Haggard, Hovind, and Election Day

Every so often, I get an email which I really enjoy. (Amid a torrential downpour of unsolicited ads, it is comparatively rare to get a good email at all!) And today I received one from Pastor James W. Knox of the Bible Baptist Church of Deland in Florida. In it, he quickly and easily sums up a few points regarding current events, which I want to share.

Please do not be offended or insulted if you are among the many who have written in recent days expressing concern over current events. In responding to those letters I am sending out a general reply to all on our mailing list, thinking many others must have the same concerns.

  • While I agree that the news media rejoices whenever it has an opportunity to make Christianity look bad, the case of Haggert [sic] in Colorado was in no way a man being persecuted because he is a Christian. According to Romans 1 the man is a vile, perverted, reprobate, sinner who has been given over by God to the lusts of his flesh. He has not been disgraced because he is a preacher of the gospel, he has been disgraced because he has given himself over to the nastiest of sin. You have got to turn off your TV sets, stop listening to preachers who don’t believe the Bible and get away from this notion that we are supposed to feel sorry for people who destroy their lives, families and testimonies. We are to demand their repentance. When that is dealt with we’ll work on forgiveness.
  • Ken[t] Hovind is not in jail because he is a Christian. He is not in jail for preaching the gospel. He is not in jail because the government attacked his church. He is not a pastor. He does not have a church. He is in jail because the love of money drove him to break the law, to lie, steal and engage in practices he knew were not blameless. His millions were not enough to satisfy his lusts. That is why his testimony is gone. You have got to stop idolizing Christian celebrities and get away from this notion that if someone we like violates the word of God they are standing up for something good. If you go to jail for preaching the gospel you are a hero. If you go to jail for dishonesty, having made Christians look like dopes, I hope you like your cellmate [sic].
  • The elections Tuesday had nothing to do with Christianity. Baby-sprinklers, blood-deniers, Bible-rejecters [sic] and papists may be the “Christian-right” in your book but they are hell-bound sinners in God’s book. I have said for the whole 30 years I have been preaching that every minute a saved person devotes to politics is a minute wasted. The great commission is not go stuff the ballot box, it is go preach the gospel. If you compare the USA of forty years ago when preachers emphasized the gospel to the USA today when preachers emphasize conservative politics a blind man can see the churches have erred. Stop joining hands with those who hold false doctrine and other gospels to advance secular causes. Give your all to Jesus.
  • This is why your pal, Brother James, never gets invited to hang out with the big boys.

please visit us at www.jamesknox.com
for in-depth, expository, Bible teaching

However, regarding Haggard, I realize that God demands repentance, but are we to withhold our forgiveness from someone until they repent? I have never thought so before, but I’m curious if I have missed something regarding that.

7 thoughts on “Haggard, Hovind, and Election Day”

  1. This is strong. Wow.

    Concerning your question. I think our forgivness of Haggard is trivial. He owes me nothing. Our concern, and it is an intense concern, is that somebody forcefully drives him back to the Lord.

  2. Steve, you are right, our forgiveness of him is trivial, and perhaps it is completely unnecessary. After all, he has done no sin toward me.

    But of those who were under his leadership and have been effectively betrayed by his actions, I’m curious how easily they can forgive him and whether he should repent first or not.

    And as you said, may he be driven back to the Lord, forcefully if necessary. That broad way which leads to destruction is not the place I want to see anyone treading!

  3. You’re right. That is good and delicate question.

    I think it would be right to forgive, and quicker the better, for their own sake. To hold ill feelings does no one any good. Yet, there is a very critical place for him to repent before them. For him to come clean. For him to be grieve and express it to them.

    That act of brokeness is important.

  4. The letter excerpted here?

    Repentance is more than an apology. Repentance is “go and sin no more,” and time will tell it. Though I highly doubt the psychoanalytical nonsense (including polygraph tests, no less!) that the Wikipedia article mentions will be a part of Haggard’s counseling will produce any beneficial spiritual effect. At least, there’s no biblical support for it, and that’s bad for him…

  5. As far as I know, yes, he has repented. Just because all that’s in that excerpt (not the whole thing) is just an apology doesn’t prove where his heart is. Especially since it’s just a portion of the letter.

  6. I hope you’re right. :) And as I said, time will tell it.

    Lord Jesus is able to restore, just as He did with Peter, and to restore to an even more important ministry than before. I find that thought simply amazing.

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