The death of Dr. Jerry Falwell marks the closure of a legacy. Liberty University’s Chancellor and Senior Pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church reportedly was found unconscious at his office and pronounced dead at Liberty General Hospital at 12:40 pm.
While I did not always agree with Dr. Falwell (only few Americans did) and thought someone of his stature should have more cultivated refinery, tact and skillful diplomacy, he was an amazing man and a good servant of our Lord.
On the downside, Dr. Falwell never met an issue he didn’t like. Some people think him opinionated. I think it was a lack of Biblical wisdom. One should never speak to every issue. Most recently, he referred to Calvinism as heresy, something even ardently strident Arminians refrain from doing. In secular politics, I remember him marching in lockstep with President Bush in supporting Harriet Miers for Supreme Court Justice which would have been a huge mistake. She was a liberal waiting to metamorphicize.
On the upside, Dr. Falwell was an incredible visionary. The Moral Majority and the sprawling empire of Liberty Mountain are two notable achievements. When I stepped down as president of Moral Majority in 1987, he said: “I shudder to think where the country would be right now if the religious right had not evolved.”
Dr. Richard Land, president of The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said:
“Our grief at our loss of his witness, energy and giftedness for the kingdom is mitigated by the fact that he is now with his Savior for eternity. Dr. Falwell’s home-going leaves an enormous gap in the leadership ranks of evangelical Christianity in America and around the world. He will be greatly missed. Our hearts and prayers go out to his church members and the entire Liberty family, including professors, alumni and students, as well as his immediate family. We pray for them in this time of loss, as well as our loss of this true giant of the faith.”
And now the warrior can rest.
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