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Power, Wonder Working Power
by
Gregory J. Rummo
“For so many
in our country—the homeless…the fatherless, the
addicted—the need is great. Yet there is power,
wonder-working power in the goodness and idealism
and faith of the American people… I urge you to
pass both my faith-based initiative and the Citizen
Service Act to encourage acts of compassion that
can transform America, one heart and one soul at a
time.”
These words spoken by President Bush aren’t getting
as much attention as his rhetoric on tax cuts,
Africa’s AIDS crisis, Medicare reform and Iraq, but
they were perhaps the most important words of his
State of the Union.
They echoed his acceptance speech in 2000 in
Philadelphia at the Republican national convention
when he spoke about his faith-based initiative in
terms of “block by block and heart by heart.”
On Tuesday evening, the President was very clear
about the need for true spiritual regeneration
evidenced by his specific choice of words, “…there
is power, wonder-working power,” borrowed from the
chorus of the hymn, “There Is Power in the Blood:”
“There is power, power, wonder working power in the
precious blood of the lamb.”
But those words will become hollow echoes as long
as the obstructionists—the people who become
apoplectic at the thought of God and government
working in tandem—manage to block what is the only
hope for the down-and-outs of society: Changed
lives through the power of the Cross.
To understand what the president is up against,
imagine being appointed as the chairman of the
Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiative. On
your first day, you are presented with a list of
100 non-profit organizations specializing in
helping the less fortunate of society—those with
problems like homelessness, unemployment and
substance abuse.
You are not told the names of these organizations
or their religious affiliation. They are identified
by numbers only.
What you are shown are specifics regarding
performance; the number of people treated each
year, how many each organization employs to treat
these people and the budget necessary to pay them,
and the recidivism rate.
Those organizations which treat the most people
successfully—meaning they don’t show up at the
doorstep repeatedly—and which manage to get the job
done in a cost efficient way will be the ones you
are likely to recommend for funding. Those that are
doing a lousy job despite having large, highly paid
staffs will be less likely to receive government
assistance.
Based on this information alone, your goal is to
rank these organizations. Your office has only
sufficient money in its budget to fund the top 50
performers and you want to spend the taxpayer’s
money wisely.
You pore over the statistics for several days until
finally satisfying yourself that you have
accurately determined which ones are doing a good
job and which ones are not. Then, the identities of
the organizations and their religious affiliations
are revealed.
Surprise! The top 40 are all small to mid-sized
soup kitchen-type havens located in inner cities.
They are staffed mostly by volunteers and—uh
oh!—affiliated with evangelical churches. Along
with the standard programs of serving hot meals and
offering clothing, shelter and counseling, each
offers classes in the Bible. No one is forced to
attend but it is stressed that for any meaningful
change in a person’s behavior, that change must be
effected in the heart and the soul.
Gulp! Now what are going to do? Who gets funded? Do
you use the taxpayer’s money efficiently by
rewarding excellence in spite of the religious
component?
Despite the overwhelming evidence that the
life-changing message of the Gospel is necessary to
effect permanent behavioral change, there are those
in Washington who are so hung up about separation
of church and state they would rather flush your
money down the toilet than fund a faith-based
program.
In illustrating the folly of self-reform, Jesus
told a story about a man who cleaned up his own
life apart from any divine assistance. Jesus
characterized this as casting out an “unclean
spirit.” It worked for a while but because there
was no true spiritual regeneration, “seven other
spirits more wicked…enter and dwell there; and the
last state of that man is worse than the first.”
Problems such as addiction, crime, and homelessness
are almost always symptoms of deeper, spiritual
problems. Until this is acknowledged, there is
little hope for any permanent change in the lives
of those caught in the vortex of sin and misery.
President Bush has experienced personally the power
of the Gospel in his own life. He knows it offers
the only lasting hope to those in desperate need.
The question remains: Are there enough wise men in
Washington with the courage to pass his faith-based
initiative thus unleashing this “wonder working
power?”
Gregory J. Rummo is a syndicated columnist.
Contact him through his website,
www.GregRummo.com
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