EVERYONE WHO HATES HIS BROTHER, IS A MURDERER
Sakkie Parsons
Translated from Afrikaans
Translator: Lynda Botha
Someone wrote to me the following:
"I read on Facebook where someone refers to Jeremiah 13 verse 23 and he says that this verse refers to the black people and therefore they are unable to change. When you have a minute please I would love your comments. "
First, here is the verse that is referred to:
JER 13:23 “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil”.
So, with the tongue in the cheek: This person's hatred and scorn for people who are not of the same colour as he, did not allow him, and thank goodness for that, to give him an explanation for the Leopard and its spots.
Hatred for other people, of course, is something evil that comes from satan and therefore should not be found in a true child of our Lord.
We must hate the sin, but like our Lord, we should love the sinner.
Our Lord loves all sinners, also this person who wrote this message, and He, that is Jesus gave His life for us.
JHN 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life”.
JHN 3:17 “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved”.
1 JHN 2:2 “And He Himself is the sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world”.
For the religious people, note that I didn’t say Christians, because believe me, one can be very religious without being a Christian – in other words, a disciple of Jesus.
We, the true Christians cannot, just like Jesus’s Holy Spirit which lives in us, hate or despise other people just because our Lord thought it well to create people in a different colour.
For us Christians the Word of the Lord speaks – and how wonderful and easy is it not for us to understand it:
1 JHN 2:9 “He who says that he is in the light, and hate his brother, is in darkness until now”.
1 JHN 2:11 “But he who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes”.
1 JHN 3:15 “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him”.
1 JHN 4:20 “If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?”
1 JHN 4:21 “And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God, must love his brother also”.
Now I know, because it is not my first time clashing with satan, how some will argue, as they borrowed their spiritual hearing out to Satan.
It goes something like this:
"Sakkie it is written that I must love my brother but not all of these other people of whom you speak."
I forget now, but only for this moment, yes just for this moment, for the sake of this writing of course, of all the other people who have adopted Jesus as their Saviour, which is not of the same colour or language as I am, and, how wonderful, they all are my brothers and sisters, and would like to quote the following verses to you, as Jesus lives in me and in every other true Christian and what His Word say and expects of us:
MAT 5:43-45
43 “You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.”
44 “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,”
45, “that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
One of my great teachers said something and it was something like this:
"If you make a statement about what is written in the Word and you can’t validate it in black and white from the Word, then it is your view or satan’s view. You know with a certainty that it is satan’s view when the Word of God contradicts the statement you made. Then you must watch out, satan is becoming part of your circle of friends."
I could quote many verses from the Word of God, which screams against the statement you have sent me, but have resigned myself to give you only three verses:
Our Lord is not wasteful in His actions. Therefore, He would not have wasted His valuable time to tell us we should make disciples of the Nations, and to tell us to preach His Gospel to all Nations, if the Nations he created were a waste of time.
MAT 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit,”
MAT 28:20 “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.”
How wonderful is it to know, that we were successful in the past, that we are successful now and it will also be successful in the future in obeying this command, because I read:
REV 5:9 “And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for you were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood, out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,”
REV 5:10 “and have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.”
How glorious to know that our God and Saviour have sacrificed His blood not just for you and me but for the entire world's people.
Remember what I wrote:
"Our Lord is not wasteful in His actions.”
1 JOHN 2:2-6
2 “And He Himself is the sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.”
3 “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep his commandments.”
4 “He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”
5 “But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.”
6 “He who says he abides in Him, ought himself also to walk just as He walked.”
Which commandments are referred to here?
MATT 22:35-40
35 “Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying,”
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
37 “Jesus said to him: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.”
38 “This is the first and great commandment.”
39 “And the second is: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”
40 “On these two commandments hang all the law and the Prophets.”
Is not it wonderful to know if I follow God’s Word, it says:
ROM 13:8-10
8 “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another, has fulfilled the law.”
9 “For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” ”You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, they are all summed up in this saying, namely “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”
10 “Love does no harm to a neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilment of the law.”
One day, a very, very long time ago, when I was still in school, one of the pupils made a statement and he began it by saying:
"My view is …"
The teacher listened silently to the pupil.
He answered the pupil and ends by saying:
"So, your view smells."
With what I have shown you now, and it is but a very small part of what I could’ve used, I can only say:
"The statement/view of this person who you sent to me, gives off a satanic rotten stench."
You might also be interested in the following devotions:
Who is my neighbour?
The events in Numbers 12
Greetings,
Sakkie