“People who are two-faced, usually forget which mask they are wearing at some point in their life.” ― Anthony T.Hincks
I believe that something is *off* with Jerry Falwell. I’m sure some of you wise guys are quipping, “So you just discovered this?” Up until this situation that I am about to address, I viewed Falwell as one of those guys who easily mixed politics with faith. I really, really hate it when churches and Christian groups do this. And, no, I don’t hate it only just *conservatives* do it. There are plenty of examples on both sides of the political aisle.
There is much more that I could write on Falwell’s business dealings but this post would be unwieldy. Perhaps I will do so in another post on unless Michael Cohen, who is out of jail due to the COVID thing, contacts me on behalf of an anonymous client…
I knew as soon as I saw that infamous picture that Falwell most likely has *a history.* So I did some reading.
What is Jerry Falwell Jr.’s net worth?
I think you might find this interesting. I sure did. Celebrity Net Worth put Falwell Jr.’s daddy, Jerry Falwell, at $10 million. His son is worth a honking $100 million.
He is the son of Jerry Falwell and became the president of Liberty University when his father passed away in 2007. Jerry Falwell Jr. graduated from Liberty University and earned his JD from the University of Virginia. He is a Republican who is married and has three children. He was in private practice from 1987 until 2007. Falwell Jr. joined the Board of Trustees at Liberty University in 2000. He endorsed Donald Trump and compared him to Winston Churchill. Jerry Falwell Jr. said that Trump offered him the position of the United States Secretary of Education but he turned it down.
Falwell’s history of alleged questionable behavior
Falwell is an outspoken conservative’s conservative, continuing on the legacy of his father. in 2019, Politico wrote ‘Someone’s Gotta Tell the Freakin’ Truth’: Jerry Falwell’s Aides Break Their Silence: More than two dozen current and former Liberty University officials describe a culture of fear and self-dealing at the largest Christian college in the world.
Apparently, Falwell is no stranger to the club scene.
On July 19, 2014, popular Swedish DJ John Dahlbäck performed at Wall, a nightclub in Miami Beach, Fla. That night, the club happened to have a photographer on-site to grab candid shots of the revelry
In a statement on August 21, Jerry Falwell denied the existence of any photo of him at the club. “There was no picture snapped of me at WALL nightclub or any other nightclub,” Falwell wrote. “I’m sure you already knew that though.”
When told that I had obtained a photo of him for this article, Falwell said I was “terribly mistaken.” “If you show me the picture, I can probably help you out,” he wrote. “I think you are making some incorrect assumptions, or have been told false things or are seeing something that was photo–shopped.”
After I sent him the photo, as well as a photo of Trey at Wall, Falwell responded: “I never asked anyone to get rid of any pictures on the internet of me and I never have seen the picture you claim is of me below. If the person in the picture is me, it was likely photo-shopped.” In a second email sent 23 minutes later, Falwell wrote: “But the bigger question, Brandon, is why would I want a picture like that taken down if I had seen it?”
World Red Eye published a bunch of photos of Trey (Falwell’s son) and Fawelll partying at the Miami nightclub which you can see at this link.
According to Politico:
(Falwell) was angry that photos of him clubbing made it up online. To remedy the situation, multiple Liberty staffers said Falwell went to John Gauger, whom they characterized as his “IT guy,” and asked him to downgrade the photos’ prominence on Google searches. Gauger did not respond to requests for comment.
Micheal Cohen (yes, that Michael Cohen), was allegedly hired to get rid of Falwell’s racy photos.
According to Reuters which posted: Exclusive: Trump fixer Cohen says he helped Falwell handle racy photos
Falwell, president of Liberty University, one of the world’s largest Christian universities, said someone had come into possession of what Cohen described as racy “personal” photographs — the sort that would typically be kept “between husband and wife,” Cohen said in the taped conversation.
According to a source familiar with Cohen’s thinking, the person who possessed the photos destroyed them after Cohen intervened on the Falwells’ behalf.
According to the Miami Herald in How cut-rate SoBe hostel launched Jerry Falwell Jr. ‘pool boy’ saga, naked picture hunt some of these pictures were of his wife in various stages of undress.
This report is not accurate,” Falwell told the Todd Starnes radio show. “There are no compromising or embarrassing photos of me.”
Three photographs have been seen by the Herald, however. They are images not of Falwell, but of his wife in various stages of undress. It is not known who took the photographs or when they were taken, and the Herald was not given the photographs and therefore has not been able to authenticate them independently. Two of the photographs appear to have been taken at the Falwells’ farm in Virginia, and a third at the Cheeca Lodge.
According to Politico Falwell sent out at least one photo to his wife in stages of undress to an employee. Some may find the following information a bit too graphic.
Longtime Liberty officials close to Falwell told me the university president has shown or texted his male confidants—including at least one employee who worked for him at Liberty—photos of his wife in provocative and sexual poses.
At Liberty, Falwell is “very, very vocal” about his “sex life,” in the words of one Liberty official—a characterization multiple current and former university officials and employees interviewed for this story support. In a car ride about a decade ago with a senior university official who has since left Liberty, “all he wanted to talk about was how he would nail his wife, how she couldn’t handle [his penis size], and stuff of that sort,” this former official recalled. Falwell did not respond to questions about this incident.
More than simply talking with employees about his wife in a sexual manner, on at least one occasion, Falwell shared a photo of his wife wearing what appeared to be a French maid costume, according to a longtime Liberty employee with firsthand knowledge of the image and the fallout that followed.
Falwell intended to send the image to his and Becki’s personal trainer, Ben Crosswhite, as a “thank you” for helping his wife achieve her fitness goals, the employee said. In the course of texting, Falwell accidentally sent the message to several other people, necessitating a cleanup.
In a statement, Falwell denied this. “I never had any picture of Becki Falwell dressed in a French maid uniform, and never sent such a non-existent photo to Ben Crosswhite.”
Crosswhite did not respond to requests for comment.
Falwell allegedly liked a photo of a half-nude model according to Pulpit and Pen.
Please go to this link to view the photo and article.
According to Pulpit and Pen:
he clicked on the little heart button to “like” a photograph of model Stefanie Guzanski, posing in a seductive, half-naked state. Guzanski is a famous model who frequently uploads nude or nearly nude photographs of herself on social media, and there’s no telling how many others Falwell has ‘hearted” in appreciation.
What’s all this stuff about the *pool boy* situation? It has a Godfather ring to it.
Go back to the Miami Herald post which briefly outlines it. It is totally weird.
Jerry Falwell Jr. smiled for the camera, a national evangelical leader nearing 50 posing next to a young man he had met poolside in Miami Beach.
The photograph shows Giancarlo Granda, a handsome, 20-something pool attendant whom Jerry and his wife, Rebecca, 52, befriended at the Fontainebleau hotel in 2012, and within months, would set up as part-owner and manager of a $4.7 million South Beach hostel.
It was an unusual partnership: The president of the largest Christian university in the world, a school that prohibits gay sex, agreeing to operate a Miami Beach hostel, regarded as gay friendly, in conjunction with a “pool boy” with virtually no hotel management experience after they met at the storied Fontainebleau, a favored South Florida vacation ground for the Falwells
The relationship between the Falwells and Granda forms the backdrop of an improbable Miami story that is causing political ripples beyond South Florida. It involves a multimillion-dollar lawsuit, the “pool boy” as he is described in the lawsuit, the comedian Tom Arnold, Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s now imprisoned political fixer, naked photographs — and a Miami father and son who say they were defrauded in a real estate deal then forced to change their names due to “threats.”
The viral picture of Falwell Jr which was posted by Falwell himself.
Falwell Jr posted the following picture of himself with his arm around his wife’s allegedly pregnant assistant.
The gut…the underwear tight against his stuff…the woman’s shorts barely covering her stuff, and his arm barely missing her breast…How could I get back my life prior to seeing this? Good night!!! Apparently they were partying on his yacht. He also posted this video at that *party* which was obtained by Pulpit and Pen.
His mea culpa which really wasn’t a mea culpa. Both he and the interviewer were yucking it up.
