Home » Authors » Garner Ted Armstrong » The Religion of Hate

The Religion of Hate

image_pdfimage_print

“For God SO LOVED the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life,” says God’s Word. “God IS LOVE,” wrote John. The primary attributes of God’s Holy Spirit are “love, joy, peace.” Yet, millions of people in the world around us, and all too often some who believe they are converted Christians, are filled with HATE! Why? What is the cause of hate? How is it that “religious” people can hate others so fervently? Why do those who profess belief in God seem to be the ones who are possessed with virulent hatred? How can someone shout out, “God is great!” while triggering a bomb which will blow innocent victims to bits?

When Timothy McVeigh blasted the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City into rubble, shattering the bodies of one hundred sixty-eight innocent men, women, and children, maiming and seriously injuring dozens more, the entire United States was in a state of shock. Surely, I thought, in the early hours following the bombing, it had to be the work of terrorists from the Mideast—from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, or perhaps Libya?

But no, millions of Americans were astonished to learn it had been the work of Americans, and one of them a “war hero” from the Gulf War, at that! Even following the conviction of McVeigh in Denver, the public was left with very little in the way of an explanation for such a horrible act. How could anyone be so filled with vicious hatred that he would coldly and deliberately plan out and follow through with such a murderous act, blasting to bits dozens of human beings he had never met, including precious little children playing in a day school, merely to “make a point” of some kind? What tortured, satanic, twisted reasoning could remotely justify such a cowardly, brutal act?

Scraps of evidence were offered as his motive—all of it circumstantial: McVeigh had read a book that was a virtual blueprint for blowing up a federal building. He had been “upset” over the burning of David Koresh’s compound near Waco. He had been angered by the infamous Ruby Ridge incident. Most terrorists are only too willing to “take credit” for their hideous attacks upon innocent victims, either by statements given to the media, or anonymous telephone calls informing the police that this or that terrorist group—from the IRA to Hizballah—was responsible.

Not McVeigh. No, he never had the courage to stand up and explain why he did what he did. Unlike many a martyr for a “cause,” McVeigh attempted to scurry away from the bombing, and then hoped he could somehow end up with a hung jury, and get off scot free.

Eventually, McVeigh was allowed to read a statement before the judge. There was no ringing condemnation of the government, no denunciation of the BATF or the FBI. There was no stentorian thunder railing against the evils of the status quo, no idealistic rhetoric about an attempted revolution. No, instead, there was an attack against the death penalty, and the tiresome old excuse that society must not attempt to right a wrong (apparently, the closest McVeigh has ever come to truly admitting to his monstrous crime) by perpetrating another wrong. Incredible. Obviously McVeigh hopes his plaintive crying about his “rights” will trigger an outpouring of sympathy, and perhaps bring about anti-death-penalty legislation.

Not all hate-filled terrorists are such cowards. The most obvious way in which some Arab fanatics “take credit” for their actions is to blow themselves to bits in suicide bombings.

When two terrorists strolled into an open air market in the heart of Jerusalem recently, dressed in Jewish attire, carrying briefcases, they were playing out the ultimate act of their hate-filled lives. Seething with inner rage, perhaps even praying to their own personal version of “Allah,” they sought to make their way into the most tightly-packed groups of shoppers before hitting a toggle switch that would detonate the bombs they carried, instantly blasting them to bits and shredding the bodies of innocent men, women, and children.

No one calls them cowards, of course. But one stands in shocked disbelief at the incredible degree of vicious hatred that steeps and seethes in the minds of such fanatics. McVeigh and his ilk are craven cowards in comparison. Not only did they seek to escape the scene of their vicious crime, they sought to wriggle out of the consequences by attempting to prove themselves “innocent’ of any wrongdoing. Above all, they wanted to live. Not only that, they wanted to remain free, so that they might stand back and see if their heartless, brutal act would trigger the violent “revolution,” the overthrow of the American government, they hoped would follow.

Whom Do You Hate?

Dean Martin’s theme song was “Everybody loves somebody, sometime.” The words probably should be changed to, “Everybody hates somebody most of the time.”

Whom do you hate? Who fills you with anger? Which human beings do you hold most in contempt? Who makes you mad? When you think about him, or her, or them—does your heart beat a little faster, your mind race with self-righteous indignation? Do your palms grow moist, and your eyes flash with hate?

Whom do you hate? A former close friend? A member of God’s church? A member of your own family—a brother, or sister, or even a parent or a child? Many calloused people seethe with hatred against perfect strangers. Someone who cuts in front of them in traffic, or who is rude to them, causes a burst of hatred and, like as not, an obscene gesture accompanied by an angry shout.

