1. Bitterness
is a sin of reaction and rejection.
2. Bitterness is fueled by
jealousy, which divides, separates, rebels, and knocks out love.
Bitterness adds animosity toward the person or thing that caused
the reaction.
3. Bitterness is a sin against
God (including His Peace, Love, and Grace) even though it is directed at
others (Heb 12:15).
4. Bitterness can be active
or passive voice. Aggression is active, and being embittered is passive.
5. Bitterness may begin as
antipathy and ill will, but it may grow into the worst sin, including anger,
implacability, vituperation, vilification, and murder.
6. The embittered soul may
result from lack of Capacity for Life and Love. The embittered soul
departs from Spiritual Self-Esteem
and self-destructs.
7. Bitterness requires Rebound
to restore the Filling of the Holy Spirit and use of the Problem
Solving Devices to protect from the outside pressures of adversity.
8. Bitterness is a type of
cursing.
It may be used to curse, or it may result from being cursed (Nu 5:19-27;
Job 3:20; 9:18; 21:25; Lam 3:15, 19).
9. Bitterness is symbolized
by biting of serpents (Gen 49:17; Prov 23:32; Eccl 10:8, 11; Jer 8:17;
Amos 5:19; 9:3; Gal 5:15), animals (e.g. dogs, wolves, lions), and insects
(e.g. ants, bees).
10. Plants may also symbolize
bitterness, for example, from their taste (e.g. wormwood,
bitter herbs) or the reaction they cause (e.g. thorns, poison).
The
Bitterness Complex
1. Bitterness is a sin of reaction
to the four dimensions of the Spiritual life, which are the X, Y, Z, and
Time axes of the Space-Time
Coordinate System. The reaction is first against God, and then,
others.
Z-axis
– Cosmic Babylon – rejection of God's authority, rejection of Rebound –
Mental Attitude Sins.
X-axis
– Ecumenical Babylon – rejection of Bible Doctrine and Faith; apostasy
– Sins of the Tongue.
Y-axis
– Political Babylon – rejection of the Love of God – Overt Sins.
Time-axis
– rejection of Grace, refusal to wait on the Lord.
2. Z-axis (Cosmic Babylon)
attacks include attacks upon authority and Spirituality, including Mental
Attitude Sins.
Examples:
Bitterness toward authority figures, e. g. governing authorities, supervisors,
the husband in Marriage, and pastors. Bitterness sins include implacability,
recalcitrance, wanton behavior, dictatorial belligerence.
3. X-axis (Ecumenical Babylon)
attacks include sins of the tongue, vilification, lying, gossip, slander,
maligning, false teaching.
4. Y-axis (Political Babylon)
attacks include murder, tyranny, aggression, fighting, assault, criminality,
and rape.
5. Time-axis attacks include
idleness, provoked and unprovoked reaction, and unwillingness to wait on
the Lord.
Mental Attitude
Sin of Bitterness
1. Bitterness is a Mental Attitude Sin, which means
the volition chooses to react.
2. Bitterness is caused by a reactor factor, which
is a source of irritation (Eph 4:26; Prov 10:12; 15:18; 28:25; 29:22).
Become angry (caused
by a reactor factor) and stop sinning (Rebound).
Do not let the Sun set on your provoked anger. (Eph 4:26)
This means: when you become angry (imperative of
entreaty), stop sinning by using Rebound.
a. Bitterness attacks the
problem, while fear runs from it.
b. Reactor factors include
insults (2 Ki 5:10-12; Esther 3:5; Job 19:3; 2 Cor 12:10; 1 Pet 3:9), threats
(Gen 27:41-44), loss of money (Prov 14:20; 19:7; Acts 19:24-28), mockery
(Gen 21:9; Job 12:4; 17:6; 30:1, 9-10; 34:7; Psa 22:6-7; Prov 30:17; Isa
53:3; Jer 20:7; Lam 3:14; Mt 27:29; Mk 15:31-32; Acts 2:13; Gal 4:29),
injustice (Gen 27:41; Psa 69:4; 105:25), fear (Nu 13:31-33; 21:34; 2 Ki
10:4; 2 Chron 20:15; Neh 4:14; Psa 27:3; 118:6; 1 Pet 3:14), jealousy (Gen
37:4-8; Lk 15:28), reproach (Psa 31:11; 69:7-12, 19, 20; 88:8).
