This week
I listened to the testimony of an FBI agent before a Senate Committee. I bet you know
who I’m talking about. Rather than use his actual name (which temptingly rhymes
with words I shouldn’t use), I’ll call him Peter Smirk.
Mr. Smirk’s bias
for Hillary Clinton and against Donald Trump was on clear display in text
messages he shared with his mistress, another FBI agent. When faced with the
evidence, he - unbelievably - defended himself by proclaiming that he is an
incredible patriot and would never, ever act out of bias.
It’s another
case of who you gonna believe - me or your
lying eyes?
Agent Smirk
wants everyone to trust that his inner motivations, attested to by him, should
trump (heh) the abundant evidence that he was acting to elevate one political
candidate and destroy another. The arbiter of truth is my inner world which
only I can see. I will, therefore, simply tell you my truth, and you better
believe it.
Wow. Try saying,
I wasn’t really embezzling that money.
The fact that my bank account went up by $100,000, and the store’s bank account
went down by exactly the same amount is not even relevant. I would never, ever
steal money. I'm a good person. And that’s the end of it.
Even closer to
home, I really, really love Jesus, and He
is the Lord of my life. You say I never attend church, never read the Bible,
cheat my customers, and more than once my wife has gone to the ER with broken
bones. That’s just your opinion. My heart tells me I am a true and faithful
Christian and a great husband. How dare you judge me!
Scripture has a
different approach than the beleaguered Agent Smirk (or the non-embezzler, or
the “true” Christian). Jesus said “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder,
adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander” (Matthew 15:19). In
other words, the outward actions are the only real evidence of inner truth.
When Christ
warned about false prophets, He said “You will recognize them by their fruits.
Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?” (Matthew 7:16).
We can’t read the minds or diagnose the motives. We’re going to have to go with the
fruit - what a person does, what the life actually produces
“A quick way to
come to wisdom about yourself,” says Andrew Klavan, “is to understand this:
you are what you do. You're not your good intentions. You're not your noble
feelings. Your deeds are what make you who you are.” (His entire article is great. Read the whole thing
here.)
The Bible says
there’s coming a day when what’s really in a person’s heart will be revealed (see 1 Corinthians 4:5).
Until then someone who writes exoneration reports before actually examining witnesses, who cheats
on his wife and lies about it, who texts his lover and promises to prevent the
election of one candidate over another, well, it's hard not to conclude such a man
is a liar and a cheat and the very epitome of biased. And the smirking of Mr.
Smirk doesn’t help.
