Ecclesiastes 7:25 I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness:

These words were penned by King Solomon. He was blessed with wisdom by God for having a heart to serve his people. In many ways we think of Solomon in this way and take to heart much that he says without questioning the wisdom of those actions. Here is a prime example.

Sun Tzu in The Art of War is often misquoted as having said “know your enemy”. What is excluded is the line “know yourself”. In this quote from Ecclesiastes that same mistake is made. So often we look to the momentary quote, the line that sounds right and have ignored much that went before.

v1:2 Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

We have left the warning far behind, not even a distant memory because what we seek is what we want. The real dangers of following this 7:25 approach is hidden from view.

Look to the last verse from chapter 7. “Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.”

The end result of studying “the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness:” is judgment. What is it that our Lord said to us?

Matthew 7:1-2 Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

Psalm 139:14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

2 Corinthians 2:14 Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.

Victory comes from knowing who we are in Christ.

Habakkuk 1:14-17 And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them? They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad. Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous. Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?

Is this a prophetic message about past events or future events? One thing we have learned through our studies of history is that history repeats itself. Men who study the past and see the vulnerabilities of people and nations make spoil of them because they have no ruler over them. I am not talking about leaders. I am talking divine leadership, God in worship and practice.

If I were to look at these verses as the historical past, I can see events which match up fairly well. Conquerors have come and gone over the centuries between Habakkuk’s time and today. I do have to ask, because I do not want to overlook any spiritual aspects of these prophetic words, could this also indicate religious practices?

There are two distinct catch methods in play here. The angler entices the fish to bite because it hungry, its nature is to eat that which looks appealing. The other is a net drag. The forcible removal of fish without regard to size or variety. Those fish have no choice in the matter. There is no attraction, they are just trapped.

I could expand on this subject to no gain for my readers. It is not for me to name names or organizations. I am not here to serve an agenda. I would however ask you to examine how you got into your present religious position and answer for yourselves how you got there.