Do these unfortunate and embarrassing accounts (married Bishop & married preacher) give us a clue as to why the Church is majorly silent on abortion and homosexual marriage? Praise God for standard bearers who fear God and not man. How do we break the power of the devil on this thing? Love never fails, and we are not to touch God’s anointed, but even David cried out to God when Saul was persecuting him. I’m wondering if we shouldn’t say or do something like this?

Hold them accountable to the Word of God in love.

The Church – not the Black Church or the White Church, not the Protestant or the Catholic Church (because this stench is rising in many churches) – THE CHURCH is strangely silent while our nation is drowning; choking on the blood of the innocents and dismantling natural marriage one bite at a time. Could it be that the church leaders are embroiled in so many sexual sins, that their voices are stifled by guilt by association?

We recently witnessed a comedic drama at a political convention where people were voting whether to attempt to keep God out of a platform or put God back in the platform. It was such a travesty in that though the majority of voices in the audio voted were yelling no don’t put God back in, the officiating member called the vote a yes, and the word God was returned to the plank. I cautiously say “the word” God because the true and living GOD can’t be bantered around by such shameless antics as we viewed last week.

We know that nobody is perfect, and that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. So, we are not pointing fingers here. What we must ask ourselves is this: are our Church leaders weakened by fear and guilt of not wanting to reveal their personal battles of the flesh? Is this why so many are silent regarding the issues of sexual perversion and abortion and artificial contraceptives?

Is anyone considering that the political plank advancing homosexual marriage is opening the door for many other types of liaisons that may prove harmful to society as a whole?

There is room at the Cross of Jesus for everyone, and Church leaders are not exempt from the devil’s wiles. Neither are Church leaders exempt from the commandments of GOD and definitely Church leaders (and political leaders we might add) need salvation, repentance and God’s love just like we all do.

This is not a Black/White problem. Remember the misfortunes of say Ted Haggard and Eddie Long? The world was kinder to these two men than was the Church. Are we saying that they shouldn’t be called to accountability? No. But love and mercy overcome judgment. If and when people fall and then repent, they should be restored. Until they repent, they should be removed from positions of authority, but they should not be condemned by accusers who have also sinned and fallen short of God’s grace.

We’re not putting these people on blast here. The media has already done that. We are putting everyone on notice: These are perilous times, and we all need a lot of prayer! Even Paul in the Bible, after admonishing the people for overlooking sexual perversion, came back and told the Church to restore the repentant man so that he would know that God loves even a sinner:

1 Corinthians 5: Expel the Immoral Brother!

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife. And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this? Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present. When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.

Forgiveness for the Offender

2 Corinthians 2: If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you to some extent—not to put it too severely. The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient. Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. Another reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.

What we are after is not eternal damnation, but rather the salvation of those who fall; so we must first rebuke, then once repentance comes, we must forgive, comfort, love and restore. We must rise above the tendency of human nature that holds the accused at arm’s length; to say we forgive but never let the accused forget; to say “I receive you back” but to treat the person like a diseased germ. Self-pious, sanctimonious and inflexible treatment of those who stumble leaves no place for repentance and reconciliation. This is not the ministry of Jesus Christ who had mercy on the woman caught in the act and the woman at the well. The scandal we create by errantly cutting off the offenders from the Church it is no less a scandal created by the penitent sinner in the first place. To errantly remove the offender from all hope of re-entry into the comfort and security of the fellowship of the redeemed community is just as injurious as it is to permit blatant perversion to continue unpunished in the Body of Christ.

All of this would be just too sad if we didn’t have the Name and Blood of Jesus. May God help us all.