“If anger lasts too long, it may become hatred. Anger inflames the eye, but hatred blinds it. If love is life, hatred is death. Perhaps you ran into people who were furious with you. What lasting harm could they do to you? In their rage they threaten to. kill the body, but by hating them you have killed the soul. They have killed the body of another in anger; in hating them you have killed your own soul.” Augustine, Commentary on Psalm 54.7
There are two types of hate in Scripture. Luke 14:26 defines one kind when Jesus, who is teaching His disciples said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.” Jesus is saying that In order to be His disciple, we must be willing to give up everything because He requires commitment and faithfulness. But if, for instance, our parents choose not to follow the Lord, and perhaps even want nothing to do with us because we are Christians, then we must choose Christ, not our parents. It’s in this sense that, although we love our parents, we are “hating” them.
Included in Jesus’ teaching is that we must also hate our own life. Here, hatred means self-denial, absolute surrender, and the necessity of carrying our own cross. (Matthew 16:24)
The first kind of hate is actually a form of rejection while the second often develops out of anger, hostility, or perhaps aversion. If we hold onto any of these emotional reactions they can lead to hatred, which is lack of love. Hatred destroys the love that is the life of the soul. Love is what makes us truly human. It is only through loving that we are able to lead a truly human life in this world and then eventually enjoy eternal life in paradise restored. Love is the opposite of hate, which is lovelessness. While love draws us toward our beloved, making us value him or her for all of the good that they are and making us want to be united to them, hatred makes us revile them, distance ourselves from them, and wish they no longer existed because without love our hearts grow cold: “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” Matthew 24:12
Hatred and lawlessness are acts of the sinful flesh: “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” Galatians 5: 19-25
The New Testament defines sin as lawlessness: “Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.” 1 John 3:4
The lawless are all who knowingly and willfully rebel against the laws of God and man. These are people who hate, defy, and pervert the law. Their wills are turned toward wickedness and their hearts to ‘self.’ They desire to invent their own laws, be their own ‘god,’ and follow their own way. With their fists raised In defiance they cry out, “not God’s will, but my will be done!” Like Lucifer, who desired his own will rather than God’s will (Isaiah 14:12-14) the lawless of our own time want their own “will to be done” rather than God’s .
When a society, such as our own, defies and perverts the law, lawlessness and confusion are the results, and hatred, envy, murderous thoughts, oppression, lying, sexual perversion, sexualization of children, thievery, violence, confusion, and chaos ensue. The time of the judges after Joshua’s death was much like our own: “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit” (Judges 21:25).
Today our land is a boiling pot of hatred, thoughts of murder, and lawlessness. Hatred is fire from hell that enflames many souls from the highest corridors of power and influence on down to the meanest streets. There is virulent hatred of Jesus Christ. Then there is the hatred and death wishing of Luciferian Globalists for all mankind. At the national level lawless Democrats and their followers hate our nation, Donald Trump, MAGA, the middle-class, white straight males, Conservatives, Christians, and Jews and wish for their death. Hatred even enflames the souls of certain Christians who celebrate Hamas but hate Jews, want them dead, and Israel destroyed.
All who hate, including Christians who hate, do not walk by the Spirit but the flesh: “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.” 1 John 3: 14-15
Those who hate will be subject to the same judgment as those who murder: “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment” Matthew 5: 21-22
Let us go to our Lord in prayer:
Lord Jesus, your faithful children come before You today burdened with sorrow over the hatred, lawlessness, death wishing and violence that plagues our land. Lord we plead for Your divine intervention. Please Lord, cleanse all evil from hardened hearts enflamed by hate and death-wishing and give them soft hearts overflowing with Your enduring peace, goodness, and love. Be the hope and strength of Your children Lord, and uphold us that we may be bearers of Your divine light in the darkness and evils of our land. In your mercy, grace, and love lies our hope. In the name of our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen
2024@SpiritedIrish
A hearty AMEN! May His Everlasting Light shine on one and all.