#executive corruption

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I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

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Protest

There are people of faith who believe in the devil’s bargain that the ends justify the means. They support any person, no matter how corrupt, who they feel will uphold their political agenda. This goes against the biblical instruction: “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.” (Psalms 118:8,9)

Yes, Paul advised Christians to obey and respect the authorities of his day. Because in the eyes of the Roman Empire, protest amounted to rebellion and had to be violently put down. But we are living in a modern democracy. Peaceful protest is a right and duty of everyone in the face of oppression and injustice. If those in authority are not upholding the rights of all the people, it is the Christian’s obligation to speak up. That is how, in the past, Christians were the ones who led in the abolition of slavery and the humane treatment of prisoners and the mentally ill. They spoke truth to power. They did not collaborate with that power.

If we support elected officials who scoff at truth, righteousness and compassion, we are a party to their lies, corruption and cruelty.

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Evil is bad sold as good, wrong sold as right, injustice sold as justice. Like the coat of a virus, a thin veil of right can disguise enormous wrong and confer an ability to infect others.

John Hartung

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For you put up with fools gladly, since you yourselves are wise! For you put up with it if one brings you into bondage, if one devours you, if one takes from you, if one exalts himself, if one strikes you on the face.

2 Corinthians 11:19-20