Page 28 - The Road from Babylon to Zion

to hell for a brother? Paul said, “I speak the truth and I lie not, I would
that I should be accursed that Israel might be saved.” Israel and the
Jews had the JRS [Jewish Religious System] even as we have the CRS
today. Paul was willing to be accursed that they might be saved. Where
do we draw the line? Do we just write all of the CRS folks off and say
good riddance? This was not Paul’s heart.

Even Jesus wept over Jerusalem, the Jerusalem that stoned the
prophets that were sent to her. He had these soulish emotions that you
said you despise. Do you think that love will weaken a warrior of God?
I say it will strengthen him. Love knows no boundaries. Love is
extravagant. It is the love of God that surrounds us and keeps us safe.
Paul said that it was the love of God that “constrained” him, holding
him to the course God set before him.

No, I would not suggest that you water down the message that is
burning in your heart. I would ask you what right you have to quit
loving and quit caring. God said that He takes no pleasure to see the
wicked punished. He is patient and bears long with all of us. Knowing
this, we should all the more strive to excel in these same qualities.

I don’t want to go into the battle with a brother who is motivated by
anger and hatred. I want to go into battle with brothers and sisters who
know the power of love and who will stick close to me and not write me
off the first time they disagree with me. There is a friend that sticks
closer than a brother. What was it that so united Jonathan and David’s
hearts? Was it a common hatred of evil? Was it a shared vision? No, it
was love.

You are swinging your sword a little too freely by calling all those who
are not quite where you are “freaks,” “wackos,” “idiots,” etc... Jesus said,
"But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be
guilty before the court; and whoever shall say to his brother, 'Raca,'
[empty head] shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever
shall say, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell”
(Matthew 5:22).

We are told, “This you know, my beloved brethren. But let everyone be
quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man
does not achieve the righteousness of God” (James 1:19,20). David said
that he did not gloat when judgment came to his enemies, rather he
mourned. When King Saul perished, the man that had made David’s life
a misery, he eulogized him in song. Was David some kind of a mama’s