Sunday Message: On Hate

I was woke up from a nap Saturday by Laurie telling me the tragic news- a man had come into a celebration of life and brought death- had come into a celebration of love and brought hate.

I could say my initial thought process was compromised because I was waking up, but I will not.  I will say it was just as tragic because it was.


First thought:  Like the "bombs" this week, or the caravan in Mexico, another fakery for political gain.  What kind of game are they playing now?

Second thought:  What manner of terrorist this time?  Who do we direct our anger to?

Third thought:  Which direction will the media go to spin this against the President, because as we all know, he IS responsible for the dead squirrel on your street, the bird that dropped a load on your car, and the heartbreak of psoriasis.


I staggered into the bathroom, shook off the mid-afternoon cobwebs and said, "Chris, wait a minute."


Eleven innocent people dead.  Several injured including the brave law-enforcement officers who stopped the maniac- and the still-breathing maniac himself.  THESE should have been my first three thoughts.


I could give myself points for how quickly I recovered.  I will not.

I have allowed myself to be infected by the hate that is eating away everything and anything we hold dear.  The concept, as Dennis Miller put it, that "if we disagree, we are enemies."  Buffeted by the thought process (being charitable) of those who look for ways to preach their political hate in every circumstance, I instinctively pushed back with the same hate.   Where's the lie?  Which Hollywood so-called celebrity will blame you-know-who first?

Who do I punch/slander/spit venom at?


And that hate is easy to justify (as Paul would say, here I am speaking as a fool to make a point).  Why, look how the shooter did it!  He built it, by his words, around John 8:44:

42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. 43 Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 


From that, even though Jesus was speaking only to a SPECIFIC GROUP- the Pharisees- this man concocted that ALL Jews are children of the Devil.  To do that, he had to use this verse as an anchor to many false assumptions.  Among those were that a local Jewish charity involved in the settling and care of immigrants were "bringing in the people who will destroy us."  Never mind that they were only helping out people who were already being brought in by a government policy.  And that, of course, didn't bother him because he believed that the government, INCLUDING the President, was part of a vast Jewish globalist conspiracy.

Oh, and he was of course a holocaust denier.  Ticking off all the boxes of hate and stupidity.  Calling those he murdered "oven dodgers".


I want you to consider this- a mind so full of hate that he would gladly put Jews into ovens can't believe that someone did it BEFORE him.  This is why they say a mind is "twisted" by hate- in a single coil, they can have completely opposite logics face each other in apparent agreement.

Not a place I want to be.


So, I prayed.  Of course for the people that went through this tragic idiocy.  And for, as I do every day, the LEOs who put their lives at hazard each and every day, including the ones who worked this crime.

And for the shooter.  He still lives, and instead of joining the mob pushing him towards his own personal "oven", we should remember- where there is breath, there is hope.  A convicted felon who moments before was joining the crowd in insulting Christ came to faith in his last moments.  It is NOT for me to judge who God will or will not save, only to pray for that salvation.


But the hardest group to pray for are those who immediately rose to battle on social media- the majority of which were finding "new and exciting" ways to pin everything on the President and his followers.  Even the fact that he moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem- showing far more support for the Jewish people than that lot will EVER muster- is, like with the shooter, twisted.  "If he hadn't moved the Embassy, he wouldn't have made THESE Jews in the US a target."

And personally, I know a Jew who, if he skulks over to read this post, will say of me, "This post PROVES that you LOVE Trump, and if you love Trump, you HATE the Jews.  Because that's what Christians do."


Lord, a few years back, John Lennon wrote the words, "But if you're collecting for people with minds that hate/ all I can tell you is, 'Buddy you'll have to wait' ".  But that cannot be what WE do- what I do.  "Buddy" can't wait- he needs prayed for, now.  He needs to just once, get up in the morning and see Your beautiful dawn and the glory of Your creation.  He needs to look at the wonder of a little child, the cuteness of a kitty, the loyalty of his dog, the majesty of the ocean, a mountain.  He needs to see Your hand in all things, and release- reject- that hate.  Do not wait for Him, Lord, but come to Him, break his chains, present him- even if he has rejected it 1,000 times- the Choice.