Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee may have
blood on his hands due to his Christian belief of "resist
not evil". (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is a Baptist minister. He believes the Bible to be the word of God and Jesus to be the son of God. Did his belief in the Bible and Jesus cause him to free violent criminals like armed robber, suspected child rapist and cop-killer Maurice Clemmons? Did the alleged words of Jesus in Matthew 5:39, "But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also" influence the Christian governor? (In The Age of Reason, Deist Thomas Paine wrote that this teaching "is assassinating the dignity of forbearance, and sinking man into a spaniel.")
As governor, Huckabee granted more pardons and commutations than had been granted in the previous 40 years. Salon reports that many of his decisions to forgive and pardon were in cases that involved his friends and fellow Baptist clergymen who had brought a criminal to Jesus.
Clemmons played on Huckabee's Christianity to win his release from prison. While incarcerated for robbery, burglary, theft and possessing a gun at school, Clemmons wrote to Huckabee, "I have never done anything good for God, but I've prayed for him to grant me in his compassion the grace to make a start. Now, I'm humbly appealing to you for a brand new start." Based on Matthew 5:39 what else could the Christian governor do but to let the young criminal free, to turn not only his cheek, but the cheeks of all of society including the four dead police officers, their families and the child rape victim?
Maurice Clemmons is not the only violent criminal Huckabee granted an early release to. He also freed a convicted rapist, Wayne DuMond. A fellow Baptist preacher, Jay D. Cole, had read the Bible and prayed with DuMond. Dumond said he had become "born again" and everything would be all right if Huckabee granted his release from prison. About one year after Huckabee released him DuMond raped and murdered a mother of three. Police believe he's also responsible for another murder committed after Huckabee released him.
Huckabee said on FOX News, "If I could have known nine years ago that this guy was capable of something of this magnitude, obviously I would have never granted a commutation. It's sickening," Based on Christian teachings found in the Bible, Huckabee, or one of his close Christian associates, should have been able to see into the future and would have known what Clemmons and the other criminals who repeated their violent crimes on other innocent people after Huckabee set them free were going to do. The gifts of the Spirit teachings, of which Christian pastor Huckabee would be familiar, teach that one of the gifts is the gift of prophecy. In fact, there are three places that mention the gifts of the Spirit and the gift of prophecy is included in all three instances. Why he and his Christian associates did not use this gift of the Spirit is not known. Someone with the gift could have prayed over the names of those Huckabee was considering for a pardon. Surely their Bible god would have informed them who would do good upon release and who would not.
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Comments
One of the stupidist columns I have read on this matter.
Yup, that was the crappiest piece of writing ever.
The gift of the Spirit that would have been appropriately used is the gift of discernment, not prophecy. Not all have this gift. Another gift of the Spirit is wisdom. Perhaps the writer should pray for this, as did Solomon.
I am always saddened by "experts" who do not research their topics.
No one knows what tomorrow brings. And no one wants to be responsible for bad things happening. Additionally, no one wants to pay to keep people locked up.
The Gift of Prophecy isn't a water fountain you turn off and on. If it was, every person who predicted the end of the world would have been right.
Despite everyone's good intentions--including Mr. Clemmons--issues much deeper than jailhouse religion arose. Mr. Clemmons reverted to his old patterns and didn't have the supervision or support to get him through the crisis point.
Mr. Clemmons didn't want to go back to prison, didn't want to commit suicide, and succeeded in getting himself killed by a policeman's bullet. Sort of a "gangsta" legacy for his 15 minutes of fame.
It would seem that your anger is more with God than with Huckabee. And I don't have to be prophetic to tell you that rebelling against Him is not a fruitful plan for your life. Please stop seeking sufficiency in the destruction of your fellow man's reputation, and start seeking it in the only place that it will ever spring eternally....Jesus. Stop adding to the hatred and divisiveness and begin learning about the One who is ready to lead you out of your anger and rage. Spend some time in His Word and let him teach you who He is. Stop using snippets of His Word to justify your anger. Just read the New Testament. Then, after you have truly bathed in His full counsel, come back and write an article about how He spoke to you and all of your frustrations. I guarantee that if you will really read it, your life will never be the same. He will offer you the greatest pardon of all.....eternal life in His kingdom.
Spencer and others, Has it occurred to you that article writer, Mr. Johnson, has read the bible and that is why he is a deist? You should read The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine! Then you'll understand why our Founding Fathers [including Thomas Paine} wanted to keep religion out of the government. If you do not feel anger re.what happened, then you have shut down part of your nature, meaning you are becoming unnatural. This is why the US has one of the highest crime rates in the world because chirstians want to leave everything in the hands of "the lord" and not take any responsibility. Huckabee should be called to account for all he has caused. We need leaders who use Reason to govern--not "revealed" religion-- which is nothing more than middle eastern superstition.
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