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Recently, I had opportunity to watch U.S. Senator Cory Booker publicly interrogate FBI Director Kash Patel. 

The inquisitor’s demonstrated vanity, hostility, and indifference to boundaries prompted the word “wicked.”

That descriptor fits Senator Booker like a shrunken jock strap.

The dictionary definition of “wicked” is “evil or morally bad in principle or practice; sinful; iniquitous.”

I have no idea what “iniquitous” means, but it makes me sound smart so I’ll leave it in. 

Going out on a limb, I’d bet Booker is “iniquitous.”

He’s not alone. By about any definition you can find, we are living in increasingly wicked times.

I like the word “wicked.”

If you’re careful, it’s an apt descriptor for a lot of people and things going on that shouldn’t be going on.

The careful part involves the temptation to use judgment and condemnation as a wicked determinant

Care for an example?

The four toughest experiences of my life would include high school, Vietnam, serving as a minority member of Asheville’s governing council, and chairing the Buncombe County Republican Party.

The latter made my list per that judgment and condemnation thing.

During a two-year tenure, I dealt with fine people.

I also dealt with not-so-fine people.

Most of those not-so-fine people would self-describe as conservative, Christian, and principled.

Perhaps my filter for fine versus not-so-fine is a bit tough, but it has nothing to do with being imperfect, mistake-prone, inconsistent, or unpleasant. 

We all walk into those webs.

My measuring instrument centers on the words “judgmental” and “condemning.”

As a rough estimate, about half those I dealt with in our local party were blind to this fatal flaw.

Speaking ill of criminals, the liberally-minded, the gender confused, their peers and/or about anyone with whom they disagreed, was somehow given an unofficial A-OK.

This viscous, dark, and mean-spirited application of judgment and condemnation was, by some, actually viewed as a sign of merit and virtue.

The why is simple.

As a Christian, I can say it out loud — one of the greatest impediments to attracting others to our faith is the judgment and condemnation we too often apply to that faith.

To the extent that the Bible only ranks one sin – blasphemy – the rest are pretty much lumped as behaviors standing against God’s will.

That means that a gay guy – no matter how badly some ministers butcher the Bible – is clearly running against God’s will.

 But so too is an angry, greedy, slovenly, immoral, and/or – pay attention here – judgmental and condemning person.

The local Republican group was exceedingly unpleasant for me for that one reason. They used judgment and condemnation to define who or what was wicked and who or what was not.

That’s using gasoline to put out a fire.

In fairness, my merry band was misguided on this one thing, but compared to the TDS-infected left, the misguided media, and our corrupted education system, these good folks were paragons of integrity.

Presuming my mission is not to condemn the condemning, what’s my point and how does one arrive at a determination of wickedness?

That’s the idea. You don’t. It takes someone more highly credentialed to make that determination. 

In my case, as someone who tries to be the hardest thing in the world, a Christian, I am compelled to give that power to God. 

That brings us to Cory Booker and a very important word – “discernment.”

Where judgment and condemnation are defined by emotions, animosities, and negativities, discernment strives for objectivity.

For Christians – at least the ones doing the uphill work associated with that calling – that means heading to the Bible and studying the difference between good and evil.

It’s not as hard as it sounds.

Moses gave us God’s Ten Commandments. 

Then there’s those little gems of wickedness – wrath, greed, pride, envy, sloth, lust and gluttony – appropriately called “The Seven Deadly Sins.” 

Jesus strongly recommended we consider his supreme commandments — Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and your neighbor as yourself.

Do those last two and you’re aiming for the stratosphere.

One needn’t be guilty of judgment to objectively suggest that most of us fall far short of most of these anti-wicked devices.

That’s discernment. You don’t get to make the law, but you can rationally, without malice, measure if someone has stumbled on that law.

And so, it would be my discerning suggestion that, empirically, there’s a lot of wickedness going on.

Dispassionately, I can also take the position that the Democrat Party’s platform, policies and practices, to the extent they violently violate most of the Commandments above, are wicked.

Drug abusers, criminals, sexual predators, violent people, and those who murder their own children are wicked.

And, yes, people who trade in judgment and condemnation are wicked.

I didn’t say that.

God said that.

If you see anything better coming from the hand of man, please let me know.