“And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him” (Gen 4:8). These were the first humans born into the world, and one killed the other.  This tendency and violent reaction toward each other has not changed over the centuries. If, as the great philosophers and thinkers would have you believe, Man has become more refined, more civilized and sophisticated, I ask why our prisons are so full and why are we surrounded by violence on every side?  Of course, if this arrogant argument regarding the advancement and refinement of Man actually had any merit, the exhortations to love our enemies would not have proceeded out of our Savior’s mouth. No, friends, this is a base part of our depraved nature that has not changed since The Fall, and it is a thing we must each personally grapple with and war against.   Even as we do battle on a daily basis against our enemies, we must be careful and use caution in how we wage this war and how we treat them. We must be mindful to look at this spiritually, not carnally, and to be honest with ourselves in our inspection of the matter and how we regard it.  I know it is a thing that creates great conflict for me on a regular basis, and we must bring these thoughts into captivity. 
 
This week gave extreme and excellent examples of how humans demonstrate their vexation towards one another. None starker than the fall of Syria: Israel invades Syrian demilitarized zone amid collapse of Assad government + They saw this coming, you know: ‘If Homs Falls, I Don’t See How the Regime Can Survive’ 
Today’s sermon audio gives a perspective from the Holy Bible: https://www.godhatesfags.com/audio/sermons.html.  Add this interesting historical perspective regarding language and connection to Israel: Fall of Assad revives interest in Judeo-Syrian Arabic, Syria’s nearly lost Jewish dialect.
Also, this week, God demonstrated His ever-increasing wrath on the children of disobedience via extra-human activities.
 
 
 
Review of North American Wildfires for perspective: 2024 North American Wildfires – Center for Disaster Philanthropy
We will have enemies.  We do have enemies.  But we cannot treat our enemies, as men treat their enemies!  We cannot think of the enemies of God as men think of their enemies!  We cannot feel toward the enemies of God as men feel toward their enemies!  Christ, our Master, demands of us better things, He has established a standard we must strive to adhere to and be examples in how to live it.  He has told us to be “perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect”. Look back at the passage from Matthew 5 and take notice what Jesus does with His words.  He does battle with an incorrect, widely and dare I say universally held belief and cultural standard that is inconsistent with His teaching and purpose – He declares “ye have heard it said”.  Notice He specifically does not say “it is written”. This is a thing we must be most careful about.  We must stick to “it is written” and not wander into and make that which is not written become that which is “commonly said”.   I believe this is a very simple error to make and when made is very difficult to overcome.  Remember these Pharisees were wise in the law, they were really smart, had studied it their whole lives, and knew what it said.  For hundreds of years though, these really smart people in the law had moved away from what was written and made it about what they said.  That’s a terrible spot to get into and we could easily fall into that spot if we are not careful.  
This week hit a whole new level on criminal “blood-thirsty” activities as well.  See this coverage of the murder of that CEO: Google News – UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson shot dead in Manhattan – Overview. + https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/05/us/unitedhealthcare-ceo-killed-what-we-know-hnk/index.html.
 
 
 
I’m telling you that we must genuinely love our enemies. We must hold no grudge or ill will toward them for any reason.  This love is not simply an absence of hatred, some sense of neutrality. It is a genuine Biblical love for them. Jesus doesn’t tell us simply not to hate them, but to love them. This love must be genuine or why call it love?  Christ directs us to be perfect, and if our love is not genuine, or has some sort of caveat to it, we are not striving to be perfect and are at risk of being in direct violation of this clear directive. If we try to find ways around this, we are precisely like the Pharisees Jesus is preaching against here. We are the same hypocrites they are routinely called if we do not look at our enemies and feel genuine love from our hearts, not just platitudes and claims of love or trying to make it out that this or that thing we’re doing is love.   
 
GodSmack!
 
More current events that work to ramp up the violence and hatred in this earth, praise God:
 
 
And now comes the “I told you all of that to tell you this moment” :-).  I believe that a perfected love of our enemies is required to perfect the charity we seek amongst ourselves as the Body and Bride of Christ. “Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:”  (1 Timothy 1:5). “And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness” (Colossians 3:14). 
 
So let us consider the end of this world’s tendency to do the exact opposite of Christ’s commands, i.e. death:
 
 
 
 
 
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