The Qualities of a Godly Husband

Initially it seemed that Proverbs had little to say to the woman who sought to discern the qualities of a godly husband. I have come to see that this is not at all the case. In general, we can say that a woman should seek a man who is wise. Since we have already studied the characteristics of the wise, we will only summarize them here. These seem especially applicable to marriage:

1. A wise husband is kind and compassionate (12:10).
2. A wise husband is honest (29:24).
3. A wise husband is hard-working (12:11; 27:23-27).
4. A wise husband is truthful (12:17,19).
5. A wise husband exercises self-control (12:15; 16:32).
6. A wise husband has a gentle tongue (12:18; 15:1-2,4).
7. A wise husband is generous (14:21; 28:27).
8. A wise husband is willing to be corrected (even by his wife) and listens to counsel (12:15; 15:12,31-32; 28:13; 29:1).
9. A wise husband is a man of integrity (19:1; 20:7).
10. A wise husband is faithful and reliable (17:17; 29:3; contrast 25:19; 31:3).
11. A wise husband is forgiving (19:11).
12. A wise husband is willing to admit he is wrong (28:13).
13. A wise husband is humble (15:25,33; 16:18-19; 18:12; 29:23).
14. A wise husband is not contentious, but a peacemaker (17:1; 18:1,19).
15. A wise husband has control of his temper (14:29; 16:32; 17:27; 29:11).
16. A wise husband is a man who avoids excesses (20:1; 23:20-21, 29-35; 31:3-9).
17. A wise husband has a concern for others, especially the poor and the oppressed (29:7).
18. A wise husband can keep a confidence (17:9; 26:20).
19. A wise husband fears God and is obedient to His Word (13:13; 14:26; 16:20; 28:25; 31:30).
20. A wise husband is not a jealous man (27:4).
21. A The wise husband has a positive outlook on life (15:15; 17:22; 18:14).

As I look at these characteristics of the wise I am reminded of the qualifications laid down by the apostle Paul for elders and deacons in 1 Timothy 3.I find a great similarity between the qualifications for church leaders and the characteristics of the wise in Proverbs. But should this come as a surprise? After all, isn’t Proverbs written to young men who will be leaders, instructing them about wisdom? In this sense 1 Timothy 3 only summarizes what Proverbs has taught in greater detail.

The Character Traits of a Godly Wife

Proverbs is most specific with regard to the qualities of the godly wife. These are highlighted by contrasting the moral flaws of a woman who is far from virtuous.

1. A GODLY WIFE IS GODLY. Godliness begins with a proper relationship to God. A godly wife is, first and foremost, a woman who fears God.
   
   Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised (31:30).
   
   In contrast, the woman to avoid is the one who does not know or fear God. She is sometimes referred to as a “strange woman,” that is a foreigner, one who has no knowledge of the God of Israel (cf. 2:25; 5:3,20; 7:5). She is actively evil and has no grasp of the way of the Lord.
   
   She does not ponder the path of life; Her ways are unstable, she does not know it (5:6).
   
   To keep you from the evil woman, From the smooth tongue of the adulteress (6:24).
   
   While perhaps not synonymous with a fear of God, the godly wife is referred to as virtuous or excellent (12:4; 31:10). This seems to describe the moral excellence of the godly wife, a result of her godliness.
    
2. A GODLY WIFE IS WISE. You will recall that wisdom is personified as a woman in the Book of Proverbs (cf. 1:20-33; 8:1-36; 9:1-6). So also the ideal wife is characterized as a woman of wisdom.
   
   The wise woman builds her house, But the foolish tears it down with her own hands (14:1).
   
   She opens her mouth in wisdom, And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue (31:26).
   
   The opposite of the godly woman is the woman of folly.
   
   The woman of folly is boisterous, She is naive, and knows nothing (9:13).
   
   As a ring of gold in a swine’s snout, So is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion (11:22).
    
3. A GODLY WIFE HONORS HER HUSBAND. A man who has married a godly wife has a wife who will bring honor to him. She is truly a helper to her husband.
   
