These guys have completely abnegated their roles as leading figures of American Christianity

It's kind of banal to talk about a "crisis in the Church." Given the fallen nature of humankind collectively and human beings individually, it's going to be an ongoing factor. St. Paul had to wag his finger sternly at the early churches that dotted the rim of the Mediterranean. Martin Luther had had it up to here with the sale of indulgences. And so on.

But those guys provide us with a model for what we need to do when we see crud being put forth as righteousness in our own time. And we can see it plainly today.

There's this guy:

Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University, appeared on CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront" Wednesday to provide cover for Trump's alleged affair with porn star Stormy Daniels.

Falwell, for whom it seems Trump can do no wrong, used common progressive talking points to rationalize Trump's behavior. He trotted out the tired misinterpretation of Matthew 7:1 ("Judge not lest ye be judged") to berate Christians who condemn adultery. (Apparently, Falwell thinks sin is ok as long as it happened "years ago.") He also cited the story of the woman caught in adultery to suggest that Christians are not supposed to point out sin or something.

Embarrassingly, Falwell, who leads the largest Christian university in the U.S., struggled to explain the doctrines of sin and forgiveness, mumbling something about all sins being "the same" in God's eyes (they're not, according to the Bible).

"He did not forgive the establishment elites," he said [we don't know that]. "Those were the ones that he said were a generation of vipers, hypocrites, and those were the ones he came down hardest on, the religious elites of his day," Falwell declared, falsely suggesting that Jesus had a problem with the Pharisees' political leanings, when, in fact, he was condemning their wrong theology.

That's some lame you-know-what right there.

Then there's this guy:

Evangelical leader Franklin Graham in an interview called President Trumpa "changed person" after reports of an alleged affair with an adult film star.

Graham, the president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, said during the interview on CNN he's "more interested in who a person is today" than who they were in the past.

"And I believe that he's a changed person and I've never seen anybody get attacked like he gets attacked," Graham said, saying Trump is attacked by the media every day.

Maybe it's been a while since he's had an extramarital dalliance, but it doesn't take a psychologist to see that DJT's basic character hasn't changed one subatomic particle.

Just dandy, guys. Thanks a lot for nothing. Just as I commence a serious faith walk and attempt to learn how to witness for the Gospel message, you provide a fresh heap of fodder to the cynical agnostics I contend with daily.

It really is so very late in the day.