Millions hate. Like a dank, evil-smelling blanket of cloying filth, the spirit of hatred is abroad in the world. Only a few years ago, the news media sensationalized a vicious shooting on a Los Angeles freeway. One driver had cut in ahead of another, so the hate-filled, outraged, violently angry driver who had been so horribly insulted raced to pull up alongside, stuck a pistol out the window, and shot the unknown person who had so enraged him.

Within days, a violent, county-wide spree of hatred and rage turned the entire freeway system into a shoot-out at the OK Corral on wheels. It is said that every fourth automobile on the freeways has a gun inside. Apparently, thousands of citizens, no doubt moved by fear as well as hate, armed themselves. “If some [unprintable] takes a shot at me, I’ll kill the [unprintable] wretch,” many of them thought.

Thousands began taking alternate routes. The police beefed up their patrols. Many shootings were detailed in the newspapers and on television. Eventually, when the violent blood lust had subsided, the freeways returned to their normal high-speed, frenetic, angry, aggressive, accident-plagued pace. A frenzied spate of hatred had gripped the minds of thousands.

Think of the past few decades of world history in the light of hatred, that evil, violent, virulent, satanic emotion that is the same as murder in the human heart.

Bosnian Serbs hate the Croats, and the Croats hate the Serbs. Turks hate Greeks, and Greeks hate Turks and Italians. Irish Catholics hate the British and Irish Protestants. Protestants hate the Catholics and the IRA. Arabs hate Jews, and Jews hate Arabs. Some Arabs hate each other, while some extremist Jewish groups hate other Jews. Vietnamese hate Chinese, while communist Chinese hate the nationalist Chinese in Taiwan. Communists hate capitalists, and capitalists hate communists. Many whites hate blacks, Chicanos, Orientals, and any other minorities, while many blacks hate whites. Ibos hate the Hausas—and you and I can’t tell them apart. Zulus hate the Matabele, who hate the Zulus and most whites. Egyptians hate the Sudanese, the Jews, and the British. Iranians hate Americans, and refer to the U.S. as the “Great Satan.” North Koreans hate South Koreans, yet they are the same people, divided by different governments. The Japanese are in total contempt of Koreans, while the Filipinos hate the Japanese. Many French Canadians hate other Canadians of British descent, while many Canadians hate Americans and the hundreds of thousands of Chinese and other Orientals who have come pouring into Canada. Many Mexicans hate Americans, While many Americans are in contempt of Mexicans. The Crips hate the Bloods, Chicanos hate the Blacks, Blacks hate the Vietnamese and Koreans, while neighborhood gangs living only a few houses apart hate each other with murderous venom. Everybody hates somebody sometime—and many people hate almost everybody all of the time. Husbands hate wives, children hate their parents, activists for this or that cause hate the government, while government agents hate activists and militants.

Wherever you look, in whatever nation, in whatever neighborhood, and, sickeningly, inside many a church, and even inside a family, you can find terrible hatred!

WHY?

The Author of Hate

Your Bible says there is an evil, hate-filled Devil abroad in this world. A fallen archangel, once named “Lucifer,” who is called “the god of this world.” Paul wrote, “In whom the god of this world [Satan] hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4). Satan is described as a hideous dragon, with a serpentine body, huge, bat-like wings, and an evil, snakelike head (Revelation 12:9), and as a “roaring lion.”

Peter wrote, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world” (1 Peter 5:8,9).

Satan HATES God. He hates the plan of God. He hates the fact that we human beings are made in the image of God, and that we have a vast and glorious human potential—that we can ultimately be born of God—that we will ultimately “judge angels” (1 Corinthians 6:3). He hates the prospect of his ultimate fate as revealed in Jude, where Satan and his demons are depicted as “raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever” (Jude 13).

Hate is of Satan. Love is of God.

For countless thousands of years, Lucifer went about as calumniator “trafficking” in animosity, resentment, jealousy, and hatred toward God. God had placed him on a beautiful, gem-like earth, over one full third of all the angels.

Notice the Bible description of his original state: “Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity [lawlessness, sin, rebellion toward God] was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire” (Ezekiel 28:12-16).

Ezekiel saw a vision of God’s throne being transported about the universe by four cherubim. The Ark of the Covenant was crafted with two cherubim, with wings overstretched above the “mercy seat,” depicting the throne of God. Lucifer was originally allowed right next to the very throne of the Almighty Elohim, the Sovereign Godhead.

