Worst of the Worst

     The acronym WOW is used for "worst of the worst." Yesterday, I was asked by a gentleman, "What is the greatest problem we're facing?" Without hesitation, my response was, "Hatred!" (with the exclamation point). I despise hatred yet I still hate somewhat. I do that which I'd rather not do, but do it anyway. (The apostle Paul had that trouble as well.) The propensity toward hatred is "original sin," and no one is immune.
     The Devil uses division to incite hatred. Just as the Serpent of long ago, the pleasure of sin made mankind proud. People, indeed, can pursue pleasure, power, and esteem. The pursuit thereof is what the Serpent meant when he used the term, "as gods." Why did the Serpent say that? The Serpent, Lucifer, endeavors to be as God:

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. (Isa 14:12-15).

     The "virus" transmitted from the emissions of the Serpent is that we too, desire to be as gods! Satan knows his own heart, and knew mankind's very well, because the hearts of the unregenerate are the hearts of their father the Devil (John 8:44). Mankind degenerated from their generated condition, and thus require regeneration back to God's design - not "as gods" but in the image of God (Gen 1:26-27).
      Hatred is incited by division, and as such, division is America's greatest problem. Look what Paul said:

Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple (Rom 16:17-18).

     Would the reader not agree with that? Who is it that generates hatred? Paul said that it are those "contrary to doctrine" - the Doctrine of Christ. Further hints were that: (1) they serve their own belly (appetites) and do so, (2) by good words (narratives) and fair-(sounding) speeches. Ah, but there is more: their promises are false, and they use simple-minded people to deceive.
     Because people are proud, no one considers themselves simple-minded. Ironically, some of the most educated are the simpletons! Why is that? They absorb knowledge - both good and evil - but cannot distinguish between the two. That simple-mindedness came about by the cunning of the Serpent and his faulty fruit (Gen 3).
     We think of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil as providing discernment between the two. However, it is the opposite; the fruit from it blurred the mental capacity to discern good from evil. The fruit of the forbidden tree made simpletons out of mankind. As heirs of Adam, everyone else has been born simpletons. The forbidden tree didn't offer truth but deception; there came over mankind spiritual blindness: "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" 1 Cor 2:14).
    "The natural man" are those men who are not endowed with God's Spirit. Endowment is the regeneration when people are born again, losing the natural man, and gaining the spiritual man. The natural men are fools - simpletons -who have knowledge but lack discernment and wisdom. They perceive that they know much, but actually understand very little!
     When Himmler's soldiers led Jews off to their deaths, they thought they were being resettled. Himmler devised ways to murder the Jews "humanely" (from their lexicon). As the Jews died, they still did not perceive that they were dying as the poisonous gas just drifted them off to sleep. Of course, that was the "humane method" but those who were shot knew their fate.
     Socialism was more transparent in the Third Reich. They were honest about who they were; they were haters and did not care if the world knew! Socialism today, operates disguised as progressivism. "By good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple" (Rom 16:18). Jonathan Gruber admitted that when he said, “the stupidity of the American voter” made it possible to pass the socialist legislation called Obamacare. What Gruber was saying is that Obama used good words and fair speeches to deceive the hearts of the simple! Gruber was paraphrasing the apostle Paul!
     In Romans 15:17-18, Paul was describing the methods of socialism - the most contrary doctrine in opposition to Christ. Socialism is "godless" in that it deprecates God and makes the masses their own gods. Socialism is people "serving their own bellies." It seems all about the benefit of the individual, but since the Marxists serpents are still cunning. socialism is for the benefit of the Devil.
     Today, America is divided mainly into two political camps: socialists and capitalists. That division is destroying America. Of coruse, there are "crony capitalists" but even they wear the cloak of socialism. The world's most prominant instigater of socialism is crony capitalist George Soros. Why would that captialistic-minded serpent want socialism? To make himself "as god!"
     America is also spiritually divided: Christians and non-Christians. Like Soros who masquerades as a socialist, many non-Christians role-play. They deny spiritual justice in favor of social justice. Simple-minded people fall for their doctrine, thinking it fair. The Christians who have fallen for social justice are simpletons. They do the Serpent's work, thinking they are doing God's.
     Thus, the country is divided into those who serve bellies and those who serve God, or socialism and Christianity. The goal of the Devil is for Christians to hate socialists as badly as socailists despise Christians. Division is how that the Devil will rob the souls of Christians, making us no better than the enemy!
     It is obvious; I despise socialism because it is ungodly under the pretense of kindness. Satan tempts Christians to redirect their hatred - psychological "transference" -  from the hatred of the doctrine of socialism to actual hatred of socialists. I don't want to hate socialists, but yet have to fight that temptation. If I hate them like they hate me, I become one of them! I use the pretense that I hate the sin but love the sinner, but it's difficult to separate that succinctly. Even Christians need to beware of simple-mindedness; it is not okay to hate the enemy in God's name! Sometimes, some of us fall for that.
     I believe that ultimate love is desiring that "none should perish" in Hell according to John 3:16. When the demons tell me that I'm as wrong as the socialists, the Spirit asks, Do you truly want them to perish? I really don't! I do, however, want that socialism perish, but that's not going to happen until after the Great Tribulation when Jesus comes back to reign for a millenium. In other words, Christians must still love socialists as we hate socialism. Contrary to the doctrine of the world, it is okay to hate evil as long as we love its simpletons.
     Neither Socialism and capitalism are the worst problem with the world; hatred is, regardless of who hates. Satan's scheme is to use the hatred of his side to promote hatred from the other side, and simple-minded people fall for his cunning. Hatred is the world's WOW problem because God's precept against it is The Greatest Commandment.