There was once a man named Ezekiel who had some very serious
charges against Jerusalem, and filled a book with warnings. I wonder: If,
instead, he were living in the U.S.A. today, and warning Washington, would
chapter 22 of his book read something like the following?
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The word of the Lord came to me:
“Son of man, will you
judge her? Will you judge this city of corruption? Then confront her with all
her detestable practices and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Your
city that brings on herself doom by committing felony in her midst and defiles itself
by lying to hide actions, you have become guilty because of the crime you have committed
and have become defiled by the evil you have compiled. You have brought your
days to a close, and the end of your years has come. Therefore, I will make you
an object of scorn to the nations and a laughingstock to all the countries.
Those who are near and those who are far away will mock you, you infamous city,
full of turmoil.
“‘See how each of the elected leaders who are in you uses
power to gain wealth. In you they have treated the poor with contempt; in you
they have oppressed the legal immigrants and mistreated the poor. You have
despised my holy things and desecrated my Sabbaths. In you are slanderers who commit
felony and blame the honest; in you are those who freely spend money that is
not theirs and make decisions that benefit themselves rather than those they
represent. In you are those who dishonor women; in you are those who violate
women by force, when they are unable to resist. In you one man commits adultery
with his neighbor’s wife, another shamefully goes to prostitutes, and another
violates children, both girls and boys. In you are people who accept bribes to direct
their votes; you take interest and make a profit from the poor. You extort
unjust gain from those who elect you. And you have forgotten me, declares the
Sovereign Lord.
“‘I will surely
strike my hands together at the unjust gain you have made and the people you
have destroyed in your midst. Will your courage endure or your hands be strong
in the day I deal with you? I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it. I will
disperse you among the nations and scatter you through the countries; and I
will put an end to your corruption. When you have been defiled in the eyes of
the nations, you will know that I am the Lord.’”
Then the word of the Lord came to me: “Politicians have
become dross to me; all of them are the copper, tin, iron and lead left inside
a furnace. They are but the dross of silver. Therefore, this is what the
Sovereign Lord says: ‘Because you have all become dross, I will gather you into
Washington DC. As silver, copper, iron, lead and tin are gathered into a
furnace to be melted with a fiery blast, so will I gather you in my anger and
my wrath and put you inside the city and melt you. I will gather you and I will
blow on you with my fiery wrath, and you will be melted inside her. As silver
is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted inside her, and you will know
that I the Lord have poured out my wrath on you.’”
Again, the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, say to
the land, ‘You are a land that has not been cleansed or rained on in the day of
wrath.’ There is a conspiracy of her Congressional representatives like a
roaring lion tearing its prey; they devour people, take treasures and precious
things and make many widows. Her Senators do violence to my law and profane the
Constitution; they do not distinguish between the legal and the illegal; they
teach that there is no difference between their acts and the Constitution; and
they shut their eyes to the wishes of those who elect them, so that I am
profaned among them. Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their
prey; they ignore the cost to make unjust gain. The Supreme Court judges
whitewash these deeds for them by false judgements and lying decisions. They
say, ‘This is what the Constitution says’—when the Constitution contains no
support. The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they
oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the foreigner, denying them justice,
while awarding and supporting illegal immigrants.
“I looked for someone
among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf
of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one. So I will
pour out my wrath on the politicians and consume them with my fiery anger,
bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign
Lord.”
(or would this last paragraph read: “I looked for someone
among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf
of the land so I would not have to destroy it, and I found one. You have ridiculed,
belittled, voted down, and blocked the actions I have ordered. So, I will pour
out my wrath on the politicians and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing
down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord.”)
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