As usual, there is too much to write about here at AP.
Falwell Jr.’s father, Jerry Falwell Sr (1933-2007) was a Southern Baptist televangelist and conservative political activist. He founded Liberty University, in Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1971, and he
founded his Moral Majority in 1979.
Falwell Sr. was well known among religious liberals — of whom he most definitely was not one — for his smugness and for his political activism on behalf of evangelicals.
That’s why he called his Moral Majority the Moral Majority, because evangelicals had considered themselves to be outcasts until he, Falwell Sr.; and Pat Robertson; Jim Bakker, and numerous other
televangelists, started making their names known, and the mainstream media started to notice. That’s when the Culture Wars of the 1970s, and before, started.
And Jerry Falwell Jr. and his brother, Rev. Jonathan Falwell, and their father, had a well laid-out plan of succession, under which it would be Falwell Jr. who would take over Liberty University,
one of the largest evangelical universities in the world, with, now, 79,152 students, and influence in the Evangelical World essentially second to none.
Falwell Jr. is not a pastor, but, rather, a businessman who really, really likes to throw his weight around.
When Donald Trump decided to seek the highest office in the land, Falwell Jr. openly embraced him in January 2016 and threw his considerable influence behind him. Given that Trump’s morals are
more than highly questionable, it is at least arguable that had it not been for Falwell Jr.’s support, and the support of future GOP presidential candidate Mike Pence, Trump would not have been
able to walk into the White House on January 20, 2017, accompanied by Trophy Wife Number 3 (the woman who, last night, tried to soften the malevolence of the Trumpites at the RNC who falsely
accused Joe Biden of wanting to “defund the police,” when they know full well that Uncle Joe wants to reform the police, and do it sensibly, and not according to the AOC Dems).
But now, in the midst of a big big sex scandal, relatable directly to Falwell Jr’s hubris, Falwell Jr. has really fallen, so we called in our Chief Theological Correspondent,
the Most High Revered Jim Bob Hobarto, to explain what happened.
“You see, SR,” Hobarto began, “In the Hebrew Bible, Adam’s the first dude, and, in his own uncute condescending way, he, with considerable help from the Deity, produced a 'helper.' That was the
First Adam, but Christ is the Second Adam, ‘cause Adam and Eve, they fell so far out of God’s Grace that the LORD banished them from the Garden of Eden and ordered his
very own cherubim, and a sword flaming and burning, to guard the Tree of Life.”
“So you see that the reason that Falwell Jr. fell, is because of his absolute arrogance, believing he could get away with everything.”
And this very evening, Mike Pence is at Fort McHenry, extolling Donald Trump’s deeds, including, among other things, his fervent opposition to letting women make their own decisions on what to do
with their bodies, and, of course, his movement of the American Embassy to Israel in Jerusalem — to please the evangelicals, of whom he is one —
only in doing so, Trump irrevocably cast himself as an enemy to the Palestinans; and even Son-in-Law-in-Chief Jared Kushner’s asserted “coup" in getting the United Arab Emirates
to establish diplomatic relations with Israel won’t bring the Palestinians to the negotiating table.
There’s a simple reason why Pence is speaking from Fort McHenry: because if anybody in the Trump Administration knows his Bible, it’s Pence.
Which is why associate soitary reporter Susanna Sherman, who was there, distinctly heard Pence, toward the end of his remarks, say, “Let me remind you, my fellow Christians, of The Song of Moses in the Book of Exodus, Chapter 15, verse 3: ’The LORD is a warrior: the LORD is his name.’”
"And my soveriegn, my King, Donald Trump, prays to God every day, and the Lord God tells him to make war, not peace, and that’s how the greatest military power in the world today will carry out
the Lord’s commands, and slay all the enemies of Christ."
Pence received a standing ovation.