“Somebody’s gotta tell the freakin’ truth’.”
By Brandon Ambrosino
Politico (9/9/19)
At Liberty University, all anyone can talk about is Jerry Falwell Jr. Just not in public.
“When he does stupid stuff, people will mention it to others they consider confidants and not keep it totally secret,” a trusted adviser to Falwell, the school’s president and chancellor, told me. “But they won’t rat him out.”
That’s beginning to change.
Over the past year, Falwell, a prominent evangelical leader and supporter of President Donald Trump, has come under increasing scrutiny. News outlets have reported on business deals by Liberty University benefiting Falwell’s friends. Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen claimed that he had helped Falwell clean up racy “personal” photographs.
Based on scores of new interviews and documents obtained for this article, concerns about Falwell’s behavior go well beyond that—and it’s causing longtime, loyal Liberty University officials to rapidly lose faith in him.
More than two dozen current and former high-ranking Liberty University officials and close associates of Falwell spoke to me or provided documents for this article, opening up—for the first time at an institution so intimately associated with the Falwell family—about what they’ve experienced and why they don’t think he’s the right man to lead Liberty University or serve as a figurehead in the Christian conservative movement.
In interviews over the past eight months, they depicted how Falwell and his wife, Becki, consolidated power at Liberty University and how Falwell presides over a culture of self-dealing, directing university resources into projects and real estate deals in which his friends and family have stood to make personal financial gains. Among the previously unreported revelations are Falwell’s decision to …
- Jerry Falwell Jr Busted Repeatedly Lying About Miami Beach Nightclub Photos — Jerry Falwell Jr. angrily insisted that he had never denied visiting a Miami Beach nightclub, where he was photographed partying with his wife, sons and daughter-in-law. The Liberty University president was the subject of a Politico Magazine report based on anonymous quotes from school officials and other insiders describing his self-dealing and personal immorality, and his denials of the nightclub photographs led the the release of more photos — and more denials. “Just for the record, I never denied going into a club with my family to listen to music for about 30 minutes years ago,” Falwell tweeted Wednesday. “I only denied I asked anyone to scrub pics of me. I never knew of any pics until a week ago DUH. LU’s lawyers and criminal authorities will go after the leakers.” Brandon Ambrosino, the Liberty graduate who wrote the Politico feature, set the record straight. “There was no picture snapped of me at WALL nightclub or any other nightclub,” Falwell told him Aug. 21, when asked about the photos. “I’m sure you already knew that though.” … Read the Rest
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Cybercrime Expert Blows Up Jerry Falwell Jr’s ‘totally insane’ Claim That He’s Victim Of A Vast Conspiracy — Trump-loving Liberty University chief Jerry Falwell Jr. is now claiming that he’s the victim of a “criminal” smear campaign being conducted by disgruntled former employees — but one cybercrime expert thinks Falwell’s new conspiracy theory doesn’t hold any water. Earlier this week, Falwell said that he has asked the FBI to investigate whether former employees illegally leaked out internal emails that supposedly are the property of Liberty University in an effort to make him look bad. However, expert Nick Akerman tells the Associated Press that Falwell’s accusations of a conspiracy are “totally insane.” In particular, he said that ex-board members and employees of the university are allowed to share emails that they have personally received with reporters so long as they didn’t hack into anyone’s account to obtain them. Additionally, he said that it did not appear that these former employees revealed any trade secrets by exposing the Falwell emails. … Read the Rest
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WTH? American Evangelicals Hold ‘Human Rights’ Meeting With Saudi Crown Prince — A Notorious Human Rights Abuser — On 9/11!
Agence France-Presse (9/11/19)
Saudi Arabia’s crown prince hosted a delegation of American Christian evangelicals on Tuesday, state media said, the latest such visit as the conservative Muslim kingdom seeks to repair its image of religious intolerance.
The visit comes on the eve of the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, in which most of the hijackers who crashed jetliners into the twin towers in New York were identified as Saudi nationals.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met the delegation, led by Israeli-American author Joel Rosenberg, at his palace in the western city of Jeddah, the official Saudi Press Agency said.
“Honoured to be back in kingdom of Saudi Arabia for (the second) time in less than a year,” Rosenberg said on Twitter.
