“Corruption”

A Prayer by William Barclay:

“Give to your Church preachers and teachers who can make known the Lord Christ to others because they know him themselves; and give to your Church hearers, who, being freed from prejudice, will follow truth as blind men long for light.  This we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.”

From Prayers for the Christian Year by William Barclay

 

Previously, in this blog, I have argued for transparency in government, in our leadership of the House and Senate, and indeed in all of life.  The current ongoing trial of our President Trump I have argued is a test not only for his leadership, but also for ourselves, to show how keen we are to seek the truth from God about ourselves.  Those who live in the Truth, that is, in Jesus Christ, must also walk by the truth, as far as we can know it, as there is much blindness, prejudice among believers, and darkness in this world.  “If your eye be dark,” Jesus tells us, “your whole body will be full of darkness.  But if you eye be light, your whole body will be full of the light of Christ’s gospel.” (Matthew 5-6)

When the saltiness has been taken out of the salt of the Church’s moral fiber, it is, as Jesus declares, “fit for nothing, but to be thrown out on the dung heap.”  For salt to have any effect, it must be full of “saltiness.”  For the Church of Jesus Christ to function as the Light of the World, it must itself be full of the light of God’s word and gospel!

When the Church of Jesus Christ stands idly by and does not stand against corruption, wherever and however it may be found, it has lost its saltiness.  It’s light has become darkness and we as the body of the Church have no moral authority remaining to stand against evil or the darkness filling the hearts and minds of those persons living in this world.  Each generation of Christian believers is called to be “salt and light” in their own generation.  Once we are dead, we have little if any influence in this world’s affairs.  “Now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation.”  “As long as today is still called today,” we need to be about the affairs of our God.

There are some teachers of the gospel who say, “Politics and political activism have no place in the church!”  And yet these same teachers will vote their conscience and will often endorse persons they hope to be elected from the very pulpit in which they advocate doing nothing to help their community.  We are all involved in politics, as this is simply another word for how we choose to live and work together, whether we obey the law or ignore it.   Obeying or ignoring the laws of the road when we drive our cars, whether we speed or obey the speed limit is a political statement.  Throwing out trash that someone else will be required to pick up is a political statement of our faith and speaks either for or against our Christian faith.

When ministers of the church of Jesus Christ endorse and do not speak out against the moral and spiritual failings of our President, members of Congress, or those of the local school board they are burying the light of Christ in the sand of ignorance and in the miry pit of laziness.  If we are not willing to participate in the governance of our own communities, we should not live in them but go and live somewhere else.  Do we not believe our God will hold us guilty for our sins of omission?

Yesterday, our President was seen at a rally for protecting the life of the unborn. It is his right and privilege to attend any rally he may please.  Cynically, one might ask whether he went there with a genuine concern for the unborn or whether as he is on trial for impeachment if he went to “shore up” his support among evangelicals.  The day before yesterday, while all eyes were on the impeachment trial, he chose to completely gut the Clean Air and Water Act for our nation established in 1974.  Citing farmers concerns, another part of his political base, he did it “for helping agriculture” have less impediments to wealth.  This is despite the fact the Clean Air and Water act has done more to protect our clean air and our water for drinking that any act placed on the government books in the last century!

The current “so called” trial has named innumerable reasons why this presidents corrupt behaviors and that of his crony lawyers need to be stopped and punished, for the sake of our democratic process.  More than 60% of the nation’s people would like to hear all the evidence against the President to determine his guilt or his innocence.  Yet the ability to introduce all the evidence, good or ill for the President’s case, is being blocked by the Republican majority in the Senate.   So without this evidence, this President will be acquitted and exonerated of guilt from his corrupt acts, but not really, as the trial will be considered a “sham trial” by all who consider it.  This president will be eternally impeached and his guilt and that of the Republican majority will remain forever, a continuing stain on the democratic ideals of this country.  Who will ever trust the impeachment process again?  The rule of law will become no rule of law.  The rich and powerful can simply do whatever they want, as they have the influence to “buy the court, buy the lawyers and buy the judge!”