   An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, But she who shames him is as rottenness in his bones (12:4).
   
   The heart of her husband trusts in her, And he will have no lack, of gain. She does him good and not evil All the days of her life (31:11-12).
   
   An ungodly wife humiliates and harasses her husband. She is not a helper but a hindrance to her mate. She is “as rottenness in his bones” (12:4). By her haranguing, she makes him miserable:
   
   A foolish son is destruction to his father, And the contentions of a wife are a constant dripping (19:13).
    
4. A GODLY WIFE IS GRACIOUS. One reason honor is given the godly woman is that she is known for her graciousness.
   
   A gracious woman attains honor, And violent men attain riches (11:16).
   
   The ungodly woman is spoken of in very unbecoming terms. She is vexing, due to her contentious nature:
   
   It is better to live in a corner of a roof, Than in a house shared with a contentious woman (21:9; cf. 25:24).
   
   It is better to live in a desert land, Than with a contentious and vexing woman (21:19).
    
5. A GODLY WIFE IS FAITHFUL TO HER HUSBAND. This is most clearly shown by contrast with the woman of folly who is an adulteress.
   
   To deliver you from the strange woman, From the adulteress who flatters with her words; That leaves the companion of her youth, And forgets the covenant of her God (2:16-17).
   
   To keep you from the evil woman, From the smooth tongue of the adulteress (6:24).
   
   "Come, let us drink our fill of love until morning; Let us delight ourselves with caresses For the man is not at home. . . " (7:18-19).
   
   While it is not stated explicitly, it is implied and assumed that a godly wife is one who maintains sexual purity. She is a woman who is virtuous or excellent (31:10), in whom her husband has complete trust (31:11). She does her husband only good and not evil (31:12). She teaches her son the virtues of sexual purity (31:3). Certainly she is a woman of sexual purity.

Separation of Church and State?

The below can be found on a plaque on the outside wall at Harvard University (verbatim, in the spelling of the day). This reveals that no such thing as "separation of church and state" ever existed. If you are going to have a civil government that has justice and law, it has to be based upon a moral foundation, which comes from the church.

After God had carried vs safe to New England
and wee had bvilded ovr hovses
provided necessaries for ovr liveli hood
reard convenient places for Gods worship
and setled the civill government
one of the next things we longed for
and looked after was to advance learning
and perpetvate it to posterity
dreading to leave an illiterate ministery
to the chvrches when ovr present ministers
shall lie in the dvst

New England First Frvits

In order to have a moral society, morality has to originate from some place. Morality cannot and does not originate from man, as we can see from modern society where everyone does what is right in their own eyes. There is no standard, and if it were left up to man to come up with a standard, they would never agree. Morality originates from God's Word, the Bible, which originates from God Himself Who is the authority on and standard for morality. God determines what is moral and what is not moral. As soon as a society rejects that, as soon as a society rejects God and His Word, morality begins to deteriorate into immorality, where bad is called good and good is called bad. Society has to be governed by a standard of morality, and the early founding fathers of America knew this. Without it, you end up with a corrupt and perverse society such as we see today. The church does not need to govern the state, but it ought to influence it. May God provide us a revival such as we have never seen before.

Typical Debate Tactics of the Unsaved

Debating non-Christians and nominal "Christians" is hilariously funny and sadly pathetic all at the same time. It is always the same. Nothing ever changes. They use the same thoroughly beaten and dead arguments over and over again without ever learning a thing. You can convince them beyond the shadow of a doubt with logical, evidential, and factual information to where they ditch their false arguments and the lies they have been fed for years, but not long after they miraculously forget the logical, evidential, and factual information revealed to them and start spewing their previously beaten false arguments as if nothing had been shown them.

When all their assertions are vetted and found failing, they either ignore counter arguments as if they do not exist; respond in a non seqitur manner; select irrelevant portions or minor points not as germane as the core of the rebuttal, and interact only with those to avoid having to confront the evidence; introduce ad hominems; or disappear from the vetting process to the comforting arms of companions who share their theological miscalculations.

