The Effects of Rage
A Divine Message for a Troubled Time

For wrath killeth the foolish man.... Job 5:2

The devastation to lives and property, from hurricanes Katrina and Rita have certainly captured national, if not international news. Last year the devastation from the major hurricanes that hit Florida also received national attention. But what is the force that is perpetrating so much senseless destruction and personal anguish? The Lord has this to say through Lesson 11 of History Through God’s Eyes.

“It is apparent that mankind does not truly understand the emotion of anger. No one would argue that it is a very powerful force. And the extent that it brings hurt and harm not only to a person’s physical being but also to their mental well-being is fairly evidently seen as well as felt…
As with the energy in the storm clouds, anger within man builds up, builds up and builds up until it finally becomes rage, then rage becomes unprecedented wrath. The force and the power of this is immense, yet it is terribly misrepresented by unsurpassed deception. If you told a person that he or she was filled with latent anger and rage (against God, against their Creator) he or she would say that it was (is) not so. They would even become ANGRY that they were “accused” of such a thing!
Now the influence of this anger and rage is not benign in any way, shape or form. This is rage, anger and wrath directed specifically and determinedly at the Creator, the Holy Lord God. It is a living, breathing, malignant, eroding, destructive force. And it is in everyone - no matter how thoroughly covered it is and how “mild-mannered” they may seem. There are many ways to control the anger and rage, but unless it is removed completely - faced before God and destroyed, its destructive effects remain ever present day by day.

It is evidenced in countless events, episodes and situations. It would be impossible to relate them all. However, a few illustrations are given:
•A spectacular car crash is one very graphic example where anger has turned into violence - kinetic rage has blossomed into destruction.
•A hammer hits the thumb - anger has turned into a destructive force.
•Cutting vegetables - the knife slips and inflicts a bad cut. Again, the latent anger has become destructive.
•A word spoken is interpreted wrongly: a flare up results in the one misreading the statement. Anger, rage is manifested.
•A person awakens after a night’s sleep cranky and of evil disposition. Again rage, anger is manifested.
•Crime, felonies, violence, delinquency, corruption and dishonesty are again a result of anger and rage at God.
•Heart attacks, seizures, epilepsy, diabetes, arthritis, diseases and every other malady that plagues the human population are a direct result of this anger and rage at God - anger that begets disobedience…
•Famines, droughts, floods, fires, plagues, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes and the other great catastrophes are again the result of this same destructive force - the force of rage.

Man often calls these “acts of God” proving again that he blames God for the evil that befalls him. God, however, calls these things CURSES (along with the ills man suffers in his body) and they are listed in much detail in Deuteronomy 28. God clearly defines them as the inescapable consequences of disobedience to His righteous and holy Laws - His GOOD Laws.
It is no different than the fact that there are direct consequences a person would receive if they put their hand into the red-hot flames of a fire, or jumped from a high place without equipment. Natural law says fire burns, natural law says gravity pulls objects together at a speed beyond the human body’s ability to endure the impact.
The list of troubles, misery and misfortune that man suffers could obviously go on for pages - but that would be counterproductive. In short, all of man’s evil and all the evils that befall man are ultimately the result of this anger, wrath and rage against the Holy God.
There are approximately six billion souls on the earth today - each emanating this terrible, blasphemous power against a Holy God. Think of it as a great force pressing against a dam and below that dam a whole world is in danger of obliteration. It is a cacophony of six billion voices raised in unholy concert against God.
Revelation 16:11 And (men) blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.”

Seeing this, is it any wonder that Katrina was so quickly followed by another very powerful hurricane, Rita? Then, to add further emphasis, a third devastating hurricane [Wilma] – at times holding the record for the largest recorded storm in the Americas – impacted Florida. The rage that was expressed in the aftermath of Katrina was staggering in scope and comprehension. From the victims to the media, to the columnist, to the store clerk that rage poured forth unrestrained. Mankind is hit hard; he falls from his perch of blissful assurance that he is doing all right without God. The moment that individuals are put in a situation of extreme adversity the rage within bubbles to the surface – the same rage that they will, on any ordinary day, say they do not have. That rage has its destructive effects.

What kind of message is the nation being given? In Genesis God gave Pharaoh a message through a dream. The dream was given to him twice to emphasize the importance of that message. Two very violent hurricanes, one upon another have hit the relative same area of the United States – then a third is added. What is the message?

