I often wonder how the ‘men of God’ who abuse their powers can live with themselves. They read the same bible as all of us, yet the scripture that pints out their faults seem to float right over their heads. The effect of power is evident all around us. Politicians, law enforcement, medical professionals, clergy and other individuals in power often fall prey to the allurement of power. 

Lord Acton, an English Catholic historian wrote in 1887, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority, still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority.”

For a minister of God, one who reads and studies the scripture, one who prays and listens to the voice of God speaking to his soul, to abuse the power of his post is ludicrous. I would even believe that it is a sin of the greatest depth. These men through their actions, words and inactions have done more to harm the souls of men than anything else. 

They preach of a hell that contains eternal suffering. They point a heavy finger from the pulpit at the masses, those trying to find healing, love and acceptance and with that accusing finger condemn them to eternal abandonment. These fast-flying accusations are based on ignorance of situations and an indifference to the uniqueness of each person.

While spitting out their judgement, they bask in the perception of their eternal home in glory. The pedestal they find themselves on, in their minds holds them above the mire of sin normal humans trod in. 

In the book of Malachi in the Old Testament, we find the following scripture: “But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts.”

This is the true future for those men who overlook God’s true love and understanding. They will be turned away because they were the cause of many who stumbled away from God. I pray for healing for those effected by their rhetoric and hatred. 

Roy Richard
April 2023