The King James language is a bit obscure in this passage, but various Bible study helps make it clear that the expression “multitude of thy merchandise” means “by the vast amount of your going about as a calumniator, as a slanderer, as a ‘salesman’ selling your resentment, your anger, your jealousy, your hatred toward God.”

Jesus said, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven”(Luke 10:18). God cast Lucifer down to this earth after Satan attempted to unseat God from His throne. From that ancient time to this, Satan has attempted to destroy God’s plan. He is totally filled with hatred and resentment toward God—bitterly hate-filled toward mankind.

Like Satan, hate-filled humans go about as slanderers and calumniators, prating, tattling, gossiping, reasoning, cajoling, arguing, and explaining. People hate others who know their sins and weaknesses. The spiritual mind repents and forgives. The carnal mind seeks to justify the self and hate others. The greater the degree of guilt to a spiritual mind, the greater the brokenhearted repentance and humble sorrow. The greater the degree of guilt to the carnal mind, the greater the fierce anger and hatred directed toward others. The carnal mind is not subject to the laws of God (Romans 8:7). Instead of repenting in self-effacing humility, it seeks to slander others to direct attention away from itself.

Wise old King Solomon was inspired to write about deceitful, hypocritical slanderers. He said, “As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle strife. The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. Burning lips and a wicked heart are like a potsherd [a cheap clay pot] covered with silver dross. He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him; When he speaketh fair [deceitfully puts on a front], believe him not: for there are seven abominations in his heart. Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be showed before the whole congregation. Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him. A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it; and a flattering mouth worketh ruin” (Proverbs 26:21-28).

Study those words of wisdom carefully. Does it remind you of any situations in your own life? Does it remind you of institutions, such as schools and universities, the military, corporations, or churches? Does it remind you of close circles of friends and acquaintances, or even family?

It is human nature to hate. Human nature is a mixture of vanity, jealousy, lust, and greed. It is wholly self-centered, adoring self, loving self, exalting self. “The carnal mind is enmity against God, and is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Romans 8:7), because it deeply resents anything which would prick the conscience, and make the self appear anything less than perfect.

Thus, when the self is perceived to have been wronged, the carnal mind, influenced by Satan, lashes out in self-justification, anger, vituperation, resentment, and hatred against the one who has been perceived to be at fault. At all costs, the Satan-influenced carnal mind must not REPENT in heartbroken remorse over sin—instead, it seeks to justify the self, and point the finger of blame and hatred toward others.

Christ said Satan is the mastermind behind murder and hatred. He said to the Pharisees, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:44). Though laden with sin, the Pharisees who heard Jesus make these statements became so blindly furious they sought to murder Christ!

Satan wrecked this earth in the first great “star wars” in history. In a frenzy of hatred, Satan lashed out at God in an attempt to depose Him from His throne. The lifeless, pockmarked, uninhabitable face of the moon, and planets like Mars, attest to the titanic struggle that destroyed the solar system, that changed what had been like the

“Garden of Eden” into a stygian black, tossing, endless sea. The first chapter of Genesis shows that all the continents were covered by water, that no light from the sun shone through.

Following the recreation of the earth, and the creation of man, Satan was instantly present, deceiving, lying, cajoling, reasoning with Eve. The Hebrew word nachash, translated “serpent,” means “whispering enchanter.”

Satan’s subtle lies brought about the “fall of man,” causing Adam and Eve to be thrust from the garden. He was the evil influence behind the first murder in all history—a murder which was fratricide—when Cain killed his own brother due to jealousy and hatred. This is an unspeakable, incredibly brutal act. Yet, it was carried out at the very dawn of human history, perpetrated by a son of humankind’s first parents, who had walked and talked with God in the garden. Satan’s influence caused it all. HE was greatly responsible for it all.

Satan personally attacked Job and viciously caused the death of his entire family. He influenced Herod to murder thousands of innocent little boys in Herod’s attempt to kill Christ. Satan influenced Judas Iscariot, eventually entering into him personally, causing him to betray Christ to be killed. Then, Satan left Judas, hating him for his weakness, and Judas, filled with self-loathing and hatred, hung himself. Once Satan is through with a hate-filled human being, he will rejoice in the self-destruction of the very agent he has used. There is no such thing as loyalty with the Devil. He is the ultimate epitome of disloyalty, of betrayal.

Satan has countless thousands of perverted, fallen angels, called “demons,” who can plant thoughts into human minds, and who can actually take possession of unsuspecting persons who do not have God’s protection. Satan hates God with a virulent, bitter, violent hatred! He hates God’s people! He hates God’s church! He hates God’s work!

Satan is the “prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2), the wicked, hate-filled, evil spirit that has deceived all nations (Revelation 12:9).

