It was bound to happen. A super-secret band of Navy SEALs stormed into Osama bin Laden’s hideout last week and killed him. No sooner than the dust had settled from their helicopters but phony SEALs crawled out of the woodwork to make undeserved grabs for glory.
The first one to make the news was Jim Moats, pastor of Christian Bible Fellowship Church in Newville, Penn.
Moats did serve in the U.S. Navy from 1970 to 1974. But he didn’t fight in Vietnam. He wasn’t a SEAL.
After spinning wild tales to his congregation and to a local newspaper about his harsh training and heroic exploits, his big lie was exposed and he confessed.
Moats isn’t the first who depends on public approval to borrow glory from military heroes. In the 2008 election campaigns Senate candidates Mark Kirk and Richard Blumenthal both exaggerated their military service — and won their races anyway.
Real SEALs who called out preacher Moats on details they found incredible weren’t surprised.
“We deal with these guys all the time, especially the clergy. It’s amazing how many of the clergy are involved in these lies to build that flock up,” said retired SEAL Don Shipley, who speculated that Moats had taken incidents from the movie, “Under Siege,” and reported them as his own experiences.
We’ll let Register readers think on these things and explain them in the privacy of their own imaginations.
— Emerson Lynn, jr.