Those who claim they believe the Bible yet espouse various forms of wickedness and refuse to repent thereof truly do not believe the Bible. When specific verses or passages are shared with them, they claim they are misinterpreted (and have been for the past 2000 years). Since they do not have anything in the Bible to support their position, they are constantly and consistently looking for affirmation and approval from the world and what is happening in the world. They use these things in a manner to trump the Bible in an attempt to justify their wickedness. Because the world is doing it or approves of doing it, therefore it must be right and the Bible's representation of it must be wrong.

Any individual who claims to be a Christian and yet tells you we are not supposed to take the Bible literally is not a Christian at all. They do not believe what the Bible has to say, but would interpret the entire thing based on their feelings and opinions at the time. Anyone who claims to be a Christian and tells you to quit quoting the Bible as a source, while trying to quote worldly sources themselves, is not a Christian. Just because these people claim to be "Christians" does not make them genuine Christians. The Bible gave us warnings about this.

Pay close attention in your debates with the non-Christian and nominal "Christian." Memorize the information in paragraph two above and watch how it is true of every single debate/argument they will have with you. It is usually a combination of several of those actions. If you are having a conversation with them about pseudo-science versus real science, they will accuse you of trying to force your "religion" down their throats, even though you have not mentioned a single thing about "religion." They are very crafty in their deceptions and tricks, just like their father, the devil. They will try to end the debate/argument any way they can, trying to make you out to be the bad guy while attempting to claim victory of the debate/argument at the same time.

Their tactics are always the same. Do not let them think they have won. Be wise and vigil. When they attempt a false line of reasoning, respond back to it with the truth. Here is an example from Trevin Wax of how you might respond to their many sneak-attack falsehoods they preach as if it were the truth (and this goes for any subject of debate, not just homosexuality):

"[You say that] because you believe sexual desire reflects the core of one's identity. It would help if you and others who agree with you would understand that in your putting pressure on me to accept homosexual behaviour as normal and virtuous, you are going to the very core of my identity as a follower of Jesus. The label most important to me is "Christian." My identity—in Christ—is central to who I am. So I could say the same thing and call you intolerant, bigoted, and hateful for trying to change a conviction that goes to the core of who I am as a Christian. I don't say that because I don't believe that's your intention. But neither should you think it's my intention to attack a homosexual person or cause them harm merely because I disagree."

The truth will always win out. Keep speaking the truth to the unsaved—in love—and be watchful for their devious tactics, such as labeling your disagreement with them as "hate crimes" or the like. Mindless illogical nonsense is clung to and spewed by most of the population in deliberate ignorance. Laws have been passed based on this mindless illogical nonsense. Seems most people lack the ability to think and reason any more these days. Watch for such nonsense and answer it accordingly with truth. Witness for yourself their use of everything in paragraph two.

The Lie of Free Choice

There are believers out there who still espouse the old lie that says that you have the power and freedom of choice to choose whether you will have faith in Christ Jesus or not.

You have no such choice, my friends.

You are spiritually dead inside and you have a heart of stone. You hate God and will never come to Him because you are not capable of doing so (John 3:19). You cannot regenerate your own heart, nor can you make yourself spiritually alive. That is the work of the Holy Spirit. So, even if you had a "free will," which you do not, how is your will going to regenerate your heart and make you spiritually alive? It cannot! The Bible states that salvation is not by the will of man (John 1:13). Your will is fallen and directed by your heart of stone. Can natural man change his own will from stone to flesh? hatred to love? No, he cannot. The Bible also says it is not by man's desire or effort (Rom. 9:16).

The believers who espouse this old lie will tell you that you cannot be convinced or persuaded of the truth, nor can you be reasoned with to believe the truth; you simply have to choose to have faith in it. That simply is not true.

Before you are able to exercise faith in Christ Jesus, you must be made alive (John 3:3, 5), you must be given a heart of flesh (Acts 16:14). You must be given faith. Once the Holy Spirit has regenerated your heart and made you alive, then you will be convinced of the truth and you can be reasoned with to believe the truth (Is. 1:18). As long as you are unregenerate and hard-hearted, you will never believe (John 10:26). For anyone to tell you that all you have to do is make the choice, they are lying to you. They are preaching a false gospel.

