NOTES ON THE THEOLOGY OF HATRED: AN EXAMINATION OF ANGER AND IMPRECATORY PRAYER IN THE LAST DAYS

SCRIPTURE. “Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate You? And am I not grieved, and do I not loathe those who rise up against You? ‘I hate them with perfect hatred;’ they have become my enemies.” – PSALM 139:21-22, AMPC

KEY TERM: HATE. ‘Sane’ [שָׂנֵא]: “To be or become utterly unloved [the opposite of the Hebrew verb, ‘Ahab,’ אָהַב, to love]; God ‘hates’ as His enemies all those love cruelty and wickedness, and those who are disloyal to Him who do not keep His Covenant (S. Zodhiates, 2008, p. 2054).” DK: It is a ‘false teaching’ to declare that God loves everyone; He does not! If so, He would be nothing more than a Divine Rubber Stamp who was incapable of making distinctions between good and evil, right and wrong, true and false. As such, beloved: ‘He would not be God!’

QUOTATION. “Only the person who becomes irate without reason, sins. Whoever becomes irate for a just reason is not guilty. Because, if ire were lacking, the Science of God would not progress, judgments would not be sound, and crimes would not be repressed. ‘Further, the person who does not become irate when he has cause to be, sins.’ For an unreasonable patience is the hotbed of many vices: It fosters negligence, and stimulates not only the wicked, but above all the good, to do wrong.” – JOHN CHRYSOSTROM, Archbishop of Constantinople, Homily XI super Matheum, in Sir Henry Savile, Editor, The Works of St. John Chrysostrom, 1610-1613; edited

I.  FIRST THOUGHTS

It will come as no surprise to most of you that ‘Americans hate each other today’ more than any other time in recent memory. With the possible exception perhaps of the period just before, during and following the American Civil War of 1860-1865. A growing number of observers suggest that the level of Intersectional American Vitriol is approaching even that explosive level should things proceed as they are.

These serious breaches of oftentimes lifelong friendships and kinships have even reached the Church, with some arguing that it all may well have ‘started in the Church!’

“NEW FRACTURES are forming within the American Evangelical Movement, Fractures that do not run along the usual regional, denominational, ethnic, or political lines. Couples, families, friends, and congregations once united in their commitment to Christ are now dividing over seemingly irreconcilable views of the world. In fact, they are not merely dividing but becoming incomprehensible to one another.” – MICHAEL GRAHAM, “The Six Way Fracturing of Evangelicalism,” Mere Orthodoxy, June 7, 2021; edited

He and his colleagues at Mere Orthodoxy, a spinoff of the hugely influential Reform Presbyterian pastor, TIM KELLER, also posit that the two elections of DONALD TRUMP IN 2016 and 2016 are ‘The Triggers’ that ignited all the subsequent tumult in American social and political culture in their aftermath.

As I and a thousand previous Christian thinkers have observed: ‘As the Church goes, so goes a Nation.’

Writing from the same Reform perspective is Graham’s colleague, PATRICK MILLER in a piece titled, “How Political Extremism is Fracturing the Church” (Mere Orthodoxy,” Dec. 2021; edited).

“Unfortunately, the seeds of Evangelicalism’s demise were sown four decades ago, when religious leaders like JERRY FALWELL, PAUL WEYRICH, and JAMES DOBSON officiated the [illicit] marriage of Evangelism and the Republican Party. In 1976, 49 percent of self-identified Evangelicals voted for the Democratic candidate, Jimmy Carter. 

This was the last time both Parties split the Evangelical vote evenly. Since then, Republican and Evangelical have been relatively synonymous. This is not to say that there were no Democratic Evangelicals — anywhere from 20–25 percent of Evangelicals reliably sided with the Left over the last three decades. But since 1980, the merger of Republican and Religious Identity grew tighter and tighter.”

ENTER DR. FAUST. In some ways I feel at least partially responsible for these horrendous developments. When I joined the Regent university faculty in 1983 as a still relatively new follower of Christ, I fell right into the very heart of this politically charged theological matrix.

Men like PAT ROBERTSON, HERB TITUS, and GARY AMOS, among many others, thrust me front and center into the Culture War as the Founding Director of Regent’s then new Institute of Public Affairs Journalism in 1984. I was to later join Dobson’s Focus on the Family Institute as its Founding Director of Academics in 2000. To finish my matriculation as a near pioneer of this Movement, I joined the senior Falwell’s Liberty University from 2006-2016.

The New Reality Strikes Hard! I had been writing anti-Trump Commentaries, when the younger Mr. Falwell fired me summarily via an impersonal email in March of 2016, since he had come out foursquare for DONALD TRUMP along with most Christian Leaders that ‘Faustian Bargain’ in New York City’s Trump Tower on June 21.

