"God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry?" --Jonah 4:9
"Anger is not always or necessarily sinful, but it has such a tendency to run wild that whenever it displays itself, we should be quick to question its character, with this inquiry, "Doest thou well to be angry?" It may be that we can answer, "YES." Very frequently anger is the madman's firebrand, but sometimes it is Elijah's fire from heaven. We do well when we are angry with sin, because of the wrong which it commits against our good and gracious God; or with ourselves because we remain so foolish after so much divine instruction; or with others when the sole cause of anger is the evil which they do. He who is not angry at transgression becomes a partaker in it. Sin is a loathsome and hateful thing, and no renewed heart can patiently endure it. God himself is angry with the wicked every day, and it is written in His Word, "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil." Far more frequently it is to be feared that our anger is not commendable or even justifiable, and then we must answer, "NO." Why should we be fretful with children, passionate with servants, and wrathful with companions? Is such anger honourable to our Christian profession, or glorifying to God? Is it not the old evil heart seeking to gain dominion, and should we not resist it with all the might of our newborn nature. Many professors give way to temper as though it were useless to attempt resistance; but let the believer remember that he must be a conqueror in every point, or else he cannot be crowned. If we cannot control our tempers, what has grace done for us? Some one told Mr. Jay that grace was often grafted on a crab-stump. "Yes," said he, "but the fruit will not be crabs." We must not make natural infirmity an excuse for sin, but we must fly to the cross and pray the Lord to crucify our tempers, and renew us in gentleness and meekness after His own image."
CH Spurgeon, I think...
Ya know, the world is really friggin' ugly right now, we live among a bunch of hateful asps, and they hate themselves more than anyone else. That's an extremely dangerous kind of hatred. It's the lowest of the low and when it creeps into your life, you're gonna be tempted to become angry in kind...
I hate those that oppose themselves and God with a perfect hatred, but I wont allow that to allow me the pleasure of condemning them or judging them. Such is not my place. But I will judge sin for what it is, and I'll judge it in my life harsher than anywhere else...Because I too hate myself when I sin.
It's hard when you give all your love to someone only to find that they wish you the worst in their hearts. People in this world are capable of the most disgusting acts of cruelty and debauchery ever imagined and they do it all while portraying themselves to be "healers," "therapists," "physicians," and "instructors" and men and women of honor and nobility...What is the man of God supposed to do in such a context? It's maddening and the Enemy loves this. What insanity!
And we wonder why some become Nazis and KKK members...think about what the transgressor must yet protect if he hopes to have anything at all!
Even the mightiest of us, are not islands, we have as much need for companionship and fellowship as the next person. Evil people have a fairly easy time finding companionship and fellowship though they don't cherish it as they ought or even recognize its beauty. They treat it as the whore does a "trick." Or the wayward wife her afternoon "excursion." They are very childish in their perception of "fellowship." Never growing beyond a base understanding of "give and take" in relationships, they give full vent to all their loathsome energies and desires and will have them fulfilled or else...lash out, strike down, and hurt whatever denies them their right to put their hand in a cookie jar...They don't think of the lusting for the cookie as sin, but as their right, and if you deny them that cookie, YOU, not they are breaking the Law. This is the stupid mentality of the sinner, and I hate it, and have no patience for it. Yet what can one do? We, godly men are hedged in. The tares are ever increasing in number. And the instruction?
Mat 5:43-45 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Why can't we judge anyone? What if we, after judging, fall into transgression ourselves? Now not only must we deal with our own lusting selves but our tresspass of judgment against someone else's lusts...
Man! It is so tough yet so easy to be perfect, all it really requires is agreement. Notice how much contention there is in the world? These are the lusts that are in our own flesh like infirmities and cancers for which there is no cure...And the only relief one gets from cancer is from the touch of God. That is the Power everyone wants, though very few want to keep it pure...Most of the abominations in this world, want to use it up again and again, coming back every hour for another "cookie." They don't and cannot desire that which is righteous. They are dead and must feed like the grave.
Jam 4:1-10 From whence [come] wars and fightings among you? [come they] not hence, [even] of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume [it] upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse [your] hands, [ye] sinners; and purify [your] hearts, [ye] double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and [your] joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
You have NO chance without God. In the current reality, you have little chance with God, but that is more than anyone else beside you has...Cherish that! Thank Him every hour, every minute for His Grace because when Grace runs out, then cometh Wrath and who shall be able to stand that Day?
Jacob 5:77
And when the time cometh that evil fruit shall again come into my vineyard, then will I cause the good and the bad to be gathered; and the good will I preserve unto myself, and the bad will I cast away into its own place. And then cometh the season and the end; and my vineyard will I cause to be burned with fire.
Hbr 6:4-8 For [it is] impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put [him] to an open shame.
For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God:
But that which beareth thorns and briers [is] rejected, and [is] nigh unto cursing; whose end [is] to be burned.
An interesting fact about God and Jesus is that He often mirrors Creation and is torn apart by its disobedience.
Hate cannot defeat Love, all it can do is rage and rant until it is consumed and destroyed of itself.
When we praise anything worthy, God recognizes Himself/Love in us and acknowledges the Value of whatever brought this Affectation forth from Us.
Our Works and Values, Concerns and Efforts, have become forced and a product of pride, fear and loathing...There is little Faith and Love in what we do for ourselves and others, and in Its place, is an ugly sort of Pride and willful pushing on against all common and uncommon sense, pushing on no matter what, staying the course though we can already sense the end is nowhere anyone will want to be when we arrive. Void of Good Will, our Labors, no matter how perfect they seem, work the opposite of what Hard Work is supposedly about.
We believe that because we have figured out so much about how Creation works that we are wise and intelligent enough to survive, exist and prosper independent of God, and we have suceeded for a long time simply because God has remained faithful though we have been unfaithful. Even if we can't enjoy Life anymore and everything we do is a job and a struggle, a task, we convince ourselves that ability and capability are of more importance than Godliness and blind ourselves to the fact that it is Death working in us and all around us that is our fuel and makes us burn and makes us "capable." To our horor we will be shocked at what someday the worst and best of us are "capable" of...
Righteousness enjoys much ease, Rest and Peace. There is little struggle, little work, little confusion and much, much, much Peace.
Isa 48:18 O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:
Our Culture and Society have become predictably whorish and seductive...The only kind of rest we see is the laziness of a whore, laying in bed, waiting for a customer...yet She has untold of numbers slaving away under a heavy yoke and burden, imagining they will someday reap the perfect society.
D&C 29: 21 And the great and abominable church, which is the whore of all the earth, shall be cast down by devouring fire, according as it is spoken by the mouth of Ezekiel the prophet, who spoke of these things, which have not come to pass but surely must, as I live, for abominations shall not reign.
Come out of Her. Don't panic, just realize your situation and change your reaction. Deal justly with yourself and everyone around you. Stop sinning and choose and enjoy Life. If your will is still free, use it wisely. Don't be sucked into the RatRace, the winner is a Rat, and loses anyway..
Pray.
Phl 4:6-7 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Mat 6:19-34 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great [is] that darkness!
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
Which of you by taking thought can add onecubit unto his stature?
And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, [shall he] not much more [clothe] you, O ye of little faith?
Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day [is] the evil thereof.
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