3. Whether mild or intense, bitterness is a sin
that knocks out the Spiritual Life.
4. Bitterness opposes the source of irritation
and makes enemies.
5. Mental Attitude Sins of Bitterness include anger,
implacability, ill-will, antagonism, resentment, irritation, hatred, malice,
acrimony, belligerency, contentiousness, wrath.
6. Bitterness rejects Bible Doctrine (James 3:14).
7. Bitterness destroys the Spiritual life (Isa
38:15, 17; Prov 14:10; Rom 3:14; Heb 12:15; Jas 3:14) and must be removed
from the believer (Eph. 4:31; Col 3:8).
8. Suffering in the Cycles
of National Cursing causes bitterness (Lam. 1:4; Amos 8:10; Isa 33:7).
9. Barrenness caused Samuel's mother to be bitter
(1 Sam 1:6, 10).
10. A foolish son causes bitterness to the mother
(Prov. 17:25)
11. Bitterness destroys love relationships with
God and man (1 Jn 4:20) and in Marriage (Colossians 3:19).
12. Adultery brings bitterness from intensified
Divine punishment (Prov 5:4; Eccl 7:26).
13. Anger is the viewpoint or expression of reaction
(James 1:19-20). Anger motivates terrorists (Amos 1:11).
a. Solution - Rebound
and leave the problem in the Lord's hands (Romans 12:19-20; Matt 26:62-63;
27:12-14). Never take your own revenge. Forgive (Lk 23:34;
Eph 4:32).
b. Do not be vindictive
or curse (Rom 12:14; Matt 5:44; Luke 6:28; 1 Cor 4:12).
c. Never pay back evil
with evil (Rom 12:17; 1 Pet 3:9).
d. Do not provoke children
to anger (Eph 6:4).
e. Be slow to anger (Prov
15:1, 18; 16:32; 19:11; Eccl 7:9; Jas 1:19).
f. Separate from angry
people (Prov 22:24).
g. Appease the fury of
the king (Prov 16:14).
Sins of the
Tongue of Bitterness
1. Bitterness may be expressed
through sins of the tongue (Rom 3:14).
2. Bitterness, like worry,
leads to complaining (Job 7:11; 10:1; Ex 15:22-23; 17:2-3; John 7:19).
a.
Characteristic of the Exodus generation who died in the wilderness (Ex
17:2-3)
b.
Characteristic of those who wanted to kill Jesus (Jn 7:19).
3. Bitterness pollutes self
and others (Matt 15:11, 18; Heb 12:15; Jas 3:6).
4. Sins of the tongue of
bitterness include gossip, slander, lying, maligning, vituperation, vilification,
judging.
a.
Vituperation is gossip, maligning, judging (1 Sam 17:28; 20:30; Psa 57:4;
59:7; 64:3-4; Matt 7:1-2; Jas 4:11-12).
b.
Vilification is deliberately creating a public lie to ruin someone else
(Prov 26:28; Matt 9:3; 26:59, 65; 27:12-13; Mk 2:7; Jn 10:36)..
Overt Sins
of Bitterness
1. Sins of bitterness may be
expressed overtly (Prov 29:22; Lk 22:63-65; Acts 19:28-29).
2. Overt sins of bitterness
include murder, violence, tyranny, bloodshed, fighting, assault, battery,
criminality, and rape. Pastors should not be pugnacious (1 Tim 3:3).
3. Bitterness may be expressed
in weeping (Gen 27:34; 2 Sam 13:36; Jer 31:15), mourning (1 Sam 15:32;
Jer 6:26; Ezek 27:31), and gnashing teeth (Job 16:9; Psa 37:12; Lam 2:16;
Matt 8:12; 13:42; Acts 7:54).
4. Mocking is an act of ridicule
or derision, which may include scornful or contemptuous sins of the tongue,
sneering, jibing, jeering (Psa 22:7; 35:15-16; Mt 9:24; 27:29, 39), or
laughing at (Judg 16:25, 27; 2 Chron 30:10; Job 30:1; Prov 26:19; Lam 1:7;
Hab 1:10).
