TELEVANGELIST SUMMARIES March 1987 PAT ROBERTSON Bakker scandal ••.•..•••.•• • •• 46-48 Mobile, AL textbook case. • ••• 30-37 700 CLUB BENNET, WILLIAM School-based health clinics .• ••• 37 Gay rights .••.• .37 Welfare reform ••• • •••••• 38 School prayer ••• • •••• 38-39 JERRY FALWELL Bakker scandal ...... •••• 48-49 Bishop Desmond Tutu •• • ••• 39 PTL • ••..••.•.••••••. . • 44-45 JIMMY SWAGGART Bakker scandal .• .41-43 Fundraising •. .45 Israel. •• 49 Jews •••• • ••• 40 JAMES ROBISON Media • ...••.•.•.•••...... •••••..•...... •...... 44 THE 700 CLUB March 6, 1987
MOBILE, AL Reverend Pat Robertson: "For years, many Christian parents have thought that the public ~chools were teaching humanistic values that were quite different from what they wanted their children to learn. Now the concept of humanism and the humanities is very noble. To be humanitarianism (sic) is good. But secular humanism is actually a type of religion. It's actually atheism in a new guise. Well, in Mobile, Alabama, 624 parents decided to do something about it. They were joined of course in that part of the 624 were teachers and students."
NARRATOR: "It may go down as the religious liberty case of the twentieth century ••• The decision marks the first time, humanism, including secular humanism, has been recognized and defined as a religion. That means it can no longer be allowed a preferred position in public education but now, legally, will have to be treated with strict neutrality, as required of all religions by the Supreme Court."
Attorney for the Plaintiffs, Tom Parker: "Not only does this decision ban the use of certain books in the state of Alabama which violate Constitutional rights, it also establishes some guidelines which could be used by state textbook committees or by concerned parents. It does this by defining humanism as a religion, protected by the First Amendment and also prohibited from being taught as truth in the school systems by the First Amendment. And it also defines omission of facts about theistic faiths as discrimination against religion."
John Buchanan: "This is a case of nothing less than judicial book burning. I think this is the first time in history that a religion has been created and defined by its opponents and by its antagonists. I believe the judge has sadly erred in this case, and this is, indeed, nothing less than government censorship of textbooks.
Robertson: "Ladies and gentlemen, this is a landmark case for religious freedom ••• the American Civil Liberties Union and PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY have marshalled their resources behind the state
VOLUME 7, ISSUE 3(a) 30 lMarch, 1987 school system to try to force students to be indoctrinated with atheism by using taxpayers money. They have always previous to this at least the ACLU has been on the side of the plaintiffs, of the students who were being quote indoctrinated with Christianity or Judaism. Now they're on the side of the heavy handed government trying to enforce a doctrine and they lost. And they lost big."
"We hear the term "existential despair." The kids are so confused they're actually committing suicide.
Plaintiff Doug Smith: "To my knowledge, no one in this case has ever asked that humanism be removed. It just can't be presented by itself."
Robertson: "Well the judge took out 44 books. I mean, this was the predominant thrust of every one of those books that was being used, this was compulsory education, these values were being jammed down student's throats, they had to study these things ••• What about John Buchanan getting up with all this righteous indignation and talking about book burning, this isn't book burning, this is freedom, isn't it?
Parker: "We couldn't be more pleased with this. It's a real strike for religious liberty in this country, and it also is a strengthening of democracy. These type moral views presented in the textbooks ultimately undermine democracy. When you teach a student that all values are personal and subjective, what you do is lay the groundwork for the destruction of the national consensus that we need to hold us together as a nation. And so ultimately they're anti-democratic. And we pray that this will be the beginning of a return to traditional values which are the foundation of this country."
Robertson: "The job of the school system is to transmit the values of the preceding generation and of the history of the nation through to the young. That's what it's there [for], that's what's the main task of public education ••• well, I've seen this revisionist view of history. Let's face it. In the nineteenth century, we were considered a Christian nation. The Supreme Court itself ruled it. In 1892 or whatever, that this is a Christian nation. It said it in the decision. And were all those references essentially struck from the textbooks of Alabama, the religious beliefs, the pilgrims, and the Thanksgiving celebrations and all those things?"
VOLUME 7, ISSUE 3(a) 31 lMarch, 1987 Tom Parker: "Not only struck but rewritten. This is what you heard under Khrushchev, in Russia, when he rewrote the textbooks to remove any references to Stalin. They rewrote the textbooks to change the intent of the pilgrims ••• one of the books had thirty pages on the pilgrims on the first Thanksgiving, never mentioned why they came to this country, why they were called pilgrims, they were supposedly just people who made long trips, and they never said to whom they gave thanks at the first Thanksgiving."
Robertson: "This is a deliberate attempt, then, to impose [an] atheistic point of view and to take away the theistic heritage of America, this isn't accidental, it's a deliberate attempt to rewrite history, is what you're saying."
