christ Jesus, they will be masters at living life. God said my people are destroyed because they don�t have revelation knowledge of my word.

People are being destroyed by the devil, and going to hell on a daily basis simply because they are ignorant of God�s knowledge. This is why God has called us to be preachers (or proclamators). To informed the people of this world of the knowledge of God. One of Satan�s number one weapons against mankind is spiritual ignorance. As long as he can keep men ignorant of God�s word he can continue to keep them in bondage. Jesus said in Jhn.8:31 & 32, ��if ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall KNOW the truth, and the truth shall make you free.� The very fact that Jesus said ye shall �KNOW� infers that there is something they didn�t know. And evidently this knowledge they were ignorant of was keeping them in bondage because He said, �the knowledge of truth will make you free.� So what do you think their ignorance had them bound with? Sin, sickness, poverty, and everything else that came as a result of the fall of Adam.

God provided a complete redemption for man. He sent Jesus to undo all that Satan had done by deceiving man into disobeying God. The Bible says that Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil (I Jhn.3:8). Some may find this hard to believe, but a lot of people can�t discern the difference between the works of God and the devil. And the reason they can�t is because they are ignorant of �revealed knowledge.� How many times have you heard ministers say at a funeral that God called somebody home, or that God took them? A tornado can come through and wipe out a community (including all the churches) and they will say, �God moves in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform.� Why does God get blamed for every tragic event? You�d say, �Well God does have everything under control doesn�t He? After all, He is the one who�s running everything.� Well if He does have everything under control He sure has it in a mess don�t you think? Because people know very little about the devil and how he operates, they tend to blame everything that happens on God. If people would only learn to get into the Bible and study it out thoroughly, they will see that a lot of these things that God is being accursed of, He didn�t do.

I fore stated that if Satan can keep you ignorant of God�s Word he can keep you in sin, sickness, and poverty. You know for yourself that until a person acknowledges that he or she is a sinner, they can�t be saved. That�s why we preach the word; to give people revelation knowledge concerning what Jesus did for them to be put back in right standing with God. If they acknowledge, accept, and receive it, they�ll come out of a life of sin and bondage to freedom and liberation in Christ Jesus.

You�d say, � Brother Foster I can accept that, but what about this sickness and poverty? I just believe that it is God�s will to heal some and not others. I believe He blesses some to be rich, and others to be poor. If He wanted every body healed, and prospering wouldn�t they be?� I�d like to answer that with a question: Don�t you believe that Christ died so all men can be saved? Why aren�t they? Either they don�t know it (haven�t heard about it), or they won�t believe it. So it is when it comes to healing and prosperity. God�s will for His man was health, wealth, and a long life (eternity). But if you are ignorant of these things, you would never be the recipient of them. You could live saved all your life, and die with cancer living in an old run down shack. You�d be in heaven, but you could have lived a better life if you were more informed.

You see if the devil can keep you ignorant of the fact that healing was included in the salvation package, there is the possibility of you dying before your time. The Lord posed this question to me one day: What do you think a person dying of cancer is suffering from? My obvious answer was cancer. He said, no; they�re suffering from ignorance of My word. He went on to say, �what about a person in a wheel chair?� I said paralysis. He said no, ignorance of My word. He said what about people living in poverty? I said poverty. He said again, ignorance of My word. What the people of this world are suffering from is IGNORANCE! Notice what God�s remedy was for the ignorance of this world in Psalms 107:20, �He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.� His word is His knowledge isn�t it? For the sick, God sends His knowledge! For the bound and oppressed, He sends His knowledge! Note: He didn�t send a doctor, or medicine, but His word! Understand I have nothing against medicine and doctors (we thank God for them). Dear Lord, if it weren�t for them, where would most of these ignorant people be? I think God blessed mankind with natural human knowledge of treating human bodies because He knew that many would not �find the knowledge of God� and have life and health.

Now of course you�re wondering by now, �Why don�t God just prosper, heal, deliver, and set people free anyway, regardless of their knowing or not?� Well He would if He could, but He can�t because of His own word. You see God made us all �free moral agents.� That is, beings with a �human will� to choose whatever we want or desire. But you can�t and won�t choose what you don�t know. In order for a person to make a choice, they have to come into knowledge of�. I can�t choose to accept Jesus if I�d never heard of Him. I can�t choose to be healed, if I never heard that God has provided healing for me. I can�t choose to be free of poverty if I never heard God has provided a way for all my needs to be met according to His riches in glory.

Romans 10:14-17
14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?
17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

The Bible says, �But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.� But according to Romans 10:14 you can�t believe if you haven�t heard. So what is God�s remedy for lack of knowledge? THE PREACHER! Thank God that in our time of ignorance and darkness He has provided us with preachers to help our ignorance. If you want to do better in life, get you some knowledge! The longer you stay in ignorance the more money you will pay. Can you really afford to stay ignorant any longer? The cost is very high. What you don�t know, somebody else does, and they will take you for everything you�ve got (it�s just a matter of time). So it is also from the spiritual side. What you don�t know, the devil does, and he�ll take you for everything you�ve got (including your life if you let him). Stop being ignorant, you work to hard for your money to give it away to someone who knows more then you about life. Continue to stay ignorant and you will go broke! Can you really afford to be ignorant any longer? You are probably paying more by the month for your ignorance then all of your bills combine. Stay ignorant and stay broke! Stay ignorant and stay in poverty! Stay ignorant and stay sick! Stay ignorant and stay bound and oppressed! Stay ignorant and continue to live beneath your privileges as a born again, blood bought, Holy Ghost filled child of God! STAY IGNORANT AND YOU JUST MIGHT GO TO HELL! If nothing else let this word inspire you to learn and gain more knowledge. For Beloved, �I would not have you ignorant!�

By David W. Foster

All scripture qoutations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise stated. This teaching is brought to your by Pastor David Foster and Son of God Ministries, Inc. and may not be reproduced in whole or part without the express written consent of Son of God Ministries, Inc. P.O. Box 46514, Little Rock, AR 72214.