Is Abuse of Power Unstoppable?

Yesterday this preacher attended an local, entirely peaceful protest against the murder of George Floyd.

The critical issue is abuse of power, which falls upon the weak, the poor, minorities, and disproportionately, against African Americans.

Sadly, much of the energy of the protest was derailed by politicians who co-opted it, misdirecting the protesters away into a number of other issues.

In Greenwood, we have a long history of police misconduct - from rudeness and arrogance, to abuse, assaults, and even kidnapping and extortion.

Most of us are completely helpless to stop oppression and evil. The power of the state is too great to stand against.

Politics and voting do almost no good.

The helpless cannot change things, and the rich and powerful are largely insulated from the reality of abuse of power.

The Bible excoriates the abuse of power. In Zechariah 7, God reviles Israel for its injustice, oppression, lack of compassion, and evil practiced by the government, the judges, and the rich, against the poor and helpless.

God's judgment, He declared, would be His refusal to hear the rulers' prayers, and the desolation of the land.

Jesus' brother James also ripped apart the rich and powerful, who had cheated their workers and killed the righteous. He laments that the victims of abuse of power cannot effectively resist.

Christ promised He would save His poor, helpless sheep, while the rulers and powerful would be destroyed. Their power cannot, in the end, save them from wrath.

Only the Gospel can save us, for before God, the rich and powerful and helpless and poor are all alike.

But power obscures the true status of the abusers of the poor.