This month I preached on the gospel passage about the Last Judgment, in which the sheep are separated from the goats.

You know the story: the sheep (compassionate people) get to spend eternity with the angels, and the goats (hard-hearted people) are cast out to live with creatures just like them – demons.

And, coincidentally, there’s a lot of goat-like rhetoric these days coming from some of those who purport to be among the sheep.

In recent discussions, for example, I’ve heard capital punishment celebrated. I’ve heard pride expressed over the execution of hundreds of Americans, including mentally retarded and juvenile offenders.

Ironically, of the nine countries that have held executions so far this year, only one – the United States – is a so-called “Christian nation.” The others? Our good friends Saudi Arabia, China, Iran, North Korea, the Palestinian Authority, Somalia, the United Arab Emirates and Bangladesh.

Well, it goes without saying that the people who end up executed are, for the most part, underprivileged “least of these” types whose life circumstances – poverty, mental illness, unemployment, abuse, neglect, poor nutrition, illiteracy, discrimination, etc. – have a whole lot to do with why they got in trouble in the first place.

Individuals with power, privilege and wealth are not the ones occupying cells on death row.

I’ve heard a wealthy Christian claim happily that we don’t have a health care problem in our country. The proof: Sheiks from Saudi Arabia come all the way to America to visit our world-class doctors.

Wow; so foreign millionaires can get health care here in the “Land of the Free,” while our own citizens cannot? And this is something to celebrate? Does this sound like America?

Is it really in God that we trust anymore, or have we evicted him and allowed money to occupy that formerly sacred place?

I know: Let’s change the flag salute from a hand over the heart to a hand over the wallet!

I’ve heard Christians condemning the Occupy Wall Street movement as it converges on cities and spreads across the nation. Yet the thing that they should condemn is the disease of fear that has infected and occupied the hearts and minds of too many in this country.

Fear can cause even the best sheep to turn into a selfish, hard-hearted goat, and the thinner America’s collective wallet becomes the worse it gets.

Isn’t it ironic that God has already judged this disease and found it to be hazardous to our health? How many prophets had to speak this same message to deaf ears?

Tens of thousands of Americans in the streets apparently agree with the prophets and the Good Shepherd: Compassion has got to be returned to its rightful occupation in our society.

Yes, the sheep are, as they have done throughout history since the time of Moses, rising up against the demons of greed and oppression.

Yes it's messy and time-consuming. Yes, it results in the powerful sending out their finest chariots to stop the rebellion.

But really, if the Red Sea couldn't even hamper an exodus, what’s a little tear gas?

Gale Tompkins-Bischel attends United Christian Parish in Lakeport, Calif., and is in the Masters of Divinity Program at Pacific School of Religion.