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The Offer


Now let the fear of the LORD be upon you. Judge carefully, for with the LORD our God there is no injustice or partiality or bribery. (II Chronicles 19:7)
 

Do not pervert justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. (Deuteronomy 16:19)
 

But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to the LORD, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, and have taken an oath that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the thong of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’ I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share that belongs to the men who went with me—to Aner, Eshcol and Mamre. Let them have their share.” (Genesis 14:22-24)


            This afternoon, I watched part of a speech made by Mr. Trump, in which he said that if Christians vote him into office, he will eliminate the threat of the loss of tax exemption to a church if the pastor speaks on political matters from the pulpit. I happen to think that the threat to take away a church's tax exemption if the pastor speaks on political matters is wrong. It's extortion based on a faulty understanding of the First Amendment of the Constitution. You'd think I'd be doing a computer chair dance.
            Instead, I'm doing a computer chair squirm. "Vote for me, I'll set you free, I'll give you power." I can't help but think of two passages from the Lord of the Rings, in which Frodo offers the One Ring, first to Gandalf, and then to Galadriel.
             Gandalf' answered "Don't ...tempt me Frodo! I dare not take it. Not even to keep it safe. Understand, Frodo, I would use this ring from a desire to do good...But through me, it would wield a power too great and terrible to imagine."
             Galadriel said, "In place of a Dark Lord you would have a Queen! Not dark but beautiful and terrible as the Morn. Treacherous as the Seas! Stronger than the foundations of the Earth. All shall love me and despair." She paused, and said, "I have  passed the test. I will diminish and go into the West, and remain Galadriel."
        Of course, freeing pastors to speak without fear of harming their congregations is not giving them power of the level of the One Ring. It would not be an establishment of religion and therefore a violation of the First Amendment (though some will claim it is.) It is simply a bribe, It is no more or less a bribe than politicians have offered for as long as there have been politicians.
       I don't have an easy answer to suggest here. I'm not giving political advice because I don't believe there is a good answer beyond, perhaps, this: that to vote for Mr. Trump in order to obtain this power means that we are not looking to God, but to man for our temporal salvation. Vote for him if you choose, but do it for another, more compelling, less corrupt reason than to garner promised power.

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