Remember That Hurting People Hurt People
By David J. Stewart | November 2014
Genesis 50:20, “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.”
I was delighted recently to discover Mrs. Beverly Hyles'
website, which has been a blessing.
One of the impacting statements that she makes is the following quote:
“In dealing with people who have inflicted hurt, would it not be wise to go to extra lengths to understand that 'hurting people hurt people.'” —Mrs. Beverly Hyles
I'm sure everyone after reading this quote, like me, immediately thinks of people in our past who have deeply hurt us, or have hurt those we love, or our loved ones hurt us, or perhaps it was someone that we hurt. I think if we'll all be honest, we've each experienced all of the above. We're all sinners in the eyes of God (Romans 3:19-23). I love the saying, “Don't judge others because they sin differently than you do.” The best Christian in the world is still at best a struggling sinner saved by God's grace.
I could
tell a thousand stories of people who've hurt others, and so could you if
you live in the United States. We are a hurtful society. This is to be
expected in a generation today whose parents and grandparents grew up
without the Holy Bible and prayer in their classroom. Since that fatal U.S.
Supreme Court decision in 1963 to remove God's Word and prayer from all
public schools, everything has fallen apart in our society. The
statistics don't lie. Removing God's Word from children's daily lives at
school was the nails in our nation's coffin. An hour of Sunday School cannot
compete with 40 hours of humanistic indoctrination (and the truth is that
most children in public schools don't go to Sunday School at all, because
neither do their parents). We are reaping the bitter fruits of the seeds of
evil which we have sown in America. Godless children grow up to be Godless
parents, citizens and neighbours.
Christians Ought to Have Empathy for Others
Hebrews 13:3, “Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.” Sympathy is hurting FOR someone, having compassion on them. Empathy is hurting WITH someone, putting our self in their shoes. Vicariousness is hurting IN PLACE of someone as their substitute, which is what Christ did for us on the cross. Hebrews 13:3 tells us as Christians to remember those in prison, as imprisoned with them. This is empathy. If you add up all the time that the apostle Paul spent in prison throughout his ministry, it adds up to about 6 years total.
While in prison, his friend Onesiphorus searched throughout the prisons in Rome to find him. 2nd Timothy 1:16-17, “The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain: But, when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found me.” That's genuine friendship buddy! We need that kind of Christianity! Remember that it's always greater to be a friend than to have a friend. True love is loving when you know that you're not going to be loved back. Dr. Jack Hyles used to often say on the radio, “Be nice to everyone because everybody is having a tough time.” Amen! We live in a very judgmental society. So oftentimes people wrongly judge, going by what they hear, instead of giving others the benefit of the doubt. It's easy to judge from a distance. People who walk with God tend to give others the benefit of the doubt. Don't believe anything you hear, and only half of what you see. It is injustice to believe something bad about someone just because you heard it.
In Matthew 24:8-12, Jesus foretold of the bitter End Times, in which people will betray and hate one another. The Bible says in Matthew 24:9, “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.” This Scripture passage speaks of the 7 year Tribulation period. I believe we are getting very close to the Lord's return at the Rapture, and as this time approaches we are going to experience the coldness, hatred, betrayal and violent persecution against Christians as the Bible foretold. My opinion is that when the liberals finally succeed at confiscating guns from U.S. citizens, or make it virtually impossible to own one legally, tyranny will increase exponentially, especially toward Christians.
I
always try to look at people the way Dr. Jack Hyles did, that is, as broken
instead of bad. If we understand that hurting people hurt people, then it
will help us to pray for them with a heart of love, concern and compassion.
Shallow people think shallow, judging people based upon superficial
behavior. Teens are the best example of this. So often James Dean type
teenagers, that is, delinquent and troublesome, simply are crying out for
someone to love them by setting rules and enforcing them. Teens by nature
will challenge godly authority, because that's the foolishness bound in
every human heart according to Genesis 8:21, “for the imagination of
man's heart is evil from his youth...” A wise parent, pastor and youth
worker understands this and deals with youth in a spirit of love and
patience instead of expressing hatred for their rebellion, treating them as
rebellious punks. Our teens are hurting in our churches, they need a
challenge from the pulpit to live for God.
