The relationship between Ted Haggard the Colorado Springs mega-church he founded is over, according to a statement from New Life Church this evening. Haggard was fired from the church in November 2006 after he admitted to "sexual immorality," presumably the allegations made by a gay Denver escort who said Haggard paid him for sex over a three-years. The statement notes that Haggard agreed to "a process of spiritual restoration" in January 2007, but now has asked to end his relationship with the church. Haggard could not be reached for comment.
"Ted Haggard’s leadership of New Life Church for many years was extraordinary and the depth of spiritual maturity that is found today in the church is in large part attributed to his leadership as the founding senior pastor," the statement said, adding that the church’s "overseers" and "restorers" would not make further comment about Haggard’s "spiritual restoration." New Life added that Haggard has joined another mega-church, Phoenix First Assembly of God, and that its founding pastor, Tommy Barnett, is overseeing an "accountability relationship" with the disgraced Colorado pastor. Barnett could not be reached Tuesday night.
New Life has been at odds with its former pastor since he left. In its statement Tuesday night, church officials said, "New Life recognizes the process of restoring Ted Haggard is incomplete and maintains its original stance that he should not return to vocational ministry"…
Elmer Gantry is a novel written by Sinclair Lewis in 1926 and published by Harcourt in March 1927. It tells the story of a young, narcissistic, womanizing college athlete who, upon realizing the power, prestige, and easy money that being an evangelical preacher can bring, pursues his "religious" ambitions with relish, contributing to the downfall, even death, of key people around him as the years pass. Although he continues to womanize, is often exposed as a fraud, and frequently faces a complete downfall, Gantry is never fully discredited and always manages to emerge triumphant and to reach ever greater heights of social status. The novel ends as the Rev. Gantry prays for the USA to be a "moral nation" and simultaneously admires the legs of a new choir singer.
Last month we were at the beach. On rainy days, we had the T.V. on and there was
Jimmy Swaggart, my favorite Televangalist, looking mighty old [73], playing his piano and singing his mournful Gospel tunes. There weren’t a lot of people in the audience, nothing like his glory days when he had a Bible College in Baton Rouge and a Cathedral full of people for every service and broadcast.
Then:
In 1986, Swaggart exposed fellow Assemblies of God minister Marvin Gorman, who was having an affair with one of his parishioners [
Gorman is still going strong in 2008]. The following year, Swaggart exposed televangelist Jim Bakker’s sexual indiscretions and appeared on the Larry King Show, stating that Bakker was a "cancer in the body of Christ." As a retaliatory move, Marvin Gorman hired a private-detective to follow Swaggart. The detective found Swaggart in a Louisiana motel on Airline Highway with a prostitute, Debra Murphree, and took pictures of the tryst. Gorman presented Swaggart with the photos in a blackmail attempt to force Swaggart to come clean, but Swaggart refused. Gorman then presented the pictures to the presbytery leadership of the Assemblies of God, which decided that Swaggart should be suspended from broadcasting his television program for three months.
On February 21, 1988, without giving the details of his transgressions, Swaggart tearfully spoke to his family, congregation, and audience, saying, "I have sinned against you, my Lord, and I would ask that your precious blood would wash and cleanse every stain until it is in the seas of God’s forgiveness." (On a New Orleans morning news show four days later, Murphree stated that while Swaggart was a regular customer, they had never engaged in intercourse.)
Against the ruling of the governing body of the Assemblies of God, Swaggart returned to his television pulpit long before his three-month suspension expired. He stated, "If I do not return to the pulpit this weekend, millions of people will go to hell." Believing that Swaggart was not genuinely repentant in not submitting to their authority, the Assemblies of God immediately defrocked Swaggart, removing his credentials and ministerial license.
On October 11, 1991, Swaggart was found in the company of another prostitute, Rosemary Garcia, when the pair was pulled over by the California Highway Patrol in Indio, California, for driving on the wrong side of the street. According to Garcia, Swaggart stopped to proposition her on the side of the road. When the patrolman asked Garcia why she was with Swaggart, she replied, "He asked me for sex. I mean, that’s why he stopped me. That’s what I do. I’m a prostitute." Rather than confessing to his congregation, Swaggart told his flock this time that "The Lord told me it’s flat none of your business." His son Donnie then announced to the stunned audience that his father would be temporarily stepping down as head of Jimmy Swaggart Ministries for "a time of healing and counseling."
There must be a magic in getting on that stage and preaching in that evangelical way. It’s when gospel music, and rock and roll, and the sexually charged atmosphere all come together. Perfectly reasonable people sway with the music, elbow their way to the front of the church, cry, dance, shout out in a rapture. It’s one of the mainstays of southern rural life, and something wonderous to behold. Jimmy Swaggart is one of the masters. Ted Haggard was a bit melodramatic by my standards, but he made up for it with his winning smile. Like Sinclair Lewis’ fictitious Elmer Gantry, they’re all showmen of the first magnitude. Frankly, they’re not nearly so dangerous as the serious hate-filled ones like James Dobson of
Focus on the Family or Louis Sheldon of the
Traditional Values Coalition. A couple of tidbits from the T.V.C. Website:
Senator Barack Obama’s Nation Of Islam Connection Exposed!
Syndicated columnist Debbie Schlussel broke a story on January 30, on Senator Barack Obama’s close ties with the Nation of Islam (NOI), headed by black racist and anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan…
Traditional Values Coalition Issues Exposé On Sen. Clinton’s Earmark To Radical Homosexual Group
The Traditional Values Coalition has published a new report on Senator Hillary Clinton’s use of earmarks to help fund the Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), a radical homosexual group based in New York City.
I used to think they were harmless. Just part of the color and show of American life – kind of a morality vaudville. But then came 2000 and the leadership of the angry ones like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson and the crooked ones like Ralph Reed – unwilling to join in the traditional place in our culture where they belonged. Instead, they decided to take over the country – and so they did. They appealed to traditional churches on the one hand, and the more theatric Televangelists on the other, and elected George W. Bush and Dick Cheney to the White House. Without this boost from the Religious Right, these two could never have been elected. It is an unimaginable tragedy that the faithful elected the most dishonest and destructive Administration we have ever known.
So, when I read about Ted Haggard biting at the bit to get back on the stage, I can’t muster the smile I felt when Jimmy Swaggart came on T.V. with tears in his eyes to admit being taken in by Satan, then playing one of his Rhythm and Blues Gospel classics with his audience waving and swaying. It’s not funny any more. The charlatans had their way with us in 2000 and 2004, and are still trying to keep Falwell’s nightmare alive. I hope that this time, rational people of faith will not let these people lead them like cattle any more. And I hope the politicians will not capitalize of this kind of support again. It’s been one of the most destructive mobilizations of political force in our history…
There is a related presentation of Dobson’s views at the video:
James Dobson: OPEC America and Radical Islam
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0WPvPR_WaE
Dobson’s views for all to see…