Haggard Hires Gay Hooker?

I'm sorry, there is no way that I can believe that this is true. There is a higher probability that Pastor Ted is behind a hoax than there is that he is actually a repressed homesexual who has been hiring a male prostitute for the last three years. Then again, I'm one naive mofo who is consistently wrong about these kinds of things. Is someone cheating around the office? "No Way!" says me. My record for getting these things wrong is legendary. Pastor Ted is innocent. Spooky? Yup. Weird? You betcha. Passive Dominionist? Most possibly. Gay Bimbo? I seriously doubt it.

Gazette:

New Life Church in Colorado Springs will investigate an allegation that Pastor Ted Haggard paid for sex with a Denver man, a Denver television station reported.

Haggard denied the charge.

The man, Mike Jones, told KUSA-TV that he and Haggard had a "sexual business" relationship for the past three years, according to a report broadcast Wednesday night. Haggard said a panel independent of the 14,000-member church will investigate. The panel could exonerate, discipline or fire him based on its findings, Haggard said.

Comments

[Zen]

You know I grew up in a fast growing well-to-do evangelical church in the Bay Area. We were "led" by a high flying senior pastor, a best selling christian author, a household name in the evangelical world, with a weekly radio address and a schedule jam packed with national speaking engagements. On the surface, Ron Lee Davis was an outstanding guy, full of charisma and charm, giving and caring. Like Brendle with Haggard, the youth and associate pastors saw nothing in Davis's character that would have caused them to suspect otherwise. Until the day Davis abruptly resigned. He was cheating on his wife. He was abusing church finances. No one suspected a thing and Davis likely never would have resigned had his mistress not come forward with proof. Even so, many still refused to believe he'd done anything wrong. He was the victim. She was the devil. And after he resigned, many continued to follow him.

Or there's the case of Pastor David Moore of Southwest Community Church (which my snowbird parents attended during their winter migration) in Indian Wells, CA - another fast-growing, influential, wealthy evangelical congregation (Moore's salary was reportedly in excess of a quarter MILLION a year) who resigned after pictures (http://christians4truth.com/photos.html) surfaced of Moore with his wife and another woman partying naked in the backyard hot tub.

The point here is IT HAPPENS. For a lot of different reasons. Davis, Moore, Baker, Swaggert. Maybe Haggard. When you place yourself (or allow your congregation to place you) on that pedestal, when you act like you are "holier than thou", you set yourself up. And the fall is swift and hard and deeply destructive - not just to the one who falls from grace, but for all those blinded by the stars in their eyes.

Both sides would well advised to not rush to judgement here. Maybe this is a con. But Haggard is not above reproach either. Should there be truth to these allegations, I am sure a lot of people will be giddy with uncontrollable glee. But I for one will find myself to just be rather sorry and sad, and left once again to wonder - can we or will we ever learn? Treat others as you wish to be treated. Cause you will reap what you sow.

And adding if I may -- I had a pastor friend who stood before his congretation and said to the shock & dismay of many, "I am not immune to the tempation to cheat on my wife. I very well could." Not that he had, not that he would. But that he could. Peter recognized that the moment you set yourself above and apart from others - "the sinner might cheat but I never would" - you expose your blind side. You set yourself up for the fall - judge not and set yourself apart lest you be judged and discover that you are no different than those you have condemned.

I don't know if these allegations are true or not. But from my experience, I would not be surprised either way. Haggard is not immune.

[pete]

Dude, he's stepping down. That right there is admission of guilt don't you think?
The guy making the claim is gonna take a lie detector test on the radio tomorrow morning.

[Non-Prophet]

Who says Pastor Ted is stepping down? Can I get a link on that?

[Non-Prophet]

ah, okay.. there it is.

[John-Paul Pagano]

Non-Prophetizz0r,

He's stepped down:

http://origin.denverpost.com/news/ci_4588998

He's not admitting to the affair, but this doesn't look good.

Oops, I see Pete Yellin and Screamin' beat me to it.

[J]

What's so hard to believe? On all those gay personals sites, 70-80% of the men over 45 have either been married or are still married. There are a ton of closeted homosexuals, some of them are bound to in positions of power that are contradictory to their person.

[pete]

Ah, I see Pagano's late to the party as usual...well, at least this time it didn't take 3 years.

[Pete]

Damned! another bloody gay..

I wish I could fist his ass!

