by Rev. Joda Collins
It always amazes me that church people "amen" the preaching of being like Jesus until Jesus acts and thinks in a way they disagree with and then many say, "We can't do what Jesus does or did because we are not Jesus." They are willing to imitate Jesus Christ as long as Jesus Christ is willing to imitate them and He does not behave in a way they disapprove.
"And he (Jesus) looked around at them with anger…." Mark 3:5, ESV. Parenthesis mine, Joda Collins. "After making a whip out of cords, he drove all of them out of the Temple...scattered the coins of the money changers and knocked over their tables." John 2:15, ISV. If we are like Jesus, we will sometimes be angry. In a full-fledged exposition of the doctrine of anger we would learn of the many limitations, however, my only point is that being angry can sometimes be the will of God for us. We are not always being sinners when we experience anger.
"God...hatest all workers (not just the works) of iniquity." Psalm 5:4-5. (Parenthesis mine.) If we follow the Lord Jesus Christ we will sometimes hate. King David did. "I hate those who cling to worthless idols...." Psalms 31:6.
"But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me." Luke 19:27. KJV. "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword." Matthew 10:34. KJV. "There is a....time for everything...a time to kill...." Ecclesiastes 3:1-2, KJV. If we follow the Lord Jesus Christ's example we will sometimes kill. Joshua did. Joshua 6. Without Joshua 6 the Jews would never possess the Promise Land!
"Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven." Luke 12:10 NIV. Hell is the eternal abode of those God did not and will not forgive. "If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins...." 1 John 1:9, KJV. Notice the "If." God does not always forgive sins automatically. If we follow the Lord Jesus Christ's example we will sometimes be non-forgiving. "...if he repents, (we are to) forgive him...." Parenthesis mine. Luke 17:3, KJV. The implication is that if he does not repent, our forgiveness of the other person is not or may not be mandated.
It is one thing to know what the Bible states. It is quite another thing to know what the Bible means. There are times to be angry, hate, kill, withhold forgiveness and take decisive action. The question is, when are those times?
Jesus said, "...the sons of this world are more shrewd (worldly wise)...than the sons of light." Luke 16:8b, NKJV. (Parenthesis mine.) What he means is, at least in part, is that we (Christians) do not know when to fight, be angry, kill, hate and not forgive. We often lack good strategy for winning. Rather, we are (for the most part) inept at anything but ignoring problems, praying for God to do something so we do not have to, followed by peaceful surrender to the enemy. Many, if not most professing Christians today are more like snowflakes than soldiers. Sometimes we are so busy trying to be goody-two-shoes to the world that we forget Jesus was not goody-two-shoes in the eyes of his world.
Don't you get weary of always losing? If we refuse to handle spiritual warfare in accord with Scripture, what other outcome can we expect? Do not take action without praying, but do not refuse to take action because you prayed. To be sure, there are more biblical warnings about anger, hate, killing and unforgiveness than there are righteous reasons for them. There are dangers in all of them. That is a given and that is not my point. My point is that there are dangers if we adopt the philosophy that there is no godly place in the life of a Christian for anger, killing, hate and unforgiveness. To be more blunt, it is heresy to preach or teach that a person is always in sin if they kill or have anger, hate or unforgiveness.
Rev. Joda Collins
I make no claim that anyone else agrees with me.
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