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Copyright 1993 by the Christian Research Institute.
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"The PTL Scandal and Biblical Repentance" (an article from the
Viewpoint column of the Christian Research Journal, Summer 1987,
page 31) by Walter Martin.
The Editor-in-Chief of the Christian Research Journal is Elliot
Miller.
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"Therefore, confess your sins to one another, so that you may
be healed" (James 5:16). What a marvelous promise and picture of
the healing ministry of forgiveness! I rejoice that, as Christians,
we are not helplessly bound in the unholy, destructive, and filthy
consequences of our sins. There is healing freedom in Christ!
Freedom from the persuasive lure and domination of sin and its
consequent guiltiness before God (Rom. 6:6). Freedom from the
endless cycle of good intentions dashed to pieces against the
monolith of man's fallen nature (Rom. 7:19-23). And that healing
forgiveness has all been paid for by the sacrifice of Christ (Acts
20:28).
During the past few months the church in America has been
shocked, rocked, and battered by the fiasco of Jim and Tammy Bakker
and the PTL ministry. I have never seen a scandal used to better
advantage by the Enemy in his ceaseless efforts to destroy the
effective evangelism of Christ's Body. Make no mistake about it:
this scandal hurts every single Christian in our country. Don't
think that because you only support legitimate ministries, your
church publishes open financial reports, and you are morally
upright that this scandal doesn't affect you. It does. Like it or
not, the Bakkers and PTL _are_ part of Christ's visible body, and
all Christians must take some of the blame for allowing sin in our
midst (1 Cor. 5:13); some of the responsibility for exposing (Matt.
18:15-20) and judging (1 Cor. 6:1-4) the sin; and some of the
burden of holding our erring brethren to heartfelt repentance (2
Thess. 3:14-15). Christians must deal with the PTL scandal.
But how? Many well-intentioned Christians are championing the
secular press for smearing the church's dirty laundry across the
not-too-pristine pages of American newspapers, exposing pastors'
sexual misconduct on national television, and calling for
government intervention and control of religious finances. How many
of these Christians have considered the cost to religious liberty
we all may have to pay as a result of "justice" at the hands of
secular humanist bureaucrats?
Other just as sincere Christians are warning of the dire
consequences attendant on "touching God's anointed," a biblical
phrase used out of context ten times as often as in context. How
many of these Christians have carefully considered both the clear
biblical admonitions of Scripture to hold our leaders accountable
(1 Tim. 5:20) and the context of their favorite phrase (Ps.105),
which has nothing whatsoever to do with believers exposing and
judging sin in their midst, a practice with strong biblical support
in both the Old and New Testaments.
Still other believers think the Bakkers have been given a raw
deal simply because they're Christians, while executives of other
multi-million dollar corporations get away with much more financial
and sexual promiscuity because they don't claim to be Christians.
Have these Christians considered the words of 1 Corinthians 5:9-13,
which are in part:
I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral
people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of
this world....But actually, I wrote to you not to
associate with any so-called brother if he should be an
immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a
reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler -- not even to eat
with such a one....Remove the wicked man from among
yourselves.
There are Christians who are urging the Bakkers to return to
active public ministry, to put the ugly mess behind them and go on
to new heights of glory and "service." They give lip service to
repentance but monopolize their conversation with out-of-context
talk about forgiveness and restoration.
Frankly, I can't go along with any of these "resolutions." The
Bible is completely clear on how to handle a brother in sin: 1) Go
to him; 2) Admonish him and call him to repentance; 3) Receive him
into restorative process _if_ he sincerely repents (Matt. 18:15);
and 4) _Rebuke those who continue to sin in the presence of all_ (1
Tim. 5:20).
That's the key to the PTL scandal. Many men and women, even
Christian leaders, have fallen into sexual temptation and have
lusted after money and power. David, a man after God's own heart,
was guilty of all these things and more. _But David admitted his
sin, repented, and, through the help of God, changed his actions._
At no time have I seen Jim Bakker and his cohorts openly, honestly,
and with no duplicity admit their sins and put their so-called
repentance into action through restitution (Acts 26:20; Ezek.
33:14-16). Oh, they've made polite noises about "indiscretions,"
"temptations," "pressures," etc. They're like the child who tells
his mother he's sorry he stole the cookies, when he really means
he's sorry he got _caught_ stealing the cookies!
We as a church will not rise above the PTL scandal until we see
repentance and change from all parties involved, Jim and Tammy
Bakker and Rev. Richard Dortch especially. The Lord does not
rejoice in a Christian's downfall -- neither should we. But let's
come on our knees to the foot of the cross, admit our sins, show
our repentance through our actions, and then rejoice in the healing
freedom which comes from the Lord alone. "If we say that we have
fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not
practice the truth; but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in
the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of
Jesus His Son keeps on cleansing us from all sin" (1 John 1:6-7).
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End of document, CRJ0011A.TXT (original CRI file name),
"The PTL Scandal and Biblical Repentance"
release A, September 6, 1993
R. Poll, CRI
(A special note of thanks to Bob and Pat Hunter for their help
in the preparation of this ASCII file for BBS circulation.)
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