As I may have mentioned before, I get my fair share of abuse. For daring to proclaim truth in the public arena, I get almost daily heaps of hatred and abuse. I guess it goes with the territory. As Winston Churchill once put it: “You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”
So it is to be expected that you will get plenty of opposition, derision and outright hate when you do take a stand. While I get so much abuse and so many attacks from all sorts of people, there are two groups that seem especially good at laying this hate on thick: atheists and homosexuals.
Quite often of course a person will be a card-carrying member of both groups. So if you want to know what quite nasty and diabolical rage and vituperation feels like, just dare to challenge a homosexual atheist. I get this all the time, and it sure is not pretty.
A humorous but basically true depiction of fundamental atheist belief goes something like this: “There is no God and I absolutely hate him!” Yep, we see this being played out all the time – they are convinced there is no God and they sure do seem to be angry with him.
And when this atheism is combined with homosexuality it can be a very heady brew indeed. Consider just one recent example of this – a comment I recently received to a post I had penned about the Christian teenager who was fired from her job for standing against homosexual marriage.
The comment came from a person calling himself “Jesus”. And this was part of the email address he used: “Jchristthebiggestlieforthedum”. This is the comment that he or she sent in (and I have had to edit it a bit for public consumption!):
God is a filthy little faggot paedophile. He loves to f*ck children and cause only pain. This is ALL he is capable of. He is a f*cking scummy little fairytale creature. For the gullible, dumb and trash out there, waiting to believe in absolutely anything. They are dumb. They are worthless. They are scum. They should all be torn apart and f*cked to death. If you follow religion and god i hope u are raped to death and die the most unimaginable death possible.
Wow, that sure is a lot of love and tolerance from the love and tolerance brigade. Feel the lurve! That sure is a whole lotta hate directed against God who this person is certain does not exist. One can only say that this is one messed up individual.
I do not know if it was a male or female who sent it in, or if the person is young or old. But one thing we can say for certain: this person is drowning in a sea of anger, bitterness and resentment. I of course know nothing about this person, or this person’s past, and what they may have gone through.
Whether they had a bad experience with the church or what have you – I have no way of knowing. But sadly such hate-soaked comments are far from unique. I get so many like this that a few years ago I decided to start keeping a record of them.
I have many hundreds of these now piling up. It makes for a very lengthy document in small print – and for some very discouraging reading! One can only say that so much of this comes from the very pits of hell. There are some very sick and twisted people out there.
I am not sure what I will do with this document. At the very least, I can use it as evidence. When the other side says we conservatives and Christians are a bunch of haters and bigots, I can easily reply by saying the opposite is in fact the case.
All the hate and abuse seems to be one-way traffic. It seems to be mostly coming from the other side – you know the one: the one that shouts the most about the need for tolerance, diversity, inclusion, and love! So at least I have my own record of just who is doing all the hating here.
Now the question is, how should we respond to all this poisonous abuse and out-of-control animosity? It would be easy of course to respond in kind. But that is not an option – at least for the Christian. We are called to something higher.
Jesus taught us to love our enemies. That does not mean we cannot argue our case in the public arena. That does not mean we cannot seek to resist the radical agendas of all the militant groups out there. But it does mean that we do not respond with the same spirit.
Instead, as Jesus insisted, we are to pray for our enemies. So I have already been praying for this person. I am not sure if he or she will ever see this article, but if so, he/she should know that God in fact loves this person very much – even enough to send his own son to die for him or her.
This person is an image-bearer of God, one for whom Christ suffered a horrible death so that they might be set free from their bondages to sin, self and Satan. God is in the business of transforming lives. He can set the most hate-filled and bitter person free, and turn them into those who can love others with God’s love.
It is that mindset that all believers must keep in mind when this sort of abuse and ugliness comes pouring in. Sure, it hurts like hell to get this kind of nastiness on a regular basis. I sure do not like it. But these people need help big time. They need God big time.
They need to be set free from all that is dragging them down and reducing them to such angry and bitter individuals. And Christ can do that if and when we let him. As Francis Schaeffer once said in one of his sermons, there are ‘no little people’.
Everyone was created by God and everyone has a soul that will live on forever. The choices we make in this life will determine our eternal destiny. C. S. Lewis also wrote about this so very poignantly in his essay, “The Weight of Glory”. Let me quote part of it here:
It may be possible for each of us to think too much of his own potential glory hereafter; it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbour. The load, or weight, or burden, of my neighbour’s glory should be laid daily on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken.
This of course is a much different view of persons than that offered by atheists, the materialists and the secularists. We are dealing here with the crown of creation, and need to treat one another with all respect and dignity. As image-bearers of God, we deserve no less and can do no less. Lewis continues:
It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics.