Special thanks to Amy Smith, Watchkeep, for the providing by Falwell. Listen carefully to his voice. Perhaps the audio might be defective but it sounds as if Falwell jr is slurring his words.
It was all in good fun?? Seriously, would they want Liberty students to party like this? Listen to his explanation. See if you buy it. I don’t. His family wants him to be a *good boy.* And who was that creepy interviewer?
My thoughts:
- I believe, given the outlined history in this post, that Jerry Falwell Jr has a problem. Is it a sexual addiction? Substance abuse? A need for control of others? That should be left to experts. I wonder if he would consult one? Probably not.
- Does his wife know that he liked the picture of a risque model? Does she know about her photos allegedly being passed around?
- $100 million can buy silence and cooperation.
- He actually hired Micheal Cohen!!
- He looks a bit too friendly with his wife’s personal assistant.
- I think most college presidents would be fired if they posted a picture like this.
- The fact he posted this picture of his own free will means he is missing something in his ethical code and judgement ability.
- If he did this, what else has he done? I gave a couple of alleged examples. I suspect that there is more that has been hidden.
- I think we will hear more stories about him in the future.
Suggestion to Liberty students.
Make sure you dress like Falwell and the pregnant assistant when classes start. It would be interesting to see how he reacts. And, if they give you a hard time,…tell them, “It’s all in good fun.”
First?
Both have their pants undone. He’s showing off his “moral majority”. Oh boy, you can’t stop people from giving them money but really? No matter how much abuse, no matter how many get hurt, these parasites keep raking it in..tax free. It’s not just evangelicals. This is why I can never go back to religion.
2?
If only it was just the “offense of the gospel” that turns people away from Christ rather than the offensive hyper-hypocritical behavior we seem to have so much of from “christian” “leaders”.
Whew! This trumps Pastor Locke and his Dunkin Donut tirade!
Some corners of the American church need to be sanitized and/or vaporized!
Yuk. I don’t want to see anything these people do or have. Farewell, Jr. is a class A hypocrite expecting so much more from students than from himself snd his family. The college halls should be empty.
3 things:
1- “People who are two-faced, usually forget which mask they are wearing at some point in their life.” ― Anthony T. Hincks
Excellent quote. Sums it up.
2- Thanks, Dee, for doing the research so we don’t have to. (Yucky stuff.)
3- “And who was that creepy interviewer?” Yukking it up. F̶u̶n̶n̶y̶. “Gospel Boyz will be Boyz?” Off message, for a: Christian. Married. Executive. U Prez.
Mega church pastor Jack Schaap’s 2010 sermon on polishing your shaft given at a youth conference outdoes Jerry Jr. >>> https://youtu.be/f8it-0T-z4s >>> Schaap is now in jail (due to be released in 2023)for his ‘involvement’ with a 17 year old.
Cohen recently was returned to jail but is in solitary confinement due to COVID concerns. He got sent back for being spotted in a restaurant so the COVID concerns must come and go.
Look at LU board of trustees. One is Jerry Vines, expert extrodinaire at overlooking the reprehensible. I believe an expensive building is currently being built on campus bearing his name.
Becki’s dad is in prison for fraud. Check out the recent youtube of maskless Jerry singing with others during a visit to Rob Reiner. Rules clearly don’t apply to Jerry.
If I heard right on the video, Jerry told Rob he is 58 and his wife is 53. Considering they met when she was 13 and he was 16, I found the math odd. Maybe I misheard. Numbers seems pretty fluid with Jerry and Becki.
Jerry is on Trump’s evangelical advisory oanel. Wonder if Tim Clinton of LU and AACC, who also serves on the panel, had any words for his boss? Crickets so far on Jerry’s behavior to date from other alleged evangelical leaders on the panel. SBC leadership has never spoken against Jerry’s behavior either but they are a zipped up bunch when it comes to evil in their camp.
Thanks for covering this, Dee! Too little is covered these days…pun intended.
I was hoping that Dee would post on this subject…. in fact, I was “itching” as soon as I saw the latest photos of Jr.
As many regular readers know, I spent 7-12 grade, 1972-1978, at a fundamentalist Baptist school. What I want to express is a perspective coming from that background. While as my daughter says, I am “ancient”; but, when one spends their teenage years under heavy handed, legalistic, pharacitical leaders, the long term damage can stay with you for a life time.
It is quite obvious, when one takes “The whole picture” of Jerry Falwell Jr, there is something seriously inconsistent/hypocritical, or worse…. with respect to him personally.
But, what REALLY bothers me is the effect on the Thousands of students of Liberty. They are expected to not just behave in a ultra “conservative” manner, the very “structure” of their Christian faith is built around this legalistic conservatism. That alone is mot healthy, but then to have the iron fisted president (i.e. Jr), behave the way he does is …. I am still struggling to express my thoughts on this manner…. sigh….
remember, these college students are still very young, almost as young as I was when under this “legalistic, fundamentalist” “mind game”…
So, in keeping with the “prime directive” of TWW…. the real victims hear are the Liberty students…
Dee, ugh, I did not know all of that. Feel like I need a shower.
Re: this photo, I’d like to explain, not excuse, but explain part what you’re seeing. Based on a video that came out later in the day from which this photo was screencapped, Falwell Jr. and friends were having a “Trailer Park Boys”-themed costume party. If you have watched TPB, you know that right there is not at all appropriate for someone in his position.
That said, his pose and her getup (minus the unzips) are not that out of line. He’s dressed as the character Julian. Knowing the setting is TPB puts it in a little bit better perspective – like from a level 10 violation to a level 8. When I saw Houston Chronicle reporter Robert Downen’s tweet, I was like “Whoa…” but later in the day the TPB thing came out, and I was like, “Ah, ok. I get it.”
Some background…in the mid-oughts I worked with a Canadian and in the summer he’d go home on vacation. One year he returned with some DVDs he’d burned of the show Trailer Park Boys, which was on only in Canada then. Not many people in the US are familiar with it, so if you’re not, it’s maybe on the level of the animated series South Park if not more crazy. It’s a mockumentary of people living in Sunnyvale trailer park, shot COPS style where they talk to the camera every now and then. It’s got plenty of F-bombs, marijuana, and booze. Wholesome stuff!
Now in Canada, it is my understanding, that TPB is somewhat of a national treasure(?). The TPB cast tour and are on TV specials, etc. in character. During the recession of 2008 I was working part-time retail at a Haggar store in Houston. One Saturday in with his parents a young man came in wearing a TPB shirt. I said, “Hey, Trailer Park Boys” and their eyes list up! “Wow, you’ve heard of it?” I said, “Yeah, my Canadian buddy bootlegged it for me a few years ago.” Turns out this young man had just earned a petroleum engineering degree from U Alberta and was in Haggar getting some suits for his first job out of college. He and his parents and I talked TPB and Canada for a while.
My father was born in Canada, I like hockey, the band Rush, and shoot, I listened to Gordon Lightfoot on my way to work today, so maybe there’s something genetic about it. “Carefree highway, let me slip away on you…” RE: TPB? I can neither confirm nor deny if I have enjoyed any episodes.
Todd
P.S. If you like the band Rush, and can stand F-bombs and weed, the episode “Closer to the Heart” Season 3 Episode 5 you’ll appreciate. (It’s on Netflix.) It features a fun cameo of Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson.
Jeffrey Chalmers,
There’s no way throwing a TPB-themed party would ever fly there I’m guessing. I went to a conservative Christian college (let’s say somewhere in between Wheaton and Bob Jones on the scale of rules) and this would be verboten.
Todd
Re:
“all he wanted to talk about was how he would nail his wife, how she couldn’t handle [his penis size], and stuff of that sort,” this former official recalled
— — —
Years ago, there was a news story about a pastor and his wife who were “swingers.”
I don’t know if I can find the link again to that. I can’t remember his name, or the name of his church.
All I remember from the reportage is that the pastor would invite different young men (not all at once, only one at a time) to his home.
His wife would be undressed or partially undressed on a table with a towel over her.
The pastor would ask the young man to give his wife a massage and then try to get the guy to engage in other behavior.
The particular guy being interviewed said the whole thing troubled him, it felt wrong, so he got out of there as fast as he could.
