In the last Langstaff Letter, I wrote an article entitled “What Happened to Joe Biden?” I sought to give an overview of who Joe Biden is and what he has stood for. In addition, I sought to explain how I thought he changed after being elected President of the United States. I received many favorable responses. In the midst of it all, a thought-provoking response from a reader and good friend of mine.

As they point out in a later letter to me, “I wasn’t seeing your newsletter as being “deficient”… just was expanding on the areas where I felt Mr. Biden showed his true character (unfortunately)… You did an excellent job.” 

I am going to do what I normally do not do. Since I felt the reader had some significant points about Joe Biden, I am going to reproduce most of their original response. I have highlighted phrases and added some titles to make it more readable. Well, here is their response.

Pastor Alan,

Well-written and with much to think and pray about. However, I think you missed a couple of key items. I have mused over three of them. I thought you might want to hear some “extra” thoughts along the same lines…and beyond?

JOE BIDEN & CATHOLIC THEOLOGY

1. When Clarence Thomas released his semi-biographical documentary a year ago, it had video of Biden’s strange interactions with Thomas about natural law, saying, “You know and I know what is really involved here, even if the others don’t!” (I am paraphrasing from memory, though I have the recordings on VHS myself).

Natural law is extremely important in the Catholic theological arguments for opposing abortion since only one tangential verse in Exodus really treats the subject of the fetus as being a true “person”: if, in a fight between her husband and someone else, that “someone else” harms a wife/mother AND/OR HER CHILD IN THE WOMB, then the eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, life for a life principle applies under Mosaic Law…meaning, apparently (though it is sometimes disputed) CAPITAL PUNISHMENT for the offender.

Natural law, however, is well-known in traditional Catholic circles as “proving” an unborn child’s personhood: as Peter Kreeft, a Catholic apologist, has put it, “abortion is murder by definition…(1) the life involved is HUMAN, (2) it is INNOCENT, (3) it is DELIBERATELY BEING PUT TO DEATH, and (4) this is accomplished by another MORALLY-ACCOUNTABLE human being.

Hence, as a “good Catholic,” even without overtly taking a pro-life position biblically in any of his previous lower-court rulings, it was obvious that — by believing in “natural law” generally (as many previous Supreme Court Justices had, though a newer “pragmatism” has been gradually winning out instead over time in new appointments) — Clarence Thomas was IMPLICITLY “pro-life.”

But even as Democratic senators Ted Kennedy and (also the1972 presidential candidate) George McGovern (in contrast with his pro-life running mate Sargent Shriver) had gone public as suddenly “pro-choice” ‘Christians’, so Biden, by that time, surely (though less publicly??) also changed position (he was elected to the Senate in 1972, with Roe v. Wade then coming up and being decided the very next year, 1973).

So Biden participated, in 1989-1992 (I forget the exact year now –close to the same time-frame as the first Iraq War?), in the attempt to sabotage Thomas’ nomination….but Thomas wisely did not “take the bait” when Biden tried to draw him out. Biden wasn’t smart enough to be successful in his “fishing expedition” to entrap Thomas…and so, once the Anita Hill allegations went nowhere, Clarence Thomas was approved by the Senate after all.

But did Biden have a conflicted conscience on all of this? Though he was “sort of liberal” on Civil Rights issues, he was not, until later years, a clear abortion advocate. Can a person, though, be duplicitous in that kind of way without SEARING one’s own conscience somehow? Did he quench whatever of the Spirit had been wrestling with his soul when he not only changed positions (in order to “keep in step” with his party), but actually attempted to “lead the charge” to prevent a “conservative Catholic”, like Thomas was, from gaining a seat on the Supreme Court?

Did Thomas’ courage, persistence, and unwillingness to “cave” make Biden himself feel even more “guilty” than he already did?….

JOE BIDEN & ACCUSATIONS REGARDING ADULTERY

2. I don’t recall the exact time-frame for the next matter, but — presumably? — sometime after Biden’s wife and daughter were killed and he felt betrayed or “fooled” by God somehow, his best friend at the time recounts that Joe had an affair with his wife Jill…leading eventually to their divorce (I don’t know when the friend found out about the affair, whether prior to or after the divorce), after which of course Jill married Joe (which seems odd, then, for the Pope to recently call Joe Biden “a good Catholic”, when he stole another man’s wife, caused her to divorce, and then Joe married her without benefit of an “annulment” of the friend’s and Jill’s marriage first).

