Chapter 32 The Arrogance of Stupid 2025, Happy New Year!
In the hit film of 1994, Forest Gump, played by Tom Hanks, there is a great line in that movie, “Momma always said, stupid is as stupid does.” Well, a lot of truth to that. We will talk about it this fine morning, before the new year of 2026.
1 Corinthians 1:3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I learned very early on that “stupid is stupid” and you can’t do anything with it. Not only can’t you do anything with a person who wants to be stupid, you’ll notice that stupid thinks it’s brilliant. I learned that from myself, I remember how smart I was in all of my stupidest memories.
1 Peter 1:13 – “Therefore, get your minds ready for action, being self-disciplined, and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Stupid doesn’t know it’s stupid. That may or may not be true, a better way to say it might be, stupid doesn’t care about right, wrong, good or bad, only absolute stupid. That’s very important to know. Stupid thinks it is powerful, brilliant, self-contained, superior, exceptional, talented, influential, skillful — it is none of these. Stupid is extraordinarily dangerous, destructive and it will, left unchecked cause definitive catastrophic horrific long term damage, personally, emotionally, spiritually, medically, financially, and mentally. It is unwavering, stubborn, incompetent to a sinister end and most of all disobedient to God, easily in the name of God as if God himself has backed, supported and confirmed a stupid idea, concept or direction of such “cliff jumping into oblivion.”
2 Timothy 4:4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
Stupid has no problem replacing good sense, responsible thinking or God with stupid. “Common sense is not so common and stupid is very, very, very expensive.” Fools are put to shame by idols and their own lack of understanding. People ruin their lives through foolish choices, often becoming angry at God for the results. In the Bible, “stupidity” is primarily referred to as foolishness or folly. Rather than just a lack of intelligence, it is described as a moral and spiritual failure to live according to God’s wisdom. The consequences of such behavior are wide-ranging, affecting an individual’s personal life, social standing (we all know how important that is to every one of us), and eternal destiny. (Might want to think about that a little more)
All will be tested, all given a choice to overcome, all of us given a chance to be “extraordinary.” Will I stand firm and take direction or will I choose “arrogant stupid” over extraordinary?
2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.
We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.
Benjamin Franklin
Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The arrogance of stupid’s attributes: Dissension, division, distortion of the facts, disrespect, disdain, disorder, disagreement, dishonor, dishonesty, dereliction of duty.
Galatians 6:7 “Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant.
Unfortunately, stupid does not want God to intervene. Negligence, immaturity, indignation, jealousy, contempt, and shame are the high points and the yield of stupid, however arrogance trumps them all. Oh yes, arrogance is the coach, giving all character flaws permission to exceed failure in all levels of comprehensive life.
—Jeremiah 7:24 “But my people would not listen to me. They kept doing whatever they wanted, following the stubborn desires of their evil hearts. They went backward instead of forward.”
Hebrews 5:11c You have become dull of hearing.
Transversely, winners are willing to take a path uncomfortable, inconvenient, pushing through challenge and frustration. Learning, diligently continuing the hard road, Faith that God is doing His good work within you. This scripture outlines the directives of winners.
Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Man has been trying to undermine or replace God since the beginning. There is many examples, however today I pick Europe during the years between 1685-1730, a most arrogant superiority mind-set questioned traditional authority, (The Age of Enlightenment is was called), embracing the notion that humanity could be improve through rational change, i.e., without the silly notion of God. The American and French Revolutions were directly inspired by it. Didn’t work, none of it. People went right back to their old intolerant ways of doing things and not one of us today, could find a single person, to quote any information from the pages of these written works. None of it, not a single word or author’s name does anybody remember because it was all totally irrelevant. Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes, Renee Descartes, Galileo, Kepler and Leibniz. Recognize those names? Probably not, maybe a couple. Do you know what they represent? Each one copiously explaining the human condition, how to improve it and how to live, not one scripture mentioned. End result? Didn’t work. We’re still the same stupid people. Again, not one quote does anyone remember from any of it. Isaac Newton published “Principia Mathematica” (1686) and John Locke his “Essay Concerning Human Understanding” (1689), two works that provided the scientific, mathematical and philosophical toolkit for mankind’s opportunity for major advances. Still the same stupid snobbish view, lost to history, not one lesson learned, couldn’t recite one word of it.