Parker: "And there are very serious implications of it. Once you remove any references to religion, you are teaching the students that religion is unimportant, that it is not even worthy of study. And what that does is, in effect, harden the soil of these fertile young minds to the receipt of the Gospel from their parents at home, at church or in the synagogue. And what these parents and teachers were asking in Alabama is for the right, as taxpayers, to be free from state imposition of a indoctrinated view that makes it hard for them to meet their Biblical responsibility to pass on that faith to their children."
Robertson: "Is this thing going up on appeal, by the way?"
Bob Skolrood: "It's going to be an interesting case, because the decision by the judge really applies to the state school board, and its going to be up to the state school board to decide what they're going to do about it."
Reverend Pat Robertson: "The ACLU and the PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY really don't have standing to appeal, is that the idea?
Skolrood: "Well, as I see it right now, unless they substitute their opinion or do something with the state school board ••• if there's an appeal, then it's gotten the full light of day ••• this to me is the most important case on religious freedom at least in the last forty years."
Robertson: "If it goes on appeal, just financially, what does an appeal
VOLUME 7, ISSUE 3{a) 32 lMarch, 1987 to the Supreme Court cost? Half a million dollars?"
Skolrood: "It'll cost in that neighborhood ••• it'll cost that much."
Robertson: "PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY spent a million dollars on that!?"
Skolrood: "They've indicated that they've spent over a million dollars in support of this case, just at the trial court level."
Robertson: "Well, now, you've got another one coming up in Omaha ••• on equal access, whether or not religious groups can have free access voluntarily after school hours in Omaha, Nebraska."
Skolrood: "Right .. and that case, in Omaha, Nebraska is coming up the first part of April. And everyone concedes that the Justice Department is involved in it and the judge out there also concedes that this is now the leading case in America on equal access."
Robertson: "Well, ladies and gentlemen, I don't know if you realize what we're talking about here. We're talking about the thing that you have had on your heart for so long, what's wrong with education. What's wrong with education is that the humanists have taken it over in many states and have begun to manipulate the textbook system and what is taught in the curriculum and yes, students are not learning. "And one of them wrote in their Humanist magazine, if you can imagine this shocking thing, and I'm quoting, "So what if Johnny can't read." That's what the author said. "So what if Johnny can't read. We have him 'til he's seventeen years old and we will drive every vestige of Christianity out of him. Now, you couldn't get any more blatant than that. That's the goal, the purpose, they've announced it. And they laugh, they say the quote ''fundamentalists" may scream about it, but we've already won the game. Well the answer is, in Alabama, Judge Hand says no you haven't won the game yet. And these plaintiffs and their attorneys have said, "not yet." And with the National Legal Foundation working there, and then moving into Nebraska on the equal access bill, once again a school system which has refused equal access to religious people after school hours for voluntary religious observance. They will be challenged and that law will be affirmed, apparently, throughout the nation. It's a landmark case. Now, we have been involved in CBN in helping major financial support of the attorneys on this case and if it's an appeal, we have said, I've said, we're going to take this thing to the Supreme Court, and whatever it costs, we're going to do it
VOLUME 7, ISSUE 3(a) 33 lMarch, 1987 because it's too important for every young person in the schools of America. There's not one school, public school system this won't effect. And it pertains to your children, your grandchildren. The same thing in Omaha, we've got two landmark cases and if they can go to the Supreme Court it will put us light-years toward restoring traditional values in America. "Now here's what I want to do. I wrote a book, called America's Dates with Destiny. And it goes back and traces the history of America, the religious heritage. We start at 1607 ••• all the way through to the Statue of Liberty, the great freedoms of America, and what the underlying basis is, get into losing our way, as we got into World War I and d~sillusionment and then the New Deal, and the World War II and the Great Society and all these things, how we began to lose our way with crime and drugs and problems, and through the ACLU, a chapter here about what they've done in America. And finally, how we get our way back. I want to give you this book, if you would make a contribution to the legal aspects of what we're doing here. And if you'd just send a letter ••• and to everyone who would send a hundred dollars in this very important case, the appeal, and the Omaha case, I would like to send you this book, America's Dates With Destiny, free of charge. And I think its something that everybody ought to see, it should be in every church, it should be all over the country, ,every teacher should read it, because it's the first one, as far as I know, ever written that gives an overall summary of America from 1607, yes, to 1988, and the specific dates with destiny ••• from the perspective of what does it mean to you, what does it mean for America, and is there hope for America ••• We'd like to ask everyone to give a gift of a hundred dollars and yes, we'll have enough to only take on the ACLU and PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY in this case and others, but I'm sure, Bob, they won't stop here, will they, there'll be other cases undoubtedly."
Skolrood: "No, they won't stop here, but we're the alternative now to the ACLU and we're going to meet them at every point."
Robertson: "But they're talking about huge money if the ACLU, if PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY spent a million dollars, I know that Tom P a r k e r d i d n ' t spend a mi 11 i on do 11 a r s ! ( La u g h t e r • ) I t ' s been with great personal sacrifice, and these lawyers need some help, if they're going to do this. They obviously can't go bankrupt in the process. But it's for America, and for you, and for the values we share, for our children and grandchildren."
