Ted Haggard’s Descent Into Hell

I happened to catch Ted Haggard’s interview on Oprah last week and have been mulling over a few things said by both Ted and Oprah. I am not trying to formulate an opinion, by the way, of whether Ted Haggard is a ‘bad’ pastor or should be allowed back to preaching. Ted’s life is a matter in God’s hands. I seek to revere the Lord over Ted Haggard’s life as much as I worship the Lord in fear and trembling over my own life.

Two years had already passed since this scandal broke. I didn’t realize it had been that long ago already. My heart broke when I heard it. Not because I personally adore Ted Haggard, his mega-church and all that goes along with it, but because another man had to take such an extremely hard fall in order to learn the love and ways of the Father.

Each one of us has different sins we struggle with, but we all have the same humanity. To judge Ted Haggard is to stand in judgement of yourself. If you wonder why he would be so foolish or careless or weak against temptation, ask yourself the same question. Ask it of your best friend, your own father, your own pastor.

From what I heard, I do bear witness to Ted Haggard’s having learned a great thing, been touched by the Lord in a wonderful way and knowing, by experience, truth more than before. He said that He knew before the scandal that Jesus came for the unrighteous, he preached on it at length many times. But now he KNOWS by experience, that Jesus came to save the unrighteous.

Hallelujah! Don’t you love it when a preacher man experiences the truth he proclaims!? His preaching on this alone will have more life in it from now on. He will probably have a deeper and greater heart of compassion to others because of it.

Ted also said how thankful he was that Mike Jones did come forward and expose him. I sensed a sincerity when Ted said this. A person can only say it like this if they have really been blessed, healed, helped, and ‘saved’ through the experience. He is a better man for what he has gone through.

Something else I greatly appreciated about what Ted shared about his story was that he said it was a few weeks before the scandal broke that he had been in prayer and fasting, pouring himself out to God and struggling to be free of his sin and he prayed that God would do whatever it takes to rid him of this. Now, someone like Oprah who, from what I can gather, really doesn’t believe in a loving and caring God at all, says “So you wanted this to happen?” meaning the nation wide scandal. Of course not, I said to myself and Ted Haggard said something similar.

He did say he didn’t ask for a big scandal, but he did ask God to do whatever it takes and he sensed it would require an exposure, at least to family and friends, which would be hard enough. But in retrospect he is glad it was what it was because it really did set him free from the slavery of hiding in the lie. OK, those are all my words paraphrased from his and interpreting what I understood he meant, but he smiled like a free man.

Oprah did not seem to be very interested in this interview and seemed to cut him short several times. She did begin an argument a couple of times with Gayle, Ted’s wife because Oprah refused to accept what Gayle said she believed. I can’t remember what it was exactly. I was quite irritated with Oprah, but that’s not new or unique to this interview.

Oprah was quite off her line of questioning, I felt, when accusing Ted to have been in denial as the scandal broke. She did not have ears to hear properly. When they showed the news clips of Ted Haggard speaking into news cameras that he did not do what he is being accused of with the sexual allegations and the drugs, he was not in denial. He knew the truth. He was lying, not denying. Big difference.

Denial would be a refusal of belief in the truth. A lie is to cover up the truth. Ted came clean and said he was lying. This man was carrying the horror of the worst sins in his life and decades of slavery and torment to it and here it is breaking out all over the country, faster than he can blink and he hasn’t had time to get any bearings, catch his breath or truly comprehend what is happening to him and his wife and children, his church and his life. I’m not saying he should have been left to get his bearings. I think being toppled as he was was God’s great design for Ted Haggard and his family.

But with these circumstances I can see why he would lie. That is definitely not denial, in my book.

Denial of the truth is far worse than a lie, in my opinion. Denial is licence to sin. How can anyone be dealt with according to their sin if they don’t believe they have any? Fear and shame make us lie about our sins. Those lies may well prevent or hinder the help we need, but it wouldn’t take a very big rock to break the shield if we have already acknowledged the truth within ourselves and before God. How great the deception is and the walls of slavery we become incarcerated behind when we refuse to believe there are any walls at all.

Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. 1 Corinthians 10:12

No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13

What do you think?

 

The Temptations of God as Man

These are 3 devotions from Oswald Chambers devotional, My Utmost for His Highest. I wanted to include these three together because they speak of temptations. The temptations we all face being human, yet greater temptations, the temptations of the Son of God, God in man.

There is much in here to meditate and chew on. I hope you do. May the Holy Spirit speak to you. May He encourage you and empower you through all that the Father brings into your life as temptations of the Son of God in you.

September 17th.

WHAT’S THE GOOD OF TEMPTATION?

“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man.” 1 Corinthians 10:13

The word “temptation” has come down in the world; we are apt to use it wrongly. Temptation is not sin, it is the thing we are bound to meet if we are men. Not to be tempted would be to be beneath contempt. Many of us, however, suffer from temptations from which we have no business to suffer, simply because we have refused to let God lift us to a higher plane where we would face temptations of another order.

