A Study Of Hate, Part #2

A Study Of Hate, Part #2

The Reality of Hate and Love

Psalms 139:21-22  Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies. Proverbs 8:13  The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.

Standing in the shadows of the church, I was engaged in a very animated conversation with a church member.  Being the victim of an ongoing slander campaign, I spoke with the righteous indignation of a God fearing person concerning my hatred for busy bodies, people who lie and spread false rumors.  My conversation was overheard by a minister who joining in the conversation, I was informed that, contrary to what I had read in the scripture, Christians don’t hate.   As he explained it, “we can hate the sin, but we must love the person”.   The conversation began as nothing more than me venting my frustration in search of a word of support from the household of faith.  Now the conversation was taking me down that road of deliberate confusion.    He further stated that whether a person is a sinner or not it is not for us to judge.  Joining in the conversation, another church member gave the new age testimony of the 'justification of sin'.  “But here's the thing all of it is sin no matter what. I'm not GOD and I'm not judging anyone. As a Christian my job is to love everyone. No sin is greater than the other.”  The smugness of this speaker from out of town seem to indicate that something profound had been stated.  I, like many others who are searching for the true knowledge of God, was not impressed.   For me the conversation digressed into confusing and  irrelevant statements.  To me the statements were like saying, “I love Dr Pepper, but I hate the taste”.  This was my first contact with the religious community toning down its rhetoric in preparation of the governments attack on hate.  In the years that followed I became more aware of the shifting and inconsistent nature of the church.  Cute phrases such as, “don’t hate on me” and “only God can judge” was becoming in vogue.   Both of these phrases seem to have been based upon a shaped  interpretation of the scripture.  

Shaped interpretations of the scripture consist of surgically removing certain words or phrases from a verse, separating it from the supporting scripture, then presenting them as a complete thought.  The scripture, then can reinterpreted to fit the narrative of the speaker.  Thus, sin becomes justifiable, because God loves us and love covers a multitude of faults.  Shaped doctrines have appeared, such as once in Christ, you are never out or even Christ died for my sins, therefore I am free to sin.  Shaped interpretations of the scripture have left many standing by the roadside of despair, waiting for God to deliver a car. 

One of the strangest realities of this modern society is that very little can be said without it being analyzed and declared either “judging” or “hate speech”.   There are those souls standing ready to analyze the words of others based upon their perspective.  They are insulted and resort to name calling if the speaker's rhetoric does not fit within their agenda.  The question of how is it possible to arrive at  the conclusion that a person is judging without first judging, or that a message is hate without hating the message, this does not appear to be a consideration.  

The cauldron of hate is constantly being added to and stirred by the so-called activist of political correctness and leaders of ethnic communities.  Each one is seeking to advance their own agenda.  The freedom of speech for the majority is being infringed upon, and in many venues no longer exist.  This in itself is the greatest producer of hate.  It’s no longer acceptable to voice your opinion, nor is it acceptable to quote scriptures unless they has been shaped to fit the accepted narrative or the minority's agenda.  A minister preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, calling out the sins of humanity is subjected to name calling, which in itself is a reversed form of hate speech.

There are new age messages in and out of the church that proclaim the Bible teaches us that it is wrong to judge, or that only God can judge.  The same holds true with hate.  A careful reading of the scripture fails miserably to validate these arguments, at the risk of being redundant, certain words or phrases are surgically removed from verses and supporting scripture and then presented as a complete thought.  Matthew 7:1  Judge not, that ye be not judged: requires the reading and study of the fifth, six and seventh chapters of Matthew to understand the context of the message, and who was he talking to and what was he talking about.  The same holds true with Matthew 7:7.  There are many who have the false belief that they can ask God for any of their fleshly desires or wants and he will give it to them.  If we allow the evidence to speak, based upon the knowledge of God and the Gospel of the Kingdom, the question should be, “why did we get it wrong”.  Do we not know that there is the fruit of the spirit and there are the works of the flesh.  As far as judging maybe we should contend to understand Corinthians 6:2;  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 

Spiritually speaking, there is a love that is evil and there is a hatred that is good.  There are positive and negative aspects of hatred the same as there is with love.  Therefore is it acceptable to hate those things that God hates?  Indeed, this is very much a proof of a right standing with God. “Let those who love the Lord hate evil” (Psalm 97:10a).  Hate existed long before the creation of man.  It first came into fruition when the devil rebelled against God.  In the garden, it existence and influence was contained within the knowledge of good and evil, it was restrained by the knowledge of God.  There are different definitions of hate the same as there is with love.   Hate that is defined according to the knowledge of good and evil is bad, but hate that conforms to the knowledge of God should be considered good.   It could be augured that the problems of humanity began when man lost his hatred for the Devil.

Proverbs 6:16-19  These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:  A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,  an heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.  These verses tend to zero in on God’s hatred.  Hate is a taboo subject when referencing the attributes of God.  God is a Good of love therefore he does not hate us is the accepted interpretation of the scripture. Even a preacher who preached, "God hate you", would find himself in trouble with the organized church.

In a contemporary society that embraces the knowledge of good and evil, it also seeks to create a society free of hate.  This is an impossible task, since hate and love must exist as opposites until the emergence of the new heaven and new earth.  Man can only redefined love and hate to allow for the justification of that which was once considered a sin.  The message of salvation becomes a message of hate.  John the Baptist preaching, “ye generation of viper…”, in today’s society is reaffirmed as a hate message.  If in the contempt of God, a type of hate was exercised by Lucifer, it is also fitting that in contempt of the devil a certain type of Godly hatred must also exist.   For the sakes of offending many, hate is a part of our DNA.  Solomon referred to its existence when he stated that there was a time to hate. In the Old Testament there are many instances where God expressed his hatred of those who did not fear him.  In Psalms 139:22, David expressed his contempt, “I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.”  Psalms 97:10  Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.  Based upon the scripture references there is a perfect or godly hate that is of the spirit and there is a hatred that is of the flesh.  In a politically correct society hate is redefined and irrelevant laws are instituted to control it, and the church must perform the daunting task of separate the person from his evil ways.  Imagine a judge in a court of law struggling to punish the crime without punishing the person.

Churches have become big business, basting in grants and  subsidies from the government. The churches that accepted this handout from the government found themselves amending the gospel, to adhere to the guidelines set forth by the government.  Little by little the Gospel of the Kingdom is  is being replaced by the gospel of the world.  Christianity is now being redefined as a religion of hate.   Christianity, the church and America have been made ashamed of their bloody past.  These entities have allowed themselves to become hijacked and become embroiled in useless struggles seeking to  prove that the base of their  existence is free from hatred and violence.

There is a type of spiritual blindness that prevents man from accepting the existence of the God of Abraham or embracing the knowledge of God.   The knowledge of good and evil provides a platform for the devil to do his works, it also allows man to deny the existence of God.  The knowledge of God provided for the singular mission of God, thus God’s first command to man was to  subdue the earth and have dominion over it.  The test of a man’s commitment was to love God and hate the devil.  Kill and destroy was the command given to the Kings and Judges whose mission was to establish a new nation for his chosen people.  

There is a vast difference between the God given knowledge and the knowledge of good and evil.  The knowledge of good and evil is often translated to include the ability to know the difference between good and evil, but this is not true.  Sometime the English translation can be misleading. The knowledge of good and evil does not differentiate between what is good and what is evil; these guidelines can only be established through the knowledge of God.  The knowledge of good and evil combine that which is evil with that which good.  As this knowledge, increase that which was evil become good and that which was good become evil.