Pied Pipers

 I’ve been stewing over this for a couple of days now. I thought I could let it go, even filling my time with other things, but somehow I always land back on this thorny issue. It’s like a hangnail digging into my flesh. Either I address it, or it festers, so I might as well get it over with.

I respect consistency. Even if you’re wrong, if you’re consistently wrong, you’ve earned my grudging respect to a certain degree. Consistency or lack thereof reveals character, and character is the core of a man.

You can be loved, lauded, and praised by one and all. If you’re proven to be inconsistent, I grow weary and suspicious. Caveat emptor applies to teachers too. It’s your responsibility to inspect the goods before purchase! Likewise, it is your responsibility to consume spiritual succor before consuming it. Is it life, or is it death? Is it wholesome or some grotesque stew that you cannot identify the contents of but is aromatic enough to make it palatable?

Since even hot coffee needs a label informing people that it’s hot nowadays, allow me to preface my rant with the following:

1. If you have chosen to remove yourself entirely from the electoral process, I can respect that. Granted, you forfeit your right to complain about where the country’s headed, but consequences are called that for a reason.

2. If you think one man, any man, is the cure-all to this nation’s troubles, you’ve got some waiting to do. Maybe bring a book or five. I recommend brushing up on your Dostoevsky. Start with Crime and Punishment, and if you haven’t tried to crush your windpipe with it by the time you finish, go on to the Idiot, maybe finish it off with the Brothers Karamazov. Once you’ve gotten through those, there’s always Tolstoy.

3. At some point, perhaps when there are no more straws to grasp at and we’re just flailing aimlessly, we must come to terms with the reality that we have become a godless nation, and we must do our utmost to preserve those few pockets of decency that still remain.

Now on to my issue. Two years ago there was a well-known preacher, who, a few days before the presidential election, published a manifesto filled with hand-wringing hyper-spirituality, sanctimoniously informing the rest of us that since Jesus wasn’t on the ballot, he couldn’t in all good conscience vote. All well and good. The man is entitled to his opinion. Even when he is likely influencing thousands upon thousands of individuals who hang on to his every word, I’m assuming people aren’t lemmings and can make up their own minds.

Fast forward two years, and this selfsame individual who couldn’t bring himself to vote, is now posting pictures on Facebook with ‘I Voted’ stickers, reminding everyone how precious a privilege voting is. Well, hallelujah, apparently Jesus was on the ballot in his district, and he could now bring himself to vote.

It’s because of this sort of simplistic mindset that a godless minority is making decisions on our behalf. If you can’t see the difference between a party whose motto is “if we can’t kill your children in the womb, we’ll disfigure them when they’re toddlers” and one who insists that life is precious and should be defended, I don’t know what to tell you.

If you had to pick one, between Covid and Ebola, which would you pick? Sure, one may give you the sniffles, the other will kill you, and not in a nice, peaceful, auntie Jean died with a smile on her face sort of way.

Jesus wasn’t on the ballot, never has been, and if you’re looking for a righteous man to throw his hat into the ring, well, there’s that thing in the Book about none being righteous, no not one, and if that verse fits any demographic, it’s politicians.

What was on the ballot were things like Prop 3 in Michigan, which passed, and states that unless a baby can scurry away or physically defend itself, you can kill it.

Maybe, just maybe, if aging, sanctimonious, myopic, self-righteous blowhards would see the forest for the trees we’d have a shot at saving some innocent lives. But they won’t. They’re too set in their ways and think that their opinion is superior to everyone else’s. And so, a fractured church is ruled by godless hedonists who see no problem with looking down at a crying newborn, then severing its spine with a pair of lawn shears. God bless America, indeed. 

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.