As a follower of Jesus, I am greatly saddened by the sudden fall of Liberty University President Jerry Falwell, Jr. I understand he is, like me, a lawyer. Like me, he lives in a fallen world where temptations to do shameful things are powerful. Sexual temptations are perhaps the most powerful for men. I know. I am not his judge, nor am I his better. I’m just sad, and even angry at how Jerry’s fall has tarnished the Christian witness of both the man and the university his father founded.
When humans make deals with the Devil, it never ends well. It turns out Michael Cohen was being truthful when he claimed to have helped Jerry by burying some damning photos of his three way sexual relationship with a pool attendant at a Florida hotel. And was it just a coincidence that Jerry publicly endorsed Donald Trump as a candidate for the Presidency of the United States? I don’t think so. Jerry made a deal with a man of wealth and power who exhibits virtually every Biblical characteristic of the evil spirit that is referred to as Satan, the adversary of God.
What on earth are you talking about, Bristol? Are you crazy? No, not by a long shot. Let’s make a list of those characteristics: Liar, Deceiver, Tempter, Destroyer of people and things, Sower of division, chaos and hatred among peoples created by God, Cynic who is quick to believe that Godly people act out of self-interest (remember Job?). Does any of this sound familiar? Of course it does. This is our President over the last three plus years. Our antiquated and undemocratic electoral system and the frustrations of millions of our citizens with “politics as usual” and “political correctness” thrust this ungodly and unhinged egotist into our highest political office. And the saddest thing of all? Like Satan in the Bible, he claims to be the Chosen One and rebels and usurps the very role of His Creator. Does he need to ask God for forgiveness? Not really, he recently admitted.
When Jesus was in the desert for forty days and tempted three times by Satan, He showed us all how to respond, how to resist temptation of the strongest kind. The third and last temptation was very relevant to our situation today, and the implicit “deal” many church leaders made with our President. The account in Matthew’s Gospel, at Chapter 4, verses 1-11, details how Satan took a weary and famished Jesus up on a very high peak, and offered to give Him all the kingdoms of this world (read this as power, wealth, opulence, unlimited pleasures) if only He would bow down and worship Satan. Jesus responded immediately by quoting from the Book of Deuteronomy in the Old Testament that: “For it is written, ‘worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.” (Deut. 6:13). Note: Jesus did not deny that Satan was the ruler of this fallen world.
Many leaders within the evangelical Christian church have made their own deal with the Devil, and their influence on untold millions of people all over the world has been both powerful and destructive. I have written about their Faustian bargain before, so you know what I mean. You may not like to hear it, but it is true. Those leaders have become loud cymbals of self-righteousness (to borrow a metaphor from Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth, 1 Cor. 13). They have bargained away their Christian witness to a hurting world in exchange for power and influence to achieve their political and cultural goals. They looked the other way when our President spewed out lies and hatred, when he separated small children from their refugee parents and locked them in cages, when he mocked the disabled reporter, when he referred to white supremacists and KKK and Nazi marchers as “good people,” when he....well the list could go on and on. The point is that they have destroyed any semblance of authentic Christian witness. They will be held accountable, both here and hereafter.
And their “deal” will not end well. They may well lose the very rights they seek to expand. Our President admires Putin and other ruthless dictators. Reporters who ask embarrassing questions in Russia end up falling off 20th floor balconies. And churches? No true freedom. Look what happened in Crimea when Russians moved in. Religious freedom for evangelicals evaporated into thin air. The same could happen in our country. I have well grounded fears that we may not have an election this November. No, our national leaders will intentionally stoke the coals of racial hatred and class divisions to such an extent that there will be a level of civil unrest and armed conflict that precludes an election. This will keep a minority President and his pathetic supporters in the Senate in power for an indefinite term, long enough to start or expand a martial law rule by edict that will be the start of making radical changes to our system. History will record the complicity of so many religious leaders. We all will finally experience real religious persecution.
The American church has been fundamentally impacted by our culture. In many ways, this culture of ours is antithetical to the teachings of Jesus, as well as the traditions of all three Abrahamic religions. Let’s take a quick look at the huge inconsistencies and contradictions between our American culture and Holy Scripture, and then I will close out this edition of the Bristol Epistle, and let God be my judge.
Culture: Individualism
Scripture: God, Family and Community more important than Individuals
Culture: Self Reliance
Scripture: Trust in the Lord, be God centered, not self-centered; work diligently as if your boss were the Lord
Culture: Maximize Pleasure, Minimize Pain or Suffering
Scripture: Joyfully suffer with those who are hurting; focus more on “others” than self
Culture: Exercise one’s legal rights to the fullest extent, for one’s own benefit
Scripture: Focus more on Responsibility than on Rights; give up the latter to benefit others and advance the Kingdom of God on earth.
Culture: Build up as much wealth as you can during your life, and protect it from others
Scripture: Be content with what you have; be generous to those in need; don’t worship money
Culture: Use political power and the law to secure benefits for oneself and legislate one’s faith
Scripture: Be in the world, but not of the world; pray for political leaders, be a good citizen, respect civil authority, obey the law except where directly contrary to Scripture
Culture: Borrow as much money as you can to live as comfortably as possible
Scripture: Debt is a prison to avoid; be content with what you have; do not covet or envy
Culture: Take great Pride in who you are, what you’ve accomplished, and blow your own horn
Scripture: Humility is a virtue worthy of attainment; do not compare yourself to others; empathize with those who are hurting, and turn that empathy into active intervention
Culture: Be very careful about getting involved in the problems of others, you could be sued
Scripture: We are to be especially active in helping those least able to help themselves
Culture: Individual privacy is more important than community health and well being
Scripture: Community health and well being much more important that individual privacy
Culture: Implicit and systemic racial discrimination is acceptable as long as I am not racist
Scripture: All races are equal in God’s eyes, and all unequal treatment based on race is unjust; when we see injustice, we should do what we can to correct it because God hates injustice
Culture: One should ignore laws that seem unreasonable; resistance is part of liberty
Scripture: Obey the civil law, even when we find it unreasonably restrictive of our liberty
Culture: Don’t trust your government, as power corrupts and you may be at risk of overreach
Scripture: Assume the best about the actions and intentions of others; stay alert and trust God
A FINAL WORD: Does anyone really wonder why of all the peoples on this earth, we are suffering the greatest number of infections, casualties and deaths from COVID-19, while we enjoy the greatest wealth, the most advanced scientific minds and the best health care system in the world?
God has an Answer: 2 Chronicles 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.”
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