Scripture commands you to believe, yes, but it also declares that you cannot believe. Faith must be granted to you, which comes about the moment your heart is regenerated and you are made spiritually alive. At that moment, you will believe because you cannot not believe. If it were left up to us, every one of us would end up in hell. We cannot change our hearts or our spiritual condition. Only God can do that (Ez. 11:19).

These believers ought to preach the gospel as it is contained in God's Word and leave it at that. Those who hear the gospel will believe if God saves them. Remember, Jesus said that "All that the Father gives to me will come to me" (John 6:37). That phrase "come to me" simply means "to believe in/on me." John 6:44 states clearly, "No one can come to me (believe in/on me) unless the Father who sent me draws him; ..." John 6:65 likewise states clearly, "...no one can come to me (believe in/on me) unless it has been granted him from the Father." If people would pay closer attention to what the words of their Bible actually say—in context—there would be less errors of interpretation. Likewise, 2 Peter 3:9 informs us that God is long-suffering, patiently waiting until every last believer exercises the faith given them in their appointed time.

To claim that all one has to do is exercise faith by his own "free will" by choosing to believe in Christ Jesus is to declare that the Holy Spirit is unnecessary in the preaching of the gospel to the unsaved and to the process of salvation. In other words, we are capable of saving ourselves merely by exercising faith according to our own "free will." This is not biblical. These are opinions/feelings imposed upon the Scriptures. Look at what 1 Corinthians 12:3 says.

1 Corinthians 4:7 asks, "What do you have that you did not receive?" 1 Corinthians 15:10 answers, "But by the grace of God I am what I am." Ephesians 2:4-7 says clearly, "But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us (believers), even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us (believers) in Christ Jesus." God made us alive. We were saved by grace.

If these believers cannot preach the word of God accurately, they need to close their mouths because they are only creating confusion and spreading lies about what the Word of God actually says and teaches.

What Is Deism?

Deism = belief in a god (NOT the God of the Bible) or a "higher power" + lack of logical reasoning.

Deism denies the Bible as the inspired, inerrant, infallible, and sufficient holy Word of God. They argue that Scripture was written by men. They are wrong. Scripture was written by God through men who were under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The Bible is supernatural in origin. It was written over a period of 1,500 years by over 40 authors in three different languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. The FACT it is the Word of God can be seen through many different aspects. First, the Bible is the only book to hang its credibility and its ability to write history in advance—without error. Second, despite man's repeated attempts to disprove the Bible and undermine it, it has repeatedly risen above and demonstrated the FACT that it is accurate and reliable to the uttermost. Man keeps trying to disprove it using the same tired arguments that have been destroyed time and time again. Third, history, archaeology, and science repeatedly back up everything contained in the Scriptures. When science was ignorant and taught one thing, the Bible contained the correct information (e.g., science used to believe and teach that the oceans were flat, but the Bible, hundreds of years prior, stated the FACT that they contained mountains and valleys). Fourth, the Bible predicted people (by name), events, circumstances, and details hundreds of years before they were ever fulfilled. 200 years before Medo-Persia sacked Babylon, Cyrus was named by name (Is. 44:24-45:7). At Jesus' first coming alone, He fulfilled over 300 prophecies! Fifth, the Bible is the only book that actually changes lives! Drug addicts have been cured by it, homosexuals set free by it, derelicts and deadbeats transformed by it, hardened criminals reformed by it, sinners rebuked by it, and hate turned to love by it. The Bible possesses a dynamic and transforming power that is only possible because it is truly God’s Word.

