Apparently Pastor Ted Haggard has an HBO special coming out this month titled The Trials of Ted Haggard. You can read more about it in this Fox News article.
At the same time the new Pastor at New Life Church, which was Ted Haggard’s previous church posted a statement on his blog this week and sent out an email to the 14,000 members which talked about meetings Pastor Boyd has had recently with the Haggard family.
I read a couple of weeks ago on MSN an article about the growth of viewing porn at work.
Fully one quarter of employees who use the Internet visit porn sites during the workday, according to October figures from Nielsen Online; that’s up from 23 percent a year ago. And hits are highest during office hours than at any other time of day, reports a leading online magazine which tracks the adult video industry.
The article blamed the economy for the increase in porn viewing, calling it an “outlet” or a “release” for the stress we are all feeling in this down economy. It also said it is because of the world who today more and more view porn as “…no big deal.”
It is an interesting time in our society where we have this world which says porn is a release, harmless, no big deal. We have churches firing pastors and elders who are caught up in pornography and sexual addiction. We have the President of the United States explaining to us what sex is and is not…and we do not seem bothered.
I don’t know what the HBO special will be, but what I hope is we talk about it in churches all across America. I hope we talk about it at our offices and in our bible studies. And most of all I hope each of you will stand up and ask why we continue to shoot our weak at church while the attack on our families continues to grow.
I sat with a man last night who had an affair and is now divorced. When the affair started this man worked in a business with his father and his father, using the bible as a basis, fired his son. Over two years have now passed and this father and son met the other day and the father told his son “I can find no biblical basis for us to have a relationship”. What is interesting here is that this father divorced this mans mom many years ago and left a son to grow up without his dad. This mans father had absolutly no contact with his son for over 10 years…until this father found God and his son accepted his dad back into his life and forgave him. This father then used God to declare that once he was lost and now he was found, that if he had known God back then it would have been different. You see his son knew God, grew up without his dad but with God in his life. Now his father says that since his son knew God and had the affair it is different than having an affair and not knowing God…and then he used God to justify the actions of again cutting his son out of his life…again.
These are the stories which break my heart. These are the stories that if God is the kind of God who would turn His back on Pastor Ted in his time of need or the kind of God who would support a father turning his back on his own son in his time of need…this would not be a god I would not want to worship…but this is not my God, my God is a God of love and forgiveness and I am so thankful for that forgiveness.
Repeatedly Jesus explained the reason his Father sent him, His reason for coming: “I have come to seek and save the lost.” He wept at the sight of people who were “like sheep without a shepherd.” Jesus commanded His church: “Preach the good news to all creation.” “Make disciples of all nations.” “Be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth.” The dream of God, the heart of Jesus is for the lost It’s of a church that helps lost people find their way back into the arms of their Heavenly Father.
“Some want to live within the sound of the church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of Hell.”
-C.T. Studd (1860-1931)
I will be interested to hear your thoughts on all of this…
You are all great men of God, thanks for being here.
Steve G