Preface:
This article may be a little longer than usual, but Reader, methinks you will benefit greatly from the instruction this article puts forth. This article deals with how a Christ-ian should treat an individual that is part of an institution that hates and rages against God and is God’s enemy.
Reader,
Have you come face to face with an obvious abomination and know not what to do or how to act or even how to feel?  Have you then thought later, ” I should of…” Considerate Reader we present to you an article that will (DV) answer these questions. We believe you will glean a spirit of liberty and freedom from what this article says, as this article puts forth the Word of God.
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“I hate them that hate [T]hee.”  (Part of a Psalm)

“Love thine enemy…”  (Matthew 5)

WHAT???!!!  “Which way do I go? Which way do I go?”

 

“I can’t understand the Bible.”  “There are too many contradictions in the Bible.”  “I just don’t get it.”  “It’s too confusing.”  “We’re not suppose to read the Bible ourselves, we need a priest to interpret it for us.”  “It just doesn’t make any sense to me.”  “That’s your interpretation.”

Christ-ian reader,
Say Amen if you’ve every heard any of these comments before. If you speak often about your faith you may have heard many or all of the above.  Sometimes the person saying them really believes what they say and sometimes it be an excuse. In fact, you may have even uttered one of these at some point in your pre-Christ-ian life.

In out titles above and in our text above there is reason to say, “I just don’t understand it.” In one part of Scripture we find King David saying he hates all them that hate God. Yet we find Christ saying we are to love our enemies!!!”  Reader, which be true?  Are we to hate them that hate God and love our enemies?  Are those that hate God our enemies? Can we love those that hate God”  We might say with King David, All of this is too wonderful for me.  We might even say all of this is above my pay grade.   Could we agree with David and disagree with David’s Son?  Can we agree with Christ and disagree with David?  Aren’t they both in God’s word?  Isn’t all of God’s Word true?

If you are confused please allow you friendly neighborhood Preatureman to come to your aid.  We can believe both and we can do both.  We are completely and utterly against the gay agenda, we could not stand any firmer against it. We know persons in this movement. Yet we bear  no grudge against any of them, no, not one…no, not one.  We drive past every so often a “gay-church.”  Our ire rises and we shake our head.  Yet we hate not one of those men or women or man-women or women-man inside.

We shop at a store where a man is dressed as a women, he wears eye make up and paints his finger nails to match.  This man’s voice is very deep and this man is very friendly.  I have no harsh feelings toward him and I do not think he has any against me. Yet if he were to ask me what my opinion is on the gay agenda I would tell him I abhor it and stand against it with every fibre of my being.  If he asked me how I feel about him I would tell him I bear him no ill feelings and i love him as my neighbor. Normally, however, when a person of his association finds out that I am a preacher, their ire is heightened and I become an enemy immediately.

Reader, does this make sense to you or do you feel as though you are betraying and denying Christ if you show kindness to a person that is an associate of an enemy of God?  You should not.  I know, depending on what camp you run with how you would feel about this doctrine.  If you are of the fundementalist camp, you view those in league with the gay agenda an enemy just as you do anyone that thinks differently than you. Do not deny my statement.  If you are a Christ-ian of great age, you might even feel uncomfortable with this doctrine.   If you are a super saint, I know you feel the same way as the fundementalist.

Let me give you some examples of this doctrine in play.  With whom did Christ eat? Did He not eat and drink with sinners and yet remain holy and unchargeable of any sin?  One need not read the Gospels very long to see the animosity Christ had toward the Pharisee and that the Pharisee felt no love loss with Christ.  Yet, Reader, In John three (3) who do we find coming to Christ at night?  Was it not a Pharisee, Nicodemas?  Was their exchange and engagement not friendly, do we not see our Lord and our Example showing kindness and love to this man who associated closely with Christ’s chiefest enemies? Reader, methinks yes.  Who do we find later in the Gospels defending our Master when the Pharisee desire Christ’s death, was it not Nicodemas? Who was it that desired Christ’s Body after the crucifixion? Was it not Nicodemas and Joseph of Arimathea?

Reader, let me give you another example. Paul, in his letters to Rome and Corinth, did he not speak strongly against the gay life style?  The gay lifestyle ran rampant in Rome and Corinth. Yet we find Paul including the gay person in his first (1st) letter to Corinth saying, “and such were some of you.”  Do you think for a second that gay persons were brought to the Christ-ian faith and repented from their sin because Paul was hateful to them individually?

Do you not think that these individual gay persons came to Paul asking, “What must I do to be saved?”  Was Paul’s instructions any different to these persons than it was to the Philippian jailor?   Do you not think Paul said to these, convicted by the Spirit, “Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved?” Paul needed not tell these gay persons to repent for repentance and the goodness of God brought them to repentance already and now their repentance brought them to a desire to believe?  Praise God.

Allow me to explain this doctrine in a personal way.  I have used this before and we will probably use it many more times.  Let us say a gay pride parade was marching down your street. It is an extremely hot and humid day.  You are about to explode from anger.  Then you notice a marcher falls from heat exhaustion in front of your home.  “What do you do?”  “What do you do?” A. You let them lay there and possibly suffer great injury and think to yourself, “Well, if s/he was not marching in this abomination to God, s/he would not be in this predicament.”  2. Do you run out there and pull the person from the street, get a glass of water or a hose and tell your husband or wife to call 911?  What do you do.

I hope the answer is most obvious.  If you answered number one (1), you need as much forgiveness as the gay person!!!  You are being most wicked and you have a great beam in thine eye.  Are you truly a Christ-ian?  If you answered number two (2), Good answer.  You can hate everything this person stands for and still show this person Christ-like love. What did Christ do when the woman, caught in the very act of adultery, do?? Need I even remind you?  If you answered number one (1) you are one (1) of the men Christ rebuked.  If you answered two (2) you are the Christ-figure.  Praise God for the Spirit that indwells you, leads you, drives you, and directs you.