From what I remember of it, I think the pastor was trying to get other guys to have sex with his wife (and his wife was OK with this).
His kink was watching other men have sex with his wife.
That could explain Falwell Jr.’s behavior. Maybe he’s into that as well.
Regardless, it’s all pretty smarmy.
Falwell jr should be fired or resign, but I think it will not happen.
All christians are sheep, but some sheep are more equal than others.
He is “special” and to be held accountable to a “higher” standard than an average student at Liberty.
Priceless.
From the OP: “Perhaps I will do so in another post on unless Michael Cohen, who is out of jail due to the COVID thing, contacts me on behalf of an anonymous client…”
Dee, this is a factual observation based on a court ruling—not a political opinion. Cohen is out, but it’s more complicated than just covid:
… Michael Cohen has been released from prison after a judge ruled he was sent back to jail in retaliation for writing a tell-all book.
The judge ordering his release said the government was retaliating when it sent Cohen back to prison this month.
He had been released in May over Covid-19 concerns.
Cohen was serving a three-year sentence for charges including Trump campaign finance violations.
Cohen is expected to be fitted with an ankle tag and will serve the rest of the sentence at home in New York City…
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53530756
Yet again a Christian college president does things that would not fly (oh, I can’t believe I typed that) in a secular college.
So it’s not just the hypocrisy. It’s stomping through life screaming I DO WHATEVER I WANT.
These antics will actually attract a certain type of bullying, swaggering Christian to Liberty. Unfortunately some parents and students won’t find out about it.
Todd,
This to me would be like the ladies in my Bible study doing a scene out of Sex and the City or Real Housewives of New Jersey. It’s just not what Bible school presidents do! Or, if they are stupid enough to do it and take pictures of it, they don’t post pictures of it on Twitter. Jerry is publicly very pious, or very crude. He has no middle ground, and there have been enough events in his public online life, that he really should find another job.
I also live in a mobile home computer, and being a member of said community, I find Falwell’s taste highly offensive. Just needed to say that! 🙂
To quote Yoda, “Control, control, all about control it is.”
Am I the only one wondering where Falwell Jr. heard about Trailer Park Boys? I thought this was something that only connoisseurs of weirdness south of the Canadian border would know about. About the only thing of somewhat redeeming value in TPB is Bubbles’ devotion to his cats. The rest of it… à chacun son goût (to each his own).
I am not surprised about much of anything anymore. And, for the record, Michael Cohen is back out of prison and on house arrest since July 24. A federal judge had apparently ruled that Cohen could not be sent back to prison for writing and shopping a book. Judges generally take a dim view of “prior restraint” cases and throwing someone back in prison for writing a book (all other things being equal) is also not a good thing in a judge’s eyes. To be honest, I thought Cohen had been sent back to prison for flouting his house arrest rules, but apparently not.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/24/politics/michael-cohen-returns-home-confinement-new-york-city/index.html
That said, this doesn’t mean that Cohen will ever see a red cent from any book. The feds will swoop in and take any money he might make, or at least tie any funds up in litigation.
Dee, did you consider that students might get kicked out of school if they showed up like a character out of “Trailer Park Boys”? After all, this is LU, not my anything goes alma mater UT Austin.
I remember when the president of a university was someone who was held in deep respect. Not seeing how that is possible to recover here. Cedarville and now this. Not comparing them at all, but just shaking my head in amazement at how the leadership has degraded. I feel for the alumni.
There’s the leadership title.
There’s the leadership character quality.
Some have one, some have the other, some have both.
Simon Sinek talks & writes to this.
Also, Captain David Marquet’s “Turn the Ship Around!”
I don’t think anyone would care much about this* if it wasn’t for the regime he imposes on others. Like another commenter said above, it’s the students that are now stuck seeing this hypocrisy that we should feel for.
*To be fair I don’t know that many Christian leaders would be happy presenting themselves this way, maybe Nadia…Normally for a costume party I’d expect them to pick something creative rather than sleazy.
As an alumnus, it’s not just the hypocrisy that bothers me, though I think a lot of the rules are mostly useless. It’s that Junior is not the best person to lead the school because he doesn’t care a flip about the education of students. I knew that way back when Sr was talking about Jr taking over. Nepotism is rarely in the best interest of an institution.
We saw the same thing over at Masters with Macarthur’s son-in-law who didn’t even know basic educational laws. He wasn’t there because he was a good fit for the job; he was there to get a lot of money out of the position and keep the Macarthur influence strong.
Gram3,
Top level institutions, dedicated to, and exhibiting scholarship and education, will have individuals dedicated to these qualities as President. Conversely, institutions dedicated to “other things”, will be lead by individuals dedicated to those “other things”.
We (I) have seen many examples of this in the secular world… And I could go on and on….
We have clearly seen, in actions, NOT dogma, what Liberty, Cedarville, and the various SBC seminaries are dedicated to. Words are cheap, but the actions of the Institutions and leaders tell you much, much, more…
Having read about the pool boy saga, I think it’s a safe bet that Falwell and his wife are of one accord in these matters. It’s really instructive to see how easily he lies. You have cases here where the evidence is right there and he is denying it exists. I tell you, someone who lies like this is not trustworthy in any way, shape, or form. He is a very good example of the corruption that exists at top levels in the Christian world. The fact that he runs a university filled with young, earnest and sincere believers is really disgusting.
SiteSeer,
This latest affair kind of reminds me of the report of James Mcdonald’s, son, who was put in some sort of leadership roll in “the church”, peeing into a cup during an official meeting… yup, real high class act there….
P.S. I looked up Harvest on the web, wanted to McDonald’s name correct, and under “our story” no mention at all of James McDonald!!! Kind of reminds me how Stalin Photoshoped (before that word existed) out of “group shots” the top Communist party leaders that he had “liquidated”..
The show is extremely vulgar and not something I would expect a Christian leader to want to identify with or cosplay to this degree. Having a party with this theme was an excuse to dress and behave in a vulgar and inappropriate way.
Yes, and if given enough time, we could probably think of more examples of Christian celebrities’ kids who have gone off the rails. Seems like the parents were able to keep the hypocrisy well hidden but the kids hardly bother.
It’s frustrating to me that the average Christian is so ignorant of all of these debacles, they are blissfully ignorant of all the stuff swept under the rug.
This is the real problem to me. (That and sharing pictures of his wife) I don’t care about anybody going clubbing or being a teensy bit risqué (apparently I’m reference to a show?), it’s just that they’re all so judge mental and obnoxious.
Eh I’ve never watched but I’ve heard of it. Wasn’t it on Netflix? I think it was low key popular here…
Headlines a few years back over how much federal money, in terms of grants and loans, was pouring into the LU coffers caught my attention. I looked at LU’s financial state and concluded they were building quite an empire on the back of student debt. Their on-line presence is a cash-cow but instead of lowering tuition they charge what the market can bear. This seems counter the mandate of a non-profit that does not pay taxes (imagine what the property taxes on the campus alone would be). Jerry, who is more of a good capitalist than he is a good Christian, sees nothing wrong with this.
Hey guyzh! Junior here. That wazhnt me in that pic I poshted of the shmokin-hot-wife’s assistant. Someone messed with it. Cause if it was me, it might look like I wazh drinking al-cohol, and THAT would be the appearance of impropriety! Anyway just wanted to be clear the shtuff in the glass that guy was holding wasn’t fire water it was black water. Just a prop!
Love, Junior
SiteSeer,
Yup… and even worse, “average Christians” will say “not so nice things” about us that blow a whistle….
I wonder if the LU Board is reluctant to deal Junior’s issues partially because they are hoping his loyalty to DJT will result in LU being the home of DJT’s Presidential library. (Not discussing politics here, just the LU board’s motives in tolerating what many consider intolerable.)
Satin,
🙂
Ava Aaronson,
I liked that quote as well.
drstevej,
Good take on the part of the post that dealt with Falwell’s view of his *parts.*
Sandy Beach,
Cute final sentence!!! Thanks for hte update on Cohen. He blew it all for a dinner in a restaurant?
