THE LORD’S WORK

The Temptation

Letters · Rollin E. Trueblood, USMC (Ret.)

Editor’s note: Drawn from Ron’s “Lord’s Work” folder. The pairing with the Scout’s Honor drawing is mine, not his — worth a look before it stays.

I am now approximately 50 stories into this series. My hope was to be able to put them on some sort of website on a daily basis. The purpose of this, I feel a calling from the Lord. He woke me one evening and told me I need to start writing this. The title I came up with for the series of these stories is, May the Scales Fall Off Our Eyes. I’m uncertain of the title still, but it’s about our civic and moral responsibility. The purpose is to heal the division between the Republican and the Democratic Party and to heal the separation between those individuals who claim the Lord as their Savior. There’s a strong division in the church that I’ve never seen before. The division in the country is somewhat like the division that existed in the country during the Vietnam era, but I’ve never seen the division in the church as it is right now. My purpose is that we can focus, think, apply wisdom and true data based upon principles of Scripture that the Lord’s given us to guide our lives.

Sunday, I met a lady at church. Her name was Leslie. I was amazed at how animated she was while they were singing praise music at the beginning of the service. She was two or three rows in front of me. As we were leaving, I teased her and said she should really try to work on becoming more animated. We walked on past. Later, outside the church, I was waiting to talk to the pastor. She approached me and explained that I had offended her slightly. I explained it was actually meant to be a compliment. We ended up walking to her car and having a dialogue in the parking lot for over an hour. This woman is amazingly attractive, very intelligent, very articulate. I was overwhelmed in her presence.

In the dialogue, it quickly became obvious that she was a mega supporter. I explained to her that I was one time, at conception in childhood, a Democrat. As I grew older, the Democratic Party became more liberal in its policies, while Ronald Reagan’s vision, leadership, and ability to bring people together gradually moved me toward the Republican Party. During the era of Ronald Reagan, I still remained a Democrat, but I watched Ronald Reagan a great deal. I watched him heal this country. I watched the Contra affair unfold and how he and Oliver North dealt with that. I listened to his speeches. I still do to this day on a regular basis. This man had the ability to heal the country and to bring the two parties together. He stuck to his conservative principles, believed in balanced budgets, believed in strong defense, started developing Star Wars. I did not agree with that process of Star Wars and ultimately it was never concluded and a lot of money was invested in it. But that was his vision. We don’t always have to agree upon policy, but what we need to agree upon, and I continue to say in these stories, is character. There is no one that has perfect character, but you can judge a tree by the fruit it bears.

As we were talking, I asked Leslie how she could support President Trump. I felt that his character was significantly flawed. If she had hair on the back of her neck, you would have been able to see it raise up. I used one example of President Trump saying on tape that he had groped women and had the ability to do so because it was him. I questioned how she, as a woman, could support an individual who would make those kinds of statements. Her response was that no one is perfect, that everyone at one time or another has done something inappropriate. I couldn’t argue with her on that. There is no perfect person that walks this world.

But then an analogy came to me as we were talking. It’s difficult sometimes not to argue over these issues, but I’ve tried to keep these stories non-antagonistic, non-attacking, based upon Scripture, what the Lord would choose us to do, and based upon factual data. So I used the analogy with her, and I will stand by this analogy. You can judge a tree by the fruit that it bears. In this case, I accepted her statement that everyone has flaws, and that is certainly true. So I said, all right, let’s judge the tree by the bad fruit that has fallen to the ground. If you’re walking by and you can pick up the bad fruit in a shopping cart and there is still an abundance of good fruit left on the tree, maybe it is still a good tree. If you have to go back and get three or four shopping carts and a wheelbarrow to pick up the bad fruit, then there is less good fruit on the tree. But if you have to go get a tractor and a wagon to pick up the bad fruit, chances are the tree is flawed.

Normally, I would go through and find all the data necessary to prove about 50 pieces of bad fruit laying on the ground that would support the point I’m trying to make, but that’s not the gist of this story. It’s much more complicated and goes to the exact reason the Lord called me to write these stories. If I can become successful in this, then these stories will have more value. I will know the value of them myself, so bear with me a little bit longer, if you may.

Leslie and I had chemistry. The hour-long conversation was not just based upon our differences. It was based upon much more than that. I had fun with this young woman. We bantered back and forth, said things, laughed, teased each other, and enjoyed the conversation. She ultimately invited me to a golf cart rally taking place in The Villages for President Trump. I was honored that the request was given. At the same time, I told her that I probably could not attend, but that I would think about it and that we would, in fact, contact each other again.

Which brings me to the purpose of this story: healing. Not just healing between Republicans and Democrats, but healing the division and hatred I see taking place in the church. I hear people who go to the same church and accept the same Lord as their Savior speak about one another with such disgust and disdain that it breaks my heart. I hear statements all the time that Democrats can’t even be Christians. That because of their liberal attitudes they somehow fall outside the grace of God. I’ve already written a story about that, so I won’t go into it here. You can go back and read that story. This one is a little different.

The point of this story is that I had to make a decision. I was very attracted to this woman and very much wanted to spend time with her. It would have been easy for me to say yes. It would have been easy for me to attend the rally. It would have been easy for me to pretend that I was a mega supporter. I could have said whatever was necessary to draw closer to her and ultimately satisfy my own selfish desires. The attraction was there. All I had to do was fib. All I had to do was convince her that I believed something I did not.

As we left, I teased her and explained a scene from the movie City Slickers. Billy Crystal was riding along with the old cowboy about two-thirds of the way through the movie. By then, Billy knew the old cowboy wasn’t going to kill him, so he asked him a question.

“Have you ever been in love?”

The old cowboy explained that he had. He described seeing a beautiful woman hanging clothes on a clothesline out on the West Texas prairie.

Billy asked him, “What did you do?”

The old cowboy replied, “I just rode on by.”

In amazement, Billy said, “What? You just rode on by? The love of your life?”

The old cowboy answered, “Yep. It couldn’t get any better than that.”

So I explained that line to Leslie. I accepted that I was blessed simply to have met her. I had no idea why the Lord made the encounter possible, but I left knowing that I had honored my integrity. I didn’t lie. And if I had lied, I would have been no more than another bad piece of fruit laying on the ground. I would have selfishly deceived someone in order to obtain something I wanted.

Afterward, I could have justified my actions. I could have excused them away. There would have been no outward consequences. But by God’s grace, my moral character has developed enough that moral decisions matter. They have a cost associated with them. We have to look honestly at our hearts. We cannot simply excuse away why the bad fruit is laying on the ground.

Each time we do that, we fertilize the soil. The roots absorb it, and the tree gains the ability to produce more and more bad fruit without consequences. Before long, the tree begins building strongholds and justifying why it can be selfish, mean, stubborn, prideful, or dishonest. And I care about the people who are supposed to be fed by the fruit of that tree.

What I’m trying to do in these stories is not to decide between the Republican Party or the Democratic Party, but for us as moral, conscientious Christian citizens to look at Scripture and decide how much bad fruit is laying on the ground. What is the character of the individual that we are supporting? We have to honestly listen when wrongs are pointed out. We can’t just blindly follow someone because they put out narratives and can perform the waggle dance.

We need to humble ourselves. We need to fall before God, ask His forgiveness as a nation, and begin holding ourselves and our leaders to the same standard. Only then can the scales begin to fall from our eyes.

— Rollin E. Trueblood, USMC (Ret.)