There will always be folks claiming to be Christians who will hate on you:
Ever been hated? If you have been because of your commitment to stand with Jesus Christ regardless of the cost, you are in good company. All true followers of Christ have been hated. Indeed, Jesus himself was hated – so much so that his enemies eventually had him crucified.
But none of this should come as a surprise to the Christian. When Jesus was on earth he repeatedly warned his disciples about this very thing. Here are some of the warnings that he gave on this matter:
Matthew 10:22 and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake.
Matthew 24:9 Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.
John 15:18-20 If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.
There are always plenty of enemies of Christianity who will hate on those of us who follow Christ. History is full of examples of those who persecuted Christians, full of demonic rage and hatred. Indeed, we find plenty of examples of this with the early church, as we read about in the book of Acts.
I too know a little bit about this. Because of the ministry that God has called me to do, plenty of folks are not happy with me. Sometimes the hatred is so intense that it results in death threats. But usually it is the hate mail that I get on a regular basis from these folks.
Just the other day for example this comment came in to my site: “I can’t wait until you die Bill. The world will be such a better place without you in it, you disgusting bigoted piece of filth.” Hmm, feel the lurve! I always find it interesting that those who scream the most about love and tolerance and acceptance can be the most hateful, intolerant and unaccepting folks around.
But what I want to stress here is even more alarming and sinister than the pagan despisers of the faith. As Jesus made clear, it will not just be them, but those who claim to be on your side, who will also be part of this. He warned that even friends and family would turn against us. Worse yet, some will think they are pleasing God when they attack us and even have us put to death. Check out these verses for example:
Mark 13:12-13 Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. Everyone will hate you because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
Luke 21:16-17 You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. Everyone will hate you because of me.
John 16:2-4 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. I have told you this, so that when the time comes you will remember that I warned you.
In my experience that has always been the real problem. I of course expect non-believers to hate on me and my faith. What always shocks and saddens me is the fact that too often most of the hatred comes from those who claim to be Christians!
And sadly I once again have another clear example of this taking place. As most of you know, Facebook has cancelled me – completely erased me. My entire personal page and everything with it has been taken down. I tell this story here: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2021/05/27/erased/
But this incident seems to have been making the rounds, and many have now reported on it – both here and overseas. We have for example homosexual websites that have covered the story. They of course are pleased as punch that I no longer exist – at least on Facebook.
But my concern here involves some ‘believers’ on Christian sites that have really gone into full blown celebration mode over this. The bottles of champagne are being opened at a rapid rate it seems as these folks jubilantly celebrate my demise. Many are ecstatic, and have been more than ready to spew their hatred – all in the name of love and tolerance of course!
A few friends alerted me to one such site. It is a well known lefty Christian site, which has a Facebook page as well. Of course I cannot see the latter, but a few folks have sent me a few screenshots of the comments found under an article about my situation.
Hmm, feel the lurve baby! Haters sure are gonna hate, and some of the most hateful folks out there are lefty Christians – you know, the ones that forever go on about how we must never judge anyone, and how we must always be loving and nice to everybody. Their “love” always falls short when it comes to biblical and conservative Christians.
I can assure you that I am no masochist, and I am in fact a human being that can hurt as much as anyone else. I did not relish seeing those angry, bitter and hate-filled comments. And some of these folks I happen to be aware of – they have been hating on me for years, and seem ever so eager to demonstrate their version of Christianity by pouring bile and contempt on me whenever they have the opportunity.
They are serial offenders in other words, and provide even further reasons why I would never want to embrace their leftist, progressive “Christianity”. And of course they are pleased as can be knowing full well that they can tear into me, even tell porkies about me, realising that I cannot come there to defend myself. These guys are not just haters but cowards as well.
One good thing can be said about this sad state of affairs however: A few friends have told me that while plenty of haters are commenting on this FB page, a number of others have rallied to my defence. That means a lot to me. Thank you very much indeed.
As to the actual website of this group, I did venture there once to have a quick look. And when I did, I could not help but notice that EVERY single one of the comments found there were strongly critical of me and full of more glee and delight as they celebrated my downfall. I suppose the only thing worse than that is that the fact that the editor of this magazine was quite happy to print all these comments. Most telling indeed.
Needless to say, most of the comments found on both sites were too ugly, too nasty, or just too stupid to bother with. You simply cannot argue with folks like this. Indeed, they offer no arguments of their own – they only exude hate as they throw mud, rely on ad hominem attacks, and delight in abusing you and deriding you. So I tend to just ignore these haters. All I can do is pray for them.
But perhaps I can here offer just two quick responses to some of the foolish remarks being made by these angry critics. Some said, ‘Hey, no big deal – he still has his website!’ Yeah right. That too is in the crosshairs, and there is no doubt it too will soon enough be forever silenced by the cancel culture activists. And these same haters will be cheering that on as well.
And some others were quite happy to press the outrage button as they said words to this effect: ‘HOW DARE YOU: [in true Greta Thunberg fashion] comparing what happened to you with what happened in Germany or the Soviet Union.’
Um, these folks are just too thick, too historically illiterate, and too PC to get it: it ALWAYS starts this way. First they go after ideas and books and the press, and then they go after people. This is basic tyranny 101. As the nineteenth century German poet Heinrich Heine once put it: “Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings.”
Exactly. But these lefty trendy haters and critics will never get it. They actually think cancel culture is just peachy. Indeed, they fully support it, and actually do want people like me silenced forever. It is all part of their firm commitment to tolerance and diversity!
So here is what we end up with: these folks actually believe that radical secular left media giants like Facebook which regularly attack Christians are somehow the good guys, while folks like me are the enemy! Go figure! And these folks dare to call themselves Christians. Hmm, why do those words of Jesus keep springing back to mind here?
But as I say, all this is to be fully expected. Not only have I had to endure all this for many decades now, but it has always been the lot of real deal Christians who take the Word of God seriously and who refuse to let the world dictate what the gospel is to be all about.
And of course Jesus warned about this as well: he told us that the wheat and the tares would grow up together. Or as Paul put it, wolves would come in to the flock and seek to ravage it. So no surprises here as well. But it nonetheless hurts like heck when you have folks claiming to be followers of Christ who routinely hate on you and seek to see you cancelled – and rejoice when it happens.
As Christ also said, “Pray for those who persecute you.”
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