You cannot build your happiness
on someone else's unhappiness.
5. Mockery is characteristic
of the fool, whose arrogance (Prov 14:16) is a cover for roots of bitterness
that make an enemy of God and reject Bible Doctrine (1 Sam 25:25; Psa 14:1;
74:10, 18; Prov 1:7, 22; 7:22; 10:21, 23; 14:8-10; 26:18-19; Eccl 5:1,
3-4; 7:9; 10:12-15; Isa 26:11; Lam 1:2, 5, 9, 16, 21; 2:16; Matt 10:36;
Rom 5:10; 1 Cor 1:18; Phil 3:18; Jas 4:4; Jude 1:18).
Functions
of Bitterness
1. Bitterness turns love into
hatred (2 Sam 13:15; Psa 55:12-13) and reverses the polarity of Good and
evil (1 Ki 21:20; 22:8; Micah 3:2; Jn 7:7; 15:18-19; Rom 12:9; 2 Ti 3:3).
2. Bitterness turns happiness
into into mourning (Lam 5:15; Amos 8:10) and malice.
Malice
is the lust to hurt, to destroy someone else, like vituperation or vilification.
3. Bitterness turns blessing
into cursing.
4. Bitterness blames God
and man for ones own bad decisions and flaws and failures, so that the
believer out of fellowship never takes responsibility for his own bad decisions,
but through the motivation of bitterness, always finds someone else to
blame.
5. Bitterness is the fuel
that runs the arrogance skills (self-denial, self-justification, self-absorption)
(Prov 26:20-22).
6. Bitterness produces bad
emotion, and therefore, contributes to the state of perpetual carnality.
7. Bitterness destroys the
Spiritual life (Isa 38:15, 17; Prov 14:10; Rom 3:14; Heb 12:15; Jas 3:14).
Soulish,
Physical, Psychosomatic Problems
1. Bitterness is a sin that takes
one into the darkness of the Cosmic System.
2. Bitterness may cause Blackout
of the Soul, Emotional
Revolt of the Soul, and Reversionism.
3. A person who suddenly
becomes bitter may appear to be Jekyll and Hyde (Lk 4:22-29).
4. Bitterness causes lower
back pain and weakness, hip pain, and may cause angina.
a.
Bitterness causes unhappiness, being unloving, unable to socialize, and
being disillusioned.
b.
Bitterness may be covered over with victim mentality, self-righteous arrogance,
or snobbishness and is, therefore, hard to spot (Ps 12:2; 28:3; Prov 26:24-25;
Jer 9:2-8; 12:6; Mic 7:5; Mt 24:23).
c.
Bitterness may include harshness, being overly serious, inability to relax,
and having no peace (Isa 48:22; 57:20-21; 59:8; Rom 3:17).
d.
Bitterness may cause burnouts, addictions, or workaholic tendencies.
e.
Psychosomatic symptoms include circulation problems of the heart, brain,
lungs, and endocrine glands.1
5. Bitterness and anger are
the pins of the grenades that explode in psychopathic behavior, murder,
and plots of revenge (Matt 22:15; Mk 3:6; 12:13; Lk 6:11).
6. Anger may cause a person
to be easily provoked, having a short fuse, irritable, frustrated, impatient,
unforgiving, aggressive, resentful.
a.
Anger may cause a person to be stuck on the past and unable to move on.
b.
Anger may cause loss of Spiritual Self-Esteem and self-destructive behavior,
including suicidal desires (Job 3:20; Jon 4:1-4, 8-9).
c.
Anger may cause disruptive behavior and disruption of team work (Prov 29:9).
d.
Suppressed anger may cause muscular tension, stiffness, digestive disorders,
and depression.
e.
Suppressed anger may cause denial and projection as in the case of the
Exodus generation, who hated Moses but accused him of wanting to kill them
(Exodus 17:3). Denial and projection may cause a bent
forefinger.2
f.
