Some of you might be aware that I’m travelling in a few months to the West Coast for our denomination’s Annual General Meeting. So naturally, when an article appeared recently about a whistleblower at Boeing saying that numerous problems with their airplanes warranted a decision to ground them all, my interest was piqued. It occurred to me as I read the article that whistleblowing on your company is a sure method of career suicide. Even if the information you provide were substantiated, and even if good changes come from it, you become the pariah of the industry. You might be aware of some recent significant changes that have been brought about by whistleblowers. These include a software engineer with Tesla who reported Tesla’s knowledge of the problems with their self-driving software but marketed it as safe anyway (2023); another who exposed written reports within Instagram of the negative impact of the social media platform on teens that was ignored by company executives with an order to suppress the information (2023); an Uber lobbyist who shared confidential documents that the company was making investment deals with Russia and lobbying international governments for favours (2022); and Twitter’s former Chief Security Officer who warned the company of glaring security vulnerabilities. He went public with the information when he was ordered to cover it up (2022). From the Watergate scandal to the abuse of data analytics at Facebook, whistleblowers have brought down corruption and changed common practices. As far back as 1717, whistleblowers have brought about change in government and industry, affecting the social and political climate of countries and bringing awareness to misdeeds and secrecies that have populated the twisted course of human history. But most of these whistleblowers have suffered great personal loss after exposing the wrongs that they witnessed. I mentioned 1717 because it was when the first Whistelblower Protection Law was enacted. But whistleblowers have been pursued from company to company and from country to country. Some have experienced malicious prosecution; some have been driven into isolation; others were murdered.
As I contemplated the concept of the whistleblower, the lives of the prophets of God come to mind. Jeremiah pointed out the sin of the people and was thrown into a pit of mud for his efforts. Both Elijah and Elisha were pursued, surrounded, and attacked by God’s enemies for speaking salvation to a desperately defiant people. Daniel was estranged, isolated, and thrown into a lion’s den for being the voice of wisdom in an age of dissolution. John the Baptist called sin for what it is and had his head removed from him; and Paul’s journey of faithful proclamation earned him a cell in the dungeons of Mamertine and eventually death at the hands of Nero. It is small wonder why Jeremiah declared at his calling that he is too young to be God’s whistleblower. I note carefully the words of God to Ezekiel who stood on the banks of the River Chebar after the exile of Israel into Babylon, “I send you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD.’ And whether they hear or refuse to hear they will know that a prophet has been among them” (Ezekiel 2:4-5). That, in a nutshell, is God’s take on being His whistleblower. Speak truth with love; respond to stubbornness with grace; walk in the midst of attack with courage; stand against wrong with peace. Listen carefully to what God continues to say to Ezekiel, “You, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions. Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. And you shall speak My words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house” (Ezekiel 2:6-7). What stands out to me in what God says is to remove fear, anxiety and dismay, knowing that the suffering comes not from doing something wrong, but from doing right to a rebellious people. And what should I do? Speak (not shout) His words (not mine). To Ezekiel, God called it not whistleblowing, but trumpet blowing. The concept is the same. There are people around us lulled by Satan’s wiles and sin’s song. Let’s be whistleblowers for God.
