Posted on 12/19/2008 8:28:18 AM PST by Alex Murphy
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Disgraced evangelical leader Ted Haggard says in a new documentary that he still struggles with his sexuality yet is committed to his marriage for the sake of his children.
Haggard, 52, resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals and was fired as senior pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs in November 2006 after a former male prostitute went public with allegations that Haggard paid him for sex and used methamphetamine.
A father of five, Haggard had said he bought the drugs but never used them. He confessed to undisclosed "sexual immorality" and has said, "I really did sin."
The Gazette of Colorado Springs reported Thursday that in the documentary, Haggard talks about a lifelong battle with his sexuality — and that he never claimed to be heterosexual.
"The reason I kept my personal struggle a secret is because I feared that my friends would reject me, abandon me and kick me out, and the church would exile and excommunicate me. And that happened and more," he says.
Haggard's wife, Gayle, says she is committed to Haggard.
"I know to restore the honor to our children is to help restore honor to their father," she says.
"The Trials of Ted Haggard," directed by Alexandra Pelosi, daughter of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is set to air Jan. 29 on HBO. The Associated Press reported Wednesday that Haggard has agreed to promote the documentary.
Haggard moved his family to Arizona after the scandal and also lived in Texas. He re-emerged last month at a rural Illinois church, where he delivered guest sermons and said he was sexually abused as a second-grader.
He now sells insurance and, in the documentary, says he isn't successful.
"At this stage in my life, I am a loser"
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
A friend took me to his church and I met him.shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach AdonaiHe has always been a self absorbed drama queen.
Good points.
However, sexual temptation is a couple of orders of magnitude more intense than other types, financial and so forth.
Not an excuse for immoral behavior, but we should recognize that resisting sexual temptation is a good deal more difficult, perhaps especially for those who had their wiring sexual messed up by childhood abuse.
Having True Grace means never having to Struggle.
The leftist media only makes a big deal out of it because they consider Haggard a hypocrite. The left has no trouble with someone being a degenerate or a criminal, as long as the person is not on record as condemning something he in which he is involved. So, if Haggard had been an openly gay/drug-using preacher, that'd be cool with them.
I'll believe him when he disappears from public view, lives a quiet, faithful life under the accountability of a good church.
While God graciously forgives anyone who is truly sorry, we can and should judge the fruits on the tree...
I agree.
I predict than within 2 years Haggard will abandon his heterosexual life altogether and announce that God made him homosexual and accepts him just as he is.
"At this stage in my life, I am a loser"
It's a start, that realization.
“Having True Grace means never having to Struggle.”
You’ve got to be kidding.
2 words for you
Jesus
Gethsemane
I have a lot more- but those two should suffice
“I predict than within 2 years Haggard will abandon his heterosexual life altogether and announce that God made him homosexual and accepts him just as he is.”
And promptly start sleeping with everything. He’ll get busted in a rest stop bathroom before that revelation.
Always? You base this assessment on one meeting. How would you say your comment exhibits the "chesed" of your haMashiach?
In the Christian faith there is opportunity for redemption and restoration, when the Spirit of Christ works in a person to bring them to the point when they can honestly acknowledge their sin before Almighty God. Whether Mr. Haggard has come to the point in his life or not is yet to be seen.
Sadly, there are consequences to our actions regardless of sincere expressions of repentance. No doubt Mr. Haggard and his family are experiencing those consequences. We might pray that God continues to work in all the lives caught up in the human tragedy.
If you have unresolved issues in your life that would do damage to the ministry, you have to step aside. Step out of the pulpit. Take a couple of years and deal with it.
There are thousands of ways you can serve God, but you can’t be in the limelight where your problems are going to do damage to your mission. God can heal this kind of thing, but until he does you have no business in the pulpit.
I’ve thought the same thing about some of the other famous preachers who have crashed and burned. If they knew they were out of control they needed to step out of the limelight for a couple of years and deal with it. If you’re having your midlife crisis, go do something else for a while until you’ve come to terms with it. Don’t let something like this destroy what you and God and thousands of churchmembers have built up over years.
In my youth I remember that our preacher, at the first hint something wasn’t right, immediately resigned and took his seat in the pews as just another member. And recently where I attend now, an assistant pastor announced that he had some unresolved issues and was stepping out of the leadership for a couple of years to deal with whatever it is. Very low key. Thats the way it ought to be done.
Check out these prior headlines. Whose interests were being served in each case?:
from 2006: Evangelist admits meth, massage, no sex
from 2007: HBO Filmmaker Liked Ted Haggard; He Wasn’t The Usual 'Holy Roller Jesus Freak'
from 2007: Haggard says he's not gay [emerged from counseling, convinced he is "completely heterosexual"]
from 2007: Haggard Now 'Completely Heterosexual'
from 2007: Pastor ends his gay phase [ Ted Haggard ]
from 2008: Church Says Haggard's Restoration 'Incomplete'
I guess you don’t get it.
Her documentaries are actually pretty good. The one where she went around the country talking to conservative Christians trying to getter a better understanding of them was very fair.
The event took place 10 years ago.shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach AdonaiTed had just put on a 300 person Easter play
at his mega church for 1000s of parishioners.As we were leaving, I shook his hand
and said "Great show pastor".He beamed and was effusive.
They didn’t even want to entertain the allegations made by Larry Sinclair against Barack Obama.
So in other words, the interventions that claim sexuality transformation don’t work?
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