Ted Haggard in the news again.

I haven’t been writing here for a while. Guess I‘ve been a little to wrapped up in Facebook.

One thing that did upset me recently was seeing the former New Life pastor Ted Haggard on Larry King Live.

I am a firm believer of forgiveness and restoration, and I know from my own experience that is one of God’s main goals with all of us. What I’m reacting to is that here is a man who has hurt so many people that he was entrusted with by God, some that may never fully recover and be able to believe in Christian leadership again, sitting on National TV with his family who say that they want to “tell their story”. I feel really bad for his whole family and I can’t even imagine what they are going through, but my point is, please don’t make a show case of this, don’t give the world another reason to slam Christians.

I think the proper thing to do would be to withdraw from the public arena and let God do his work. My feeling is; I don’t want to hear your story, I have heard it already and if you need to go public again, it should be in a Christian setting with pastors that can fully verify that you have been forgiven, restored and delivered. It would be very different to see Ted Haggard on TBN or the Inspiration channel. That would show that God has truly done something in his life, because I’m sure they wouldn’t put him on unless he had truly repented.

Again, I completely believe in forgiveness and the Christian community should be ready to forgive, but please don’t go to secular media, it’s none of their business.

“If any of you has a dispute with another, dare he take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases?” 1 Corinthians 6:1-2


This is the scripture I’m thinking of. It speaks about lawsuits but I think it can be applied to this case as well. This chapter goes on to talk about sexual immorality and even homosexual offenders and how they will not inherit the kingdom of God.

I think that anybody that is serious would not turn to the world for help or sympathy but would go to God first and then seek counsel from godly men and women. And we as believers don’t need publicity to get by. We need the power of God and Him only. He can change any situation; He can drag us out of the pit. He can transform any circumstance when all we want is to please Him.

The whole thing just didn’t seem right to me.

Reply on "Imagine" comment

To author@ptgbook.org

Thanks for commenting on my article about John Lennon’s “Imagine”.
It’s very interesting how ungodliness take different shapes and forms over time. For example; atheism is not a new phenomena of course, but all of a sudden, it’s a movement and now walking “hand in hand” with humanism.

In the 70’s it was New Age, which was a very broad name for anything “spiritual” under the sun that was not Christian. Nobody’s talking about New Age anymore. In the Old Testament days it was worshipping of Baal. It’s all the same old, same old.

John Lennon's "Imagine"

I have mentioned John Lennon’s song “Imagine” before. John Lennon was an extremely talented musician and song writer. Unfortunately he didn’t use his talent to honor God. Instead he started to create his own “religion”, a dream world that attracts a lot of people. "Imagine" is a great song, but I am going to go through some of the verses and try to show from a biblical perspective what I think it’s really about. First of all, the Bible says that God has put eternity in our hearts which means that we all have a desire within to find truth and harmony, and to be one with God and each other. So anything that looks like that will be attractive to us.

Here’s the first verse:

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

There is a heaven and there is a hell. You can try and imagine as much as you want, it will still be there. And why would you want to imagine that there’s no heaven? Nobody wants to go to hell and not even God wants anybody to go there. He has made it very clear in His word that through Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ only, we can escape hell. Hell is made for Satan and his angels. Jesus paid the price with His own death so we won’t have to go there. Our souls and our spirits are eternal. We don’t go into nonexistence when we die.

Here’s the second verse:

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

The Bible says that there will come a time when there will be just ONE big country. It will be the “kingdom of Anti Christ.” But it will not be a life of peace. It will be a reign of terror. All “religion” as we know it will probably be banned during that time as well.

“And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast. Men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, "Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?"
Revelation 13:1-4

Read the whole chapter 13 of the book of Revelation. It’s all about Anti-Christ and his kingdom that will be set up in the last days, saying for example how no one will be able to “buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.”


We have reason to believe that time is near. People are ready to receive a world ruler, somebody who claims to be able to solve the world crisis. Did you see Barack Obama’s speech after he won the election? I don’t think that he’s Anti-Christ, but the way people in the audience were cheering him, crying and adoring him, tells me it can be happening very soon.


The Bible also clearly states how we can inherit the Kingdom of God, and what sins we need to be cleansed from;

“Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
1 Cor 6:9-11


Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

There will also be the thousand year reign with Jesus as King when the devil will be bound for a thousand years, which will be a kingdom of peace, but I don’t think that’s what John Lennon is referring to. That’s a kingdom where the believers of Jesus Christ will rule with Him.

“They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”
Revelation 20:4b


You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

“I hope someday you'll join us”. We don’t know who the “us” are that is referred to here. John Lennon and Yoko Ono maybe? John Lennon may have been a dreamer, but he didn’t as far as we know, come to Jesus to see his dreams realized. There’s a wonderful future and a wonderful place for every believer. This world is not it. The moment you receive Jesus in your heart, your eternal life begins.


“No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written:
"No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him
" but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.”
1 Corinthians 2:7-10

Imagine that…