Biography: Reverend Jerry Falwell.
Reverend Jerry Falwell's last column encourages Christian students to work towards preserving religious freedom in schools.
Reverend Falwell is now with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Well done, good and faithful servant.
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Update 5/16/07
Found this article so accurate about the terrible hate-spewing vitriol that is coming from the loonie left.
5-16-2007
Assassinating the Dead
by Gary Schneeberger, Senior Media Director of Government and Public Policy
The media’s coverage of Jerry Falwell’s passing was deplorable in the way it let his critics unload on him.
Jerry Falwell would not be surprised.
He probably wouldn’t even be as disgusted as I am – because everything I’ve heard about him over the last 24 hours indicates he was ever gracious when facing down the media firing squad that took aim at him in 1979 and kept its crosshairs fixed for the next several decades.
But me, I guess I’m not feeling quite so gracious after seeing stories about his death topped today with headlines like “He was a uniter and a divider” (USA Today); “For New Generation of Evangelicals, Falwell Was Old News” (The Washington Post); and “Falwell: one of a kind, thank God” (The Globe and Mail of Toronto). And that’s just what showed up in the print media.
On CNN’s Larry King Live, anti-conservative ax-grinder Mel White, founder of the pro-homosexual organization Soulforce, called Falwell “the face of homophobia.” Even worse, the show that follows King’s on CNN, Anderson Cooper 360, sought expert analysis from Christopher Hitchens, a Vanity Fair reporter and author of the new book God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.
“The empty life of this ugly little charlatan proves only one thing,” Hitchens said. “That you can get away with the most extraordinary offenses to morality and to truth in this country if you will just get yourself called reverend.
“If he read the Bible at all -- and I would doubt that he could actually read any long book -- he did so only in the most hucksterish, as we say, Bible-pounding way.”
All of this leads to one question: Is this the kind of news – and I use that word more loosely here than I may have ever used it in my life -- we’ll see on the sad day when someone like the Rev. Jesse Jackson passes away?
Of course not. Jackson will be the subject of hundreds of TV hours and newspaper column inches hailing him for his decades of courageous stands for the causes he believes in. Sure, Jackson has been no less controversial than Falwell, and he has no shortage of personal and political critics. But those people will not be given a worldwide stage, just hours after he’s breathed his last, to call him an “ugly little charlatan.”
And that’s as it should be.
It is deplorable for any news organization that expects to hold the public’s trust to open the vitriol floodgates the way so many did Tuesday after Falwell died. It’s one thing to note that he was a polarizing figure on the national stage; that’s documented, fair-to-report fact. But when an obituary story or TV segment contains as much savagery about someone as it does appreciation for him, when a headline suggests the most important thing about a man’s life was that some people didn’t like what he stood for, there can be only one explanation for it: the media are taking one final shot at someone they have always despised. And you can predict, with almost 100 percent accuracy, that anyone subject to such treatment will fall somewhere to the right of center on the ideological scale.
Focus on the Family Chairman Dr. James Dobson, who knows a thing or two about being attacked by the media for advancing Christian principles in the public square, put it this way during his segment on Tuesday’s Larry King Live:
“They tried to make him look like a clown. There was an effort to marginalize this man because he had such political influence. And as a result, people saw him in a way that was simply not accurate.”
How sad, how sorry, that this character assassination followed the Rev. Falwell to his grave. Thankfully, as fellow followers of Christ, we can be assured it has not followed him to heaven.
© 2007 Focus on the Family. CitizenLink is a registered trademark of Focus on the Family.
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11 comments:
Perfect time to remember some of the things he said:
# “AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals”
# "It appears that America's anti-Biblical feminist movement is at last dying, thank God, and is possibly being replaced by a Christ-centered men's movement which may become the foundation for a desperately needed national spiritual awakening."
# "If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being."
# After the September 11 attacks Falwell said, “I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen."
# “Christians, like slaves and soldiers, ask no questions”
# “[Homosexuals are] brute beasts...part of a vile and satanic system [that] will be utterly annihilated, and there will be a celebration in heaven."
