In yesterday’s Broadside I wrote that the majority of what I cover in this blog is politics, but that my wider interest is the interplay of faith, culture and politics. There are three stories currently circulating that involve all three themes, and all of them involve well-known Christian men.
The first is Jerry Falwell, Jr., the president of Liberty University and an outspoken supporter of president Trump. The leader of the largest Christian university in the country posted at least one questionable picture of himself aboard a yacht.
The photo, posted to Falwell’s Instagram account and later deleted, caused an uproar, because it appeared to show him with a drink in his hand and his arm around a (much) younger woman—and both of them had their pant zippers unzipped and top buttons unbuttoned.
Falwell’s explanation is cringe-worthy. “[My wife’s assistant is] pregnant, so she couldn’t get her pants up,” he said. “I had on a pair of jeans that I hadn’t worn in a long time, so I couldn’t get mine zipped either. And so, I just put my belly out like hers.” He apologized for embarrassing her by posting the photo, and said he told his kids that “I’m gonna try to be a good boy from here on out.”
Falwell’s behavior and poor judgment are an embarrassment for evangelicals. His behavior completely contradicts scripture—”But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people” comes to mind (Eph. 5:3)—and his institution’s own standards of modesty. Their dress code says it is “conducive to a Christ-like environment. Cleanliness, neatness, appropriateness, and modesty are important as guiding factors. Students are expected to dress modestly at all times” (double emphasis theirs). His choice to post that picture, even if done in fun, reflects very badly on the church and on evangelicals who support president Trump, giving detractors even more reason to despise that relationship.
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The second is John Ortberg, pastor of the 4,000 member Menlo Church near San Francisco. He resigned this past weekend after a apparently turning a blind eye to a volunteer who was attracted to minors and worked with kids at the church. The volunteer, it turns out, was his son, John Ortberg III.
The whistleblower was Daniel M. Lavery, the Ortberg’s daughter—born Mallory Ortberg—who now presents as a male and is married to a man who presents as a woman. Her brother, John, first confided in his father his attraction to children—especially to pre-pubescent boys. He then admitted it to Lavery, who, after reporting the conversation to her parents without results (the elder Ortberg never reported the situation to either church leaders or to leaders of the youth ministry in which the younger Ortberg served), reported the situation to the church board.
That was when John Ortberg was placed on leave while the church conducted an investigation. The investigation turned up no misconduct and Ortberg III was never accused of improper behavior. Nonetheless, the church requested Ortberg’s resignation for, in part, “John’s poor judgment [which] has resulted in pain and broken trust among many parents, youth, volunteers, and staff.”
Apart from being estranged from their biological daughter and dealing with a son who is now publicly known to be attracted to children, John and his wife, Nancy, were also party to the controversy over Bill Hybels’ alleged indiscretions with women over the years at Willow Creek Community Church. Both John and Nancy served on staff at Willow for nearly a decade before leaving for Menlo Church. (Full disclosure: I was acquainted with both John and Nancy when my own employment at Willow overlapped with theirs.)
With the arrest and suicide of Jeffrey Epstein, the more recent arrest of Ghislaine Maxwell, and the unsealed court documents naming names, pedophilia is quite visible these days. Not too long ago, the abuse of underage boys in the Catholic Church were front page news. Every pastor and church leader should know that an obsession with children, especially as strong as John Ortberg III’s seems to be, is a recipe for disaster. While he doesn’t seem to have acted out (thankfully!), the fact that his father was willing to allow him continued access to children was a poor decision. John’s resignation, while sad, is the right action for the church to take.
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The third is pastor John MacArthur, who leads Grace Community Church in Los Angeles. He and the elders recently declared that they would not obey the directive from California Gov. Gavin Newsom requiring churches to remain closed indefinitely due to Covid-19:
Christ is Lord of all. He is the one true head of the church He is also King of kings—sovereign over every earthly authority. Grace Community Church has always stood immovably on those biblical principles. As His people, we are subject to His will and commands as revealed in Scripture. Therefore we cannot and will not acquiesce to a government-imposed moratorium on our weekly congregational worship or other regular corporate gatherings. Compliance would be disobedience to our Lord’s clear commands.
Now the church must face the government.
On July 29, the City of Los Angeles sent a cease-and-desist letter, threatening Grace Community Church and MacArthur with a daily fine of $1,000 or arrest. The letter gave him one day to respond. On Sunday, August 2, health officials came to the church, asking to inspect the premises. The church declined to let them in without a warrant and told them to speak with the church’s counsel. At that, they left.
Grace Community Church has lawyered up, hiring …
Jenna Ellis and Charles LiMandri. Ellis is the senior legal adviser to the Trump 2020 campaign, private counsel to President Donald Trump, and served on his legal team for the impeachment trial. She also serves as a senior fellow at the Falkirk Center for Faith & Liberty and is the author of The Legal Basis for a Moral Constitution. LiMandri began the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund in 2012 and has litigated high-profile cases in California for decades, including the ACLU’s effort to remove the Mount Soledad Cross and San Diego’s effort to force firefighters to participate in a gay pride parade against their sincerely held religious beliefs.
Who would have thought that in the United States in 2020, the Church would be directly told by the government to close its doors? Yet that is what is happening all over the country due to the Asian Contagion. It’s a clash of jurisdictional authority between Church and State. What we’re seeing is civil disobedience supported with scripture. How this conflict resolves itself will be very instructive for the Church as a whole, especially as we move into a presidential election in these troubled times of burning Bibles and calls for churches to be attacked. Scripture, the U.S. Constitution, and competing priorities are all involved.
Yet Christians nationwide can all be proud of Grace Community Church for taking a principled stand on the Word of God and telling the civil authorities that, with all due respect, our allegiance is to a higher authority.
Outstanding post, Dave. Have you read any posts or listened to any podcasts by Doug Wilson on the proper role and extent of governmental authority? Good stuff.
Hi Laurie! Yes, I have read some material by Doug Wilson on the domains of the church v. the government. I’ll look for one of his podcasts on it and if you have one to recommend, let me know! Thanks for reading! Dave