Reconciliation and Hope
Commentary for the February 28, 2026, Sabbath School Lesson
God will repay each person according to what they have done. Romans 2:6
There is little question that evil seems firmly entrenched in our world. Wealthy pedophiles rape and murder with unchecked abandon, their wealth insulating them from the charges that ensnare their less wealthy compatriots who aspire to the same sick practices the rich and powerful enjoy in backrooms and hidden estates. Despite protestations that justice prevails, all too often it does not, and even those who might otherwise pursue a more upright path are co-opted by evil through threats against their families, blackmail for acts they themselves have unwisely perpetrated, and even torture to enforce compliance with evil or at the very least to look away with indifference when in evil's presence. In our minds, we tell ourselves we are good people and would never support such evil. We imagine that like the fictional character, John Wick, we would exact vengeance that would overcome the evil, or like Liam Neeson in the "Taken" series we could free our loved ones from evil's grasp. We deceive ourselves into thinking that in taking on the persona and methods of evil, we could somehow preserve a righteous core that would remain untainted by the blackness of our actions after we have achieved our goal. However, as both those series of movies openly reveal there seems to be no end to those willing to step into evil's shoes, and the fight never ends, continuing through an eternity of iterations until the protagonist dies. Even then, like Aragorn in the "Lord of the Rings," another comes along and picks up the broken sword to carry the battle into another generation.
Christian Nationalists believe that we can end the evil by creating a nation that professes to follow Christ. But the Christ they espouse is alien to the gospels of the New Testament. Their Christ is willing to adopt the means of evil to confront evil and eliminate it through the actions of a Christian government and draconian laws drawn from the Old Testament. This is advanced as though it were something new and novel that has never been tried before. But it was the foundation of the Holy Roman Empire that had its genesis in the time of Constantine I, who ruled from Constantinople and sought to integrate Christianity and governmental power. Once the church invoked that power, the same methods formerly used by pagan Rome to suppress Christianity were slowly and pointedly realigned to purge the church of theological diversity. Those who were once persecuted, tortured, and murdered for professing to be followers of Christ now became the torturers and murderers of those who did not follow Christ precisely enough to conform to a growing body of dogma that defined who deserved to wield power and who did not. The latter lost lands, titles, and even their lives could be forfeit as the church sent armies to hunt down and extirpate those of independent mind who had the unwise temerity to assert that a relationship to Christ was a personal rather than a corporate responsibility and certainly no business of government.
Christian Nationalists, like modern Templars and just as corrupt, put on an aura of righteous sinlessness that allows them to dictate to sinful humanity every aspect of belief and behavior. They have no problem with parroting Paul's statement to the church in Rome that "all have sinned." (Romans 3:23) This confession could potentially place everyone on an equal footing before God and in equal need of Christ's grace, but like the pigs in George Orwell's "Animal Farm," it appears some are more equal than others, or in the obverse, some are more sinners than others. Either way, Orwell's pigs end up in charge while everyone else toils under close supervision to maintain the power held by those oinking out the rules.
While we may want to believe that over time humanity will right the ship and progress step by step toward utopia, no Parousia needed, the Bible tells a different story. Left to their own devices after Eden, instead of growing ever more enlightened and willing to treat all with equal kindness and compassion, people instead descended into so much evil that no longer did anyone even consider a good or righteous path for themselves, thinking only constantly of how to advance their evil desires. (Genesis 6:5-6) The opportunity that had the potential to produce a utopia and exonerate humanity of evil intent instead produced a perverted path that led only to chaos and destruction. That same intent is seen in every evil sneer directed at those who would remind us that things could be better, that we do not have to prey on one another. Christianity backed by the power of the state brought us the inquisition and the witch trials. It burned Jerome and Huss at the stake. It martyred William Tyndale and sought to do the same to Martin Luther. Within Adventism, it is the same power that destroyed the career of Desmond Ford at Glacier View Ranch almost half a century ago. It allows no theological study that is not prepackaged and approved by the reigning magisterium. And it is the state, not God, that grants the church the power to rule unchecked over dogmatics.
When we see the present path of darkness and the rejection of light that would dispel the inkiness hindering our spiritual sight, it can become tempting to become discouraged. But there is an answer to the state church sprinkled throughout the pages of the Bible. It is a power that evil has never been able to decapitate even though it has literally attempted to. John the Baptist and Paul the Apostle being examples. In John's case, the state church was Judaism, and in Paul's, it was Roman paganism. It is ironic that all the power of persecution wielded by Rome was gladly embraced by the Christian church when it could take those reins in hand with the emperor's blessing. The point here though is that repeatedly, when the state became too invested in wielding religion as a weapon to strengthen its authority and religion, like a lap dog of the state, seeks the comfort of that relationship over the wellbeing of the flock of believers, it has eschewed the blessings of the shepherd and exchanged them, going from feeding the flock to feeding upon the flock. When that happens, God raises up his prophets to stand and call out those in power both within and without the church. Many have died through the millennia because of that calling. Nonetheless, God continues to call them and they continue to answer. The entire Bible is stained with the blood of those thus slain. It does not end there. Foxe's "Book of Martyrs" picks up where the Bible leaves off.
The ecumenical and evangelical magisterium would have us believe that the days of the prophets are over, and the church backed by the state has ultimate spiritual authority on earth. But this is self-serving dogma. All authority of God rests in God's character replicated in the heart of the believer. "God is love." (1 John 4:8) It is God's love that is the light that draws all humanity to him even though most reject that light because they prefer the darkness. As John writes, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God." (John 3:16-21)
If these prophets are still around, where do we find them? Jesus said that they will be known by their fruits. (Matthew 7:16) As the children's television personality and minister, Fred Rogers, used to say, "Look for the helpers." The "Parable of the Sheep and the Goats" explains it further. (Matthew 25:31-46) Christians are known by how they treat others. If they live lives of compassion and caring for those unable to do so for themselves, they will do the same for Jesus. But if they would ignore, abuse, or prey upon the helpless, they would treat Jesus the same. They would beat him, flog him, pierce him with thorns, and drive the nails that held him to the cross. They have done the same to God's prophets through the centuries and would do the same to them today. Every kindness, every act of compassion, every twinge of empathy is a rebuke to those, both religious and secular, who have preyed upon the helpless and the weight of that guilt drives them to destroy whoever or whatever points it out. But they have no power to remove the guilt and destroying those whose lives remind them of it only adds to their burden of guilt. There is only one path that leads to healing from that guilt and it leads to the cross, not away from it. Like Pilgrim in Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress," we can only find that healing by walking toward the light shining from that cross instead of away from it. Nothing is scarier to those living in darkness than light, but nothing is more healing either.
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