Unlike God, politicians don’t deal in the truth they deal in propaganda. One of many things that have gotten America into the trouble it is in today is the fact you can’t believe what politicians say. Years ago a candidate for our State Assembly told me he tried to please everybody. I was astounded by such an admission! Didn’t this fellow know how utterly futile such a thing was? Of course candidates try to please the majority they need to get elected, but to try to please everybody? It’s no wonder you can’t believe campaign promises even if a politician dared to be specific, which none of them really dares. Politicians deal in glittering generalities, in propaganda, not specifics or the truth.

To the Pharisees, politicians of Jesus’ time he had this to say in some of the most scathing language found in the Bible: Matthew 12:34-37: O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

Imagine if it were possible to get Obama and all the members of Congress together and be able to preach those words to them. But you would have to have the authority to do so. Soldiers were sent to arrest Jesus at one point of his ministry, but on this occasion the soldiers returned without him. When asked why they did not arrest Jesus, a soldier replied “No man ever spoke as this man.” Jesus was described as someone who spoke with authority and it would take that kind of authority to speak to this generation of vipers, which is accurately descriptive of our “leadership.”

But God will demand an account for “every idle word?” That covers a lot of territory and amplified from the context it means useless words intended to deceive or take advantage, it includes things like lies and the campaign promises of politicians; it means the false promises of religious charlatans like those Pharisees and all of their kind, it means the words used to seduce for whatever purpose, words used as propaganda for evil, in short Jesus meant it to cover a wide range of the words of conmen and other scoundrels of every stripe.

Politically correct language is in the category of the idle words Jesus warned of. But God isn’t going to accept an excuse for such language as intended to not offend anyone but is only a pretext for excusing evils like duplicity and perversion; after all Jesus meant more than to simply offend that generation of vipers, he condemned them! And God expects his people to be just as forthright in condemning those that do evil. After all, one day God’s people are going to judge angels; how much more those that do evil here in this world. And God expects his people to communicate in plain and unmistakable language, not the language of politicians. God does not abide dissimulation or attempts to be clever, but expects his people to speak plainly concerning good and evil.