He summarises, “There are no ‘ordinary’ people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendours.”
We must always keep these basic truths in mind when dealing with others. Yes there are plenty of evil people out there. Some will refuse to bow the knee and they will thus seal their own fate. But in the meantime we must seek to reach them and bring them back to God. At the very least, we can pray for these people.
So please join with me in praying for this individual. He or she is in a real bad way, but God is able to do a miracle in this person’s life if they let God have half a chance. Who knows? This person may one day be radically transformed by Christ and become a wonderful witness of, and testimony to, God’s amazing grace.
So remember, if you get into the culture wars and seek to speak truth in the public arena, this sort of abuse WILL be your lot. It is guaranteed. But how we respond to it – and to those hurling it at us – makes all the difference in the world.
19 Replies to “Angry Atheists, Hateful Homosexuals, and Help, Hope and Healing”
Been there, done that… I was ejected from a large forum for calmly stating a Christian perspective on SSM while the abusive bullies were allowed to keep attacking others because “love is love”.
Praying with you Bill for this person. May he/she be overwhelmed by God’s mercy and love and come to know Him in Jesus mighty name. Amen
Am sorry for the abuse you cop from people Bill. You are doing a fine job of representing God on Earth and I plead all the protection of Psalm 91 over you and your family.
Thank you for not compromising God’s Word.
With respect,
Cheryl Robertson
Many thanks Cheryl.
I will be praying for this person. I shudder to think what sort of hurts they must have been through to be in this state. And, as you say, if they would only give God half a chance to see how much He actually loves them!
C. S. Lewis also made the point that the Big Sinners are often those closest to the Kingdom. They are, as Uncle Screwtape pointed out, capable of genuine repentance, after which they are prepared to defy the world for the sake of the True God as they once were for His enemy.
Bill, your post reminded me of Jesus’ prayer to God his father, of believers: “…the world has hated them because they are not of the world…I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one… so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”
John 17:14-23 (ESV)
No surprises here. This is our raison d’etre.
When taboos become taboo, reason will tend to become the fettered slave of human passions, and nothing will be held sacred, nothing but the thoroughly profane.
Where there is sorrow there is holy ground. Some day people will realise what that means. They will know nothing of life till they do …
…
I must say to myself that I ruined myself, and that nobody great or small can be ruined except by his own hand. I am quite ready to say so. I am trying to say so, though they may not think it at the present moment. This pitiless indictment I bring without pity against myself. Terrible as was what the world did to me, what I did to myself was far more terrible still.
…
…I ceased to be lord over myself. I was no longer the captain of my soul, and did not know it. I allowed pleasure to dominate me. I ended in horrible disgrace. There is only one thing for me now, absolute humility. …Oscar Wilde De Profundis (1913 Methuen edition) [Full text online at: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/921/921-h/921-h.htm ]
Aww…this is a lovely piece Bill, clearly shows readers the love of God in your life with all the understanding of Jesus, praying for you that your witness may continue to be effective and this dear soul does in fact come to know as well as love our Father in Heaven even half as much as He loves us. A young girl @a_fallen_angel2017 commented on Instagram “No” to about our Faithful God and I knew from her photo gallery that her dears soul was troubled, there are clearly many hurting people around about us and we called to love them no matter what even when they don’t seem to obey the Golden Rule #1 Do unto others as you would have them do to you! These people seem to think Marxism, Communism is better somehow. Why?
Even this afternoon the nurse caring for our Beppe said he didn’t agree that his son was suffering because he wasn’t living the way he was created to live, when this is so clearly seen in the lives of those that encounter stress for ignoring God’s purpose and will for their lives, we were made for much better than this. May the words of our mouth and the meditation of our heart be acceptable in God’s sight always, Jesus did not tolerate sin and neither do we, we need the compassion of Jesus to forgive and love those of us like the woman at the well just by showing them how much Jesus accepts them into his Kingdom by becoming like them as Paul did. Thank you again for your story Bill we all have one but the greatest is God’s Story https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlUYDvEFeas Blessings
You know Bill, you’ve talk about what would happen IF SSM gets passed. But after seeing that comment above, I fear more about what would happen IF the NO vote is victorious, what will the yes campaign do? I believe you have shown a lot more of how vile the yes campaign can be (ACL attack for example), imagine how insane they’d be IF the no campaign is successful?
Thanks James. Quite right. Whichever way this vote goes, you can be guaranteed that the homosexual war against faith, family and freedom will continue, and very likely get even worse.
