"ARE YOU A HATER?"

"Ye that love the Lord, hate evil" (Psalm 97:10). It appears from this passage of scripture that God's people need not only to love the good...but, to hate evil.

Toleration, peace, and co-existence are words of the "Now Generation." Ours is the age of love. And, by love, many mean: "Do your own thing." If one dares to speak out against what another does or believes, he is branded as a trouble-maker. If you correct someone you are said..."Not to love them!" This has become especially noticeable in religious circles. Even in the church, we are hearing words such as..."You are judging", or "You are a legalist." Dear brethren, isn't it time that we read the words of Christ? "Ye shall know them by their fruits..." (Matthew 7:16). How well we remember Marshall Keeble saying, "I'm not a judge--I'm a fruit inspector!"

When Jesus declared, "Judge not, that ye be not judged" (Matthew 7:1), He was telling us that we must not make judgments according to our own rules, according to our own likes and dislikes. But, He certainly told us that there was a standard of judgment that all men must meet and that standard is the word of God. How else could we tell if a person was a false prophet or a true teacher of truth, unless we judged him according to the truth of God's word? This does not make us legalists, but, as Keeble said..."fruit inspectors"!

If we do not stand against the evil in our day, then how can we fulfill the words of Psalm 97:10? We must not only love the good...we must hate the evil. The writer of Psalm 119:104, said: "Through thy precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way." Solomon, who got into trouble because he tried to tolerate religious error, declared: "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil" (Proverbs 8:13). Instead of trying to co-exist with falsehood, brought in by the many wives he had married, Solomon should have "hated the evil" and loved the Lord's way. Listen to the words of Nehemiah: "In those days also saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab: And their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews language. And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair.... Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God...nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin" (Nehemiah 13:23-27).

Now, it looks like Nehemiah could have learned some tolerance...why, the very idea of pulling out his people's hair! Didn't he love them? Now, this might be the idea of modern man, but note that Nehemiah was God's man, doing God's will...and, he certainly loved his people, but he had to tell them the truth. If we really love...we will tell the truth.

Folks, there is a righteous indignation that is certainly compatible with Bible teaching. Even our Lord made a scourge of cords and drove the people out of the temple (John 2:15-17). I have never heard anyone accuse him of not loving people. If some want to brand others as legalist, or intolerant, let them do so. We must "love the Lord and hate the evil."

Our Lord commended the church at Ephesus for the very thing that some of our brethren are trying to say is wrong. Listen: "Thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans which I also hate (Revelation 2:6). It is my understanding that the Nicolaitans were some of the first who said that it really doesn't matter what a person does, he will never be lost...God is love and he will not punish anyone!

Does this sound familiar?

What must we do? We need to learn to love the right things and hate the things that are wrong. I did not say that we were to hate the person doing wrong...there is a great difference in hating the sin, yet loving the sinner. We must ever love the person so much that we would be anxious to do any thing to help pull them out of the fire. Amos shouted: "Hate the evil, love the good" (Amos 5:15). Paul said: "Abhor that which is evil; cleave to the good" (Romans 12:9).

To tolerate evil teaching, or living, just for the sake of "getting along" is wrong. We are not to even have fellowship with those who follow, or teach, falsehood (2 John 9-11).

- Dan Carter