“Now Is Time for All Good Men (and Women) to come to the aid of their country.”

“Now is time for all good men and women to come to the aid of their country.”  (from Charles G. Weller, a typing teacher, “Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party”; it was later change to “Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.”)  Exactly 70 characters long, which is the length of one complete line on a typewriter, this quote is from the WWI era.

This simple statement, “Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country” summarizes for us in the year of our Lord 2022 an essential need for our country today.  No longer in WWII, which was a war that defined the soul of our nation, the United States of America is now in a different war, which will prove again the soul of this nation, or we will be torn apart as a democracy.

I am speaking, of course, of the January 6, 2021 insurrection and attack on the U.S. Capitol by pro-Trump supporters, led on and promoted by a defeated President Trump and his financial, media and Republican supporters who did nothing to stop it as this occurred.  The storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021 represents one of the darkest days of our democracy since the Civil War of 1860-1865.  While only lasting one day, it has forever scarred the illusion of “One Nation Under God, Indivisible, with Liberty for All! (the Pledge of Allegiance to our Flag).

This dark day when the Capitol Building was stormed as Vice-President Mike Pence, the Senate and House of Representatives met to certify Joe Biden as the President of the United States, is a stain on the fabric of the quilt of 50 United States and the territories of Puerto Rico, Guam and American Samoa.  It is also a warning of the fragility of this democracy.  When a defeated president stands before an audience of supporters, some armed and encourages them to march on the US Capitol in an attempt to “stop the steal” of an election won by Joe Biden with millions of votes and a complete electoral college victory, we can only assume Trump is a man possessed with a desire for power and a desire to hold onto power in an illegitimate way.   Instead of admitting defeat and working for an orderly transition of power within our democracy, he chose instead to try and stop the certification of the election so that he could remain an illegitimate President, throwing chaos into our democracy and our democratic process.

Because of Trump’s participation in this insurrection, he should by the 14^th Amendment of the Constitution be permanently banned from holding public office, including the Presidency of this nation.  The even more sad part of this insurrection is that 100 Republican House representatives voted to uphold Trump’s lies, and some Senators.  January 6, 2021 came as close to destroying this democracy and our representative government as any event in our nation in the last 100 years!  In WWII, we at least knew who our enemies were, the Nazis and the Fascist of Europe and the Japanese in the Pacific.  In this case, the enemies of our democracy are our neighbors and our friends.  Those who stormed the capitol on January 6, 2021 were not farmers who were about to lose their livelihoods, or others workers who had lost their jobs.  No, these were middle class citizens, small business men/women and members of right wing groups as the Proud Boys who had believed the lie of a stolen election.  Had it not been for the bravery of the Capitol Police, who were attacked physically, with bear mace and with racial epithets, this would indeed have been a dark day for our country.

The January 6 House Bipartisan Committee (opposed by the Republican leadership beholden to Trump), which is still investigating the underlying causes of this insurrection, has noted that those who participated in this attack upon our nation are not just radicalized armed vigilantes, but are in many cases misled, confused and genuinely sincere citizens who were (are) being manipulated by a defeated President and his wealthy patrons, including Fox News, who somehow have come to believe a lie which they have been unable to admit is a lie, “ a damn lie!”  These supporters of a defeated president, who number in the millions of confused citizens and are all around us, are our neighbors and our friends.  The are and continue to be conservative Christians in our local churches.  Others, of course, as Steve Bannon, and those like him have no religion at all, but have an agenda to obtain influence, media attention and power.

I write this article not simply for the purpose of remembering and mourning what has occurred in our nation’s history.  No, I write this to remind myself of how fragile is the democracy on which we stand, that one vision which unites us as citizens of this free country.  If we lose this foundation, we lose our country. If we lose our country, we will descend into chaos, neighbor against neighbor and friend against friend.  A new kind of civil war will emerge, and it will destroy us all.  We will either “hang together” or most assuredly, we shall all “hang separately,” as the saying from the Revolutionary War era reminds us (attributed to Benjamin Franklin).

It is surprising that many persons do not recognize the seriousness of what occurred on January 6, 2021.  Many hardly remember the day.  President Biden made a point to remind the nation this January 6, 2022 in a forceful speech that many ignored.  He knows as do all historians that January 6, 2021 is a defining day of our democracy.

