Acts 9:1

The Conversion of Saul

But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest

Acts 23:2

And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth.

Acts 23:5

And Paul said, “I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’”

I was reading an article by bible scholars who were speculating about Paul’s thorn in the flesh. They were using the argument that Paul had some sort of trouble with his eyes. They quoted these verses as justification by saying he couldn’t see it was the high priest that he had gone to in Acts 9:1.

Then they went on to contradict themselves with the very next comment that Ananias was no longer the high priest and that his son-in-law Caiaphas was then high priest. This leaves us with the impression that high priests retain their title after leaving office, similar to how the President of the United States is always called President after leaving office.

That means by their own argument that the high priest in Acts 9:1 was probably Caiaphas and that Saul had never met Ananias. If that were true then relying on Acts 23:5 as justification for Paul’s thorn in the flesh being eyesight problems is unwarranted.

Human nature has a tendency to allow pride to insert itself in the arena of knowledge. The scriptures tell us that. (knowledge puffs up) Once we earn a degree of notoriety within the church for being someone others can go to for answers, human nature says we want to be respected.

Respect isn’t earned just because we want it.

1 Timothy 6:9

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.

The strikethrough to be rich is to indicate that riches are not the only temptation that will weaken our witness.

That is just being human.

Proverbs 25:28

A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.

Notice that in e-mails and on my web-site (HISCUP.NET) a change in color of passage markers. Those of us who like to check quotations, we will see that the color change is an indication of a link via activeX coding which takes us to the quoted verse at BibleGateway including the version being quoted.

For those readers that obtain these blogs via facebook, those activeX controls are eliminated and the colored text turns to black because facebook is beyond my control.

Here in this earth world we only have so much control and we have to depend on the service of institutions to protect our interests. We pay for those services in one way or another.

Now let us relate control into the spiritual realm and address this issue of speaking God’s Word and singing His praises. When done in church, bible studies, and small groups settings we are helped by the Holy Spirit who abides in each and every one of us. He controls the activeX coding of speech and takes our minds into the realm of validation of quotations. The Spirit of Truth speaks truth to us.

When we take Him out on the streets of the world how the truth is spread is within His control but like facebook, the color changes and where it is received is beyond our control. When we give a Word we have done all that we can do and the results are beyond our control.

• Proverbs 1:7
  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
  
• Proverbs 1:22
  “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?
  
• Proverbs 1:32
  For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them;

Note the formatting changed. Some changes we can live with, others bother us to the point where we allow the control freak inside us to control every aspect of our involvement. 

This message is brought to you by me without any input from the Holy Spirit. 

My words not His.