Illuminati Gnostic Philosophy entails balancing good with bad; religious charitable fronts accomplish this requirement. The Illuminati program NATIONS, not just people. The infiltration and control of Christianity has been one of the easiest Illuminati tasks; Christian churches are "soft targets". Billy Graham has PUBLICLY said, "...we need to embrace the New World Order...". Top hierarchy Satanists like him are required to have COVERS. Illuminatus have multiple personalities; programmers, handlers and Illuminati Council Members are OFTEN clergymen, but also mayors, doctors, lawyers, etc. MOST survivors of Satanic parents report parents being highly positioned pastors.
Pastor in gay scandal: I'm back from 'wilderness'
AP Religion Writer Eric Gorski, Ap Religion Writer
January 9, 2009
source
Rev. Ted Haggard Speaking out two years after being embroiled in a gay sex scandal, former evangelical pastor Ted Haggard said Friday his sexual identity is complex and can't be put into "stereotypical boxes," but that his relationship with his wife is stronger than ever.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Haggard did not rule out a return to public life or the pulpit. He spoke before he appeared before TV critics in Los Angeles to promote "The Trials of Ted Haggard," an HBO documentary on Haggard's exile after his confession to "sexual immorality" and fall as a top evangelical leader.
"I am guilty. I am responsible," Haggard, 52, said Friday in a phone interview. "I got off track, and I am deeply sorry and I repent ... I'm moving along in a positive direction."
Haggard resigned as president of the 30 million-member National Association of Evangelicals and was fired from the 14,000-member New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo., in November 2006 amid allegations that he paid a male prostitute for sex and used methamphetamine.
In a written apology at the time, Haggard confessed to a long battle against feelings contrary to his beliefs and admitted buying the drugs but said he never used them.
During a guest sermon last November at a friend's church in Illinois, Haggard said a co-worker of his father molested him when he was 7, an experience that "started to produce fruit" later. Clarifying that Friday, Haggard said: "I'm certainly not saying that because of that, I did this. I did what I did by my choice, and I'm responsible for it."
Haggard said he isn't qualified to judge what factors into one's sexuality, but still believes it's "God's perfect plan" for marriage to be between a man and woman.
"I think sexuality is confusing and complex," Haggard said. "I am totally completely satisfied with the relationship with my wife now, but I went through a wandering in the wilderness time, and I just thank God I'm on the other side of that."
Asked whether he could define his sexual identity, Haggard said: "The stereotypical boxes don't work for me. My story's got some gray areas in it. And, of course, I'm sad about that but it's the reality."
Later Friday, in a Q&A session with reporters at a Television Critics Association meeting in Universal City, Calif., Haggard said he should have been more open with his family and his congregation earlier, calling his actions "hypocrisy."
Asked to expand on his attitude toward homosexuality, Haggard said, "I believe all human beings fall short of the standards they believe in."
He added, "I would say the biggest change is I now know about hatred than I ever dreamed, and I know it doesn't help. And I know more about judgment and I know it doesn't help. Since my experience, I know more about the power of love and forgiveness. I know a lot more about the necessity of people not judging one another."
At the time the film was shot in 2007, Haggard described still occasionally struggling with same-sex attraction. Asked Friday whether those attractions remain, Haggard did not say definitively but said he was "not anywhere near" where he was at that time.
In the documentary premiering Jan. 29, Haggard is shown shuffling from motel to motel, driving a moving truck, enrolling in a college psychology course, struggling as a door-to-door salesman and pondering his fate while laying in a motel bed in a white undershirt.
"At this stage in my life, I'm a loser — a first-class loser," he says.
Now back living in Colorado Springs, Haggard said Friday he hopes to build his business selling insurance and debt-reduction software and is considering marketing himself through a speakers bureau to share his story — "if the terms were right. I have to earn a living."
"If what I have is helpful to other people, then I want to make that available to them," he said. "If it's not, then I'm perfectly happy building my business."
Haggard also plans to launch a nonprofit group to help the poor and needy, his Web site says. As for a return to pastoring a church, Haggard said: "I have learned enough to know a lot can happen to anybody. And when Jesus is our Lord, we can't plan our path."
The nature of Haggard's return — and his harsh words in the film for his former church — is drawing criticism. Haggard is also is to tape an "Oprah Winfrey Show" appearance next week for an episode scheduled to air this month, a spokesman for the show confirmed Friday.
"If you're going to come out and begin a new life, why would you choose an HBO documentary, then meet with the liberal Hollywood press?" said H.B. London, a former counselor to Haggard and an executive at Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs. "The fact that he's attacking the church or New Life Church, when they did so much to help him and his family, is below the belt."
Haggard lashes out at "the church" in the documentary, which was produced by Alexandra Pelosi, daughter of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He said "the church has said go to hell" and "the church chose not to forgive me."
