​LUTHERAN MONEY LAUNDERING?

This past Tuesday the appointed psalm for the morning was Psalm 12. As we gathered as staff to pray, I read these words: 
Help, O LORD, for there is no longer anyone who is godly;
the faithful have disappeared from humankind.
They utter lies to each other;
with flattering lips and a double heart they speak. (Psalm 12:1-2)

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I stuttered on the words a bit because they were so timely. The news was full of false accusations and misinformation about how Lutherans were taking billions in government money and laundering it for their own purposes. Michael Flynn and Elon Musk were taking to “X” to make the accusations as if they were undertaking a crusade to stop this “Lutheran conspiracy.” Musk asserted that “the DOGE team is rapidly shutting down these illegal payments.” In subsequent attacks, VP J.D. Vance said similar things about Catholic Charities. “They utter lies… with a double heart they speak.”

I was shocked. I was, I’ll admit it, enraged. The whole thing was one big lie. The payments are NOT illegal but established by law. There is no benefit to Lutheran religious organizations like the ELCA drawn from legal grants made to these organizations. What is outside the law is that unelected, unaccountable people are making decisions that overturn systems of caring for what Jesus would call “the least of these” (Matthew 25) that are established by law.

Here is the truth. Lutheran Services of America is one of the largest networks of social service providers in the country. Lutheran Services of Iowa is part of this umbrella organization, one of 300 organizations serving 6 million people. These organizations provide foster and adoption services, housing for the elderly and those in need of care, support refugees, provide mental health services, care for the disabled, and many other things to numerous to list.

The truth is that cutting funding for these legally established programs will harm millions of people. The truth is that elimination of these grants will not make a dent in the spending of the nation and will lead us to be a less compassionate, more selfish, unloving nation. The truth is that this kind of propaganda serves only to distract people from real problems.

The truth is that if our leaders were as compassionate, intelligent, and committed to making the world a better place as they say they are, we would not need to depend on religious organizations to do things that every citizen should desire. God has placed the faithful in the world to speak the truth to power, to meet the needs of the forgotten and needy, to love. So, it falls to the faithful to do what nations will not do, even though the health and welfare of its citizens are mandated by morality and justice.

The Rev. Elizabeth Eaton, Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) states in a video message to the church that “despite misinformation and baseless doubt cast today on funding that supports Lutheran organizations across our country, the ELCA remains steadfast in our commitment and work with our many Lutheran partners and expressions of our church.” Watch her message by clicking here.  Her call is to answer God’s call, not cave in to the lies that are told.

The truth is that God will not be passive. Psalm 12 announces:

“Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan,
I will now rise up,” says the LORD;
“I will place them in the safety for which they long.” (Psalm 12:5)

God has revealed in Jesus Christ a reign where “the hungry are lifted up and the rich sent away empty” (Luke 1:53). That reign will come and we will continue to work for it and proclaim it. We have faith because God has made a promise:

You, O LORD, will protect us;
you will guard us from this generation forever.
On every side the wicked prowl,
as vileness is exalted among humankind. (Psalm 12:7-8)

Rest in the promises. Resist the lies and any apathy.

Pax Christi,
Tim Olson – Lead Pastor