Indeed, a worthy servant of the christian god.
It appears that the apology he gave to the gay community doesn't matter to someone like you who hates the man.
According to this article a so-called "anti-memorial" is being planned in the city, where gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders plan to speak out about Falwell's past efforts to demonize the gay community.
Guess they decided to take a lesson from the playbook of Fred Phelps' ugly cult and have stooped to his level of contempt and vitriol after all?
It appears that the apology he gave to the gay community doesn't matter to someone like you who hates the man.
It appears as though you are in error. He retracted his apology just last week.
The Republic is better for his passing.
Jody,
I listened to that broadcast at the link you provided and came to a different conclusion than what you stated.
Rev. Falwell told Ms. Amanpour that he believes that God had lifted his shield of protection from our land because all of us, including Christians have stood by and allowed ALL of the godless, secularist agenda to take root in our nation. All of them combined are attempting (and, unfortunately, in many cases succeeding) to take our Judeo-Christian Founding morals, principles and ethics away from our nation. He most likely bases his opinion on this verse:
2Ch 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Christians are as much at fault as any other sinners. We desperately need a revival in this nation. The way to do that is to seek my (God's) face, and turn from their (our) wicked ways; then will I (He) hear from heaven, and will forgive their (our)sin, and will heal their (our)land.
Personally, I think that it is a miracle that we haven't been hit, on such a grand scale as 9/11, again. Those who are praying for our nation, have been seeking His face, and have been turning from our wicked ways, and as a result, have brought back God's shield of protection. However, our land, of course, is not completely healed. That won't happen until the Great Physician, Jesus Christ, returns.
Christine, I expressed no judgement of Falwell, other than saying he was a worthy servant of the christian god. I thought we agreed in that.
Juan,
Oh please...I'm not that naive! If your goal was "not to place judgment on Falwell," then you wouldn't have listed what secular America found disagreeable about the man. You would have listed how his ministry touched thousands, if not millions of lives for Christ, and his accomplishment of creating the Christian college, Liberty University, and how his missionary efforts helped feed and cloth the poor, sick and destitute.
Didn't know about all of that? You need to start watching a channel other than CNN.
Or, if you did know about all of that, then you were totally disingenuous in your second comment here.
Oh wait! I get it now! You meant that because you view the Christian God as a tyrant and evil, then it's only natural that Falwell should be deemed the same...just like the Christian God he followed?
Ohhhh....NOW I get your drift!
WorldNetDaily letters to the editor re: Rev. Falwell -
WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2007
Falwell: A clear preacher of truth
Jerry Falwell was one of the greatest evangelists who ever lived. No one articulated the message of Christ better or more clearly.
As a man, he had moments of weakness and failing, but they were minor compared to the immense good he did in preaching the Gospel to all the nations. Today, as most televangelists preach their false doctrine of money, Jerry was steadfast in his message, straight out of the Bible and into the hearts of millions and millions of lost souls, many who found Christ through his teaching and testimony.
I will never forget his last appearance (in 2006) on the "Savage Nation" radio show. Despite the host's berating comments, casting his own personal doubts of the singularity of salvation by Jesus Christ, Jerry spoke with such simple, clear eloquence about the unpopular truth that there is but one way to God, and like that singular act of Christ being tortured and killed on the cross for our salvation, Jerry took that host's barbs and replied more clearly than any man I've ever heard speak that hard truth.
Today, the world lost a great man of God, and we are all diminished by the extinguished light. There is coming a time, very soon, when the moral majority in this nation will need to stand up for America's foundation, or lay down in submission to godless rulers. Bury Jerry Falwell in that foundation, but we'll see him standing with Christ at the end of our days.
Art Drexler
A culture warrior
Jerry Falwell did more to mobilize evangelicals than any other leader in the nation. He not only inspired them to become active politically, he encouraged them to rethink their positions on a host of issues, especially abortion and school choice. In 1979, he established the Moral Majority, welcoming Roman Catholics into the organization. He also founded Liberty University, an institution of higher education that quickly made its mark on American society.
