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(the human ruler] is t he minister
of God to lhee for good. Bul if
thou do that which is evil, be
afraid ; for he [the human ruler]
beareth not the sword in vain: for
he is the minister of God, a
revenger to execute wrath upon
him that doeth evil" (Romans
13:4).
Because prívate c itizens
usually would punish out of pro–
portian to the crime, lhe Bible
declares thal such revenge must
be left to duly constituted author-
i ty: " ... ave nge not your-
selves ... , Vengeance is mine, 1
will repay, saith the Lord" (Ro–
mans 12:19) . God repays, in part,
using the human authorities as
His ministers. Indeed, lhe bloody
and senseless Miami riots them–
selves show what happens when
prívate cilizens seek lo lake ven–
geance inlo their own hands!
And yet human rulers do fail in
their d uty to punish evildoers-as
happened in t he McDuffie case.
The prosecutors bungled. They
should have protested lhe a ll–
white jury more. They should
have brought harsher charges
agains t the defendants, so al least
the jury would be more willing tó
return a g uilty verdict on sorne
charge, even if it was a lesser one.
And they should have laken more
time to invest igate the case.
Tn this regard, God indicts the
whole c r iminal justice system.
This indictmenl applies especially
lo judges, who make the law lhat
binds the prosecutors: "Thus
saith the Lord God; Let il suffice
you , O princes of Is rael: remove
violence and spoil , and execute
judgment and j ust ice, lake away
your exactions from my people,
saith the Lord God" (Ezekiel
45:9).
This charge from God is con–
fi rmed by the statement of Ben–
jamín Hooks, head·of the Nation–
al Association for the Advance–
ment of Colored People: " It' s
hard to describe the feelings of
rage you have when men and
wome n in uniform , who are
agents of the state, beal or kili
someone a nd you follow due pro–
cess of law and lhe Constitution
and t hey're Jet go."
Thus, because the American
judicial syslem doesn't work as
October
1
November 1980
God desires, lhe murderers of
Arlhur McDuffie went free and
Miami bu rned in race riot. A
Boston Human R ights Commis–
sion member says, " When t here's
an appearance of a perversion of
the judicial process, people take
to the streets." The prophet
Ezekiel is even stronger in con–
demning such injustice: " ... the
land is full of blood, and the city
full of injustice ..." (Ezekiel 9:9,
RSV).
Justice may be yet visited on
the murderers of Arthur McDuf–
fie. The United States attorney
general, at this writing , is consid–
ering prosecuting them on federal
charges. But no matter what hap–
pen s it is sure to be a long
process, drawn out over years.
Even if a federal prosecution is
successful , the biblical rule that
sentence should be "speedily exe–
cuted" against evildoers (Ecclé–
siastes 8: 11) sl ill will not have
been followed.
Proclaim Equal Justice
The injustice done in the McDuf–
fie case was in many ways lhe last
straw for those who rioled. The
citizens of M iami's black commu–
ni ty had come to believe that the
c riminal justice system was
biased againsl lhem. Tbus, M iami
prosecutors bad gone out of their
way by calling a rare Saturday
session of a grand jury to indict a
popular black scbool official of
misuse of funds , but failed lo
secure an indictment aga inst
wbite plainclotbes detectives who
mistakenly burst into tbe borne of
a black scbool teacber and beat
bolh bim and bis son . In anolher
case, prosecutors Jet a wbite
police officer wbo sexually mo–
lesled an 11 -year-old black girl
off with psycbiatric treatment
ralher tban punish bim by send–
ing him to jail.
Witb tbe acq uittal of McDuf–
fie's killers, a pattern seemed
to be forming. Whites who did
barm to black people weren't
gelt ing lhe punish ment lhey
deserved.
In God's World , and under
God's syst em, things will be dif–
ferent. God's principie is thal
factors that bave notbing lo do
witb guilt-l ike race- shou ld
have notbing lo do wi t h tbe out–
come of justice. God condemns
such partiality- whetber, for ex–
ample, it is against lbe poor (Exo–
dus
23:6)
or in lbeir favor (Exo–
dus
23:3).
Tbe Bible declares tbat it is
~m
abomination when "innocent
bl ood"- like Artbur M c Du f–
fie 's-is sbed (Deuteronomy
19:10). And in tbe coming World
T omorrow, sucb incidents as hap–
pened to McDuffie will be forev–
er banned.
God will soon send J es us
Cbrist to establish H is govern–
menl to bring " justice from
bencefortb even forever" (Isaiab
9:7). Under lbat government,
there will be equal justice for all
regardless of race.
The Bible declares:
Ye sball bave one manner of law,
as well for tbe stranger, as for one
of your own country ... (Leviti–
cus
24:22).
One "manner of law" for
everyone! Because tbis principie
was violated, Miami burned. But
when Christ relurns, it will be
respected and pul inlo practice. A
just world is coming--one with
equal justice for al}. o
ELECTIONS
(Continued from page 4/
injected tbat spirit of animosily
in competition . Mr. Kennedy is
only human . God's Spirit of
LOVE was not in evidence. Nei–
ther is it in evidence in ANY of
this world 's leaders.
H ow DIFFERENT in t h e
WORLD TOMORROW.
Satan will be GONE! J esus
CHRIST will be RULING! Ruling
witb, bul under H im, will be
truly conver ted saints lhen made
IMMORTAL- filled witb G oo's
Spiril of " LOVE"-immortal Goo
BEINGS witb no SELF-interesl of
coveting, but oulfl owing LOVE for
tbe good, bappiness, welfare and
eterna! salvation of all others!
J esus taught us lo pray, "THY
KI NGDOM COME, THY WILL
BE
DONE ON EARTH AS JT IS IN
HEAVEN!"
We' d better be PRAYING!
O
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