The "God" Factor

We briefly quote the following AP news item from Friday, January 25^th, under "fair use" rules.

HOUSTON (AP) - John Clifford Baxter, a former vice chairman for Enron Corp., was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head early Friday in a car in a southwest Houston suburb in an apparent suicide.

(end quote)

The announcement of Baxter’s death drew little more than a passing mention, Friday, on Rush Limbaugh’s show. But it marked a new low in the sad story of Enron’s rush to financial judgment.

Those who care enough about the Enron Corporation’s fall from grace to comment about it over coffee usually fall into one of two camps.

Republicans who defend anyone wearing a suit and tie.

And Democrats who haven’t owned a suit or tie in years.

May I humbly suggest there’s a third opinion that deserves a second look?

What about God’s opinion?

No, I can’t quote chapter and verse, "Thus saith the Lord" about Enron. But we do have a few blanket precepts that could most certainly apply. "Thou shalt not steal" and "Thou shalt not bear false witness" among them. How about, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you?"

It doesn’t sound like management was following the golden rule when it unloaded its own Enron shares, all the while encouraging employees to buy, buy, buy.

What we clearly had in the case of Enron was at best a series of moral lapses and at worst, outright theft and obstruction of justice.

Two weeks ago, over coffee, a Christian friend brought up the topic of Enron. He was not surprised by the total collapse of the giant energy corporation.

"You could have seen it coming when they ripped off the Christians," my friend began. Tex continued, "The management of the company all claimed to be Christians. They took advantage of their brothers. They brought this mess on themselves."

What Tex was talking about was a small Internet venture initiated by Enron officials that had sucked in the two of us and many more in my neck of the woods. The moral giants from Enron had packaged together a bunch of coupon offers and a poorly managed Internet Service Provider; then charged people more than $300 to get into the multi-level marketing scheme.

My friend signed up about 250 people in our valley before the "opportunity" went belly up. He had promised many of his customers that they would not lose any money on the deal. The business was run by the Christians from Enron. He would personally vouch for the integrity of the offer and those who made it.

Tex ended up shelling out BIG bucks to protect his reputation and prevent losses for his downline when things went south for what had been known as "I exalt."

Was this business one of the fabled "off books" industries that sent the paper shredders whirring at the offices of Arthur Andersen and Company? I couldn’t tell you that for sure…and with little more than scraps of paper to go on, Congressional investigators may never know that either.

But then again, they might actually prefer it that way. You see, Enron gave huge chunks of change to the re-election committees of numerous Congressmen and Senators. Such gifts went to many of the people now conducting the Enron hearings…

Those that like to wear suits and ties…and those that wish they hadn’t worn them in years.

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