WesleyGospel Ministries

The Fruit of the Spirit, Temporary Bursts of Indignation, and the Bitterness of Constant Anger

Posted on July 7, 2025 by The Town Crier Outlet

Box! Box! Box! Box!

Yesterday I was just a boy
In days of youthful hero worship
My kind have been molded by images on the screen
Brought up to emulate the big guns

Just another guest on death’s best show
The influence cuts deeper than mom’s
Those electric waves
The demons fly

Now could we just be
Bred to kill or die

There must be somethin’ else
For the blame I place on myself
Behind the tired eyes
The tears go uncried

In the box
Doin’ time
In the box
Just like doin’ time
In the box
Doin’ time
In the box

Now that I’m grown
Abandoned childhood toys
But still what danger
Have I retained
To grab the brass ring
To go in for the kill
And covet the good you know ‘dem got for murder

It’s just another guest on death’s best show
The influence cuts deeper than mom’s
Those electric waves
The demons fly

Now could we just be
Bred to kill or die

There’s got to be somethin’ else
For the blame I place on myself
Behind tired eyes
The demons stir
The tears go uncried

In the box
Doin’ time
In the box
Just like doin’ time
In the box
Doin’ time
In the box

Minds are locked down

–Snot, “The Box”–

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The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
–Galatians 5:22-23 (KJV)–

To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord; I am weary with holding in: I will pour it out upon the children abroad, and upon the assembly of young men together.
–Jeremiah 6:10-11 (KJV)–

Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins…Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
–Isaiah 58:1, 6 (NIV)–

While Paul was waiting for them at Athens,
his spirit was greatly angered when he saw that the city was full of idols.
–Acts 17:16 (AMP)–

Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking,
be put away from you, with all malice.
–Ephesians 4:31 (KJV)–

Note that “blessed are the meek” (Matthew 5:5) is not about nor a teaching against expressing anger or indignation against injustice–like sexual perversion and abuse for example, preaching sermons against sin, preaching repentance, or about preaching sermons against injustice, as is required in evangelistic ministry. This is about the way we carry ourselves in relation to others in the church, in business, in family, etc. There is a sense of self-control there. This is more related to people in pastoral ministry, because of their constant interaction with people acting annoying with petty irritations and nuisances. Not being easily provoked by people’s comments or crazy behavior. To say that Matthew 5:5 is a teaching against the whole idea of preaching with anger against flagrant societal sin, would be to condemn John the Baptist, Jesus Christ himself, Stephen, Peter, and Paul (Matt. 3:7; 23:13-39; Acts 7:51; 8:20; 13:10).

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Watchman Nee, The Spiritual Man. (Teaches Quietism; all emotions are called “soulish”).

Augustin Poulain, The Graces of Interior Prayer, pp. 491-492, 495. “This is the principle that stands out from the writings of this sect. Given that some practical resolution is to be made, action will be taken solely when we are urged thereto by God. As long as the Holy Spirit has not set the soul in motion, she will wait without doing anything whatever…abandonment, exaggerated to the point of reducing oneself to a passive state of expectation…in this way desires and abandonment were falsely considered as two dispositions incompatible with one another…Let us not think of God as a jealous, intractable, sullen king who will not tolerate any initiative and who wishes to reduce us to a slave’s mute obedience.”

Richard J. Foster, Streams of Living Water, ch. 5. (On Social Justice).

John Wesley, “A Letter to the Rev. Dr. Rutherforth,” Part III. (On feeling the fruits).

Dr. John R. Rice, Why Preach Against Sin? (Sword of the Lord, 1946, 1985), p. 6. “I preached so hard against sin that some pastors of the city criticized me severely.”

—. What Is Wrong With the Movies? (Sword of the Lord, 1938).

—. Adultery and Sex Perversion (Sword of the Lord, 1978).

Leonard Ravenhill, Revival Praying (Bethany House, 1962), ch. 14: “Be Ye Angry.”

—. “Be Ye Angry And Sin Not” (Last Days Ministries, 1985).

Miguel de Molinos, author of *The Spiritual Guide*, and father of Quietism. He taught mental passivity, emotional stoicism, and self-annihilation. To mortify the flesh and allow the spirit to find its place in perfect contemplation on God. His anti-emotional teaching was condemned by the Catholic Church in 1687. The Spock-like expression in the painting is clear. You can almost hear him calmly say, “Don’t be angry, just look at the candle.”

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