Meeting ignorance with hatred...

Today I read an article published by Action to America, entitled:

Ted Turner's New Commandments to be Enforced by the UN

The new commandments, which Turner calls "Voluntary Initiatives," are in themselves rather frightening, and his hubris in daring to offer an "improved" set of commandments is irritating, even if he calls them "voluntary." Nevertheless, the comments offered by people representing themselves as Christians were the bigger disappointment. My comment on the piece is copied below:

It is sad to see so many comments in "defense" of the Ten Commandments filled with vitriol against a lost soul who has mocked God.

Jesus taught us, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ ²² But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire." (Matthew 5:21-22)

And He further told us, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, ⁴⁵ that you may be sons of your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:43-45)

Ted Turner is not the enemy. He is one of the captives, whom Jesus came to set free. When we condemn those who disagree with us, we lose our witness, and that is a violation of the third commandment: "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain." (Exodus 20:7)

I, too, become angry when God is mocked, but Paul told us, "Be angry, and do not sin." (Ephesians 4:26) We cannot dispel evil by name calling and hatred. Jesus told Pilate, "For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth." (John 18:37) Only the truth can dispel the darkness of the lost souls in this world.

So, in your most winsome manner, share the truth with your neighbors. Judiciously point out the errors of their arguments, even as Jesus did. Know your Scripture, so you have nothing for which to apologize. As Paul wrote to Timothy, "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. ¹⁶ But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness." (2 Timothy 2:15-16)

Soldier of God, in this battle for the minds and hearts of men, we are called not to destroy those who are lost but to be "fishers of men." I have never found it effective, when stalking the wily trout, to use "bait" that is repellent to fish. It is ever so much more effective to offer a delectable morsel. When will we learn to offer delectable morsels, instead of self-righteous vitriol?

The Holy Spirit, the forgotten Person of the Trinity

In an earlier post, I addressed the Master's plan to build His kingdom by indwelling believers in the Person of the Holy Spirit. It has been my experience that many believers are unfamiliar with the meaning of the indwelling of the Spirit of God.

We all have a concept of the existence of a Heavenly Father, a Creator God, whom no one has seen (John 1:18, 1 John 4:12) but who has manifested Himself to us through his creation (Romans 1). We find it relatively easy to understand that the Father sent His Son in human form (John 1:14), for, though fully God, He was a man and was seen and walked among us and experienced the things we do and addressed them during His earthly ministry.

But what about this Holy Spirit? This is a concept that is more abstract. The Father created us, the Son gave Himself up for us, so that we might have communion with the Father. What did the Holy Spirit ever do for us?

Jesus taught us that He, the Holy Spirit, "...whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you." (John 14:26) So, it is only through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit that we can understand spiritual things. "[T]he natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14)

Jesus further taught us that "...if I do not go away, the Helper [Holy Spirit] will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged." (John 16:7-11).

Remember, Sergeant, when the Light finally dawned on you, and you confessed your sin to God and repented and believed? How did you come to that moment? "He will convict the world of sin." That was the Holy Spirit prompting you.

So, now we come to the conviction of righteousness, "because I go to My Father and you see Me no more." Jesus Christ was the only man ever to live a sinless life. As such He was the only flesh and blood example of righteousness the world has ever known and could convict those around Him of righteousness by that example. But He doesn't walk among us in the flesh any longer. Instead, He has sent the Holy Spirit to indwell believers, and it is the Holy Spirit who convicts of righteousness by the example of those who walk in the Spirit and bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control." (Galatians 5:22) Notice that the verb in this sentence is the singular "is." The fruit of the Spirit is; not the fruits of the Spirit are. This is a package deal. When we walk in the Spirit, He gives us this all inclusive fruit. Just as the fruit of the grape is stalk, skin, exocarp, mesocarp, endocarp and pips or seeds, so the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Without all of the parts, the fruit is either not a fruit at all, or it is a defective instance of the fruit.

In future posts, I will look at each part of the fruit of the Spirit. In the meantime, soldier, let us resolve to know God better in all His Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.