THE 700 CLUB 3-9-87
SECULAR HUMANISM/MOBILE, AL
VOLUME 7, ISSUE 3(a) 34 lMarch, 19 8 7 Robertson: "The courts of America have said the Bible must be banned from the classrooms of America. The ACLU actually has made the Gideons stop giving out Testaments to students outside of schools, I mean like outside in the street and everything, they get on the school property, I believe in Roanoke, Virginia, there was an agreement, the ACLU said, "We'll sue you." So they banned the Bible. No problem! You see, everybody, all the liberals say well isn't that wonderful. Well, I don't think its wonderful at all ••• But in place of the Bible they have begun to advocate atheism being taught with taxpayers' dollars. Secular humanism is a fancy name for atheism. That's all it is. It is a socialistic world model, it is a free sex model, it is an anti family model, if you will, a value free model, and it's do your own thing, because every -- all ethics are relative and situational, whatever the situation is, at that time, is how you frame your ethics, there's no such thing as an absolute truth, according to secular humanism. And they have filed as a religion. They had documents signed by the leadership saying we are a religion, we want tax exemption as a religious society."
"And the Alabama court case says if you can't have the Bible under the First Amendment, if that's going to be banned, well you're certainly not going to have taxpayers' money to teach evolution. I think that's fair. What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. So the gander just got boiled and the ACLU is screaming all over the country. But what happened was the ACLU came down -- and we've been waiting for three years for this case to come out, because sooner or later we knew that we could set a trap, if you will, for them and they'd jump into it. And they jumped into it with both feet in Alabama. And its wonderful! You see, their posture has been, "We are for the little child who is being beat up by those nasty Christians and we're for freedom." And everybody says, "Well, aren't you great." Now, when it comes to teaching atheism, they are for the power of the state to cram atheism down the throats of every Christian in Alabama. And that's their posture. It has nothing to do with freedom, they're for the teaching of atheism in the schools."
"People for the American Way just came in, they didn't really understand what they were doing, but they spent a million dollars at it. But the ACLU knows exactly what they're do1ng, they've been doing it for years. And we were waiting for this case, and the case came along and our National Legal Foundation got involved in it and we're very excited. Because intellectually now the ground has been cut out from under the ACLU."
"In one case ••• the ACLU says that routinely a teenage girl wanting to have an abortion should not have to go and talk to her nasty old archaic parents, they should have absolute freedom,
VOLUME 7, ISSUE 3(a) 35 lMarch, 1987 because "I'm for the rights of the sixteen year old girl to have an abortion." That sounds very noble and liberal, doesn't it? But comes a young man who says, "I don't want to be forcibly repatriated to the Soviet Union and live under Communism." Guess which side the ACLU is on then? They were for the parents -- oh, the right of the parents to decide to take that child out of America and over to the Soviet Union. So you see, they're not consistent. And here we've got them once again in the Alabama case. And it is kind of fun to see it. So now they're saying we want to appeal. Well ••• a very courageous judge in Alabama has said 44 books in the Alabama public school system have stripped the Christianity out of the public school system, they said that in the decree, so much so as to be clearly biased, and number two, clearly the values being expressed are the values of secular humanism which is a religion, and therefore this violates the First Amendment, according to Supreme Court decisions, the 44 books are out. They've got to rewrite them to give a more balanced treatment. Now if that goes on appeal, and I hope it does, we'll have a Supreme Court decision."
"But ladies and gentlemen, the truth of the matter is, in order to get it up, we've spent here at least a quarter of a million dollars, or close to it, and the lawyers have spent a great deal of their own money, I'm not sure exactly how much more, but a substantial amount at great personal sacrifice. It will take $500 thousand, at a minimum, to get this case on appeal, but this is the landmark case on religious freedom in the last forty years ••• this could change the whole educational thrust and bring it back to more traditional values. It won't necessarily bring quote "prayer and Bible reading" back in, but at least the students, they'll be playing on a level playing field, and that's a start. Its a major start! And its been put forth so far at great sacrifice, and these other people have enormous amount of money to spend in an appeal, and the people who've been doing this so far have had very little."
"One more time I want to tell you about this incredible law case that has just happened ••• in essence a landmark in religious freedom in America, if you wonder what's been happening to the public school system, if you wonder why Johnny can't read, all you have to do is look at the fact that of the materials that're being used in many schools, and you see a conscious and deliberate effort on the part of some textbook writers and companies to move this educational system and this nation away from its founding and far away from any concept of the Judea Christian values and into a humanistic model. Well, there is a landmark case in Alabama ••• and it said those textbooks cannot be taught because they violate the First Amendment. Now frankly I am still at odds with some of those interpretations of the First Amendment, but I am in favor of this case because if you take the Bible out as has been done under the First Amendment, you
VOLUME 7, ISSUE 3(a) 36 lMarch, 1987 certainly shouldn't allow atheism to be taught with taxpayers money. That's just fairness."
700 CLUB 3-10-87
SCHOOL-BASED HEALTH CLINICS William Bennett: "I think the establishment of such clinics encourages interest in sexual activity among the young. Let's just think for a moment about children, teenagers who are not interested in sexual activity or promiscuity, what's the presence of such clinics say to them? It suggests to them that they're out of it, it doesn't reinforce them in their proper modesty, in their restraint. But my real argument, I guess my final argument against them is that they represent a kind of abandoment of responsibility on the part of adults toward children ••• they say in effect, "there's nothing we can do, we can't stop you from doing this, so here, limit the damage that you're doing." It's an abrogation of responsibility, there should never be moral surrender.