Jeffrey Chalmers,
Excellent comment. I agree. The real victims are the students. Was your school affiliated with the IFB?
dee,
General Association of Regular Baptist Churches, GARBC
Yes, just like Driscoll attracted (or created) a generation of young, restless and reformed bullies. Seems like the more disgusting, dirty, and degenerate a “pastor” can be will ensure a huge following these days … of folks who like church leaders no different than they are (it makes them feel better about their own sinful ways).
Here’s a tweet from an LU student who posts some images of rules that apply to students: https://twitter.com/Alex_andra_MG/status/1290338994081935361
“Drinking? Smoking? Possession of cigarettes/alcohol? Against the rules regardless of age. Could result in a “$300 fine, 30 hours community service, and/or expulsion.”
Real people who could not afford the fines have been fined for this. Real people were kicked out for this.”
That video is in my post. Did you see it? It still does not make sense. Falwell saw his photo before he posted it. It was obvious to just about everyone that something was amiss in the photo yet he still posted it.
There are many shows out there that lots of people watch. That doesn’t mean that they are decent shows and it doesn’t mean that we should take social cues from such them.
Perhaps the evangelical crowd in Canada have different values and beliefs regarding what we should imitate when having fun. They might even believe that Baptist college presidents should have fun and mimic shows and even expose themselves because the show they are imitating is a *national treasure.*
As for Downen blowing it off, Downen does not speak for many other people in this instance. This thing has gone viral. Raw Story, Huffington Post, and many other outlets are addressing this picture. So, at the minimum, the US media thinks the picture is a bit out of line for a guy who leads a college with a dress code and alcohol code, not just for students but for the adults who work there.It is hypocritical of Falwell.
I expect Kim Kardashian to dress like this. Some people in the US think that family are *national treasures.* I don’t and I think Falwell made a mistake.
Did you read the rest of the post? Do Canadians think the rest of this is normal behavior for a Baptist college president?
Todd,
Could you please make a slight addition to your name? Some people might confuse you for Todd Wilhelm who writes at this blog.
Sowre-sweet Dayes,
He also has $100 million which allows him to make donations which would leads to making friends.
Love this. Gonna tweet it,.
Nothing will be done about it, He is worth to much and can and will retaliate. I do not recommend Liberty students do anything, they will come after you and your family with a holy vengeance, trust me they will. That is as sure as gravity. I think he has a problem with drinking, just an observation and that is my own opinion. I think there are many nice people at liberty and I think they care but they understand even God cant help if they stand in his way, just like his dad. Trust me they will retaliate against you and no one including or especially God will not help, or cant help or both. I wish I was wrong.
Those rules haven’t changed much from when I was a student. In fact, I’m pretty sure they were a lot more severe when I attended. And they don’t stop much, though many parents send their kids to LU believing the rules will keep their kids from “sin”.
But that wasn’t my primary point with that comment. Liberty is an educational institution responsible for the further education of thousands of students. Their education should be the most important aim of the institution. As several have already said, Junior seems to care more about the financial benefits it brings him and not the education of students. This is why my degree is so laughable. It’s shameful. And nobody should go there or send their kids there if they want them to actually use their degree outside a Baptist church (doubt the New Calvinists would even approve).
ishy,
Unfortunately Ishy, you are exactly correct, and it just depresses me the more I think about it…..
The rules haven’t changed much since I attended in 1994-96 as well. They were more strict when Falwell Sr. Was alive. Except at least when he was around none of this garbage was going on that I could see. Campus life was a great experience for me personally. However I had just graduated from the Bible institute that was incredibly strict so LU rules were a walk in the park for me.
Anyway the picture of him with his wife’s assistant, really? It’s beyond distasteful. It looks like his male organ is erected bulging out like that! Sorry but someone had to say it. My question is why would this girl be so comfortable with her skirt being opened like this and with a married “Christian”man with his arm around her almost touching her breast. Personally just in regards to just plain decency and how it would look to his wife I would be running from that. It’s cringe!how is her assistant so comfortable with it all? He obviously has no boundaries that’s very clear. This entire party leads me to believe that this is the norm for this family and that more goes on sexually than what we are seeing. Just an observation.
But the “offesne of the Gospel” provides a ready-made excuse.
Just like “All who live Godly in Christ shall suffer PERSECUTION”.
Ok Jerry is giving his excuse for the picture by saying his wife’s assistant is pregnant and couldn’t button her shorts. That he was being funny with her to unbutton his to. That he shouldn’t have embarrassed her by posting.
First nowhere does she seem to mention any embarrassment. Second they are all taking racey photos throughout the party and are posting so please explain how she’s embarrassed? She’s not embarrassed that’s his way of gaining sympathy for her while seeking sympathy for himself for this disgusting photo. My other issue is she’s pregnant and usually pregnant women find what’s comfortable and stretchy to wear. We don’t care about looks because being pregnant can be uncomfortable at times. She also is posing provocatively while pregnant I wonder what her husband thinks about all this? As a Christian woman or a woman in general pregnancy is special and I don’t see many women flaunting themselves in suggestive clothing with their fronts unbuttoned together with a married man for fun and for all to see. Also she’s pregnant yet she’s in a variety of other very suggestive clothing such as the cheetah print skirt and tight crop top with a cigarette in her mouth laying in a bed in a provocative position. So this is the example she sets and they all set is for these women to dress and pose provocative while smoking for a mock skit or whatever they call it! Babies get serious birth defects from women who smoke while pregnant, there’s a hire chances of risking SIDS by smoking while pregnant yet this is what they are displaying. You can risk your babies life by smoking while pregnant yet this display the example seems to be humorous to them? None of this is funny and it’s downright disgusting. The entire church as a whole around the world should be speaking against this debaucherous display. Sorry I know this is spelled incorrect. She’s just as twisted as he is his wife clearly is fine with it to they all are freaking weird. No wonder why those students spoke up!
“Man Of GAWD!” overruling “married Christian man”?
Same dynamic as a Groupie and her Rock Star?
I bet he owns the college personally or at least has majority voting rights. Parents and students should unenroll. What a jerk Falwell is.
i.e. Liberty U is just a tax-exempt hedge fund to enrich the Great House of Falwell.
Including Friends in some VERY High Places.
“Ignorance is Bliss and I WANT EUPHORIA!”
“Give me your children for five years and I will make them mine. You will pass away, but they will remain Mine.”
— A.Hitler, Cult Leader
“You cross land and sea to make one convert, and when you do you make him twice the child of Hell as yourself!”
— some Rabbi from Nazareth
Sleazy is as Sleazy Does.
Like PASTOR Greg Locke from yesterday’s post?
I’m just wondering what would happen if the state attorney general of Virginia (assuming LU is chartered as a charity in Virginia) were to take a look at LU finances. “Unjust enrichment” in a non-profit is a Bad Thing.
That’s because you are Lowborn.
Not Highborn into the Great House of Falwell.
Rank Hath Its Privileges.
Especially when that Rank is bestowed by Divine Right.
Muslin, fka Dee Holmes,
Here is a link to Cohen being back in prison now.
https://nypost.com/2020/07/10/michael-cohen-back-in-solitary-confinement-in-otisville-prison/
https://capstonereport.com/2019/05/13/liberty-university-declares-war-on-southern-baptist-convention-its-deep-state/32449/ Falwell Jr. calls out the SBC here. Wonder why the SBC hasn’t called out Jr. Zipit?
https://www.sbc.net/resources/directories/colleges-and-universities/ Liberty is listed and is also connected to SBCV.
I suspect COVID put a pause on it, but he should:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/13/virginia-attorney-general-silent-on-potential-liberty-university-probe.html
brian,
Retaliate is right. Here is my story from Todd Wilhem’s blog: https://thouarttheman.org/2020/06/10/phd-student-sarah-leitner-notifies-jerry-falwell-of-abuse-that-occurred-at-an-authorized-internship-site-after-the-school-of-counselor-education-of-liberty-university-denies-the-abuse-occurred-and-lat/
Retaliation? Liberty University faculty chose to believe a sex offender turned minister over a PhD student, who at that point was online faculty.
