As the possibility—without a miracle—of a Biden-Harris administration grows, in addition to the terror of an administration led by avowed Marxists, the ultimate nightmare has returned. Hillary Clinton has said, “I am ready to help in any way I can” when asked if she would take a job in a Biden administration because “I think this will be a moment where every American—I don’t care what party you are, I don’t care what age, race, gender, I don’t care—every American should want to fix our country … So if you’re asked to serve, you should certainly consider that.”
I like Bill and Hillary even though I disagree with everything they stand for. The Clintons are kind, nice and so very different from the way they are so often portrayed.
The first time I met Bill Clinton was in the strangest of places as I was in New York for the yearly opening of the United Nations. During that week, world leaders come to New York to attend the U.N. General Assembly, but the important business happens at the nearby Waldorf Astoria Hotel.
Working on getting help for the Assyrian Christians in Iraq, I happened to enter the exquisite bathroom in the lobby, and as I turned to my right, there, amazingly, was Bill Clinton. I stammered out, “President Clinton, we are trying to help the Christians in Iraq. Can you help us?”
After we had both finished, he said, “Sit down and tell me what the situation for the Christians is,” and there on the sofa in the exquisite bathroom at the Waldorf Astoria, he listened to the situation of the Christians and kindly offered to help with whatever he could do.
Hillary Clinton was in a much more civilized setting when she was on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Having heard about what a mean person she was, I hesitated to speak with her. Still, we had to talk, so after the hearings were over, I went up to her, prepared to be blown off. “Senator Clinton, would you have a moment to talk about the Christians in Iraq?” I asked.
The moment she heard the word “Christians,” she lit up with a “sure, sit down and tell me what is going on.” I think we were there for nearly a half-hour, and she was, just like her husband, kind, laid-back and almost sweet. I was taken aback. When we finished, she spoke to one of her staff and said, “Help them with whatever they need.” We have met many times since, among them in Baghdad, where she courageously came at one of the most difficult times.
As I pondered the dramatic difference in how these two people are personally—so different from all the wrong things they seem to consistently do—I began to understand just a little and I believe Bill and Hillary Clinton are a good example to all of us of “good” without faith.
General William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, put it this way over a hundred years ago when he said, “The chief danger of the 20th century will be religion without the Holy Spirit, forgiveness without repentance and heaven without hell.”
Bill and Hillary could be us, as they were at one time, people who loved God, saw the needs of the world and honestly wanted to make a difference. Looking back, I saw a wistfulness in both of them as we talked and prayed as they were being taken back to the days when they acted out of pure motives.
I believe “religion without the Holy Spirit” happened to them, so that in the midst of honestly trying to do good, they slowly began to compromise, small at first, a lie here, an unacceptable compromise there—all justified for the greater good—and one day, they realized they were in way over their heads and the second of Booth’s points kicked in as they had “forgiveness without repentance.”
After they got caught, they apologized and did all they could to cover up, but unable to stop the now seemingly unstoppable train without repentance, the wistfulness I see in their eyes as we talk and pray is a stark reminder to them of from whence they had come.
“Heaven without hell” was Booth’s reference to what takes over when we have compromised so much that we feel we cannot go back anymore and have forgotten that there is a “hell” to pay. Before we so loudly condemn Bill and Hillary Clinton—and believe me, from abortion to homosexual marriage to just about everything in between, there is a lot that we desperately disagree with—we need to pause and realize that, but for the grace of God, we would be there too.
Bill and Hillary are us, and as their private persona so clearly shows, they are both people who started out as believers, wanting to change the world for good, but got caught up in the “goodness,” lost their way and woke up one morning realizing they had come to a place of seemingly no return.
We must pray for them and at the same time examine ourselves, realizing that we too face the same challenges. As bestselling author and Charisma Media CEO, Stephen Strang of God, Trump and COVID-19 says, “this is spiritual warfare, and Christians must wake up” and the only thing that will keep us pure is to remind ourselves of the wise words of General Booth.
“The chief danger of the 20th century will be religion without the Holy Spirit, forgiveness without repentance and heaven without hell.” Bill and Hillary Clinton, once believers who wanted to do good in the world, lost their way, just as any one of us can do if we forget from whence we have come. {eoa}
Amir George is the author of Liberating Iraq and directs The World Helpline at theworldhelpline.org.
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