To examine what is being addressed on a national scale one need only look at a similar set of events on an individual level. In a current real life situation, a woman was talking to a friend – has been over the past few months – about the reality of a Living Lord Jesus Christ standing right before her, right in their presence at any given moment. This woman, an active Christian (and perhaps because she is a “Christian”), disregards the reality of the risen Lord Jesus Christ present on the earth for these past two thousand years. It’s as though a person were to introduce to her a very good friend and she were to totally ignore Him standing right before her. She would even talk amiably about this good friend, the Lord Jesus Christ, but totally ignore Him speaking to her at that moment. She would pretend that He doesn’t exist, talking about Him as a good historical figure but never for a moment recognize Him as risen standing before her. Inwardly, she has made her head as granite – she has dug her heels in – saying by her actions, “I will be damned if I will acknowledge Him here right now!” What has caused this unreasonable reaction?

This person was recently in a very bad car accident. Miraculously, she was not seriously injured and her husband was not in the passenger seat this time where the brunt of the impact took place. A few weeks later, while driving again, another harmful incident takes place where a large stone is picked up by a truck ahead of her and hurled backward to destructively impact the windshield. Here again, twice the message is given but not heeded – the third time could be fatal. As the excerpt above stated, “A spectacular car crash is one very graphic example where anger has turned into violence - kinetic rage has blossomed into destruction.” The rage held within had its destructive, life-threatening effect. The same rage that caused the accident is the very same rage that has caused this woman to so steadfastly and unreasonably refuse to acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ standing before her. It is something that starts out small; anger is the result of disobedience to the Lord God, and builds exponentially with each successive disobedience and self-inflicted consequence.

This same destructive attitude has carried over onto a national scale and the results are that much more devastating. Again the problem with man is his rage at God. This is the very basis of man’s troubles – every ill that he suffers or creates comes as a direct result of that rage. The effects of that rage are visible everywhere. They’re visible in the home, at the work place, in the news, on the street, at night in a dark alley, on the roads and highways, on the television, on the radio, in the newspapers, on the Internet and hundreds of other ways. It is the very basic reason that mankind refuses to acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as his rightful King and Lord (not that it does him any good to refuse this reality). This rage is the only reason he hard-headedly refuses to acknowledge that the Lord Jesus Christ returned to earth 2,000 years ago as that rightful King and Lord over his body, heart and soul.

Man’s rage at God, at his Creator, stems directly from the most basic fact that the Son of God owns him lock, stock and barrel. Man’s body is not his own, his life is not his own, his time is not his own, his mind is not his own. Nothing belongs to man to do with as he so pleases. The Lord Jesus Christ, who purchased every man, woman and child on earth by His shed Blood, is their total King, Ruler, Lord and Master to govern every moment of their lives – and they do not have a choice in this. They would like to think they do, and that if they do serve the work and purpose of the Lord it will be because they chose to do so and some merit or credit can then be given them for so choosing. But that is not so and deep in his consciousness man does know this. He knows that he has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and the wages of that sin is death. He knows he deserves death for his sins. He knows he has nothing to recommend himself to God. He knows the only answer is that he die so that the Son of God can live His Life totally in him. This knowledge fills man with an unreasoning, insane, stubborn anger and rage at his Creator.

To make it plain, mankind cannot bear to be told that he (or she) does not have ownership or rulership of his (or her) body. This truth fills him/her with violent, unrestrained, unmitigated anger – bordering on insanity. “Nobody’s going to tell me what to do with my life or my body!”

Think about it: when you are restrained from following a course (stopped) – as a child is stopped from a foolish, self-destructive course – you get angry just as the child does – especially when that halting is, by necessity, done forcibly. The Bible says plainly that the rod of correction drives foolishness far from the heart of a child. It also states that in Adam all die. When the first man disobeyed God, he (along with Eve) died to spiritual understanding. Their foolish hearts were darkened. They became ruled by their natural mind and natural, carnal desires. Their natural desires, aims, pursuits and goals in life are thus foolish – yea stupid – and self-destructive. Thus, for his own good, man has to be restrained and directed like a beast, an animal - as a horse with a bridle.

