Stephen
Terry, Director
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.