The morning after Hillary Clinton’s shocking defeat in the 2016 presidential election, her pastor sent her a message of hope and commiseration – as any good counselor or pastor would. The problem? Rev. Bill Shillady took this time to compare Clinton to Jesus Christ – and her loss to Good Friday.
According to CNN, the email was later included in a book soon to be released; Shillady packaged up his new book of devotions related to Clinton and her campaign. Strong for a Moment Like This: The Daily Devotions of Hillary Rodham Clinton features writings, devotions and musings on the failed candidate’s life, including one comparing her to Jesus.
Speaking to the Atlantic, Shillady even shared his belief that Clinton was considering becoming a lay preacher.
The book is based on a collection of emails that Shillady wrote to Clinton during her campaign. He states that the emails were a way to minister to the candidate during this busy season; the messages are from April 2015 through December of 2016, culminating in a devotional comparing the election loss to Good Friday:
“It is Friday, but Sunday is coming. This is not the devotional I had hoped to write. This is not the devotional you wish to receive this day. While Good Friday may be the starkest representation of a Friday that we have, life is filled with a lot of Fridays.”
Shillady’s message continues, comparing Clinton to Christ end the election to Good Friday, both seemed to end the hopes of “the Messiah who was supposed to change everything.”
“For the disciples and Christ’s followers in the first century, Good Friday represented the day that everything fell apart All was lost. The momentum and hope of a man claiming to be the Son of God, the Messiah who was supposed to change everything, had been executed. My sister Hillary. You, our nation, our world is experiencing a black Friday. Our hope is that Sunday is coming. But it might well be hell for a while,” he concludes.
Shillady continued this stream of thought when he spoke to CNN about his new book:
“I woke up that morning and it felt like maybe what the Apostles experienced on Good Friday,” he said. “Their leader, master, and savior was dead and gone and they didn’t know what to do.”
Comparing Clinton to Jesus was just the beginning of the controversy for Rev. Shillady, though; his attempts to publicize his book and his “writing” drew the attention of another pastor, the actual author of the publicized passage.
CNN shared the full text of Shillady’s email to Clinton, but received a nasty surprise after the original text aired. Rev. Bill Shillady is the author of “Strong for a Moment Like This” and even wrote the forward for the book and is even making appearances to promote it.
So, what’s the problem, beyond the obvious comparison to Good Friday?
Shillady may hold the copyright to the book, but he wasn’t forthcoming with the actual authors of some of the most emotional text. Some of Shillady’s passages are lifted from a blog post by another pastor; Reverend Matthew Deuel, of Mission Point Community Church in Indiana. Deuel saw the CNN piece, and contacted the news organization about his original work and the extreme similarity between the two pieces.
According to CNN, there are many similarities between the pieces:
In his original Deuel wrote: “Death will be shattered. Hope will be restored. Redemption is coming. But first, we must live through the darkness and seeming hopelessness of Friday.”
Shillady’s email to Clinton, which is also included in his new book: “Death will be shattered. Hope will be restored. But first, we must live through the darkness and seeming hopelessness of Friday.”
Speaking with CNN, Shillady described in detail how he arose at the break of dawn the day after the election to write this particular devotional passage, but neglected to mention that much of the passage was actually written by and borrowed from Deuel. When asked about the similarities, Shillady said he was “stunned” and apologized.
From the egregious use of Christ and Good Friday to sell books and soothe a losing candidate to the outright theft of someone else’s work, Rev. Shillady’s new book may not have the successful launch he was hoping for.
There is something really telling about the fact that Clinton surrounded herself with individuals who were willing to compare her to Jesus Christ. Over half a year after Clinton’s stunning defeat at the hands of Donald Trump, we are yet again reminded that America made the right choice.
~ Conservative Zone
