The Law Of God: The Silver Bullet To End Corruption In Our Country—Not The Law Of Man 

By: Atty. Marlo T. Cristobal 

Justice Samuel R. Martires declared more than a year ago before a formal session of Congress that it is the Bible, the repository of God laws, that can exterminate corruption, not the laws of man. Justice Martires (for the better appreciation of my reader friends abroad) was a former Justice of the Supreme Court,  and now the current Head of the Office of the Ombudsman, a government office created by the Philippine Constitution, to prosecute, as its priority function, grafters in the Philippine government service. A topnotch lawyer who trained in the law, practiced law and dispensed law virtually all his life, has the humility and the intellectual honesty, amidst his superior legal and factual knowledge particularly on corruption—a kind of superiority that normally or naturally fathers arrogance—to now concede that the law of man cannot eradicate corruption. 

How edifying and heartwarming to behold a great legal mind and a man of rich experience in earthly affairs yet unmistakably drawing nonetheless on a spiritual truth. It can put to shame men of similar extraordinary learning and experience that are too proud and too callous to hearken to the light Jesus brought to our world.(Please refer to John 12:46, RSV)

And how inspiring to know that the Bible is holding its own among the highly learned and professional in this present perilous times of our world, as God had prophesied, where Satan holds sway and holds easy dominance. (2Timothy 3: 1-4)

Being the chief graft buster, the great Justice knew whereof he spoke when he offered the Bible as the panacea for the moral decadence of men. He enjoined that we integrate the spirit of God in the centerpiece of the school subject of students, Good Manners and Right Conduct, strengthen the moral values of people, and inculcate in them the fear of God. In other words, we must embrace and teach, specially the young, about the moral doctrines of the Bible. 

All this precisely is the emphatic message of God that He clearly sets forth in the Bible: His words therein are useful for teaching and correction to a man in the journey to a life of righteousness. (Please refer to 2 Timothy 3: 16-17) 

For man—left alone—absolutely cannot direct his life towards righteousness. He needs the touch, the intervention, of God to be able to achieve a virtuous life, the ‘God,’ however, that the Bible exactly reveals and defines—not the ‘God’ that virtually all existing religions worship and honor under circumstances different from the God of the Bible. (Please refer to Jeremiah 10:23, RSV, Proverbs 16:9, RSV, James 4:7-10 RSV). 

In my youth, l entertained the strong conviction then that men were corrupt because religions failed them. Religions miserably failed to convert men into authentic Christians. Why? From the standpoint of my stronger faith now, because religions fell short of the clear-cut standards of the Bible. And so men persisted in their unchristian, corrupt ways. The Head of the Ombudsman Office confirms my young age conviction when he said man’s laws are not the solution, but teaching the Bible is the ultimate remedy to demolish corruption in the government. 

For Justice Martires, a banner legal mind and magistrate, to proffer, not the law of man, but the law of God as the “Final Solution” of the corruption issue, is utterly awesome to reckon with. With this rare act, l can only conclude that the Holy Spirit  and the wisdom of God have descended into the man to render him the irony of ironies, a first-rate lawyer overwhelmingly educated in the ways of the world telling religions and law-expert Congress the way to instill fear of God in the hearts and minds of the people—the Bible. Obviously, God has touched this enviable brother lawyer to gain access to one of the many wisdom and knowledge deeply hidden in the words of God. 

God has mightily decreed from eternity that His words (the laws of God all reposed in the Bible) are flawless, pure and sharp (Please read Proverbs 30:5 Hebrews 4:12), in exact opposite of the laws of man that certainly are not flawless, not pure, not sharp—not adequate thus to banish corruption. The great and enlightened Justice obviously saw this mysterious wisdom that no one could ever fathom. Flushed with the fortitude of the Holy Spirit, the Justice in effect thundered right in the center of a reputed house of corruption—the Bible is the  destroyer of corrupt politicians. The sole destroyer!