Corruption
How Does Babylon Compromise Politicians and How Does this Compare to the Separation of Powers in the U.S. Constitution?
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Adventures Await from Creation Press
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Golden lamps flicker against polished alabaster while King Belshazzar’s nobles guzzle wine from vessels looted out of Yahweh’s temple. Jasmine smoke mingles with sweat and laughter; zithers duel with drunken toasts. Courtiers—satraps, judges, military captains—have traded conscience for position, gliding through corridors greased by tribute. Carved lions glare from gilded doors as dancers swirl, ankle bells chiming like silver coins.
Then, in a heartbeat, revelry curdles into dread: a disembodied hand scratches fire across the plaster—MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN (Aramaic: “numbered, numbered, weighed, divided”—God has numbered your days, weighed your deeds, and decreed your kingdom will be split). Goblets clatter. Cherished idols offer no counsel. Far beyond the banquet hall, engineers from Mede‑Persia divert the Euphrates, slipping beneath the walls. Babylon’s doom is certain because its power was purchased with bribery and pride (Daniel 5).
Why does power bought with gold always end in judgment?
Can any nation keep corruption from hollowing out its foundations?
Is there a political architecture sturdy enough to restrain sinful ambition of the human heart?
More than two millennia later, the framers of the United States struggled with identical anxieties. Having watched European monarchs buy loyalty, muzzle dissidents, corrupt judges, and plunge continents into war, they scattered authority across three branches and fifty states. Their Constitution is a deliberate counter‑spell to Babylon’s seduction—replacing bribed courtiers with rival offices and trusting competitive ambition, rather than royal favor, to guard liberty.
“All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree.” — James Madison
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Babylon’s Engine of Corruption
Babylon never merely tolerated corruption—it manufactured it like bricks for a ziggurat. Nebuchadnezzar fattened his inner circle with delicacies (Daniel 1:3‑5); Belshazzar flaunted stolen temple vessels as though God Himself could be auctioned. Priests, magistrates, merchants—everyone learned the lesson: prosperity flows to those who echo the king’s narrative. Conscience becomes a commodity; truth a liability.
Clay tablets from the Neo‑Babylonian archives list tariffs mysteriously waived for “trusted friends of the throne,” while rival governors faced trumped‑up treason charges. The pattern is simple: loyalty flows upward, hush‑money trickles downward, and the imperial gears hum.
History rhymes. Roman patrons distributed sportulae to secure votes; Renaissance popes sold indulgences to bankroll cathedrals; colonial East‑India officers extracted “presents” from Indian princes in violation of company rules. Wherever back‑room favors replace transparent law, Babylon’s ghost presides at the ledger.
Today the mechanism survives through shell companies in the Cayman Islands, algorithmic advertising that favors donors, and “revolving‑door” appointments where regulators leave office on Friday and lobby for the regulated on Monday. The price tag has simply grown several zeros.
Christians: Salt Against Spoilage
Scripture curses the bribe‑taker (Deuteronomy 16:19) and celebrates prophets who confront kings (2 Samuel 12). John the Baptist lost his head opposing Herod’s unlawful marriage; Ambrose barred Emperor Theodosius from communion until he repented of a massacre; William Wilberforce waged a lifelong war against the slave‑trade graft in Parliament.
Jesus sharpens the demand: “You are the salt of the earth … If salt loses its saltiness, it is good for nothing” (Matthew 5:13). Salt slows decay; it never blends in. The early church refused to pay bribes for burial licenses, earning both suspicion and credibility. Dietrich Bonhoeffer described pre‑war Berlin’s hush‑money politics as “cheap grace”—a grace purchased without truth‑telling.
Christian silence in the face of corruption is therefore not mere weakness; it is treason against the King whose throne is righteousness (Psalm 89:14). We preserve societies by exposing rot, not perfuming it.
The American Firewall—Separation of Powers
James Madison foresaw the danger: “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.” His cure in Federalist No. 51—“Ambition must be made to counteract ambition”—became the Constitution’s skeletal frame.
Horizontal checks – Legislative, Executive, Judicial: each armed with distinct weapons—purse, sword, gavel—to bruise would‑be tyrants.
Vertical checks – Federal and State sovereignty: two concentric rings so a fire in one cannot consume the other.
Temporal checks – Staggered elections & term limits: tomorrow’s voters can evict today’s abusers.
Civic checks – A free press and the First Amendment: citizens may petition, assemble, and criticize without first bribing a censor.