In His mercy and graciousness though, God says to each and every person on earth as He shows them His glorious Son, “This is My Beloved Son, hear ye Him,” because to hear and obey the Son is Life. “In him was Life, and that Life was the Light of men.” (John 1:4) But, each time they are told “hear Him,” the anger at being commanded this by God compounds and grows until it turns to rage and the rage turns to violence and harm because man cannot bear the idea that he is “not his own man.” What a farce this is though – what a lie from the enemy of his soul that he ever really “rules himself,” for if man is not ruled by the Son of God then he is instead being ruled by the cruel master of evil and destruction. He becomes a slave to sin and iniquity – driven to serve the evil devices of Satan – driven by the lusts of his flesh and the foolish, iniquitous thoughts of his heart. No matter how he slices it, his body is not his own property – nor is his mind or heart or soul. Romans 7:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of righteousness to obedience?  1 John 3:8, “He that committeth sin, is of the devil.”

Indeed man’s utterly unfounded, irrational rage at his Creator is killing him – as is very evident all over the earth – destroying his life and everything around him. Fast or slow it is destroying him. For wrath killeth the foolish man.... Job 5:2

God’s divine answer to this attitude man has taken is stated simply in His Word: “the wrath of man will praise God, the remainder of wrath He will restrain.” It is possible for man to bring that anger down. God has given mankind a simple way to deal with it; something as simple as vigorously hitting a pillow will dissipate it, allowing and enabling him to then turn to God for his help – to cry out in his distress for Divine deliverance from this thing that is destroying him. 

Now, back to the woman involved in the car crash. She refuses to face the fact that she is a sinner. Instead she’s a self-righteous “Christian,” fully convinced of her righteous standing before the Holy God. However, the term “Christian” has a very specific meaning and it is not in the least that which is so cavalierly bandied about today and loosely defined as someone who believes that Jesus is the Son of God or simply that the Bible is the Word of God. It is said in the Bible that the devils believe those things – they know those things are true. However, that hardly makes them “Christian”!  No, “Christian” means explicitly, “one in whom Christ dwells.” And the only way the Lord Jesus Christ can or will dwell in a vessel is that they have died totally to themselves: to their ambitions, goals and desires, so that then His Life and purpose can be raised up in them. As the Lord Jesus Christ said to Nicodemus, a religious leader of that day, “You cannot enter the Kingdom of God except you be born again – of water and the Spirit.”

The article recently published by the Lord, “The Shining City on a Hill” was really supposed to cause people to realize their great sinfulness before God so they could do something about it, that is, the right thing about it. But alas, that is too old old-fashioned. Yet, the message that the Lord Jesus Christ has been telling mankind for 2,000 years (and more) is very basically that all mankind are grave sinners and are living the consequences of that fact every day of their existence until the end where they cease to exist on earth and move into another dimension of hell. Yet, the Lord has also said clearly to all that it does not have to be that way, there is an answer to man’s unhappy state of existence – though it is available only conditionally.

On this critical subject the Lord Jesus Christ has not been silent but has warned mankind continuously through His messengers. In short, God was and is saying, “If you allow your rage to cause you to despise and reject My Son and His total Rulership over you, I will despise and reject you without mercy, for there is no other way for Life but through Him.”

Moving once more into present history, the following is an article given by the Lord in April of 2003 titled, “A Moment of Truth for the World.” Once again the Lord emphasizes clearly the real cause of man’s rage against His Creator and his reason for irrationally refusing the gracious way that God made for him and that the Son of God suffered for on his behalf.

“A Moment of Truth for the World”

God Declares War On The Thing that Plagues Mankind and
Destroys the Greatest Lie of All Time By A Marvelously Revealing,
Inherently Basic Truth

Contrary to both religious and secular teaching, man’s body, soul, spirit, mind and heart belong to God. They are not man’s. They never have been. This is a marvelous, yet critical truth.

“All souls are mine, saith the Lord of Hosts.”

“Ye, are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit,
which are God’s.”

Secular teaching throughout the world insists that a person’s body, their life and their future are their own and are in their hands to choose the best or right course to take. The person is responsible to make the right choices for their life and to pursue the best course for themselves.

The religious leaders of the world engender the idea that a person can (and should) choose to ‘give their heart to Jesus’. Yet, how can a person give something that is not their property to give?

Two thousand years ago, to reward His faithful and Beloved Son’s obedience unto death, the Lord God of Heaven who created all things and has owned all things from the beginning of time, gave over to His Son, among other things, the possession and ownership of every body, every soul, every heart on earth. In short, every being on the earth of the past, the present and the future became the sole property of the Son of God.