Here is an example of what happened when I reported student safety issues to Jerry Falwell: “As my attempts to seek justice and to ensure the safety of future Liberty University students, I emailed Jerry Falwell on October 21, 2018, notifying him that I had been “ordered to return to an internship site where I was not safe,” and “was not allowed to withdraw from the internship course when I found out my child was not safe at school and had been sexually assaulted every day at camp 15 months earlier.” Furthermore, I asked Jerry Falwell, “How is it okay that mentioning a safety issue means I went round and round with the university and no department at the University has authority to do anything?”
Jerry Falwell responded on October 25, 2018, stating: “I have looked into this situation and understand that there are several trustworthy people at the University that have already been diligent in working with you. …” – which left me wondering who these people were. ”
For donations, if you are able every little bit helps! https://www.gofundme.com/f/expelled-by-liberty-u-after-reporting-abuse?
Dee – could you please cover this, for instance by re-blogging Todd’s post. Also, churches in Charleston donating to a minister who is a sex offender. Perhaps more worrisome than the donating is that some are looking for volunteers there! I suspect that just as in my case, the volunteers are not being told they are working closely with a sex offender prior to starting to volunteer there.
Hi Dee I took still screen shots of the video they put out to the email please go check it! It has still shots of the assistant in bed posing with a cigarette two girls with the belly’s sticking out smoking looking pregnant. Another guy giving the finger I think his wife is in one of the photos to looking provocative . This is not about embarrassing them but the church as a whole needs to know and see exactly what they are doing. It needs to be clear and a picture is worth a thousand words. There’s no way to explain any of this away to the church. He may be able to get away with it with the general public and some followers but we need to see who we are entrusting college students to!
Re Falwell’s trailer park pants:
Only time I’ve hitched my pants down like that has been during prostate/bladder ultrasounds at my Urologist’s.
Colleges have cracked down on outrageous costume parties in recent years. Themes often degrade a group that is not in on the “fun.” I’m not sure US students could get away with ridiculing Americans who live in trailers. That would be called poverty shaming in certain circles, and something else in the Gospels.
My guess is that someone knew of possible risk, and thought it was safe to goof on Canadians.
ishy,
Ishy, I agree. What employer will consider a degree from Liberty to be an asset? How is that worth $120,000 in student debt?
I don’t actually think so. This story is absolutely everywhere. Also, the general public is a sensible and/or shockable bunch of people. Imagine this same photo with an elementary school teacher, your next-door neighbor, a police officer, your mayor, the cleaner at your home or workplace…
This picture would even harm, say, a married NFL star with his arm around his wife’s employee.
Friend,
I don’t mean everyone in the general public would give him a pass but a majority also would think it not a big deal the younger generation tends to sway to that thinking. Look at what is on television daily. With this said the church as a whole needs to see and hold him to account.
Shauna,
Understood, Shauna—although I’m 1000% sure that photo would squick out the most worldly young adults in my circle. I can hear them now: “Ewww!” “Gah-ross!” “Who is that disgusting old dude?” 😉
The 1st century Church would have … the 21st century “church” gives bad-boys too much wiggle room.
An asset or a liability? And to think that some of each student’s debt is in Falwell’s bank account, which he obviously uses for riotous living!
As immediately disgusting as this whole thing is, it is also a point on a long arc of history. American Christianity has never done very well when it comes to human sexuality. Large segments viewed sex not as something sacred and healthy in the right context but as something dirty and/or not to be discussed in any context. Eventually that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you don’t know how to treat something in a sacred and healthy way, you end up making it profane and wallowing in it.
Falwell is just one particularly blatant and disgusting manifestation of this.
It’s absolutely not. At least I had a scholarship. I have heard that Junior got rid of a lot of the scholarships when he took over, which is another reason to be suspicious of his motives. A nonprofit school shouldn’t cost that much, especially if the degree is not reputable.
Someone above asked why the board doesn’t get rid of him. He replaced most of it with people that always agreed with him. The board works solely in Junior’s interests, not the students.
Dee, isn’t that a picture of Gary Hart on the yacht Monkey Business?
https://compote.slate.com/images/4d7b19b3-a6e3-4a8f-bc56-8dc39ba21352.jpg
Using that photo, maybe Jerry “Junior” is trying to draw attention to the importance of what happens when one is not wearing the “belt of truth” from Ephesians 6. And given the position of his hand on her bare stomach, he is trying to draw attention to the “breastplate of righteousness.” So it’s just a teaching moment for those of us who struggle with sin. And he was so humble to allow such a risque photo to be taken, just for our sakes to be taught. Right?
lol your right! Thanks for making me laugh today.
Proffy,
🙂
Sounds like you he typical Calvinist church. He puts in yes men as opposed to those who would truly keep ethical accountability alive.
Proffy,
You have a brilliant future in crafting non-apologies. If you have a little patience, you could ghost-write repentant memoirs for restoration tours. 🙂
I am NOT NOT NOT defending LU here…but two things to note. Other non-profit schools charge enormous tuition, at least on paper. Stanford University, for example, has an on-paper tuition of $53,000+ (and room/board will push it to closer to $75K), but if your family income is (currently) less than $65,000, you don’t pay tuition, fees, room and board. The student is, however, expected to kick in from part time jobs. Stanford has done something like this for a long time; one of my cousins went to Stanford on this arrangement and graduated pretty close to debt-free.
Where these prestigious (and not so prestigious universities) have actually charged this tuition is to wealthy foreign students. Obviously, universities are hurting right now because of the pandemic and the shutdown of travel. Many, many universities do book-balancing on the amounts they charge foreign students in tuition. The Big State U down the street from me charges ~$12K in tuition to in-state students, but $30K for out of state students.
(I’d note, based on personal observation, that a well-connected US student from a very well-off family could actually end up getting their tuition paid for at a prestige Southern university. Yeah, I was annoyed; their family could afford the tuition.)
It’s possible that LU not giving out so many scholarships but instead using the money on “other things” might be something that the state of Virginia might want to look into. Because charities generally have to give back to the community. Years ago, a friend of mine broke his arm. He was grossly underemployed at the time and didn’t have insurance. He basically used the knowledge that the hospital system he was being treated in was a non-profit and sweet-talked them to write off the charges (and there were so many, the bone had to be specially set) as charity.
The other thing to note is that LU has the gold standard of accreditation, which is regional accreditation, in this case by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. It’s not a fly-by-night operation is what I’m trying to say, but I believe SACS could open up an investigation if it received enough complaints.
There’s no bizz like the Jesus bizz.
Proffy,
Oh, no, no, no! Don’t give Junior ideas!
He’s low down and sleazy enough all on his own!
If Junior represents what is righteous, what is holy, and what is moral (so much for the immoral Moral Majority) …….. well, then I’m converting to the dark side! It can’t be much worse!
Because they probably get a ‘cut’ of the action?
Maybe it would be appropriate for little Jr. to pay a fine that would be financially equal to what a $300.00 fine is to a collage student. That just might lower the ridiculous tuition the school charges. Seen a lot of graduates from Liberty….not impressed!
promotes them …
poster boys.
Friend,
“the general public is a sensible and/or shockable bunch of people.”
+++++++++++++
it’s funny…. inhabiting the christian bubble means not only does one have a skewed sense of their own self but of everyone on the outside, too.
i think if one has been inside the bubble long enough, they assume that outside “normal” is sexualized raunchy and racy. which is quite alluring if all you’ve been surrounded with is something like,
Nigel: Don’t touch it! Don’t touch it! No one…no one…no! Don’t touch it.
Marty: Well uh I wasn’t…uh I wasn’t gonna touch it…I was just pointing at it…I….
Nigel: Well don’t point, even.
Marty: Don’t even point?
Nigel: No. Never…I mean I….
Marty: Can I look at it?
Nigel: No. No you’ve seen enough of that one.
Marty: Don’t look at it.”
it’s just not true. the general public has very sensible boundaries about what is modest and proper and cares very much about such things.
elastigirl,
You are correct about many fundies in a bubble…. in fact, I think I need to watch what I say more, in 2020, at my BIg State U than I did at Westmont College ( a non-fundy Christian College) in the late 1970’s.