The racism, nationalism, tribalism, and religious hatreds listed above are only the tip of the iceberg of the raging hatred that steeps and seethes in the minds of countless millions of human beings. Satan does not concern himself with those who are completely deceived, lost in the pagan darkness of demented heathenism. He is not concerned with the hundreds of millions who are believers in ancestor worship, animism, and hundreds of pagan religions.

Satan need spend no time—not a single extra second-in deceiving those who are already deceived! No, instead, he concentrates FULL-TIME on trying to pervert, delude, deceive, tempt, and destroy the very ones who are converted; who are called out of this evil world to do God’s work! Satan HATES God’s begotten family of Christians, the Church of God!

He hates their families! He hates each individual! He especially hates those who are deeply involved in preaching the good news of Christ’s soon-coming kingdom as a witness to the world, for he knows that the closer we are to that glorious event, the closer he is to being hurled into a stygian “black hole” in the universe—completely away from this earth (Revelation 20:1-3).

Hatred of the Spiritual Pharisees

For decades, I have said, “Be careful about getting too close to some of these religious people you could get yourself killed!”

Does Jim Jones or David Koresh come to mind? Do the bodies of those who committed suicide in San Diego, thinking they were going to join the “mother ship” they believed was trailing along behind the Hale-Bopp Comet, come to mind? There are too many thousands of cases of the most vicious persecutions inflicted upon innocent victims by self-righteous “believers” in this or that religion to even begin to document. This includes horrifying tales of religious intolerance in the early colonial days of America, when suspected “witches” were burnt at the stake in Salem, Massachusetts.

Reflect for a few moments on “religious” history, and think of the countless tens of thousands who have been viciously, brutally tortured, skinned alive, burnt at the stake by RELIGIOUS leaders! Here is what Halley’s Bible Handbook says about the sordid history of the great “universal” church: “The Inquisition, called the holy office, was instituted by Pope Innocent III, and perfected under the second following Pope, Gregory IX. It was the Church Court for Detection and Punishment of Heretics. Under it everyone was required to inform against Heretics.

“Anyone suspected was liable to Torture, without knowing the name of his accuser. The proceedings were secret. The Inquisitor pronounced sentence, and the victim was turned over to Civil Authorities to be Imprisoned for Life, or to be Burned. The victim’s property was confiscated, and divided between the Church and the State….

“Later on the Inquisition was the main agency in the Papacy’s effort to Crush the Reformation. It is stated that in the 30 years between 1540 and 1570 no fewer than 900,000 Protestants were put to death in the Pope’s war for the extermination of the Waldenses….

“Think of Monks and Priests, in holy garments, directing, with Heartless Cruelty and Inhuman Brutality, the work of Torturing and Burning alive Innocent Men and Women, and doing it in the Name of Christ, by the direct order of the ‘Vicar of Christ.’

“The Inquisition was the Most Infamous and Devilish Thing in Human History. It was devised by Popes, and used by them for 500 years, to Maintain their Power. For its record none of the subsequent line of ‘Holy’ and ‘Infallible’ Popes have ever apologized” (Halley’s Bible Handbook, p. 777, emphasis mine).

One may take exception to labeling the Inquisition the most “infamous and devilish thing in human history” in the light of Hitler’s pogroms against the Jews during World War II, or the vast purges carried out by Stalin, but any of these incredibly cruel, brutal, vicious programs of deliberate torture and murder rank in the same filthy cesspool of human degradation and satanic hatred.

To any converted person, such horrifying things as torture and murder of another human being is so utterly foreign, so unthinkable, that it is rejected with revulsion. Yet, more murders have been carried out in the name of religion or in the name of a nationalistic worship of state than for any other reason.

Continually, the fanatically religious Jews attempted to kill Jesus Christ! Many times, they attempted to stone Him to death, or to seize Him, flay Him alive, and put Him to death! Again and again He escaped from them by losing Himself in a crowd. Eventually, of course, it was His own disciple, Judas, who betrayed Him.

Judas was a thief. He was the “treasurer” of the twelve, the one who carried the common purse and was therefore manager of their money. He was a crook. Because his conscience continually gnawed at him, he sought to deflect the piercing pangs of conscience by criticizing Jesus.

God’s Word reveals that it is SATAN who is the author of hatred in the world.

“For God So Loved the World”

People hate each other because of any number of things. They hate those who do not look like they do, who have different color of skin, or who dress differently or have a different language.

Human nature cannot separate the person from the sin. Someone perceived as being your enemy, someone who does not measure up to your standards of behavior and has wronged you or rejected you, is someone who is easy to hate.