How should a Christ-ian respond if a gay person resists you and your kindness and shows only contempt for your faith?  The sad truth is, many if not most of the time, the gay person will show contempt as soon as they learn of your faith in Christ.  I have experienced this many times. To be true, however, the person need not be of the gay agenda.

I have had kind exchanges with many a stranger and as soon as I wish them God’s blessings or Godspeed, a wall goes up and their facial expression changes in a twinkling of an eye.  It as though they have become a different person. This is because i have become a different person, I have changed from a nice customer or a nice guy, to the enemy of their soul.  I have tried to pay for a fellow customers items but as soon as I say it is because of the Lord’s goodness and provisions to me, they refuse my kindness.  Others, are pleased and tell me thank you and promise to pass on the kindness.  Do I resent those that refuse my or rather God’s kindness?  Not at all. Dogs bark and Cats meow and God-haters hate.

When the rich young ruler came to Christ seeking to be a disciple and ultimately refused Christ’s precepts and walked away, did Christ resent him?  No, we are told Christ loved the young man.  Reader, If you are to become Christ-like at Christ’s return, it begins here and it begins yesterday!!!  Reader, Love thy enemy, pray for them and bless them that hate you and curse you.

Reader, I know this may not come easily and it may not come fast.  I know that there are many beilievers that are loved of Christ and know not how to respond to those in the gay agenda.  And let me be clear, I know the gay agenda is evil and must be opposed at every turn. I also know the Catholic church must be opposed at every turn but I also know we can be Christ-like when engaging individuals from these institutions. We all know persons from the liberal mindset and we abhor everything they stand for but are we not kind and loving to those with in out own families that are of this ilk?  I hope so.

Did Christ not hate SIN and yet eat with sinners?  What does one (1) do when one is face to face with a beligerrent homosexual, liberal, atheist or any other enemy of God?  Do we have to smile and show kindness and act sweet to them as they attack righteousness and the greatness of our God?  Of course not.

When I practised jiu jitsu, my opponents knew I was a Christ-ian, I had a Christ-ian patch on my Gi, they knew I was a preacher, they knew I was their friend.  My opponent also knew I had plans to separate their head from their body or rip their shoulder from their rotator cuff.  Not literally of course, but they knew I was going to come at them with all my knowledge and my technique, after all i was, the “Technician”…..no kidding!, I was called that.  I was not interested in the ground and pound style, though I was well versed in it, I chose the slow, mental, and methodical aspect of tying my opponent up in to a human pretzel.

Do you see my point, reader?  My opponent and I would go after each other….ON THE MAT.  However, after we fought…let’s be honest, after I won….. (I’m kidding, no I’m not, or am I) my opponent…my defeated opponent would shake hands and hug.  I felt no grudge, anger, hard feelings or any negative feeling toward them and neither did they toward me. This is how one (1) deals with an enemy of Christ, whether it be an atheist, a liberal, or a homosexual.  When we step foot on the mat, make no bones about it, they are stepping on that mat or entering that cage also…they are thinking the same thing you are. When the bell rings, you engage them with everything you’ve got, you pull your sword, (I know I’m mixing metaphors) that is always sharp and whetted, but clean from your last battle with eight hundred (800), from it’s sheath and you take up your shield that is always present, you put on your righteous armour that is to be worn on your right hand and your left and you go for the kill!!!

The Spiritual, the Logical, the moral and truthful kill belongs to you. You share that victory with no one, except….EXCEPT… He Who delivered your foe into your hands.  We wrestle not against flesh and blood, we wrestle not against the vessel that is fitted to God’s wrath and God’s utter destruction, but we DO, we WILL (DV) wrestle those powers and principalities as they be robed in flesh and blood.  We seek to spill no man’s blood but we seek to empty the spiritual power’s and pricipality’s of every ounce of black blood that is in them. We seek to take the head from the giant and present it before God as a cat brings the dead rat to his master as a gift and to show honour, loyalty and respect!!!

BUT once the enemy of Christ is vanquished or the bell sounds, due the the time limit expiring, both competitors, both combatants look upon one another, they nod in respect, they shake hands and they depart.  One (1) giving glory to self, SIN, and (s)atan and one (1) giving all praise and glory to God, laying his crown of victory and the head of the giant of militant unbelief before the Feet of Christ, our Master, our Lord, our One and Only Saviour, our Example, our Captain, our Champion, our Trainer, our Spiritual and predestinated End.

One does not walk away thinking, “I sure told him,” or thinking “a mighty warrior am I” or “I know so much.”  No! nyet! No! No! No! One walks away thinking, saying, and meaning, Glory be to God for it is He Who has “taught my fingers to fight and my hands to war.”  One (1) walks away thinking, saying, and meaning, O’ God! O’ my God, O’ God of my Strength and my Salvation, If it please Thee, cause all my thrusts, and swings and blows, my strikes, my hits, my poundings, allow all my attacks and strategic assaults be used for Thine Own Glory and the conversion of Your, our enemy.”  It is a high form of love when one (1) prays for an enemy; God inclines His ears to these prayers.

In war, one captain can respect and honour the enemy captain’s strategy while seeking his defeat and the destruction of his nation.

It is to be noted, unless one (1) be inhabited by God, Who is a “[M]an of war,” in the Spirit of Christ, the Prince of Peace, one (1) cannot even begin to be the person I’m writing about and writing to, and writing for.

Godspeed.