In an attempt to preserve their status and positions of self-made importance in the social fabric of man’s makeup, churches and religious institutions throughout the world have loudly proclaimed that the Son of God is not here on the earth to take charge and possession of that which His Father gave Him. Thus, they have claimed to be the divinely appointed representatives of the Holy God, authorized to receive and take charge of the holy possessions of the Lord Jesus Christ – including the souls of man. It is an evil and horribly destructive teaching that man has some say over his body, his life, his time, or anything else he touches to do with as he sees fit or pleases. It is an even greater evil teaching and vastly more destructive lie of the church that the Lord Jesus Christ did not keep His Word to return to the earth with His Kingdom and thus He is not here to govern and possess what is His by right. By preaching this lie the religious leaders have blasphemed the Divine Spirit of God and called His Son a liar. God does not at all look kindly upon this. It is not an innocent error on their part, for every man, woman and child on this earth has been told the truth by god in their spirit from the time they were very young.

The fact that follows irrevocably is that God is dealing forcefully with the great rage that is in every person because they belong to God and they know it. It is this knowledge that fills them with such anger and rage because they are stopped from completing their own deadly pursuits.

Wars and conflicts - neighbor against neighbor, brother against brother, nation against nation – are a direct result of this internal, unbridled rage that man is filled with.

Today’s war against Iraq is an effort to punish the evil that results from the unrestrained rage within man. Saddam Hussein is evil. And, contrary to the church’s pompous opinion, President Bush is taking the only reasonable course of action available. Evil has to be confronted and confronted with force – not just talk or diplomacy - because the rage that generates such evil is a force in itself. It is neither passive nor controllable by reasonable discourse. This is not hidden. Therefore, the declaration of war made against it is right.

However, there is a better, more permanent way: that is for God, who alone can get to the heart of the problem, to intervene directly. This He is doing. He is dealing with the heart and soul of man – all men.
Jeremiah 32:19
Great in counsel and mighty in work: for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men:
to give everyone according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

President Bush’s insistence on unconditional surrender is an example of God’s declaration to man that He (God) has declared an uncompromising war on the root of every evil on earth: the lie that man’s body is his own to do with as he wishes. God is incensed with mankind’s determination to hold on to their unwarranted rage and to express it in every destructive, hurtful and damaging way they can – to their bodies, to their spirits and souls, to their environment and to everything else they have been granted stewardship of. And they make very sure that these expressions of rage and arrogance are directed specifically against God’s Son – even going out of their way to show their despising of Him and His Rulership – His authority over them. (Rock music in all its forms with its incessant, brutish beat is but one blatant, nearly universal way they demonstrate their despising of God’s Son. God abhors this particular demonstration of their bestial rage against His Son for it is designed to assault His gentle Spirit who would remind them of their position and to drive Him as far from them as they can. But God is not driven away.

Instead, He has decreed, according to His Word in Revelation 16:7,8: And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, True and righteous are thy judgments. And the fourth Angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.

Thus it has been judged by the King of kings, the Lord Jesus Christ, that Holy consuming fire is loosed upon mankind by turning his very own rage and anger at God back onto himself. He will feel every bit of the destructive and hateful force of his own wicked, unjustified rage as it slams him in the face and smashes him to a shattering halt in his evil, destructive course – terrifying the hell out of him. What better way for man to be brought face to face with his own determined self-destruction and be forced to acknowledge that he alone, not God, is the cause of all his problems. He will glorify the Son, he will give up his rage. He is not given a choice, for he does not rule himself and Satan does not rule him either any longer.

Daniel 4:34,35,37 At the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honored him that lives forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation. And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: he does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? Now, I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the King of Heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those who walk in pride he is able to abase.

*****
Jeremiah 10:10-13, 23-25 But the Lord is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting King: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation. Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from under these heavens. He [the Lord God] hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion. When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.

O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. O Lord, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.

Jeremiah’s prayer shows tremendous wisdom from God and the humility that is so needed by man in his dealings with the Holy God of heaven and earth. Now, what would the Lord God of all say if man would put down that anger that chokes him into insanity and heed His explicit, universal command, “This is my beloved Son, hear Him”?

Up to this point, this article has been about the causes and effects of rage. Now the way to deal effectively with the rage can be brought forth. Since with God all things are possible, it can be dealt with quite effectively.

