Surety Before Politics

Porter GossThe examples of political expediency and compromise in our nation’s capitol should remind every Christian that we must pray earnestly for those who are in governing authority (Jeremiah 29:7, 1 Timothy 2:1-8).  It is disturbing to see the way in which our nation’s well-being is being sacrificed on the altars of greed, power, and naive populism.  Such bad examples in the world often stand as illustrations of other spiritual contests.  For example the modern church has become quite political itself such that in an effort to increase it’s influence in the world many “churches” today are incrementally exchanging the truth of God for worldly popularity.  Such doctrines of compromise and political expedience lead to the loss realism, truth, and integrity.  In like manner, many of our nation’s leaders are exchanging the substance of reality, truth, and integrity for the mythological hope of an American Utopia – a land of peace that is begotten by means of political deception, public pacifism, and the naive pursuit of friendship with enemy states who are committed to our destruction – no matter who is president.  

Porter Goss, former director of the CIA, has recently written a revealing article exposing the dangerous activities that are now freely flowing from Capitol Hill.  It is difficult to ascertain which is worse: the dangerous policies themselves, or the manner in which they are pursued: 

Security Before Politics [Excerpts from the Washington Post]

By Porter J. Goss, Saturday, April 25, 2009

A disturbing epidemic of amnesia seems to be plaguing my former colleagues on Capitol Hill. After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, members of the committees charged with overseeing our nation’s intelligence services had no higher priority than stopping al-Qaeda. In the fall of 2002, while I was chairman of the House intelligence committee, senior members of Congress were briefed on the CIA’s “High Value Terrorist Program,” including the development of “enhanced interrogation techniques” and what those techniques were. This was not a one-time briefing but an ongoing subject with lots of back and forth between those members and the briefers…

Today, I am slack-jawed to read that members claim to have not understood that the techniques on which they were briefed were to actually be employed; or that specific techniques such as “waterboarding” were never mentioned. It must be hard for most Americans of common sense to imagine how a member of Congress can forget being told about the interrogations of Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed. In that case, though, perhaps it is not amnesia but political expedience…

Circuses are not new in Washington, and I can see preparations being made for tents from the Capitol straight down Pennsylvania Avenue. The CIA has been pulled into the center ring before. The result this time will be the same: a hollowed-out service of diminished capabilities…

Unfortunately, much of the damage to our capabilities has already been done. It is certainly not trust that is fostered when intelligence officers are told one day “I have your back” only to learn a day later that a knife is being held to it. After the events of this week, morale at the CIA has been shaken to its foundation…

Trading security for partisan political popularity will ensure that our secrets are not secret and that our intelligence is destined to fail us. [full article here]

Apart from the new birth from above, with God’s intervention of mercy and grace, such stories will continue to flow from our nation’s capitol.  Let us then pray for the welfare (Jeremiah 29:7), repentance, and redemption (1 Timothy 2:1-8) of the people of our nation.  Without a surety in Him, we will have no security at all.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.