Psychosomatic problems may include symptoms in the liver, gallbladder,
nervous system, muscles, and tendons.1
7. When bitterness and anger
are not handled through Rebound
and the Problem
Solving Devices, defense mechanisms in the soul may lead to psychological
problems of denial, projection, dissociation, or suppression. When
bitterness goes into the subconscious, it can surface as a monster.
8. Post Traumatic Stress
Syndrome is characterized by expressions of bitterness and anger.
9. Schizophrenia is a characterized
by simultaneous polarization of love and hate. The mental illness
opens the door to demon influence. Simultaneous love and hate are
characteristic of Satan and demons.
10. Snobbishness includes
self-righteousness toward friends and bitterness toward others. This
may lead to suppressed bitterness.
Bitter Suffering
1. Bitterness may be used to
describe harsh suffering. Victims of the wrath of others may describe
their suffering as bitter.
a.
Naomi was bitter after losing her husband and sons (Ru 1:20).
b.
Job was bitter in his suffering (Job 9:18).
c.
Judah was bitter from the wrath of God (Is 29:9; 51:17; Jer 9:15; 25:15-17).
d.
Jeremiah was sated with bitterness over the destruction of Jerusalem (Lam
3:15, 19).
2. Bitter suffering is not
the sin of bitterness but is the pain felt from the bitterness of another.
3. Bitter suffering is a
burden that must be handled with the Problem
Solving Devices.
a.
Eyes need to be on the solution rather than the problem. Subjective
preoccupation with the problem intensifies it.
b.
Jeremiah became depressed when he dwelt on the problem.
Lamentations
3:20 Depression
My soul continually thinks of it
And becomes depressed within me.
Thinking of the deep suffering leads
to depression.
Lamentations
3:21 Recalling Doctrine
This I recall to heart;
Therefore, I have hope (confident
expectation).
Jeremiah snapped out of his bitterness
when he recalled Bible Doctrine and had hope (confident expectation) in
God, whose Gracious Love and mercies never fail.
Signs of Bitterness
in the Hands
1. Cognitive
processes are recorded in the hands along with various psychological
aberrations.2
2. Capacity for bitterness
in rejection of authority may be gauged by the rigidity of the palm.
Rigidity is measured by holding the fingers together aligned with the palm,
and then pushing the fingers back while keeping them aligned with the palm
and the wrist rigid. A rigid palm indicates capacity for strong reaction,
whereas, a palm that is somewhat rigid may indicate tempered reaction.
A palm with very little rigidity (i.e. high elasticity)
indicates a person who is weak as water and may be prone to extremism due
to total willingness to be shaped by others. Rigidity and stiffness
in the entire hand, especially the fingers, indicates repression, which
is unwillingness to be shaped by others.
3. A C-shaped little
finger symbolizes Personality Fragmentation, which is due to a bitter,
vituperative mother who vents her rage over the cradle when the child is
less than one year old.
4. A bent
tip phalange on the little finger symbolizes inverse guilt reaction.
This is due to bitterness in the mother toward the child.
5. A little
finger that leans apart from the other fingers symbolizes a person
who hates his mother or a person in separate camps.
6. A bent tip phalange on
the index finger
symbolizes denial and projection from suppressed anger.
7. A thumb sticking outward
symbolizes dictatorial belligerence.
8. A club
thumb symbolizes a person who is capable of sudden, violent outbursts
of anger or tyranny.
9. Large islands
on the Head Line may indicate depression or other psychological problems.
10. Crosses
on the palm indicate intense suffering and cursing (bitterness of soul),
like going to the cross.
11. A Marriage
Line that droops down toward the Heart Line indicates a weeping widow,
who mourns for her lost husband.
12. Dark spots
indicate unforgiven sins, which can include pollution from bitterness.
Symbols of
Bitterness
1. Bitterness is symbolized by the biting of serpents
(Gen 49:17; Prov 23:32; Eccl 10:8, 11; Jer 8:17; Amos 5:19; 9:3; Matt 12:34;
Gal 5:15).
a. Venom of snakes symbolizes
bitterness (Deut 32:32-33; Psa 58:4; 140:3).
b. Snakes with venom in
their bites symbolize sins of the tongue of bitterness, such as vituperation
and vilification (Rom 3:13; James 3:8).
