TED HAGGARD STARTS NEW CHURCH
(Friday Church News Notes, June 11, 2010, www.wayoflife.org
Ted Haggard, who in 2006 was forced to resign as pastor of the New Life megachurch in Colorado Springs and as head of the National Association of Evangelicals, is starting a new church called St. James. Haggard was caught having a homosexual relationship with a male prostitute. Now, Haggard says his new church, which is located not far from New Life Church, is a place for broken people, for sinners, for those who have hit rock bottom, and will be open to “gays, straights, tall, short, addicts and recovering addicts” (“Church Will Open Arms,” Denver Post, June 2, 2010).
Haggard claims that because of his own moral downfall and the “judgmental” way he was treated by some, he is able to understand and help others, but he is failing to distinguish properly between sympathy for sinners and acceptance of sin. Every sound, Christ-centered church is sympathetic toward sinners. On any given week at the main service of our church, for example, we have adulterers, fornicators, liars, idolators, and probably homosexuals in attendance. We always have three or four dozen Hindus. They receive a warm welcome and often come back. But there is a major difference between welcoming every type of sinner to attend church and allowing unrepentant, unconverted sinners to be members of the church.
In 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 the apostle Paul described the members of the church at Corinth. They had been fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, and drunkards, but Paul described those traits in the past tense, because they had been converted and changed. “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.”
We thank God for the His mercy in Jesus Christ, and apart from that mercy we know that we are nothing. But Ted Haggard has brought terrible, irreparable reproach upon the name and cause of Jesus Christ, and in my opinion he should shut his mouth and stop having press conferences and prove his repentance by quiet humility. For his own soul’s sake, he should also renounce the psychobabble of his restoration process. (Does every person that goes through psycho-counseling today discover that he was molested as a child?)
DiscernIt 
2 comments
June 20, 2010 at 3:44 pm
Craig Benno
I’m of two minds on this topic.
I saw Teds wife speak about her, her family, her husband and about faith and community regarding her husband.
I was amazed at this women of faith standing beside her husband, working through the many hurts and family issues and allowing God to bring healing into their family.
It is true he has brought reproach upon the church. God is able to bring much good out of it though. From my reading of the Scriptures there is no SIN that is beyond forgiveness. There is no action that is beyond redemption.
What is the Biblical Response to be in regarding this man. He is still a child of God. No matter what he has done, if we hold it against him perhaps we are guilty of judging the blood of Jesus Christ from being able to clearly cleanse this man of all sin. ‘
June 20, 2010 at 7:53 pm
Kim
I am not buying it.
I remember him saying:
Asked whether he could define his sexual identity, Haggard said: “The stereotypical boxes don’t work for me. My story’s got some gray areas in it. And, of course, I’m sad about that but it’s the reality.”
and this:
“My therapy for the past two and a half years has been recovering from rejection by the church.”
http://availablelightonline.com/blog/2009/12/12/ted-haggard-2-0/
Also the pair appeared on Oprah who is a total new-ager who does not believe that Jesus is the only way.. This in itself shows no discernment. Oprah needs to be preached to….not used as a vehicle for exposure.
I also wonder if he still is part of the NAR movement…he denied being part of this movement and being affiliated with C. Peter Wagner, but the facts did not attest to this.
http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/answertotedhaggard.html
Being part of this movement is being a false prophet.
But it is true that true repentance can bring about true conversion….truly being born again and loving the truth. I don’t know his heart…only God does..but he must get out of the false NAR WOF ministries and truly repent.