The question which remains for us now is where do we go from here?  We have witnessed that some of those who participated in the storming of the Capitol to prevent the certification of our 2020 Presidential election have now been identified, and duly punished for their crimes.  We have also noted that those who were in charge of provoking this insurrection have not yet been charged with any crimes.  I speak of defeated President Trump, attorney Rudolf Giuliani, Steve Bannon, the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, Fox News and wealthy patrons of the former president.  These players and others are still promoting the “damn lie of a stolen election.”  Will these wealthy citizens and not so wealthy be brought to justice?  How will this “damn lie of a stolen election” be purged from our democracy? 

The pervasiveness of the internet in reinforcing false news, the lack of any recognized forum which can adjudicate the truth, the divisiveness of seeking power for power’s sake, the unwillingness to compromise, to work “across the aisle,” the pervasiveness of money which buys political influence, the ability of PACS to distort the political realities of any election process, the redistricting process by those in power to disenfranchise the voting rights of those without power, the politicized Supreme Court, the attempt to pack local school boards with members who exclude books and other learning which they deem “too threatening to their way of life,” the attempts to use the ‘right of free speech” to promote distortions of the truth….shall I go on?  Our nation, our democracy, is in a life-or-death battle for its very soul!

I issue then this clarion call: “Now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of their country!”

How shall we do this most simple and most difficult thing?  I propose that men and women of good will speak the truth about these things as best we can know it and do it.  I propose that we confront our neighbors and friends with the truth of what we know and believe, that we do not cower or hold back from stating what we know and believe, even at the risk of losing the friendship and comradery of our neighbors who still believe “the damn lie.”  I propose that we reach out to them by countering “the damn lie” with the truth as we know it.  The Holy Spirit of Christ will help us do this, as the scripture says: “grace and truth came through Jesus Christ!” (John 1:17) Those who have the Holy Spirit in their hearts will recognize the truth when they hear it, because the Lord Jesus always stands on the side of the truth. 

As Christians, who have a future hope of eternal life, both then and now, we are charged to preach the gospel in season and out of season.  The fields indeed “are white unto harvest” (John 4:35), as Jesus tells us.  Pray therefore to the Lord of the harvest that He will send out laborers into his harvest.  Those of us who know the truth, who are led by the truth of Jesus, will recognize the truth of the gospel when we hear it.  We know that Jesus is on the side of the widow, the poor, the disenfranchised, and those who are confused and misled by politicians greedy for wealth and for power.  As Christian believers, it is our duty to help them find the way out of the darkness of their confusion of mind and heart into the marvelous light of the good news of Jesus’s way.

These are our neighbors and our friends!  They deserve our help, so they do not lose their eternal soul by believing a lie, a “damn lie.”  The devil is trying to deceive them and we need to go to their aid.  “Now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of their country, their countrymen and women.”  Can we do this simply thing?  Can we forgive those who have chosen to believe a “damn lie.”  As our God in Christ has forgiven us our sins, we can also forgive them theirs.  Let us begin today and work for the healing of our democracy, of our soul, of our nation!  There are some who will remain outside the fold of God.  Let us love them and forgive them as well.  They may never know that we have done them good.  And for those who promote the distortion of the truth, we know they are of the Antichrist, and in due season God will bring justice to them all, expose their lies and cast them into the Pit, where the fire of torment burns forever and ever.  The fiery Pit is their having to remember what they have done and did not do, an eternal remorse that has no certain cure.  Let us work to save as many from this fate as we can!  Through Jesus Christ our Lord, our Redeemer, and our Friend, we make this prayer for them and for us.  Amen!

Prayer: “O Lord Jesus, you have witnessed all these things of which we mourn and speak in remembrance and in compassion.  Hear our prayers, together and separately.  Right the wrongs; fill the earth with your truth, your justice, your righteousness, and your peace!  Help us to work to overcome evil with the good!   Show us the way of compassion for our fellow men and women, even if it cost us everything in this life, as our certain treasure awaits us in another more blessed place.  May we, at the end of days, find ourselves only and certainly in You!  In your blessed name we pray with all thanksgiving and praise! Glory be to your blessed and holy name, Jesus Christ our Lord and our Redeemer!  Amen!

Let all the children of God say, “Amen!”

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

Bill Wilson, servant of God by God’s grace and mercies.

“Amen!”