Speak truth to power, Democrats, The Resistance

How? Dissenters assume, right or wrongly, that the strength of the status quo relies on erroneous philosophy, misinformation or self-interest if not outright deceit. Having been raised in Friends Meetings and graduated from a Friends school, history of the Quaker application of “Speak truth to power” isn’t a foreign one. The concept is rooted in meeting the needs of the less fortunate that the first Quakers undertook as part of their faith. They were the first to reach out to prisoners locked in filthy, disease-ridden jails in 17th century England; prisons that housed (if you can call it that) any lawbreaker who might be a debtor owing a few pounds or a vicious murderer. They took Jesus’ teachings to heart to care for the widows, orphans and captives, knowing full well that any one of themselves could be incarcerated for their beliefs--and many were, including Founder George Fox and his wife, Margaret Fell. Quakers were different. They didn’t believe that a church-appointed official was necessary to mediate between the believer and God. That was Jesus’ role and they gathered to wait upon the Lord for inspiration and believed that the best witness was an active one, that of service. They also spoke their minds, God’s truth, to magistrates, military officers and aristocracy, what we would call “power,” which put them in danger of losing their own freedom. Those Friends paid close attention to the Bible. They knew Scripture and endeavored to live out Jesus’ Great Commission by being examples of His love, which they translated into a pacifist viewpoint. Things have changed over the past century. There’s been an addition to the “truth” necessary to offer Christian service improving the lives of destitute and oppressed people. Socialism has crept into Friends’ service philosophy where social justice might be seen to be overpowering the Word of God.

How the phrase is now invoked by liberals has little to do with the lives of Fox and Fell who spoke Jesus’ Truth to the power of the time. They shunned the feudal concept ‘might equals right’ that socialism/communism, Islam and other ideologies currently exemplify. The problem is each religion and ideology has their own truth, and anything that poses a hurdle to their truth is the power that must be deposed. Yet it is representatives of these autocratic creeds who cite the phrase, “Speak truth to power,” indiscriminately confronting anyone who disagrees with their authoritarian vision of the future (which empowers themselves, by the way). Nor can peace ever result from imposing one religious or political system on all. It guarantees dissension. Peace comes about by exercising individual freedom, which means the freedom to choose poorly for oneself, not others. The biblically founded American republic supplies the best solution to individual liberty--before Democrats began ignoring and steadily shredding the Constitution, that is. Returning to the misuse of the phrase that Quakers employed to assist the poor and oppressed, let this be addressed… Where Jesus loved all, no matter their mistakes, He didn’t encourage errant lifestyles but corrected traditionalists and others who strayed from God’s Word. He demonstrated truth because He was, and is, Truth. The point? There is only one truth. Jesus said it clearly: “I am the Truth, the Way and the Life.” Thus, the proper phrase, especially for these times, is not “Speak truth to power” but “Truth IS power.”