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“God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.” Psalm 7-11.This commentary is sure to get some religious folk storming into the aisle.
The “God is love” only crowd is sure to have a conniption, but that will not dissuade me from speaking the truth. As I often like to tell anyone who will listen, there are a lot of things that we believe are in the Bible that just are not so. There is nothing as dangerous as having an unbalanced view of Almighty God.
“Trust, but verify,” was the term that Ronald Reagan coined in regards to his dealings with the Russians and I think we would do well to apply the same litmus test to those assigned the task of “teaching” us…both secular and sacred. To paraphrase The Gipper, “The problem with my Christians friends is not that they are misinformed but that so much of what they believe simply is not true.”
That’s Christians I am referring to. Most have a difficult time distinguishing between truth and fiction because they have failed to read the Word for themselves and have chosen to be spoon-fed by the “six-foot icicle” that they call Pastor.
God is love alright, the Bible does tell us that, but that is not all He is. In this nicer-than-Jesus era in which we live today many Christians are completely unaware that God displays hated. That’s right. God hates. In fact, He is really good at it. Psalm 139 tells us that WE should be great at it as well.
When was the last time you heard a sermon on that one? “Do not I hate them, O LORD that hate thee?”
When were you last exhorted to hate? I thought God loved everybody and everything. Are you surprised to discover that God hates? “Ye that love the LORD, hate evil.” Are you taught to hate evil?
You don’t have to dig very deeply into the Bible to find a plethora of things that God hates. Permit me to share just a few with you. God hates:
• False oaths (Zechariah 8:17)
• The wicked (Psalm 11:5)
• Those who love violence (Psalm 11:5)
• The froward [perverse] (Proverbs 3:32)
• A proud look (Proverbs 6:16-17)
• A lying tongue (Proverbs 6:17)
• Hands that shed innocent blood (Proverbs 6:17)
• A heart that devises wicked imaginations (Proverbs 6:18)
• Feet that are swift in running to mischief (Proverbs 6:18)
• A false witness who speaks lies (Proverbs 6:19)
• Anyone who sows discord among brethren (Proverbs 6:19)
• Lying lips (Proverbs 12:22)
• The sacrifices of the wicked (Proverbs 15:8)
• The ways of the wicked (Proverbs 15:9)
• God hated Esau (Malachi 1:1-3)
I’m sure there are more. I hate to shake you up, but the Bible speaks much more about the things God hates than it does the things that God loves.
I look around at all of the wicked things that are going on in America and I find myself nearly apoplectic at how disinterested most Christians are in regard to the unrestrained evil advancing in every area of this once-moral nation. For the most part, the Church has lost its saltiness and wicked folks are driving the bus.
The Bible tells us that the “fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” The Church no longer fears the Lord. They preach a message of love and acceptance when Christ’s message was one of exclusivity. All are welcome at His table. But it is HIS table and you must come on HIS terms. Evil will not sit in the presence of the Lord.
The Christian God is a God of exclusion, not inclusion. “I am the way, I am the Truth, I am the life, NO ONE comes to the Father EXCEPT THROUGH ME.” Straight is the gate and NARROW is the way... and few find it.
Hebrews 10:31-32 says that “For we know Him that hath said, ‘Vengeance belongeth unto Me, I will recompense,’ saith the Lord.”
And again, “The Lord shall judge His people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
Everyone knows Jesus loves them. I hear it on the streets all the time. But I rarely hear the FEAR of God preached to the lost. Fear God and flee evil. That is the Gospel message needed today. “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” Ecclesiastes 12:13.
To teach ONLY that God is love is to teach only part of the story. Almighty God is a God of love and a God of wrath. Wise men fear Him. It is the fear of the Lord that drives men to Christ. Proverbs 16:6.
“Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”
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