A man’s disposition on the inside, i.e., what he possesses in his personality, determines what he is tempted by on the outside. The temptation fits the nature of the one tempted, and reveals the possibilities of the nature. Every man has the setting of his own temptation, and the temptation will come along the line of the ruling disposition.

Temptation is a suggested short cut to the realization of the highest at which I aim – not towards what I understand as evil, but towards what I understand as good. Temptation is something that completely baffles me for a while, I do not know whether the thing is right or wrong. Temptation yielded to is lust deified, and is a proof that it was timidity that prevented the sin before.

Temptation is not something we may escape, it is essential to the full-orbed life of a man. Beware lest you think you are tempted as no one else is tempted; what you go through is the common inheritance of the race, not something no one ever went through before. God does not save us from temptations; He succours us in the midst of them (Heb. 2:18).

September 18th.

HIS TEMPTATION AND OURS

“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” Hebrews 4:15

Until we are born again, the only kind of temptation we understand is that mentioned by St. James – “Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.” But by regeneration we are lifted into another realm where there are other temptations to face, viz., the kind of temptations Our Lord faced. The temptations of Jesus do not appeal to us, they have no home at all in our human nature. Our Lord’s temptations and ours move in different spheres until we are born again and become His brethren. The temptations of Jesus are not those of a man, but the temptations of God as Man. By regeneration the Son of God is formed in us, and in our physical life He has the same setting that He had on earth. Satan does not tempt us to do wrong things; he tempts us in order to make us lose what God has put into us by regeneration, viz., the possibility of being of value to God. He does not come on the line of tempting us to sin, but on the line of shifting the point of view, and only the Spirit of God can detect this as a temptation of the devil.

Temptation means the test by an alien power of the possessions held by a personality. This makes the temptation of Our Lord explainable. After Jesus in His baptism had accepted the vocation of bearing away the sin of the world, He was immediately put by God’s Spirit into the testing machine of the devil, but He did not tire, He went through the temptation “without sin,” and He retained the possessions of His personality intact.

September 19th.

DO YOU CONTINUE TO GO WITH JESUS?

“Ye are they which have continued with Me in My temptations.” Luke 22:28

It is true that Jesus Christ is with us in our temptations, but are we going with Him in His temptations? Many of us cease to go with Jesus from the moment we have an experience of what He can do. Watch when God shifts your circumstances, and see whether you are going with Jesus, or siding with the world, the flesh and the devil. We wear His badge, but are we going with Him? “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him.”

The temptations of Jesus continued throughout His earthly life, and they will continue throughout the life of the Son of God in us. Are we going with Jesus in the life we are living now?

We have the idea that we ought to shield ourselves from some of the things God brings round us. Never! God engineers circumstances and whatever they may be like we have to see that we face them while abiding continually with Him in His temptations. They are His temptations, not temptations to us, but temptations to the life of the Son of God in us. The honour of Jesus Christ is at stake in your bodily life. Are you remaining loyal to the Son of God in the things which beset His life in you?

Do you continue to go with Jesus? The way lies through Gethsemane, through the city gate, outside the camp; the way lies alone, and the way lies until there is no trace of a footstep left, only the voice, “Follow Me.”

 

Boasting in Our Weakness

”He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in your weakness.’ Most gladly therefore I will rather boast in my weaknesses that the power of Christ may tabernacle over me.” II Corinthians 12:9

It is one thing to say that we cannot make it, and it is another thing to give up trying to make it altogether. Can we see that these are two things? The first condition to victory is to realize that we cannot make it, and the second is to give up trying to make it. If we will admit that we cannot make it and give up trying to make it, we will overcome.

What does it mean to try to make it? Let me take temper as an example. Suppose you are a quick-tempered person, and you cannot control your temper. The more you try, the more you fail. You admit that you can do nothing about your temper. What should you do? You know with certainty that there is no way to control your temper, yet you still try to control it. Then what do you do? You try to be more careful when you speak with others. You try to avoid those with whom you cannot get along well, and you try to talk to those with whom you can get along well. You avoid fellowship with those who agitate you and run away from their face. Every time you are about to lose your temper, you try your best to suppress it. You try to suppress it with more prayers. What is this? This is being unable, yet at the same time trying to be able.

Brothers and sisters, please remember that the condition of victory is acknowledging that we are unable, and the greatest barrier to victory is trying to be able. Victory is from Christ; it is Christ who is living on our behalf. The overcoming life requires that we take a stand and declare, ”I cannot make it and I do not intend to make it. Please make it for me. I will not fabricate my own victory.” I have heard a few sisters remark to me, ”Brother Nee, it would be wonderful if my temper could improve a little.” I always tell them, ”You have to thank the Lord for your quick temper.”