And the seditious, rebellious rest, beloved, is American and Church History writ dark and dangerous and corrupt.

II.  FROM ASSIMILATION TO TRIBALISM

SECTARIANISM. “A political, cultural, or religious conflict between two [or more] groups. Prejudice, discrimination, exclusion, or hatred can arise in these conflicts, depending on the political status quo and if one group holds more power within the government.” – EDITORS, Wikipedia, Aug. 23, 2023; edited

When a somewhat rotund, bellicose, cigar smoking RUSH LIMBAUGH launched his AM Radio talk show in 1988, then later RUPERT MURDOCH subsequently founded Fox News in 1996, the Foundation Stones of “White Christian Nationalism” were largely fixed in place, waiting for a Donald Trump to come and cement them into the inner soul of the American political culture.

Professor of Historical Studies at Empire State College of the State University of New York, IAN REIFOWITZ, published a powerful critique of the New Christian Right in his book, The Tribalization of Politics: ‘How Rush Limbaugh’s Race-Baiting Rhetoric on the Obama Presidency Paved the Way for Trump’ in 2019.

In a broadcast sponsored by the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy on September 9, 2019, the program hosts reported Reifowitz held the following prescient views.

“In this episode of ‘Story in the Public Square,’ Reifowitz defined TRIBALIZATION as: [‘The establishment of] a divide based on resentment and hate of one group in our political system toward the other.’ He links Rush Limbaugh’s divisive goals when speaking about the Obama presidency to the larger theme of ‘White Identity Politics’ that has fueled divides seen in today’s American socio-political landscape [as never before].

Then was America fast tracked toward what we see today all around us, with the Great Divide widening between former friends, family members, churchgoers, and political activists.

HATRED II. “Great dislike or aversion; hate; enmity. ‘Hatred is an aversion to evil,’and may spring from utter disapprobation, as the hatred of vice or meanness; or it may spring from offenses or injuries done by fellow men, or from envy or jealousy, in which case it is usually accompanied with malevolence or malignity. Extreme hatred is abhorrence or detestation.” – NOAH WEBSTER, American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828; edited

Now you will please note that the richly biblical Mr. Webster rightly defined “Hatred” in its original intention as in index of ‘aversion to that which is evil.’ When a society is united in ‘Loving what is good, and hating what is evil,’ that society is in relatively healthy conditions on the deep structure issues that matter the most.

As the Apostle wrote of this in ROMANS 12:9: “Love is to be sincere and active [the real thing—without guile and hypocrisy]. ‘Hate what is evil’ [detest all ungodliness, do not tolerate wickedness]; ‘hold on tightly to what is good.’”

JOHN GILL. “‘Abhor [‘apostugeó,’detest] that which is evil’ – Sin, both in its Principle and in its Actings; it being hateful to God, Father, Son, and Spirit, contrary to the nature, being, and perfections of God, a transgression of His Righteous Law, exceeding sinful in itself, and pernicious in its effects and consequences; for all which it is to be abhorred by the saints: The Word here used, designs the greatest aversation imaginable, a turning away from it, as what is the most loathsome, detestable, and abominable; and such an hatred of it with horror, as of the Stygian Lake, or Hell itself.

‘Cleave to that which is good’ – To God, who is originally, infinitely, and immutably Good; who is Good in His nature, and works, and to all His creatures, and especially His chosen people, and therefore should be cleaved unto; to His will, His ways, and worship; and to Christ the Good Shepherd of the sheep, the Lamb that is to be followed and cleaved unto, whithersoever He goes; and to the good Spirit of God, after whom we should walk, and not after the flesh; and to the good people of God, assembling with whom should not be forsaken; and to the good Gospel of Christ, and the Truths of it, which should be held fast; and to the ordinances of the Gospel, which ought to be constantly attended on; and to every good work, to which we should be ready, careful to maintain, and ever follow, both among ourselves and all men.” – An Exposition of the Old and New Testament, 9 vols., 1746-1763; edited

DK. My friends, can you not begin to see what is developing here? Clearly the Scripture is pointing out that there are – ‘Different Types of Hatred: One that is strongly commended by the Lord, and one that is severely prohibited by Him. More on this in the closing section at the end of this Commentary.

