Today, I was reading an article on the website of a leading news organization written by a seasoned investigative journalist and decided to look at the string of comments.  As a public figure and someone devoted to integrity and God I have been trolled on a few occasions over the years. But, I was taken aback at the number of hateful comments made against the man’s fact based reporting by people who voluntarily identified themselves as Christians.

Yet, I was not really surprised. Over the past several years I have noticed a growing incongruence within the political and religious arenas in the United States between some who call themselves Christians and behavior that is anything but Christ-like.

Maybe these people attend a congregation where the vilification of those

who are perceived to be social, political, religious, or ideological enemies originates from the pulpit.  Possibly they listen to and believe the plethora of misinformation disseminated by radio, television, and internet mouth pieces who are paid to insight hatred and division within our country.  Maybe their rationalizations for bullying others is fueled by the current president of the United States who uses Twitter to vilify others. Perhaps people who defend the morally bankrupt actions of those who abuse their power believe God is on their side.

To love Jesus we must admit people who troll others, who spread division, and who defend those who participate in these behaviors, offer nothing positive to our society. God is not on the side of anyone who spreads lies, propaganda, misinformation, conspiracy theories, and hatred of others. God is not on the side of those who say they love Jesus while defending the behavior of those in positions or influence who have been corrupted by abuse of power.

I love Jesus and I am confident Christ would most definitely confront those who are using his name to bring shame to Christianity. Jesus would be disappointed in those who are ignoring their foremost Christian responsibility to be people of integrity. Jesus would point out they have fallen victim to allowing others to think for them, to feel for them, to control them.

And, we must also realize that by speaking up against these people, Jesus would himself fall victim to their dishonorable character assassination.

God wants us to care to find the truth about situations and others who cause us to be suspicious about their dealings. Which requires us to accept that anyone who works hard to condemn the process of finding justice through the revealing of truth, has a reason they do not want the truth to be uncovered.

Someone who protests so loudly against finding truth does not want to be exposed for who they really are. The guilty person does not want evidence to be considered. Instead of providing evidence to prove their innocence, the guilty person does everything within their power to convince the gullible they are the victim, when in reality they are one who is victimizing others.

Those who want the truth to remain hidden are working for themselves. Those who work to ensure the truth indeed surfaces, are working for God because God wants us to seek fact and to allow justice to prevail.