[Zen]

Haggard has TEMPORARILY stepped down pending the outcome of the church's investigation. This is not unusual in a ministry situation like this. It is not an admission of guilt. It's pretty standard procedure -- no different than the routine of placing a police officer on paid leave pending investigation of a shooting.

[Hanks]

Another itching asshole..

Well, once you start the gay habit,

You can't stop.

It's addictive.

A drug. And a rotten ass!

[Flamethrower]

No one's complimented the nice dye job on Ted's Hawaii hair. You guys got your priorities all wrong.

[suesun]

"giddy with uncontrollable glee"..... couldn't have described the feeling better myself. If you deny feeling even just a little of this yourself, then you, too, are a holier than thou hypocrite.

[noneyabidness]

Just another in the long list of hypocritical chr-stians who live a secret life. The problem lies within the chr-stian bible (aka the new testament) the second half of the bible gives any and all a blank check to sin, because jc will forgive you. These born again freaks mock the Jews, stating that they are rule bound and can't be happy. Truth is only 2% of religious Jews go through divorce, as opposed to 48% of chr-stians, two percent higher than atheists! These people can do whatever they want because the main heretic, a-poo-stle paul said that the law is dead. He never even met the j-guy. He goes against everything G-d says in the Jewish Bible. chr-stianity has all roots in paganism, but no x-ian wants or is willing to investigate the truth. Ted Turner says it right, xianity is for losers!

[Zen]

Way to contribute to a constructive religious dialogue, noneyabidness. You just did to the entire Christian community what you think they do to you. And what did it solve? Think about it.

suesun -- You're dead on. There is a part of me that thinks that if this is true, it will be a great thing for the collective christian community. Sometimes it takes a kick in the face to waken from the deep sleep. But I also think it is terribly sad that it must come to things like this.

[Zen]

UH OH -- Preliminary analysis is in on the phone voice recordings of "Art" Haggard that Jones turned over to the media. Out of 12 words analyzed, when compared to the audio of a television interview of Haggard, the phone recordings matched 9 words exactly in tone, inflection, and vowel sounds. The phrase "I don't know" matched exactly as well. Final report should be out tomorrow. The analysis is being conducted by a nationally recognized voice expert at CU Denver.

[Lisa]

I sat on Ted's leadership team for enough years to tell you that this uncovering is mild in comparison to the other things he has willingly acknowledged and dismissed (child rape -youth group VP and 15-year old boy)
Ted had the head of the youth group meet with Colorado Spgs Detectives who had been informed of the incident. Ted researched the boys past and used those findings to paint the child as a trouble maker. The police of course believed "Yours Truely". The child that was violated was thrown in juvenile. Ted claimed the news would spread to papers and we'd lose everything. God would understand losing one to save many. I think there are going to be more people speaking out (let's hope)

[Zen]

So Lisa... what did you do with that information? Did you doubt Ted back then? Did you suspect he was covering? Did you fear retribution if you spoke out about the "sacrifice" of this child?

[Stevensez]

"Evangelicals on meth - Now spreading the word of God even FASTER!"©

[wittbelle]

Zen: LOL! Do you have any links to the allegations of the youth rape you mentioned earlier? I'm thinking of doing another music video like the one I did for Mark Foley, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9MFogiUPOw), and would like some more details to include in the song's lyrics. Any information you could provide would be greatly appreciated!

[Dan & Dawn]

We are all sinners and all of us stumble and fall. We should not put our faith in any man, but only in our God, Jesus Christ. The sad thing is, when Pastor Haggard is exonerated of these hideous charges, you will not mention anything. You jump at the opportunity to trash a good man based on false allegations, yet you run from the opportunity to proclaim the truth when it is revealed.
The beauty of Jesus is, He is faithful even when we are not, and He always forgives us. Repent and believe the Good News!
May God bless Ted Haggard and lift him up stronger than ever. LIBERALISM BREEDS TERRORISM! Dan & Dawn

[pete]

Even when Haggard admits everything, to Dan and Dawn they are "false allegations." Gotta love Dan and Dawn! or not.

[Zen]

"You jump at the opportunity to trash a good man based on false allegations, yet you run from the opportunity to proclaim the truth when it is revealed."

Said the pot that called the kettle black.

