In recent political news, the Attorney General of Connecticut Richard Blumenthal came under fire for making statements throughout his career about his service in Vietnam. As it turns out, he was never in Vietnam. Blumenthal’s response was that he “misspoke” about his service in Vietnam. He didn’t lie, mind you, he just misspoke. Ok, bottom line, he was either in Vietnam or he wasn’t in Vietnam! If he said he was and he really wasn’t, that’s a lie! Sad to say, but we’ve come to expect them in politics.

What’s even more sad to say is that “evangelistically speaking,” or stretching the truth, or exaggerating a little, and embellishing a little here or there finds its way into the pulpit from time to time. This is not a light issue. This is a matter of integrity. This is lying! This is sin in the worst of all places for sin to be, in the pulpit!

Liberty University has launched an investigation into Ergun Caner’s background. Caner, dean of Liberty’s seminary, has seen enrollment triple during his tenure, however, critics have raised questions about Caner’s testimony.

It appears that in some of his speaking engagements Caner has claimed to be raised in Turkey instead of Ohio, raised in a devoutly Muslim home instead of a nominally religious home, trained as a jihadist, and debated dozens of Muslims, one of whom says he has never met Caner.

Caner’s response was that he may have “misspoke” during his more than 20 years in the pulpit. Wait a minute. I’ve heard that before. Let’s see...where did I hear that? Oh, right, those were the same words Blumenthal used!

Now either Caner was raised in Turkey by devout Muslims or he was not! Either he was trained as a jihadist or he was not! Either he has debated every one of the Muslims he claims to have debated or he has not! Either he told the truth or he lied! Truth does not get fuzzy just because someone has been preaching for 20 years, does it? Preachers do not get a free pass for lying just because they have preached a long time, had success in numbers, and recruited a lot of students, do they?

It will be interesting to see what Liberty discovers and how they respond to this situation. It doesn’t appear that Caner will be exonerated, especially given his admission of misspeaking. However, if he is, great! I would much rather a preacher be proved a truth-teller than a liar!

If he is guilty of greatly embellishing his story, then the best course of action to take would be confession and repentance. And if truly guilty, it sure would look more authentic if he were to admit to any discretion before Liberty completes their investigation. Otherwise, it will appear that he had to admit his guilt instead of really wanting to set the record straight. I believe he will find more sympathy among his brothers if he just gets gut-level honest and asks for forgiveness, none of this “misspoke” stuff!

At the same time, if his statements are proven true - his critics need to openly apologize as well!