George Graham

John McCain Is Going to Deliver Us From Evil? Be Serious!

If John McCain were a black man, I bet the pundits would have found his remarks during the Pastor Rick inquisition extremely uppity. But he is white (is he ever white!) so his remarks were “precise,” “confident” etc., etc.

I cannot believe these talking heads on television are taking this stub of a man seriously. McCain struts and swaggers like some Olympic medalist, and as far as I can see, he has nothing to back it up. This 72-year-old might-have-been looked Pastor Rick in the eye on Saturday night and proclaimed himself ready to defeat evil.

That brought roars of approval from the assembled evangelicals. Our Father who art in Heaven, deliver us from morons!

The question Pastor Rick asked both candidates was something like: Does evil exist and how would you deal with it – negotiate with it or defeat it?

Both McCain and Barack Obama said evil exists. Obama said he would confront it. McCain said he would defeat it.

Looking into Pastor Rick’s pudgy face, I had no doubt that evil exists. I was looking at it. I could hear the words of Jesus echoing in my mind, “For it is written that my house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.”

How else would you describe these TV-based pseudo churches with their pandering doctrines and their multimillionaire pastors?

Translated, what the “pastor” was asking the candidates was, “Are you going to negotiate with Iran or blow it off the face of the earth?” But the political query was phrased in philosophical terms. It was a technique dear to the Pharisees and scribes of Jesus’ time. Pastor Rick is a modern-day Pharisee. The neo-scribes would appear on television later to complete the deception.

I am flabbergasted by the media’s description of evangelicals as Christians. To me, they are anything but! These bigoted, self-righteous bullies are, in the words of Jesus, “whited sepulchers” with rotting bones inside. Behind the ritual and self-praise is the sanctioning of political oppression and social injustice. These are the spiritual descendants of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s unrelenting Puritans, ever-ready to prepare scarlet letters for those who stray from society’s strictest moral precepts.

Anyone who disagrees with their view of the universe is “evil,” and they are ready to take up arms against all dissidents: “Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before!”

The cross of Jesus? But Jesus said:

JesusYou have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? (From the Gospel according to St. Matthew)

The concept of waging physical war against evil is anti-Christian. Jesus called upon us to love our enemies not blow them to Kingdom Come! But like some latter-day Napoleon, John McCain is ready to march. And those misguided sheep in Pastor Rick’s flock are ready to follow him. God help us all if John McCain, that puffed up little popinjay, becomes commander in chief of the most powerful nation on earth.

About the author

gwgraeme

I am a Jamaican-born writer who has lived and worked in Canada and the United States. I live in Lakeland, Florida with my wife, Sandra, our three cats and two dogs. I like to play golf and enjoy our garden, even though it's a lot of work. Since retiring from newspaper reporting I've written a few books. I also write a monthly column for Jamaicans.com