It’s not your concern.
When you manage to dismiss from your mind a broad range of things you cannot and should not try to change, it’s much easier to keep a solid grip on that serenity necessary for God’s glory. You still have to interact with people, even the worst of government thugs, but you no longer pretend it’s your job to change them or their bad behavior. So you can relax and make the most of the interaction by showing them mercy and grace. (Maybe this is a good time to review my three pillars in my book.)
I mentioned in the past how the US federal marshals destroyed my positive attitude about the enforcement of drug laws. At the time of the incident, I had just finished serving in the US Army Military Police and as DARE Program Manager (anti-drug education program) where I was stationed. I would have been the last person to hide their fugitive, and the first to have cuffed him and called the police to come get him. I was a gung-ho drug warrior guy. That is, until they destroyed my return to the ministry.
I forgave them. While they didn’t set out to destroy me, they were utterly careless, even willfully stupid, in lying about me. Telling folks in that little town that they already knew I was a patriot underground cult leader showed they had no idea who I was. It was a desperate ploy to get folks to talk about me because they knew nothing about me. They already knew it would ruin things for me, but were under the gun to find Mr. Thompson. My life didn’t mean shit to them. Just a single day’s search of federal databases (the federal government had already stolen the software for such a search) would have yielded my military records at the least. And some years later they continued falsely insisting officially that I was a cult leader. Still, I let go of the bitterness and resentment. There was nothing to gain by seeking to correct them as individuals, the institution and it’s policies, or the government as a whole. The wrath of God was already in motion and it was too late for any of that. What’s left is to shepherd them the same as anyone else.
Of course, that shepherding is limited to how much anyone in the context allows, but the mission remains and is the focus of my attention. I make jokes about being a cult leader and snicker to myself about the egregious stupidity of their “police work” but it serves no purpose to taunt them or in any way convey my opinion of them. I try to grant to them whatever they seek the same as I would anyone else, tempered only by what I am able to offer.
It takes some patience when working with idiots. The sense of entitlement so common in our culture has no place in serving Christ. Cynicism and simply not expecting much from them is appropriate, but there’s nothing to gain by distracting them from their scripts. Their programming makes no allowance for raising their level of consciousness. When God wants their attention, you’ll see it with your heart, and you’ll know how to take advantage of it. Always be ready for that, but don’t be surprised if you never see it when dealing with government officials.
On the other hand, never buy into the notion that they are anything but idiots for so long as their attention is on their government duties. That is the nature of Western government. It forcefully excludes the mere probability of anything not already on their menu of considerations. They will never take our faith seriously. It takes monumental arm-twisting and threats just to get them to make allowances for more conventional religions. If those religions don’t meet certain minimum requirements, they don’t even get that much. We cannot and will not ever meet those requirements, because it means denying the very nature of faith itself.
Never forget that this world as we know it is damned. It’s not for us to put the brakes on anyone or anything hurtling toward the abyss. We can only help to rescue those who cry out for deliverance. Not because they kneel to us, but that they recognize us as representatives of that Higher Power. Be aware that in the mixture of those you touch will always be the stupid puppy-dog types who will gobble up any kindness and never change one iota. They’ll hang around absorbing resources, never adding anything at all and often destroying mindlessly what they touch. You’ll have to decide when and how to deal with each individual case, but they will always be there.
Precious and few are those who genuinely respond.