Well said Bill. Today is the offer of salvation for everyone. I just finished reading “The Insanity of God” which relates many stories of the persecution of Christians around the world. I won’t repeat the insights here because the book is worth reading, however I will relate one story from a Muslim country.
There was a medical clinic staffed and funded by Christians who were providing health care to anyone who would walk through its doors, regardless of their religion. Opposite the clinic there was a shop owned by a Muslim man who hurled abuse and hatred at the clinic staff over a period of time. Just further down the road there was a mosque and at Friday prayers this man would speak the Muslims walking past against this clinic and its activities.
The Christians in the clinic were dedicated, professional, and caring to everyone and were a strong witness for Jesus in this way. One day, the man who owned the shop discovered he had contracted cancer and most people stopped visiting and buying from his shop. However, the medical staff purchased from his shop now and took a genuine interest in his welfare. As he grew weaker his heart started to soften towards them and a few months before he died, he gave his life to Jesus. One of his widowed wives, Aisha, aged 24 with 4 children also became a Christian before he died and became a very effective evangelist to her family, friends and neigbours. At first the authorities ignored her but it became too obvious and they arrested her and put her through all sort of persecution and suffering. Finally, the police threw her into a dungeon that was not even a prison cell but a place inhabited by spiders and rats underneath the police building. There she finally felt desperate and was about to open her mouth and scream in agony and despair. However, when she opened her mouth, what came out instead was a beautiful song of worship. After some while, the police chief came and opened the trapdoor and said to her he couldn’t understand how she could sing such a beautiful song despite her treatment. He said that he was going to set her free and let her go home. However, because it was late at night in an Islamic country she couldn’t travel by herself so she asked not to be put out right now. He said he would escort her home personally, on one condition. Aisha suspected of his intentions but he explained further his condition:
My wife, my daughters, and all the women in my family are afraid of everything. But you are not afraid of anything. So now, I am going to take you safely to your home tonight. Three days from now, I am going to come to get you, and bring you to my house. I want you to come to my house so that you can tell everyone in my family why you are not afraid. And I want you to sing that song.
Dear Bill,
All I can say is the letter you shared with us was truly blasphemous and evil and sadly really directed at ALL Christians. I never imagined anyone could write anything as hate-filled as that. I certainly have never read anything so bad in the whole of my 81 years. I couldn’t bring myself to read it aloud to my husband. I can only imagine how upset you must feel when you actually receive such mail because of your apostolate. I will certainly pray for you AND this person and others like him because they must be terribly tormented to feel that way. God Bless and keep you safe always.
So helpful Bill! Thank you.
A really good post Bill. Thank God He put Saul/Paul in the New Testament, otherwise most of us would feel it was only for goody-goodies like Peter who have “never eaten anything unclean”.
Saul, the equivalent of a radical Muslim, drunk on Christian blood and breathing murderous threats, meets Jesus and then works for God. If he can get saved, anyone can.
That is where I see a difference between the Old and New Testaments. There is no equivalent of Paul in the OT, because people could not be transformed back then like they can now. Jesus rebukes his disciples for wanting to call down judgement on the city that rejected them. He just went to the next town instead. We stand against error and the doctrines of demons, but we are also here to help rescue the whosoever… who might be anyone – toxic letter writers included.
Hi Bill, I saw your F.B. post about the writer you refer to in this piece. This honestly shocked me in learning that anyone could actually write such vile wording. As I commented on that post, that kind of material must have been dictated directly from the pits of hell. Only people with totally bend minds, induced by long term drug addiction could come up with such tripe.
What you wrote here is truly remarkable, in that you show so much compassion for such an individual. I know it is not because you have been hardened so much to withstand such onslaught. It is the Holy Spirit that inspires your response to such attacks. We must all uphold you in our prayers to withstand this evil.
Wilhelmus Heggers
Wow – I have definitely not read enough CS Lewis – I am ashamed to say….
What a beautiful analogy – To HUMBLY carry our enemies burden just like Jesus….until ALL THE backs of the proud are broken.
Praise God for ALL the Holy-Spirit inspired writers throughout the centuries…..
May God continue to work through you, Bill until He calls you home…
May We ALL demand such a burden be carried humbly upon our shoulders/back & May the blessed blood of Jesus continue to cover us & our families as we continue to battle on for God’s Amazing Plan for The Family.
In Jesus Christ MIGHTY NAME We pray, Amen
Hey Bill. I just recently discovered and have found your articles and this article in particular, to be super edifying and helpful. Just want you to know that I will be using your hard work and Christ-like heart to minister to others and give Glory to God. Thanks for all you do. I will also be praying for this wounded person and all those like him/her. Keep fighting the good fight; you’re not alone! Also praying that the Holy Spirit would use you in powerful ways and you would be strengthened in your inner man:)
Many thanks Zachary. Bless you.