Deism claims that the books of the Bible were merely "voted" upon by men, which is not true. All men did was look at the internal and external evidence of the various books to determine which were supernatural in origin. For the Old Testament, they looked at which books were accepted and used by the Jews. The New Testament is merely historical accounts and letters of the events that took place, as they were eye-witness accounts. There are many books out there that individuals claim should be part of the Bible, but anyone who examines the internal and external evidence of these books will find that they fall drastically short of the mark of authenticity, several being in a language other than what the original was in (like The Rest of Esther), many having a recognized name attached to it who never wrote it in the first place (like The Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, and the Gospel of Judas), among many other telling traits. Problem is, the people who want to believe these "other books" were left out by the mere "choice" of men and should be included in the Bible do so in ignorance with no desire to research the FACTS. Anyone who reads The Gospel of Thomas can tell right away that it is contradictory to the rest of Scripture, which agrees harmoniously with each other from cover to cover (hence its supernatural origin). Verse 14 of The Gospel of Thomas states that if you pray you condemn yourself. Verse 114 says Jesus will turn Mary into a man so she can get to heaven. Where are either of these contained in the Bible? Where is any such teaching contained in the Bible? Verse 14 contradicts every instance of prayer in the Bible as well as every instruction regarding prayer.

Throughout time, skeptics have regarded the Bible as mythological, but archaeology has confirmed it as historical. Opponents have attacked its teaching as primitive and outdated, but its moral and legal concepts and teachings have had a positive influence on societies and cultures throughout the world. It continues to be attacked by pseudo-science, psychology, and political movements, yet it remains just as true and relevant today as it was when it was first written. It is a book that has transformed countless lives and cultures throughout the last 2000 years. No matter how its opponents try to attack, destroy, or discredit it, the Bible remains; its veracity and impact on lives is unmistakable. The accuracy which has been preserved despite every attempt to corrupt, attack, or destroy it is clear testimony to the fact that the Bible is truly God’s Word and is supernaturally protected by Him. It should not surprise us that, no matter how the Bible is attacked, it always comes out unchanged and unscathed. After all, Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Mark 13:31). After looking at the evidence, one can say without a doubt that, yes, the Bible is truly God’s Word.

Many Deists think they used to be Christians, but the FACT is that they were never Christian to begin with. They might have participated in Christian things, but the FACT they were never saved to begin with illustrates the FACT that they were never Christians. They have no idea what salvation means or entails. They are just blind guides following other blind guides. Deists are ignorant individuals who think they are intelligent and reasoning when the FACT of the matter is that they lack logical reasoning and common sense. They are idolators, having rejected the God of the Bible for a god of their own imagination (typically "a god of love"). They deny a God Who would met out justice and convict people of their sin, thereby sentencing them to hell for eternity. Their god is merely a god of love (sound familiar to a false gospel preached by Evangelicalism?), whereas the God of the Bible is also a God of justice, of wrath, of holiness, of grace, of mercy, etc., etc. All His attributes are holy and are equal to each other. None trumps the others at the expense of the others.

Deism is a bankrupt belief system that has no foundation beneath it. When weighed and measured against truth, it crumbles into dust.

Our DNA

The word racecar can be read forward and backward, much like our DNA. But our DNA is not merely words that read the same forward and backward, it is complete sentences: Was it a rat I saw. In fact, it is much more than sentences.

The combination I like chocolater that evening is an overlapping of two individual sentences: I like chocolate and Later that evening. Our DNA does not merely overlap sentences, it overlaps entire chapters.

We are told that we "evolved" via multitudes of mutations over a long period of time. Problem is, 99.99999...% of all mutations are lethal. If you allowed for a single mutation to occur every second, it would take you trillions of years to go from a single-celled organism and get anywhere close to what we see today. It is not possible. It is also not probable.

If you take the sentence Was it a rat I saw, which reads the same forward and backward, and change a single letter for the better, the reverse reading no longer reads the same: Was it a rad I saw. The same is true of our DNA. You make a single mutation for the better, and it is still for the worse because the backward reading is now changed, as is every instance of overlapped information that reads forward and backward. So one good mutation created a backlash of bad mutations.

Furthermore, new information cannot be added naturally. DNA splicing is man attempting to play God by adding new information; it does not happen on its own. If a child is born with four arms, it is a mutation of existing information. If a child is born with no arms, it is a loss of existing information. A child will never be born with wings, which would be the addition of new information.

We are complex beings. We did not evolve. We were created.

"I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Thy works, And my soul knows it very well." Ps 139:14