"O.J., Bill & David"

    Do you remember Ron Goldman? He was the innocent bystander who was cruelly murdered while trying to protect Nicole Simpson. A book about him written by the Goldman family described the subsequent O.J. Simpson trial they were forced to watch, in a way that I will never forget.

"The arrogance that permeated the courtroom was suffocating. You could smell it, taste it… We decided that Defense Attorney Robert Shapiro needed a third eye. As the camera panned, he and Carl Douglas constantly monitored it, so that they could alert the defendant to stop joking and grinning and tapping out a tempo with his fingers. Lights! Camera! Action! Time to wipe the eye. Time to bite the lower lip."

    In other words… there were two pictures of O.J. Simpson during the trial. One was the emotional, contrite individual we saw on television. The other Simpson was described by the Goldman family as arrogant, selfish and completely capable of brutal savagery. Which picture do you believe?

    Then, there are the two sides of Bill Clinton. One is a man who oozes sincerity and compassion when he says, "I feel your pain!" Another side of Bill shows him saying whatever is necessary to stay elected. Do you remember this? "I may have smoked pot, but I never inhaled!" (or this one) "I did not have sex with that woman!" Does anyone recall Jennifer Flowers or Kathleen Willey?

    Do you believe the side of Clinton who said this? "I don’t think there is a fancy way to say that I have sinned. It is important to me that everybody who has been hurt know that the sorrow I feel is genuine – first and most important my family, also my friends, my staff, my cabinet, Monica Lewinsky and her family, and the American people. I have asked all for their forgiveness."

    Is he sincere or just another O.J. Simpson panning for the cameras and arrogantly laughing behind our backs? After all of the lies, why should the American people believe him yet again?

    Then there is David: Do you remember his tryst with Bathsheba? Instead of fighting with his troops, David becomes intimately involved with the wife of one of his finest soldiers. She becomes pregnant. He covers up the affair by having her husband killed. Does it sound familiar?

    Well David almost gets away with it, but for the prophet, Nathan. He skillfully traps David with the story of a poor farmer who has his one and only lamb stolen by a wealthy landowner. David’s reaction is fury…"any man who would do such a thing deserves to die!"

    Then Nathan points his finger and says to David, "You are that man! …For you have murdered Uriah and stolen his wife." Here is the important part. There was no six-month waiting period and no lurid Starr Report costing 40 million dollars. David immediately confessed to Nathan and said, "I have sinned against the Lord." (From 2 Samuel 12) David paid an awful price for his sins, but God forgave him because he confessed and expressed a genuine desire to change.

    What can we learn from O.J., Bill and David?

• We are to appreciate and utilize what God has given us… not lust after someone or something we were never meant to possess or enjoy.
• When we do sin… it is vital that we be willing to confess and accept the consequences.
• Genuine repentance means striving to really change… not just the appearance of change simply to avoid punishment.

    No matter what punishment ultimately overtakes O.J. Simpson and Bill Clinton, I know they have lost a priceless treasure: their integrity and our nation’s trust. May we learn from their grievous sins and strive all the harder to be the Godly people we’ve been called to be.

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