Jesus Foretold the Love of Many Will Wax Cold During the End Times
Jesus said in Matthew 24:12 that because iniquity will abound, the love of many shall wax cold. The word iniquity means unpunished evil. It certainly refers to the blatant immorality, government crimes and massive financial banking fraud all across America. Already, there is much resentment, hatred and coldness in our American culture because of an epidemic of wickedness. Hollywood and television are at the helm of the cruiseship to Hell. People are hurting and it's only going to get much worse. Congress has committed treason against the American people, by allowing the criminal takeover of The White House and top departments of government to continue. Through blackmail, intimidation and being bought off, the U.S. Congress has been compromised. Of the 535 members of Congress, only a small handful are still respectable and honest. We are a people divided. Jesus warned that a house divided cannot stand (Luke 11:17). In lieu of all this corruption and wickedness, many people are becoming calloused and full of distrust and hate. This is all intention. Satan is the author of confusion, not God.
May we as born-again Christians stay close to the Lord by abiding in the Scriptures and praying. Jesus is the Vine and we are the branches (John 15:5). Without the Lord's Holy Spirit, we can do nothing! Most religious work today is done in the flesh, which is why most churches have adopted the synthetic, new and corrupt versions of the Bible. Luke 8:14 warns about being CHOKED by the cares, riches and pleasures of this temporal world. May we live from day-to-day with eternity in view. The way we view eternity will determine how we live upon the earth.
This
earthly life isn't even as a mere drop of water in the oceans. Even after
one trillion years, eternity won't even have begun, because there is no time
in eternity. There is no time in Hell. Can you imagine being trapped in a
horrible place of misery, loneliness, burning flames of torturous fire, and
no rest night or day? Hell is real, I assure you. It's tragic that most
people don't believe in a literal Hell, because they don't want to. Why take
the chance if you're wrong? Eternal life is a free gift, why reject it? No
one ever goes to Hell except those who choose to go there.
The Word of God Will Transform Our Thinking
I was listening to the book of Matthew and Mark yesterday on MP3 as I drove to do some errands. I heard Luke today. What a blessing! Most people listen to the same songs a thousand times and never learn anything. Just think how much you'd benefit if you listened to preaching and the King James Bible on a regular basis! I am saddened that some of the greatest fundamental Baptist preaching I've ever heard, which is readily available on YouTube for anyone to watch, only receives 50 or 60 hits in a year. Yet, the sicko pervert music group “Maroon 5,” who promotes mass-murder and bloody gore, stalking women, receives 43,652,416 hits in a month for their “ANIMALS” video. Why should God bless America? People are hurting, mostly in ways that they don't even realize, that is, they are completely devoid of the things of Jesus Christ. All roads in life lead to eternal damnation in Hell apart from Jesus Christ. I'm so glad that I know the Lord as my personal Savior! You can too!
Americans are some of the most thin-skinned people in the world—easily offended, difficult to pacify, hot tempered, slanderous, et cetera. As I mentioned, I believe this is a consequence of removing God's Word from children's lives. You cannot indoctrinate children with the lies of Evolution, The Simpsons, Katy Perry, Hollyweird and satanic video games, and somehow expect them to grow up to be normal and responsible adults. America's dysfunctional society is the result of our dysfunctional homes and lack of fundamental Bible-believing churches across the nation. Our families are hurting. Our marriages are hurting. Our churches are hurting. Jesus is still the answer!!! THERE AIN'T NOTHING BETTER THAN JESUS!!! (by Pastor Castle; you'll never catch happiness!)
I challenge you, whoever you may be, to start listening to fundamental Baptist preaching on a regular basis. I listen to hard-preaching almost daily... I'M LOVING IT! My websites are saturated with awesome preachers to help you grow in the Lord. Albeit, nothing should ever replace the Word of God in our life, which is the theme of a recent YouTube video I uploaded, titled, “Nothing Can Replace The Holy Bible.” You can listen to Christian radio everyday, listen to hard-preaching daily, read fundamental Christian books daily, read daily devotionals and read Christian magazines daily; and yet STARE SPIRITUALLY! The Word of God is our spiritual food, and nothing else!
One of
the obvious major reasons why today's churchgoers are so messed-up,
including genuine born-again Christians, is because we have allowed apostate
mainstream evangelicalism to lead us instead of the undiluted Word of God.
