People who lust for power learned millennia ago that causing people to hate their enemies
can deliver more power to them and their like-minded tyrants. One recent cartoon showed a king
in his castle being besieged by subjects carrying pitchforks and torches. The king’s servant
offered advice. “Your Majesty, we don’t have to fight them, we merely need to convince the
pitchfork people that the torch people want to take their pitchforks from them!” 
Fomenting wars was the ignoble work of Count Rugen, Prince Humperdink, and Vizzini in
the wildly popular movie, The Princess Bride. They could gain power if they could lead people
into indignation, hate, and revenge. 
In the book of Esther, Haman tried to hang an innocent Mordecai, but it backfired and he
was hanged on his own gallows. Manipulating one group to hate another has been the modus
operandi of every evil leader in history, with varying degrees of success: Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot,
Mao Tse Tung, Castro, Nicolae Ceaușescu, Maduro, and all the way back to Nero, who blamed
Christians for the fires in Rome in July of 64 AD. The hatred he ignited kicked off 250 years of

persecution d Christians, which didn’t end until AD 313 when Emperor Constantine legalized
Christianity. 
In other words, evil won for 250 years! But eventually, evil fails and is seen for what it is.
However, some of the longest-lasting hatreds on earth are the racial and social hatred of some
nations against others. Today, manipulation of hatred is in full swing in everything from social
settings to national and international politics, even among large, modern nations. Consider the
Middle East, Africa (especially Sudan right now), the Orient, Central and South America, and
even within our own nation. Political, social, and racial strife are pushed and promoted by
anyone who stands to gain power, prestige, or cold hard cash!
For those serious about their faith in Jesus, we must always remember that Jesus called us to
“love your enemies and do good to those who persecute you,” (Matthew 5:43-48; Luke 6:27-36).
No, we don’t ignore evil. No, we do not attempt to get the government to ignore evil (Romans
13:1-6). No, we do not try to rescue criminals from their due justice. But we do hate the sin and
love the sinner. We must seek to bring the sinner to Jesus, just like someone led each of us to
Him. Never forget we are all sinners (Romans 3:10, 23). 
We must never allow Satan and his minions to bring us to hate other humans merely because
of their race or nationality. It would be foolish and just plain sinful to hate all Saudis because a
small handful attacked us and some others approved. Even God, Himself, does not hold fathers
accountable for the sins of their sons, nor sons for the sins of their fathers (Ezekiel 18). 
As part of our walk to follow Jesus, “in His steps” (I Peter 2:21-25), we absolutely must
forgive as Jesus forgave (Ephesians 4:32) but we must also obey His command, “Do not judge
by appearance, but judge with a righteous judgment” (John 7:24). The only way we can do that is
to judge individuals according to God’s word, not our own bias or group hatred. 
Unless we love sinners, we cannot love anyone, because “there is none righteous, no not
one” (Romans 3:10). “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). 
If we cannot love humans we have seen, we cannot love God, Whom we have not seen.
(Don’t take my word for it; read I John 4:20. “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother,
he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has
not seen.”)
Today, our whole culture is being manipulated to cause almost all to judge people as groups.
“Hate the Jews, hate the Germans, hate the capitalists, hate the socialists, hate the Chinese, hate
the Russians, hate the Americans,” etc. We should “hate the sin and love the sinner.” Without
that, we cannot be like Jesus, no matter how much we claim otherwise. Hate delivers the
unsuspecting and untaught into the manipulator Satan (often through electronic media).
Regardless of your genetic origins, regardless of your political persuasion, regardless of
your status in life or income, or the area in which you live—regardless of any variable, Jesus is
calling us to stop judging one another by groups unless that group has chosen and is continuing
to choose the path of un-repentant evil. Even then, we merely judge all the individuals who are
choosing to continue to live in sin. 
Is that hard? Ferociously hard! But God does not call us to be at ease, He calls us to
holiness. I strongly suggest that every Christian memorize this passage: I Peter 4:12-16. God
calls us to not be surprised at the fiery ordeals that come in this life!
Hatred of innocent people merely because of their genetics, literally makes you a slave, a
slave of Satan, “Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves,
you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience,
which leads to righteousness?” (Romans 6:16).

Hating humans is a tool of the Devil. We must cease thinking that using his tools somehow
makes us righteous! Yet again: “Hate the sin, love the sinner.” 
Even when we have been wronged, personally, or as a part of a group, remember that we are
never more like Jesus than when we forgive (Ephesians 4:32). While hanging on the cross, Jesus’
prayer to the Father, for the so far un-repentant sinners, is clear. “Father forgive them, for they
know not what they do” (Luke 23:34.) Now, based on that parameter, do you really want to be
like Jesus?
I know this is terribly hard. So was hanging on the cross. I know this is ferociously difficult,
but I keep envisioning Jesus at the gates of heaven, welcoming the same, now-saved sinners who
nailed Him to the cross. As one wise old Christian said many years ago, “This ain’t the meat of
the gospel, it’s the gristle!”
In short, if we allow the haters and their propaganda goons to deceive us into hatred of
people rather than their sins, we will never rise to the levels to which God is calling us. 
If we only love people just like ourselves, we are no better than unbelievers. Matthew 5:43-
48 still says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your
enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you
may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His the sun to rise on the evil and the
good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you,
what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet only your
brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore,
you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Did you catch it? Jesus is tying our spiritual perfection (forgiveness) not only to the initial
washing away of our sins in baptism but also to our love for those who have not yet found Him! 
God gives us some pretty tall orders, so we must stand tall to be more like Jesus. Never let
hate be your defining trait. “Love your enemies,” is not a suggestion, it’s a command from the
One who loves us most and died just to get us to heaven to be with Him for all eternity.

ray@rockymountainchristian.com