The Pope on
Walls and Trump
The View from the Middle
I don’t know how many times I have
to say this, but I am not a Trump man. I’m
amazed, however, at how many times I have had to come to his defense. It’s probably because Donald gets in so many
skirmishes with people of all stripes, that there are bound to be times where I
find myself on his side. And now I
actually find myself coming to his defense against the Pope.
Today, the world is reporting that
the Pope is questioning Donald Trump’s faith.
Actually, what the Pope said was, if a man thinks “ONLY about building
walls…and not building bridges” then this man is not a Christian. Notice the word “only” in his statement. It sounds sadly like a politician making a
personal attack, but giving himself a loophole to crawl through later if he
finds his position inconvenient. I don’t
expect that from any Pope.
So, by this statement, is the Pope
suggesting that anyone who is in favor of building a wall between the US and
Mexico cannot be a Christian? Then the
Pope better get his excommunication pen ready, because over half of American
citizens are in favor of just that. In a
country where 83% of its citizens profess to be Christians, the Pope is denying
the faith of over 100 million people.
Trump will say that he’s in good company.
There is another aspect of this
story that is curious if not humorous, and that is the importance of walls in
The Bible. Is the Pope suggesting that
David or Solomon, who built the walls around Jerusalem did not believe in God? Or, what about Nehemiah who rebuilt that wall
with God’s help and protection? And let’s
not forget that some pretty impressive walls surround the Vatican.
My family is almost totally
Catholic, and I love them and respect the office of the Pope. I would suggest, however, that this Pope stay
out of politics and stick to spiritual matters.
Politics is a dirty business and in most cases below the dignity of the
Pope’s office. Do I hear an “Amen” out
there?
The concept of a hedge or a wall is biblical. God builds and encourages building walls to protect the righteous from wickedness and evil. God uses boundary conditions to set things apart. The word holy embodies this concept. Holy means to be “Set Apart”, in Scripture it means set apart unto to God for his service. This is a boundary condition being set. God calls his people to holiness in the Old Covenant and in the Newt: without holiness no one will see God (Hebrews 12:14). God separates throughout history things for special purposes: light from darkness, truth from lies, dry land from water, man from earth, woman from man, righteous from wicked, Israel from Egypt during the Passover, etc…The Bible is for certain kinds of walls visible and invisible; such as Proverbs 25:28 “A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.” God’s dealing with man is covenant based. Covenants set boundary conditions, i.e. a hedge. A hedge is for protection and for blessing. In Isaiah 58 God speaks about the building of a wall: "Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; You will cry, and He will say, 'Here I am.' If you remove the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, And if you give yourself to the hungry, And satisfy the desire of the afflicted, Then your light will rise in darkness, And your gloom will become like midday. And the Lord will continually guide you, And satisfy your desire in scorched places, And give strength to your bones; And you will be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. And those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins; You will raise up the age-old foundations; And you will be called the repairer of the breach, The restorer of the streets in which to dwell." (Isaiah. 58:9-12) Each person must take care with his words to speak truth. For instance, a Priest, in Scripture, represents the people of God to God; but a prophet speaks God’s words to the people. 1 Corinthians 14:32 states that the Spirit of the prophet is subject to the prophet: net, each man is responsible for what he says even if God has spoken. God doesn’t manipulate people like puppets; each man has the freedom to speak God’s words correctly or incorrectly. Therefore every word must be tested for truth…test all things and hold fast to what is true (1 Thes. 5:21). Our nation is in problems due to its rejection of the founding principles and of truth as it has moved to subjective morality, relativism and pluralism. Much of the church is like salt that lost its flavor and cannot hold back corruption. Historically Pastors and congregations have impacted their nations for good by speaking and acting in relevant way to the cultural, social, economical, moral and ethical issues of the day. This must be restored and continue. Anyone who studies the USA or England during their moral decline in the last 200 years can see the role of Believers and the church is key in holding back corruption – the number one global issue per BBC study. Yet each leader is required to speak truth and not fall into the mire of our own egos – the carnal, selfish, political banter which produces heat without the light of truth.
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