BELIEVING FOR TED HAGGARD
by Pastor Charles Schmitt
Ted Haggard is a man of God. The grace of God has been upon him in growing a productive and influential body of believers, New Life Church in Colorado Springs, from a small handful of people to 14,000 strong!
The question on the table is “How could he have done such a terrible thing?” We should all know from experience the answer to that question—any of us, all of us, are ever susceptible to what Hebrew 3:13 calls “sin’s deceitfulness”; “sin’s trickery,” one translation reads “Sin is a deceiver (Galatians 6:7) and a deceitful deceiver at that.” And the deceitfulness, the trickery of sin lies primarily in this—the subtle thought that our sin will not find us out, that we can do this or that and somehow get away with it. But God’s Word is clear—“You may be sure that your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23). And over this we all need to be deeply personally concerned!
Last weekend, as this tragedy was unfolding, I found myself in deep anguish for Pastor Ted, for his wife Gayle and their five children, and for the New Life Congregation. And in the middle of the night the Lord gave Isaiah 55:3-7—“I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful (unfailing and sure) love promised to David. See, I have made him a witness to the peoples” (Isaiah 53:3-4). David, as we know, was the greatest leader Israel ever had, the “model king” (1 Kings 9:4-5)— but he also failed miserably as an adulterer and a murderer and a cover up. But God’s redemptive love toward David in his repentance was unfailing and sure, and in that love David became “a witness to the peoples.” And this is David’s clear witness: “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will freely pardon” (Isaiah 55:6-7). And God will not only pardon, His unfailing Word is that He will also restore—“You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands” (Isaiah 55:12)—they will applaud when they see the wonder of God’s grace as it is worked out in an otherwise impossible situation!
Probably the foremost concern that has been raised in this tragedy has been, “but what will this do to God’s cause?” His cause will obviously be damaged (as it is when any of us sins), but strangely enough God seems really not that concerned about causes, no less His own. We know this to be true because we’ve all watched God allow outstanding leaders in the cause of missions and in the cause of social justice to be taken off the scene prematurely, when if God had only intervened, they could have lived to further His cause yet more in the earth. It is true, “only in His own world can He afford to play the losing part!” So I sense God really doesn’t care that much about causes, even His own—but He is very much into recovering that one lost sheep, that sinner, that has gone astray! (Luke 15:3-7)
Ted Haggard will be in good hands with Focus on the Family’s Dr. Dobson only a few miles away, and we will want to believe that Pastor Ted will repentantly rise from the ashes of this defeat even better and more effective than before!
God’s seconds are usually better than His firsts (Jeremiah 18:1-4), and we can believe that we will witness in Ted Haggard’s life and family that same amazing grace that has raised so many others from the dunghill and set them among princes! I want us to believe God for a glorious ending to this otherwise tragic happening! And in the process to believe Him for our own lives as well!
—Charles P. Schmitt
—To read other articles from Pastor Charles take a look at, That "Horrible Doctrine", “Is the Body of Christ a Melting Pot or a Tossed Salad?” , “Why are our Nations’ Flags in the Rotunda (and not in the Sanctuary)?” , A Distortion of Biblical Prosperity and Two Different Leaders-Muhamad & Our Lord Jesus Christ. Please check for them on this website.
