Pastor Rick Jackson
Jerry Falwell went to be with the Lord recently and it didn't take the enemies of the gospel long to rejoice that his voice was silenced while lamenting that it had ever spoken. Every now and then you read something that just makes your blood boil. For me, it was Cynthia Tucker's article entitled "Falwell was GOP's prophet of intolerance"in yesterday's Gainesville Sun and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The article was a hodgepodge of lies, idiocy, hypocrisy, arrogance and ignorance. I have never claimed to agree with everything Brother Jerry did but then I don't agree with everything anyone does. I don't even agree with everything I do! I have no doubt that Jerry Falwell was one of God's men, nor do I doubt for a minute that at least for this article, Cynthia Tucker was the Devil's mouthpiece. As Christians we must be careful not to be a spokesman for the wrong side (Peter made that mistake as have we all).
We need to see the tools of the Devil's mouthpiece, to be not ignorant of his devices, to beware the wiles of the Devil. We need to separate the factual from the fictitious. You may be thinking, why bother? She's just talking about a man. The problem is her attack isn't just on Jerry Falwell, which would be bad enough, but her attack is on the Word of God and the God of the Word! Let's compare her article to the genuine article, the Bible!
I. THE TOOLS OF THE DEVIL'S MOUTHPIECE
1. MISREPRESENTATION
By the time of his death last week, Jerry Falwell had become a caricature, a victim of his egomania and verbal excesses. The organization he founded in 1979, the Moral Majority, had long since disbanded and his name had become associated with right-wing dogma. He will be remembered as much for his ridiculous pronouncements — such as blaming gays and feminists, among others, for the 9/11 attacks — as for anything else.
This tool is one Satan used in Eden on Eve (Gn. 3). Tucker resorts to name calling here and purports to know the heart of Falwell when she doesn't even know her own heart (Jer. 17:9). The Moral Majority lives on today in various groups and individuals. She implies the MM was ineffective while decrying the affect it had on America!
Dogma is "a settled opinion or belief". Falwell's name is associated with right-wing dogma just as certainly as Tucker's name is associated with left-wing dogma. It's a badge Falwell wore with honor. The pronouncements she alludes to were most likely taken out of context but certainly America's sins played a part in God allowing the 9/11 attacks.
2. HYPOCRISY
Nevertheless, his influence on American politics has, sadly, been profound. He and his fellow theocrats have created a climate of intolerance for diversity, distrust of science and disrespect for the wall of separation between church and state. Thomas Jefferson would weep for the republic he helped to birth.
Falwell was not a theocrat. He did not think God would directly control the country. But he did want the blessing of God on the country. He knew that a theocracy was not in the plan of God until the millennium. But he did want America to return to her Christian roots.
Intolerance? What about Ms. Tucker's intolerance for the Christian worldview? Diversity has it's limits. Do we accept the Ted Bundy's of the world in the name of diversity? Bible Christians don't distrust science, we distrust science falsely so-called (I Tm. 6:20). Science isn't afraid for people to see the pros and cons of theories but the evolutionists have no tolerance for any other viewpoints. Thomas Jefferson would weep for the republic he helped birth but not because of his fellow Virginian Jerry Falwell but because of people like Tucker who take his words and twist them to say the opposite of what he intended. Separation of church and state in Jefferson's mind was to protect the church from government intrusion, not to make sure no Christian thoughts were ever publicly expressed by Christians even if they were government officials.
3. LIES.
Falwell was among a handful of ambitious activists who saw the potential in marrying the Republican Party to ultraconservative Christianity, an alliance that magnified the influence of the South in national politics and boosted the fortunes of a born-again governor named George W. Bush.
We could easily change this quote around. "A handful of ambitious activists saw the potential in marrying the Democratic Party to ultra-liberalism, an alliance that magnified the influence of certain individuals in national politics and boosted the fortunes of a power hungry governor and his wife."
Falwell openly stated he learned from the liberals how to influence government. But it wasn't ultraconservative Christianity (ultraconservatives see Falwell as more liberal than themselves) but she tries to paint Falwell with an unflattering caricature. Evidently she feels we Southerners shouldn't have as much influence in government as others- aren't we Americans too?
Ascendant Christian conservatives forced traditional Republicans — those who believed in a more circumspect government that stayed out of adults' bedrooms as well as their pockets — to swallow their principles.
Traditional Republicans and old time Democrats had always backed the laws the liberals destroyed and removed.
The Grand Old Party is now hostage (what?) to a group of flat-earthers (We are not a flat earthers and neither was Falwell) who deny evolution,(because it's not true) mock gays,(preach against all sexual sin) denounce stem cell research, (have no problem with adult stem cells which have already proven to be helpful but deny the right to kill babies to harvest cells that have never been proven to help fight any illnesses) suspect contraceptives (?) and believe all Muslims are going to hell. (Jn. 14:6 any who reject Christ-even Baptist preachers!) Indeed, some of them actually want a conflagration in the Middle East because they believe it will hasten the Second Coming of Christ. (Ridiculous accusation. Notice how she misrepresents Christian eschatology.)
The rest of her article is likewise filled with misrepresentation, hypocrisy and downright lies.
And that's not all. When Bush ascended to the White House, he allowed loyalty to him and to Christian fundamentalism to dominate the hiring process. Competence no longer matters. Neither do top-notch educational credentials and expertise. Applicants are judged on their fealty to Bush, the Republican Party and the dogma of Falwell, Pat Robertson and James Dobson. (not that I agree, I think she's overstating it, but she would rather have them judged on their loyalty to abortion on demand, welfare and other special interest groups).
