Last month, we have committed ourselves to get inspired for a life of praise. With the belief that we have invested ample time to reintroduce the concept of praise in our life, we are going to enjoy one of the benefits of giving thanks to God.

The Bible says, "He who sacrifices thanks offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salivation of God." (Psalm 50: 23) If your life is full of praise, you are enlarging your store to learn more from the One who has indefinite wisdom. Welcome to a juncture where the level you are now will remain your least position in the school of wisdom and among the club of wises as you become more thirsty for truth. Your season of enlargement in the area of knowledge has come.

However, historically speaking, we are not just dealing with a very simple subject as it is plain in the Bible. We are discussing an old but always critical subject filled with misunderstandings and confusions. One of the misunderstandings is that the very royal children of the Author of knowledge and wisdom are not the one benefiting the products of knowledge and understandings while others from far away are enjoying it. That was why Jesus was not shy of but lamented by saying that the children of this world are more wiser than the children of light!!!! The very Truth, Wisdom, and Power of God came and found His children ignoring His very nature and gift. One of the confusing things is that, though the Bible tells us how His servants like Daniel, Joseph and so on were more wiser than those out side of the covenant and had been solutions for the world around them, these days, the world has a different image for the people of covenant. The world questions, like begets like and where is the wisdom and knowledge these people are preaching we should know and crave to get it? The world is wondering and asking in dismay when it becomes clear that the children of the light are equally confused and far away from providing antidotes for the challenge the world is facing. Note that, we are not saying that there are no distinguished citizens; there are still some anointed men and women of God who commended the attention of the world out side of covenant. However, in the majority of the cases, let alone to exercise the products of knowledge, the subject of wisdom and knowledge has been given less attention within the covenant people.

The Bible has been clear and no confusion at all. The bible in Hosea 4: 6 states that not only Israelites- His people, destroyed by their enemies (mind you the destroyers are not either His people) but also God rejected His priests because they rejected knowledge. Can you imagine God rejecting His people to be destroyed by alien people and at the same time rejecting His priests not because they were less compassionate, less professional, full of liars, or what have you but because they rejected knowledge. The sins they committed were the consequences of lack of knowledge. Whether that is deliberate or oversight, preachers escape this part of the verse while excessively quote the same scripture. God is serious about knowledge and reject whomever (whether an ordinary member, priest, minister, businessman, or what have you) rejects it. The rejection of Israelites (the first priestly nation) from the New Covenant, though it is until they come to know it, is because they rejected the knowledge behind knowing the Truth- Christ. The rejection of knowledge results the rejection of the Truth behind it, who is His Word and Son.

If God is serious about knowledge and spare no one who lacks it, why not its people who claim are His servants focus on knowledge to save themselves and teach His people and save them from rejections? Why the Church focuses on teaching those who are saved than focusing on bringing more to join the camp? Relatively speaking, the church is more active in evangelizing people and acquainting them with the Truth so that they may be saved but it has been hardly striving to focus on letting them know more by discipling and mentoring. We are not denying that there are no discipleship at all. However, it is focused more on how to get acquaint others with the knowledge they were 'introduced' before they came to know the whole truth and enjoy the freedom and the wisdom it entails. A healed patient cannot be licensed as a Doctor to treat others from the same disease he was delivered. He should know a lot more truths and should practice what he has known before dispatched to reach out. Leaving this and similar in-house issues aside, the most worrisome image of the Church among the world is as anti-knowledge and anti-intellectualism. If this criticism of the Church articulated within the circle of atheists or people from other religions, that might not call much attention and should not worry anyone. The criticism doesn’t only come from outsiders but also from some concerned Christian scholars who have been expressing their worry. Note that we are not saying that the church should adopt earthily wisdom and meet the standards of science for knowledge, we are talking about the knowledge well beyond this world's standard, which should excel all expectations. We are not also saying that the church has not done well; rather, became anti-knowledge.

