8-24-2016 – A Word to the Wise: Moreover, Solomon gives a couple of other traits, which are easily observed among the immoral. Solomon says that the immoral person is unstable and, in this state, does not recognize his or her own instability. One type of mental illness seems to exemplify this trait, and that is bipolar disease. That is not to say that everyone who is bipolar is immoral. However, I have found those suffering from the manic and depressive states of bipolar mental illness often have a long history of immorality. I know it is popular to say that this disease is created by chemical imbalance, but I wonder which came first—the immorality or the chemical imbalance.

8-10-2016 – A Word to the Wise: When people hate discipline, they are unable to follow a logical course of action. Like gravity, every thought that is stimulated is affected by and strained through rebellion. The problem with the rebellious person’s thinking is that there is no understanding or discernment of underlying motives or conditions. Immorality inhibits one’s ability to think clearly. In fact, Solomon says: “A fool takes no pleasure in understanding but only in expressing his opinion.” (Proverbs 18:2).

8-9-2016 – A Word to the Wise: This reminds me of something that I have seen numerous times. Police officers sometimes have to block a lane of traffic. No sooner have they done so than numerous people try to go around the road block, argue with the officer about why they should be allowed to continue, and demand their rights since they pay taxes. People in rebellion neither listen nor pay attention to laws or authority, and they frequently feel they have a special dispensation to ignore the rules. This behavior is a direct result of the consequences of disobedience or immorality. Thinking is twisted, and what is heard is what one wants to hear. The results can be disastrous.

8-8-2016 – A Word to the Wise: Hearing refers to a continual intensive action that occurs. Often, the hearing should produce action or behavior. Immorality, however, disrupts one’s ability to hear clearly. One hears the sound, but makes little sense of what is spoken. One’s own thoughts intrude to the point that one is unable to competently respond to the words spoken by others. This obsessive thinking is often brought about because of inappropriate moral behavior or thoughts.

8-2-2016 – A Word to the Wise: More than 430,000 people in the United States die each year from smoking. Another 14,000 individuals die from drug use, and hundreds of thousands die from food related abuses. 12 These deaths are not the result of a lack of information, for our society is flooded with a constant barrage of information, but most of the information goes unheeded.

7-28-2016 – A Word to the Wise: Violations of our body—as the result of improper diet, inadequate exercise, and the use of known harmful substances—account for a majority of the admissions to medical and psychiatric facilities. Most violations are of known rules, laws, ordinances, and instructions.

7-21-2016 – A Word to the Wise: Proverbs 7:12 warns that the immoral person will testify to others his hatred of discipline, and will serve as a witness to others of the ruin that comes from disdain of discipline. This is no small problem, for without discipline, poor decision-making, accidents, rebellion, and a host of other problems affect the person. When we refuse to place ourselves under lawful authority and when we challenge every rule, law, or custom, hostility and transgression hang on us like a deep fog.

7-18-2016 – A Word to the Wise: Obedience or lack of it affects practically everything we do. Failure in this area is most evident in the “accident” rate of any society. Traffic accidents are a prime example. Notice how the majority of all accidents result from the failure to obey a rule, law, ordinance, or known truth. The majority of traffic accidents, which account for more than 45,000 deaths per year, are preventable. Simply obeying the rules results in an increased life span.

7-6-2016 – IV. Reason – Proverbs 6:32 “He who commits immorality has no sense; he who does it destroys himself.” What does it mean to have no sense? Prov. 6:32, 7:7, 9:16. It refers to a state of confusion existing within the person. Confusion combined with frustration leads to blindness (seeing but not seeing) and double mindedness. This confusion leads to a multitude of “accidents.” In reality, many accidents are the result of defective reasoning rooted in immorality.