KANGAROO COURTS: ABINADI ON TRIAL

When I was a child growing up in the 1950s, our community had a huge celebration in May.  It was called Helldorado and it featured a carnival, rodeo, and three parades over a long weekend.  The Old Timers' Parade was all horses and other western memorabilia.  The Children's Parade was just that. The culmination was the Beauty Parade with bands and drill teams and some of the most beautiful floats this side of the Rose Bowl, most sponsored by Las Vegas Hotels. One of my memories during these weekends was what they called the Kangaroo Kort, complete with jail, in downtown Las Vegas. It was fun to be "arrested" and get to stand in the log "jail" for a few minutes.  

I was much older before I learned what it meant to hold a kangaroo court. According to Webster's Dictionary, it refers to a court that ignores recognized standards of law or justice.* It is often the culmination of a conspiracy set up to collect or even manufacture "evidence" to find someone guilty of a serious, often capital, crime. While the term came out of the frontier justice of the late 1800s in America, the concept is as old as time.  It is as old as the crucifixion.

Jesus' enemies were determined to destroy Him.  They claimed to be living the Law of Moses in righteousness, whereas He exposed them for what they truly were, whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. (Matt 23: 27) They tried during His entire mission to trip Him up, weigh every word He said, and create evil ulterior motives for everything He did.  They hunted for anything that would make Him guilty in terms of the Law of Moses and in the eyes of the Romans.  In the end, even with their rationalization of His actions, they had to "create" evidence against Him, including bribing false witnesses. Everything about Jesus' trial was a mockery of justice and was illegal, even by the Jew's one laws. They had to somehow rationalize blasphemy (which was the original charge and not punishable by the Jews themselves) into a charge of treason against Caesar, which was punishable by death. In the end, they got what they wanted, His cruel death upon the cross and, in the process, brought divine punishment upon themselves and their children (See Matthew 27: 25)

Someone once said that Abinadi was a type of Christ.  This is true, especially as it relates to his trial. He offended those in power, King Noah and his priests specifically, because he showed them up for what they were, sinners and hypocrites.  They claimed to teach the Law of Moses, but they neither understood it nor lived it. They accused him of being a false prophet because he didn't preach peace as Isaiah mentioned when he said, "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those who publish peace."  Abinadi corrected the perception and pointed out how that scripture did not apply in the case of people living in gross sin as they were.  He taught them the 10 Commandments. Then, he preached of Jesus Christ.  That was the final coup for them.  They put him back in prison for 3 days while they pondered his testimony.  They finally hit upon the last part: the fact that God would come down to earth as a man.  For that, they condemned him to be executed by the cruelty of death by fire.

These are just two examples of "kangaroo courts" in the scriptures - illegal trials wherein the final judgment is already decided and the "court" was just rationalizing a way to justify taken the life of the truth teller.

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It is sad to see that the same techniques are bring used today. Case in point: the recent kangaroo court of an impeachment.  There was no impeachable offense under the constitution, so the president's enemies had to create one by rationalization and false witnesses.  That trial was also illegal because it limited testimony in his defense and changed the playing field whenever it suited their purposes.  His only real "crime" was to expose the corruption, lies, greed, and power hunger that has gone on for decades.  He said he was going to "drain the swamp."  And just as it was in the days of Jesus and Abinadi, the swamp creatures wanted to continue to wallow and drag innocent people with them.  One official in Congress said he hates to walk in the halls because it makes him sick to hear the President's enemies laughing and rejoicing at the progress of this pandemic and how it is ruining the economy this president has worked so hard to improve.  They weigh thousands of lives against their vengeance.  It makes me feel sick, too.  It's the Mahanic Principle at work: use people to get things.  They may not have created the disease, but they certainly orchestrated the media-driven panic that has shut down this nation. 

LET ME MAKE THIS CLEAR:  I am not comparing Donald Trump to either Abinadi or Jesus Christ.  He is a far-from-perfect man.  What I am comparing is the illegality of the proceedings against him. His enemies began to campaign against him, shouting impeachment even before he was inaugurated! The only impeachable offenses under the U. S. Constitution are treason and high crimes and misdemeanors.  As an American who understands and appreciates the history of this nation,  I see none of that - only anger and vengeance because his enemies thought he would never be elected and he was.

I watched the Church video on the trial of Abinadi and couldn't fail to see the modern comparisons. What has happened to my country? Do the swamp creatures even care about America or Americans?  Or has that all be lost in the borderline-insanity of their anti-Trump mania? If it has, what fate awaits us?

© Dr. Kathleen Rawlings Buntin Danielson, May 2020

* https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kangaroo%20court