Ted Haggard
Ted Haggard is a former homosexual Pastor of the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado and a founder of the Association of Life-Giving Churches. He was leader of the National Association of Evangelicals from 2003 until November 2006 when he stepped down after a scandal.
In November 2006, he was removed from his leadership positions after allegations of homosexual sex and drug abuse were made by Mike Jones. Originally, Haggard denied knowing Mike Jones, but later acknowledged that was not the case. He also admitted that some accusations, such as purchasing methamphetamine, were true. He confessed to "sexual immorality" in the following days, but still maintained that aspects of Mike Jones' testimony were untrue.
- "The fact is I am guilty of sexual immorality. And I take responsibility for the entire problem. I am a deceiver and a liar. There's a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I have been warring against it for all of my adult life," he said.[1]
The man who accused him was quoted as saying afterwards[2] "It made me angry that here's someone preaching about gay marriage and going behind the scenes having gay sex,". (It should be noted that Haggard supported homosexual civil unions, but not marriage [3] and had earlier gone on record supporting the court decision in Lawrence v. Texas believing that government should not interfere in the private lives of homosexuals. [4])
Rehabilitation
On February 6, 2007, Tim Ralph, one of four ministers who oversaw three weeks of intensive counseling for Haggard, stated that Haggard "is completely heterosexual. He has prayed the Gay Away!" Ralph later explained himself further saying that therapy "gave Ted the tools to help to embrace his heterosexual side."
In February of 2008, Haggard requested that his oversight and counseling by the New Life Church recovery program be ended.[5] The representatives of New Life Church agreed to his request, but Pastor Brady Boyd issued a statement[6] saying they believe that the termination of the relationship is premature without elaborating. Earlier in the process, church leaders had said they assumed that Haggard's recovery could take several years, and in the 2008 statement, they remained convinced that he should not return to any church ministry.
References
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,227159,00.html
- ↑ [1] Ousted Evangelist Confesses to Followers
- ↑ [2] Evangelical Leader Admits to Buying Meth, Receiving Massage From Gay Escort
- ↑ [3] Gay marriage issue not Congress's
- ↑ Christianity Today magazine, Nov. 2005, Pg. 45
- ↑ http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/feb/07/haggard-ends-teams-oversight-of-restoration/
- ↑ http://www.coloradoconfidential.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3422
