“How could you do that?” is the lament that every human being has heard or said in his or her lifetime.

From the beginning of time, people have wrongly assumed that if you come from the right family, live in a good home with a stable nuclear family in a good neighborhood, work in the right job at the right pay that you will come out all right.

That is not always the case.

The way a human being turns out rests entirely in the hand of that man or woman alone.

Being exposed to the right circumstances under the right conditions only offers the opportunity to achieve the right result. It can never guarantee the right outcome.

That is solely the prerogative of the person, his conscience and his God.

God has given us the power to choose and we are always inclined to make the wrong choice.

Culture, ethnicity, position, wealth, power, privilege or religious denomination do not prevent this failure. Baptists, Pentecostals and Catholics all have their missteps.

Every four years, the Republicans and Democrats court your vote by telling you everything that is wrong with the country is the fault of the other party and its policies. They try to persuade you that there will be a miraculous turnaround in the fortunes of the country if they are elected and their programs are implemented.

Yet spectacular failures and horrific flameouts abound during Republican and Democratic administrations.

There is something more basic and sinister at play here.

Whether you are spiritual or not it, is undeniable that there is some unexplained force or demonic influence that is causing men to go haywire.

What prompted Martin Luther King Jr. to engage in an extramarital affair?

How about Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger conceiving a love child with a housemaid in the California state house? 

What drove Rev Jesse Jackson to produce a child outside of his marriage and his son to commit crimes that landed him in jail for 30 months?

What about the rabid racist Strom Thurmond’s sexual dalliance with a black maid thereby producing a half black daughter?

How do you explain the adulterous patriarch Joseph Kennedy and the lecherous Kennedy clan?

Why did Mary Winkler shoot and kill her much beloved Pastor and apparently perfect husband?

Bill O’Reilly, the combative Fox News pundit who has repeatedly spoken out against domestic violence, now stands accused of the same crime.

How could Senator Gary Hart derail his presidential campaign for a weekend tryst with Donna Rice on the island of Bimini?

Should we mention Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky or Senator Larry Craig of the “wide stance” fame which was the pickup signal for illicit homosexual activity in the nation’s airport toilets?

You may be familiar with them under the names Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren.

For the majority of their lives, they tried to show us how to manage our lives but yet they could never get their act together.

The most recent bombshell is Josh Duggar of “19 Kids and counting” fame. It has been revealed that he molested 5 underage girls while he was 15. He has tendered his resignation as executive director of the youth arm of the Family Research Council. TLC, the television channel that hosted his family’s program, has pulled all their episodes off their air with the statement, “we  are deeply saddened and troubled at this heartbreaking situation, and our thoughts and prayers are with family and victims at this difficult time.”  There was no further comment.

Why did Samson continue to court unfaithful Philistine floozies?

Why could not King David be satisfied with learning that she was the wife of Uriah the Hittite and leave well enough alone?

How could Solomon the wisest man worship foreign gods and idols?

THE PROBLEM

God gives, forgives and keeps on giving.

Man gets, forgets and keeps on forgetting.

When he is called out for his wrongdoing , he invariably assumes an arrogant stance and his words become stout as recorded in the book of Malachi.

He offers plausible reasonable, rational and logical explanation for his shortcoming.

He pretends that it is no big deal and we are making a big fuss out of something that is an oversight and completely uncharacteristic. He expects a slap on the wrist and everyone to continue on as if nothing occurred.

 Yet when it happens to him and is the fault of the other guy it becomes inexcusable and we should “hang em high.”

People will act right when it is convenient and they are in the public eye and will say all the right things suitable for the occasion. However, behind closed doors all hell breaks loose.

Years of working with the homeless and incarcerated have taught me one very important thing. People are natural born selfish hypocrites and will say anything to anybody in order to advance their own personal agenda. They all have a propensity toward and an unseasonable delight in doing evil.

A man left alone with his own devices and no corrective measure in place will always go off the deep end.

The power to choose often results in the wrong choice.

THE SOLUTION

There is a scientific fact, first proposed by Isaac Newton - a Cambridge University professor. He also happened to be a Christian.

“A body at rest or in motion will stay at rest or in motion until it is acted upon by an external unbalanced force.”

 If you extrapolate that to human behavior –the inference becomes: it is not within the body to correct or adjust his or her status.  He or she will remain stuck in the mire or continue along a destructive path unless he or she is confronted or arrested by a superior force.

You need an external force or influence to move or stop you. Furthermore, this entity has to be stronger than you and you must respect, revere or fear it.

God has a plan for your life but Satan also has a plan for your life. His desire is to sift you like wheat and drag you to hell with him.

You must always be aware that when you would do good, evil is present with you and you must discipline yourself to find the right path and follow it to the end.

You must hide the word of God in your heart so that you will not be induced to sin, praying always, “lead me not into temptation but deliver me from evil.”

You must do as Moses warned the children of Israel, “And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart. And thou shalt diligently teach them to thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the post of thy house and on thy gates.” Deuteronomy 6: 6- 9.

The word of God was never to leave their consciousness. They were to meditate upon it day and night and do nothing contrary to the word of God.

How did it work out?

The Bible says even after they had sworn to Moses and his successor Joshua and with a stone of remembrance in their midst, they still went astray and every man did what was right in his own eyes.

Some cautious soul concerned with all the turmoil surrounding him penned years ago,

In the morning when I rise give me Jesus.

Every moment of my life give me Jesus

You can have all of this world just give me Jesus,

And when I come to die give me Jesus.

It is a moment by moment daily walk to make it home safely. Your personal mantra must be, “I may sin tomorrow but today I am not going to sin” and when you wake up the succeeding day, say and do the same thing over again.

You must ponder the path of your steps.

You must avoid situations that will make you weak, tired, hungry or sexually aroused.

Disaster can occur in a moment of weakness or a fleeting temporary lapse in judgement.

You must remain sober and vigilant for Satan is prowling about seeking to devour you.

He is no respecter of persons and he will take a shot at you.

You must create good habits and make them your slaves, taking them wherever you go.

Pastor Terrell Matthews, whom I have written about in these columns  and who is thoroughly familiar with the problems above says, “When I went into that church so long ago and got down on my knees, I refused to rise until I was certain that everything bad about me was being left at the altar. I do not expect to do wrong now and try my best to avoid evil situations. However, if I ever do wrong, I do not waste time being sorry for me. Knowing from what and how far the Lord has brought me. Knowing what I know now that sin could be deadly and destructive. And before going in I would know what I was about to do was wrong and things could end up badly and I still would do it anyway. At that point, all you should tell me is sit myself down, shut up and allow God to deal with me.”

Whatever it takes to keep you reminded and grounded such as your WWJD bracelet, crucifix chain, spiritual CDs, Bible on tape, promise ring or a pebble in your shoe that irritates you when you walk.

Just do it.

Until the time you reach the sunset of your life, you must think right, act right, stay right and keep on the right track so  every little thing will be all right.