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GOD DOES NOT VALUE IGNORANCE
Where the idea came from that God puts a premium on ignorance I do not know, but it exists. The idea that an individual is somehow more spiritual if they not know theology, do not know Bible terms, do not know the history of the Lord's churches or the history of the Harlot – this is just not true. Ignorance is not a character flaw unless it is willful ignorance. To be ignorant just means to not know certain things. But to willfully or willingly remain ignorant when truth is available is a wicked thing. God's Word speaks against some who are “willingly ignorant” in their arguments that Christ is not going to return. The phrase is in 2 Peter 3:5 as follows: “For this they willingly are ignorant of...” The saying is, “None are so blind as they who will not see.” Those who will not to see truth have their understanding darkened. Their minds are hardened against God and His truth. Paul wrote of this in Ephesians 4:17-18, saying, “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.” Paul pronounced such willfully ignorant people whose hardened hearts blind them to the truth as being “alienated from the life of God” because of their ignorance. Those who harden themselves against God's truth are yet dead in their sins: lost. They are not God's children. It is one thing to be ignorant of certain truth, but it is quite another to willingly remain so by hardening one's heart against the truth. The Bible speaks of another kind of ignorance. It speaks of the ignorance of the Gentiles in their pagan worship of false gods. They had their Fall festivals, their mid-winter solstice with its Madonna and child, their spring equinox with its resurrection theme. In the past God had overlooked these sins of the nations, but no longer. His words are these: “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent,” (Acts 17:30). God no longer has patience with Gentile paganism: the same paganism that permeates so-called Christendom today. It is a sad and astonishing thing to see professing Christians run after pagan holidays and celebrations, believing such things are Christian observances. Sadly, few there be that repent of such things and are willing to go against the tide of popular opinion and rid their homes and church buildings of the trappings of paganism. But is this not a fulfillment of prophecy? Does not God's Word say, “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived,” (2 Timothy 3:13). Amazingly, some say we are in a great end-time revival – and we are: an end time revival of paganism with almost total disregard for what God says in His Word.
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