Just found your article. For the last two days my church Facebook page and personal page has been barraged with the very types of comments you write. All those comments have done have made me more committed to serving Jesus. I thank you because others need to know this attack and methods are not unique. I pray for you. Please pray for me. We must stand strong for Jesus. Blessings!
Been there, done that… I was ejected from a large forum for calmly stating a Christian perspective on SSM while the abusive bullies were allowed to keep attacking others because “love is love”.
Praying with you Bill for this person. May he/she be overwhelmed by God’s mercy and love and come to know Him in Jesus mighty name. Amen
Am sorry for the abuse you cop from people Bill. You are doing a fine job of representing God on Earth and I plead all the protection of Psalm 91 over you and your family.
Thank you for not compromising God’s Word.
With respect,
Cheryl Robertson
Many thanks Cheryl.
I will be praying for this person. I shudder to think what sort of hurts they must have been through to be in this state. And, as you say, if they would only give God half a chance to see how much He actually loves them!
C. S. Lewis also made the point that the Big Sinners are often those closest to the Kingdom. They are, as Uncle Screwtape pointed out, capable of genuine repentance, after which they are prepared to defy the world for the sake of the True God as they once were for His enemy.
Bill, your post reminded me of Jesus’ prayer to God his father, of believers: “…the world has hated them because they are not of the world…I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one… so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”
John 17:14-23 (ESV)
No surprises here. This is our raison d’etre.
When taboos become taboo, reason will tend to become the fettered slave of human passions, and nothing will be held sacred, nothing but the thoroughly profane.
Where there is sorrow there is holy ground. Some day people will realise what that means. They will know nothing of life till they do …
…
I must say to myself that I ruined myself, and that nobody great or small can be ruined except by his own hand. I am quite ready to say so. I am trying to say so, though they may not think it at the present moment. This pitiless indictment I bring without pity against myself. Terrible as was what the world did to me, what I did to myself was far more terrible still.
…
…I ceased to be lord over myself. I was no longer the captain of my soul, and did not know it. I allowed pleasure to dominate me. I ended in horrible disgrace. There is only one thing for me now, absolute humility. …Oscar Wilde De Profundis (1913 Methuen edition) [Full text online at: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/921/921-h/921-h.htm ]
Aww…this is a lovely piece Bill, clearly shows readers the love of God in your life with all the understanding of Jesus, praying for you that your witness may continue to be effective and this dear soul does in fact come to know as well as love our Father in Heaven even half as much as He loves us. A young girl @a_fallen_angel2017 commented on Instagram “No” to about our Faithful God and I knew from her photo gallery that her dears soul was troubled, there are clearly many hurting people around about us and we called to love them no matter what even when they don’t seem to obey the Golden Rule #1 Do unto others as you would have them do to you! These people seem to think Marxism, Communism is better somehow. Why?
Even this afternoon the nurse caring for our Beppe said he didn’t agree that his son was suffering because he wasn’t living the way he was created to live, when this is so clearly seen in the lives of those that encounter stress for ignoring God’s purpose and will for their lives, we were made for much better than this. May the words of our mouth and the meditation of our heart be acceptable in God’s sight always, Jesus did not tolerate sin and neither do we, we need the compassion of Jesus to forgive and love those of us like the woman at the well just by showing them how much Jesus accepts them into his Kingdom by becoming like them as Paul did. Thank you again for your story Bill we all have one but the greatest is God’s Story https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlUYDvEFeas Blessings
You know Bill, you’ve talk about what would happen IF SSM gets passed. But after seeing that comment above, I fear more about what would happen IF the NO vote is victorious, what will the yes campaign do? I believe you have shown a lot more of how vile the yes campaign can be (ACL attack for example), imagine how insane they’d be IF the no campaign is successful?
Thanks James. Quite right. Whichever way this vote goes, you can be guaranteed that the homosexual war against faith, family and freedom will continue, and very likely get even worse.
Well said Bill. Today is the offer of salvation for everyone. I just finished reading “The Insanity of God” which relates many stories of the persecution of Christians around the world. I won’t repeat the insights here because the book is worth reading, however I will relate one story from a Muslim country.
There was a medical clinic staffed and funded by Christians who were providing health care to anyone who would walk through its doors, regardless of their religion. Opposite the clinic there was a shop owned by a Muslim man who hurled abuse and hatred at the clinic staff over a period of time. Just further down the road there was a mosque and at Friday prayers this man would speak the Muslims walking past against this clinic and its activities.