In fact, I almost feel like we are becoming a “Puritan culture”, just that “spiritual piety” has been replaced with the g&d of not offending someone.
GARBC forever!
Keep that hair trimmed to regulation length man.
In my youth group and college fellowship, this was not just assumed but constantly taught. The only thing keeping us all from crime, addiction, and promiscuity was fervid participation with the group. “The world” was bad. Non-Christians were bad.
I don’t think church group involvement does very much to reduce temptation. Depending on quality and content, a group might teach some values and point a person in a wholesome direction. But shrill groups overstate both the problem and their ability to remedy it.
Sure thing! Is it much hassle for you to changed the posts here to Todd E?
Todd E
I agree 100%
Nathan Priddis,
My hair had to be off my ears until my senior year… they finally “relaxed” the rules… alittle.
Friend,
My experiences also… I lived in a co-ed dorm at U.C. Berkeley… in the “grand scheme of things”, taking a “big picture view” of “immorality”, I think there was probably less than at my fundy high school… Students studied all the time at Berkeley… my dorm had allot of non-greek science and engineering majors..
Agree, and to knowingly post this shows something very out of whack in his moral compass.
Did Robert Downen blow it off? I saw his article and it doesn’t seem like he’s letting him off the hook.
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Jerry-Falwell-Jr-addresses-yacht-photos-but-15462105.php
I did read the whole post. I do not think Canadians would think this is normal behavior for a Baptist college president – or hopefully any college president.
Just appalled that my new son in law is a student there. Sure hope he doesn’t get influenced badly by this nut job. Ugh.
Ga. Tech did not care about hair length, but Ga. Tech ROTC kept us beardless and short haired.
“New England Puritans, seven times distilled down to eliminate any hint of God-talk, yet retaining all the Righteous Moral Fury.”
— description of this on an Internet Monk comment thread some months ago
You do realize you’re wrecking everybody’s mental image of Berkeley, right? I can hear sermons being shredded all across the land. 😉
My demure teetotaling Methodist mother used to sing college fight songs to us with alternate lyrics (“Shame, shame on old Notre Dame … They sober up on wood alcohol…”). She didn’t have to change the words to the Georgia Tech fight song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6JXKMxRgQ8
My dad is more offended than your dad…
Friend,
My dorm was one block from “Peoples Park”, which by 1981, was weed filled dump with homeless people.. Patty Hurst was kidnapped only a few blocks away… I can not really speak for the “rest of campus”, but the science and engineering area was focused on scholarship.. (I ask some of my profs, and they said in the height of the riots, they still had class!)
But, Sproul Plaza was great fun… just about every political and religious group one could imagine was there… at lunch time… you got to see the world all right there!
Headless Unicorn Guy,
yup..
I continue to be amazed by the number of “Men of God” who can’t seem to keep their pants on! Without them, watchblogs like TWW would have trouble finding enough content to stay on the air!
Very confusing.
New Christians & new to the US, join a fundamentalist church, not because of shared heritage, but seeking shared values … such as basic Christian morality.
Then finding out, there are not even shared values of morality, even at the top, in the fundamentalist leadership. (Robert Downen’s Houston Chronicle research verified this on a grand scale. Also Todd Wilhelm’s work.)
Hello?
Where does one go in this culture/country from there? As basic-family-values-seeking Christians?
It’s not just a vulgar show but he had the stars of the show job knobbing with him and his family on that yacht displaying their debacherous behavior. One of the guys kept flipping off the camera. This not like they are on separate planets here. They are all together partaking in it all together having a great time doing it.
Jeffrey Chalmers,
Jeffrey, I’m also a Westmont alum (Class of 76)
Were the “Trailer Park Boys” performers on board? I thought Falwell & co were just dressed up as them for reasons that are completely beyond all of us…
The more I look at the pic up top, the more I start hearing Mark Knopfler’s guitar licks and:
“… Money for nothin’ and your chicks for free…”
I’m going to be very disappointed if the TPB actors were there because I would have thought Canadians knew better than to hang out with Baptist university presidents.
During my D&D days, I ran into a couple gamers who’d been at UC Berserkely. This is what I remember about their anecdotes:
Orange Airburst: One of the dorms on-campus was built around a large “light well”. It was a challenge to palm an orange from the cafeteria, stick a cherry bomb in it, and drop it down the light well from the roof. The challenge was to time the fuse so it would airburst 2-3 stories up and splatter the windows on those floors with orange pulp.
Spiderman: One guy used to “walk” all around the dorm — corridors, stairwells, you name it — without ever touching the floor. He’d wedge himself between two oppposite walls and climb down the corridor, halfway between floor and ceiling.
(We never got anything that crazy at Cal Poly Pomona, just washouts from UC Riverside singing the superiority of the UC system over Cal State. Though after I left some engineering students calculated the resonance frequency of one of the dorm building and played that frequency on some massive amps and speakers inside the building. Set off every earthquake alarm and interlock in the building.)
After that little stunt, I don’t want to hear any Christian denunciations of Fursuiting or Cosplay.
I struggle with what goes on with Liberty b/c I know people who have been hurt, lied to, mocked, belittled etc. Some of them are of the LGBTQ community, I remember when I first joined the Jesus industry was back in the 74 after the death of my brother. As disgusting as it is to need I leaned on the faith when I lost him I was just a kid and its hard to lose a family member. It should not be but it is (long story). I got caught up in the satanic ritual nonsense and hung around the Calvary Chapel here in California as well. My bs radar went off a lot back then. After coming to learn how lonnie frisbee was dealt with I knew I was right, I saw the major CC folks even Steve Camp, what an amazing singer he was, his twitter persana not so much But I still like his songs.
I cant even calculate the damage done to people, I really cant. As stupid as this sounds I still trust Christ, like one of my old faith community pointed out, I cant even apostatize right. What do you do what such stuff?
Headless Unicorn Guy,
🙂
Friend,
Yeah, I’m pretty sure they were just cosplaying as the characters. The video mentioned Mr Lahey, but the actor who played him is dead.
I pretty much agree with your point that even “the world” would see the behavior in the picture as being fairly edgy, at least. I’ve been at DragonCon with my wife, taking pictures of women & men in very provocative costumes, and that’s okay (I mean, we’re generally heathens, everything is consensual, etc) – but we definitely recognized that there was a sexual component to the skimpiness of the outfits. And it’s completely out of bounds who’d claim to be holding themselves to some “holy standard”. You unzip your pants with a lady who’s also wearing skimpy clothes with unzipped pants, you absolutely are very aware of the state of undress.
https://wset.com/news/local/falwell-jrs-father-in-law-convicted-of-tax-fraud
October 6th 2015
“Jerry Falwell Jr.’s father-in-law will spend 32 months in prison…A federal judge sentenced Tom Tilley…for his involvement in a scheme to evade paying federal income taxes….The judge ordered Tilley to pay more than 7 million dollars back in restitution”
“ABC 13…reached out to the Falwells. They…had no comment on the matter, but said this doesn’t affect the school.”
Oops:
http://www.liberty.edu/news/?PID=18495&MID=6032
Tilley Student Center to Open Friday at Campus North
September 16, 2008
“…made possible in part by a donation from Thomas and Iris Tilley, the parents of Becki Falwell, wife of Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. Becki said she lobbied her parents for the donation…’I am thrilled that they were able to help make this center a reality,’ she said.”
November 3, 2015
https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdky/pr/former-owner-virginia-based-stonewood-marketing-sentenced-24-months-prison-mail-fraud
[Sam Pate is son of the late Sam Pate Sr., and nephew of Macel Pate Falwell (Jerry Jr’s mother). Pate and his father were in the Christian conservative direct mail fundraising business, and both were deacons at Thomas Road Baptist Church]
O, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive!