“We met (with) his royal highness the crown prince (and) other senior officials to discuss terrorism, peace, religious freedom and human rights.” …
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Trump Faith Adviser Paula White Declares White House As ‘Holy Ground’ Sanctified By ‘The Superior Blood Of Jesus’
[Editor’s Note: The talking in tongues is especially eloquent at the tail end of the video. She is the perfect ‘spiritual’ adviser for the likes of Trump.– Mark L. Taylor]
By Kyle Mantyla
Right Wing Watch (9/11/19)
Paula White, a televangelist who is a key spiritual adviser to and supporter of President Trump, preached at Morris Cerullo’s church in California last month, where she bragged about using her access to Trump to dedicate the White House as “holy ground” covered by “the superior blood of Jesus.”
“Parents are primarily responsible to raise and educate their children,” she said. “It doesn’t take any spirit of discernment or knowledge or wisdom to see that we have runaway generations. Opioid epidemics, suicide epidemics, sexual identity epidemics, where do you want me to start? It’s all over the place. The problem is not the world: We can blame it on the liberal educational system that infiltrated the Ivy Leagues and go down; listen, the bills that we fight are insane. Right now, we’re fighting in California—in third grade, in fifth grade—they put certain things on certain vegetables and teach them how to insert them in certain parts of the anatomy.”
White said that “the devil is doing a darn good job” of destroying America, which is why she prays over the nation whenever she visits the White House. …
Read the Rest and 4-Minute Video
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Christian Ministry Tells Staff & Students They Must Support School’s Anti-gay Beliefs — Some Are Quitting
By David Badash
The New Civil Rights Movement (9/11/19)
Jacinta Tegman, the new head CRISTA, a massive $100 million Christian ministry in the state of Washington, has been pushing an anti-LGBTQ agenda since taking over in January. She told the organization’s members that “sexual intimacy” must be “confined within the marriage of one man and woman.” Over the summer the head of the organization’s K-12 King’s schools, Eric Rasmussen, sent families and faculty an email “to reaffirm the school’s core values, and repeated Tegman’s line that sexual expression only occurs within a heterosexual marriage,” the Seattle Times reports.
The school now has a textbook that calls homosexuality “unnatural,” and “a result of the failure to worship God.” Both claims are false.
At least five teachers and two students have quit the school as a result of these attacks on LGBTQ people. …
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Woman Receives Ominous Threat After Reporting Drugging & Rape Inside Atlanta Megachurch
By Sky Palma
Raw Story (9/6/19)
On September 1, a woman only identified as “Octavia” went to police to tell them about a rape that occurred at the House of Hope Atlanta megachurch four years ago. She had kept the allegation to herself up until that point, but was prompted to go to police after she received a threatening letter in her mailbox, The Christian Post reports.
According to Cobb County police officer C.B. Neill, the letter read, “Octavia Stop NOW or Else 83019.” It is unclear what the numbers refer to.
The threat came after Octavia appeared on a popular online show where she claimed the rape occurred at the church after she was drugged. Also speaking to the Post was the show’s host, Larry Reid, who says Octavia told him that she was raped by a church staff member inside a home she was living in provided by the church during a rough patch in her life.
In a note sent to Reid, Octavia said that the threats she’s received since doing the interview have convinced her to go back to keeping quiet.
“I know how much bigger this all is but I’m not emotionally strong enough to keep it going. They made their point,” she wrote. …
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Evangelist Benny Hinn Grovels For Cash Just Two Days After Renouncing Prosperity Gospel
By Sky Palma
Raw Story (9/6/19)
In a stunning reversal earlier this week, controversial televangelist and faith healer Benny Hinn announced to his followers that he will no longer preach the “prosperity gospel,” a teaching that says believers will be rewarded with health and wealth as long as they give monetary offerings to their churches and pastors.
“I’m sorry to say that prosperity has gone a little crazy and I’m correcting my own theology and you need to all know it,” Hinn said in a live video posted to his Facebook page on Monday. “Because when I read the Bible now, I don’t see the Bible in the same eyes I saw 20 years ago.”
Hinn went on:
“I think it’s an offense to the Lord, it’s an offense to say give $1,000. I think it’s an offense to the Holy Spirit to place a price on the Gospel. I’m done with it. I will never again ask you to give $1,000 or whatever amount, because I think the Holy Ghost is just fed up with it.”
Hinn’s renouncement of his former teachings was received with overwhelming approval from his audience, but according to writer and podcaster Karen Alea, Hinn should not be believed.
In a guest post for the Friendly Atheist, Alea points out that Hinn’s website still asks donors to give up to $1,000 a month to Hinn’s ministry. Additionally, just two days after Hinn’s video aired, he asked his followers to send him seed money for “debt elimination.” …
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