Jerry was a great fighter in the culture wars. He was both an exemplary evangelical and a renowned social activist, always exuding the kind of moral courage so often lacking in religious leaders of all faiths. He will be sorely missed.
Bill Donahue, president, Catholic League
Christine,
Happy you got my drift. That's precisely what I meant.
We both agree Falwell was a worthy servant of God. We just disagree on the moral qualities and overall worthiness of that deity.
Juan,
You sound so much like Christopher Hitchens. You must be so proud...
5-16-2007
Assassinating the Dead
by Gary Schneeberger, Senior Media Director of Government and Public Policy
The media’s coverage of Jerry Falwell’s passing was deplorable in the way it let his critics unload on him.
Jerry Falwell would not be surprised.
He probably wouldn’t even be as disgusted as I am – because everything I’ve heard about him over the last 24 hours indicates he was ever gracious when facing down the media firing squad that took aim at him in 1979 and kept its crosshairs fixed for the next several decades.
But me, I guess I’m not feeling quite so gracious after seeing stories about his death topped today with headlines like “He was a uniter and a divider” (USA Today); “For New Generation of Evangelicals, Falwell Was Old News” (The Washington Post); and “Falwell: one of a kind, thank God” (The Globe and Mail of Toronto). And that’s just what showed up in the print media.
On CNN’s Larry King Live, anti-conservative ax-grinder Mel White, founder of the pro-homosexual organization Soulforce, called Falwell “the face of homophobia.” Even worse, the show that follows King’s on CNN, Anderson Cooper 360, sought expert analysis from Christopher Hitchens, a Vanity Fair reporter and author of the new book God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.
“The empty life of this ugly little charlatan proves only one thing,” Hitchens said. “That you can get away with the most extraordinary offenses to morality and to truth in this country if you will just get yourself called reverend.
“If he read the Bible at all -- and I would doubt that he could actually read any long book -- he did so only in the most hucksterish, as we say, Bible-pounding way.”
All of this leads to one question: Is this the kind of news – and I use that word more loosely here than I may have ever used it in my life -- we’ll see on the sad day when someone like the Rev. Jesse Jackson passes away?
Of course not. Jackson will be the subject of hundreds of TV hours and newspaper column inches hailing him for his decades of courageous stands for the causes he believes in. Sure, Jackson has been no less controversial than Falwell, and he has no shortage of personal and political critics. But those people will not be given a worldwide stage, just hours after he’s breathed his last, to call him an “ugly little charlatan.”
And that’s as it should be.
It is deplorable for any news organization that expects to hold the public’s trust to open the vitriol floodgates the way so many did Tuesday after Falwell died. It’s one thing to note that he was a polarizing figure on the national stage; that’s documented, fair-to-report fact. But when an obituary story or TV segment contains as much savagery about someone as it does appreciation for him, when a headline suggests the most important thing about a man’s life was that some people didn’t like what he stood for, there can be only one explanation for it: the media are taking one final shot at someone they have always despised. And you can predict, with almost 100 percent accuracy, that anyone subject to such treatment will fall somewhere to the right of center on the ideological scale.
Focus on the Family Chairman Dr. James Dobson, who knows a thing or two about being attacked by the media for advancing Christian principles in the public square, put it this way during his segment on Tuesday’s Larry King Live:
“They tried to make him look like a clown. There was an effort to marginalize this man because he had such political influence. And as a result, people saw him in a way that was simply not accurate.”
How sad, how sorry, that this character assassination followed the Rev. Falwell to his grave. Thankfully, as fellow followers of Christ, we can be assured it has not followed him to heaven.
© 2007 Focus on the Family. CitizenLink is a registered trademark of Focus on the Family.
This letter-to-the-editor writer at WND says it so well:
Falwell bashers fulfilling prophecy
The hatred being poured out on Jerry Fallwell by liberals is the fulfillment of biblical prophecy (I John 3:13): "Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you." If liberals want to prove we are wrong and the Bible is nothing but a bunch of old wives tales, then why do they keep confirming it by doing the things it says they will do?"
Larry Pierson
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