Many senators are up for re-election in this election cycle.    They are more willing to mute their conscience in order to “save their hide” than to vote their conscience and risk the wrath of their constituents at home.  This was not the case in 1974, when the Senator Charles H Percy from Illinois joined with the Democrats and demanded President Richard M. Nixon turn over the tapes of his recorded conversations in the Oval Office and other evidence he was withholding from Congress.  President Nixon had the good sense to resign, when he realized he could be convicted by the Senate.   Now, some 46 years later, facing the same situation again, the Republican senators ignore the summons of their conscience to act.  President Trump is withholding evidence which probably would convict him.  But our Senators are bound up with fear of losing their jobs or incurring the wrath of their constituents.  To their shame and to the everlasting shame of this country’s government, they are unwilling to confront corruption when they see it.   The long term consequences for our nation will be severe.

No longer will we be able say, “we have a government of the people, by the people and for the people.”  Instead we will have a government “of the elite, for the elite, of and for the wealthy, the corrupt and the powerful.”  And the Christian church, for the most part, remains silent.  We have no voice of alarm.  We only have darkness and no light!  If we do not stand against and work against the evil of our day, who will ever hear our message of the Lord Jesus Christ?  We will become what those outside of the church have always suspected that we are, “a social club of the rich and powerful who come together to commend ourselves for doing good.”

Any Christian, who in good conscience can endorse this corrupt President, simply because he cow tows to conservative causes to maintain his place in power, has truly lost all the light of the gospel in their hearts and lives.  Do not pretend to preach the gospel of Christ ever again.   The Jesus whom I know and worship saves the lost, the sinners, the dying and the poor.  Jesus never endorsed the rulers of his day as representing God’s way.  Instead he rebuked them and was crucified by them, having identified himself with the poor, with the lonely, with those lying by the side of the road crying for help.  He called the rich and powerful of his day to repentance.  He saved Matthew the tax collector, who became one of his disciples.  He reached out to Zacchaeus and brought great salvation to his house.  But he called Herod “the fox” as he killed John the Baptist.  He called the Pharisees and Sadducees “a pit of vipers” and rebuked them for their lack of the knowledge of God.  He contested with the Herodians (the lawyers) and showed them how inadequately they understood the God they pretended to represent.

Let’s judge our President by the fruit of his life:  Has he lifted the poor of this country from poverty?  Has he visited the refugees clamoring to come into a better life?  Has he endorsed democratic values for all people?  Has he represented all of the constituency of this great nation, or only some?  Where are the people of color in his leadership circles?  Where are the women who make decisions in his cabinet?

Instead he has beat down the poor by trying to remove government programs which protect their lives.  He has taken money from the military to build a wall on the border with Mexico.  He represents white people, whom he places around himself in positions of power.  He has endorsed White Supremacists.  But he ignores African Americans, Hispanic, Chinese, Vietnamese and all Islamic believers.  He openly talks of women in ways that most would be embarrassed to say.  In summary, he represents himself and the privileged of America.  He has corrupted our democracy by his desire to heighten his own wealth and power.  He cozies up to dictators as Putin of Russia and Kim Jong-un of Korea, but only endorses Ukraine’s democratic President Volodymyr Zelensky  “when and if he seeks dirt on the son of Joe Biden and Joe Biden, his political opponent.”  He has managed to sour our relationship with Iraq by his policies toward Iran and has cut the legs from our allies the Kurds.  I could go further.

The point of this brief essay is simply to say “this President does not represent me, my family, our values or our Christian church.”  He does not represent the values of our democracy, nor does he represent the values of our nation.  For Christians to willing endorse this President is short-sighted and imminently fraught with peril.  I speak out because I cannot be silent.  I will not go to my grave without at least trying to work for democratic ideals and for the heart of this nation.  I will continue to preach and teach the good news of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.  As the church of Jesus Christ in this time, we can do better.  We know to do better.  As the Senate of this great nation, we can do better!  We know to do better!  I pray in this next week, we will allow our consciences to speak to us and not be silent!  It is imperative that we listen well and that we do not remain silent!

In the name of Jesus Christ, who loves us so well, who saves us so well, who listens to us so well, and who abides with us so well!  In the name of Jesus Christ our Savior, I make this prayer, to whom and for whom be all praise, glory, honor and blessing, both now and forever.  Amen.

“Everyone, at some time and in some areas, is a follower, and it is just as important to be discriminating in choosing whom to follow as it is to prepare to lead.”

From Servant Leadership by Robert K. Greenleaf

 

Rev. Bill Wilson, MD