Jerry Falwell, Jr. Compares Trump to King David

Jerry Falwell, Jr., Chancellor of Southern Baptist-aligned Liberty University, likens U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump to King David. In an interview with the school newspaper, Liberty Champion, he said that he has been friends with Trump since his first visit to Liberty in 2012 and has joined Trump on the campaign trail. He speaks of Trump as a down-to-earth guy who served Falwell and his family Wendy’s cheeseburgers and personally set up a big screen Elton John concert for Jerry, Jr., after learning that he is a long-time Elton John fan. The latter tells us a lot about Jerry, Jr.’s spiritual life as well as Liberty University’s true soul, and it goes far to answer why Falwell would be so enthusiastic about Trump for president. To love Elton John’s music is to affiliate intimately with the evil things of the world and is gross disobedience to God’s Word. “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Eph. 5:11). “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:16). Falwell said, Trump “is the kind of guy that will walk into Washington, kick over the tables, kick over the chairs, throw the bums out, start over, and do things that a career politician would never do.” He said further, “God called King David a man after God's own heart even though he was an adulterer and a murderer. You have to choose the leader that would make the best king or president and not necessarily someone who would be a good pastor.” We would reply, first, that God called David a man after His own heart and called him to be king BEFORE his adultery and murder. Beyond that, while it is true that Trump will probably kick things around, and that is what his supporters want, since they are fed up with the status quo, this perspective does not take into account two fundamental issues: what will he kick? And how much power does a president have for kicking? Even the best president does not have the power to make substantive changes to the American government, let alone to America’s moral fiber. Such things would require overwhelming support from the American people, which does not exist on the good side, and an overwhelming majority in Congress, which is nowhere in sight. Substantial changes would require a massive dismantling of the incredibly bloated federal government and the welfare state. It would start with disbanding the Department of Education and putting education back into the hands of the families and communities. It would require impeaching hundreds of state and federal judges for ruling by fiat rather than according to the U.S. Constitution, for raising modern political correctness to the level of the Bill of Rights. It would require dramatic reduction of the power of vast bureaucracies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Homeland Security, and Occupational Health and Safety Administration. It would require the government to live within its means and not bankrupt future generations with a pile of debt so massive it can barely be conceived. Fundamentally, “winning American back” would require bringing the American people back to moral character and the fear of God. Can Donald Trump do any of that? Not a whit. I have never seen evidence that he aims to do any of that, even if he were dictator. A president is not a pastor, tis true, but a man lacking moral character will not make moral decisions nor promote national moral character. A man who vows “till death do us part” and breaks that holy covenant two times over has a serious moral problem. A man who signs his word on documents and then uses bankruptcy to back out of his financial obligations when things get sticky (which is legal but not moral), is a liar and a thief. Someone says, “But if not Trump, it will be Hillary.” That’s no choice at all, but though I might not have a choice at the ballet box, I am not left without a choice. I can pray to the One who has ultimate control over human affairs, and I can urge others to pray, and prayer is a powerful thing that has been known to change the course of nations. “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16).

(Friday Church News Notes, March 25, 2016, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

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