Over a 14-month period ending Dec. 31, 2007, New Life Church paid the Haggard family $309,020 in salary and benefits, according to a church document obtained by The Associated Press.
The payout included $152,360 in salary for Ted Haggard, $62,177 in salary for his wife, Gayle, $26,426 for counseling, $11,168 for legal fees and $26,000 to help care for the couple's special-needs son, who is in his early 20s.
Haggard on Friday said his family is grateful for the severance, but he was angry for being forced to leave Colorado Springs as one condition. He also challenged the church's statement that he halted a process meant to restore him, saying he still receives counseling.
The church has since released Haggard from all restrictions, including a prohibition on speaking publicly, and both Haggard and church leadership say relations are positive.
Haggard's successor at New Life, Brady Boyd, wrote in a blog post Friday that "the motives behind every decision" involving the Haggards were pure, and the church was generous in its severance and support. He would not respond to Haggard's specific complaints.
In the AP interview, Haggard credited his therapists, whom he described as Christian believers who used secular therapy methods.
"I just thought a spiritual solution would be the solution to everything that's internal," Haggard said. "That turned out not to be the case."
Of Mike Jones, his accuser, Haggard said: "I know he's gone through a lot. When he said he had to say something, I believe it. And I think that was God encouraging him to do that."
Jones said Friday he considers Haggard a salesman seeking attention for his business.
"I know he's apologized to his church and family, blah, blah," Jones said. "But the people he hurt is the gay community, and he's never apologized to the gay community. He owes that."
Haggard has said his childhood experiences, including same-sex "sex play" with friends when he was in the seventh grade, started to manifest themselves when he turned 50, a few months before the scandal. That conflicts with Jones' statement that Haggard paid him for sex for three years. Haggard on Friday declined to discuss the discrepancy.
___
Associated Press Television Writer Lynn Elber in Universal City, Calif., contributed to this report.
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While researching Haggard, I happened upon the following article about another pastor in the Atlanta area, Jim Bolin of Trinity Chapel Church, that quit due to "inappropriate, consensual sexual conduct with a woman" this past December!
And guess what? I've been to this church!
RELIGION: TRINITY CHAPEL CHURCH OF GOD: FAITH AND TURMOIL
Fall of pastor occurs at challenging time
By Bill Torpy, Kay Powell
source
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Like the biblical mustard seed, Trinity Chapel Church of God has experienced amazing growth.
In 1983, Jim Bolin and wife Robin had a storefront worship center near Powder Springs with five families. Twenty-five years later, the charismatic preacher extolled the faithful in a vast, theaterlike sanctuary, had more than 7,000 church members and oversaw a vibrant international ministry.
But the church was shaken to its foundation this month when the 56-year-old Bolin resigned after admitting to "inappropriate, consensual sexual conduct" with a woman. The reins of his ministry were handed to his 32-year-old son, Jason Bolin, a low-key, fresh-faced man who can be seen in home movies preaching the good word as a boy in his backyard.
Jason Bolin had been heir apparent, but his elevation to senior pastor comes at a time when he must guide the flock through a crisis in leadership and rapidly changing demographics that have bedeviled other churches.
African-Americans have increasingly moved to south and west Cobb County in the past decade, and Trinity Chapel has been accepting of the new residents. Recent visits to services found black and white members thoroughly interspersed in the congregation.
The Bolins, other church officials and many members who were contacted declined to speak for this story. State Church of God officials last Sunday told the congregation that Jim Bolin would leave his duties and undergo a two-year “restoration process” that includes Church of God counseling.
Jim Bolin, in a letter read at the service, said, “I’m not finished yet.”
In October, the younger Bolin gave an indication where he was bringing the church when he gave two sermons titled “The Elephant in the Room,” which referred to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s observation that 11 a.m. Sunday is the most segregated time of the week.
“There is one thing I was placed on this Earth to do —- to bring racial reconciliation to this community, to this nation, to this world,” Jason Bolin told the congregation. “There is a big elephant in this room right now. We all bring a worldview into this room that is many, many years old.
“The turmoil, the scars that this nation has on its body now —- the bitterness, the bigotry, the hatred —- can be healed,” he said. “You have chosen, black folks, to be in a church with some white leaders. And I thank you.”
Then Bolin, in his steady cadence, brought up Barack Obama and the coming election.
“White people, the black people in this room have something to be proud of,” he said, pausing to note the light applause. “Come on, white folk, you need to be clapping right now. This is a monumental moment for this nation.”
Jason Wiltshire, a 13-year church member who went to Romania for a two-year missionary trip sponsored by Trinity Chapel, said the congregation supports Jim Bolin.
“It was a wake-up call for all of us to make sure our lives are in order,” said Wiltshire, a real estate agent.