"You will hear some birth control clinics cite evidence that since they have been instituted, the number of live births has decreased. So that they're actually taking credit for decreasing the teen-age pregnancy rate. But what they tend not to count is pregnancies. Pregnancies tend to go up, in my review of the material. Nevertheless, live births may go down. I don't have to tell you then what's happening. Pregnancies go up, the number of abortions go up and the net result may be fewer live births. But through the process, you've got more teen-age pregnancy and more abortion.
GAY RIGHTS: Danuta Soderman: "Some of our viewers in Hawaii might be interested to know that their state is considering legislation that some Christians fear might bring about the same type of situation that's happening in Wisconsin. Hawaii State House Bill 1346 could forbid discrimination against homosexuals in areas such as hiring by all employers. Many Christians in Hawaii fear that that could mean that religious organizations in Hawaii could be forced to hire homosexuals. Interested people in Hawaii may want to call their legislators."
VOLUME 7, ISSUE 3(a) 37 !March, 1987 The 700 Club 3-11-87
Welfare Reform Allan Carlson, President, The Rockford Institute: " ••• We have been attacking the wrong problems. We haven't understood that the poverty problem changed around 1960. It used to be simply a problem of lack of income. Today it's becoming a problem of family structure. It's becoming a problem of moral breakdown, social breakdown and it's also in part -- the new poverty problem -- derives from the unintended consequences of other government policies ••• most women are now keeping their illigitimate babies where before they would have given them up for adoption. Those two factors added together represent a breakdown of our family system, represent a creation of a whole series of what are called female-headed families, which are almost structurally doomed to being a dependent population ••• " "I would be somewhat more generous in requiring work from the mothers of children born of wedlock whereas perhaps the work required but would not set in until their children reach kindergarten age. Whereas women who voluntarily choose to bear a illigitimate child outside of wedlock, an act that I consider irresponsible, would probably face an earlier work requ1remen' t ••• II
The 700 Club 3-12-87
Welfare Reform Doug Besharov, Director, American Enterprise Institute Social and Individual Responsibility Project: " ••• Welfare now is a program that responds to family breakdown. Two very different forms of family breakdown, by the way, divorce and out of wedlock childbirth. About half the people on welfare are mothers and their children who are without men because of divorce or separation and the other half, usually those that are on for the longest amount of time, are unwed mothers who have one, two, three and four children out of wedlock."
School Prayer Ben Kinchlow: " ••• We've been talking about suicides earlier in the program, and one of the reasons we're finding children don't have basic principles by which to live. One of the reasons is these principles have been taken out of our schools, you no longer pray in schools and they're saying you can't even so much as have a Bible study. One particular school system, if you can believe this, in a annual yearbook they had one page in the annual yearbook featuring the Bible Club and the principal instructed
VOLUME 7, ISSUE 3(a) 38 lMarch, 1987 the class, or the publishing class, to take razor blades and remove that page from the yearbook. No mention even of the Bible Club in school, separation of church and state. Well, ladies and gentlemen, that kind of thing is happening all over America, and we need your help to stand against that sort of thing so we can insure religious liberties and religious freedoms across this nation. That's a God-given right, endowed by their creator, these certain inalienable rights and we are doing what we can to, protect those. So, we're asking you to help us, and if you'd like to help us, particularly if you remember this case that just took place in Alabama, so if you'd like to help us in cases like that, and help us help others, well, now is the time to do it. We're asking those of you who would like to help us, send a one time gift of $100 to help out in this case and other cases like it."
Bishop Tutu Jerry Falwell: "What I said after returning from South Africa my second time that if he {Bishop Desmond Tutu) proports to speak for a majority of non-white South Africans he's phony. And, urn, because I talked to the black leadership, the Indian leadership, the colored leadership in South Africa, they all, in the vast, vast majority have bad feelings about Bishop Tutu. They look on him as officialdom. They look on him as the fellow who lives in the white neighborhood, who drives around a Mercedes, who's paid by the South African Council of Churches and who declared himself to be a socialist, who said that if the Russians were to come to South Africa today we'd look on them as saviors, who said that Christ was born illigitirnately ••• he said all that. And so, no I -- and then he told the West recently to go to Hell, so I don't think there's anybody who doesn't believe he's a phony now. But when I said it I was out on a limb. I was the only one with enough guts to call him what he was. The Nobel Peace Prize to the contrary notwithstanding I still think he's a phony."
Falwell on Falwell Jerry Falwell: "Pastor. I'm a pastor. I'm called to be a pastor. I've been a pastor now for nearly 31 years in the same church. I have no i•nterest ever of ever being anything but a pastor. The school, for us, Liberty University, is an outreach of Thomas Road Baptist Church, training young champions for Christ. Television, radio is for us a media outreach of Thomas Road Baptist Church. Our world missions ministry and alcoholic institution and all that we are doing is simply Thomas Road Baptist Church in various ways reaching out to meet the particular needs of people. But for me, I'm a pastor who is spiritually directing those enterprises and I would never be interested in doing anything else."
