Category Archives: Qualifications for office

Anyone who has worked with sexual assault or domestic assault victims will tell you that the greatest need right now is a re-haul of our outdated, misogynistic family and criminal court system.

It is almost impossible to prosecute rape. It is almost impossible for a woman to defend herself against an abusive man, even if the abuse is not disputed.

It is almost impossible to deliver children from the clutches of violent and perverse fathers. Many churches ordain predators, knowing that they are predators, and excommunicate the ones who dared to complain about it – following the example of John MacArthur. The system must be maintained, and, in the approving words of Mark Driscoll, if anyone won’t get out of the way, they’ll get run over by the bus of the system.

But now at least I understand why reform in these systems is so hard to come by: we really don’t have a problem with it.

We elected a man with 32 felony counts, millions of dollars in judgments against him for his rape victims, an insurrectionist, one who lies as he breathes, earns money by putting his name on bibles and forcing states to buy them, is a proven liar, covenant breaker, adulterer and thief hundreds of times over and is proud of it…and the problem is NOT that the felonies, accusations, and behavior are disputed. No one disputes the behavior. They are actually OK with it, and giddy at the prospect of inflicting immense suffering on the disabled, the children, the single parents, the immigrants, those who are desperate for medical care, and anyone else whose stories of suffering are inconvenient. So they call him David, thinking that this will somehow excuse their hatred and exculpate them when the gulags begin to be built.

The church first became a safe haven for thieves (a den, in Jesus’ words), threw out the ones who objected, and mesmerized the rest with promises of cheap eggs, cheap gas and dead transvestites and they bought it hook, line and sinker.

And yes, like in the days of Ahab and Jezebel, there are still prophets – but they will find themselves hiding in caves in the years to come.

So now that they are promising to banish American citizens with the military and do an ethnic cleansing, where will you be?

When the single moms can’t feed their children, where will you be?

When your daughter can’t get medical treatment because she can’t work and doesn’t have insurance, where will you be?

When the girl who conceived during her rape must send her child to her rapist because “he has rights too” – where will you be? And yes, this is happening all over the country.

When your wife miscarries and is arrested and jailed because someone who has no understanding or concern about women’s bodies thinks she had an abortion and she has no one to cry to, where will you be?

I think we are in for a rough 4 years. I wonder where the church will be?
And if you say, “Not everyone!” I hope not. But let’s back that up. Give to your local advocacy center. Take the discount on taxes and the discount on eggs and gas that you think you are going to get, and give weekly to that single mom who doesn’t know where her kid’s next meals are coming from.

Call up your local school and pay off the lunch fees of every kid there.

And here’s a thought – maybe the ego of your pastor doesn’t need a 4 million dollar cross or 50-million-dollar jet. Maybe give to the gay kid that just got kicked out of their home. Maybe set up a legal fund for the immigrants who will suffer immensely. Maybe set up weekly groceries for the family about to lose all of their SNAP funding.

Years ago, a man walked into a store and saw a hat with WWJD on it. He asked the clerk what it meant. The clerk said, “What would Jesus do?” The man said, “Probably not pay 19.99 for that hat.”

Jesus, with infinite resources and infinite power, never once used them for his own ego trip. In fact, it is what the devil tried to tempt him to do, but he refused.

Instead he fed the crowds. He healed the sick. He welcomed the foreigner. He taught the crowds, he held the children, he touched the unclean. And he commanded us to do the same.

But instead of doing what Jesus did, we rejoice in wickedness. We are giddy with the thought of not having to feed the poor, of kicking the foreigner out, of destroying health care and education. We celebrate adultery, insurrection, violence, theft, greed and pride. But here is a beautiful promise: God will set things in order. It is time for us to truly do what Jesus did and follow his example.

Psalm 50:14–23 (NIV)
14“Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High,
15and call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”
16But to the wicked person, God says: “What right have you to recite my laws or take my covenant on your lips?
17You hate my instruction and cast my words behind you.
18When you see a thief, you join with him; you throw in your lot with adulterers.
19You use your mouth for evil and harness your tongue to deceit.
20You sit and testify against your brother and slander your own mother’s son.
21When you did these things and I kept silent, you thought I was exactly like you. But I now arraign you and set my accusations before you.
22“Consider this, you who forget God, or I will tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you:
23Those who sacrifice thank offerings honor me, and to the blameless I will show my salvation.”

It is a beautiful thought. Cry unto him, open your wallet, show Jesus’ love to the world and especially your neighbor. And wait for the day when God will set his accusations before the wicked.

PS – in the Greek, “hospitality” is literally “love of foreigners, strangers, non-citizens” – philoxenia.

Practice hospitality – God says. If you are rejoicing at the prospect of immigrant families being torn apart, you do not have the mind of Christ. Period.