I listened to American Vice President Elect Biden’s speech tonight after the affirmation of his win by the electoral college. His reiteration of the series of events leading up to that moment, as commonly known as it is, puts into stark relief the sheer lunacy and hostility of the positions of the Hank Hunnemans, Dutch Sheets, Mario Murillos, Pat Robertsons etc (though Pat has slightly toned down his rhetoric as the political and legal processes played themselves out – Pat ran for president, he is an institutionalist) in aligning with the Trump attempts to break the American democratic system and turn the nation on its head….for the sake of a hostile power grab.
Of course, I’ve listened to Lance, Dutch, Hank , Murillo and Pat and others daily, for the last two weeks (forasmuch as doing so might demonstrate poor judgment on my part in who I choose to listen to – fools aren’t worth the attention given them) And doing so for me has not just been a sentimental throw back to past allegiances – I know who these men are, the lives they lead, the good they have done, the intensity of their core commitments.
If they have become foolish, or if their folly is now being revealed, as astonishing as it may be, (this is earth; expect anything from anybody.) these men are not the type of men to be derided or dismissed. They have great weight and worth. But now their decisions and dispositions must be weighed. No one is above God’s judgments. A brief survey of both testaments will confirm that faithful Yahweh is just and true and if needs be will divorce his own Beloved for adultery, he will give his own people who have committed treason over to their enemies and watch them scattered.
Well I know these men haven’t been walking around consciously plotting to dishonor America’s constitution and perpetrate fraud upon the American people. They are being manipulated and highly deceived (not that that exonerates them from responsibility). If it was Jesus against whom they trespassed, they might quickly get a ‘Father forgive them for they know not what they do’. but it is the nation of America, who unfortunately for them, isn’t only populated with Republicans.
And from the beginnings of that nation, Those bearing the Name of Christ seemed unsure of how to properly engage those who were not like them – those outside the covenant. Even now, a propensity to dishonor, to deceive and defraud seem acceptable modalities of procuring glory (but not God’s – obvious to all but them it seems). It turns out you need more than Pauline…no Sauline zeal to serve God, you need LIGHT, even if it blinds you, for you might wind up trespassing against Jesus after all.
I don’t have to like someone to recognize their virtue. I know Biden’s character and Trump’s. I have no Lord and saviors on the earth. I know their proclivities and capacities. I know their backgrounds and their stories. There is no excuse for one who chooses to trust an unscrupulous character or for someone who chooses to despise an honorable man.
Before there is ideology, there is character….and character is everything. Give me a decent person with wrongheaded ideas. All I need is time and conversation. If his decency is genuine, all that is needed is the wisdom of how to engage and sufficient time and we are good.
Give me an unscrupulous person however, even with good ideas, I’ll have to watch him closely and handle him like a snake, even after the handshake. A lack of discernment is costly. These men, regardless of their sincerity of faith, have crossed lines. Here is where the sons of light show themselves. Grace to repent. The judgment is about revealing the hidden things. These men will have their prayers answered…but may not either recognize the answers if their hearts are stout, nor accept them.
But that’s what judgment is about. Discernment. And that’s also the role of the Deceiver – to turn things on their heads to exercise the heads of those whose passion for creativity requires them to divide the light from the darkness, day from night. Land from sea, animal from human. It’s all in us. Now call a thing for what it is.
YeKengalé 