Silas
Beloved of All
Thank you for sharing this so honestly and for wanting to make a wise and God honoring choice. Your desire to seek wisdom is itself pleasing to God, and the way you ended a relationship that was unequally yoked shows discernment. Now you are asking the right question, how to handle what remains from that influence.
Scripture says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That is the starting place. Knowledge can give you facts and information, but wisdom knows what to do with what you know. Wisdom is described as a person calling out in the streets, inviting everyone to come and eat at her table, as if she has prepared a banquet. She is more valuable than rubies and nothing we desire can compare with her. She dwells with prudence, she hates evil, and she leads to a pure life. In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, so to seek wisdom is really to seek Him and to let His Word shape your decisions.
There is a great difference between the wisdom that comes from above and the wisdom of this world. The wisdom of the world is earthly and sensual and it does not lead people to know God. God has shown that the wisdom of the world is foolishness in His sight and it comes to nothing. Our faith is not to stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God, and the Holy Spirit teaches us to compare spiritual things with spiritual truth. True wisdom from God will always lead toward purity, peace, and righteousness, not toward confusion or bondage.
That is why Scripture warns us so strongly about false teaching and false prophets. They do not come with a sign that says they are false. They come dressed as sheep and they often speak with great authority. One of the most deceptive things about false teaching is that it is not false in everything it says. It will tell a great deal of truth, perhaps ninety percent, which is what makes it so misleading. We are told to test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. Their teaching is described as wells without water, promising much but giving nothing that can satisfy, and it tends to bring people back into bondage. The safest course is to stay rooted in the Word of God itself, not in books that claim to explain the Bible for you while drawing you away from it.
With that in mind, keeping these books so that you might one day argue from them is not the most prudent path. You do not need to master a false system in order to share the truth. If the Lord ever opens a door to speak to this young man again, you will not need his books to do it. You will need the Scripture, prayed over and clearly understood, and the gentle wisdom that comes from above. Keeping false teaching in your home keeps a source of deception close at hand, and even with good intentions it can plant doubts, stir confusion, or give the enemy a foothold. Wisdom that hates evil will want to remove what is false, not store it.
The wiser and cleaner step is to dispose of the books completely. Do not pass them on to someone else where they could mislead another person, but destroy or discard them so they cannot be used again. In that way you choose purity over curiosity and you show that you value the banquet wisdom has prepared more than the counterfeit meal the cult offered.
Pray for this young man, that God would open his eyes to see the Lord Jesus as He truly is and to find salvation in Him alone. Pray too for your own heart, that God would fill you with His wisdom and understanding and keep you in His peace.
Father, I pray for this dear one who wants to honor You. Give her clear wisdom and understanding as she seeks to follow You. Help her to love Your Word, to hate what is evil, and to walk in the purity that true wisdom brings. Remove any lingering influence of false teaching from her life and guard her heart and mind in Christ. And I pray for the young man who is still entangled in deception, that You would draw him to Yourself, reveal Your truth to him, and bring him to salvation through Jesus alone. Teach us both to find all we need in Christ, in whom are hidden all treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In Jesus name, amen.
Scripture says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That is the starting place. Knowledge can give you facts and information, but wisdom knows what to do with what you know. Wisdom is described as a person calling out in the streets, inviting everyone to come and eat at her table, as if she has prepared a banquet. She is more valuable than rubies and nothing we desire can compare with her. She dwells with prudence, she hates evil, and she leads to a pure life. In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, so to seek wisdom is really to seek Him and to let His Word shape your decisions.
There is a great difference between the wisdom that comes from above and the wisdom of this world. The wisdom of the world is earthly and sensual and it does not lead people to know God. God has shown that the wisdom of the world is foolishness in His sight and it comes to nothing. Our faith is not to stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God, and the Holy Spirit teaches us to compare spiritual things with spiritual truth. True wisdom from God will always lead toward purity, peace, and righteousness, not toward confusion or bondage.
That is why Scripture warns us so strongly about false teaching and false prophets. They do not come with a sign that says they are false. They come dressed as sheep and they often speak with great authority. One of the most deceptive things about false teaching is that it is not false in everything it says. It will tell a great deal of truth, perhaps ninety percent, which is what makes it so misleading. We are told to test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. Their teaching is described as wells without water, promising much but giving nothing that can satisfy, and it tends to bring people back into bondage. The safest course is to stay rooted in the Word of God itself, not in books that claim to explain the Bible for you while drawing you away from it.
With that in mind, keeping these books so that you might one day argue from them is not the most prudent path. You do not need to master a false system in order to share the truth. If the Lord ever opens a door to speak to this young man again, you will not need his books to do it. You will need the Scripture, prayed over and clearly understood, and the gentle wisdom that comes from above. Keeping false teaching in your home keeps a source of deception close at hand, and even with good intentions it can plant doubts, stir confusion, or give the enemy a foothold. Wisdom that hates evil will want to remove what is false, not store it.
The wiser and cleaner step is to dispose of the books completely. Do not pass them on to someone else where they could mislead another person, but destroy or discard them so they cannot be used again. In that way you choose purity over curiosity and you show that you value the banquet wisdom has prepared more than the counterfeit meal the cult offered.
Pray for this young man, that God would open his eyes to see the Lord Jesus as He truly is and to find salvation in Him alone. Pray too for your own heart, that God would fill you with His wisdom and understanding and keep you in His peace.
Father, I pray for this dear one who wants to honor You. Give her clear wisdom and understanding as she seeks to follow You. Help her to love Your Word, to hate what is evil, and to walk in the purity that true wisdom brings. Remove any lingering influence of false teaching from her life and guard her heart and mind in Christ. And I pray for the young man who is still entangled in deception, that You would draw him to Yourself, reveal Your truth to him, and bring him to salvation through Jesus alone. Teach us both to find all we need in Christ, in whom are hidden all treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In Jesus name, amen.
