Monday Morning Insights

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    How Should We Deal With All the Falling Christian Leaders These Days?

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    1. It’s OK to be angry. Counselors say forgiveness can’t be expressed until you are honest about your anger toward the person who hurt you. In these recent scandals the name of Jesus has been reproached. That makes God angry, and we can expect Him to intervene with His correction at the right time. (As folks say in rural Alabama, somebody is going to the woodshed!)

    Holy anger should boil inside us as we see how the name of Jesus is maligned and misused in today’s church. We must aggressively seek accountability and integrity at a time when we have been compromised by hyper-prosperity preaching, carnal showmanship and self-absorbed charlatans. America’s pastors should lift their voices in this hour and denounce this shameful charade before the false prophets of Jezebel completely hijack the American church. The people of God need bold prophets who are not afraid to draw lines and call down the fire of holiness from heaven.

    2. It’s necessary to grieve. I know an intercessor in Texas who told me she has been crying for days because of the news about Bynum and the Whites. Her tears reflect God’s compassion for these people as well as His burden for all unbelievers who might reject the gospel because they now view Christians as hypocrites. As the prophet Jeremiah wept over faithless Israel, we should sincerely grieve over how far the church has fallen. Our anger cannot achieve its result if it is not tempered by brokenness.

    It might seem schizophrenic to suggest that we can be angry and grieved at the same time. But God feels both anger and deep compassion. The apostle Paul declared: “Behold then the kindness and the severity of God” (Rom. 11:22, NASB).

    3. It’s essential to pray rather than criticize. Ultimately we must come to a place of humility as we face this crisis. We must admit that we too might stumble into compromise or moral failure if we held a stressful leadership position. How would you act if you had Juanita Bynum’s preaching skills, Randy White’s huge congregation or Ted Haggard’s access to the White House?

    Leaders are targets of Satan. The devil once offered to give Jesus the glory of the world’s kingdoms if He would worship him. Today our adversary is still striking similar deals and demanding devotion in exchange for deceptive favors. Many leaders are being hypnotized by wealth and fame or seduced by pornography and perversion. We must pray that pastors and other ministers will stand firmly on the Word, as Jesus did in the wilderness, to resist every subtle demonic strategy.

    Try this exercise: Before you say anything negative about Randy White, Bishop Thomas Weeks, Ted Haggard or any other leader who may have disappointed you, pray for them by name and ask God to grant them His loving correction, His amazing forgiveness and His full restoration.

    You can read all of Lee’s article here at Charisma Magazine...

    What is your initial reaction when you hear about yet another prominent Christian leader who falls?  (Actually, most of those leaders who recently have been having trouble have not really taken any break from ministry.  They continue on as before, ignoring lawsuits, divorce proceedings, termination agreements, etc.  Does this effect how you react to them?

    J. Lee Grady is the editor of Charisma Magazine. He has some great things to say about all the fallen and sin-prone preachers we're hearing about in the news, especially the ones coming from his more 'charismatic' camp. Lee writes, "For those of us watching this painful drama, it’s tempting to become cynical, discouraged or judgmental. After all, Christian leaders are not supposed to be linked to domestic violence, irreconcilable differences or gay sex scandals. Ideally they should be role models of integrity who live what they preach. But godly people sometimes do ungodly things—and these scandals are a clear indication of deeper issues God wants to address. In this time of unprecedented spiritual shaking we must respond properly. Here are some steps you can take..."

    Comments

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    1. Danny Daniels on Tue, September 04, 2007

      It seems to me that there is a lack of humility and an abundance of pride and arrogance on the part of those who refuse to even take a break when confronted with sin and failure.  Paula and Randy should both be out of the pulpit and should be working exclusively on reconciliation and unity. Bynum should take time out to heal…physically and spiritually.

    2. I M Free on Wed, September 05, 2007

      What gets me is how churches allow these people to continue to serve. We’re seeing new ways that believers and church members are reacting to clergy divorce…not sure if it’s good. Are we ‘dumbing down’  clergy…now they can better identify with their divorced brothers and sisters.


      And what’s with Paula’s heavy emphasis on OT festivals, etc.; that there are things we Christians are missing out on because we’re not keeping or at least not understanding the different feasts, and the items in the old tabernacle and temple.


      Finally, Grady comments that ‘Many leaders are being hypnotized by wealth and fame or seduced by pornography and perversion.’  He says part of that is because they are targets of Satan.  But Jesus is quoted in Mark 7 as saying, ‘For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.’ So how much of all of this stuff is Satan, and how much is simply the sinfulness of man. I tend to lean a little more toward the man side.


      Many of these evangel-personalities remind me the CEO’s who sit on each others boards and give each other raises. These evangel-personalities sit around and talk and come up with much of this ‘name it-claim it’ prosperity stuff to lead people down a wrong path. It’s stuff that makes me more and more uncomfortable with parts of modern Christianity. Forgive me, Lord. I just want to be a simple follower of Christ.

    3. Leonard on Wed, September 05, 2007

      So many leaders today have led people to themselves and the Christ next to them that dependence on these leaders in some ways demands forgiveness.  If you can preach nothing else matters… If it looks like the Holy Spirit is working nothing else matters…  They do so much good that a little wrong doesn’t matter… They are so important to what God wants done in the world the devil must be after them more than others. 


      The admonition that says before I say anything bad…is a good admonition but lacks something.  Pray not only the grace, restoration and forgiveness… Pray for the courage to repent, to be humble…to receive correction…to repent (turn away from and turn to) of sin and the small secret sins that led them there…  Because without this there can be no restoration before God and this is the stuff in the heart.

    4. dpastordan on Wed, September 05, 2007

      But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.  For the love of mony is a root of all kinds of evil for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through many sorrows.  But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, love, patience, gentleness (1 Timothy 6:10-11). 


      The temptation to mix money and ministry was probably just as strong in the early church as Paul had to warn Timothy.  There is nothing new under the sun.  The man of God called to serve the local church must come in humility, submitted to the Word of God and led by the Spirit, dependent upon the Father in service to the Great Shepherd.  As the flock grows, the humility must deepen.  For it is the Lord who builds the church…not men or women!

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