I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." - Matthew 12: 36-37 (ESV)
Just a quick thought. I love how the army and our intelligence agencies have not even had a chance to debrief Bowe Bergdahl yet so many people seem to have the inside information they are looking for. Tried and convicted in the court of public arrogance. So many people call him a deserter, yet the army never classified him as one because they can't. I expect this rush to judgment and bloodlust from the world because it is what they believe in. I expect the world to lack discernment and caution when speaking definitively about matters they actually have no clue about. But I see once again it is the Christians leading the charge. Citizenship in America before heaven. We don't just pitch our tents towards Sodom. We love Sodom.
When it comes to Bergdahl, what you have there is what is known as your opinion. It is not fact, yet you throw it around like it is, carelessly. I might add for consideration, what if all of your opinions turn out to be true? But what if this 22 year old kid was yours? What if after your son watched the death of his platoon mate, First Lieutenant Brian Bradshaw, and it changed how he viewed the mission he was on? It made him doubt what he had been told. Would you still be so quick to smear him all over the Internet? Would you be so quick to actually suggest or imply that it would have been better to leave him as the only prisoner of war from Iraq and Afghanistan? Is that what Jesus would do?
Let's not forget a similar story about someone else we know. That person walked just as willingly into the hands of a ruthless enemy. They too were stupid and careless and seemingly oblivious to the fragility of their own life. Maybe they thought they had it all figured out until they woke up one day in a pit in the middle a desert. Chained and shackled. Perhaps manipulated or even tortured. Not just for five years either. For much longer than that. Day turning into endless day. Month turning into years that you can no longer count. The faint glimmer of light that we call hope diminishing with each passing day as we just pray that someone has not forgotten. That there still might be someone out there more concerned about the fact that we are in this pit as opposed to how we got there. As if blame is the real issue. Can you imagine such an existence?
You should be able to because I am talking about you and me. That was our life before Jesus negotiated our release from the chains of Satan, the true enemy. He did not negotiate that release with the enemy but rather with the Father. It was not achieved through diplomacy but rather it was paid in full with His blood. He did not have to do it either. We deserved to be in that pit. We walked off the base of our own free will. We walked right up to the enemy and said - take me I am yours. But Jesus knew we were His. He still negotiated our release while we were still in complete rebellion to Him. Thank God someone cared still. Thank God someone was willing to overlook the poor decisions we had made and was still willing to come after us. Thank God for Jesus.
I do not know what happened on the night of June 30, 2009, near the town of Yahya Kheyl in Paktika Province of Afghanistan. But here is the news that may upset you - you don't know either. The key verses remind us of the importance of being careful with what comes out of our mouths. Every careless word will be held to account. What I have seen come out of the mouths of Christians frightens me. Savage carnality disguised as patriotism. We stand surrounding Bowe Bergdahl with rocks in our hands. He has been caught in the act our minds tell us. He deserves it. Jesus stoops there and draws in the sand. Let he who is without sin...cast the first stone.
Let us put down our stones brothers and sisters. Even if the worst conclusions we jumped to turn out to be true, let us not pick the stones back up. Let us remember the Afghan prison Christ found us in and how He was willing to show grace and mercy when we deserved neither. Let us be Christians.
Rev. Anthony.
