“The Approaching Constitutional Crisis”

Observing Washington, DC and our Federal Government at work is like viewing the latest segment of a daytime TV soap.  The flurry of accusations flying about is enough to make even the flying pigeons become dizzy.  In all my 60+ years of observing our national story, I have never seen one quite as bizarre or as depressing as this one!

Yesterday, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, accused Attorney General William Barr of “lying to Congress.”  This type of offense could result in him being held in “contempt of Congress,” as Barr recused himself from any other testimony before the other house committees of Congress.  The Republicans in the Senate, including Senator Lindsey Graham, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee declared the whole testimony process “done and over.”  Another Republican of note said the whole process of investigation of Robert Mueller’s report is “a dead chicken.”  This inspired a house Democrat to place a bucket of fried “dead” chicken in the seat where Attorney General Barr was supposed to be seated and testifying.  Apparently, “the dead chicken” is now being interviewed by the House Judiciary Committee.  If I were a writer of drama, I could not come up with anything as bizarre and twisted as this!  Watch out, I expect over the next few weeks the plot will somehow thicken further!  The current President, whom I shall begin to call “He Who Shall Not Be Named”, lest we invoke additional chaos in the land, is one of the most toxic individuals to have ever sat in the sacred chair of the Presidency.  I watched in amazement as an apparently excellent lawyer, William Barr, took great pains to obfuscate the truth of the Mueller report in a massive effort to protect this president.

This is really quite amazing, as we watch the number of good men and women willing to fall upon the petard of self-destruction in order to protect this toxic President.  Would to God some of them become brave enough to tell the truth about this man so we can get rid of the poison he is spewing out all over this country, and indeed the world.

While we sit and observe a new constitutional crisis emerging due to this toxic Presidency, our allies languish without leadership, climate change goes into crisis mode, and some 40 million pigs are slaughtered in China in an attempt to contain one of the worst swine viral diseases ever to hit the planet.  When this virus jumps species into humans, the whole world is at risk of sudden death, just like these poor pigs!

Now, a reasonable President and a reasonable Federal Government of one of the most powerful countries in the world normally would be concerned about any of these three great problems.  But no, we are mired in a “he said, she said” public display of political posturing equivalent to the infamous “emperor Nero playing his fiddle while Rome burned!”  (This is a great metaphor, but unlikely historical truth).  I am seriously and I MEAN SERIOUSLY concerned about the future of our democracy.  I don’t know if the current occupants of our presidency, houses of Congress and our judiciary have the resilience to weather this current crisis of leadership.  One can hope, but some days hope is wearing pretty thin!

As a man of prayer, I have again invoked a petition to the Living God and Father of the Universe and of all of us to somehow come and help us in this hour of our crisis of leadership and crisis of hope.  If this toxic man who is supposed to be the chief law officer of the United States is allowed to get off without punishment for his acts of obstruction of justice, witness tampering, lying to Congress and bank fraud in the state of New York and the Republic of Germany, who then will be held accountable for any crime anywhere?  Either the law of the land applies to everyone, including the President, or it applies to no one at all.  Any one of these four areas of criminal activity would be enough for any citizen of this country to be prosecuted and held to accountability.  Yet, the chief law office of the United States goes free.  So the lesson learned by everyone everywhere, given enough money and enough power a President can damn well do anything he wants. The President’s statement: “I could kill someone on the street and not be prosecuted” is apparently true.   It was thought the question of Presidential impropriety was settled in our country once and for all with President Richard Nixon, who resigned rather than face impeachment.  In the case of HE WHO SHALL NOT BE NAMED, a new era of government has emerged and new rules seem to apply.

The TV soap opera with the TV reality star continues.  This country has now exactly what it deserves in a President.  When lust for power and greed for money so contaminate our political process that we have this kind of government and it is supported and enabled by this kind of Congress, we truly have what we surely deserve!

“O God, our Savior, I pray that you might save us!  Save us from our hubris, our greed, our pride of being so powerful as to call ourselves great.  Humble us, O Lord.  Save us from ourselves!  Remind us that we are dust, so that we may repent, be forgiven and find ourselves again in your kingdom.  Help us to remember that the glory which we pretend to have for this short season of living is really not glory at all.  Remind us and help us remember the true glory of God which is found in the face of Jesus dying for us on the cross.  Let us follow Him and enter into his eternal life.  Bring your glory and suffering and your dying love in Christ to become part of who we are, so that You Alone may be glorified, worshiped and adored.  Cast our idols to earth!  Shatter them into thousands of splinters, so that all may see their uselessness and we be reminded that you alone are God of us and God of the Universe, for I pray in the strong and only powerful name on this earth, Jesus Christ our Living Lord and our Redeemer.  Amen and Amen.

Let all of God’s people say, “Amen!”

“Amen!”  We praise you, Lord Jesus Christ!”

Bill Wilson, servant of God by God’s gracious mercies.  “Amen!”