This is NOT politics

A few years ago, I found myself in the company of friends from various religious and racial backgrounds. As we enjoyed our conversations and friendly banter, one of my friends, an atheist, looked me straight in the eye and asked, "Bro, I know you're a Christian and believe that God is loving and forgiving. If that's true, why did He order Saul to exterminate an entire tribe, including every living thing, in 1 Samuel 15?"

In my younger days, I would have eagerly jumped into that conversation, ready to showcase my years of theological training. But this time, I paused. I told him that we would need to sit down and discuss it in detail at some later time. The other Christians in the group took over the conversation. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with engaging in a theological debate; I just didn't feel the urge to do so.

As the discussion continued, I found myself lost in thought. None of the subsequent conversations mattered to me anymore. My mind was deep in an internal philosophical dialogue. It was then that I noticed the friend standing next to me was Rwandan. Rwanda had endured a brutal civil war where some families were completely wiped out, while others, without any political connections or social status, were left largely untouched, except for some psychological trauma.

Why? I asked myself. Why were some families—mother, father, siblings, grandparents, cousins—completely uprooted by the same war, while others were not? Not just in Rwanda, but in all countries where there has been a war?

Hold onto that thought as I delve into a little sermon about a well-known disciple—Judas Iscariot.

The Gospel of John 13:21-30 recounts the moment during the Last Supper when Jesus informed His disciples that one of them would betray Him. He then handed a morsel of bread to Judas Iscariot, who subsequently left the room to carry out the betrayal.

Interestingly, the Gospel of Judas, a non-canonical text believed to have been written in the second century by disciples and sympathizers of Judas Iscariot, suggests there was a subtle agreement between Jesus and Judas, the disciples' treasurer, to use this betrayal as a means to dubiously obtain money from the Pharisees (Lost Gospel Revealed; Says Jesus Asked Judas to Betray Him, Science, 2006-04-06).

This raises an intriguing question: Why would Jesus, who miraculously obtained money from a fish to avoid causing offense (Matthew 17:27), paid taxes to Caesar and encouraged the Pharisees to do the same against public opinion (Matthew 22:20), turned water into wine (John 2), and tamed a wild donkey for His use (Matthew 21), resort to such methods to obtain money? Even the dinner where this conversation took place was miraculously arranged (Luke 22).

Considering that the Apostle John mentions multiple instances where Judas used the 'public purse' to satisfy his greed (John 12:6), it may be that a lack of reprimand from Jesus, or perhaps even a guarded smile from the Master when the matter was brought to the fore, gave Judas the false impression of tacit approval. This false sense of approval, cultured from years of greed and a seared conscience, was so strong that even Jesus' clear warning about the consequences of betrayal (Matthew 26:23-24) did not penetrate Judas' mind. To him, it was just politics as usual.

Later, upon realizing the extent of his delusion and the gravity of his actions, Judas SENTENCED HIMSELF to death by suicide. There is certainly a ‘line’ where self-deception or a deluded sense of divine approval leads to self-destruction, sometimes not in the current generation and affecting more than just the individual. The Master's love, silence, and merciful provision despite our transgressions do not imply His approval of those misdeeds.

In modern politics, especially in Africa, the intertwining of religious endorsement and political ambition often leads to a dangerous cocktail of greed, arrogance, and pride. Religious endorsement shows in various forms, including appointments to church leadership, self-righteous publicized acts of kindness, miracles, selfish definitions of blessings, and endorsement by preachers, prophets, and other gospel workers, including the ‘genuine ones.’ Politicians, emboldened by the perceived approval, engage in acts that devalue human life. One moment they are scheming corrupt deals, blatantly denying justice to the oppressed, laying and hatching eggs of pure evil without conscience or remorse, and the next moment they are clothed in a public display of their deluded sense of righteousness.

The 'Judas line' represents the point where one's conscience is so seared that humanity is lost, and the spirit has departed. Beyond this line lies self-condemnation, a perilous state where the individual is left to face the consequences of their actions. It is a stark reminder that divine silence or provision should never be mistaken for approval of misdeeds.

People’s actions sometimes even doom generations after them to certain annihilation. Deliberately scheming to cheat, steal from, and destroy human lives is neither politics nor sagacity; it is evil.

Barnabas Otoo, Ph.D.
(The preachers son)
[email protected]