VOLUME 7, ISSUE 3(a) 39 lMarch, 1987 A Study in the Word 3-5-87
Jews Jimmy Swaggart: " ••• In the book of Acts over and over again the apostles when they were preaching said 'whom ye have crucified' ••• we're talking about the Jews not now but the ones that lived then, 2~~~ years ago. They did perpetrate the crime, because the apostles said. they did. They said it over and over again. He laid down his "'~~· ..-lH~-freely but yet God had to hold them guilty of what they did as -well as everyone else who was there that could have done differently. So, we cannot absolve as much as we would like to, it is not right or proper to absolve the Jewish people that lived 2~~~ years ago of blame in this terrible travesty of justice ••• To be honest you have to do it. But we make it clear we're only talking about those that lived then ••• the real reason for anti semitism is they hate God. When you get right down to it it's an argument against God, it's a diatribe against God because if you love God you love the Jewish people. If you love God you'll understand the Jewish people. You will understand where they came from and who they are and have a great love for them because if you don't, you don't love God."
VOLUME 7, ISSUE 3(a) lMarch, 19 87 JIMMY SWAGGART
"I'd like to make a statement if I can ••• I do firmly believe that I am the one who these people are talking about and it's the most utterly absurd, ridiculous, accusation that could ever be made. There has never been a thought of any nature of any type in my mind of taking over the PTL with a hostile approach or any other manner. I think sometimes this is just a smokescreen that these people are trying ~o use to cover up the difficulties and problems th~t they already have. Jim Bakker has problems. Jimmy Swaggart is r•<;o"t Jiln Bakker's prc•blem. I had nc• part ir• Jim Bakker's li:iir,,- I h-ad nc• part in Jim Bakker's fall, I had no part in Jim Bakk~r's expose. I have talked to the ~b§~!Qii~-Q~§~~yg~ yesterday that was the first time I had talked to them. I have r1o ide a wh~Ji;e they got their i y,f c•rmat i C•Y•, but they did neat get it from me, my ~ire, my son, or anyone connected with me and I am sorry that they would stoop to this level becaus~ fr•nkly, ~t's a bold face(:! lie what these pec•ple are saying."
BEN KINCHLOW
"There is (sic) also reports circulating that you went to the Assemblies of God and tried to exert pressure or influence to have Assemblies c•f Gc•d disassc•ciate itself frc•m PTL."
SWAGGART
"That is rnost assuredly true. I weY•t tc• the Assernbl,ies t::•f Gc•d I' addressed the executive Bretheren aY•d I·:: pleade4!:J··'II'!i~tr:;~ryt;?f.(l, · I'By · deY•c•mi r.at ic•r•, tc• di star.ce itself from this, charade'.:tn~'b~ s.· be,iy,g carried out dowr, there iY• South or North Carol ina, ;'wherever 'it \is, because\ I'm embarrassed, I'm ashamed aY•d Ber., ~c· be hor.est with you, the Gospel of Jesus Christ has never sunk to such a level as -it is today. We've got a dear brother in Tulsa, Oklahoma perched up in a tower telling people that jf they don't send money, God is going kill him; then we got thi• soap opera that's being carried out live in North Carolina,. S~uth .·Carolina, all i¥1 the r,ame of God. My busir.ess is preachir.~ #h~ g,Psp$1 qf Jesus Christ,. I'm not in the amusement park busin£fSs, }''tn~-not in the live soap opera business and I'm not i~ the w~t-~slide business so I have absolutely no desire for PTL.~
KINCHLOW :.· ... ·.
"You and Jerry Falwell were fc•r mar.y years frieY•ds Reverend Dortch who is the current president of PTL there. Has there beer• any attempt tc• establish cc•mmurdcatior.s betweeY• old friends, fellow miYdsters to the Gc•spel, to discuss this
VOLUME 7, Issue 3(b) 41 2March, 1987 matter and seek an amicable resolution?" \ - SWAGGART
"It most assuredly has been. I heat~d this allegatior• about Jim Bakker and this particular woman some months ago and I didn't spread it all over the country, I went to Dick Dortch about· it who is the chief executive officer, I think, of PTL and I asked him about it, he denied knowing anything about it, he denied knowing anything about it whatsoever and to be frank with you, I would like to say that I at least partially believe the brother and I didn't really think that much more about it until an NRB (sic>, John Ankerberg told me, and this was last February, that the gb§r!9iig_Q~§grygr was going to do an expose on this situation. That was the first time I had heard anything about the gb§r!9iig_Q~§grygr doing anything about it. I think these people are accusing me of being the pipeline to the Q~§grygc but that is tcd;ally ur.true as well. I b~ied to establish cc•r•tact with Dortch and did, but he denied it and I believe the man lied tc• me, I' 11 be frar.k with yc•u. I tt~ied tc• call Jet~ry Falwell. Jerry has been a dear friend of mine for years. I respected him, appt~eciated him ar.d called him ever• as late as last rJight. I talked to his wife and gave him my number asking him to call back, he never has. The only thing I've heard from Jerry Falwell is this: Immediately after it was announced that he was to take over as the chairman of the board of this organization, we received a call from his lawyer. I checked into the lawyer and I found out, I think, my sources tell me, that he's a porno lawyer. In other words, one of these guys that defends e§nih9Y§§ and HY§i!gc or whatever the case and we know their tactics because I've had to deal with these people. He called me and stated that he had some documents he was going to use against me and secondly, that he had s9me dark covered up sin in my life that he was goind to uncover and tell the people about if I didn't shut I up. Well, I hadr•'t beel"' sayir,g4 ar.ythir•g ar.yway exceRt what I should have said I want to tell him here. Now I can't think of. his name but anything he has, please feel free to tell-all sundry. Tell the news media and tell anyone else about this darl sin I'm supposed to be covering. I'm embarrassed for Jerry Falwell, he's my friend and he's gotten himself involved in a sr.akepi t .•• and I dor•' t lmdet~stand what he's dcd r.g. 1 t hurt me that I would hear from him and his lawyer would threaten me. Then I asked the lawyer through my lawyer if he'd let me talk to Jerry on the phone. He said Jerry wouldn't talk to me and I've never had a cross word with Jerry Falwell in my life, period •••• I'm hurt •••. I think it has brought terrible reproach~ the cause C•f Cht~ist."