[Dan & Dawn]

Check your facts. Pastor Ted absolutely did not admit to all of the allegations. Go to the New Life Church web site for a copy of his letter.
Regardless of Pastor Haggards failures, we admire and respect him for confessing his sin, and stepping down from his position of authority. When a Godly man sins,(and we all do), he takes reponsibility for his actions, and steps down, so as to not give the message that his actions are condonable. However, when an un-Godly man, (Clinton), commits sexual immorality in the White House, he denies, lies, blames others, and refuses to step down. He clearly demonstrates the liberal philosophy; all immorality is ok, lying is acceptable, no personal responsibility, "if it makes you happy-it can't be that bad", live for myself attitude.
You people will continue to stumble in darkness, and bondage to your sins. You will refuse to accept the fact, that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. That is however, exactly what the Bible teaches, as well as the truth that the anti-Christ's are already in the world. God has already chosen who will be redeemed. You people clearly reflect Satan's truth: Satan knows he is destined to lose in the end, yet he continues to curse the name of Jesus. Satan at least is smart enough to believe in the power of Jesus, as well as the truth of Scripture.
We will continue to pray for the damned.
May America bless God. LIBERALISM BREEDS TERRORISM, DAN& DAWN

[Zen]

How judgemental are you. You call yourselves followers of Jesus Christ? Your words demonstrate otherwise. You are but milk-fed infants. You are certainly not yet worthy to speak in his name.

[Zen]

I respect Ted Haggard for not drawing things out longer than he did. But Ted did not confess. Ted was caught. Nor was Ted truthful from the start. When the story first broke, Ted lied, Dan & Dawn. Publically. To members of his church. To his colleagues. He claimed he had never met Mike Jones, never heard of Mike Jones.

So before you go pointing that sanctamonious finger at your favorite whipping boy (Clinton) get your facts straight. Cause when you get down to it, the only differences between Ted and Bill are their drug of choice, their sexual preference and their party affiliation.

I'm thinking that 3rd difference is the ONLY one you care about.

[Nate]

Zen - well said! I wonder how many tee shirts Dan&Dawn have sold through the free advertising on this blog? Saying that Liberalism breeds terrorism is a Sean Hannity mantra, and I have very little respect for that idiot. The neo-cons were able to turn the word Liberal into some kind of curse, but it makes no sense. Osama wanted to eradicate the liberal governments of the world and replace them with a government tolerant of only one religious doctrine. Dan & Dawn would have us lie down and submit to the demands of Osama bin Laden!? I say Dan & Dawn are the real threat to this country - and I'm thinking about making a tee shirt to sell on my blog that says so. :)

[wob]

Nate,
If you were to do this, I'd be one of the first in line to buy a few :)

Evangelism breeds Terrorism
NeoConservatism breeds Terrorism
Replublicanism breeds Terrorism

etc etc...

I'm sure I butchered some of those words... :)

[Non-Prophet]

Dan & Dawn are totally real people. I wouldn't go off and create fictional nuts like them for my own amusement, would I? ;)

The t-shirt/bumper sticker should read, "Religious Fundamentalism Breeds Terrorism."

[A Curious Stranger]

Evangelism breeds Gay Prostitution

[pete]

Dan & Dawn Should Not Breed

[Zen]

Terrorism breeds Dans & Dawns

[Dan & Dawn]

Thanks again Non-Prophet...your free advertising has resulted in thousands of t-shirt sales. The truth is getting out, thanks to you and your liberal cronies assistance! May God bless Non-Prophet.
Dan&Dawn...Liberalism Breeds Terrorism!

[Zen]

Yes! May God indeed bless Non Prophet!

And thanks to Dan & Dawn for making it so much easier to identify dumb people.

[Kan]

Question for Zen: Do you know for a fact that Ron Davis was cheating and that he was abusing the church's finances?

Question is in response to the following posting:

"You know I grew up in a fast growing well-to-do evangelical church in the Bay Area. We were "led" by a high flying senior pastor, a best selling christian author, a household name in the evangelical world, with a weekly radio address and a schedule jam packed with national speaking engagements. On the surface, Ron Lee Davis was an outstanding guy, full of charisma and charm, giving and caring. Like Brendle with Haggard, the youth and associate pastors saw nothing in Davis's character that would have caused them to suspect otherwise. Until the day Davis abruptly resigned. He was cheating on his wife. He was abusing church finances. No one suspected a thing and Davis likely never would have resigned had his mistress not come forward with proof. Even so, many still refused to believe he'd done anything wrong. He was the victim. She was the devil. And after he resigned, many continued to follow him."

[Zen]

Yes Kan. There was a thorough church investigation that unfolded in the wake of Ron's resignation. I happened to be working in the youth ministry department that summer as well. It was a difficult time for that church. Why do you ask?

[Kan]

Zen, I was just curious because I've heard slander about him but no substantiated facts.