On Warning Presidents, Truth, and Justice
Should Mariann Budde have the only voice?
Religious leaders have been clamoring to influence the newly sworn-in President of the United States. Mariann Budde, Bishop of the National Cathedral, in a public address at Trump’s inaugural prayer service, spoke directly to him asking him to have mercy on illegal immigrants, and transgender children. Catholic Archbishop Timothy Broglio publicly called some of Trump’s executive orders troubling, while praising others. In Mariann Budde’s case, the public rebuke of Trump, guised as an appeal but intended to grandstand and humiliate, only made him angry.
There is a clear biblical difference between the outgoing and incoming political administrations in Washington DC. This is not politicizing religion, it is a simple observation. While not beatifying Trump, it is important to note that his basic worldview is miles closer to a biblical worldview than the outgoing leadership’s, which is the same thing as saying it is closer to reality. It is closer in some significant ways. Here are two key ways a biblical worldview changes our entire approach to government.
Truth vs. Relativism
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. John 14:6
Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. John 17:17
And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. John 8:32
When President Trump signed the executive order entitled DEFENDING WOMEN FROM GENDER IDEOLOGY EXTREMISM AND RESTORING BIOLOGICAL TRUTH TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, he acknowledged the reality of biological truth and without saying specifically, also agreed with biblical truth (male and female created He them—Genesis 5:2).
The path of post-modernism, since it began to take root in colleges and universities in the 1960s, has taken our nation and culture into chaos. The root of the philosophy is found in a satanic rejection of the Creator and the truth claims of scripture. The thinking follows the Romans 1 path to destruction.
Practically, relativism makes truth a malleable tool in the hands of whoever is in power to be used in accomplishing their selfish or political agendas. The 2020-22 pandemic is a clear example. True, scientific, speech was silenced by the tech media as a means of corporate selfishness and government control. Relativists often seek to suppress the truth for their partisan political means.
The affirmation that there are only two genders is the public recognition by the incoming administration of both biblical and biological truth. The gender controversy might be the ultimate destination of relativism. This destination is not love or acceptance, it is insanity, and in the insecurity that insanity fosters, it seeks to destroy others—namely children—along with it.
Truth exists. All truth is God’s truth, and only the truth, no matter how painful, can lead us toward reconciliation with our Creator.
We might not all agree on what the truth is, but the affirmation that the truth exists and that we must seek it is essential for a nation and a culture to survive.
Justice is an end, not a means.
Biblically speaking, justice is a transitive attribute of God based upon His holiness. God is holy. Because He is holy, He always acts righteously. Because He is holy, He acts justly and demands justice. We need to see this attribute in relationship to the other attributes of God. God’s love does not discard God’s justice, it sacrificially satisfies it. God’s mercy does not ignore God’s justice, the fact that mercy exists acknowledges the reality of justice. Without justice, mercy has no meaning.
It is God who defines the biblical parameters of justice. If justice is rooted in the character of God Himself, it cannot be partial (Romans 2:11, Leviticus 19:15). When the concept of the holiness of God is removed from the equation, justice simply becomes a tool to accomplish other goals. Justice must not be ignored for political expedience (refusing to prosecute thievery for instance). It also cannot be used as a prejudicial weapon in punishing political enemies, no matter who those enemies are. The political weaponization of justice should be a crime (and is in many cases) for our nation to survive.
The immigration issue is a justice issue. The Right Reverend Budde said the following:
In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country. We’re scared now. The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meatpacking plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals. They may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes, and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues, gurdwara, and temples. I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away, and that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here.
Leviticus 19:33-34 says, And if a stranger dwells with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him. The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
These are simple principles. Migrants must be subject to and benefit from the law as if they were citizens. After all, the law is intended to protect people—all people. This is not just justice; it is also mercy and love. The practice of the previous administration did neither.
Either you have the rule of law, or you don’t. Justice is based upon the rule of law. Legal immigration is a wonderful thing. It should be generous and careful. The previous administration continuously ignored the law as a matter of policy. They flooded our country with a slave force of workers without the benefits or joys of citizenship. This is not the immigration of the late 19th and early 20th century. This is a form of slavery that endangers migrants from beginning to end without the protection of the law. It has resulted in tens of thousands of children being sold into sex slavery and enabled the cartels to abuse people throughout the process. All of this is done under the guise of mercy. Our legal immigration system is broken. We have made it so hard to get here legally and so easy to get here illegally that our federal government has aided and abetted lawlessness. A pastor I know, who had a congregation that was 90% immigrant, said it this way. “We need a higher wall and a wider gate.”
There is a place for mercy, but mercy can only be offered when justice is recognized. This is the beauty of Micah 6:8. Justice must come first, followed by mercy when appropriate. Pardons can be a correction of last resort for a failed justice system or an extension of mercy in the face of repentance or other mitigating circumstances. They should not be used to avoid justice. Without a clear, biblically based sense of justice, our culture and nation will not survive. This is not Christian nationalism; it is creation order and historical reality.
The ministry of appeal and warning.
We will never have a human government that perfectly follows a biblical worldview until Jesus reigns personally in the future Kingdom but until then, as part of our role as being salt and light in the world, as part of our Great Commission, and following the example of the prophets in both Testaments, spiritual leaders have a divinely ordained ministry of warning—even to the leadership of secular governments. God sent prophets to Nineveh, Babylon, and many other nations, as well as to Israel. God will even hold unsaved leaders to a certain amount of accountability before Him and will judge them for their arrogance, injustice, and rebellion. He did this with Herod (Acts 12:21-23) and Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 4).
The false prophets, like Mariann Budde (yes, she is), will seek to warn, influence, and sometimes enrage our national leaders. However, the enemies of the gospel should not have the only voice. We must not step back from our part in this important calling to effectively warn and influence. It is not our entire calling, but it is part of it. Hopefully, we will manage to do it with a little more truth, respect, and effectiveness than Mariann Budde did.
Audio for this post is here: On Warning Presidents, Truth, and Justice