February 5, 2015
As a kid, I could not stand clowns! They terrified me! The circus would come to town, and I could not wait to see the animals, the trapeze performers, the acrobats, the tightrope walkers, and the jugglers. Everything, but the clowns! Clowns were just creepy. The strange makeup and hair, the asexual clothing, the bizarre behavior, not to mention the big shoes, was just more than this young boy could take. I could feel the anxiety brewing in my gut and in my mind the minute they would first appear under the big top. In my earliest years, it did not take long until my eyes were hid, and I was fighting away the tears.
To my young mind, they served no other purpose than to confuse and terrorize me. They always filled the big top in between the main acts, looking to occupy time between the featured performers. They were always loud, and to me, their acts were pointless, willing to make fools out of themselves in order to draw away our attention from the stage changes that were going on around them. They soon became to my young mind, nothing more than a chance to go get refreshments or to take a needed bathroom break.
The outfits they wore did not help my fears either. The abnormal makeup and eccentric clothing always set me on edge, making me worry just what was hiding underneath. And if that was not enough, it was like they could smell the fear in a kid. Let one of them spot a child with the slightest look of fright on his face, and everyone of them would swarm on him, looking to drag him out to the center of the stage for the world to see. I learned at a very early age that you never sit in the first three rows of the circus!
As a child who was born in the sixties, the music of the day did not help me with the issue either. I remember hearing my parents listening to the Everly Brothers and wondering why Cathy had a clown, of all things. I never did figure out why Judy Collins wanted the clowns to be sent in. And I thought for awhile that Smokey Robinson shared my fear, until I grew old enough to actually understand the words to “Tears Of a Clown”. Let’s face it, my life would have been a lot easier if there had just not been clowns!
As I live my life today, so many years later, I realize just how little my life has changed. The circumstances of my life may now be different, but so many of the characters have not changed. And the fears of that young boy still fill my mind today.
As I take a hard look at many of our churches around this country, I can still hear the circus music playing quietly in the background. I still yearn to see the main acts, but my fears are realized as I see the clowns taking the stage. And to make my fears worse, the clowns have often taken over the big top, and are way too often all I see. Fools, dressing themselves as clowns. Looking to distract the Church as they attempt to change out the stage.
Unfortunately, many of our churches today remind me of the circus. I watch as they look to entertain us with acts geared to only dazzle us, putting on shows that are based on trickery and slight of hand. As I hear the voice of the ringmasters of these churches, I hear them calling us to look on as dangerous acts are being performed. Acts we have been warned against performing, but acts they now think they better know how to perform. And as I gain a glimpse at the faces of these ringmasters, I can see traces of the makeup that covers their faces. The faces of clowns, hiding under the top hats of the ringmasters. The faces of fools, who think they know how to run this circus better than the One who originally created this big top.
The Lord has filled the Bible with verses that warn us about the ways of fools, and describes in great detail to us just what a fool is. We only need to read through Proverbs, and to read but a few of the Psalms to see a very detailed and vivid picture of a fool being painted before us. Proverbs tells us that a fool is right in their own eyes(Proverbs 12:15). It tells us they are deceitful(Proverbs 14:8), and that they despise wisdom(Proverbs 1:7). It tells us that a fool is scornful(Proverbs 10:23), and that a fool will spout his opinion with no understanding and without intelligence(Proverbs 15:2, Proverbs 18:2).
Throughout the Psalms, we see that a fool is an impious man(Psalm 14:1, Psalm 53:1), not only denying God, but refusing to seek God. When we look closely at the Hebrew word for “fool” that we see in these verses, we find an even deeper meaning. The word does not mean unintelligent, but refers to one who has no awareness and recognition of moral, ethical, and religious truth. The word shows us that fools are depraved, finding joy in the sin, not in the Truth that God’s Word has given them, and longs to show them.
In New Testament times, the word for “fool” had a totally different meaning than what so many of us view the word as today. To call someone a “fool”, was the same as saying that someone was “damned”. It was a condemning comment that was often said out of spite. So when we see Paul, James, and others use the term, it carried great weight and meaning. They were saying that a fool was someone whose words, whose actions, whose refusal to accept God’s Truth, were self condemning. And they tell us that a fool does not like being a fool alone, that he will seek to bring others on the path to Hell with him. It was with this in mind that Christ said, “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.”(Matthew 7:26).
So how should we, the Church, deal with “fools”? We need only to go again to the Lord’s Word in Proverbs to find our answer. Proverbs 26:4-5 tells us, “Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will also be like him. Answer a fool as his folly deserves, that he not be wise in his own eyes.” In these two verses, we are shown two ways we are called on when dealing with fools. Verse four tells us to ignore them, and verse fives tells us to confront them. Many look at these two verse and see contradiction, but the wisdom of the Lord takes us far from it. Often times a fool will make such outlandish statements that his words do not even need to be answered, they stand blatantly ignorant all on their own. And knowing that a fool does not seek truth and wisdom, to argue with a fool is, well, foolish! Other times a fool will speak in words that look to deceive, often times trying to play on the emotions of others, not on the reality of what the Lord has shown us about the situation. It is when we see those situations we must stand up with reproof, confronting the fool and what he says. We must be willing to show the wisdom in God’s Word and His ways to those the fool looks to deceive. And we must show them the ignorance and the blindness that can only be found in the words of the fool.
We watch today as so many speak from our churches with the voice of a fool. They speak words that only a fool would speak, words that only a fool could find himself saying. They claim biblical insight, explaining Bible verses and principles with their own words, while ignoring God’s Word. They tell us that God has changed, and His Word holds different meaning today than it did yesterday. But in doing so, they willfully ignore what the Lord so boldly told us, telling us that neither He nor His Word has or will ever change(Ecclesiastes 1:9-11, Hebrews 13:8). They tells us that the Holy Spirit has revealed to them things that God has never shown or told us before, teachings that differ what from what the words of the Bible clearly show us. They ignore God’s own words in doing this, words that tell us how His Word is perfect and complete(Deuteronomy 4:2, Isaiah 40:8, 1 Peter 1:23, Colossians 1:25).
We watch today as so many speak from our churches with the voice of a fool. They speak words that only a fool would speak, words that only a fool could find himself saying. They claim biblical insight, explaining Bible verses and principles with their own words, while ignoring God’s Word. They tell us that God has changed, and His Word holds different meaning today than it did yesterday. But in doing so, they willfully ignore what the Lord so boldly told us, telling us that neither He nor His Word has or will ever change(Ecclesiastes 1:9-11, Hebrews 13:8). They tells us that the Holy Spirit has revealed to them things that God has never shown or told us before, teachings that differ what from what the words of the Bible clearly show us. They ignore God’s own words in doing this, words that tell us how His Word is perfect and complete(Deuteronomy 4:2, Isaiah 40:8, 1 Peter 1:23, Colossians 1:25).
It is time the Church stood, and followed the teachings God gave us in Proverbs 26;5. It is time that we found our voice, and confronted the dangerous babbling of these fools. The Bible warns us that the tongue can be a treacherous and destructive tool(James 3:5). We must show the world for whom these fools truly speak, and where their words will lead. We must wipe the makeup from the faces of these clowns, exposing to the world the true fears that are hid underneath. It not, then the circus has found a permanent home in our churches, and the path to Hell will begin at the entrance of the big top, the very doors of so many of our churches today.
I have often heard Hell described as a torturous place. A place of burning, the gnashing of teeth, and a place void of a single drop of water. But I have to believe that the waters will flow in Hell, as the rivers there will be filled with the tears of a clown.
Praying that not one of your tears will be seen in Hell.
