Ted Haggard : an update
Here you go:Ted Haggard Response
Gayle Haggard Response
Well here I stand corrected, but not embarrassed. Ted Haggard admitted that he is guilty of sexual immorality. Again, I'm not embarrassed for, as some would say, being proved wrong. I love Haggards' response. It proves that he is truly still a man of God. He points out one very important life lesson and that is, that we all have issues. Skeleton's in our closet, as some like to put it. They are the things that we constantly have to keep in check. And the moment we take the spotlight off of them, because we think we have it under control, they start creeping up on us again. OH very important to realize. Learn this lesson from Haggard. ALWAYS keep a spotlight on those issues you think you have under control. I have lost no respect for Haggard. I've probably gained some because I see triumph in his situation. He even praises God for his accuser, how amazing!
posted by scott @ 5:09 PM
16 Comments:
I agree. The lesson here is of utmost importance. Not only do we need to keep the closet light on, but we need to give someone above us a guided tour often... Keep the light on and install a window on the door.
Admitting to something that has already been proven is hardly a sign of integrity, it is no more than an transparent attempt to cut one's losses. "Integrity" is confessing the sin before anyone else reveals it, asking for help, and resigning from a leadership position before anyone else has to consider the matter. I didn't see any of that here.
Reverend Haggard chose to defy Jesus, and paid the price that Jesus promised for the sin of hypocrisy.
I do not know how anyone who has read the Bible would not know that these mega-church, televangelist, rock star preachers are the people Jesus warned His followers against in Matthew 6:5.
"And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward."
Reverend Haggard's entire life revolved around praying in public, "to be seen of men" on TV instead of conversing privately with his God in his closet as the next passage from Matthew describes.
Jesus said that hypocrites like Reverend Haggard will "have their reward," and the context suggests that God's "reward" for hypocrisy is not pleasant. The only thing anyone will ever remember about Reverend Haggard now is his humiliation and hypocrisy, not his "confession" after the fact.
If Jesus warns us about televangelists and the like, I for one would take that warning seriously. Reverend Haggard did not, and consciously chose to be one of those we were warned about.
I believe that is a message directly from God to Reverend Haggard and a lesson for the rest of us: keep your conversations with God between yourself and God. No one else can do your praying for you, especially someone who wants you to watch him pray.
Too bad Reverend Haggard didn't read the Bible before he started preaching. It would have saved him an eternity of grief.
And on that cheerful note, people make mistakes. It's kind of odd given the post on my own blog I know, but I'm not of the camp who believe that all televangelists are frauds.
Our world is filled with broken people, so it should come as no surprise that the church might as well. The only difference I see is that people in the spotlight have their foibles and missteps, closely watched and scrutinzed.
This is a quote I love from Phillip Yancy's, "What's So Amazing About Grace?"
"Religious faith – for all its problems, despite its maddening tendency to replicate ungrace – lives on because we sense the numinous beauty of a gift undeserved that comes at unexpected moments from Outside. Refusing to believe that our lives of guilt and shame lead to nothing but annihilation, we hope against hope for another place run by different rules. We grow hungry for love, and in ways so deep as to remain unexpressed we long for our Maker to love us."
Speaking as somewhat of an outsider when it comes to my religious standing right now, I find it absolutely disgusting when I read comments like the one just posted. We throw around the word integrity as if it means an ounce of difference if a sin is confessed after the fact. When Peter was called out by Jesus on the night he was betrayed, the fisherman told his Savior that he would never turn his back on his master. He was forgiven. You can look throughout the New Testament for similar examples.
If we cannot forgive as a church, what do we have left?
If grace is so amazing, why don't Christians show more of it? -- Philip Yancey
I find it absolutely disgusting when I read comments like the one just posted.
Then you have a problem with Scripture, not with the person who brings it to your attention.
Jesus said what He said, and it applies to Reverend Haggard as well as to every other blow-dried, Armani-wearing, Lexus-driving wannabe rockstar TV preacher who does as Jesus described, praying in public to be seen of men rather than to converse with God.
As I said, I don't consider it a good idea to defy Jesus by praying loudly in public. You do whatever you wish to please God, and I will follow the teaching of Jesus as closely as I can, and that includes avoiding those who use prayer as "show biz."
Never trust a rich preacher. (Jesus didn't say that. I did.)
I think I smell a boot with no fruit. Repack rider, you are one funny man. Thanks for the laughs.
