The red rage of the Pharisees yesterday and today

One moment in the life of a blogger who writes discernment essays:

Stumble into the kitchen, bumblingly make the coffee. Yawning, plop down in the chair and fire up the laptop. As the blue light turns to screen saver, I launch open the browser. As the coffee finishes perking and I finish yawning, I pour a cup and look forward to the day. My prayer is to reach women with the truth, to use scripture rightly to turn them away from the false so they can see the glory of Jesus clearly.

Oh, look there is a comment on my blog. Let's see what it says. It's from a woman named Karen Setters.

"You and your blog are some of the most inaccurate and heretical false accusations against some of God's most anointed and accurate teachers in the Body of Christ. How any informed Christian listens to you after the nonsense you spew against God's people is beyond me! May the Lord Jesus Christ turn your heart, mouth, and blog to understanding the truth of His Word and His people, because obviously you don't. Satan is using you and when you stand before the Lord at the final day, you are going to be shocked and maybe lost if you don't humble your Phariseeical heart and listen to what the true Spirit of God says to you."

In addition to naming me as a heretical, inaccurate, nonsensical, Pharisaical, satanic person, in Karen's second comment she also called me an antichrist and a coward.

Okey dokey then, lol, I surmise that the truth of scripture did not reach her heart! It's a powerful reminder however, that those women held in the clutches of a false teacher or who cling to false doctrine clench untruth tightly. The more anger and nasty language that emerges from their mouth demonstrates the further distance away from Jesus they actually are.

Remember, fellow blogger ladies and fellow witnesses, when you point out a false doctrine or a false teacher, anger is often the reaction. It always has been and always will be. Look at the Pharisees' reaction to Jesus words and deeds and to His designated witnesses like Paul and Stephen. They reacted with gnashing teeth, fury, stone-throwing, blinding rage. They became murderous. (Luke 6:11, Matthew 12:14, John 8:59, Acts 7:54...)

This is because they loved their sin and they loved the darkness. What happens when you poke a rabid bear? A reaction like Karen Setters' is what happens. Seething, frothing anger and nastiness. In the Luke 6:11 verse it says the Pharisees and Scribes became actually mad with rage. It's an unthinking, non-rational, senseless, red rage. Matthew Henry says of the Luke 6:11 verse,

Pride, obstinacy, malice, and disappointed self-confidence were "all" combined, therefore, in producing madness. Nor were they alone. Men are often enraged because others do good in a way which "they" do not approve of. 

This kind of rage is also an example of how powerfully sin wants to remain. Sin is the second most powerful force on earth. Jesus's power in regeneration is the most powerful, but for those left untouched by His hand on their heart, sin reigns and the rage shows just how powerfully it is lord of a person.

The most violent reaction to the truth is murder. Martyrs abound in ever generation and in every country today. As Mark Dever and Burk Parsons and Jesse Johnson and Pastor Gabe of WWUTT.com remind us,

The truth is divisive. Jesus said it would be and we see of course that it is. Jesus said in Luke 12:51,

Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.

It's His truth that divides. The truth is the dividing line. In between the gulf of truth on one side and lies on the other, is often anger. The only reaction we can have when met with such anger, even to martyrdom as those in the "closed countries" are met with, is compassion and love. (Mark 10:21).