America’s moral illiteracy

No wonder President Clinton has no moral compass. Just listen to the
kind of counsel he receives from his “personal ministers.”

On Sunday, the Rev. J. Philip Wogaman appeared on CNN’s “Both Sides
with Jesse Jackson” to plead for the nation to forgive the president.

“King David did something that was much worse than anything that
President Clinton is alleged to have done,” said the senior minister of
the Foundry United Methodist Church and, along with Jackson himself, a
personal spiritual guru to President Clinton. “And King David, if I read
my Bible correctly, was not impeached.”

Impeached? No. Instead David’s child with Bathsheba died. David’s own
life was only spared because he repented of his grave sin against Uriah
and God Himself. He was publicly rebuked by the prophet Nathan. Where
are today’s prophets? Are they, like Wogaman, rationalizing and
justifying the sins of their political leaders? Why are they not calling
Clinton to repentance? Do they not understand there can be no
forgiveness without it? What kind of moral and spiritual illiterates are
masquerading as clerics?

Furthermore, as serious and reprehensible as David’s sin was —
sending the husband of Bathsheba off to be killed in war so he could
claim her as his own wife — I take issue with Wogaman’s statement that
it is “worse than anything that President Clinton is alleged to have
done.”

The Monica Lewinsky affair is hardly the worst offense for which
Clinton has been accused. In selling out to China, for instance, he
abused his power in ways that affect the security of the entire nation.
He oversaw the slaughter of innocent men, women and children at Waco,
Texas. He attempted to usurp power delegated exclusively to the
legislative branch of government under the Constitution. He illegally
used his taxpayer-supported secret police to subvert and harass his
political enemies. He has sent thousands of young men off to unwinnable
wars in the name of playing global policeman.

I could go on and on. But you get the point. President Clinton is no
King David. Not by a long shot. And Monica Lewinsky is hardly Bathsheba.

And that brings us to the other false prophet guiding and excusing
Clinton’s pattern of sinful, illegal behavior — the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
On that same TV show, Jackson actually compared Clinton to Samson.

As if to demonstrate how deeply America’s state of moral and
spiritual awareness has plummeted, the Associated Press account of
Jackson’s comments spelled the biblical strongman’s name “Sampson.”
Perhaps the reporter and editors involved confused the object of
Delilah’s temptations with the former basketball star Ralph Sampson. I
don’t know.

But Jackson, an alleged Baptist minister, who is supposed to know
better, claimed that if Kenneth Starr was around in the days of Samson,
he “would have locked him up.”

Again, Samson’s punishment was much greater than that. He paid for
his sins first with his eyes, which were gouged out by his enemies. He
was held captive in chains and publicly humiliated. Ultimately he gave
up his life after recognizing and repenting of his sins. Repenting, Rev.
Jackson — a fundamental tenet of Christianity. No, Jesse, Monica
Lewinsky is no Delilah and Clinton is no Samson. Don’t make me laugh.
Forgive me, but he has more in common with the jawbone of the ass Samson
used to slay his enemies.

Ministers like Jackson and Wogaman do a disservice to their nation,
their creed and their God with biblical analogies based on either
ignorance or purposeful distortion. Imagine if Nathan, rather than
boldly standing up to David and exposing the king’s secret crimes, had
instead curried favor with the throne. Imagine if Samson, instead of
owning up to his own failures instead hid behind the skirt of Delilah,
blaming the temptress for his sin rather than his own lusts.

The next thing you know, these spiritual quacks are going to be
comparing Clinton’s personal trials to the persecution of Christ.

What kind of a society do men like Wogaman and Jackson desire anyway?
One in which there is no accountability for sin and crimes — even for
the highest official in the land? That’s not the kind of society the
Bible inspires. Such misrepresentations by men of the cloth are as
hideous and insidious as Clinton’s own high crimes and misdemeanors.