KINCHLOW \ ;. "Let me ask yc•u this. Wc•ulJ YOlt be wi 11 i r•g to mee:t privately to try to resolve this matter amicably with the principals that are
'1·..< VOLUME 7, Issue 3 42 2March, 1987 involved Jerry Falwell and or Jim Bakker and or Dortch individually or collectively?"
SWAGGART
"Ber., I would be mc•st happy tc• meet with ar.yor.e. The wc•rld is laughing at us, I mean they are making fun of us and I don't blame them. This foolishness that passes for gospel that's being carried out nationally, well there's not a soap opera in Hollywood that can come up to what is taking place and what is happening here. Last night you
TIMOTHY ROBERTSON
"Where do we go from here, Jim?"
SWAGGART
"If the bc•dy of Christ wc•Ltld disassc•ciate itself f'r~c•m this foolishness that it taking place, that would help an awful lot ar.d we r.eed tc• pray fc•r the people ir.vc•lved; but really we r.eed to pray that they will actually confess their sins. They've never really confessed them, they've only admitted to what the sheltered observer has proven to be the truth. They need to reper.t. They r.ever have really reper.ted. That wc•uld be a goc•d start. When you repent, you don't blame everyone else for your problems, you take total, full and complete blame; and something else that should be considered, someone should pray for that poor girl that was involved in this thing that reeked her life, and somebody should pray for the body of Christ that is being savaged by this fool ishr•ess."
• ' VOLUME 7, Issue 3(b) 43 2March, 1987 Recently, the PTL Club b•gan marketing Heritage U.S.A. with various discounts such as, pay full price for your first night at their hotel and get the next night on the house. A 10~ discount is offered ROBISON "It's ir1 my heat~t that we Y•C•t allc•w the devil tc• divide us ar•d that w• not allow the media, the secular media or any other world fc•rce tc• pit brc•ther agair.st brc•ther. I gc•t (sic). ~·ews fc•r yc•Ll, I won't fight my broth~r. I'm going to fight the devil that 1 s . tryir1g tc• get LIS tc• fight c•m~ brother. I'll tell yc•Ll I'm c•Y•e. Not every preacher has enough money to buy their grandkids a pool. You go to a public pool or a beach, they're running around there half naked and right here we're trying to have standards ••• Your kids don't eat at McDonalds because there's more beef. They eat at McDonalds because they've been brainwashed. That's what the media dc•es to them." REX HUMBARD "Why would you, with all the responsibi~ity you have, take on another load of responsibility like you have,_ Dr •. Falwell. We cc•mmey,d you fc•r it, but why?" ·.. JERRY FALWELL "Well first c•f all Rex, last Tuesday, nir.e--days--ag~;-J:Y.i ~·arm Springs, Pastor Dortch and I were there, Jimmy, Jim Bakker asked me, 'Jerry, I want you to take it. I want you to form a new board. Our board will ratify your board and resign.' And I'm a fur.damer.tal (sic) baptist. Yc•u kr•c•w what_ that .mear.s? ••• we went._.... out there for one reasc•n OY1ly, I had heard ~lC::t of rumors . --~ '"· •· rattling around the cage and having read the~erse about going to your brother ar.d carrying the tale, I did that_ and you kr.c•w ,._;_. sc•meth i r.g, I' 11 Y1ever forget, 'he said ' i Y1. sever• years,-.· yc•u' r_e the first guy to love me enough to confront me' ~nd at-that moment it was all over. It was lc•ving, warm, ger.uine, sir.cere. Nothir.g ··· like all the garbage you read in the papers ••• that's incidental. The fact is that at that moment the'miracle was there and I think lc,.r.g ago he had dealt with it." As c•f March 26, 1987 the PTL Club has a new~bqard of ~irectors. -_,.. .,. ·( "'""'' I IMr:::" "7 T C::.C::.II~ 3 (b) 44 • ....'· Dr. Jerry Falwell, chairman of PTL, president of Liberty r::E?d€-?l·~at iOY"I Pastor Richard Dortch, president of PTL, host of PTL Club Boal"~d M€-z.mb€-?l""'S Dr. Ban Armstrong, executive director, National Religious B·r~c•adc,;:~~;t et~!.s Honorable James Watt, former secretary of the Interior, attorney Dr. Jerry Nimms, chief executive officer of the ministries of J" E~r~l"~y ~-::· i~ 1 WE! J. 1 Mr. Sam Moore, president, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville Dr. Baily Smith, former president of Southern Baptist Convention FALWELL SWAGGART "Th£-? pt~eachal"~ cc:•m£-?s <::•Y"• th£-? ait~, ar1d sc:~r.:l to !1-::.ay this is Y"10t Catholic, this is not Buddhist or Hindu, this is Charismatic, and says Gor.:l wants you to gat above the $50 dollar level. If you will get up to the $100 dollar level, he will gat you where he Wc:\nt~:;. yc•u. And he do~"-?!::;n' t £""'VE"£-n kY"10W he'!:'~ bl.::\sphemil"•g God." ·rh~;:.