You can thank God your eyes are open to the Pharisaical constructs around us and can not only act to escape their influence but can use your experience to speak to the reality of the constructs and their dangers.
https://newsadvance.com/news/local/n-c-man-with-liberty-university-ties-sentenced-in-tax-evasion-case/article_e4000050-6c7c-11e5-82a1-f7417746b4d9.html
“After the $250,000 donation was received in 2008, according to a statement Tuesday from Liberty, the Tilley family advised it actually was Tom Tilley’s father’s estate that made the donation. Since that time, the Tilley Center has been named for the donors, Brodie and Ruth Tilley, who died at ages 99 and 97 in 2004 and 2002, the statement said.“
Max,
Sigh…..
This is so “tiring”… again, the real victims are the young students that are fed, (rammed down their throats), the legalist piety, while the leaders ( as we are learning, many leaders), make a mockery of these pious “rules” and instead “make bank”….
i repeat, this kind of BS is more than just hypocrisy…. the message being sent to these students is that it is all a big Charade , and we, they leaders, are just playing you all as the fools…
Driscoll, Hybels, MacDonald, Falwell Jr., etc. etc.
“There are many who say, ‘You can trust me!’ But can they be trusted? A faithful man, who can find?” (Proverbs 20:6)
Jeffrey Chalmers,
PS.. Remember, Liberty U teaches young earth creationism…. so, I would not be allowed to teach there…because I not only NOT reach the party line, but I would raise the scientific “issues” that YEC implies…
I am one of those evil “compromisers”….
Oh, Brian, I’m sorry for all of your pain. You’re not alone, though, especially not here. So many at TWW have belonged to groups that call themselves the Only Way, and everybody else is going to heck, particularly those ______ people.
You and I come from teachings that heap up condemnation and fear of hell. We’ve even been taught that these are essential to Christianity. Yet some churches exist that seek to include instead of exclude. There is such theology.
One of my bedrock quotations is from George Fox, the Quaker: “…be patterns, be examples in all countries, places, islands, nations, wherever you come, that your carriage and life may preach among all sorts of people, and to them; then you will come to walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in every one.”
Cheerfully. Not angrily, judgmentally, sniffing out sin. Yes, I’m allowed to have my lifelong depression. No, I’m not supposed to scream in the doughnut store.
That of God in everyone. This refers to belief in the Inner Light, the Quaker term for Holy Spirit—I’m oversimplifying, so forgive.
How would your faith change if you believed everyone you met had “that of God” inside them? This belief challenges me and frees me to love. It comforts me. It gets me through the day. And it is Christian.
And the unspoken pressure to “Become one of the Anointed on top and you can prosper playing the pewpeons for fools. Be a User, Be an Abuser, Be a Winner, Not a LOSER.”
“Jerry Falwell Jr. said a racy photo was ‘in good fun.’ A GOP lawmaker says he should resign.”
… Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.), a Baptist minister and former Liberty instructor, said it was one too many scandals for the embattled president of the nation’s largest Christian university.
“Jerry Falwell Jr’s ongoing behavior is appalling,” Walker, the vice chairman of the powerful House Republican Caucus, wrote on Twitter. “I’m convinced Falwell should step down.” …
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/08/07/falwell-photo-pants-yacht/
Headless Unicorn Guy,
I think the key is, these “leaders” have figured in the past we pew peons would never put 2 plus 2 together… prior to web blogs, it was much easier to put people like us in our “place”…. we were labeled: cynical, divisive people, out to hurt the “cause of Christ”, etc…
Maybe we are, but as the behavior of these “clowns” becomes more and more public, the lack of “watchmen on the wall” to internally hold these clowns accountable is going to continue to bring down the whole fundamentalist/evangelical complex. As has been discussed above, the secular, humanist world for which I am professionally very much a part of, DOES have moral and ethical standards, and they do SEE the morally bankrupt world of fundamentalism and evangelicalism…
Now, the world is changing…
LU Sponsors a NASCAR driver? Apparently the Falwells have use of the Hendrick’s yacht.
https://twitter.com/BettyBowers/status/1291743735735357443
FW Rez,
Not on my Pandemic Bingo Card: Betty Bowers as top investigative reporter.
If anybody needs me, I’ll be under my sofa eating a gallon of ice cream.
Friend,
can i come, too? can i bring peanut butter?
elastigirl,
EVERYBODY from TWW can hide under my sofa. Bring whatever you want to eat. We do have a dog, but she’s super nice and only takes food that is unattended. 🙂
Friend,
“How would your faith change if you believed everyone you met had “that of God” inside them? This belief challenges me and frees me to love. It comforts me. It gets me through the day. And it is Christian.”
+++++++++
that’s so beautiful.
so… maybe i don’t have to sell my ‘I’m A Christian’ label at my next garage sale, then?
Friend,
Not familiar with Betty Bowers but @huntercrowder6 retweeted which is like ex cathedra in my book.
Friend,
Betty Bowers video are REAlLY funny….. As I said above about the secular world, she is roasting big name “Christians”, and she is doing much more “damage” than TWW does….
Friend,
but what if i got some peanut butter in your part of the ice cream?
elastigirl,
We could go stir crazy. 🙂
Brian,
“As stupid as this sounds I still trust Christ, like one of my old faith community pointed out, I cant even apostatize right. What do you do what such stuff?”
+++++++++++++++
Jesus Christ of Nazareth and Christianity are two separate things.
i know there are many who feel exactly like you.
Friend,
so, swirled, then, and not side-by-side.
but i have to ask a very important question: is it mint chocolate chip?
elastigirl,
Ha, we do have some of that. We’ve been advising a friend who has an ice cream parlor in a tourist town, cheering him on as pandemic restrictions shift. He always gives us one for the road, as it were.
Citation please. 😉
For any who don’t know, Betty Bowers is FICTIONAL. She is therefore not bound by the same ethics as the nonfictional bloggers at TWW.
Annnnd… TWW does not cause damage. Falwell Jr et al. cause damage. TWW courteously points it out.
When you are slimy, you are able to slip out of these predicaments with no trouble. No problem for “president of the nation’s largest Christian university” … “mega” protects you if you are pulling in big bucks for the institution. Church elders allow megachurch “pastors” to slime their way through ministry all the time if they are bringing in lots of nickels and noses (as documented by multiple TWW reports). (of course, none of this has anything to do with the Kingdom of God – they operate in a kingdom of their making)
Friend,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnl9DJZN3mM
Jack,
I think religion’s actually responsible for a lot of this stuff. At least one showbiz minister described women as “home of the penis.” Scratch the surface of JP II’s theology of the Body and that’s basically what it says about women’s bodies too. Space for the dick. What was Eve made for anyway? Conversation?
Of course, the animation in flesh (as discussed in Ecclesiastes 3 and elsewhere) includes animals and thus invites its fair share of rabbit holes and off ramps on such matters. A potential bedrock as far as regard of others in terms of the divine imprint for those still processing from the backgrounds discussed brought James 3:9-10.
“With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, those being made according to the likeness of God. Out of the same mouth proceed forth blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.“
Lest this go down the road of concern about Bible-ese language, it’s an approach called for in situations like this for many with the backgrounds discussed. A recent example was someone posting an article elsewhere on a mainstreamy site from a professed pastor about the concept of people as children of God as not Biblical based on a prooftext of part of the (“you are of your father, the devil”).
In replying about what was said in John 1:12 and elsewhere about this being a spiritual matter rather than lineage, I also hoped that those who read a reply in the same arena might think twice about going down errant roads (another ‘pastor’ from the same group had recently posted about post-Floyd Nephilim extermination as an imperative) from someone setting himself up as a Biblical insight giver, with any reply outside of that parameter being tangential by nature.
From John 8:44
I was just gonna’ say the same thing.
Once I realized it, I was able to escape the fundagelical (Calvary Chapel) rat-race.
Muff Potter,
same here. and sleep peacefully at night, too.
(until i start worrying about my kids…)
Breaking news:
“The Executive Committee of Liberty University’s Board of Trustees, acting on behalf of the full Board, met today and requested that Jerry Falwell, Jr. take an indefinite leave of absence from his roles as President and Chancellor of Liberty University, to which he has agreed, effective immediately.”
FW Rez,
Do you think he is still getting his 750K annual salary?
FW Rez,
…i can see the valiant re-entry already.
After a “season” – 3 months?
