Persons shielded by those in authority

EDITOR: Kindly permit me to use your newspaper to express my views on a very pertinent matter. Thank you for accommodating me in the past and I look forward to a positive response.{{more}}

How often haven’t we heard the saying ‘might is not always right’? I remember reading as a child, a story about a young prince who appeared before a judge and was reprimanded for misconduct. Years later he became king and summoned the judge to appear before him. The judge was somewhat apprehensive and feared for his life, only to be shocked into the reality that he was there to be praised and not to be punished. The king was full of praise worthy for the judge, for not being afraid to do what was right in punishing him for his youthful misconduct and for saving him from becoming a disgrace later in life.

In 2 Peter 2 :9, the apostle writes ‘The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgement to be punished.’ Unlike that righteous judge, many today are shielded by those in authority whenever they display acts of cruelty to others or display gross misconduct in public life. Sometimes, it begins in their early life. I remember teaching a young man in my hometown when he was just about nine years old. We were going out for a reading exercise when he broke the queue, so I asked him to get back in line. He bent down, picked up a stone and wheeled it in my direction. It smashed into my foot. It pained, but my foolish pride allowed me to trivialize the matter. That young man was the son of one of the strongest and most feared men in the town and I was afraid to even report the matter to the principal. Today, maybe because of my failure to act expeditiously, he is one of the most frequent stayover visitors at Her Majesty’s disco.

Some parents smother over the delinquencies of their children and allow them to grow up into hardened criminals. One child psychologist refers to this behaviour as ‘smother love’ instead of mothers’ love, (note the change of position of the ‘s’ ) they allow their children to get away with almost everything, sometimes they even fight with the other parent for taking action to correct the misdemeanour. It may be a father, or sometimes a mother, depending on who in the family plays the dominant role.

A certain officer was commissioned to arrest a certain young man in a certain city. On completing his task and returning to his post, he was told that a certain authority figure wanted to speak to him on the phone. To his utter shock, he was greeted with a barrage of expletives, and denigrated for arresting an ‘untouchable’, a person who was above the law. We all know that people in that country are getting away with crimes against society, but are they being delivered, or are they being reserved for God’s coming judgement? A person thus covered by such protection can never repent of their behaviour, for godly repentance is often preceded by sorrow for sin. As long as I am untouchable, above reproof, I would remain beastlike in conduct. And the Bible warns ‘Be sure your sin would find you out.’

Dennis Trant