III.  THE TEACHING

SCRIPTURE. “Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate You? And am I not grieved and do I not loathe those who rise up against You? I hate them with perfect hatred; they have become my enemies.” – PSALM 139:21-22, AMPC

COMMENTARY. “‘Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate Thee?’ – This is in the consciousness of the Psalmist a proof of his own real piety, as derived from his feelings toward those who were the enemies of God. The word ‘hate’ here, as applied to them, must be understood in the sense that he disapproved of their conduct; that he did not desire to be associated with them; that he wished to avoid their society, and to find his friends among men of a different character…

‘And am not I grieved with those that rise up against Thee?’ – The expression here – ‘grieved’ – explains the meaning of the word ‘hate’ in the former member of the verse. It is not that hatred which is followed by malignity or ill-will; it is that which is accompanied with grief – pain of heart – pity – sorrow. So the Saviour looked on people: Mark 3:5 : ‘And when He had looked round about on them with “anger,” being “grieved” for the hardness of their hearts.” The Hebrew word used here, however, contains ‘also’ the idea of being disgusted with; of loathing; of nauseating. See the notes at Psalm 119:158. ‘The feeling referred to is anger’ – conscious disgust – at such conduct; and grief, pain, sorrow, that people should evince such feelings toward their Maker.” – ALBERT BARNES, Notes on the Old and New Testament, 1884; edited

DK. For the record, beloved, I want you to view this Commentary as a most severe and urgently needed REALITY CHECK against a company of perniciously false doctrines that collectively and deceptively teach us: ‘Never, ever be angry for any reason under the sun; only love and be gentle at all times toward all men always.’

My friends, this is a lie straight from the Lair of Satan, and one of his most effective traps, since it has infected the entirety of American Christianity, neutered the Pastorate, denied the Canon, permitting Lawlessness to rise to unprecedented heights in our Nation and Church.

And an Antichrist to conquer The Church without a shot being fired.

IV.  LAST THOUGHTS: THE TWO HATREDS

“O you who love the Lord, hate evil; He preserves the lives of His saints (the children of God), He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.” – PSALM 97:10, AMPC

JOSEPH BENSON. “‘Ye that love the Lord’ — O all you that love and worship the true God and rejoice in the establishment of His Kingdom; ‘Hate evil!’ —Show your love to Him by hating all sin in temper, word, and work. Thus, the Psalmist, ‘having sung the glory of the Redeemer, now delineates the duty of the redeemed. They are characterized by their ‘Love of God’ [neither your family nor friend nor neighhbor first], they are enjoined to hate evil; the hatred of which indeed is a consequence and a sure proof of that love, when it is genuine and sincere.

Religion must be rooted in the heart and spring from thence. A Christian must not only serve God outwardly but must inwardly ‘love Him;’ he must not content himself with abstaining from overt acts of sin but must truly hate it. They who do so are the saints of God, whose souls he preserveth from evil, and will finally deliver from the Evil One and his associates, by a happy death and a glorious resurrection.” – Notes on the Holy Bible, 5 vols., 1811-1818; edited

THE GREAT LIE. To Summarize: As a follower of Christ for nearly 44 years, and a professor of Christian Studies for that same period of time, I have concluded that one of Satan’s greatest ruses is to convince the American Church to simply, “love everybody.” And by extension, “love everything.” Without discrimination between good and evil. That new Christian Narrative might well be:

“Don’t worry about it man, it’s all good!”

My Rejoinder: “No, it’s not all good!” In point of fact, most of what I see out there is almost all “bad!”

And if my assessment of the current American Condition including, very especially, the Church Condition, is substantially accurate, you ought not feel guilty for your intense hatred toward all of This Present Darkness. Beloved:

‘You are supposed to hate the Darkness and love the Light!’

HIGH NOON IN AMERICA. I’ll begin to conclude once again by turning to The Atlantic in a superb literary piece by NOAH HAWLEY, creator of the FX series, Fargo, and author of the book, Anthem (2022), described by Entertainment Weekly as, “A blistering thriller that follows a group of teenagers on an adventure through an Apocalyptic America much like our own.” 

Entitled, “The Myth of the Frontier Won’t Die” (Jan.-Feb. 2023; edited), Hawley offers us a rather elegant if gripping tour through the Western America that we live in today. His vehicle for the Narrative is from a literal family road trip from Austin Texas to Jackson Hole, Wyoming in the summer of 2022. Side excursions were also planned for New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado.

You know, kinda’ like an old-fashioned Circuit Ride. Here is what he discovered.

“let me ask you something. When you see a cardboard cutout of Donald Trump’s head on Rambo’s body, do you think, ‘Why Rambo?’

i tell you the story of David and Doris Young [would-be white murderers of 136 children in an elementary school in Cokeville, Wyoming in May 1986], not because it is remarkable—maybe it used to be, in the 1980s and ’90s, but not anymore. I tell it to you because this figure, the violent outsider driven by extremist views and hate-filled philosophies, is everywhere now. Incel spree-killers and race-war propagators. Young white men radicalized and weaponized. They are the children of the Unabomber, each with his own self-aggrandizing manifesto. They live not in Albany, Pittsburgh, or Spokane, but in the closed information loop of Internet America, a mirror universe that reflects their own grievances back at them.