Wiltshire noticed that racial change at Trinity quickened while he was overseas from 2005 to 2007. And attendance has dropped.
“When they first opened that sanctuary, it was full. Now it’s not,” he said. “It’s hard to deny attendance is down. Giving is down. More people have left than come.”
“I hope the church can get through this. Jason has his work cut out for him,” Wiltshire said. “It will be challenging. I think a lot of changes are coming.”
Perhaps Jim Bolin was alluding to the upcoming tumult in his last sermon, Dec. 7, just days before the scandal broke. The soon-to-be outgoing pastor spoke about pressure and stress, specifically during the Christmas season.
“Stress,” he said, “comes from trying to do something about something that you can’t do something about.”
Janet Savage said Jim Bolin’s preaching captivated her enough that she left her family church, where she led the outreach ministry, and joined Trinity Chapel. That was four years ago.
“It was almost as if I was hearing the word for the first time and it was so clear, so motivating and inspiring,” she said. “That old zeal was back.”
Megachurches such as Trinity Chapel attract worshippers for many reasons, said Harold Bennett, dean of the Charles H. Mason Theological Seminary of the Church of God in Christ, the largest African-American Pentecostal denomination. Such churches offer a diverse social experience, the prosperity theology is appealing, a huge congregation offers anonymity to those who want it, and many services are as much entertaining stage show as worship.
Bolin “challenged us to get past the insignificant things like race and gender,” said Savage, who is black. “He would remind us of that periodically because any time you are doing something out of your comfort zone, it makes you a little shaky.”
Some complain Trinity Chapel has been slow to bring black members into the leadership. Of the 28 church staff members and leaders pictured on Trinity Chapel’s Web site, just one, a receptionist, is black.
That doesn’t bother Savage. “I’ve gotten so past that now,” she said.
Darryl W. Stephens, a visiting professor at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, said the church must perform a balancing act while going through Jim Bolin’s “restoration.” It must reveal relevant information because he is a leader —- but not too many details.
And there must be change. In order to heal, the congregation must be willing to forgive Jim Bolin, Bennett said, to extend mercy and grace and to accept the fact that he is human.
“Forgiving does not mean forgetting,” Stephens said. “Forgiveness entails accountability and remembering. When we forgive, we do not put a person back into a situation that allows them to do this again. No matter how effective a person is or how charismatic as a leader, we are all fallible.”
Bennett said Trinity Chapel is a community built around a charismatic leader.
“In the Pentecostal Church, we believe our leaders have a special anointing on them from God,” he said. “Some people see it as their responsibility to protect their leader. Especially when the pastor is the founding pastor, it gives him a little more authority.”
The fact that Jim Bolin confessed, resigned, asked for forgiveness and submitted to the discipline of the church speaks well of him, Bennett said.
“When we make a mistake, God will forgive us, but that doesn’t mean we have earned the right to stand before people and lead them,” Bennett said. “He’s got to earn the right to lead.”
Staff writer Angela Tuck contributed to this article.
JIM BOLIN
> Born Aug. 28, 1952, in Fresno, Calif. Moved to Powder Springs in 1967
> Married to Robin Bolin
> Two children: Jason Bolin, Trinity Chapel Church of God senior pastor, and Jessica Jones
> McEachern High School graduate; attended what was then Kennesaw Junior College
> Studied at Beulah Heights Bible College and Lee University in Cleveland, Tenn.; did not graduate
> Became a pastor at 25; his grandfather and father were pastors
> Founded Trinity Chapel Church of God in an Austell Road storefront on Sept. 11, 1983, with a congregation of five families; defines church as “a Pentecostal, charismatic worship center”
> Moved to a 32-acre Macland Road site in Powder Springs in 1996
> Congregation grew to 7,000 and became more racially diverse; site expanded to 60 acres
> Trinity has dozens of ministries, including a dynamic youth outreach program; it has built bomb shelters in Israel and churches in Romania and Cuba
> Resigned as senior pastor at Trinity Chapel on Dec. 7 after confessing to an inappropriate relationship with a woman and asking for forgiveness
> Is inactive in the ministry while undergoing a two-year restoration process through the Church of God
> Jason Bolin named Trinity Chapel’s senior pastor on Dec. 14
—- Kay Powell
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"And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed lest any man deceive you: For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. "
Mark 13:5,6
1 comment:
The Bible Explains itself clearly yet most say it is ambiguous or fairytale.
Christ did warn in the las Scripture you quote if the punctuation is followed correctly .Many will indeed testify truly that I Am the Christ but the same people will deceive many.
I enjoy reading your blog Stay close to Jesus Revelation says the the time of trouble such as never was is coming . i believe its is very soon.
God Bless your ministry.
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