There it is in black and white. There are people who hate God. They want all mention of God expunged from public life. Now they have got the ten commandments removed from an Alabama courtroom. Tomorrow they will attack the ten commandments on the wall at the supreme court. They have fought prayer of any kind in school. Even a moment of silence is troubling because it implies prayer. They have fought, not only the reading of the Bible in school, but even the presence of the Bible. A teacher was not allowed to have a Bible on his desk.

No, I don’t mean to say that everyone who participates in things like this is a hater of God. But there are people who do hate God. Never forget that. In the same way, there were hard core communists in this country in 50's, people who hated this country and it’s form of Government. Alongside them were also what the communists called "useful idiots." People who aided them in their cause without really understanding what was at stake.

And now, there are the people who hate God and useful idiots who help them.

Where does all this stuff come from? Why this drive to use Bible sniffing dogs to ferret out every last vestige of religious observance, of the acknowledgment of God from public life in this country? The answer: There is a war going on. (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)

The constitutional arguments that are out there today against God are what Paul would call a "pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God." Once you realize this and you start looking for the pretexts, they jump out at you. I am afraid I find myself shouting at the Television set. The arguments are so stupid and so obvious.

Why, for example, the irrational objection to a monument that merely memorialized the Ten commandments? That’s easy. The seventh commandment is "Thou shalt not commit adultery." Sexual sin is the defining characteristic of our generation. The monument also identifies God with the fourth commandment. Critics are right who say the Ten Commandments are not about a generic God. They are about the God who created the world in six days and rested the seventh.

And most important, it points the finger at those who hate God: " I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me." I can’t overemphasize the importance of those words and of this commandment. This commandment is about more than pictures on a wall, or statues in the vestry. It is about the rejection of God in favor of an idol. It is about the hatred of God.

To understand this more fully, see: Psalms 81.

We may think we could never be drawn into this sort of attitude, but a lot of intelligent people have. And it is often worse than you can imagive.

(Acts 7:51-60)

You have to stop and think as you read the Bible lest you miss this. We are so familiar with the story of Jesus that it is easy to sail right by a statement like the one found in Mark, "And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him." Look at the scripture and see for yourself what it was that provoked this response (Mark 3:1-6).

Then take a look at how Luke characterizes the response of the men in the Synagogue on that day (Luke 6:10-11).

This sort of encounter is foreseen in Psalm 109. The psalm is considered messianic by most commentators and Judas is the antitype of the enemy of Christ.

Just how great a miracle would it take to convince the haters of God? Consider this one: (John 11:43-53)

My great fear is that too many Christian people think they can stand aside from all this. They cannot. (John 15:17 ff.)

We cannot stand aside from it. It is destined to affect us in ways we cannot imagine now.

There is a new movie on the way that is about the last 12 hours of Jesus life. It is scaring some people and it probably should. It is "The Passion," directed by Mel Gibson. It is the story of man’s hatred for God and everything about God.

It is, in fact, the climax of that story.

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