Chalcedon Blog

He's the head of the 30 million-member National Association of Evangelicals. He's the senior pastor of the 14,000-member New Life Church. He meets weekly with White House as one of the top leaders of the Religious Right. He's the author of numerous best-selling charismatic books. He's married with five children. It appears he may also like drugs and monthly gay sex.

Ted Haggard of Colorado Springs, CO is the latest national leader to step down amid allegations of homosexual happenstances. Gay prostitute, Mike Jones, 49, aired his allegations against Haggard on a Denver radio show. He claims Haggard paid him to have monthly sex for over three years.

Jones claims to have recorded voice messages from Haggard who was allegedly using the alias "Art" to contact Jones. Some of the voice mail excerpts have been aired on KUSA-TV but all of them focus on Haggard seeking to purchase methamphetamine (i.e., "speed"). Haggard emphatically denies any homosexual activity.

Haggard has resigned his post as head of the NEA and stepped down as senior pastor of the New Life Church. Ross Parsley is now the acting head of New Life. Parsley admitted to KKTV-TV of Colorado Springs that at least some of Jones' allegations were true. Where there's smoke there's usually fire.

New Life members refuse to believe Haggard would ever participate in gay sex. One church member stated, "He (Haggard) loves the Lord, homosexuality is a sin and that's not Ted." But, homosexuality is actually very common among prominent charismatics.

In 1996, Enoch Lonnie Ford claims to have had gay sex with TBN president Paul Crouch. In 1998, Crouch paid Ford $425,000 in a wrongful termination suit. Part of the agreement was that Ford would be sworn to secrecy. He did not. In April of 2004 Ford approached Crouch with an autobiography in manuscript form detailing the gay affair. Ford wanted $10 million to refrain from publishing the manuscript.

Since the wider breaking of this story Paul Crouch has been mysteriously absent from TBN. His son, Paul Crouch, Jr., is now the more visible head of TBN and the once dominating network is now showing Christian films and running re-runs of previous fundraising programming.

Another fallen angel is the young, fiery Roberts Liardon. A self-proclaimed apostle and prophet, Liardon got an early start when as a boy he would spend ceaseless hours in prayer at the dictates of his domineering grandmother. One afternoon he was knocked to the floor of his bedroom and taken by Jesus to heaven for extended tour. He documents this experience in his book I Saw Heaven.

As a teenager Liardon was already preaching in churches. Pentecostal-charismatics lapped up his incessant tales of visions, dreams, and angelic visitations. I saw Liardon in those days. I also spent some time with him in a friend's office during a meeting we both attended.

Liardon always appeared effeminate. His mannerisms and tone were quite reminiscent of the average gay. Well, such he was. In 2001, Liardon stepped down from the headship of Embassy Christian Center in Irvine, CA, for having a "short-term homosexual relationship." This was not the whole story. I have close friends who've worked with Liardon for years and he had multiple gay affairs with his young travel assistants. He remains in ministry.

One of the more significant charismatics to fall into homosexuality is the master prophet Paul Cain. Mr. Cain is noted for an uncanny and prolific prophetic ministry in which he disclosed the secrets of men's hearts as well as predicted historic events with great accuracy. Cain ministered alongside William Branham, the pentecostal icon of similar gifting who actually proclaimed himself to be the "Elijah to come" of Revelation 11.

Paul Cain was also the long time personal mentor of Dr. Jack Deere, the southern Baptist seminary professor who cast off his cessationism to become a primary spokesman for the charismatic theology. Cain was also a mentor to such men as John Wimber and Rick Joyner. Cain has spoken also to numerous heads of state including Yasser Arafat and Saddam Hussein. He also co-authored a book, The Word and the Spirit, with R. T. Kendall, the noted successor of Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones at Westminster Chapel in London, England.


In 2005, Cain confessed to homosexuality and alcoholism. For a time he even refused to change his ways. He is presently under a restoration process and is sure to recover. They all do. Being gay and drunk will get you stoned in the Old Testament, but in "Charismania" it gets you an audience.