A shameful and humiliating end

Mark Creech - Guest Columnist OneNewsNow.com

Those who trust Christ alone for salvation and not their good works, the Bible teaches, are spiritually born anew and come to know Him. All those who trust in their own righteousness -- their own merits -- as their hope of heaven will at the final Judgment come to a shameful and humiliating end.

Jim Black, former Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, has been an exceptional achiever. He secured a college education and a doctor of optometry. He served in the United States Navy. He's been a successful businessman, garnering an estate of approximately $3.3 million.

As Speaker of the House, Black (72) served a record-tying four terms with former House Speaker Liston Ramsey. He has been, without question, one of the three most powerful men in the state, along with Governor Mike Easley and Senate President Mark Basnight.

Black has given more than 25 years of his life to public service. Current House Speaker Joe Hackney recently told the Raleigh News & Observer that Black had been a champion for alternative schools, small businesses and small pharmacies. He worked tirelessly for higher education, more specifically community colleges. The News & Observer rightly noted that most state initiatives in the last eight years "bear his fingerprints." The list of Black's efforts to improve the quality of life for North Carolinians is most impressive.

But in recent days, a haggard looking Black stood before a federal judge in Raleigh and plead guilty to a felony charge of accepting illegal gratuities, amounting to $29,000 from three chiropractors in exchange for favorable legislation. Only days later, Black would stand before a judge of the Wake County Superior Court and plead guilty to bribing former Rep. Mike Decker with $50,000 as well as a $46,000-a-year job for his son, Mike, Jr. Decker's vote for Black as Speaker would broker a power-sharing deal with former Rep. Richard Morgan, which would keep Black as Speaker and make Morgan co-Speaker. According to legal experts, Black is now facing jail time.

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