The God Haters

By Bryant Harris

In the apostle Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church, he highlighted the hateful way Corinthian believers were living their lives.
In the letter’s thirteenth chapter, however, he revealed a “more excellent way,” which in the King James translation of the New Testament is called charity.
In fact, the whole of Scripture juxtaposes two principles: love and hate, with Jesus saying in Luke 14:26, “If any man come to me, and hate not his father and mother, and wife and children, and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be (is not able to be) my disciple.”
In 1 John 3:15, the apostle wrote, “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.”
These passages make it clear that “to hate” – in God’s mind – means to love less. Specifically, to hate our brother (love him less than we love ourselves) is the same sin as to murder our brother.
Confront the hatred in your own heart and move closer to the Lord with the wisdom and lessons in The God Haters.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jun 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781973690702

Bryant Harris

Bryant Harris, a native of Texas, graduated from Texas Tech University with a degree in mechanical engineering and served two years in the United States Air Force, attaining the rank of captain in the U.S. Air Force Reserves. After being discharged, he joined his father-in-law in the cattle ranching business and also spent time in the oil, natural gas, and mining sectors. He lives in San Antonio with his wife of sixty-three years. They have five children, nineteen grandchildren, and twenty-six great grandchildren. He has been walking with his lord, Jesus Christ, passionately since 1977.

Book preview

Copyright © 2020 Bryant Harris.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by

any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system

without the written permission of the author except in the case of

brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author

and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of

the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of

people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

1 [phone]

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or

links contained in this book may have changed since publication and

may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those

of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher,

and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are

models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

ISBN: 978-1-9736-9071-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-9072-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-9070-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020907933

WestBow Press rev. date: 6/1/2020

CONTENTS

Introduction

Dedication

Chapter 1   Two Trees In The Garden

Chapter 2   Two Sons, One Father

Chapter 3   Two Kinds Of Virgins

Chapter 4   One Kind Of Tree In Heaven

Chapter 5   Adam And Eve

Chapter 6   War And Peace

Chapter 7   A Reprobate Mind

Chapter 8   Repent And Be Baptized

Afterword

After Afterword

INTRODUCTION

In the apostle Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church, he wrote to them about the way (the hateful way) the Corinthian believers were living their lives; and in the thirteenth chapter, Paul shows them a More excellent way, which in the King James translation of the New Testament is called charity (Gk: agape, or perfect love.)

The whole of Scripture juxtaposes two principles: Love and Hate. In Luke 14:26, Jesus said, If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be [is not able to be] my disciple. It is plain to see from this passage of Scripture that to hate, in God’s mind, means to love less than what the law requires of our nature, as God has made us. In 1 John 3:15, the apostle wrote, Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

Beloved, can we not see from these passages that to hate is to love less? Specifically, to hate our brother (love him less than we love ourselves) is the same sin as to murder our brother. We shall hopefully see as we proceed, that hatred in the heart is a very old problem for mankind.

There were two trees in the garden of Eden because the dust of the ground out of which man was made in the image and likeness of God was duplicitous. Scripture does not tell us from whence this duplicity came, that caused the earth to be waste and void (Genesis 1:2 ASV); but we do know (see Isaiah 45:18) that it was not made that way; and man, male and female, was to be God’s answer for the earth’s problem, one soul and body at a time through the perfecting power, of God’s indwelling Holy Spirit. Had Adam and Eve obeyed the voice of God, this perfection would have prevailed; but instead, they obeyed the voice of another.

And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend? and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed [I have entered my Sabbath Day rest]; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity [ceaseless, shameless asking] he will rise and give him as many as [all] he needeth.

And I say unto you, Ask [and keep on asking], and it shall be given you; seek [and keep on seeking], and ye shall find; knock [and keep on knocking], and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil [fathers], know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? [who will not give up] (Luke 11:5–13.)

Your writer offers his apologies for the deep theological nature of this book, dear reader; but, this word from our Lord to his churches, is written especially to church leadership, who are the primary ones responsible for the traditions of men, that make the word of God to be of no effect.. It is an attempt to be heard, above the