The philosopher Aristotle once said this. True friendship cannot endure simply by the love of one toward another. But rather by the two loving a third, and that being transcendent. And since I cannot bear to not defend the Catholic church from the constant darts of the Protestants. One of the things that Luther and Calvin wanted to dispose of, or so they thought, was the Catholics usage of Greek philosophy within its ranks, as well as in the educating of the priests. Fools were they and are those who say we have no need of this. Philosophy and psychology are at work every day of our lives.

These two disciplines have tremendous value both in and out of the church, with the truth of the matter being who is using them and for what purposes. Certainly here we can see the wisdom of Aristotle. He says that people can’t know true friendship without knowing God. Now he may have been referring to Athena or Venus. But for our purposes, we know that without Christ our lives are lived in vain. And as for me and my house, a true friend is a blessed friend, a man or woman who I can lean on and be leaned on by. Someone who can and will give me guidance according to godly wisdom and prayerful life.

James chapter 3 verse 17…But the wisdom that is from God is first pure, then peaceable and gentle, easy to be taken, full of mercy and it will bear good fruit. Without partiality and hypocrisy. And in Second Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 12 we read this. For our happiness is this, the testimony of a good conscience, and that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom. And so my friends, your friendships and how they will work out in the long run, are based solely on where and how the friends in question are receiving their guidance and direction, which inevitably will be at use between the participants of the friendship. We see clearly in these two verses, that once again it’s us versus the world according to Gods plan for the church. There is no fraternizing and no cohabitating. It is simply those that are for God and those that are against. Without a good and substantial basis of one’s self in the Bible. You cannot and must not receive counsel from the world. For you will have nothing to weigh it against as far as its comprehensive value goes being used as a tool in your life as a Christian.

The bottom line is this. If the council that you receive from a friend or anyone else is contrary to the word of God. Do not, do not, do not, receive it. The bible says clearly and succinctly that the wisdom of this world is the enemy of Him. Now back to philosophy and the foolishness of the Protestants. It is clear in this one statement alone by Aristotle. That there is great wisdom at work. Albeit perverted in that it is not directing the reader to Jesus. But to say that there is no value to the statement when applied to our faith is well…asinine to say the least. God has given me as part of my salvation the gift of discernment. Which is nothing more and nothing less than what I will call Godly intuition. The Holy Spirit is residing in me and in the hearts of every believer to guide us. To warn us and to protect us from the lies of the devil. When someone is lying to me or trying to misdirect me, I know it immediately. Not tomorrow and not next week, immediately!

There are many gifts and treasures to being born again in Christ, and this is one of them. The devil thinks he is sly. And so do those that serve him. Where I work wisdom in the hiring of an individual is not a priority, and the fools and the wise are rewarded or not equally. There are several people with whom I have worked, who think they are slick. Their existence is based on trying to beat the system and shirk as many of their duties as they can whenever and wherever they can. They think they are wise, but to us who know, they are fools. And this is exactly how the devil acts and appears to a Spirit-filled Christian. I say this about them and the devil. Here comes that jerk again with the same crap he tried to pull the last time. The difference is that at work I have no control over the imbeciles actions. And if the powers that be continue to allow such behavior unabated, then what am I to do? All I can do is to make sure there reprehensible acts don’t affect me. But when it comes to the devil. You and I can tell him to take a long walk off a short pier in the name of Jesus. Be careful who your friends are. Because they very well may be one of the schmucks I was just talking about. And the results can be disastrous…To be continued