Truth-tellers don’t do well in this world, especially when their prognostications go against conventional wisdom and popular opinion.
Case-in-point, as reported by Politico:
“Chinese doctor Li Wenliang, who was reprimanded for warning about the outbreak of the new coronavirus, in Hong Kong. In death, Li became the face of simmering anger at the ruling Communist Party’s controls over information and complaints that officials lie about or hide disease outbreaks, industrial accidents, natural disasters and financial frauds while punishing whistleblowers and independent journalists.
“Police in December had reprimanded eight doctors, including Li, for warning friends on social media about the emerging threat. China’s supreme court later criticized the police, but the ruling party continued to tighten its grip on information about the outbreak. As the virus spread, doctors were ordered to delete posts on social media that appealed for donations of medical supplies. That prompted complaints authorities were more worried about image than public safety.”
At first, whistleblowers are vilified by the authorities, then they are “silenced” by every means possible. Sound familiar?
Speaking Truth to Power
Two thousand years ago, when the religious leaders of Israel were largely corrupt, self-protective and unaware of their spiritual blindness, a “nobody” Nazarene carpenter burst on the scene with his counter-conventional blast of truth.
According to John 3:1-10:
“Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’
Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.’ Nicodemus said to Him, ‘How can these things be?’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things?’”
Talk about speaking the truth to power! God’s cosmic Whistleblower was saying in effect, “you guys have it all wrong. You can’t make yourselves righteous through personal works or complex religious practices.”
He was echoing the prophet Jeremiah, who wrote in Jeremiah 2:22, “Although you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your iniquity is before Me.”
Jesus diagnosed their problem as much deeper than they realized. The pandemic of sin and its resultant penalty of eternal death called for divine intervention — being washed in the blood of the Lamb and being born again by the Holy Spirit — not just treating the symptoms but getting down to the root cause: separation from a holy God.
From then on, Jesus was a marked man, hounded, slandered and eventually crucified. They thought they were finally rid of that whistleblowing prophet.
Trouble is, He came back — this time in power, to plant His church and vanquish His enemies, a process that continues to this day.
Jesus warned that this world in its present form is scheduled for demolition and is therefore, no fit place to store up your hopes. He spoke of spiritual rebirth, commencing a new life in an eternal realm that will never suffer decay and ruin.
He dispelled the notion of a “fence” that people can sit on while they casually decide for or against Christ’s rule in their hearts, declaring in Matthew 12:30, “He who is not with Me, is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.”
How About You?
Where are you placing your hopes? Have you been turning a deaf ear to the gentle cry of God’s cosmic Whistleblower? Still sitting on that proverbial “fence,” waiting to decide? Or, hiding behind religious procedures as a substitute for a vital, personal relationship with Jesus Christ?
“And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”
— Acts 4:12
— D.C. Collier is a Bible teacher, discipleship mentor and writer focused on Christian apologetics. A mechanical engineer and Internet entrepreneur, he is the author of My Origin, My Destiny, a book focused on Christianity’s basic “value proposition.” Click here for more information, or contact him at don@peervalue.com. Click here for previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.