The Axe at the Foot of Fruitless Institutions

Jesus said they must be cut down

Jesus’ teaching about the fruitless tree being cut down and thrown into the fire is not just a warning to individuals but a direct confrontation with hollow institutions masquerading as righteous. In first-century Judea, that was the Temple system, the Sanhedrin, and the priestly elite. Today, it is the intelligence community, the justice system, and political leadership in both parties.

Let’s walk through the analogy carefully.

The Fruitless Tree: Institutions That Fail to Bless

In Jesus’ context, the Temple leadership had ceased to fulfill its role as a mediator of justice and holiness. They taxed the people, exploited the poor, and turned worship into a commercial racket. It bore the appearance of religious life, but its fruit was rot. That’s why Jesus cursed the fig tree—it was a prophetic act declaring: “This is what’s happening to you, O Jerusalem.”

Today, the Epstein case exposes the same dynamic. Institutions that claim moral legitimacy—the DOJ, FBI, CIA, federal courts, elite universities, even aspects of the press—have not delivered justice. Instead, they’ve protected the powerful, obfuscated truth, and created layers of legal and narrative smokescreens. Their fruit is not justice or accountability. It is secrecy, impunity, and fear.

Judgment or Self-Preservation: What Fire Do We Fear?

The decision to pursue the Epstein case wherever it leads is analogous to what John the Baptist said in Matthew 3:10:

“Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees.”

This is the moment of institutional reckoning. Do we believe in a moral order that demands justice even if it threatens the institutions we grew up revering? Or do we act like the Sadducees—keepers of a dying order—who sought to bury the truth to protect their power, only to find themselves swept away in the destruction of Jerusalem?

Burying the Epstein story is an attempt to preserve a fruitless tree—not because it’s healthy, but because its removal threatens the entire orchard of elite power. But what Jesus made clear is this: if an institution no longer bears fruit, God is not interested in preserving it for nostalgia’s sake.

The Fear of the Unknown vs the Fear of God

Many in power today fear what full exposure of the Epstein network would mean. Perhaps it implicates major intelligence services. Perhaps it topples sitting judges, heads of state, corporate titans. The temptation is to say: Better to manage decline than unleash chaos. That is exactly the logic of Caiaphas in John 11:50:

“It is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.”

That is the voice of expediency over truth—the very thing that led to the crucifixion of the one righteous man. That kind of compromise kills the innocent to protect the guilty. It is demonic.

The Call to Fruitfulness: Institutions Must Bless

Jesus’ message was not merely about destruction—it was about rebirth. The Kingdom of God would no longer be entrusted to fruitless stewards. As he said in Matthew 21:43:

“Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.”

So too today: if our legal system, intelligence community, and press refuse to bear fruit, they forfeit the right to legitimacy. The people know this. That’s why burying Epstein fuels not stability, but rebellion. It signals that the tree is diseased and no longer fit to stand.p

Conclusion: Judgment Is Not the End, But the Beginning

To pursue the Epstein case to its end is to lay the axe to the root—not because we want to burn everything down, but because we seek fruit again. Justice. Truth. Protection for the weak. A government worthy of trust.

If we do not act, if we suppress and hide and protect the rotten tree, then the fire that comes will be greater, more chaotic, and more final. The judgment will come not from us but from history—or from God.

Like in Jesus’ time, the choice is not between peace and chaos. It is between truth and cowardice. Between fruitfulness and fire.

The axe is laid. What remains is whether we will swing it—