I was very saddened today to hear an interview given by Ted Haggard in which he stated, "I violated the rules. I should not have done that" This was said in the context of his being asked to step out of the ministry because of his involvement with a male prostitute.
My first thought was, "No, it´s not about breaking the ´church´s rules´ ... it´s that you SINNED AGAINST GOD and you also sinned against your own body." (as scripture says in I Corn 6: 15 & 18 & 19 ... ´Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of a harlot? God forbid.......Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body, but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God´s.´)
Oprah then asked him, "Did Jesus heal you?" and Haggard replied, "No, I was never sick" Well, I beg to differ. He is spiritually sick. As John 14:21 says, ´He that hath my commandments, and KEEPETH them, he it is that loveth me; an d he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, I will love him and will manifest myself to him.´ or an even better scripture is I John 2:4 ´He that saith, I know him and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected; hereby know we that we are in Him.´
Then Oprah suggested that he should EMBRACE WHO HE IS since he has a propensity towards this attraction to males. He totally agreed saying he was sorry he had LIED about the entire situation. Well, here God begs to differ with both of them according to I Cor. 6:9-11, Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind. Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
So YES, Jesus needs to heal him by WASHING him by the SPIRIT of our GOD and He does not want Ted to embrace that sin but be DELIVERED from it.by the POWER of the HOLY SPIRIT.
If we had a propensity to be an axe murderer does not mean that we are to embrace this as an indication of WHO WE REALLY ARE, but we are to submit that inclination to God and avoid even the thought of such a temptation.
By giving such a compromising & erroneous interview I am afraid that Ted Haggard is now making the sin of homosexuality an acceptable mainstream lifestyle choice because they were both concerned about his lying about the homosexuality and hiding it rather than the fact that he had succumb to homosexuality in the first place.
I would have liked to hear him quote scripture regarding what it actually means to follow Christ. Possibly something like I John 2:15 which says, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever."
After watching Haggard on the Larry King program I must add that I realized that the main issue is this... When he told that young man, "You can become a man of God and STILL HAVE FUN ON THE SIDE."...it showed what was in his heart and what he believes..... NOT that he was overcome by LUST but that he has this theory that you can BE BOTH & DO BOTH (as long as you don´t get caught).
If we do not send a message to the church body and especially to the youth that we will FORFEIT YOUR SALVATION and THAT WE ARE NOT EVEN SAVED AT ALL if we live in blatant sin, then all is LOST for this generation.
Print