Setting a Snare

During a recent campaign debate between two candidates for sheriff, a zealous believer in the audience went to the microphone and said, “You are the number one law enforcement authority. I want you to swear before God right now that when the feds get out of line you will show them the exit to this county!” The candidates stepped over the trap that was being set, but I'm disturbed that the believer would ask them to swear an oath before God. Jesus said, “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one” (Matt 5:33-37 NIV).