2. Bitterness is symbolized by animals which bite,
such as dogs, hyenas, lions, tigers, crocodiles, and turtles (1 Sam 17:37;
Ps 22:21; Gal 5:15; 2 Tim 4:17; 1 Pet 5:8).
a. Barking may be the
expression of bitterness (Ex 11:7).
b. Growling or hissing
may represent bitterness (Psa 59:15; Isa 5:29-30; 31:4; 59:11; Jer 51:38;
Amos 3:4).
c. Snapping or gnashing
the teeth represents bitterness (Job 16:9; Psa 35:16; 37:12; Lam 2:16;
Acts 7:54).
d. Devouring or swallowing
symbolizes death, going to the grave, or Sheol (Nu 16:34; Psa 21:9; 27:2;
52:4; Prov 1:12; Jer 15:3). Just as swallowing symbolizes the grave,
words that come up from the throat can symbolize words from the grave (death)
(Psa 5:9).
3. Bitterness is symbolized by insects which bite
or sting, such as ants, bees, wasps, yellow flies, dog flies, mosquitoes,
spiders (Ex 8:21; 23:28; Deut 1:44; Psa 78:45).
4. Bitterness is symbolized by the sting of scorpions
and centaur demons (Rev 9:5).
5. Plants may also symbolize bitterness.
a. Plants with bitter
taste – wormwood3 (Lam
3:15, 19), bitter herbs (Nu 9:11), grapes of wrath (Deut 32:32), sour grapes
that set the teeth on edge (Jer 31:29-30; Ezek 18:2).
b. Plants that cause bitter
reaction - thorns, sandspurs, cactus, poison.
6. Bitterness is symbolized by gall,
which is opium or bile (from the gallbladder) (Psa 69:21; Jer 9:15; Acts
8:23). Opium (gall) may refer to poison, which is synonymous with
venom (Deut 32:32-33; Job 20:16).3
a. The fruit of idolatry
is wormwood and gall (Deut 29:18).
b. Punishment of the reversionist
is like the bitter medicine of wormwood and gall (Lam 3:19).
c. Pouring out one's gall
(bile) is a metaphor for death (Job 16:13).
7. The color for bitterness is blue-green.
However, the yellow color of jaundice, symbolizing loss of Capacity for
Life, may be due to a weakened liver, which may be due to bitterness.
8. Bitterness defiles the body and causes loss
of sanctification. Bodily wastes symbolize bitterness:
a. Excrement (1 Ki 14:10;
2
Ki 18:27; Isa 36:12; Heb 12:15)
b. Urine (slang piss);
one who pisses against a wall is slang for a male (1 Sa 25:22, 34; 1 Ki
16:11; 21:21; 2 K 9:8)
c. Odor – odious (Gen
34:30; Ex 5:21; 1 Sa 13:4; 27:12; 2 Sa 10:6; 16:21; 1 Chron 19:6); stench
of corpses (Isa 34:3; Am 4:10; Jn 11:39).
Bitterness from
Satanic Influence
1. Satan in his rebellion against God has bitter hatred.
He motivated Cain to slay Able and continues to motivate murder and violence
(Jn 8:44).
a. Satan inspires the
Evil King, e. g. Nimrod, Pharaoh, and Nebuchadnezzar.
b. Satan motivates anti-Semitism.
c. Satan's strategy is
to destroy Israel. He will try this in the Tribulation.
2. Satan and his demons have extreme bitterness
beyond any human.
3. Satan rules the world (Jn 12:31; 14:30; 16:11;
2 Cor 4:4). All mankind is subject to him (1 Jn 5:19).
4. Satan has the power, with God's permission,
to subject, to influence (Eph 2:2; Rev 12:9; 20:3), to cross examine (Gen
3:1-5), to stir up violence and rebellion (Jn 8:44; Rev 20:8), and to execute
people under the Sin Leading to
Death (1 Cor 5:5; 1 Tim 1:20; Heb 2:14).