Author Os Guinness in his book "Fit Bodies, Fat Minds: Why Evangelicals Don't Think and What to Do About It" said that, Evangelical anti-intellectualism is both a scandal and a sin. He finds it a scandal because it has been an offense and a stumbling block that hinders serious people from considering the Christian faith and coming to Christ. It is a sin because it is a refusal, contrary to the first of Jesus' two great commandments, to love the Lord our God with our minds." He wondered why Evangelicals are not equipped intellectually to think through the complex social issues of the times and offer genuinely new and promising solutions to them. His argument holds water when we see the social problems affecting the Evangelicals where by we sometimes notice the rate is the same as in the rest of the world. Guinness argues that Evangelicals are ignoring the importance of the mind and discount the need to think. However, as we all know we will be transformed and achieve the promise of spiritual redemption when we renew our mind as indicated in Romans 12: 2. The author believes that this is a result of the distorted notion that divine wisdom is folly to human minds and Christian's thinking is a contradiction in terms and it is therefore better to be irrational. He pointed out that true faith is unquestionably childlike and simple, but it is never childish or simplistic. His book is styled as a call to action than a historic book that traced the decline of thought and the rise of anti-intellectualism among Evangelicals.

As far as we are concerned, this is not the problem of one denomination but Christianity as a whole has been plagued by this syndrome and this calls your attention and demands action. We are not interested to debate on the weaknesses of a religion. This is not our topic and won't focus on that but we just wanted you to think about to find the missing link and take the issue seriously as it is institutionalized. Of course, we won't try to defend the Church or side with critics. We should warn people like you one at a time by explaining how God feels about the lack of knowledge and the consequences of it. We should inspire you to know the benefits of getting understanding and knowledge and the rest venture is yours.

Friend, if we are under captivity of any thing or if something is destroying our hope and aspiration in life, we are lacking the knowledge and wisdom it takes to get delivered. The only antidote is gaining wisdom and understanding: "Get wisdom, and with all thy getting, get understanding." (Proverbs 4:7) There might be many factors involving to gain understanding and wisdom but it all begins: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Proverb 1:7). However, one thing becomes clear about the responsibility of who goes into the search. That is, this is our responsibility and we must do it. If we ever think that there is a way out, shortcuts, or God may feel sympathy for our ignorance and deliver us, we are not learning from history. Or, the worst, we are not reading the Bible at all.

Otherwise, God is all but serious about our being knowledgeable. He made it clear for us, regardless of His power to rescue and set free, that He will not intervene when His people are destroyed because of lack of knowledge. We should have been very worried when we see Him just watched and felt sorry for their ignorance and allowed His people went to exile for lack of understanding. (Hosea 4:6; Isaiah 5: 13). God is always right and just. He provided what it takes: the Bible, mind (especially for Christians-the Mind of Christ), sense organs, teachers, books, knowledge (especially in this information age where we can get knowledge at the tip of our finger), and most importantly the Holy Spirit (the counselor, teacher, advocate, mentor, and many more). What is missing is whether we determine to embrace knowledge that attracts us towards the very nature of God- Wisdom, or not. It is not time to point our finger onto the Church or any body else for that matter but to stand up for the challenge in hunting knowledge whatever and how long it takes. This is not the season to feel pity because we are in captivity or at the merge of destruction. This is the time to face the reality and jump into the sea of knowledge to get baptized with wisdom that liberates us from captivity.

If you are convinced that you- only you- are the rescuer of your destiny from destruction and captivity, through the knowledge God gives, welcome to the right door. One of the highways to live a life of victory in God’s Kingdom is to acquire knowledge. Wisdom is a mirror that shows us what is missing in our Kingdom living. Wisdom is an affluent Kingdom binocular to magnify what have been far away from our reach (a mere inner being without wisdom equals blind) and make available for harvest. Understanding and wisdom are the gateways towards excellence in life and beyond.

This month, we will dig deep to address the issue of knowledge and our team most welcomes you on board. This and the following series of inspirational words are meant to motivate you to see True understanding and wisdom beyond living a life of spoon feeding. They should transform you from being reactive knowledge seeker to a Hunter! Your days of heaviness in search of the higher Truth are over.

At the end of the month, you will be untied as hungry leopard that goes out to hunt knowledge and wisdom. You will never come back empty! Not only you satisfy your inner being with wisdom and make it the place of residence for the divine- the source of all Truths- but also wisdom overflows well beyond yourself that attracts multitudes. The time has come your name will be changed from Mr./Ms. Guess to Mr./Ms. Wisdom.