Who Should We Hate Spiritually?
Posted October 6, 2010
Hi Mike,
In your reply to me you write:
"So to hate our father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters and our own lives, simply means that we are to love our parents and children and friends less than we love God. "He that loves father or mother more than me" in Matthew 10, is not 'hating his father and mother" as Christ instructs us in Luke 14."
What comes to my mind with this verse is who is my father spiritually who I must hate, who is my mother spiritually who I must hate...same goes for my wife, children, brothers and sisters?
I must hate my father, the devil;Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.I must hate my mother, Babylon the great.
Rev 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.For wife, children, brothers and sisters there will also be spiritual meanings like false doctrines, "thinking above what is written", lusts of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life, things which are very close to us when we walk in them. Things which we all have done and sometimes do .
Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. [We must come (be brought into a mindset) to hate that]Overcoming is a lifelong process...ongoing until I stop breathing...I must and I have come to an understanding that it is me who thinks this:
Rev 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:It is I who naturally loves my father the devil, my mother Babylon the great and my wife, children, brothers and sisters, who represent all what is pleasing to the flesh.
Thinking of this, I realize that the devil is nothing like how he is portrayed in the comic books, or like he is portrayed by Hollywood, or men like Bill Wiese portray him... scary looking and spitting fire. Instead the devil is looking extremely pleasing to the natural man...he looks like our "father and mother, wife, children, brothers and sisters".
Your brother in Christ,
Am I on track with this, Mike?
R____
Hi R____,
You ask "Am I on the right track with this?"
The answer is, yes, your analysis is right on target, and you are 'discerning... the things of the spirit' very clearly.
1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned.
So I could not agree more with every word you have written here. I have said as much many times myself. Satan is our first spiritual 'father'. Babylon the Great, with all of her false doctrines, is our first spiritual 'mother', and our 'brothers' and 'sisters' are our associates in whom all the false doctrines of our spiritual mother, have taken root and abide. The churches of Babylon are man-made and man-founded orthodox organizations, founded upon the doctrines of the men who founded them and whose names they bear. They are not founded upon the Word of God, and when confronted with Christ's Words, they hate them still to this very day.
The point I was making in writing to you was that the word 'hate' in Luke 14 is better understood as 'love less' as is demonstrated by the same account in Matthew. I am very encouraged that you have seen this and have seen beyond the physical words involved and can discern the spiritual message being delivered by our Lord.
Thanks for sharing this with me. Again, You are right on target, and it is good to have it explained spiritually as you have done here.
Mike