Earlier today we did a post on Franklin Graham’s statement that Donald Trump’s adulterous affair with Stormy Daniels was “nobody’s business.” His views on these things have apparently changed. This 1998 piece is really revealing:
From the Wall Street Journal, August 27, 1998:
Few people have lived a more public life over the past 50 years than has my father, Billy Graham. I can assure you that the Billy Graham you see in public is the same one we children have seen at home. He has spent a lifetime making sure that his public ministry is confirmed in his private behavior.
The topic of private vs. public behavior has emerged as perhaps the central moral issue raised by Bill Clinton’s “improper relationship” with Monica Lewinsky. Much of America seems to have succumbed to the notion that what a person does in private has little bearing on his public actions or job performance, even if he is the president of the United States.
Last week Mr. Clinton told 70 million Americans that his adulterous actions with Ms. Lewinsky were a “private” matter “between me, the two people I love the most–my wife and our daughter–and our God.”
But the God of the Bible says that what one does in private does matter. Mr. Clinton’s months-long extramarital sexual behavior in the Oval Office now concerns him and the rest of the world, not just his immediate family. If he will lie to or mislead his wife and daughter, those with whom he is most intimate, what will prevent him from doing the same to the American public?
Private conduct does have public consequences. Some of Mr. Clinton’s defenders present King David of the Bible, one of history’s great leaders, as an example as they call on us to forgive and forget the president’s moral failings. Since God pardoned David’s adulterous act with Bathsheba, the reasoning goes, we should similarly forgive Mr. Clinton.
But forgiveness is not the end of David’s story. Huge consequences followed immediately. The prophet Nathan confronted David with the news that while his life would be spared, the life of his child would be extinguished after just seven days on earth. Bathsheba’s husband and others were killed in an attempt to cover up the illicit affair. David, who confessed his sin when confronted by Nathan (perhaps God’s special prosecutor), also witnessed a bloody coup attempt by his own son, Absalom. He was never the same king.
The private acts of any person are never done in secret. God sees and judges all sin, and while He seeks to restore the offender with love and grace, He does not necessarily remove all the consequences of our sin. As a boy I remember my mother telling me of the consequences of sin. Like a boat, whose wake can capsize other boats, sin leaves a wake. Just look at how many have already been pulled under by the wake of the president’s sin: Mr. Clinton’s wife and daughter, Ms. Lewinsky, her parents, White House staff members, friends and supporters, public officials and an unwitting American public.
Mr. Clinton’s sin can be forgiven, but he must start by admitting to it and refraining from legalistic doublespeak. According to the Scripture, the president did not have an “inappropriate relationship” with Monica Lewinsky–he committed adultery. He didn’t “mislead” his wife and us–he lied.
Acknowledgment must be coupled with genuine remorse. A repentant spirit that says, “I’m sorry. I was wrong. I won’t do it again. I ask for your forgiveness,” would go a long way toward personal and national healing.\
The scandal of Mr. Clinton and Ms. Lewinsky has forced us to examine the morality of public and private behavior with new intellectual and spiritual vigor. There needs to be no clash between personal conduct and public appearance. Throughout my life, I have seen consistency of the two in the Graham house. I pray this will also be true in the White House.
Thanks to Kyle Mantyla for sending this my way.
Franklin Graham is not the first court evangelical to forget about what he said in 1998.
Click here for James Dobson
Click here for Gary Bauer
I’m not surprised by the 180 degree turn these Evangelicals have taken since they used their strong personal Christian faith as a basis to publicly attack President Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky. Their behavior is consistent with those who worship political access & power above all else including the God of the Bible. They love to bludgeon their opponents with their self-proclaimed moral superiority while acting in a manner that was clearly condemned by Christ. Matthew 23 & Luke 11:37-54 spells out how Jesus felt about such hypocrisy and what their eternal reward would be. So have the so-called Evangelical leaders like Franklin Graham actually accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior or are they using the cloak of Christian faith to act just like the Pharisees as described by Jesus to glorify themselves? We can sum up how we can know what these Evangelical leaders are doing by their actions as Jesus stated in Matthew 7:15-20 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.” I wonder how they will feel after their mortal life comes to an end. Again, we can get a good idea from Jesus with Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”
There seems to be great/grave concern by these ‘religious’ to ensure the electee doesn’t ‘flip’ on them!
One guy was in office and lied on television to the public that he didn’t have sexual relations “with that woman…”. “That woman” provided proof to the contrary. The other guy has said nothing regarding something that has been alleged to have occurred years ago before he was president. If he did, he is a schmuck and a cheater. This is comparing apples to oranges.
Considering the barrage of Trump’s well-established worldliness you would think these evangelical leaders would not even consider parsing between the differences of the two, Clinton and Trump but it is clear as it has been clear for years the religious right have an economic agenda well beyond abortion and gay marriage.