Monday, August 24, 2020

Rulers Of The Gentiles Lord It Over Them

2020 has been a kinda icky year, with a Presidential election as our cherry on top. 

You know the stereotype of Jewish mothers doting on, and bragging about, their sons. Having Peter and James's mom embarrass them in front of Jesus and the other ten disciples (Matthew 20:20-28) did nothing to erase that picture. But, as always with Jesus, he turned an awkward moment into a teachable one. The topic was leadership. Specifically the way-of-the-world versus the-way-of-God's-kingdom.

If anybody had the right to be demanding and authoritarian, it would've been Jesus Christ, maker of heaven and earth, who breathed life into man. Yet he did not act that way when on earth, and argued against it for those who would be his followers.

What of a leader who demands that you not leave your house, dictates what you must wear, orders selected merchants closed down, while deeming others "essential?" They go so far as to stipulate how many people are allowed on a privately-owned boat. And, as we all know, they decree that churches shall not gather to worship. That's more than mere authoritarianism. It's Totalitarianism. 

To be sure, not all elected Democrats in America are Totalitarians. But all American Totalitarians are Democrats. If you live in a Blue State, or in a Democrat-run major metropolitan area (some of which may be in Red States), you are much more likely to be oppressed than your friends in the rest of the country. A question for any readers who may say Trump is a Totalitarian: please name a Democrat Governor or Mayor he has overruled. Remember that the armed Feds he sent in to Portland were ONLY protecting a Federal Courthouse. And, at least in California, the Democrat Governor is openly defying Trump's classification of churches as "essential." No troops have been sent to Ventura county to guard churchgoers, the way JFK sent troops to Little Rock to guard school children.

And despite Leftists' repeated use of the word "science," Democrats are the ones suppressing the actual science, with a major assist from their bosses, the Leftist Mainstream Media. Hydroxychloroquine was the most widespread/famous science-denial*, but there's also been a dramatic exaggeration of coronavirus deaths, as described by California Pastor Rob McCoy (start at 24:48):


In fairness, counties receive extra money for "Covid Deaths," so the motivation to inflate the numbers isn't entirely about grabbing power. It's partly financial. But come-on-man, only TWO out of 102 actually died from the coronavirus? How's that not fraud? Ventura may not even be the most egregious county out there. County Medical Examiners are almost always appointed by State politicians, and in many counties aren't even required to have a medical license. Science will take a back seat to politics every time. Bureaucrats will do what bureaucrats do: protect their budget, and please their masters. And you may recall that 2020 is an election year.

So based on Jesus' description of leadership style, one can reasonably conclude that the less demanding and controlling an elected executive behaves toward her constituents, the more she is living out kingdom values. It's hard to imagine anything more "lording it over them" than forcing coronavirus patients back into nursing homes to infect all their friends. Or shutting down restaurants, churches, gyms, and hospitals (the latter to all but a handful of Covid patients), while leaving abortionists and marijuana peddlers alone.

One big reason I am a conservative, is that limited, non-intrusive government is a great blessing. A blessing Americans are increasingly pining for as the weeks turn into months. Thankfully, in America the "negative rights" that Barack Obama complained about (strictly speaking "enumerated powers"), are enshrined in our founding documents to protect citizens from overbearing rulers. It is no coincidence that Democrats are always whining about the constitution. It's the last thing standing between them and total domination.

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* Dr. Harvey Risch, a professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Medicine: "The evidence in favor of hydroxychloroquine benefit in high-risk patients treated early as outpatients is stronger than anything else I have ever studied. So scientifically there is no question whatsoever.”