Posted by
flagwaver on Saturday, May 31, 2008 12:49:40 PM
They’re at it again. The press and the Obama campaign now have to explain the words of another preacher spoken in the pulpit at the Trinity UCC. First it was Reverend Jeremiah Wright damning America and pushing wild ghetto conspiracy theories from the pulpit, and now it is Fr. Pfleger mocking Hillary Clinton and insinuating that she is racially biased because “There’s a black man stealing my show!” And predictably the press is falling back on the fact that both Wright and his Trinity UCC and Pfleger’s church do good works in their communities as a shield for the words that come from their mouths. Basically we are being told that their actions outweigh their words, and many are willing to simply go along with that line of reasoning. After all, it’s not so much what you say as what you do, right
Well, it is not quite as simple as that. Open your Bibles, if you please, to Matthew 12:33-37 which reads:
“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (NKJV)
See, what this means is that words do matter, and the words you speak often times will speak louder than any works you may do. What you say is not by accident, but is what you have in the depths of your heart. Good works can be done by anyone, and often they are done for the benefit of the person doing them, but the words spoken when you are among friends are much more likely to be a window to the “true you”.
This brings me back to Rev. Wright and Fr. Pfleger, and the words that have been spoken from the pulpit of Trinity UCC. It seems to me that both Pfleger and Wright have used the good works done by their churches to shield themselves from the words that they have spoken time and again. They say, “Why I was wrong to say that, I’m so sorry to anyone I may have offended, but look at my neighborhood outreach. That justifies me.” But the Lord says, “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” It doesn’t get too much simpler than that, in my book!
And that is why words truly do matter, my friends.