Pastor Ted and His Confession

From David Kuo's Beliefnet column comes a clip from Ted Haggard's final sermon, just days before all "hell" broke loose in Colorado Springs.

"Heavenly Father give us grace and mercy, help us this next week and a half as we go into national elections and Lord we pray for our country. Father we pray lies would be exposed and deception exposed. Father we pray that wisdom would come upon our electorate…”

Yes, the deception was exposed -- one he confessed yesterday in a letter read to his congregation. He had climbed to the pinnacles of power, but something deep within, something he repressed apparently his entire adult life, came back to haunt him. The question is, what wisdom will come to prevail upon the electorate. Will it be cynicism? Scepticism? More zealousness? My hope is that we will begin to come to grips with homosexuality in our society. It would be wonderful if Pastor Ted, at the end of his reflections, would come out and say.

You know, I've discovered that deep within me is a homosexual impulse. It's part
of who I am. Whether I wanted it this way or not, that's the way it is and I'm
going to face it. Because of my commitment to my family, I will remain married,
but face the realities -- no more denials.


My fear is that he will do as his conservative cohorts would want and he would say:

Satan has been after me and I succumbed. I tried to fight it off, but I
couldn't. I have sinned, but now I'll be more vigilant. In due course, I will
work even more strongly to make sure we will help homosexuals leave behind their
deviancy. Yes, I will commit myself to the cause of ridding America of the
scourge of homosexuality.


That's my fear, but my prayers will be in tune with my hope. The deceptions have been exposed. Forgiveness must be in order. But that forgiveness must be accompanied by a turn to understanding and humility.

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