Ted Haggard and the Myth of “Instant Sanctification”

Copyright 2007 by Shea Oakley

All rights reserved

As the Ted Haggard scandal continues to reverberate through the American evangelical community some are asking how a man who apparently had so much going for him spiritually could crash and burn in such a spectacular way. It is one thing when some televangelist with questionable background and character is exposed to be in deep sin. It is quite another when a man who is a highly respected pastor and president of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) ends up in such a position. The question inevitably is raised as to what could possibly cause a man of Haggard’s stature to fall so far. The answer may partially reside in the practical theology of what we might call the “mainstream evangelical church”.

A standard part of the testimony of many born-again believers goes something like this:

“I was addicted to (name the addiction) and had reached rock-bottom. I cried out to Jesus Christ to save me and He did. At that moment my slavery to (name the sinful habit) was broken and I have been free of it ever since”.

The problem is that later on often one of two things happen, either the addiction named makes a sudden comeback or some new one takes it place. Why does this happen? Sometimes some large, stress-producing life-crisis is involved such as a rift in a marriage or a major vocational setback. Other times a number of smaller stressors typical of existence in a fallen world are responsible. Whatever the cause or causes the Christian in question begins to encounter the vicissitudes of life in a new and deeper way and the old “demons” re-assert themselves in the form of the original habit or a different one becoming a stronghold in the person’s heart.

I would like to submit a reason why this occurs. Could it be that we mistakenly think the power of initial conversion is God’s one and only solution for what is wrong in our souls? It is more accurate to say that the born-again experience is only the beginning of a sanctification process that takes a lifetime and involves an ongoing daily surrender to Gods long-term plan for our repentance and healing.

It may be that Ted Haggard was abused sexually by someone as a boy, had an absent father or both. Homosexual tendencies have been psychologically proven to stem from these kinds of experiences in childhood. The damage done by such experiences is profound and usually is not overcome without a lot of divine and human help and a lot of work, many times in the office of a competent Christian counselor. The work involved is twofold. The person who has been abused must experience both grief over the harm that was inflicted and repentance for long-held bitterness towards the one who did that harm. Only then is deep healing possible.

While God can certainly accomplish this at the time of conversion if it be His will far more often He seems to work this out in the life of his children over time. Perhaps this is because there are certain lessons about His love and grace that simply are not meant to be learned in a flash of power at the moment of salvation.

Maybe Ted Haggard thought that God had forever delivered him of his homosexual bent the day he received Christ as Lord. Perhaps he even felt he had failed God by not “staying delivered” in the years that followed. It might be that this was the primary reason he seemingly never told a fellow believer about his losing struggle with sexual temptation. Instead it appears he relied on his gifts and his charisma to carry him to a place of leadership in the evangelical world. What was lacking was a progressively sanctified character, the kind of character that only comes with years of divinely-enabled conscious effort and a life marked by accountability to a spiritual director/counselor and to other Christians.

In my opinion the church itself bears some responsibility for Haggard’s downfall. Too many voices of influence in our community continue to teach the idea that initial conversion should take care of character flaws that only a process of later spiritual growth can remove, in short they continue to teach the myth of “instant sanctification”. As long as this dubious proposition is held up as normative for the Christian life men like Ted Haggard will self-destruct. This is the tragic legacy of bad practical theology and we should not underestimate its potential to harm not only individual believers but the entire cause of Christ in the United States.