Scripture
“I am not guilty of any of these crimes, and no one has the right to hand me over to these people {Jews}. I now ask to be tried by the Emperor himself.”
~Acts 25:11, CEV
Quote
I will let no man cause me to hate.
~George Washington Carver
Hate is a strong emotion; it is an intense and passionate dislike. It is a loathing, detesting, abhorring, despising, a revolting hostility that ends in utter contempt that is prone to violence. Hate is black and ugly. It is a toxic poison that destroys the soul. Paul was arrested because some Jews ignited a riot and made Paul the culprit. For once in his life, Paul did not ignite the storm. Of course, he had no business in the temple: Jesus is our Temple, but he was keeping a low profile. He did not attempt to teach or even draw a crowd. He did not share his faith: he was simply minding his own business. The first fact in this story is that Paul is innocent and should not have been arrested. Even after the arrest and the discovery that Paul was innocent, the Romans should have released him but they didn’t. The Romans were not motivated by hate like the Jews but they were indifferent and morally corrupt. The Jews were stink-stirring, trouble-makers and they used this as a threat; the Roman magistrates caved in to their demands because they didn’t want these trouble makers inciting riots. The Jews are demanding that Festus send Paul back to Jerusalem for trail. They intended to murder Paul in route to Jerusalem. When Festus asks Paul if he is willing to stand trial in Jerusalem, Paul erupts with an emphatic “No!” He states his innocence and he demands a hearing before the Emperor. How desperate would a man be to choose Nero over the Jews?
Nero was a sick, twisted and demented maniac. I doubt if he had the capacity to love or hate. He was a sociopath: an insane human being and yet Paul choose him to be his judge rather than the Jews. This is how chilling and terrifying Jewish hate can be. Paul is a highly intelligent man but this decision seems illogical. I would have made the same choice and so would you. Hate is hard to deal with and Paul had seen it up close and personal and he didn’t like it. Like Jesus, Paul was innocent but unlike Jesus, he didn’t want to die by the hands of the Jews. Jesus gave Himself over to them but Paul said, “take me to Rome.” We can talk about thick skin and being tough but hate is a fearful thing and one that we want to avoid if possible. Ironically, hate is the passion that drove the Jews and it also drives the Muslims. They hated Jesus with all their heart and wanted Him destroyed. They hated Paul and wanted him dead. They had no intention of getting him a fair trail: their one goal was his destruction.
We are seeing this same hatred in play today. Reagan was despised by the left but not to the degree of Trump: they don’t despise Trump, they hate every bone in his body. They want him utterly destroyed and it doesn’t matter to them what means are employed. They have one agenda: destroy Trump. There are at least two applications that I want to make: [1] Don’t give in to hate. We will never defeat the left by out hating them. Hate is of the devil: it comes from the world of darkness. We cannot give in to hate. I hate what they stand for and what they are doing to our REPUBLIC but we cannot hate them. They are narrow and not very intelligent, so it is their policy to accuse us of the very thing that drives them. I denounced Bill Clinton’s immorality from the pulpit and it made some democrats mad. One lady told me, “You stood in the pulpit and said you hated Clinton,” but that never happened. I never said anything good about him and I denounced him for his immorality but I never hated Clinton or stated that I hated him. He is not worth hating. When you disagree with a democrat: they scream hate and racism because they lack the intelligence to carry on a civil debate. [2] I beg you in Jesus name to pray for our President and our Vice President. They are under constant attack from the dark forces of evil. These minions of hate never let up. They bombard the President 24/7/365. Would you like to be on the receiving end of such hatred? I pray for our president daily and I wouldn’t trade places with him for all the money in the world. I labor in obscurity and love it. I’m not hated by that many because I am a little frog in a gigantic pond. If everyone in America heard me preach, I would be hated by the millions. It’s probably the reason we have not gone to FACEBOOK live. I don’t even want to be hated by the hundreds.
Another beautiful day PTL. I attended Big L baseball game: Danville won 5-0. The wind was a little chilling but other than that it was fine. Senior Adult Fish Fry this Friday at Joe David and Lori’s. Work day at Dot and Roger’s on Thursday. We will start about 9:00 am. That is weather permitting. The fish fry is on rain or shine but the workday will be canceled if its raining. No GOLDEN GIRLS this Saturday due to the fish fry on Friday.