Adding to this evening’s under-sofa hideout menu, for balanced nutrition: One carload of Shaq-a-Roni pizzas. Hot air popcorn popper will run nonstop. Root beer on tap.
All TWW welcome, including dogs and cats. Mini donkeys and other species considered (Eccl. 3:21).
Yes. And perks.
I’d like to note that while I do not have any details about the yacht, LU does have a primary sponsorship for the Hendricks Motorsports 24 car.
https://nascar.nbcsports.com/tag/jerry-falwell/
I asked my brother, the Nascar fanatic, how much being a primary sponsor would cost. He thought it would run $4-$5 million a year.
That is his salary? No wonder tuition is high. That’s absurd considering he spends his time playing dress up as trailer park dude.
“The average College President salary in the United States is $277,735 as of July 27, 2020, but the range typically falls between $209,091 and $388,833.” —salary.com
Someone from there says their 2020 graduation was moved to a ceremony the weekend of September 12th. Don’t know how much is virtual, or if he is the one who would have presentations for degrees and awards, but one might guess that they probably didn’t want him to be a visible presence for that amidst the current headlines.
Friend,
Big name U’s, and Big State U’s Presidents salaries are in the $ 750,000 range. Hey, Liberty U is the “leading Christian University”, or so they think!
Ken F (aka Tweed),
complete with planned standing ovation.
(i watched a steven furtick clip once –gadzooks, why… morbid curiosity?– [who looks radically different with a much deeper voice than he did a few yeas ago].
it was so obvious there were 4 plants in the center first few aisles.
there were 2 people sitting adjacent to each other in the center, maybe third aisle down, who were the cue for 3rd and 4th person, seated on either side a few seats & aisles away.
the first 2 spring-loaded JUMPED to their feet [that’s not the way it happens in real life], and then 3 and 4 spring-loaded JUMPED to their feet…. cheering, body language and gestures were clearly orchestrated. it had the desired effect. probably other plants elsewhere.)
so contrived i could smell the warm plastic.
.
.
i just had a business idea… “Rent-An-Audience: Cynical Package”. Audience members for rent who [on cue for standing ovation] suddenly slouch with arms down to the floor, knuckles grazing the carpet.
Then there’s the “Walk-out Package”…
Friend,
just planning ahead… what’s the clearance under your sofa?
Was thinking of sending my child there. Husband was excited about the possibility. No more. No way.
Mr. Falwell’s misbehaving made the CBS Evening News tonight … same pic as in the opening to this blog piece. The Liberty Board of Trustees has put him on an indefinite leave of absence … perhaps until he grows up.
NPR website says Falwell been placed on a leave of absence…………….by the board…….dont know how to make a link sorry
https://www.npr.org/2020/08/07/900339676/jerry-falwell-jr-on-indefinite-leave-from-liberty-university-after-racy-photo
It’s about time, is all I have to say. Maybe they can make my degree worth something again in the future….
Max,
Social Distancing….
Fifty pizza boxes. Willing to bring in a winch. 🙂
Friend,
i’ll bring blankets and twinkle lights and we’ll make a fort. oh how fun!!
From what I have heard since my friends went to Bob Jones, the rules at evangelical and fundamentalist Christian colleges don’t really guide and protect students. If your child wants a Christian institution, you might consider Catholic colleges. The ones I have visited have a nicer atmosphere than the “church militant” campuses.
And then there are the state colleges and private secular institutions, all of which will have a chapel and Christian groups. Higher education is so topsy turvy right now, and colleges are very eager to recover and attract new students. Best wishes figuring this out.
“It was weird,” Falwell told the interviewer. “She’s pregnant, so she couldn’t get her pants zipped. I had on a pair of jeans I hadn’t worn in a long time, so I couldn’t get mine zipped either. So I just put my belly out like hers.”
Oh, no big deal then! Doesn’t every President of a Christian institution do stuff like this?
I have a feeling that Mr. Falwell will be socially distanced from Liberty permanently. I can see big bucks from donors drying up and parents sending their children (and tuition money) elsewhere.
His excuse makes no sense at all. Why would anyone wear pants they know don’t fit? His excise makes his problem worse.
I may be missing something… but blackwater is a term usually used to describe sewer water of some sort…
Why couldn’t he just say he was drinking Coke?
I wonder if their resolve will last longer than the Cedarville Board’s did. I would really love to be shocked.
ES,
You are correct…. travel trailers can have black, grey, and drinking water tanks…. A Freudian slip .???
ES,
perhaps he enjoys controversy and purposely has his picture taken with an innocuous dark drink (diluted prune juice?) just to poke at the puritan subculture he helped create and get a rise out of people. for sport.
perhaps it is actual liquor. and he feels elevated and above the rules he enforces on the little people because they are little, and entitles himself to drink what he wants. he simply calls is black water because the little people wouldn’t understand. and it’s too much fun not to poke the little people, so he flaunts it for sport.
on the other hand, to say he was drinking ‘coca cola’, well that would be a “lie”. and christians don’t “lie”.
RANK HATH ITS PRIVILEGES, LOWBORN!
Not just sewer water, but sewer water from toilet and urinal flushes.
“Grey water” is dirty water from washing; “Black water” is actual human waste contamination.
I’m waiting for Junior to have his Paranormal Encounter with the anonymous gas station guy somewhere in backwoods Wyoming. You know, the one who recognizes God’s Anointed out of nowhere, Prophesies over him with a Word of Prophecy commanding him to make his Comeback in Triumph, then mysteriously disappears?
The only times I had my pants hitched down like that was when I was getting a prostate/bladder ultrasound at my urologist’s.
And when I got out of the hospital a week after emergency abdominal surgery for perfed diverticulitis. My abdomen was still swollen too much for the pants to fit and the staples were right where the zipper was pressing.
In Roman times, these were called “Anti-Clacks”.
They were hired to oppose the “Clack Groups” hired to give the Standing Ovation.
When you had Clacks and Anti-Clacks at the same event, it usually ended up in a fight worthy of the Arena. (Maybe hiring them from “The Captains of Rome”, i.e. street-gang bosses – had something to do with that.)
And then there were the “Cligues”, who weren’t Clacks or Anti-Clacks and just sat there watching and looking bored the whole time. Don’t know if they were for hire or just the real audience.
Ah, yes.
The Shills.
Standing Ovation like the end of this scene from Chernobyl?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cG3PlcSiLA
Doesn’t that remind you of a Founding Lead Pastor and his Board of Elders?
That sounds too much like “If I spend money like I’m Rich, I Must Be Rich! See? See? See?”
(Trumpet flourish — “CHARGE IT!!!”)
But NASCAR is MANLY!
More Testosterone per mile than any other motorsport!
Just wait for the Paranormal Angelic Encounter with the mystery Prophecy guy at the gas station in backwoods Wyoming.
I have to ask a more important one:
Butter Pecan?
Headless Unicorn Guy,
yes, i’m glad you got that one out of the way. the most important thing at this point is to establish which ice creams are compatible with peanut butter. mint chocolate chip will makes things difficult, but butter pecan would be a go.
Headless Unicorn Guy,
“In Roman times, these were called “Anti-Clacks”.
They were hired to oppose the “Clack Groups” hired to give the Standing Ovation.”
+++++++++
for real? “Anti-Clack” doesn’t have a very latin sound. are you sure it wasn’t Antius-Clackius?
Jeffrey J Chalmers,
“No skills, no morals, no problem.”
So Junior’s not goin’ anywhere.
John Wayne Jesus is on it.
Right…
Sure…
In my experience, Christians don’t admit they lie. The use other names. Like “misunderstanding.”
ES,
“In my experience, Christians don’t admit they lie. The use other names. Like “misunderstanding.””
++++++++++++++++
aye, truer words hath ne’er been spoken.
in this case, he would be able to congratulate himself by taking the high road by grandstanding with how he doesn’t lie.
while at the same time making “black water” mean whatever he wants it to mean. to protect the little people from more information than their pretty little heads would know what to do with.
i’m sure i’ve spent too much on this analysis.
“Always use Proper Code Words.”
— Holocaust (Seventies TV miniseries)
Going off a PBS show about the history of theater (Roman period) I saw as a kid.