The framers were realistic theologians: human nature is fallen; therefore, power must be restrained by rival power. Watergate proved the mechanism workable. So did the Iran‑Contra hearings, the impeachment trials of multiple presidents, and Supreme‑Court rebukes of executive overreach. No palace guard, no tanks, just subpoenas and relentless journalism.
Yet every mechanism—like a levee—requires maintenance. Gerrymandered districts, secret surveillance courts, and executive “emergency” powers all widen cracks. A levee neglected becomes a floodgate for Babylon.
Truth: The Only Antidote
“Everyone who does wicked things hates the light” (John 3:20). Corruption is a fungus that thrives in darkness; sunlight is fungicide. Transparency is therefore an act of love. When Ida Tarbell exposed Standard Oil’s kickbacks, she performed civic discipleship. When Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers, he peeled back lies that cost thousands of lives.
Christians advance truth in three arenas:
Personal – keeping honest books, refusing under‑the‑table deals.
Ecclesial – practicing open budgets and accountable leadership.
Public – defending whistle‑blowers, freedom‑of‑information statutes, and investigative journalism even when they embarrass “our” side.
Exposure stings, yet it bleaches the infection so healing can begin. As Paul told the Ephesians, “Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them” (Ephesians 5:11).
Modern Corruption: Babylon Re‑Skinned
Corporate — Sam Bankman‑Fried siphoned $11 billion through FTX, financing Bahamas penthouses and political influence before receiving a 25‑year sentence.1
Sport — FIFA executives sold World‑Cup hosting votes in luxury‑suite auctions.2
Education — Operation Varsity Blues exposed six‑figure bribes for fake athletic profiles, tutoring Babylon’s lesson that status outranks merit.3
Public Integrity — Investigations into Biden family influence‑peddling schemes suggest millions in foreign payments routed through shell LLCs.4
Blackmail Networks — Jeffrey Epstein compiled kompromat on tech titans and royalty, leveraging private vices for public power.5
Legislative Corruption — Senator Bob Menendez was indicted after gold bars and envelopes of cash bearing foreign fingerprints were discovered at his home.6
Health Sector — Purdue Pharma pleaded guilty for deceptive opioid marketing, fueling a crisis that killed 500,000 Americans while executives pocketed billions.7
Defense Contracting — The Pentagon paid $640 for a toilet seat cover and $7,622 for a coffee maker,8 echoing Babylon’s temple‑tax skims.
Digital Platforms — Social‑media firms colluded with governments to suppress disfavored viewpoints under “mal‑information” labels,9 swapping free discourse for algorithmic favoritism.
National Trend — The U.S. Corruption Perceptions Index slid to 69/100 in 2024, a 15‑year low, signaling rising cynicism.10
Unchecked, these cancers could fracture the delicate constitutional balance and deliver America into the very empire it once defied.
American Resistance
Washington D.C has indeed become a “Swamp.” Corruption has sunk into the ranks of the U.S., Government at all levels. With “Deep-State” stay-behind bureaucrats in the executive branch retaining seats of power long after the elections change administrations, the ruling elite have found a ladder over the wall that the founders put in place to protect liberty and guard against corruption. Corrupted Judges in the judiciary taking bribes or ruling favorably to the donor class. Rampant corruption of the legislative branch who pass bills that benefit their donors. Corruption seems to find purchase where men’s convictions are weak.
This weakness in the American system (which is a recent addition to our form of government) is rotting our our substance. Slow changes to our system over the last century has bloated the size of government and its power, and encouraged corruption. The fraud, waste and abuse that is being exposed11 is a clear indication of the rot, but what has been discovered is likely only the tip of the iceberg.
What is clear is that Babylon has its tentacles around the throat of our nation and is enchanting its leaders with promises of wealth, sex, status and power; or compromising our leaders with kompromat to control them. America’s only hope is to expose the corruption and bring it into the light of truth before it becomes the death knell of this experiment in limited government.
Conclusion
The republic’s founders forged a shield of divided powers precisely because they distrusted human nature. That shield still gleams, yet cracks spread wherever truth is bartered for advantage. Babylon offers velvet chains; the Constitution—born of a biblical realism about sin—offers rival powers and self‑governing citizens.
Our task is two‑fold:
Personal Renewal – Reject every bribe of silence, every soft compromise. Practice radical honesty in taxes, contracts, and kitchen‑table conversations.
Civic Re‑formation – Rebuild guardrails: mandate transparent budgets, safeguard whistle‑blowers, end “too big to jail” loopholes, decentralize authority back to states and communities, and cultivate a media ecosystem that tolerates inconvenient facts.
