Chickens come home to roost

This past week I shared a message at Christian High's last chapel service from Psalm 15. One of my points was"Tell the Truth." J. Budwinski writes in a recent book about how there is a seven-step descent trail when it comes to lying. Each level down involves a different nuance for what too easily become the habitual liar. From telling lies to get out of situations caused by previous lies and even for the liar to beginning to believe the lies, there comes a place where the conscience has become so seared that a person invents different types of lies for any variety of people. When caught in a lie, the person who is called to the carpet may express surprise that anyone considers this such a big deal. After all, some might argue, everyone does it, so why get so upset?

This week's Time magazine's cover story reminded me of this problem that seems to be more prevalent than ever before. It read: "Sex. Lies. Arrogance, What Makes Powerful Men Act Like Pigs*." The *, it explained at the bottom next to the picture of a porker reads, stood for "No offense." (May 30, 2011)

Written by Nancy Gibbs, the article discusses the private lifestyle of French politician Dominque Strauss-Kahn and Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former Californian governor. I'm not hear to bash anyone here--after all, let him who has no sin cast the first stone--but read what Gibbs wrote about the very sad situation of the former Olympian and his wife:

"As for Schwarzenegger's latest revelation, it was agony to imagine what must have run through Maria Shriver's head when she discovered the truth. Here she was, daughter of a great political dynasty with its own zipper issues, who had drawn on her feminist capital to save her husband's career at a crucial moment in his gubernatorial campaign. In 2003, more than a dozen women accused hi of harassing and groping them through the years, including on the set of his film Predator. Shriver testified to his character in words that voters believed: 'You can listen to all the negativity, and you can listen to people who have never met Arnold, who met him for five seconds 30 years ago,' she said. 'Or you can listen to me.'

"Now it emerges that even as she was defending his honor, he was deceiving both her and the voters. Confronted by the Los Angeles Times, he admitted that all along he had been supporting the child he had with an employee more than a decade ago. That finally explained why, back in January, Shriver moved out of the house."

Here's a woman--whether or not you like her liberal Kennedy family--who apparently believed her husband's deceit and defended him, based on his lying promise that the allegations were false. While I can be very forgiving of immature and even bad behavior, lying is not something that sets well with me. When I used to catch cheater who then lied to me, I became triple angry. As if cheating wasn't bad enough.

In addition, I believe this is not a sin that God takes lightly. Consider the story in Acts 5 of Ananias and Sapphira, both of whom lied about giving all their proceeds of a recent sale of land. Nobody said they had to give everything to the church, but by lying, they wanted to make themselves look good. Both were struck dead. This is not an Old Testament story, which we often attribute in cases such as these. It takes place after the time of Jesus.

What I have written is being preached to me as well. I must watch what I say and let no lie come from my mouth. Becoming a habitual liar is way too tempting. Being a person of integrity is the only way to live.

End of the world...as we know it?

Although some may take delight in poking fun at 90-year-old Harold Camping and his ostentatious prediction that Judgment Day will begin on Saturday, I am not one who will do so.

First, some background so you can understand what I mean. In 1993, my wife and I visited my grandparents in the appropriately-named Paradise, CA. My grandfather was not church going, by any means, but in his later years he took an interest to religion on television. His favorite personality was Harold Camping.  Some may remember how Camping predicted that September 1994 would be “the end of history.” My grandfather totally bought into this idea and became a Camping devotee. (How much money Grandpa mailed off to this ministry, nobody knows.)

It was the last time I saw my grandparents, as both of them died less than a thousand days later. Soon after our visit, I did get a letter from Grandpa as well as paperback copies of both 1994 and Are You Ready? In the letter, he wrote in part, “I am amazed at the research he used to determine the time dates (sic) found in tracing man’s history thru the scriptures.” My father talked to Grandpa after September 1994, saying Grandpa was disappointed, though he continued to watch Camping’s show.

In the late 1990s, I made friends with polygamists in Manti, Utah who belonged to The True and Living Church of Jesus Christ of the Last Day, which is led by Jim Harmston. For several years in a row, I met regularly with Apostle Bart Malstrom who, at the time, had five wives and fourteen children .We had a good relationship as we participated in very cordial but straight-to-the-point conversations.

In June 1999, I went to lunch with Bart and another apostle. I was told: “Eric, you and your family need to join the church as soon as possible. Jesus is coming back this year.” Specifically, Jesus was supposed to return to Manti, Utah in the fall of 1999. When I asked them about the possibility that Harmston was wrong, Bart strongly stated, “I guarantee you that what we’ve told you is true.”

When I returned to Manti the following June, I tried to get into contact with Bart, but he wouldn’t meet with me. Calls to him were ignored. Perhaps he thought I would mock him. (Honestly, I wasn’t going to.) Since I had promised him a book that I had coauthored  (Mormonism 101, published that year), he had two of his wives find me one night in front of the temple as I witnessed at the Mormon Miracle Pageant.  

Because Bart wouldn’t talk to me, I decided to set up an interview with Dan Simmons, the president of the church and second only to Harmston.  When I asked him about the failed prophecy, Simmons responded, “The people were not prepared. It involves all of us, myself included. Spiritually, physically, emotionally...we were just not ready.” All responsibility for the failure belongs to the followers, not the prophet.

However, Simmons said, the prophecy wasn’t necessarily “failed,”  suggesting that time could go backward. Although he admitted that this had never happened before, Simmons looked at me and said, “With God, all things are possible.” Bart eventually left this church; I have never seen him again. (For more, see http://mrm.org/topics/miscellaneous/apostles-manti-predict-end-part-2)

Of course, I do believe in Judgment Day. And Jesus will indeed return. When? Nobody knows. Even if He came on May 21^st, I will rejoice. But if He does not come according to Camping’s specifications, how many will be affected? Will a number of his followers leave the faith, as did many Jehovah’s Witnesses after 1975 when the Watchtower’s prediction failed? Will many possibly reject the message of Christianity because they associate Camping with Christian pastors? The potential ramifications are, unfortunately, numerous.

I’m sorry, but on this, I will not play the role of Elijah who mocked the Baal priests at Mt. Carmel. Instead of joking about or ridiculing the situation, I find myself greatly saddened. I just think a rash prophecy given by a known false prophet with a checkered past is no laughing matter. Fellow Christians, let’s be ready to pick up the pieces since people are not collateral damage.