Apostates like Billy Graham, John MacArthur, Rick Warren and Joel Osteen
have led the churches astray into ecumenical apostasy, trumping unity and
cooperation over truth, principle and moral standards. Consequently, the
churches are compromised and have become ineffective to reach today's youth
for Christ. Instead of producing youth who are zealous about proclaiming
truth, fighting the Devil, soul-winning and contending for Biblical
doctrine, we've got a bunch of do-gooders who've got religion without
bearing a cross. Today's feel-good churchianity is foreign to Biblical
Christianity. Generic Christian schools have replaced hell-fire preaching in
the pulpits.
Don't Condemn Others Who Sin
Please don't join the hypocritical group of self-righteous churchgoers these days who criticize everything, but never lift a finger to make a difference. Don't just complain about problems, but do something to fix the problems! People are hurting, so don't gossip and slander them with your keyboard on the internet. Pray for them! I pray for my enemies regularly, as the Lord commanded. It's utter hypocrisy when people relentlessly attack Christians who've sinned in the past, because everyone sins.
Wicked people expect a preacher to quick and never preach again simply because he has sinned in the past; but truth be told, the people criticizing him are just as guilty in God's eyes of sinning, which is why we read the stern warning from God in Romans 2:1-3, “Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?” Don't judge others because they sin differently than you do! We are all horrible sinners in God's eyes! Don't write people off when they sin, love them and forgive them...
“If we could ever hate the sin in ourselves as much as we hate the sin in others, we might have some idea what His Book is all about.”
—Pastor Jack Hyles (a quote from page 322 of the awesome biography of Dr. Hyles titled, “The Fundamental Man”)
The Devil Wants Our Youth
Life is difficult enough on its own for young people. It is incomprehensible to learn that there are many people who intentionally make life even harder for them, deliberately hurting our youth by removing God's Word and prayer from their lives. The bogus theories of Evolution are taught as facts in our schools, which are laughable and not even plausible to the thinking mind; yet young children, who are extremely impressionable, are hurt by such indoctrination. Our children have been desensitized to the awfulness of sin by Rock music, television and the rotten hellhole of public school indoctrination. There is no doubt that God has reserved the hottest parts of Hell for those wicked people who intentionally hurt children by removing God's Word from their education. Satan targets the innocence of youth, because he knows that if he can get 'em while their young, he's got 'em for life. This is why Pastor Dwight L. Moody said, “If you want to drive the devil out of the world, hit him with a cradle instead of a crutch!”
The brainwashed do not know that they are brainwashed. One of the major consequences of Godless education is a lack of deterrence to commit sin. Morality is synonymous with faith in God. What reason do today's youth have not to commit wickedness? Youth are encouraged to commit evil by television, music, video games, magazines, books, public school, et cetera. Walt Disney's “The Life Of Zach” features teen boys talking about “scoring” sexually with the girls. The Bible calls premarital sex fornication. Today's youth are taught that such sinful behavior is normal, a part of growing up and are even encouraged to try homosexuality to see if it is to their liking.
Public school kids are provided free condoms and taught to have fun by sinning safely. There is no such thing as “safe” sinning. Instead of being taught the ethics of courtship and the beauty of the gift of sex within the bounds of holy matrimony, today's youth are taught that it's ok to have sex with multiple partners outside of a marriage commitment, but then you eliminate the condom if it's true love. What a satanic lie! The disturbing truth is that One-Third Of Americans (110,197,000) Had Venereal Disease in 2008 (STD's are increasing faster than jobs!). The great need of the hour is preaching preachers! Most churches are like religious cults, meeting quietly behind closed doors and never reaching out to the local community. The early Church in the book of Acts were publicly active, preaching in the streets of Jerusalem and going door-to-door (Acts 20:20). Everywhere that the Christians preached, either revival or riot broke out! We need that real type of hands-on Christianity again today!!!
I could have just limited this article to the emotional aspects of hurting people who hurt other people, but I wanted to cover some of the roots of the problem. A Godless nation is doomed. We've got a society of recklessness in America. Our families are hurting because iniquity abounds everywhere these days. Our nation has become alienated from God, being past feeling, just as Ephesians 4:17-19 says. Oh how we need Jesus in our homes, marriages, lives, businesses and churches today!
Preaching Helps Us To Think Clearly; The Bible Nails Down Things In My Life!
Ye Must Be Born Again! |
You Need HIS Righteousness!
| Believe The Gospel
