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Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Wicked leadership and evil deeds
Last month, the Charleston, SC community pulled itself together after Black churchgoers were murdered by a White supremacist. All the while, the “president” was fanning the flames of racism and distrust. In the day after the shootings, the “president,” instead of trying to bring the nation together, played his usual hand of division by lecturing America about race and guns. He said, “And at some point it’s going to be important for the American people to…shift how we think about the issue of gun violence collectively….And we know that hatred across races and faiths pose a particular threat to our democracy and our ideals.” In the days following, he continued his mantra. His leadership has only made the issue worse.
Within four months of taking office in 2009, the “president” and his team reshaped a Homeland Security report depicting as extremists Christians who believed in traditional marriage, were pro-life, and supported the Constitution’s Bill of Rights. He has routinely lectured Christians about their sins of the past, especially slavery. He has promoted Islam at the expense of Christianity–even though Islam to this day is the world’s largest purveyor human trafficking, slavery, and sex slavery. He has said that Christians shouldn’t be on their “high horse” because of their sinful past. Should it be a surprise when psychopaths go on a killing spree that they target Christians? Maybe some people think this is an unfair characterization.
But then, in a society where gun ownership has increased dramatically over the “president’s” tenure, and violent crime using guns has dramatically decreased (FBI and Department of Justice statistics), violent gun crime against Christian churches has increased tremendously. Former Focus on the Family employee Carl Chinn began researching church violence after he was a responder in a standoff with a gunman who took hostages at the Focus on the Family ministry in 1996. According to his website, deadly church violence since 2009 (when the current “president” took office) has increased 422% over the previous 11 years. Deaths increased 342% during the same period.
It would be a reasonable assumption that the current “president” has arguably presided over the most violent time against churches in recent American history. He didn’t physically go out and do the violence. But his characterization of conservative Christians (pro-gun, pro-life, pro-marriage) as racists, radicals and extremists may have contributed to inciting such violence. Proverbs 28:15 says, “As a roaring lion, and a charging bear; so is a wicked ruler over the poor people.” And Proverbs 29:2 says, “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked bears rule, the people mourn.” History shows that wicked leadership leads to evil deeds. This “president” is no exception.
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