N2odart

I have already searched this topic and found lots of good information but have not fixed my problem yet. Any help would be appreciated.
I have an 88 Cherokee that I recently purchased and have not had running yet. It has a 4.0 automatic in it. The guy that I bought it from sold me a parts Cherokee with no motor a few years back. He pulled the motor out of the parts Jeep and put it in the one that I recently bought. He claimed that he has had the Cherokee running, but I am not sure. It has spark, I hear the fuel pump kick on, I have fuel on the rail. He told me that the crankshaft position sensor was likely bad and that their was a replacement in the glove box. The replacement had all the insulation burned off of the wires. The Haynes manual says to check this sensor for continuity and that it should have none, open continuity means good crankshaft position sensor. I checked the sensor in the Jeep and its continuity was closed, I checked the sensor with burned insulation past the burnt point and it was closed and I checked the new sensor that I bought and it also was closed continuity. I would have to assume that this is not an accurate test like the Haynes manual says. I also checked the plug to the CPS and it seems fine.
Heres where it gets weird. It would seem that somehow, probably a plug in jump start box, that all the insulation is burned off of the ground side of the battery cable, it still grounds but I am going to replace it. The 6 or so 12 gauge wires that also ground at the same point to the block as the negative battery cable look like they were likely burned through as well and poorly spliced, twisted, and taped back together. I am going to clean these up as well, but I would think that they would still ground. I checked the fused links that are close to the battery and none seem to be burnt out. I also checked the large electrical disconnect on the drivers side by the master cylinder and none of the wires look burnt at the connector.
The only other thing that seems strange is that the key switch will not energize the starter, I tried in park and neutral, I can however crank the motor over with a screwdriver from underneath with the key on. I also can crank the motor over with the start relay that is close to the battery. I have checked the injectors wiring with a voltometer and nothing. I also checked for continuity of the injector wiring and both sides go to ground.
I tried to be thorough before I asked my question. I am stumped. I searched. And I do have a good amount of mechanical ability, I am just missing something. Any and all help will be appreciated.

N2odart

Anybody have any ideas? I picked up a 4.0 Commanchee today to compare it to. I might swap the computer out if anybody thinks this is a good idea??