Considering Proverbs 10:18

¹⁸ He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool.

Have you ever dealt with someone who praised you to your face then slandered you behind you back? Be honest…maybe you’ve done this too. Sometimes we don’t want to say what we really feel because we have to be civil. We have to be adults in this world and get along. Then, when we are in our safety zone around people we know or trust, out pours the hatred as we gossip about someone.

Not good. It doesn’t feel good when it is done to us, and it’s not good to do this to others.

How often is this done among the household of the faith?

Now, when I say that, what do you think of? Do you think of your local church? Do you think of your local denomination? Although there might be occasional bickering among you, for the most part, you are of one mind, correct?

Think broader.

What about Christians you disagree with?

Where I live, there are two main camps of Christianity. I have spent some time among them both, and both never cease to complain about the other. It is like they are vying for the souls of their congregants who must pledge allegiance to the flag of (enter denomination or pastor here).

I’ve seen a surplus of online ministers and prophets/prophetesses so-called who absolutely hate the brethren. Why do they hate them? I think many of them have felt as I have: cast out, looked down upon, and judged harshly.

Resentment leavens the whole lump, as Jesus says. Purge out the old leaven of malice. It is hard to do. I know. I still have some purging to do too. Some are not merely wounded; they want to be King themselves as they give into strange delusions. I pray for you. I know what you struggle with.

What’s sad is that the things stated by all who hate their brethren are not entirely true. A lot of it is slander based on impartial information about the beliefs of the opposition, assumptions that fill in the blanks, and an unwillingness to see that perhaps their opponent has some things right that they themselves miss.

This is not good. This gets into being “drunken and smiting your fellow servants” territory. They are drunken off their superior understanding of the faith and of the teachings of Jesus, wherewith they justify condemning all others. This is four-horsemen stuff, folks. As I have said and will stand by, We Are the Four Horsemen—yet what is in heaven is in earth. Correct? Hear me?

Jesus is merciful. Thanks to God that our judgment is in His hands. Thanks to God that Jesus is a person who deals with us all individually, circumspectly, and with much patience and wisdom. If the grace of God is for us, nothing can be against us—not even our failings.

Yet…our failings are going to be judged. We cannot go around erecting towers and petty kings in the name of the King of Kings and get away with it. We cannot murder our fellow servants in the name of the Prince of Peace and get away with it.

He will tear it all down at the hands of our enemies—and this is for our own good. However, the way He does this will try our hearts. Are we faithful to Jesus or are we faithful to man? If we have the love of Jesus in us and the grace of God to see this, we will not be tried. We will see it coming from a mile away…please see it. I pray the grace of God for you to see it.

We cannot continue to speak peace to the face of our enemies and slander them behind their backs…especially among the brethren.

I do not hate the brethren, though I am human and I get angry. That is a fault of mine and I know that anger and hate are closely related. Yet, to hate wickedness is good. So, I will hate it, but I will not hate you by speaking peace to you then allow the results of your ways come crashing down on you without at least attempting to do something about it.

I have been there too. I have held my views—views that did not line up with any one of you completely, but in part with most if not all of you. I’ve felt the temptation to be against my brethren and I have felt the desire to see it all come crashing down. Now, for your sakes, I desire to see us repent. I desire to see us find humility and learn to communicate beyond our petty Towers of Babel.

The Spirit speaks still. We can hear Him if we will lower ourselves. Jesus is meek and lowly. He will not make Himself known to our towers, and if He must, He will level them to the ground so that He is exalted for our sakes.

In that way, I do desire to see it all fall—but not for the destruction of those within—but that their soul might be saved. It will happen as the scriptures say. This too is grace. It is the grace of God to chasten those He loves.

I do not accuse the salvation of my brethren, as many towers do, but I do know that those who are high now will be low in His Kingdom. Those who are low now will be raised up, as He has said. So, we can always grow in humility. Grow down, not up. The lower we get in the earth, the bigger we get in the Spirit.

In the Spirit, we are one, as the Father and the Son are one. One day, by the grace of God, we will be.