Graduates of fundamentalist Christian institutions, especially Falwell's Liberty University and Robertson's Regent University, have been given free rein. (Well respected but less dogmatic universities founded with a Christian mission, such as Notre Dame, are suspect.)
She shows her ignorance of true Christianity with that.
Regent law school graduate Monica Goodling — who recently quit the Justice Department because of her central role in the scandal there — was given broad control over hiring attorneys, despite her limited experience.
I don't know about this particular case but given Tucker's track record of innuendos, playing loose with the facts and suspect implications I'd question her facts anywhere.
In his book "Imperial Life in the Emerald City," Washington Post reporter Rajiv Chandrasekaran wrote that similar loyalty tests were used in the hiring process for those charged with rebuilding Iraq. Never mind whether you could speak Arabic or knew anything about getting the electricity grid to work. Two applicants told Chandrasekaran they were asked their views on Roe v. Wade. Given those priorities, the reconstruction process was doomed from the start. [People with an axe to grind aren't the most reliable sources but then Tucker doesn't really seem to care about that. Given that the liberal media has done everything it can to turn the public against the Bush administration I'd say it was hampered from the start!]
Democrats, too, have been intimidated by the religious right and brainwashed by the idea that "values voters" can turn an election. The values endorsed by theocrats, however, are dangerous to democracy. Jefferson, whose letter to the Danbury Baptists spoke of the wall of separation between church and state, understood the grave risks of allowing the religious views of any group — large or small — to dominate civil institutions. Doesn't the sectarian strife in Iraq tell us all we need to know? [Again she misuses Jefferson's letter to the Baptists, he wasn't warning them, he was reassuring them. The strife in Iraq indeed tells us this is a war in the hearts and souls of people and the same thing will happen here if America doesn't return to God.]
The war on science fostered by fundamentalist Christians is also dangerous to a nation struggling to maintain its economic hegemony. Our major universities do not produce enough scientists or engineers to keep the nation competitive. [This has nothing to do with Christians, the dumbing down of America came after kicking God out of our schools.]
President Bush should have launched a major initiative to boost scientific education, as the nation did in the 1950s and '60s. [Note how she tries to blame Bush for this, wasn't Clinton president of 8 years?]
If the nation is to free itself from its addiction to Middle Eastern oil, we need a program of federally funded research into alternative fuels that has the urgency and priority of the Manhattan Project. Instead, the president has ignored, until quite recently, evidence of man-made climate change and refused to fund broadened stem cell research. [She's using the shotgun approach now, nothing is connected but she makes it so.]
Perhaps it's no great surprise, then — though I was dumbstruck by the spectacle — that three Republican presidential candidates would raise their hands during a debate and say they do not believe in evolution. [The majority of Americans don't either, and many scientists are beginning to see the failure of the evolutionary thought. It doesn't gel with known facts.]
(I wondered if they would also swear off antibiotics, since evolutionary theory lies at the foundation of modern biology.) [A lie. "The basic laws of science, the laws of thermodynamics, are precisely predicted by creation theory. They show that evolution by strictly natural processes violates natural law, and therefore is impossible. Furthermore, a look at the fossil record provides no evidence that evolution did occur: No basic category of life ever changed into any other basic category. This even includes dinosaurs, mentioned in the Bible as dragons and preserved in legend from every continent, especially China. The fossils show sudden appearance and stasis, just as predicted from the creation model. The incredible design of living things demonstrates the necessity of a Designer behind it all. Neither natural selection and mutation, or any other theory of evolution, provides a credible explanation for this high degree of order. Many scientists throughout the world have recently abandoned evolutionary theory. It has never been supported well by science. In fact, most of the great scientific giants of the past were Christians and creationists. Because of this view of nature, the West has prospered in science and technology in recent centuries. Large groups of creationist scientists exist today in Europe, America, Korea, Russia, Japan, Australia, and throughout the world.
The Bible identifies man as created by an all-knowledgeable God. His body is well-designed for life. Given the chance, the body will maintain and heal itself. Eastern medicine utilizes great wisdom that the West has to a large degree forgotten. To use the body's own defense mechanisms is a Biblical approach, but makes no sense from a chance-driven evolutionary viewpoint. In fact, evolutionary thinking has done great harm in medicine, for instance, in deeming certain useful organs as vestigial, evolutionary leftovers. This comes from lack of knowledge and wrong thinking...
Many degenerative diseases, such as cancer and arthritis, are not totally understood. To some extent, they are genetically controlled, but most, if not all, are brought on by environmental factors and/or personal habits, such as smoking, alcoholism, improper diet, worry, loneliness, fear, stress, bitterness, or grief, each placing an undue burden on the immune system. Likewise, in those countries where sexual freedom is championed, venereal diseases of all sorts rage, and antibiotics are less effective now. Unwed mothers, abused children, dysfunctional families, etc., are the tragic offshoots of these undesirable practices. Homosexual behavior leads to a much reduced life span, even without AIDS.
The Bible gives guidelines for living which reduce instances of disease, if followed. Self-control in these areas, reliance on a local community of believers for support, a focus on eternal things, and the love and care of an extended family all reduce disease and promote overall health, and a society without these influences will degenerate rapidly." Dr. John D. Morris is President of the Institute for Creation Research.
Falwell is dead, but the damage of his fundamentalist revolution is already done. [Falwell is more alive now than ever. The salt and light he helped provide probably has given America more years of life than if he had never surrendered to the Saviour.]
II. THE TOOLS OF THE LORD'S MOUTHPIECE (MT. 16)
1. Saturate yourself in the revelation of God (v. 15-17)
2. Savour the things of God (v. 21-23)
3. Surrender to the will of God (v. 24-27)