If, for instance, a man (or woman) were to beat a pillow with all his (or her) might and force until he or she felt the rage and anger dissipate – abate – then they would see that they had come into a position where they could cry out in desperation to the Lord God for deliverance. In their great distress they would cry out, “Help me, Lord. I am slipping into the pit. I am hanging over the fiery place of hell with no support but your holy divine mercy. Nothing but a thin membrane exists between me and everlasting damnation - blazing fires consuming my soul over and over again in an agony of hellishness not conceived by the mind or soul of man.” In holy fear and trembling, with the spirit of the jailer who literally leapt to bow before the presence of a Holy God and cry out, “What must I do to be saved?” man/woman would fall on their face before the Holy God, before the Son of God standing right there before them and cry out, “How can I be delivered from this death that pervades my heart and soul? How can I be free of the rage and anger that eats at my soul and destroys everything in me and around me? What must I do to be saved?”

What is the Lord God’s answer? The same as it was 2,000 years ago. The same as it was to Adam and Eve in the Garden. “This is My Beloved Son, hear Him.”

Next, thank God for His answer – because it is the answer – the Lord Jesus Christ is the Only answer, for He is the Son of God who alone possesses Life and the keys to Hell and Death. He alone triumphed over death and destroyed that enemy once and for all. Thank God for His answer and proceed with all speed, all reverence and Godly fear to carry out exactly, to the letter, the commands of the Lord Jesus Christ to you. Hear Him and Obey Him. He is your King, He is your Lord, He is your total Master and Ruler. “Kiss the Son lest He be angry and you perish from the way when His wrath is kindled but a little.” (Psalm 2) Run to do His bidding. You will know His instructions. His Voice is clear.

Every man, woman and child on earth has the absolute need to have the cleansing blood of the lord jesus christ applied to their wicked, evil soul. The Lord Jesus Christ did not go to the cross for some stupid, inane, frivolous reason. It was to redeem, to save, by shedding His Precious Blood in obedience to His Father’s command. No man can be saved or redeemed without the Precious Blood of the Son of God.
Once again, man absolutely cannot be saved, cannot be cleansed, without the precious shed blood of the lord jesus christ. The fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is ALIVE after shedding His Blood shows He is the only protection from death, the only answer. The Lord Jesus Christ is the center of the storm. He is the calm in the center, the middle, the eye of the storm. His shed Blood is the only cover and the only hiding place is to acknowledge that He is total King on the throne of the heart and soul.

He will begin by having you render to Him what is rightfully His, for rendering to Him your tithes and offerings is the first step in acknowledging that you are not your own. You are His possession lock, stock and barrel. Thus, you will now be rendering to Him every jot and tittle of what is His. Rendering to the Lord Jesus Christ the Holy Tithes and offerings is only the beginning of obeying His Divine Laws and good Judgments that bring Life and freedom to man from the anger, rage and iniquity that are so destructive to him. The Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Word of God, created man and everything in existence. He further purchased the right to rule every one when He bought and paid for them with His very Life and Blood sacrifice on the Cross of Calvary. Man has nothing, man is nothing without what his Creator gave him.

I Corinthians 3:16,17; 6:19,20 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, whose temple ye are. What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

* Cry out to God for deliverance. * Receive His Answer, “This is My Beloved Son, Hear Him.” *Obey the commands of God’s Son to you explicitly, for you are His property. This is continual and perpetual.

 These are the simple, most basic Facts of Life and the simple, albeit critical, steps toward that Life, the Life that is only in Him. In short, you will die so that He can live His life through you and carry out His will, His purpose and His goals in bringing glory, honor and praise to His Father God. This, O man, is the greatest gift of love that God has extended to His creation through His most Beloved Son, whom He values above all else. You will see the truth of this for you are not given an option in it. The Lord Jesus Christ’s awesome, Holy sacrifice on the Cross was not for naught. He purchased a Kingdom, He purchased the earth the rule as King and He purchased every body and soul on it. Man is pressed into that Kingdom by the angelic host and is ruled by the Son of God whether he likes it or not – willingly or otherwise he is brought to do the perfect bidding of the King of kings. Don’t be a fool. No one prevails against the will of God.

John 8:17,18,28,29 It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bears witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me. Then said the Lord Jesus Christ unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.

 

“This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, Hear ye Him.”

Amen.

 10-20-05