God is entirely different. Almighty God loves a sinner while hating the sin. God is able to see the sinner as a victim of his own lusts, of persuasive influences around him, and of Satan’s influence. God does not lay the blame solely on the sinner, but knows that Satan, who is the author of sin, and was the first sinner, is a “partner in sin” with every sinning human being. When one is taken in a sin, God does not draw Himself up in righteous indignation and say, “He did it!”

How does a parent feel when a child has done something which causes the child to be badly hurt? Parents get angry with their children in such situations, but they are angry because they love the child, and do not want to see the child hurt! A child who has burnt or cut himself is not taken up by the parent and further burnt or cut! No, the parent immediately tries to alleviate the pain, and tries to love and comfort the child.

This is how God feels toward us. When we hurt ourselves through sin, God hates the sin—He hates the deed which has hurt His spiritual child, but He still loves the child!

Jesus Christ did not die for the righteous! He did not die for the SELF-righteous! No, He died for SINNERS!

Paul wrote, “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Romans 5:6-9).

It is simply unthinkable for a carnal human mind to give his life for an enemy! Rather, we are taught to HATE our enemies, to attempt to defame them, malign them, even kill them! But Christ tells us to love our enemies! Notice: “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:44-48).

This is simply impossible for the carnal mind to accomplish. It is only through the power of God’s Holy Spirit that the hating, vengeful, carnal mind can be transformed into a loving, caring, forgiving mind.

The reason there is such hatred abroad in the minds of human beings is because there is so little of God’s Spirit! Christ said, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day”(John 6:44). Almighty God must call each person to repentance! Then, once God has called, it is up to the individual to either answer or reject that call!

Think of the vast mercy of God, who sent His Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, and who inspired Peter to preach repentance to the murderers of God’s own Son! Think of it! God began to call FIRST the very people who had, in a wild frenzy of hate, killed Christ!

Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call [God was CALLING these people to repentance—the very murderers of Christ!]…. Save yourselves from this untoward generation” (Acts 2:38-40).

Thousands repented! God forgave them! Christ forgave them! This is the epitome of love, and was voiced by Jesus Christ as He died on the stake: “Father, forgive them—for they know not what they do!”

How utterly DIFFERENT is this wondrous, forgiving, loving attitude from the spirit of satanic hate that steeps and seethes in the hearts of millions of carnal men!

Whom do you hate? Remember, Jesus said, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you; do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use [abuse] you, and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).

There is no room for hatred in the converted heart. No room for vengeance, or rancor, or hostility. The next time you pray, remember that Christ said if we have anything between ourselves and anyone else, we must go to our brother or sister, solve the problem, and then go to the altar of prayer.

The way to rid yourself of all hatred is as follows:

(1) Repent! But in order to repent, you must know what sin is, and what it is for which you need to repent.

(2) Be baptized. Baptism signifies the death, burial, and resurrection of the old self. It pictures the old, sinning body buried in a watery grave, the sins washed away by the blood of Christ, symbolized by the waters of baptism.

(3) Have hands laid on you for the receiving of God’s Holy Spirit.

(4) Begin to lead a life of prayer and overcoming. Prayer and hatred don’t mix. God’s Holy Spirit imparts “love, joy, peace” to the repentant sinner, not rancor, bitterness, and hatred!

(5) PRAY for those you formerly hated. Separate the sin from the sinner. Come to realize that Satan is the instigator of all sin, that all sinners have a partner in sin who has influenced them. LOVE the one you formerly hated by seeing them in a repentant condition. Let your mind imagine them tearfully repenting before God, coming to the full realization of all their sins and faults, crying out to God for forgiveness. See them in the future, when they come to realize with a shock that will rock them to the foundation of their being that they have sinned before God, and desperately need His forgiveness! See them as a repentant, baptized Christian, striving to overcome Satan, this evil world, and their own carnal nature. Then, love them as they will be, when God leads them to repentance. Love them as God loves them—God, who GAVE His only begotten Son, that whosoever (including anyone you have hated) believes on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life!

If you are praying FOR those who are enemies, you simply cannot hate them!

Love! Don’t hate!


You may copy and distribute this information only to friends and family without changes, without charge and with full credit given to the author and publisher. You may not publish it for general audiences.

This publication is intended to be used as a personal study tool. Please know it is not wise to take any man’s word for anything, so prove all things for yourself from the pages of your own Bible.

The activities of the Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association are paid for by tithes, offerings and donations freely given by Christians and co-workers who are dedicated to preaching the gospel according to Jesus Christ.