Weakness is not something that one should lament over or weep about. Weakness is something that one should boast in. You may have said, ”Thank and praise the Lord He has made me overcome,” but have you ever said, ”Thank and praise the Lord, He has made me fail miserably”? You thank and praise the Lord for giving you patience, but have you thanked and praised the Lord for your impossible temper? Have you thanked and praised Him for your pride? Have you thanked and praised Him for your jealousy? Have you thanked and praised Him for your unclean thoughts within and for your sin? Brothers and sisters, do you have a sin which you cannot even confess? What are you going to do? Are you going to be sorrowful? It is a glorious thing for a man to realize that he is helpless. Once the Lord shows you that you cannot make it, He will immediately show you that God can make it. Your Lord does not show you your inability to discourage you, but for you to believe that He has an excellent opportunity to work in you. In the past you may have grieved over your weakness or wept over your sins. But today you can boast and praise! ”Lord I thank You because I cannot make it. I thank you because I have no way to overcome. I am not able. I rejoice because I am not able. I rejoice because I cannot do anything. Only You can do everything.” If you do this, you will overcome.

by Watchman Nee

1903-1972

From lighthouselibrary.com

I thought this small article by Watchman Nee, probably an excerpt from one of his books, was perfect. Could it be said any plainer, our place and proper humility in submission to the loving, transforming work of Christ within us? Of course it is always easier said than done, but that’s only until we really believe it, I think.

 

You’d Be A Fool to Fool Yourself

The parable of the ten virgins and the oil, do the virgins not depict the virgin Spirit we have from Christ, the seed of incorruptibility, unleavened and pure? We all receive this seed at our new birth. The bridegroom is Christ and He is now being revealed. Who has the sustaining oil of the Spirit that does not run out? There are many that think because they are born again they have the oil that won’t run out, but that isn’t true.

If your current spirituality is one that is always being fed from sources outside yourself, outside the Spirit of Christ within you, outside your personal relationship with Christ, you are fast going to run out of oil. Sources outside yourself would be, not knowing what to do if you didn’t have a church to go to, or feeling condemned if you didn’t tithe because this was a ‘law’ of your spirituality. Or you can’t go without fellowship and social interaction with other ’Christians’. Maybe you feel you must attend church, or must be under the ‘covering’ of a pastor or other people calling themselves Elders. It could be that you couldn’t imagine being without a Bible. Do you pray religiously or so regularly you couldn’t imagine doing otherwise?

Many believers that congregate with other more spiritual believers, think this is all they need. But what if you find yourself without their company? And I mean in a life or death, do or die situation. Like what is coming. Then what? Do you have the oil to sustain you? Or not?

How do you know? By asking yourself honestly some of the questions above and absolutely seeking God yourself, on your face, on your knees, without others, without rote, without agenda or any other pretence, and ask Him. Don’t get up until you know.

The number ‘Ten’ signifies the perfection of Divine order. The ideal, God’s will. ‘Five’ signifies Grace. All ten were given grace, the time required to fill their lamps with oil and get more besides. Only some used that period of Grace to do just that. The others did not use the time of their Grace before His coming/revealing to do that and found the door closed to them.

The time we are in, that is fast coming to a close, is that period of Grace. This isn’t to say God’s grace will end, but this time of grace before judgment will and is ending. If time over the last few years, has seemed to be passing very quickly to you, the ticking of this clock should be so loud it keeps you up at night!

This time of Grace is for repentance. What is repentance? To turn from your sins. Confess to Him your sins and wash yourselves in Him and be clean. How do you know if you’ve actually done this, or are doing this? Humility is the fruit of repentance. But our hearts are utterly deceitful. Don’t trust your own judgment on whether you are humble. Ask others you know would be honest with you, and ask the Lord, of course. And don’t get up until you know, or know what further repentance He requires.

Why is repentance so important? Because without it you are not a new wineskin and He will NOT put His new wine (His Spirit in abundance and grace) into your old wineskin. Both would be ruined. Of course I don’t mean you have to be perfect first. I mean REPENT. Have the heart of repentance. If you are incapable of repentance, regularly, instantly and always, whenever the Spirit convicts you, as a proper steward He could NOT put greater riches within your Spirit, both would be ruined.

Repentance is learned in the beginning and laid in our foundation, but it doesn’t stop there. There is much in the way of milk after that and then meat, but until we are perfected we remain a mixture, always required to walk in a state of repentance. Don’t waste time. Don’t waste His grace. Do not take it for granted!

I’m speaking to CHRISTIAN BELIEVERS, NOT THE UNSAVED!!!

You’ve got oil in your lamp. Great. Now, do you have a supply to keep it going? Do you know His voice when He speaks to you? Do you know immediate obedience when He speaks to you to do something He has not ever required of you before? Or something that the flesh would be afraid looks foolish, or frightening. Do you know calm in the boat when the waves are crashing over the sides?

I’m not there yet myself, but I recognize that I need to be. Let’s pray for one another that we would not shame all He is and has done in and for us. When He comes to seek faith in the earth, will He find it? Will He find it in me? Will He find it in you?

This isn’t church anymore, people. This is showtime.