Deliberate ignoring of the marriage covenant, after first committing adultery with his then-best friend’s wife, and then marrying her, does not commend Mr. Biden’s character or “Christian” fidelity to God and His ways, specifically. As was argued when Clinton had sexual liaisons, which were made fully public during the Monica Lewinsky scandal if a man doesn’t honor his oaths “under God” in marriage, why should we trust him to keep faith “so help me God” as a government official? Someone who can lie that egregiously for selfish reasons in one area of his life could surely lie just as quickly and effectively in other areas of his life.

Meanwhile, the press did know about the circumstances of Biden’s adultery during the campaign…but of course, they deliberately chose to say nothing about it, even while continuing to chide Donald Trump for his own past sexual transgressions instead.

JOE BIDEN & HUNTER BIDEN

3. The Hunter Biden scandal — which you rightly said “is another story” — nevertheless involves his father in a very significant way. Biden is caught on tape bragging about how he engaged in a threatening “quid pro quo” with the president of the Ukraine, making clear that he would personally hold back any foreign aid/military preparedness funding from the U.S. to that country unless the Ukraine president ended its own government’s chief investigator’s digging into corruption claims regarding Joe’s son Hunter (who was clearly not qualified to sit on the board of a Russia-based energy firm which supplied much of Ukraine’s oil and gas fuel needs — and yet, there he was!).

Later in the 2020 campaign, a former business associate of Hunter came forward with proof of his own, to supplement and confirm evidence found on Hunter’s abandoned laptop (which was subsequently turned over to the FBI by Rudy Guliani, who had been entrusted with it by the repairman into whose hands for “fixing” and safekeeping Hunter had initially given it, then not paid for services rendered).

Amidst that evidence was clear evidence that Hunter was sending his father 10% (or in some cases more?) of every “deal” overseas he had been involved in — China especially, also Russia, Iran, Rumania, that we know of so far — which has to be in breach of not just good ethics but also of federal laws against taking “bribes” coming from foreign governments to curry favor, influence trade or other business decisions, etc. (Biden was the sitting vice-president of the U.S. while these various “deals” were taking place.)

— So Money, Sex, and Power (as explained by Richard Foster)– the gold, the girls, the glory (yourself in Hedges) — were all involved in Biden’s efforts to further his own career and to advance NOT his country’s own interests, primarily, but rather the agenda of both the Democratic Party (at times) and his own family (most of the time).

From 1972 to 2022, this is fifty years of corruption and betrayal of his country, his faith, his personal character. The level of duplicity and hypocrisy involved in Joe Biden’s life is therefore monumental, reminiscent of Nero Caesar or other oligarchs who used the people’s trust almost solely for the sake of personal gain.

It almost seems at times, as one tries to understand and decipher/discern the meaning of Joe Biden’s life, that he decided to “get even” with a God he felt he could no longer trust or count on to help him — and so he took his own “happiness” and lust for power, etc., into his own hands.

— So no wonder he keeps fumbling the ball as president: he has no divine Providence helping his efforts as “back-up”! And the fools who elected him are being shown by the Almighty just how badly they have misjudged the situation. Until they “wake up” and publicly mourn — and apologize? — for those decisions to elevate Joe Biden as their “champion” (especially, perhaps, in the media???), we can expect that the Lord Himself will likely NOT “intervene” in answer to the prayers of those suffering most. Not because God DOES NOT love us, but rather because He DOES….

He wants our hearts towards Himself, not just to “Save America” or to “Make America Great Again” or to secure a “win” in November for our mid-term elections.

So, besides the question “What Happened to Joe Biden?”, we need also to ask — and answer — the question, “WHAT HAPPENED TO AMERICA?” As Lincoln (and Gerald Ford) put it, “America is great only so long as America is good.” God forgive us and help us to change our hearts, before it is too late!

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

I need to add a few additional comments. Firstly, you may not agree with any or all that this reader has written, but they raise some significant issues that need to be addressed.

I must confess I was not aware of the accusations about Joe Biden committing adultery with Jill. It certainly did not receive much, if any, attention from the mainstream media. However, note these are accusations and have not been totally proven, although they are made by Jill’s ex-husband.

In the meantime, let us continue to pray for our leaders and also for America. 

If you have any comments or responses, I would love to hear from you.

RESOURCES

For reference to the accusation regarding Joe Biden and Jill having an adulterous affair see –

https://nypost.com/2020/08/17/jill-bidens-ex-husband-accuses-her-of-having-affair-with-joe-biden/

https://www.the-sun.com/news/1328687/joe-biden-jill-biden-affair-donald-trump/