Scandal. The word immediately makes us imagine some sexual tryst that has caused a shakeup in a company’s leadership, kind of like the people busted at the Coldplay concert. We also might think of embezzlement when the books were fudged so that someone could pocket easy money. Scandals, though, come in many forms.
Through the years, a number of journalists have found their careers upended by scandal. As a kid, I grew up with Walter Conkrite and the evening news. After Cronkite’s retirement, Dan Rather took the spot and was viewed with respect and granted trust from the American public. Quickly, though, the trust and respect vanished.
In 2004, President George W. Bush was up for reelection. Evidently looking for a way to discredit the president, Rather and his producer, Mary Mapes “discovered documents allegedly generated by Bush’s commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Jerry Killian. They indicated that the future president didn’t have to endure a medical check and enjoyed glowing evaluations he didn’t necessarily earn.”1
The thrill of reporting such scandalous information was too much to contain and Rather put the information out on the CBS News. Big problem – watchdog groups discovered that the documents allegedly from Bush’s commanding officer could not be verified and were computer generated. Mapes was immediately fired and Rather’s last broadcast was March 9, 2005. A sterling career was disgraced by the hunger to share salacious news.
Brian Williams evidently never learned the lesson. Williams was covering the war in Iraq. As he reported in 2003, he said, “On the ground, we learn the Chinook ahead of us was almost blown out of the sky.”2 This is where it all began! Every couple of years, Williams added more details, involving himself more and more into the military action. By January 30, 2015, the story had morphed in Williams’ mind to the point where he said during an NBC Nightly News broadcast that the “helicopter we were traveling in was forced down after being hit by an RPG.”
“Facebook commenter Lance Reynolds cried foul. “Sorry dude, I don’t remember you being on my aircraft,” Reynolds wrote, per The New York Times. “I do remember you walking up about an hour after we had landed to ask me what had happened.”
Reynolds was a flight engineer on a Chinook hit by enemy fire during that 2003 incident, according to Stars and Stripes, which on February 6, 2015, published his eyewitness account and those of others on the Chinook helicopters.
“I can say with 100 percent certainty that no NBC reporters were on any of the aircraft,” Jerry Pearman, a lieutenant colonel and the mission commander, told the publication.
“Reynolds added, “When we saw Brian Williams, we were miles and miles away from
where the engagement happened. … It was something personal for us that was kind of life-changing for me. I’ve known how lucky I was to survive it. It felt like a personal experience that someone else wanted to participate in and didn’t deserve to participate in.”3
It is sad to see people’s lives wrecked by scandal. A moment of pleasure, a moment of inflated self-importance, a moment of greed – that’s all it takes to tank someone’s reputation and career.
In the Greek New Testament, we find the word skandalon. It’s the word from which we get the English word scandal. Revelation 2:14 says, “But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.”
Stumblingblock – skandalon! This is scandalous! The word literally refers to a hunter’s trap. The trap is held up by a stick. When the animal enters, they do something to knock the stick out of the way and the trap slams closed. The skandalon is the stick that holds the lid up. Some temptation led the animal into the trap, which was held up perfectly by a small, unstable stick.
Believer, does this scream anything in your ear?!? Can you hear the warnings coming from this? Satan has all sorts of traps held up by just a little stick. That stick might be a moment of indescribable pleasure and feelings of ecstasy. The stick could be an easy way to make some quick cash. The stick could be an ego that needs stroked and stoked. We think it’s so simple and easy. No one will know the difference. I can get away with this!
Bam! The trap slams shut, and we become like a caged animal, trying everything we can to get out of the trap. Lies grow, coverups get more elaborate, and we go deeper into the mess. By the time we are found in the trap, the damage has been done, and we have lost so much more than we gained.
This scares me and makes me want to be very conscious of the traps, recognizing that the scandalon is very small and it doesn’t take much before the trigger is tripped, the stick moves, the lid crashes down, and we are caught in a humiliating situation that may ruin us for good.
Never grow weary or complacent with the warning given in 1 Peter 5:8. Rehearse it daily. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”
1https://www.grunge.com/1917541/scandals-destroyed-reporters-careers/
2https://www.tvinsider.com/1173959/brian-williams-nightly-news-iraq-war-helicopter-controversy-revisited/
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