5. Satan and his demons can attack the minds (2
Cor 11:3; 1 Tim 4:1) and bodies of humans (Mk 9:20-27; Lk 13:11-13).
a. They can put thoughts
and illusions into the mind, cast spells (Deut 18:11), perform magic, sorcery,
and divination (Lev 19:26, 31; Deut 18:10; Isa 8:19; Dan 2:2; Acts 19:19),
and fill the heart with sinful lusts, desires, and temptations (Matt 4:3;
Jn 13:2; Acts 5:3; 1 Cor 7:5; 2 Cor 2:11; 1 Thess 3:5; 1 Tim 2:14).
b. Although people have
volition, they lack the power and sophistication to recognize and repulse
the machinations of Satan, the master genius and most powerful created
being apart from Jesus Christ.
c. Satan doesn't have
to possess a person to have his way with that person. Although there
are weapons of Spiritual warfare the Christian can deploy against Satan
(Rom 13:12; 2 Cor 10:4; Eph 6:13-18; 1 Thess 5:8), the Christian will almost
certainly not recognize Satan or have a clue of what is happening and how
to resist (2 Cor 11:14).
6. Satanic and demonic influence upon a person
includes the bitterness complex of sin (1 Jn 2:9, 11; 4:20).
a. This bitterness comes
in out of the blue and is not directly due to a person's volition (Psa
69:4; Jn 15:25).
b. The person under demon
influence does not choose to be bitter.
c. If a person has enough
doctrine to recognize contradictions, he can Rebound and resist (Jas 4:7;
1 Pet 5:9), but he cannot send Satan and his demons away. Only God
can do that (2 Cor 12:9).
d. Bitterness from demon
influence will go into the subconscious (or unconscious). This is
like suppressed anger. A person doesn't even know he has it.
What is in the subconscious is not available to the conscious mind.
7. Unconscious bitterness blocks the Light of human
life and leaves darkness in the body (Luk 11:34-35).
a. The person with unconscious
darkness walks in darkness under the power of Satan (Eph 2:2).
b. Darkness in the body
invites further counterattacks from the Cosmic System (Matt 12:43, 45),
has a negative influence on others (Prov 7:22-23, 27; 13:20; Matt 5:13;
1 Cor 5:6; 15:33; 2 Cor 6:14-16; 2 Tim 3:13; Tit 3:3; Jude 7, 8), and causes
soulish and physical suffering, including sickness and death (Jas 5:1-3;
Rev 2:22).4
Bitterness
in Astrology
1. The characteristics of the Bitterness Complex are
symbolized by the signs
of Scorpius, Capricornus, and Sagittarius.5
a. Scorpius, the scorpion,
symbolizes Satan as the enemy of Christ. The enemy has characteristics
of the bitterness complex.
b. Capricornus, the goat,
symbolizes Gentile lawlessness and tribulation (bitter suffering).
c. Sagittarius, the archer,
symbolizes an enemy attack, raiding band, criminal gang, and suffering
in or from a group.
2. Bitterness is symbolized by the bitter sting
of scorpions and centaur demons (Rev 9:5).
3. Scorpius as the enemy can symbolize the murderer
and liar (Jn 8:44). The planets
in Scorpius associated with bitterness are:
Sun - a false prophet.
Moon - Jezebel, the enemy of
the Church from Ecumenical Babylon.
Savior Planet - a Satanic attack
on the believer.
Red Planet - murder, violence,
bloodshed, criminality.
God of the Covenants Planet
- doctrines of demons and apostasy of Satan, the enemy.
Mediator Planet - the accuser,
gossip, deceiver, and beguiler.
Redeemer - the payoff of a criminal.
Last Adam - the attack of Satan
and the enemy.
References
1. Unveiling
the Emotions, Veronika Voss, 2008. http://www.veronikavoss.com/memory/unveiling-the-emotions.html
2. Larry Wood. Hands
in Scripture,
Bent
or Bowed Forefinger, Oct. 1, 2011.
3. Larry Wood. "Wormwood
and Gall," Feb. 21, 2012. http://biblenews1.com/define/gall.htm
4. Larry Wood. Scar Tissue of the Soul,
"Psychosomatic
Problems," Oct. 1, 2011.
http://www.Biblenews1.com/scartis/scartis1.htm#Psychosomatic
5. Larry Wood. Biblical
Astrology, Feb. 2010. http://biblenews1.com/astrology/astrology.html
