FROM THE PASTOR’S HEART
OP-ED BY DR. ROBERT KENNEDY
“Stop the steal” is a phrase that has been around for a long time, but it was coopted and made popular by Roger Stone. He used it to promote a group of would-be poll watchers called “Stop the Steal” during the 2016 election, first under the auspices of defending Donald Trump’s Republican primary nomination and later to contest a potential Hillary Clinton victory that never became a reality. Stone created the group to uncover voter fraud, which experts say was not happening in the U.S. elections. But in the 2020 election cycle, the phrase was so politicized and weaponized that it led to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, January 6, 2021.
Although the phrase has been much abused, it would be a blessing if we could live without thieves attacking our communities. Here is a fact of interest to me. I was talking to a grandfather who immigrated to the United States many years ago. Soon he began to share with me that although he had not been to college or university, like his children, he thought himself much smarter than they were. He asserted that while they had some knowledge, he had wisdom.
As if to authenticate his claim to wisdom, he cited a case that caused my eyes to grow large. He said that in the days when he was coming from his country to the United States of America, the U.S. Embassy wanted to see how much he had in his Bank Account. On a first visit, he told them that he was a businessman and sold clothing in the community market. He knew that what he had in his account was insufficient for them to give him the visa, thinking he would not return to his country, so he planned his strategy.
He had in his account $5m in his county’s currency at the time. That was about $7,500 US. When he was ready to request a visa, he went to the bank and got a certified bank statement. A few days later, he took $3.5m from the account and opened a business account at another bank. Several days later, he went to the new bank and requested a bank statement. He said, “See, I am really smart; I was able to show a total of $8.5m that satisfied the Embassy.” With that supposed amount, he got the visa, which opened the way for him to enter the U.S.A. legally.
I figure that you are thinking what I am thinking, that while the fellow was saying he is “smart,” you are saying, “He is a thief.” How differently do you judge this “smart” fellow from the former President of the United States, who claimed to have raised $250m for his “election defense fund” that did not exist? The House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack at the Capitol made the case at its second hearing that Donald Trump and his campaign engaged in fundraising fraud, raising $250m for a Trump “election defense fund” that did not exist.
The “Official Election Defense Fund,” as it was called in fundraising emails, was repeatedly sent out until 30 minutes before the Capitol attack, according to Trump campaign aides Hannah Allred and Gary Coby, who testified to the January 6 Congressional Investigation panel. The campaign raised $100m in the first week after the election and raised about $250m as it asked donors to help fundraise legal challenges to the results.
Again, what do you think? Is this stealing or not? A story that Jesus told along a similar track is listed in Luke 16:1-15. It is an interesting story that you need to read in its totality. It says:
Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2 So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management because you can no longer be the manager.’ 3 “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg – 4 I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’ 5 “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master? 6 “‘Nine hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied.
“The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.’ 7 “Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’ “‘A thousand bushels[b] of wheat,’ he replied. “He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’ 8 “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.
9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. 10 “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?
13 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” 14 The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. 15 He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.
Do I need to affirm further what Jesus already affirms, that what the “shrewd” manager did was nothing but stealing? The manager is called “shrewd” because he was using all his energy to secure his material contentment in the world, regardless of any ethical considerations. Jesus commended him not because he did something righteous but because he did what he would argue he had to do to secure his earthly comforts. Of course, Jesus was saddened because the man did not think of his eternal interest. Whether you call what the man did stealing or lying, he cared very little about his actions.
Because an individual might not judge an action such as stealing or lying as cursed, it does not mean the action is not cursed. As is said, victims of theft know the horrible feeling it produces. The act of someone taking what may have been an especially precious gift from a loved one pierces our hearts and makes us feel violated and unsafe. Theft has a tremendous impact on individuals and society as a whole. Theft disturbs societal stability, resulting in feelings of fear, insecurity, and a desire for revenge.
People who live in the Metropolitan world think of stealing as a problem in third-world countries where laws against stealing are ignored. But, whether shoplifting, praedial larceny, scamming, aggravated assault, embezzlement, bank robbery, church robbery, or stealing the tithe, stealing is and is detrimental to any person, community, or population that is affected by it.
There are pointed practical reasons why the Lord said, “You shall not steal” (Exodus 20:15). Among them is that stealing causes a curse on us personally and our society. It causes a rise in the cost of commodities, increases violence as acts of retaliation, and creates guilt and deformation of our character. Therefore, we must be careful because stealing is not just in the big things, but even in the little things.
To kill the curse of stealing, we need to accept the 8th commandment, “You shall not steal.” This command applied to the ancients, as it applies to us today.
