False Saviors

Matthew 24:24 – For there will be false Christs and false prophets and they will work many signs and wonders so as to lead astray, if they can, even the elect.

I read that and thought, “grifters gonna grift.” Grifters have always been with us. Even smart people are sometimes fooled and deceived. Here, Jesus is warning about false Christs – false saviors – and prophets. Elsewhere Jesus has counseled that we be innocent as doves and wise as serpents.

Wisdom can see through grifters’ lies. Intellect, not always. Wisdom is what is needed in this time in history. Wisdom to see through the lies, justifications, and just plain bullshit Donald, the Republicans, and all those who support them spew. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote that wisdom is the recognition that “the significant is in the factual” – as opposed to principles or ideologies. Wisdom for Bonhoeffer stems from knowledge of the living, creating God. I myself think there are other sources of wisdom.

Wherever it comes from, wisdom enables us to ignore the media’s focus on Donald’s tweets, the semantic policing of the Republicans, and the distractions of small lies to focus on the big picture. Fascism. Fascism is coming to America – it’s already here. I’ve been reading Bonhoeffer’s Ethics because he wrote at a similar time in history. The Nazis were taking power in Germany and they and other white supremacists are taking power here. Their rhetoric echoes and repeats the claims of American Nazis here in Cleveland. We know where this is all headed. Recognizing our individual inability to stop it feels powerless. Yet, we are not alone.

There are many of us out there. There are numerous ways to get involved. Call your senators and congresspeople and ask them to censure the president over the concentration camps as the House did over his racist tweet. Call them and tell them you expect them to speak out against these camps – they are immoral, illegal, and torture. Donate money or time to causes that increase the love in the world. Work on getting out the vote in the primaries and next year. Those of us who can must point out the false saviors and the false prophets, whether we’re believed or not. 

Lament. Take time to feel the sadness, the sorrow, the horror. Then, work to end the illegal and immoral detention of so many innocent people. It’s what Jesus would do.

B