This week, the big news has been the continued fallout of the murder of another US citizen by the government. First, the leadership in charge of ICE and border patrol on the ground in Minnesota was transferred back to California, where he is expected to retire.
Then director of homeland security, Kristi Noem, faced pushback as she continued to tell lies about Alex Pretti and his actions before he was murdered by her agency. My Bible tells me that murder is wrong in God’s eyes (Genesis 9:6, Exodus 21:12-14, Deuteronomy 5:17).
Many conservatives have also forgotten that bearing false witness is an abomination to God (Exodus 20:16, Proverbs 6:16-19). We cannot cover sin or cover evil with more evil:
- Deception
- Hatred
- Murder
While many conservatives want to call and believe America a Christian nation, they refuse to follow the basic teachings of the Christian faith (Proverbs 19:17, Hebrews 13:2).
We must love our neighbor, even when we disagree with them (Mark 12:31). We must care for foreigners, regardless of their legal status by our standards (Matthew 25:35). Nor can we bear false witness against others (Matthew 19:18).
Many conservatives have turned to rationalization to try to justify their own disobedience, and that is a play out of Satan’s playbook (Genesis 3:4). This life is to prepare us for eternity.
What Is Rationalization
Rationalization is something we do when we know that something isn’t quite right. But we still like or want, so we try to justify things in our minds and hearts so it won’t feel or be wrong.
The bottom line is that it is a way to ignore God and His spirit that is telling us otherwise. But rationalization isn’t just a spiritual act.
Rationalization is defined as “A way of describing, interpreting, or explaining something (such as bad behavior) that makes it seem proper, more attractive, etc.”
That is why none of us should trust our hearts, regardless of political affiliation or age (Jeremiah 17:9).
Fortunately, the Bible has a lot to say about rationalization, or self-deception as we call it spiritually (Proverbs 3:5-6, Hebrews 4:13, James 1:26). That is why God’s people are repeatedly commanded to avoid doing or condoning what God calls evil(Proverbs 8:13, Romans 12:9, 1 Thessalonians 5:22).
The Bible draws a clear line between what God calls good and what is evil (Isaiah 5:20, 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22). If we aren’t careful as God’s people, we won’t see that sin is crouching at our door to lead us away from God (Romans 7:21-23, 1 Corinthians 10:12, Hebrews 3:12-13, James 1:14-15, 1 Peter 5:8).
The apostles remembered their Jewish education about rationalization and self-deception, which comes from our own hearts.
Nāšā’
The Torah tells us how mankind started rationalizing in the garden soon after they listened to Satan, who also disobeyed God (Genesis 3:6). Rationalization doesn’t always start out as some big sin; it comes in small compromises that often make us happy, at least for a little while.
It doesn’t take long before our little compromise begins to lead us away from the goodness of God because, like Adam and Eve, we think we know better than God (Genesis 3:5, 22).
Rationalization is a result of the enticement of sin that is appealing and makes us happy. The Hebrew word in the Old Testament for rationalization is nāšā,’ and it can also mean, “Deceive, beguile, utterly, to lead astray.”
That is why God called His people out of this fallen world to obey Him faithfully and practice His ways and not listen to their deceptive hearts (Leviticus 19:2, Deuteronomy 7:6, Isaiah 43:1).
God’s people are called to stand up against both evil in the world and the evil within themselves (Proverbs 3:7, Isaiah 1:17, Micah 6:8, Zachariah 7:9-10):
- Resist evil
- Be the light
- Tikkun Olam
- Fight injustice
- Be ethical
Jesus reminded His followers to be the light of the world and to turn from their own evil ways (Matthew 3:2; 5:14-16). He cautioned His followers about being lukewarm and not doing what He taught them to do (Matthew 6:24; 7:21-23).
Because rationalization makes us think we can have it both ways, Jesus made it clear we can only have one Master (Joshua 24:15, Luke 16:13). Our Rabbi warned that even His followers’ hearts were evil and could not be trusted (Ecclesiastes 9:3, Matthew 15:19).
Jesus even confronted the religious leaders and Pharisees about their self-deception when they claimed to be of Abraham, yet did the works of Satan (Matthew 23:1-36, John 8:39-47).
Religious people are quick to rationalize their own wrongdoing because they think and want to be right with God while they continue to do what God calls evil (Proverbs 17:15, Malachi 2:17).
Stephen Miller
In other big news this week, the political advisor for President Trump, Stephen Miller, has backtracked on his initial claims that Alex Pretti was a domestic terrorist and assassin. The comments he made immediately after the tragic murder of Pretti were to rationalize murdering another US citizen.
Miller has now admitted that the CBP agents who shot Peretti may have broken agency protocol when they beat and brutally murdered a US citizen in Minneapolis.
If we are a Christian nation, we should never rationalize or justify what God calls wrong:
- Murder
- Deception
- Greed
- Bearing false witness
To make matters worse, HHS Kristi Noem tried to avoid responsibility by saying later this week, “Everything that I have done has been at the direction of the president and Stephen Miller.”
HHS has used extreme force on more than one occasion against American citizens and immigrants alike. The Secretary of Homeland Security deceived Americans right after the execution of Pretti by bearing false witness that he “Brandished” a weapon.
Would a Christian nation or administration murder its own people and then try to cover it up with more lies (Proverbs 28:13, Luke 13:5, Hebrews:17)? No, we are called to do the right thing, not what God calls wrong. God’s people are commanded to do what is right, not call evil good, because that is nāšā’!
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