Pastor Ted

I looked around the official Pastor Ted (Haggard) website just out of curiosity. I’d bet it’s not up much longer, given his fall from grace. If a person had a mind to, you could find lots of material to make snarky comments. I’ll post some of the material, but leave off most of the snark. It almost writes itself, anyway.

Picture at right of a warrior angel statue in Haggard's church's prayer center.

I’m not really sure what to make of the guy. He’s now out of a job, and judging by his website all he’s ever done has been religion oriented. In 1978 he graduated from … you guessed it, Oral Roberts University. His entire life has been his charismatic evangelical religion. And now he’s lost that. He's suffered a personal tragedy, and I have some empathy for that, but given certain of his (supposed) beliefs, I don't have much sympathy for him.

The following quotes are from articles posted on Haggard’s “News” page.

Ted Haggard sees things other people don't. He's seen angels and demons and blood on his hands. Sometimes, he sees things before they happen.

I'd bet he didn’t see getting outed by a gay prostitute.

While fasting and praying 18 years ago on the side of Pikes Peak, Haggard envisioned the church that would become the largest in Colorado, where believers speak in tongues and do cartwheels because they love the Lord so much -- a place Haggard says he'll never leave.

He has wrong about never leaving.

Haggard prayed for the gift of tongues. He said he received his "prayer language" sitting in a parked car listening to a Bible tape with a friend.

***

Haggard came to inhabit a spiritual world where prophets and apostles still exist, where demons are real and can be dispatched with holy oil, where visions and messages are a part of everyday life, if only you listen hard enough.

Is that messages or massages?

Haggard had experienced a vision in high school after he was born again. He said he saw demons hovering over newborn babies at a hospital, waiting to instill in them negative character traits such as hatred, greed, drug use and masturbation. These were the kind of spirits Haggard knew he had to fight.

***

He teaches that Christians, as responsible citizens, should get involved in political issues. He's spoken out against homosexuality and abortion. He does not endorse candidates but has given a strong indication of his political leanings by saying from the pulpit he "votes a straight ticket."

***

One day, Haggard rented a hotel room to pray and fast. Worship music was playing. He felt as if his hands were dirty. He wrung them, but they wouldn't come clean.

Haggard is a loyal member of the Religious Right who dials in for a White House conference call every Monday. Yet he embraces ecological concerns and says the Supreme Court made a good decision in the Lawrence v. Texas case, ordering the government out of the private lives of homosexuals.

(Emphasis mine.)

Every Monday, he and other evangelical leaders join in a regular conference call to the White House. And not only this White House. "Bill Clinton's White House was the most responsive in recent history," he said. "He really wanted to please evangelical Christians. He's a Bible-believing Christian himself; his problem was, he was a sex addict."

There's lots of material in the same vein on Haggard's website.

As I've said, I feel bad for the guy's family. Their life trajectory just completely changed.