Repack! You are right about the scripture and praying in public. However, you seem to be accusing the man of not praying in private. Do we know that? It is true that a leader needs to step down in such a situation, but I pray that his church will be grace givers as our Lord has taught us and help this man get back on his feet(spiritually speaking). Satan aims at those who have the most influence. OUr job, as parishiners, is to pray for our pastors. I wonder how many in that huge congregation actually pray for protection over their pastor. I wonder how many of the supporting TV viewers actually cover the man with prayer. Praying in public is not the sin. Praying to show off is the sin, Brother. The crowd brought the woman caught in sin to Jesus. He told her she was forgiven, and to go and sin no more! We must do that for one another! Let's help each other to "go and sin no more." We "ain't" going to do that with lack of grace!!!!
amen to wahat you said joyce, and dan
repack rider,
I just said a prayer to the Lord, thanking him for allowing us all our own opinions and, yet, none of us being allowed to assign judgement to another. It's a good thing. I'm sure you've made less mistakes in your life than I have, which is why I'm grateful you are not my judge.
There’s a poem I just love by Carlo Carreto that has a lot to do with what I'm feeling. I posted it recently, but it has a lot to do with what we're all talking about:
How baffling you are, O church, and yet how I love you.
How you have made me suffer, and yet how much I owe you
I should like to see you destroyed, and yet I need your presence.
You have given me so much scandal, and yet you have made me understand sanctity.
I have seen nothing in the world more devoted to obscurity, more compromised, more false, and I have touched nothing so pure, more generous, more beautiful.
How often I have wanted to shut the doors of my soul in your face,
And how often I have prayed to die in the safety of your arms.
No I cannot free myself from you.
Because I am you, although not completely.
Besides, where else would I go?
To put it simply, a church is a mixed basket of fruit. Every now and again you're going to come across a rotten apple. That doesn't mean we should throw out the rest.
Thanks, Dan. I like that poem. I have been frustrated with my home church now for almost 2 years. I see beautiful things in it, but a lot of the ugly things in it seem to be more dominant. But, I stay with it because where else would I go? Anyway, I like that poem.
LOVE
Love, a flaming fire. It's in the heart of every man, every woman's desire. True, is what we pledge, it makes us vow our lives away, sends us over the edge. And oh, the price we pay. Taking up the risk of being rejected every day. But for the sweetness of the day we realize we've found true love. Love, the dying of everything I want to be. All I've ever dreamed of. To give, our lives to be a sacrifice that brings new life, from a falling seed. And oh, the crushing of my selfish heart of stone for the fragrance of a sweet, costly perfume that rises through the clouds, into that holy room where Love, at it's very best, Driven by passion fire, began it's quest. All for, a tender bride(folks that's is us....the church!) that caused a Mighty Warrior to lay down His life! Oh I can only understand in part...the power of love and the deep things of the heart. But this one thing I have come to know as truth...WE CAN HEAL EACH OTHER, IF WE"LL LOVE ONE ANOTHER WIYH HIS LOVE (Monty Poe on Lover of My Soul)
I'm reminded of David through this situation. He was called a "man after God's own heart". Yet he failed miserably. He did not turn back to God until he was confronted about his sin. It was at that point he confessed his sin and was restored. Did that mean there were no consequences to that sin. Obviously not, just read the rest of the story. But, what I've never equated with the story is that David no longer had integrity after that incident. I don't see scripture saying in essence. You failed, you're a loser and thus you will now forever be doomed for hell. That's the response that many people give when someone fails. It's not that they shouldn't be held accountable for what they did, scripture in says that those in leadership will be held to a higher standard, but over and over again in scripture, Jesus often restores the sinner and forgives.
" I do not know how anyone who has read the Bible would not know that these mega-church, televangelist, rock star preachers are the people Jesus warned His followers against in Matthew 6:5."
On another note, Jesus was a mega-chuch, rock star preaher in the generalist of terms. He constantly had a crowd trying to gather around him, often in the thousands. We don't have any idea of how many times Jesus prayed in public or in private, but we do get the impression that it wasn't for show, but rather for God's glory. We can stand from a distance and judge Haggard's motives or we can allow the Spirit to work in his life through those people who will hold him up and accountable. I guess, as a pastor, if I were to take the comments about public prayer and the popularity that comes from preaching in front of crowds then I guess I'm guilty on many Sunday's as I've led the prayer time. I've received my income from the church too thus I must be guilty of profitting from the church as well. Lord help us to have hearts that lean ever closer to yours. May we begin to grasp the understanding that you did not come into the world to condem it but to save it. May we being to forgive as you have. May we apply grace to others are we count on it from you.
Man, I am ever so ready to sit and hear you preach, Brother!!!! I have missed you.
http://www.relevantmagazine.com/850/110606/110606.htm
This is one of the better perspectives I have seen from some of our national level Christian leaders. I am astonished at the low quality of some of the interviews and opinions given by some of the big names... But Ed Young has done a great job.
The article link is...
http://www.relevantmagazine.com/850/110606/110606.htm
And very well done.
That link is missing the .htm at the end. for some reason it left it off.
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