Our Bible Lesson for This Week:
Our Sunday message from the Social Gospel Worship & Learning Center, Atlanta, Ga.: An online, faith based community of like-minded Christian believers and Jesus worshipers
Why Adults Having Temper Tantrums Need to Check Themselves
by Minister Paul J. Bern
View our channel on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/c/RevPaulBern
The first thing I’d like to say this week is, ‘Congress and the entire Trump White House collectively need to grow up!’. Holding hostage the paychecks of roughly 700,000 people is no way to run a country. I am becoming more and more convinced that Trump has made a serious miscalculation this time around by shutting down the government the way he has. Keeping it shut down to the point of traumatizing hundreds of thousands of federal workers and their families has compounded his miscalculation. They may not be afraid of having enough to eat for now, but they sure are worried about getting fired.
Congress and the President’s Jobs Are to Take Care of the People’s Business
The Bible has some very relevant teachings regarding this very topic. For one thing, angry or selfish people are troublemakers by nature, as it is written: “Fools give full vent to their rage, but the wise bring calm in the end.” (Proverbs 29:11) As you can see from these words of King Solomon, people who get angry when they don’t get what they want are unwise at best, and toxic at worst. Hear that, all you politicians, especially those inside the Beltway? By throwing political temper tantrums, our nation’s leaders have proven themselves unworthy of the offices to which they have been elected. With the 2026 midterm elections looming, every one of them, from Donald Trump on down, has just under a year to get their acts together and learn to work with each other. Otherwise, the American electorate will not put up with it. In that event, it will be time for some new faces in Congress next year.
Trump and Congress Could Have Avoided the Shutdown
What else does the Bible have to say about people who let their anger get the best of them? “An angry person stirs up conflict, and a hot-tempered person commits many sins.” (Proverbs 29: 22) Have you ever noticed how uncompromising people operate? ‘It’s my way or the highway, ’ they will quickly tell anyone within earshot. Have you also noticed they are the ones who seem to get the least done? They are so busy trying to coerce others into doing their bidding that they wind up spinning their own wheels. In the case of the US government shutdown, President Trump is spinning his wheels, too. Had president Trump tried a more conciliatory approach to keep the government running, he could have achieved different results, as it is written: “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” (Proverbs 15:1) If Donald Trump had not taken his usual ‘my way or the highway’ approach, like he is evidently prone to do when running his real estate empire, the government shutdown may not have ever occurred.
Biblical Principles Need to Be Incorporated Into Our Government
There seems to be quite a bit of this problem throughout America’s government. I have observed too much tit-for-tat politics, too much infighting and squabbling, and a whole bunch of lying, for me to take the federal government seriously anymore. It’s also been my observation that an ever-increasing number of Americans feel the same way. What America, and particularly her lawmakers, need to do is call a ‘cease fire’ long enough to read the following portion of 1st Corinthians: “4) Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5) It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6) Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7) It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” (1st Cor. 13, verses 4-7) I think these Bible verses apply to Congress and the president, too.
How to Repair Congress and the Presidency
Love? Love in Washington? Yes, because there’s a complete absence of it as I write this. While the fight between all the ‘my way or the highway’ Democrats and Republicans rages on, 700,000 federal workers are within weeks, or even days, of eviction, or of the commencement of foreclosure proceedings. Seriously, all these people are on their way to becoming homeless, many with families to look after. Meanwhile, all the combined 462 members of Congress, together with the President, can do is invent more ways to disagree. These sell-outs, these so-called ‘leaders’, had better get their acts together, or there will be pandemonium in the streets of America. But to get back to the above Scriptural quotation, Washington has far too little patience and far too little kindness, while having an excess of corruption, arrogance, boastfulness and pride.
Love Rejoices With the Truth
Washington has dishonored those they are elected to serve with their childish behavior, unlike verse 5 above. Instead of looking out for the interests of the people, Washington is self-seeking. Verse 5 also says that true Christian love should not be easily angered. Yet by shutting down the government so he could get his way, president Trump has violated this very Scriptural premise. “Love keeps no record of wrongs.” Hear that one, Congress? You people need to stop sparring with each other, grow up, and take care of America’s business. Otherwise, the whole country will wither away while our ‘representatives’ and the president are busy bickering like children. “Love....rejoices with the truth.” Congress and the Trump White House haven’t figured out this last one, either.
There Is Simply Too Much BS in Washington
You know, a heavy dose of some truth is what the American people would really like to hear right about now. We want to know the truth about the triple assassinations of the Kennedy brothers and Rev. Dr. King, Jr., about the Gulf of Tonkin incident, about 9/11, and about the start of the 2003 Gulf War. We want the truth about the true extent of the US military-industrial complex, about whether UFOs are actually a secret technology developed by the military-industrial complex, or if they are truly alien. In addition to that, “we the people” want to know everything they know about Antarctica.
We want the truth about the currently-mandatory vaccines, the level of corruption in law enforcement and the courts, the ongoing fluoridation of our water, and the dangers of the pesticides that are being sprayed on all our crops. The American people are collectively so fed up with all the BS in Washington and throughout the country, including our most respected institutions, that there is open talk of civil war all over social media and the press.
The Blame Rests Squarely On the Shoulders of Congress and the President
“Love always protects.” The whole country is being left unprotected during the shutdown, so the entire Trump White House missed the mark on that one. “Love always trusts”, yet Congress and the President mistrust each other to this day, while the rest of the country goes to pot. “Love always hopes, always perseveres.” As of this writing, there has been a complete absence of all the above in Washington for 9 days. Congress and the President are equally to blame for the shutdown as far as I’m concerned. Their combined lack of good character, patience, perseverance, and even-temperedness is the reason this shutdown continues.
Things Could Get Really Interesting
Biblically speaking, Congress and President Trump have been unkind, untruthful, and arrogant. They have gone to great lengths to keep score against one another, and in so doing they have made themselves unworthy of their elected offices. It’s too early to tell whether this shutdown will affect the 2026 midterm elections. However, if it lasts much longer, it could have repercussions that extend well beyond 2026. In that event, the likelihood of a third-party candidate emerging to win the presidential election in November 2028 will increase by a factor of two or more. Stay tuned, people, this may get really interesting. Unless Trump furloughs federal workers for a prolonged period, only to try to compel them to return to their duties unpaid, in which case all hell could break loose.
Please help support this ministry by visiting our online store at https://socialgospelstore.com
Please visit my blog at https://www.medium.com/@greatestservant62
While you’re at it, check out my free newsletter and videos at
