CREEDE HINSHAW: The Bible is fine; it doesn’t need our defense

There is no defense of former President Donald Trump’s recent shameless hawking of the King James Bible. Getting a kickback (from the Bible company) for his endorsement is beyond reprehensible.

Today, however, I observe two truths related to the incident.

First, presidents, kings and potentates have clothed themselves in sacred scripture from almost as soon as the ink was dry on the parchment. Second, God can defend and accomplish His own purposes without my bombast.

Some leaders look more comfortable clothed in holiness than others, but almost all want to be seen as friends of God’s holy word. Some are more genuinely drawn to holiness and goodness, but rare is the powerful elected person who ignores public displays of religiosity. Even good old King James, for whom the 1611 translation is named, reluctantly authorized the new translation to protect a weak political flank.

Donald Trump, who has a propensity to take things to a lower level, thus stands in a long line of leaders who with various levels of success and sophistication clothe themselves in righteousness. Have columnists written about other officeholders who’ve transgressed in the same way, though to a lesser degree? The excessive outrage has a whiff of patronizing, partisan superiority.

Who possesses the Bible anyway? Who gets to wave it around, quote it, interpret it? Must one graduate from Bible college or seminary before having the right to cite? Does ignorance of a favorite Bible verse disqualify somebody from endorsing a Bible? If hypocrisy disqualifies a person from touting holy scripture, none of us is qualified.

Back in King James’ day, the few existing bibles were chained to the pulpits so nobody could steal them. That also made it easier for us preachers to control the message and the product. Today anybody can be a Bible-loving misquoter. If I went apoplectic over every person who (I believe) had misused, misappropriated, or misquoted the Bible I’d be long dead.

Maybe we should relax a bit.

God can take care of Him- or Herself. God can use anybody to spread truth: You, me, saints, rogues, buffoons, con artists, atheists … anybody. Furthermore, scripture promises that the wicked eventually fall into pits of their own digging. Although preachers (and columnists) have a cachet to report on and identify sin, one must do so remembering that God doesn’t need our help.

Charles Spurgeon, that eminent and quotable 19th-century evangelist, got to the essence of God’s power in an 1888 sermon:

“The Word of God can take care of itself, and will do so, if we preach it and cease defending it.” Comparing God’s word to the majestic lion, Spurgeon observed that a lion needed no defending. Unchain that lion, he said. Spurgeon concluded, “Let the pure gospel go forth in all its lion-like majesty, and it will soon clear its own way and ease itself of its adversaries.”

Former President Trump is outrageously wrong; I’ll stand with Spurgeon.