> blood of Jesus Christ is being plaved on sale and it's getting ci"H-?apE•l"~ £-?V£-?l"~yday. 11 VOLUME 7, Issue 3(b) 2Mat"'ch, 1987 Bakker Scandal Robertson: "• •• Jc•irdr.g us frc•rn Lynchburg Va, perhaps the most talked tc• ar.d talked about man in the nation this last week, Dr. Jerry Falwell. Jerry we're hearir.g very good repc•rts about yc•ur press cor.ferer.ce yesterday. It seems to be well received all over America. Falwell: "Pat I think it was the most difficult one I've ever done, including South Africa, including you name it and certainly the largest or•e ar•d certair.ly the most impc•rtar.t or.e. As I said ir• the press conference, !_QQD~i_ibin~_ibi~-i~-s-Jiro_~9~~~~~-erb~ ~ina~l9~-~i~9~~~-in£iQ~DlL __ !_ibin~_ib~-~b2l~_f9roil~_Qf_§QQ_i§ iDYQ!Y~QL __ Ib~-~bQ!~_f9ffii!~_Qf_§QQ~~-fYiY~~L-~~PYisiiQDL !~§iiffiQD~-i~_9i-~i9~~L and the men who are serving on this board, I just say congratulations to every one of them. It is a blue ribbon panel and they have agreed to walk into a war zone and hopefully be God's instrument for peace. Robertson: "Tell me what the plans are. Do you contemplate Jim Bakker returning or is he permanently out or out for a period of rehabilitation or what-what's the plan?" Falwell: "Well, Pat, I can only speak out of experience from my own heart and, what you and I probably both know to be so in your ministry and mine the credibility of problems began with the moral misconduct and then the payment of monies that followed. If, in fact, Jim were to come back, and I have no reason to believe that he is, I said in the press conference, next Monday, and the next Monday and the next Monday our job as a board in restoring credibility would clearly be complicated if not made impossible. And our board, I think made clear would resign ~n_roe§§~· ~~-beY~ DQ_Q~~ir~_iQ_fiabi-~iib_9n~Qn~_QY~~~ib~_mini~i~~-1~~~ii9a~L-Y~8l 9~£sY~g_nQn~_Qf_Y~-~sni_i!_snQ_Qr_bsY~-sn~-Q~~i~~-!Q_Q~n-Qr sgnirg!_~Qro~ibinaL--~~-sr~_!n~r~_gyr~l~_in_9_~i~~srQ~biQ r~~PQD~i.Qi!ii~L There are a lot of people who love Jim Bakker, and should. He has made a tremendous contribution to the lives of a lot of people and they love him ••• !_sro_nQ!_§QQL I have no, I have no way to state that a year from now, two, five years from now. I dor•' t kr•ow. Jim Bakker could be back there. That's up to God. But I can only say, our board has no deal with anybody. Robertson: "You know, -- historically in the church, it seems that judgmer.t as we say begins with the house of the Lord, and then works out into revival in the community. I'm looking at this as a possibility of healing, reconciliation and true revival VOLUME 7, Issue 3(b) 4G 2March, 1987 throughout the whole body of Christ. Did you see it that way? Falwell: "I did, and I said that at the press conference yesterday that God has a way of making the wrath of men that praise him, and I think he's sitting in the heavens and laughing right now, first at our stupidity and all the dumb things that are being said and done, but also that we might think that the church of Jesus Christ and the Lord, himself, had been somehow injured by what mc•rtals have dor-.e. We look over z, 000 years of history for this church and this family of God and there have been literally thousands of incidents like this, hundreds of major incidents. 