The Christians in the clinic were dedicated, professional, and caring to everyone and were a strong witness for Jesus in this way. One day, the man who owned the shop discovered he had contracted cancer and most people stopped visiting and buying from his shop. However, the medical staff purchased from his shop now and took a genuine interest in his welfare. As he grew weaker his heart started to soften towards them and a few months before he died, he gave his life to Jesus. One of his widowed wives, Aisha, aged 24 with 4 children also became a Christian before he died and became a very effective evangelist to her family, friends and neigbours. At first the authorities ignored her but it became too obvious and they arrested her and put her through all sort of persecution and suffering. Finally, the police threw her into a dungeon that was not even a prison cell but a place inhabited by spiders and rats underneath the police building. There she finally felt desperate and was about to open her mouth and scream in agony and despair. However, when she opened her mouth, what came out instead was a beautiful song of worship. After some while, the police chief came and opened the trapdoor and said to her he couldn’t understand how she could sing such a beautiful song despite her treatment. He said that he was going to set her free and let her go home. However, because it was late at night in an Islamic country she couldn’t travel by herself so she asked not to be put out right now. He said he would escort her home personally, on one condition. Aisha suspected of his intentions but he explained further his condition:
My wife, my daughters, and all the women in my family are afraid of everything. But you are not afraid of anything. So now, I am going to take you safely to your home tonight. Three days from now, I am going to come to get you, and bring you to my house. I want you to come to my house so that you can tell everyone in my family why you are not afraid. And I want you to sing that song.
Dear Bill,
All I can say is the letter you shared with us was truly blasphemous and evil and sadly really directed at ALL Christians. I never imagined anyone could write anything as hate-filled as that. I certainly have never read anything so bad in the whole of my 81 years. I couldn’t bring myself to read it aloud to my husband. I can only imagine how upset you must feel when you actually receive such mail because of your apostolate. I will certainly pray for you AND this person and others like him because they must be terribly tormented to feel that way. God Bless and keep you safe always.
So helpful Bill! Thank you.
A really good post Bill. Thank God He put Saul/Paul in the New Testament, otherwise most of us would feel it was only for goody-goodies like Peter who have “never eaten anything unclean”.
Saul, the equivalent of a radical Muslim, drunk on Christian blood and breathing murderous threats, meets Jesus and then works for God. If he can get saved, anyone can.
That is where I see a difference between the Old and New Testaments. There is no equivalent of Paul in the OT, because people could not be transformed back then like they can now. Jesus rebukes his disciples for wanting to call down judgement on the city that rejected them. He just went to the next town instead. We stand against error and the doctrines of demons, but we are also here to help rescue the whosoever… who might be anyone – toxic letter writers included.
Hi Bill, I saw your F.B. post about the writer you refer to in this piece. This honestly shocked me in learning that anyone could actually write such vile wording. As I commented on that post, that kind of material must have been dictated directly from the pits of hell. Only people with totally bend minds, induced by long term drug addiction could come up with such tripe.
What you wrote here is truly remarkable, in that you show so much compassion for such an individual. I know it is not because you have been hardened so much to withstand such onslaught. It is the Holy Spirit that inspires your response to such attacks. We must all uphold you in our prayers to withstand this evil.
Wilhelmus Heggers
Wow – I have definitely not read enough CS Lewis – I am ashamed to say….
What a beautiful analogy – To HUMBLY carry our enemies burden just like Jesus….until ALL THE backs of the proud are broken.
Praise God for ALL the Holy-Spirit inspired writers throughout the centuries…..
May God continue to work through you, Bill until He calls you home…
May We ALL demand such a burden be carried humbly upon our shoulders/back & May the blessed blood of Jesus continue to cover us & our families as we continue to battle on for God’s Amazing Plan for The Family.
In Jesus Christ MIGHTY NAME We pray, Amen
Hey Bill. I just recently discovered and have found your articles and this article in particular, to be super edifying and helpful. Just want you to know that I will be using your hard work and Christ-like heart to minister to others and give Glory to God. Thanks for all you do. I will also be praying for this wounded person and all those like him/her. Keep fighting the good fight; you’re not alone! Also praying that the Holy Spirit would use you in powerful ways and you would be strengthened in your inner man:)
Many thanks Zachary. Bless you.
Just found your article. For the last two days my church Facebook page and personal page has been barraged with the very types of comments you write. All those comments have done have made me more committed to serving Jesus. I thank you because others need to know this attack and methods are not unique. I pray for you. Please pray for me. We must stand strong for Jesus. Blessings!