What Do Emails, Manure and Halloween Have in Common?
A truckload of manure was dumped Saturday morning outside the Warren County Democratic Party headquarters in Ohio. The Clinton campaign probably sees this as a metaphor for the FBI’s announcement on Friday that it is reviewing more emails that may be linked to their candidate. Last night, federal investigators obtained a warrant to begin searching a large cache of emails belonging to Huma Abedin, a top Clinton aide.
A columnist for The Daily Beast is claiming today that Republicans have “weaponized” the FBI against Mrs. Clinton. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid is accusing FBI Director James Comey of breaking federal law by disclosing the new email investigation.
Doesn’t it seem fitting that Halloween comes a week before the election?
Rather than comment on partisan politics, I’d like to turn in a different direction this morning. Consider this Halloween-appropriate item in the news: Families in Puerto Rico are arranging for the bodies of their deceased loved ones to be displayed at the pre-burial wake in real-life poses. One man was embalmed in a standing position with boxing gloves on his hands. Another was embalmed sitting at his mother’s bar and playing dominoes.
Meanwhile, a man in China arranged his own funeral to see who would attend the ceremony. A man in Serbia did the same thing. Like them, you can attend your own funeral if you wish. The New York Times tells us about a South Korean program in which participants sit beside caskets, write their last testaments, don burial shrouds, then lie down in coffins. A grim-looking man dressed in a black robe hammers the lids closed. The participants lie encased in total darkness for 10 minutes before they are released back to life.
Some 15,000 people have gone through the free program in the last four years. At the end of the session, the director tells the participants, “Now, you have shed your old self. You are reborn to have a fresh start!”
This contentious and calamitous electoral season will end a week from tomorrow. Whether our nation will have a fresh start or not is less certain. Religious liberty, the Supreme Court, abortion and the institution of marriage could all be affected by the outcome of the race.
But no matter how worried you are for our nation, know this: We serve the omnipotent King of the universe. Christians are children of the God of eternity. No election threatens our Father’s throne. No ruler supersedes His sovereignty.
That’s why we are commanded to “fear God” and “honor the king” (1 Pet. 2:17), not the reverse. We are to honor the position and authority of earthly authorities (Rom. 13:1, 6-7), but we are to fear only God (Matt. 10:28). The Bible commends and encourages such reverence more than 120 times.
It may seem that Halloween and next week’s election are related, but Christians should fear the latter no more than the former. Across this anxious week, your triumphant faith may be your strongest witness.
Ronald Reagan was right: “We are never defeated unless we give up on God.”