1 quoted on ~isbibin~ the other night a list of some of the popes who were human disasters; rape, pillage, etc. etc. That did not eliminate the Roman Catholic Church. What they believe and what they stand for superceded and survived those popes. Well, in the Evangelical and Bible believing Christian world I think it is reasonable to believe that our God is alive and well and that we are going to see in the days to come God turn all of these bad th i Y1gs arc•ur-.d, Rc•mar-.s Chapter 8 verse 28, fc•r gc•c•d, because we love him. Robertson: "Well, now as far as the rift, there is no rift between you and Jimmy Swaggart and between you and Bob Schuller or any of the other ministers that I discern at this point, is there? Falwell: "Nor-•e whatsc•ever. A cc•uple of days age• iY• the program that was made live there, Jimmy, who had not talked with me at the time, Jimmy Swaggart, had a misunderstanding that a (sic> attorney had called him and been a bit stern with him at my instructions. As soon as I heard that I called him ••• yesterday at the board meeting the board unanimously directed general counsel who had been the person representing Reverend Bakker in the conflict between Bakker and Swaggart ••• Not another word about Jimmy Swaggart anywhere, anytime, anyplace and he understood that and that's history. And Jimmy SWaggart is practicing the same thing. I've r.ever had ar-.y problems with -- or -- ar-.y of our people or_ J Oral Roberts, or Rex Humbard. So I think wheY• you look at Bi 1 ~· Graham, yourself Robertson: "Well I agree because I am seeing more harmony betweer-1 more leaders and ministers than I have seen in my life, and I don't feel that this is anything except just a little ripple along the way. Tell me about the future of PTL. What do you plan to do with it? There's some debts, you're going to borrow some money, VOLUME 7, Issue 3(b) 47 2March, 1987 but what about the programming involved. Are you going to keep the same programmiY1g OY1 the satellite?" Falwell: "Pat, it is sc•, we have c•ur haY1ds sc• full right Y10W. We yesterda~ commissioned an inquiry. We asked counsel to bring in independen~ auditors to perform an inquiry on the entire affair that brought about the resignation of the former chairman. We also asked for a cold comfort letter, as you might expect, so there is absolutely no liability on the part of the new board, regarding past experience, and we hope and trust there will not be. We have right now an audit committee and an executive committee going down there immediately, as a matter of fact, next week, week after next to begin a very hard long look at management, at finances, at economies at whatever it takes and the donor base. We have not even looked at the proQram and I said yesterday I had the entire board on the regular PTL Club show yesterday and I said this one thing you can be sure of. ~@ ~rg_nQ~_£Qming_b§r§_~Q_m~~§-~n_inQ§Q§DQ§D~-~~Q~i?~-£~mQ_Qr_?~~mQ lb§_DAffi§_Qf_J§rr~-E~!~§!!_QD_~bi?_ffiiDi?~r~L--1~-b~?-Q§§D_ii_~i!! £2n~in~§-~Q_Q§_~-~bri?~i~n_£~ffiQ_QQ§D_~Q-~b§_f~mil~_Qf_§Qg_~ng_~§ QQD~~-Ql~D-~Q-~§!!_~n~bQQ~-~b~~-~Q_Q§!i§Y§_Qr_bQ~-~Q __ Q§!i§Y§ Robertson: ~~~~~§!!_!~Qi§~-~DQ_Q§D~!§ffi§D_l_bg!i~Y§_~b~~-~b~i-~§~r§_§§§!ng_i?. fr~n~l~-~bg_Qr§!YQ§_iQ_r§YiY~lL __ Ibi?_i?n~i_?Qffig_grg~i-~r~ggg~ ~ng_~Q~_nggg_iQ_!QQ~-~~-i~-~b~~-~e~.L-_8ng_l_ibin~-~bg_~bing_ib§i ~§_?QQY!Q_~!!_QQ_i§_Qre~_fQr_r§YiY~!_in_~b§_£bYr£bL And what we've seen is the body of Christ coming together and taking care of a bit of a moral situation that does arise from time to time and doing so in healing and doing so in love. It's not some big holy war, no way, it is -- it is the people of God coming together as they should in unity across this nation. And we commend Jerry Falwell and the board, now the new board of PTL, some very distinguished people, Sam Ward, for example, of Thomas Nelsoy, Publishing is on the bc•ard, Jim Watt, various others very distiy,guished pecople, BeY• Armstroy,g from the secretary c•f the National Religious Broadcasters, etc. And that board and Jimmy Swaggart together and the various ministries together to do one thing, to glorify Jesus Christ and ~-~~n~_gygr~bQQ~-~~i£bing_~bi? QrQgr~m-~Q_gggin_iQ_Qr~~-DQ~_ib~i-ibi?_~QY!Q_Q§_irYl~-~b§_Qrg!ygg gf_Qng_Qf_ibg_grg§i§?~_r§YiY§l?_§DQ_Qng_Qf_ibg_grg~i§?~ ~~~hgning?_~g~yg_gygr_§ggn_in_ib§_bi?iQr~_Qf_ibg_Yniigg §i~i§?.L.L.L 11 VOLUME 7, Issue 3(b) 48 2March, 1987 Israel SWAGGART "(.:~chile! up tee tht:? aqe c:cf acc\"::.ur,tability (vJhich is i:\F,!€·? 2 ar1cJ up) can understand the basis c:cf God. They are responsible for their own sa 1 vat i ccr,. " VOLUME 7, Issue 3(b) 49 2March, 1'387