Their actions may seem irrational, but they are the practical application of a political philosophy. A decades-long undertaking to remake America, to reverse what most would call progress—toward equal rights, better schools, curbs on fraud and pollution, everything our society has done to create a safer and more caring nation—and return it to the way it was in the 19th century. A savage frontier where the strong survive and the weak surrender…

on the road trip, we listen to Lyle Lovett. We listen to Willie Nelson. Hayes Carll sings a song about God coming to Earth that ends with the refrain ‘This is why y’all can’t have nice things,’ and I find myself tearing up. I’ve got a 9-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl in the back seat of the car, and I don’t know how to prepare them for a world in which half of the citizens of their country already appear to be living in the Zombie Apocalypse, armed to the teeth and fighting for survival. The zombies they’re aiming at are the other half of the country, still very much alive and struggling to understand…

on the fourth of july, we gather in a park in downtown Jackson to hear music and watch the fireworks. Earlier in the day, a 21-year-old man shot dozens of people from a rooftop in Highland Park, Illinois, killing seven…

Later still, I learn that a toddler was found alive in Highland Park, lying under the dead bodies of his parents. Is this really the price our children must pay for our inability to come to terms with one another, to communicate?

The next day, when I tell my son the story of the shooting, he asks what we’re going to do about it—we the surviving Americans. ‘We’re going to buy more guns,’ I tell him.”

CODA. As I come to the end of this difficult read, I am reminded of TWO THINGS. One, that ‘This America,’ while having been around for a very long time, has amped up exponentially since the Advent of Donald John Trump in June 2015.

Two, I am for some reason also reminded of my favorite Western America novelist, the brilliant and recently deceased, CORMAC MCCARTHY. Author of many spellbinding books such as The Road (2006; edited), a post-Apocalyptic winner of the Pulitzer Prize Fiction in 2007, he was a Traditionalist, or more specifically, a self-described “Conservative Cultural Pessimist.”

Taste of this man’s poet-prose as he illustrates this worldview in the following passage.

“He walked out in the gray light and stood and he saw for a brief moment the Absolute Truth of the world. The cold relentless circling of the intestate earth. Darkness implacable. The blind dogs of the sun in their running. The crushing black vacuum of the Universe. And somewhere two hunted animals trembling like ground-foxes in their cover. Borrowed time and borrowed world and borrowed eyes with which to sorrow it…

[Thus, did he teach his young son]: ‘You have to carry the fire.’ ‘I don’t know how to.’ ‘Yes, you do.’ ‘Is the fire real? The fire?’ ‘Yes it is.’ ‘Where is it? I don’t know where it is.’ ‘Yes you do. It’s inside you. It always was there. I can see it.’”

THE FIRE OF IMPRECATION. Once again, I tread the road of forgotten theological dogma that is lost on nearly all Pastors and Christians today. But at least since 2015 as the spiritual violence taking place in our churches exploded, I was clearly led to pray ‘Imprecations, or curses,’ against the Powers and Principalities that viciously assault both Christ and Canon.

More recently I have also prayed against ‘those who serve’ those Principalities in the same manner. Lest do you think me a brutal reprobate, listen to the careful counsel of DR. JOHN TWEEDDALE, academic dean and professor of theology at Reformation Bible College in Sanford, Fla., and a teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church in America. He is author of John Owen and Hebrews 2019).

“Can I pray imprecatory prayers? Yes. And you should. As difficult as that answer might be to swallow, it best accounts for the biblical record. Let me explain. ‘An Imprecatory Psalm is a type of lament’. In Hebrew Wisdom Literature, Lament Psalms are the individual and corporate cries of God’s people. The Imprecatory Psalms in particular vocalize Israel’s tears in the face of injustice and suffering. By praying down the curse of God on His enemies, Israel sought to hold up the goodness of God’s Law for His people…

To pray the Imprecatory Psalms is ultimately to pray as Jesus taught us to pray. As Christians, we long for God’s Kingdom to come. We yearn for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Praying the Imprecatory Psalms is not a call to arms but ‘a call to faith.’ We lift our voices, not our swords, as we pray for God either to convert or curse the enemies of Christ and His Kingdom.” – “Can I Pray Imprecatory Prayers?” Table Talk Magazine, March 2019; edited

Beloved, we cannot fight this Last Days War with only prayers of salvation of the opposition. As led of the Spirit of God, we must at times resort to The Prayer Militant: Petitioning Heaven to lay waste those who would act to blaspheme our King and corrupt His Word.

IN SUM: ‘You must carry the fire!’ By loving the things that God loves, and detesting the things that God detests. It is the only way to not only survive in the Babylonian Days in front of us, beloved, but to be Messiah’s ‘Light to the World’ to illuminate all this Darkness with Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth – so help you God!

Selah. Selah.

YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/tKi_hhNrHt8