Romans 11:22 Therefore consider the goodness ———- and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.
That scripture I will remember, not an exclusive club, rather the Word of truth. Insurrection against truth is the norm, it causes great stupid, great pain. Without knowledge, competent clear knowledge, accountability, wisdom and undeniable Truth in the Word — there is only…
“Ignorance — that is my name without Him who made me.”
Revolt against yourself my friends, and evolve.
Revolution/Evolution.
—2 Peter 1:5–9 “In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.”
All I have is the experiences of God in my life, that is my testimony and that is historical evidence. That is what Jesus directs me to share. After Jesus healed a man from demon possession that man wanted to go with Jesus, but Jesus said no, there are more important things for you to do.
Mark 5:19 Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”
**When I believe I know it all, when I believe I’m better than you, when I believe you think you’re better than me, when I believe that what I believe is above and beyond what anybody else could think, when I believe anything that is not truth, stupid will prevail as the awesome most powerful emotion I’ve ever felt and with such a feeling I will rise above all authority, and I will feel empowered by it.
1 Samuel 15:23For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from being king.”
When too smart, too busy, to incredibly stupid to take the time to read and understand the bible and the Word, the Truth it brings, instead of looking to mankind for answers, there are things about the bible that should be quite contrary to stupid. 2,500 prophecies appear in the pages of the Bible, about 2,000 have already happened, fulfilled to the letter—no errors. No errors!
The odds for all 2000 prophecies to be fulfilled by chance “without error” is less than one in 10 to the 2000th power, 1 with 2,000 zeros written after it! It’s the only book that tells the future, and has been verified by the past and the present. Science and archeology have been catching up with the Bible since the beginning of the book.
Charles Spurgeon is quoted as saying: “Many books in my library are now behind and beneath me; I read them years ago, with considerable pleasure; I have read them since, with disappointment; I shall never read them again, for they are of no service to me. They were good in their way once, and so were the clothes I wore when I was ten years old; but I have outgrown them, I know more than these books know, and know wherein they are faulty. Nobody ever outgrows Scripture; the book widens and deepens with our years.”
The Arrogance of Stupid. Thinking that book is outdated, thinking teachers and situations the Lord has sent is beneath current knowledge, that the direction and guiding of the Holy Spirit is truly replaced by self, the direction of God within; irrelevant. Belief in personal gratitude, self will, comfort, a number of self-help concoctions, these are..stupid’s surgical kill shot of God’s destiny in a Traveler’s life. Wants and desire, a bear trap, ensnare of stupid.
Proverbs 5:23 For lack of discipline they will die, led astray by their own great folly.
Do we really need to ask what this has to do with our business? Really? Believing I can fly off of a 90 story building and as I fall, confirmed in my thinking, because what I see, as I fall, is a nice view, and what I feel, as I fall, is a cool refreshing breeze. Leave stupid alone. Stupid is not short sighted or far sighted, it’s hyper focus, clear, accurate direction and with strong purpose. It is without God, common sense, knowledge or wisdom and damn proud of it. At this point the host is lost and only prayer can save the best of us because we are determined in our stupid. God, I pray to open the eyes of any of us before we hit the cement.
Leviticus 10:10 that you may distinguish between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean.
Without some divine intervention, there is no hope for the arrogance of stupid that I have seen, it has and will take a traveler to the end of his or her time. It is a choice made clear by the perpetrator, and through sheer stubborn the awful end of it will be carried through to complete.
Avoid Them: Stay away from foolish people as you gain no knowledge from them (Proverbs 14:7).
Don’t Engage: Don’t try to explain things to them; they don’t care for discourse (Proverbs 18:2).
Self-Destruction: Fools are slain by their own waywardness and destroyed by their complacency (Proverbs 1:32).
Misery & Terror: They call for wisdom when trouble strikes, but God won’t answer; they find pain and misery (Proverbs 1:28-31).
Proverbs 4:7 The beginning of wisdom is this: Get[a] wisdom.
Though it cost all you have,[b] get understanding.
Chapter 32 The Arrogance of Stupid 2025 Happy New Year, let’s try and keep it that way.
Amen
