Posted Nov 08, 2019 by Michael L. Brown

When you’re guilty, you want things hidden. That’s because you know that if the truth comes to light, you’re in big trouble. Conversely, when you’re innocent, you want things revealed. Let the whole world know the truth. You have nothing to hide. The more people know, the better for you.

Jesus addressed this principle in John’s Gospel, stating, “Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God” (John 3:20-21).

Even as little children, we intuitively understood this principle.

If you didn’t eat the cookies you were forbidden to eat, you welcomed scrutiny. “Look at my teeth, Mommy! Look at my hands! Look in my pockets! I didn’t even touch the cookies.”

But if you did eat them, your tone was quite different. “Why don’t you believe me, Mommy?,” you cried out, with tears. Anything to stop your mother from carefully examining you. If the truth came out, you would be punished.

So, what’s the point of saying all this?

It’s simple. When it comes to the impeachment hearings, there’s no need for secrecy. There’s no need for special rules, trying to hamstring one side of the investigation.

Let everything be known.

Let witnesses be identified.

Let evidence be released.

Let the doors be opened.

Let the truth come to light.

Of course, within every government, there must be secrets.

There are issues of national security. There is highly sensitive information. There are things that must be kept behind closed doors.

Lives could be at stake. The fate of nations could hang in the balance. War or peace could be on the line.

But that is very different than partisan politics driving an agenda. Very different than anonmymous accusers who want to topple a sitting president.

Is this really the way to move forward as a nation? Will this really generate confidence in the political process?

Secrecy will produce suspicion rather than trust and questions rather than answers. Secrecy will divide rather than unite, only deepening our national divide.

Why not bring everything out into the light of day? Why not make full disclosure of all evidence and identify all witnesses (unless, again, there is information which must rightly remain classified)? Why not allow a transparently fair process?

Right now, the perception is that the goal of the Democrats is not to find out the truth about the president’s dealings with Ukraine. The goal is to find an excuse to remove him from office. There’s no hiding these intentions, and the more they work behind closed doors, the worse things look for them.

As for the Republicans, it’s clear their goal is to keep President Trump in office, and the more the Democrats carry out the impeachment process in private, the easier it will be for the Republican side.

Secrecy doesn’t look good. An uneven playing field smacks of insecurity and fear. Why not play fair and square?

As American citizens, we have the right to know whether there is a witch hunt against the president or whether he has committed an impeachable offense. We are voters and we are taxpayers, and this is our country. It is demeaning to us when some of our elected officials seem to be playing high-stakes political games.

That’s why we should make our appeal known loudly and clearly: We want transparency. We want an open process. We want all the facts to come to light.

The side that is most forthcoming is the side that has nothing to hide. The side that is most forthcoming is the side that will score political points and win votes of confidence. The side that is willing to bring everything to light is the side that is operating in truth.

That’s why my simple prayer in these frenzied times is short and sweet: May the truth come to light!

And as the truth comes to light, corruption will be exposed. Double standards will be revealed. Duplicity will be uncovered.

I say bring it on, wherever the truth may lead. Do you agree?

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words2yz posted a comment · Nov 29, 2019
Trump is everything JESUS warned us about:. a wolf in sheep's clothing; ruled by his own ego who serves Mammon !!
Swkh310 posted a comment · Nov 09, 2019
Transparent? Start by demanding the creature release its tax returns, as it promised to do. Obviously, the creature has a lot to hide.
MCamp posted a comment · Nov 08, 2019
Absolutely agree to bring everything into the light and that if you are trying to hide something you look guilty. On the other hand, you must not be paying attention to what the Democrats are doing on one hand and what the President is doing on the other! First, the Dems are doing what a good investigation demands. Since there was no special counsel to do an investigation secretly (like all independent/special counsels are including Meuller, Starr, and others), the Dems had to do a closed door investigation, the same way any police do closed-door investigations. They have to get the facts and decide whether and how to purse a case without the world knowing about it yer. But in this case it wasn't really secret. 47 Republicans on the committees could fully participate. The reason it is closed doors is to ensure witnesses don't collaborate or hear what others have already said. They had these same closed-door hearings for Benghazi and Repubs defended them back then (Trey Gowdy). Now that they have finished that stage, they just released the transcripts of them this week, and they corroborate everything the whistleblower said. Again, that is not being secretive! You can read the transcripts of the hearings. They will also start public hearings next week. There is nothing unfair about this process. As for the whistleblower, look up the law about them. They are protected from being revealed. Even Pence defended this law a number of years ago. Right now, everything the whistleblower said has already been confirmed by other first-hand witnesses, so he or she is irrelevant now. Second, President Trump has been trying to hide things for years. He refused to openly testify to Mueller (even in a closed-door setting), constantly claiming executive privilege for everything. He has told every witness in his administration not to testify... they have had to deliver seopenas that most of them ignored... except for the ones who ignored Trump's directive because they knew it wasn't right. So, I agree that we should bring everything to light but it has to be done in a way where it doesn't jump the gun and accuse before evidence has been gathered or accuse openly before deciding if there is enough evidence. Once a case is established, the process should be transparent and I believe the Dems are following this course.
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Destry posted a comment · Nov 08, 2019
I do agree the more transparency the easier it is to have credible conversations and our prayers would be pointed in the right direction
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neptune posted a comment · Nov 08, 2019
Insightful article, and your prayer about the truth coming to light is good too. There are a couple of other things we as Christians can pray as well. There's something called a "paint the dragon red" prayer, which is designed to reveal Satan's evil deceptions. One key part of that prayer is to pray that "any demonic power within [the] persons or within [the] situations manifest itself—that it may be clearly discerned and seen by all the people." Another thing to keep in mind is that in the Old Testament, God would often send a panic to the enemy camp to bring about their defeat, such as is mentioned in 1 Samuel 14:15. So, it's also appropriate for us to pray, "Lord, send your panic!!" Anyway, just wanted to mention these two prayer points as well. I believe all the underhanded, deceitful clamoring for impeachment will only backfire on the Democrats, so this whole situation may just end up being a blessing in disguise.
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Kenneth Greifer posted a comment · Nov 08, 2019
The rules that the Democrats followed for their investigation were written by the Republicans during their Benghazi investigation of Hilary Clinton, which was partly done in in private meetings. When the Democrats followed the same rules, the Republicans complained about the secrecy of it all. Anyway, investigations are not public usually. Usually, people get to face their accusers after charges are brought. If you are investigated for a crime by the police, you don't get to confront your accusers and witnesses while the police are investigating. You have to wait until after the investigation and the police or prosecutor charges you with something. That is normal for investigations. The Trump administration does not want Congress to have oversight by claiming executive privilege for everything, including people who never worked for the government, so they can't claim executive privilege. Trump thinks the executive branch can do whatever it wants, and Congress has no right to investigate or complain, but impeachment was put in the Constitution to protect America from a president who tries to become a king. It is not a coup, but a constitutional protection to keep presidents from becoming dictators.