Ted Haggard and the Indulgence of the Flesh

Colossians 2:20-23 says that the commandments and doctrines of men are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

When the sin of Ted Haggard was exposed this past week what we saw was a man overtaken by the indulgence of the flesh. The flesh has an insatiable appetite for all things sensual. The word sensual simply means those things that titillate the senses. Face it. Our bodies are nothing but sensually focused. But the body is simply the means to gratify the sensual appetite. The sensuality that must be satiated is in the inner man. It is the center of man - the inner man - that our English Bibles translate into the "heart" of man.

Yeshua - Jesus said what comes out of a man defiles that man; it is what proceeds from the heart of man. So the important factor is the consistency of the heart of a man. What is the consistency of the inner man? That is determined by a man or woman's choice.

To make that choice, in the positive, one must be a believer in the God of the Bible. HE is the ONE who has shown us the wickedness of heart by revealing to us HIS standard of righteousness through HIS Word. Every man or woman will come to the understanding that their practices are lawless - transgressing the Law of God. Even if they never see a Bible or one is read to them, the Almighty Creator will reveal each person's sin, and need for HIS salvation to them, just as HE did to Abraham.

The Book of Galatians tells us that the Scripture preached the gospel to Abraham. At the time of Abraham there was no written Word. They had no Bible. We place God in a box when we limit HIS ability to our sensual capabilities of sight and sound. The Scripture - Yeshua, the LIVING WORD preached the gospel to Abraham. Abraham believed HIM, obeyed, and it was accounted to HIM as righteousness. We are made righteous by believing what God has said. True belief, however, results in doing what we believe. One can say they believe that eating a balanced diet will make their life better, but if they do not eat balanced their belief is merely intellectual assent. It is not true belief. True belief acts on belief.

Please understand. I am not singling out Ted Haggard as a subject of ridicule, as if he is the only man that has ever fallen through unbelief. As well, I am not pontificating from a position of sinless perfection myself. I simply want to put the emphasis where it belongs: The commandments and doctrines of men have no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

The professing church has, for all her existence, fallen back on her own power to maintain herself. She professes to be following Messiah, while looking to HIM as the Author and Finisher of her faith, but all the while relying on the "fences" she erects, and in her own determination of what is acceptable to God.

A Biblical understanding of the concept of church, being the body of Messiah, will show it to be in existence since the Beginning. The concept of church is the same as synagogue. Each word embodies the concept of a gathering of people, especially those who profess faith in the God of the Bible. Since the Garden there has been a church and man has known what is acceptable to God. HE has never left man to "figure it out" for himself. HE has told us. But, beginning in the Garden, man improvised, attempting to put his own stamp on God's instructions and that resulted in a fall from grace that has passed sin and death down throughout the generations of mankind.

Falling from grace is absolutely not what man, who understands the fearful aspects of falling into the hands of the Living God, desires. But an accurate Biblical understanding of grace is vital to the follower of the Biblical Messiah. Grace, according to the Strong's Greek Lexicon, is the Greek word "charis" which means "the divine influence on the heart, with the reflection in the life." Grace is the work of the Holy Spirit, who is God (divine) to change our hearts and continually working to transform us into the very image of God's own Son. We know that Yeshua (Jesus) is the Living Word (from Genesis to Revelation) and we know that HE said the Spirit would not speak on HIS own but only remind the converted believer of what Yeshua said. We also know that Yeshua only spoke the Words of HIS Father. The Spirit "writing God's Law on our hearts and putting HIS Law in our mind is the realization of the New Covenant, promised in Ezekiel 36 and Jeremiah 31. The Spirit speaking the Words of Yeshua, who spoke the Words of the Father, and causing us to walk in HIS statutes and commandments, is grace at work, implementing the New Covenant in the life of a true convert to Messiah Yeshua. So, falling from grace, is not submitting to the work of the Spirit of the Living Word, writing God's Law on the heart and putting it in the mind, and instead following after the commandments and doctrines of men that are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. By implication the commandments and doctrines of the Father are of great value against the same indulgences.

The commandments and doctrines of no value against the indulgences of the flesh are the established non-biblical traditions and understandings of the Word of God. Eve began it (maybe Adam did but we only read Eve's words) when she added, "…nor shall you touch it" to the commandment of the LORD. That set her up, and us, to fall from grace. God, throughout the annals of time, has warned HIS people against this "replacement" theology. By adding a little of man's wisdom here and there, including the replacement of the commandments of God with improved upon commandments of men, we are practicing syncretism that God has explicitly forbidden. Aaron did it when the golden calf was fashioned to worship a god that was no god at all, and then declaring the practice a feast unto the LORD. The professing body of the LORD God has continued to do that for all time, in spite of the fact that the LORD sent many prophets (man killed them) and HIS Son to warn men to return to the Truth. Consider the practices of the professing church that have their roots and rituals established in paganism. Consider how the professing church calls these pagan practices a "feast unto the LORD."

We, just as Adam and Eve, have made ourselves easy prey to the enemy, Satan, by our continued practice of syncretism. Syncretism in the modern professing church is no different than it was at any other time in history. We erect our own fences, initially out of good intentions, and those fences take away from actual faith in the LORD and a submission to the Lord and HIS work of grace. Once that has been done it is easy to begin to look at other things that are in opposition to righteousness of God as established in Scripture. We begin to consider these traditions of men as foundational. However the problem is that the foundation is built upon shifting sand instead of the Rock of the Truth of God's Word. Everything becomes subjective to man instead of being subjective to God's Word. The result is a mindset that makes it impossible to "hear" the voice of the Spirit, who only speaks Words that are purely the commandments of God. We are so steeped in our traditions that we can't, or don't want to hear the Truth. The lie has become comfortable. But when the trial comes the lie is of no value against the temptation. Yeshua said we shall know the Truth and the Truth shall set us free, when believed and acted upon. Yeshua - Jesus said "Sanctify them by Your Truth, Your Word is Truth," in HIS prayer for us to our Father.

The result of non-biblical traditions, practiced by professing believers, is that the commandments of God become of no effect in our lives. Yeshua was very pointed in HIS warning to the Scribes and Pharisees. HE said, "You have made the commandment of God of no effect by your traditions." Of no effect, means that the intended affect of practicing the commandments of God, by faith, is nullified by non-biblical traditions. This leaves a man or woman easy prey with no defense against the wiles of the devil. Yeshua, in dealing with Satan's temptation, used Deuteronomy to do combat with the enemy. The Word, believed and acted upon, had an effect on the enemy. The Word of God left HIM powerless. Yeshua not only believed the Word, HE was the Word, and HE practiced the Word. It is the same for us. If we practice the commandments and doctrines of the Almighty and eschew the commandments and doctrines of men we will leave the enemy powerless in his schemes to derail us. To use the Word of God effectively against the schemes of the devil we must study the Word of God, in its entirety, in context, and allow the Spirit of God to write it on our hearts and cause us to walk in HIS precepts. Victory is only accomplished through faith in Messiah, the LIVING WORD.

The fall of Ted Haggard is a warning to all who profess to be followers of the Messiah. We must examine ourselves to see if we are of the faith, as Scripture commands us to do. The faith must be in the Biblical Messiah who is the Scripture. There will be no contradiction or shadow of turning. We examine ourselves in light of HIS Word and by this we know that we are being led by the Spirit, who is God, or by our flesh - the ways of man. We are warned by the Scripture: The ways of man seem right to him but they end in death. Sin brings death. Sin is rejecting the commandments of God - Lawlessness, according to the Word. The professing body, all over the world, is awaking to this Truth. HE is calling us all to come out of our Egypt. Will we respond?