Turn to me with all your heart ... Philippines

 

There is a bible verse which gives a rather wonderful promise to nations who are in trouble as ours is; be it from poor leaders, corrupted beyond our comprehension, (and a Chinese fleet lurking offshore for reasons yet to be revealed.. )

“if then my people, upon whom my name has been pronounced, humble themselves and pray, and seek my face and turn from their evil ways, I will hear them from heaven and pardon their sins and heal their land.” (2 Chron 7:14)

An exorcist, Fr Ripperger, was interviewed recently and asked to talk about the nature of the corruption currently under scrutiny in the Philippines and there was some interesting commentary. Firstly confirming that there is clearly demonic or diabolical influence , not merely greed or dishonesty and that is certainly important in fully identifying the problem and who or what we are up against. His second point is that God uses such things to chasten His people, to call them to repentance, so that they can be worthy of good leaders and the healing of their land.

When we frame it in this way; it becomes clearer as to what will and will not produce the desired result.

For decades the expression “people power” has been used to rouse the crowd, march, campaign, protest, demand, and give vent to understandable anger, nowadays coupled with a good flurry of social media posts. This may briefly give an illusion of power; but it is an illusion and it’s a godless and perhaps even a blasphemous illusion. To explore a little deeper let’s consider the product of the numerous “people power events” over the last few decades:-

Number of Corrupt Senators jailed ?

Amount of Stolen money recovered from them?

Number of Corrupt Congressman Jailed ?

Amount of Stolen money recovered from them?

Number of other government officials jailed ?

Corrupt Businessmen jailed ?

Amount of Stolen money recovered from them ?

Any change what-so-ever ?

The truth is that ‘power exhausts those who don’t have it’. The corrupt (and their diabolical masters) merely laugh at the protests because they are untouchable by those means, they can pretend to investigate, chastise each other with speeches, and then go back to business as usual until the next time, decade after decade, generation after generation, century after century.

If the nation wants change; then it must look to God; firstly by seeking purity of heart (or personal holiness) and a purity of intention. The first part involves repentance especially from those seeking to lead; and especially the church in a Catholic country. Is there anything wrong ? Any reason that the only Catholic country in the world is the most corrupt ? Is there any desire or commitment to depart from its own corruption or sin... any cover-ups within that need to be dealt with? Any ways it is compromised ? or its members are compromised ?

That is the beginning and frankly the only path to change in government is to become worthy of good leaders or a good country is when the church and people want it for themselves too. God listens to hearts that are humbled and are genuine not the noisy or arrogant. We need God’s power and to acknowledge that of ourselves we have none and have a sincere desire to change and surrender it to God. Then the demons will tremble and the nation’s institutions can be exorcised fully. ‘Don’t put your trust in princes.. (Ps 146:3)

Economics of Corruption

I had the opportunity to join a medical mission recently, just as a roadie, moving supplies and equipment but I was able to see the best and worst of humanity all in one place.

The doctors, dentists, and nurses were giving their time and expertise for free to the poor community and a wealthy sponsor paid for the medicines and transport. Several hundred people came and received whatever treatment they needed but could not afford… which was a wonderful thing to see. As Christians the motivation of the workers was really to bring the love of God to the people through sharing their skills.

The venue was a primary school and we set up shop in the different classrooms for the various services on offer. I couldn’t help noticing how run-down the place was though. In the classroom I was based in for example there was only 1 light fitting that still worked, the ceiling fan was broken, the roof in the bathroom was full of holes and as it rained that day was unusable. The only classroom equipment was a broken cassette tape player with the door missing and a circa 1990’s computer which I am sure had little purpose.

In the afternoon a convoy of brand new, top of the range, 4x4 vehicles descended on the site. The local politicians had arrived for an impromptu photo shoot, to pretend to their constituents that the medical mission was their initiative. Suddenly it was clear where the budget for the school had gone. Low level politicians receive a minimal salary but, as Cardinal Tagle put it recently (at the Eucharistic Conference in Cebu), they often use the budget as their own ‘piggy bank’. Even the cost of one of these 4x4’s would be more than enough to cover the repairs needed by the school, fans and light bulbs, corrugated iron roofing and enough left to fill it with books and computers. As a friend pointed out, ‘the politician’s children don’t go to that school though’

It was a stark contrast for me to the see selfless service of the medical teams up close to the rank self-interest of the officials.

Here in the Philippines, So few, steal so much, from so many.