(With inspiration from David McCasland’s Pinstripe Parables)
The undergrad wanted more clarification on a point that the Professor had made in class. He decided to go up to the prof’s office even without an appointment. The answer shouldn’t take long anyway.
He knocked on the door. “Yes,” the professor replied.
“Sir, it’s Joe Harley. May I ask a quick question?”
“What is it,” the professor replied as if he had somewhere he needed to be.
“You mentioned in class, sir, that we should pray for the left. Why is that?”
The professor quickly responded, “Because they’re going to need it. We’re all going to need it.”
Harley didn’t respond and the professor looked behind him as if to look and see if the young man had heard him. Joe returned the look more curiously.
“They’re going to need it because, for good or for bad, they can’t deliver on the promises they have made to their radical left flank. And they know it.”
“Pardon me, sir,” the undergrad replied. “If the left knew that they were not going to be able to deliver on their promises to the far left, why did they make those promises?”
“Because elections have become about power and power alone. They aren’t about ideas or even truth anymore. They’re just about who has the power to force their version of truth and ideas on others. And that’s their prime directive in running for office. It’s all about power. Then, once they have the power, they’ll figure out how they are going to deal with people like the far left. It’s just that this time, they won’t be able to appease the far left, and it’s going to get ugly.”
“What do you mean by ugly?”
“It’s going to be worse than 2020 for them the next few years. The riots are going pro. Our inner cities will rupture in hate. Satan is going to have a field day with this. God help us if a rogue actor lobs a dirty bomb in that mix. Civil-mil relations will tank and we could stand to lose millions.
“I don’t get it, sir. You mean, it didn’t matter who won this time?”
The prof decided this was going to take a little longer than Harley had intimated. “Come, walk with me,” and the two passed by the department Christmas tree and proceeded out of the offices towards the cafeteria.
“Look, the far left doesn’t care about the left, or the right, or anything except their own power. And they reduced their riots during the election in order to help the left. But they were always making demands of the left. They were always saying that the riots would continue. And that’s just going to increase now that the election is over. And I can guarantee you that the riots are coming back. The worst thing the left can do now is ignore the far left, and that’s exactly what they are doing.”
The professor had quite a gait and walked quickly down the hall. Harley was struggling a little to keep up. A little breathlessly, he asked, “What were the demands?”
“Look, the far left wants to come between you and your God. That’s always been their big beef anyway. As long as we emerge from our Churches and proclaim the truth of God in the public square, we’re always going to have a bullseye on our backs. Driving Christian business models into the ground, persecution of the Church, our University’s accreditation, and forcing us to teach apostasy are not out of the question. The more moderate left may not care about any of that either, but they need us.
“Sixty-five percent of the all-volunteer armed forces self-identify as conservatives. A huge chunk of first responders are right-wingers. Why? Because day in and day out they deal with truth you can’t make relative—and relativism is the currency of the left. There’s just something about a fellow police officer dying in your arms that makes truth real and absolute. The left knows this, too. They tell us not to worry. They tell us we should all be unified. Why? Because they need us. And they need us to be compliant and quiet.”
The professor stopped and looked around. “Our conversation that we’re having right now is likely to be labeled as bigoted. Persecution of evangelicals is coming. And it’s all because the Bible we teach informs our values and we live those values out publicly. The left needs those right-wing values, too, though they don’t want to admit it. They’re not concerned about us spreading those values around a little bit. That’s why they’re always trying, albeit incrementally, to suppress our religious freedoms. But should a great awakening or revival come, or people rediscover their faith and spiritual heritage, then the left knows their power is gone.”
The undergrad was glad they had stopped in the hall. “So, why prayer?”
This seemed to be the professor’s summation. “Do you know anything else we can do? When the left comes between you and your God, how else will you respond? We need the left to somehow succeed in shutting down the far left, so that we may be able to have the truth clearly spoken in the public square. Paul put it best when he told Timothy that should he not be around, then the church of the living God needed to be the ‘pillar and foundation of the truth.’ I don’t want ours to be the generation that lost the ability to advocate for the truth of God in our culture and country. So, pray for the left. They’re going to need it. We’re all going to need it.” He turned and went into the lunchroom.
Joe turned and walked back down the hall, pondering all these things. If persecution was going to come from the far left, how in the world could he pray for them? If the worst people in the world were knocking at his door, and had come to take away his “guns and religion,” how was he going to pray for them? When government comes between him and God, how was Joe going to respond? He’d have to figure out a way. After all, they were going to need it.
Matthew 5: 43 – 47 (from the Message, A Paraphrased Version of the Bible)
“You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.