Where does my allegiance lie?

It's been a month. One month of torrential downpours of executive orders, a flurry of court cases, newly created DOGE rampaging through political and personal information, giant swaths of government employees losing their jobs with never before seen swiftness, unhinging ourselves from our historical allies while simultaneously cozying up to the bullies on the world stage, and of course our government basically canceling "the least of these" in our country and throughout the world. After all this I find myself asking this question. Where is my allegiance? Where is our country's allegiance?

"No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money." (recorded in two of the gospels)

You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money. 

That verse has been reverberating through my brain since November 5. It was Jesus who spoke these words. Jesus, who was fully God and fully man, who put on flesh and dwelt among us to know and feel the anguish, hardship, and yes, beauty, of being human. Jesus knew how lives could be changed, enriched, made so much easier, by the accumulation of money. He also knew, because of this, just how easy it was to worship money and be enslaved by the comfort it brings.

"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God." (Jesus, recorded in three of the gospels)

Over the past few weeks, the one answer I keep getting to my questioning of why my conservative friends are championing Donald Trump and his fleet of, seemingly cruel, minions is MONEY. They are saving us money. How could I be so stupid as to not agree with whatever way they choose to go about it? Tax dollars should be spent at home, not abroad. Tax dollars should go to deserving people who help themselves. (Isn't there a verse that says, "God helps those who help themselves"?....oh wait.) Tax dollars should be returned to the people to give in the way we see fit. Tax dollars [actually] should just stay in my pocket. Because, after all, what I hear from my libertarian friends is that taxation is theft so the ends justify the means, I guess. Except..

"'Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly, and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful for us to give tribute [taxes] to Caesar, or not?'....He said to them, 'Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.'" (Jesus, recorded in three of the gospels)

I get it. I get it. Life is hard right now. Grocery prices are high. Home prices are high. Gas prices are still fairly high. Living the way our parents did at our age is out of reach for most of us. So why is it that you think a bunch of billionaires are looking out for OUR good? Why would they be transparent? Why would they tell us the truth? Why aren't we asking the questions of "Why do the ultra-rich get to avoid paying taxes? Why do they get all the loop-holes? Why does it seem that the system favors them much more than the 98%?"

Story after story of our newly elected, second time around, President, tells us that he's not looking out for the little guy. We've heard from dozens of people over the years who have worked for him and with him (even most of his staff and his VP from his first term) that he's a crook and a swindler. He tells you what you want to hear, makes promises and then breaks them. Why do we think he's different now? He was literally found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, and yet now, he's going to be different? And his number one guy, Elon, who is a billionaire 400 times over...I'm sure he has no ulterior motives here. He has no reason to make sure things work out the best for him and his companies and shareholders. 

But I digress. That's not really what hurts my heart. As Americans we are free to put our trust in whoever we choose, and if Trump's your man....go for it. My question is to Christians. Where is your allegiance? Do you serve God or money? You can't serve both.

I will state as I have at least 10 times already, I completely agree that the government spends money wastefully. No one was happy with every way the government was choosing to spend money. Things needed to be changed, shaken up, audited. None of us wants to see our tax dollars go to waste. We can disagree with the way our tax dollars are spent. We can compromise. It's been the American way for 250 years. People with differing political ideologies, coming together, figuring out what is in the best interest of "We, the People."

Of course, it seems that depending on who you talk to, much of the waste that was found (supposedly from the USAID budget) was not really from USAID at all but from US State departments in the countries where they gave the money. Examples include the DEI musical in Ireland. USA Spending reports that the State Department paid $70,000 to "promote the US and Irish shared values of diversity, equity, and inclusion," and the grant funded a music festival, not a DEI musical. Another recipient of money, completely blown out of proportion, actually was given money from the USAID budget. We heard early on that USAID spent $50 million in condoms for Gaza. The absurdity of this claim should have been enough to make anyone question before posting it, but if it comes from the White House these days it must be gospel. In looking closer, of course, it seems that the $50 million was for hospitals in Gaza, medical and hygienic supplies, some of which were condoms--because who wants to reproduce when there's a war raging all around you? But I'm not going to go into every one of these discrepancies because they are easy to find with a quick search. Also, did you know that when interviewed, most Americans believed that foreign aid took 25% of our national budget? Most of them then said it should be around 10%. In actuality, foreign aid is less than 1% of our national budget.

USAID was formed by John F Kennedy after Americans decided to help build up the war torn countries of Germany and Japan after WW2, and it proved to be a good thing for the world (this decision was made after Germany took a downward spiral after WW1 and was quick to rise again under a dictator.) Over the years it has been proven that giving aid to developing countries is very much in the best interest of America. By stopping the spread of disease "there," we consequently stop the spread of disease all over. By helping in humanitarian crises "there," we lower the number of refugees needing to find a safe home. By giving hospital supplies and basic medical needs "there," by feeding malnourished children "there," by taking care of widows and orphans "there," we have the opportunity to use our wealth as the richest nation in the history of the world to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, and care for the imprisoned. 

I've been reading through Leviticus the past week or so in the Bible Recap. There are so many things that have stood out this time around considering the circumstances of our times. One such thing is how many times God commanded the nation of Israel to care for the poor and the foreigner. Specifically, one law he repeats a few times is not to go back and reap twice from the fields. They should not pick fruit from the edges of the field. They should not pick up fruit that has fallen on the ground. They were to leave this for the poor and the foreigner living in the land. I'm not suggesting that we are still under Levitical law. But there is a reason why we still read these words today. The civil laws of Israel are not a mandate for us because we are not a theocracy (although there are plenty of of the same people who say that's what they would like that also voted for this administration, and the disconnect is astounding.) What these passages show us, as 21st century Christians, is the heart of God. God's heart is for the poor. God's heart is for the foreigner. God's heart is for the lowly, oppressed and marginalized. 

The first person in the Bible to give God a name was a slave woman. In Genesis 16 Sarai mistreats her slave, Hagar, and Hagar runs away into the wilderness as a poor, pregnant immigrant. An angel of the LORD finds her, ministers to her and makes her a promise. This was a Theophany, where God the Father appeared to humans on earth. Hagar gave him the name "El-roi" which means "the God who sees."

For foreigners today all across the world whose lives are in danger and were praying for a refuge in the United States, I pray that you will find El-roi. For the mothers who are so worried about the disruption of funding to their child's school that will cut disability programs, take away help for mental health, make school feel like a dangerous place, I pray that you will find El-roi. For the veterans who will visit the VA to find their funding has been cut so they may not have the programs they need, the medication they relied on, the doctor they trusted, I pray that you will find El-roi. For the air traffic controllers, the park rangers, those who kept us safe from nuclear weapons, and all the other federal employees that find themselves without jobs today, I pray that you will find El-roi. 

You can call me a "bleeding heart." That's okay. From what I read, Jesus was too. You can tell me that the Bible isn't a play book for how to run a country, and to that I wholeheartedly agree. The Bible is a story of One who rescues us, and that "rescuer" is on every page, showing us the heart of God. Do I think we should have a strong national policy, a balanced budget and a safe life? You bet!! But just as the Christian housewives of the '60s stood in front of schools with their signs, demanding that schools stay segregated, that their white children shouldn't be in classrooms with black students or taught by black teachers, were wrong; I also believe that demanding that we now cut all foreign aid, cut medicare and medicaid, cut funding to schools, cut thousands of federal employees who work to keep us safe and our country running, is wrong.

On November 5 we sided with a bully. Now we are reaping the consequences. What are we going to do about it?