A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

"No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes." – Psalm 101:7 In today’s society, many pretend to be someone they are not. This isn’t so much a criticism as it is an observation. Sometimes it is as innocent as putting on a brave face when a situation calls for it. That’s not so bad. But what is objectively harmful is when someone presents themselves as a different person altogether for the purposes of manipulation and deception.

Recently in West Virginia, a handful of political leaders have begun presenting themselves as champions of privacy and property rights. They are clearly not who they claim to be, as many of these same representatives voted to strip citizens of both. If you are tuned in to current events, then you are likely aware of the nationwide debate about flock cameras and the unprecedented level of surveillance they impose on everyday citizens. One issue you might be less familiar with is the open fields doctrine, which states that only your house and its curtilage receive constitutional privacy protection. Anything beyond that—fields, woods, pastures, open water, vacant lots—can be entered and searched by law enforcement without a warrant.

As more of these individuals join the bandwagon of decrying flock cameras and challenging the open fields doctrine, it’s hard not to notice that many of them are the same individuals who championed House Bill 2014 during the 2025 legislative session in West Virginia. For those who do not know, HB 2014 was designed to legally pave the way for data centers by removing protections that could serve as “red tape” for such facilities. While I typically support limited government, this law strips away a community’s ability to levy its own taxes and enforce its own ordinances and building codes for the good of its citizens.

Under HB 2014, people essentially lose their appurtenances to the water rights attached to their property. Noise ordinances, clean air ordinances, and clean water ordinances are ignored for the benefit of hyper‑scaled data centers. When a community’s tax dollars suddenly go to the state, and when property rights are stripped away for the benefit of large corporations seeking expanded bandwidth, it hardly paints a picture of privacy or property rights—especially when many of these data centers are operated by companies specializing in surveillance.

To put it simply, many delegates and state senators who claim to champion privacy and property rights are the same individuals who strip citizens of those rights through their support of massive data processing facilities. When speaking strictly on the teachings of Christ, James 2:10 tells us that “whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.”

The gospel rings true in all aspects of life. You cannot support privacy and property rights in one scenario while violating them in another and still claim to be a champion of either issue. You cannot support property rights and privacy some of the time, oppose them at other times, and then claim to be a true supporter. This is politics as usual. And if you notice, these particular politicians are achieving these dishonest and manipulative ends by violating the teachings of Christ and his disciples. Funny how that works. It is one of the reasons that our ministry advocates for transparency in government through our legislative advocacy. Honesty is in everyone’s best interest, and so is consistency. Take care and God Bless.