The Betrayal of the President

The Betrayal of the President

By Flip Benham
Updated September 29, 2000

"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you." John 15:12

Mr. Clinton's four-minute speech on Monday night, August 17th was a monologue of betrayal. He has betrayed us and we, the Church of Jesus Christ, have betrayed him. That's right! You and I have played a part in the betrayal of the President of the United States of America.

God is using this American tragedy as a sign and a portent to us and to the whole world that we do not love as Jesus does. We have moved from biblical love into the moral anarchy of tolerating every sinful behavior by forgiving everybody of everything without confession or repentance. Rev. Billy Graham was in such a hurry to forgive Mr. Clinton that he pronounced forgiveness before a sin was ever confessed. Rev. Phillip Wogaman (Mr. Clinton's pastor) and Rev. Jesse Jackson kindly condoned Mr. Clinton's every dalliance by reminding him that Jesus loves him and forgive his every "mistake." This is not biblical love. It is hate.

"The kisses of an enemy may be profuse, but faithful are the wounds of a friend." (Prov. 27:6). Rather than kissing this President and betraying him, we need to become his friends and love him as Jesus does. Most of us are hesitant to do this because what Jesus did in loving others seems so unloving. He loved enough to wound even his own disciples with the horror of their own sin. He is a radical surgeon going to the very root of the problem - sin. It is doubtful that God can use anyone greatly who He does not wound deeply.

Romans 8:1 is one of the most wonderful verses in the Bible: "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…" The little word "now" is revealing. It implies that condemnation had to come first, before one could find forgiveness in Christ. Someone had to love us enough to confront us with the hopelessness of our sinful predicament that we might reach out and ask Jesus to have mercy on us and save us. The instrument God uses to confront us with our sin is His Law. God's Law is the teacher that leads us to Christ. The Law is merciless and true in its judgment. It has never misdiagnosed anyone. We are left naked and condemned when it has done its awful work. It leaves no hope for us apart from the one solution God has provided - His Son!

Today, we as a nation want to hide from or bend God's Law to suit our own purposes because it seems so harsh. It doesn't appear loving at all. We don't want to be condemned and we don't want anybody else to be condemned either. So we tolerate everything and love no one. We must learn again what it means to love others as Jesus loved us. Otherwise, we may be betraying more than our President.