Only then can Daniel’s light outshine Belshazzar’s banquet, and the people, not the privileged, steer the nation.
He changes times and seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings (Daniel 2:21). May He grant us courage to prune corruption before He uproots nations.
Have you winked a blind eye to corruption because you gained political capital from the corruption remaining unnoticed? Have you personally participated in corruption to gain wealth, status or power at the expense of integrity?
Father of Light, nothing is hidden from Your gaze. I confess that I have sometimes treasured approval, advantage, or comfort more than integrity. Search my motives; audit every ledger of my heart. Bring to remembrance emails I should disclose, receipts I should return, praises I should not have received. I renounce Babylon—the glitter, the shortcuts, the lies—and I choose Your kingdom of truth.
Forgive me for the times I kept quiet when I should have spoken, for the favors I accepted that shaped my judgment, for the cynicism that whispered “Everyone does it.”Wash my conscience by the blood of Jesus; renew my mind by Your Spirit until integrity becomes instinct. Teach me to speak truth with humility, to resist the lure of easy gain, to celebrate accountability instead of fearing it. Make me salt that preserves, light that exposes and heals.
Strengthen our nation’s institutions: courts that judge impartially, journalists who investigate courageously, pastors who preach without partiality, citizens who vote with conviction. Raise up leaders who embrace limits and populations that prize virtue over victory. May Your justice roll down like mighty waters and Your truth set captives free—even captives of their own corruption.
Where rot has spread, shine brighter; where trust is thin, fortify; where systems creak, reform. And when the hand writes on our national wall, let it spell mercy because we humbled ourselves before judgment arrived. In Jesus’ holy name, amen.
Bibliography
Madison, James. The Federalist Papers.
Teachout, Zephyr. Corruption in America.
Transparency International. Global Corruption Report 2024.
Colson, Charles. Kingdoms in Conflict.
Dreisbach, Daniel. Reading the Bible with the Founding Fathers.
Keener, Craig S. The IVP Bible Background Commentary.
Brueggemann, Walter. Prophetic Imagination.
Tarbell, Ida. The History of Standard Oil.
Quinones, Sam. Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic.
Bowen, Stuart. Hard Lessons: The Iraq Reconstruction Experience.
Levin, Yuval. The Fractured Republic.
Metaxas, Eric. If You Can Keep It.
Noll, Mark. America’s God.
Montesquieu, Charles. The Spirit of the Laws.
Wright, N. T. God and the Pandemic.
Scripture References
Daniel 1:3‑5; Daniel 2:21; Daniel 5:1‑28; Deuteronomy 16:19; 2 Samuel 12:1‑7; Psalm 89:14; Proverbs 29:4; Matthew 5:13; Matthew 5:38‑44; Matthew 6:33‑34; Luke 3:12‑14; John 3:20‑21; John 8:12; John 13:34‑35; John 18:36; Romans 12:19‑21; Ephesians 5:11; 1 John 2:16; 2 Chronicles 19:7; Micah 6:8.
Footnotes
U.S. Department of Justice, Samuel Bankman‑Fried Sentenced to 25 Years https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/samuel-bankman-fried-sentenced-25-years-his-orchestration-multiple-fraudulent-schemes
U.S. Department of Justice, Nine FIFA Officials Indicted https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/nine-fifa-officials-and-five-corporate-executives-indicted-racketeering-conspiracy-and
U.S. Attorney’s Office (MA), College Admissions & Testing Bribery Scheme https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/investigations-college-admissions-and-testing-bribery-scheme
U.S. House Committee on Oversight, Bank Records Memo: Biden Family Business Schemes https://oversight.house.gov/release/memo-third-bank-records-memo-details-payments-to-biden-family
The Guardian, Jeffrey Epstein Appeared to Threaten Bill Gates with Blackmail https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/22/jeffrey-epstein-bill-gates-blackmail
U.S. Department of Justice, Senator Robert Menendez Charged with Bribery, Honest Services Fraud, Extortion https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/us-senator-robert-menendez-and-wife-indicted-bribery-offenses-and-honest-services-fraud
U.S. Department of Justice, Purdue Pharma Plea Agreement https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/purdue-pharma-pleads-guilty-fraud-and-kickback-offenses
U.S. Government Accountability Office, Defense Procurement: Spare Parts Pricing https://www.gao.gov/assets/150/142136.pdf
Missouri v. Biden, No. 23‑30445 (5th Cir. 2024) – Appellate ruling on government‑social‑media collusion.
Transparency International, Corruption Perceptions Index 2024 https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2024
Department of Government Efficiency Findings: https://doge.gov/savings