Fifth, we must love others in Jesus. (9-13) Look at verse 9. "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good." Many people think that because we are Christians we must condone others' sins and evilness. But they are greatly mistaken. Our love in Jesus must be sincere. Paul says, "Hate what is evil." We must hate the enemies of God. Those who do not hate the enemies of God reveal that they do not love God. If we love God we must hate God's enemies. If we love God we must love those who love God as our own brothers. The single most important factor in the body of Christ is love. But love must be sincere. When we want to love others with sincere love we must learn how to love others in Jesus.
Just the words, "We must hate the enemies of God," do not convey what Samuel Lee was saying. He had Ron Ward scream those words at the top of his lungs that Sunday. As usual, Ward was miked. The effect was blood-curdling. That word, "HATE", was the peak of the crescendo of that whole "message." I could remember nothing else of what was spoken.
Of course, Samuel Lee was referring to the would-be reformers of UBF as those we should "HATE!!!", those whom he referred to at other times as "barking dogs" or "crazy dogs" or "rebels." So in UBF, you must "love others in Jesus," but you must "HATE THE ENEMIES OF GOD!!!", where the "enemies of God" are always those who would speak up about UBF, even those who gave their all to UBF and wanted to reform it. Love is "HATE!!!" It amuses me when certain UBF people talk about UBF's critics as "hateful" people.
An example of this "hate the enemies of God!!!" mentality is the paranoid assumption on the part of current UBF leaders (both senior and junior leaders) that behind any criticism of UBF--even calls to set up a real system of accountability and discipline to address the sins of leaders--is the desire to "destroy UBF" on the part of those who are "out to get UBF," i.e., the "enemies of God."
Here's an earlier comment by someone else on this savagely misinterpreted passage:
Who wrote that message? I don't know how the writer goes from Paul's words "Hate what is evil" to a distortion like "Hate the enemies of God ". It says "hate what is evil" not "hate those who are evil". He is trying to redefine the word love. Instead of love you have "love in Jesus" which he redefines to mean a love reserved only for good Christians. I don"t know how anyone could so completely misinterpret Paul's meaning. In the same chapter (verse 14) he says, "Bless those who persecute you". It would make more sense to shout, "Bless the enemies of God!" In verse 20 it says, "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to dr ink". Maybe they should shout, "Feed the enemies of God!" or "Give the e nemies of God something to drink!" Sin is a disease. We shouldn't hate people suffering from this fatal disease. We should have compassion on t hem as Christ had compassion on the leper. We should, "Love the Enemies of God !" as Christ loved us. --UBFSoul
