Prophets and Adulterous Politicians

By Julio Severo

To rebuke or not to rebuke a president’s adultery? That is the question — for the prophets.

Under God’s inspiration, Prophet Nathan said to King David: “You are in adultery!” He could be executed for rebuking the king, but he was not, because the king repented. David was a king in the Old Testament who knew the Lord.

Under God’s inspiration, John the Baptist said to King Herod: “You are in adultery!” He was executed for rebuking the king, who did not repent. Herod was a king in the New Testament who did not the Lord.

So whether they were in the Old Testament or New Testament, whether they knew the Lord or not, kings were rebuked by prophets.

A prophet’s life is hard. If he is faithful to God, he can be executed or honored. If he is faithful to a politician, everything will go well for a while, but when the time for reckoning with God comes, nothing will go well.

To hide his adultery with Bathsheba, David enlisted the help of Joab, a general who was faithful to him. Joab blindly obeyed David’s command to have Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, killed.

Later, Joab died a humiliating death. He gained nothing from God for being faithful to King David. He gained nothing from God for helping to execute and cover up King David’s sins.

Being faithful to politicians in their sins, even politicians who claim to be dedicated to God, brings a humiliating end. Being faithful to God, even when the prophet is sacrificed by adulterous politicians, brings an end of eternal honor in the presence of God.

Is there a lack of politicians and adulteries of politicians today so that the rebukes of the prophets have ceased? No. And there are a lot more Joabs today to cover up any sin of politicians who call themselves Christians.

However, there are many pastors and pseudo-prophets who, fearing losing government permits for TV, radio and other government and presidential perks, prefer to take on Joab’s politically comfortable role. They are silent on their responsibility to be a prophetic voice of Nathan or John the Baptist in the lives of politicians. Other times their silence is because they know they have no morals to criticize politicians for what they themselves practice in their private lives. They are addicted to adultery, pornography and prostitution.

If alive today, before rebuking Davids, Herods and other politicians, Nathan and John the Baptist would say to the pastors: “You are in spiritual and political adultery because for fear of losing political privileges, you do not open your mouth to speak what politicians need to hear!”

In many other cases, they would say: “You are in adultery, because you left your wife to be with a younger woman!”

Joab’s case was based on and expanded from a comment by Luciana Micoski Pereira.