Voices of truth from the past
Rev. Allen Epp
Friday, August 31, 2007
Recently, I have read and studied again the prophets of the Old Testament. These ancient men of faith dared to speak the truth to their nation in spite of opposition from their government (the king) and the official religious leaders (the priests) who were in league with the king.
The truth that these prophets such as Amos, Micah and Isaiah proclaimed did not go out of date whether we listen and heed the truth or ignore it. Truth is eternal — because God is eternal and his word will always be the final word. We may ignore it, twist it and try to justify the evil we do, or embrace it and live it. It was Martin Luther King who said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
Following are some select quotes from these men of courage and faith. The prophets spoke directly and as forcefully as possible to those in power. Amos said, “They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed.” (Amos 2:7 NIV) “You hate the one who reproves in court and despise him who tells the truth.” (Amos 7:10 NIV)
And the prophet pleads, “Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the court — perhaps the Lord God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.” (Amos 5:15 NIV)
The prophet Micah says some of the same things:
“Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price and her prophets tell fortunes for money.” (Micah 3:11 NIV)
“As certain as the day is long, so certain will judgment and destruction come, declares the Lord. I will destroy your horses and demolish your chariots, I will destroy the cities of your land and tear down all your strongholds.” (Micah 5:10 NIV)
The prophets were not fatalists — but were men of hope and had vision for a better world and more just society. They believed that in repentance and in turning from their evil ways and embracing the law of God that God would be forgiving and full of grace.
The prophets believed the day would come when nations would beat the implements of war into implements for agriculture and peace.
After 9/11, it seemed to me and to some others as well, that the church lost its voice and became silent as to the moral and ethical response our nation needed to make. Instead, many joined in with those who spoke of revenge and war. Slowly, some have regained their voice, but for the most part, the church is still silent on certain moral and ethical issues.
Recently, one of my nephews sent me a full page decrying the awfulness of abortion. Later, I spoke to him about it and said: “That article hit the nail on the head” — but what troubles my soul is that the same people who speak and write about abortion and of how immoral it is, support the present war that is immoral, illegal and unjust. We cannot be selective about the simple teachings of Jesus nor of scripture.
Throughout history, God has had his faithful minority — who loved and cared enough to live and speak the truth regardless of the cost. During the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party, Hitler summoned Pastor Martin Niemoller and his colleagues for a conference. In the midst of the conference, Hitler declared, “You confine yourself to the church — I’ll take care of the German people.”
Martin Niemoller sealed his own fate. He shook hands with Hitler as they were leaving and said, “You just said, ‘I will take care of the German people’; but we, too, as Christians and church men, have responsibility towards the German people. No one in the world has the power to take it from us.”
Niemoller, Dietrich Bonhoffer and other like-minded people were in the small minority and their voices were soon drowned by the propaganda machine of the Nazi government. Many of these brave souls paid with their lives. On the wall of one of the concentration camps that we visited in Germany it stated “One thousand Catholic priests died in this camp.” These brave followers of Jesus Christ refused to be silenced. Who has silenced us?
In the article, “War Has Psychological Essentials,” John M. Drescher states: “Germany could not have fought World War II or killed 6 million Jews //had others had//jenniferr the church not supported Hitler.” Only 5 percent of the churches dared to raise a voice of protest.
Looking back in our recent history after 9/11, had the church, with a clear and forceful voice, said “War is not the answer — violence breeds more violence (war is the worst kind of violence) to go to war and invade a nation that had nothing to do with 9/11, and doing it in the name of God, is a terrible sacrilege, to resort to the terrible tactic of our enemy, we will become like them.”
I wonder if we would be in such a terrible mess as we are in today if we had not been silenced.
F “Sunday Sermon” is a forum for Emporia area ministers to share their sermons, thoughts and observations. This week’s sermon is from the Rev. Allen Epp, a retired minister in the American Baptist Church.
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