On account of the recent scandals involving high-profile ministries, Charisma News features author Eric Wilson whose family and church were devastated at the news of their pastor's moral failure.
Wilson is the son of a pastor who was discovered to be sleeping with his sister's friend. Instead of repenting, Wilson's dad and his girlfriend left and move to California.
"At the deepest level, I wanted to know, if Dad cheated on Mom even while parenting us and pastoring a church, was anything he taught me worth holding onto? Was marriage a joke? Was God even real? Or was all of it just a lie?" wrote the young Wilson for Charisma.
He went on to write that many believers must have struggled with similar questions after three prominent Christian leaders were each found to be promiscuous while serving as ministers.
In August 2020, Jerry Falwell Jr. stepped down from his position as president of Liberty University due to reports of financial corruption and sexual misconduct. Falwell was one of the leading voices for American Christianity and politics.
In November, the Hillsong Church in New York City sacked Pastor Carl Lentz over incidents of infidelity as well as breaching their trust. Lentz has reportedly ministered to Hollywood celebrities like Justin Bieber, Kevin Durant and Selena Gomez. Oprah Winfrey had also featured him in her show.
In February 2021, internationally renowned apologist Ravi Zacharias made headlines, and was hot on search online after an investigation confirmed the rumors that he fell into sexual sin. He had reportedly used thousands of dollars from the ministry fund for his intimate rendezvous with massage therapists. Understandably, his family and many of his followers felt betrayed by his actions.
These Christian personalities were undoubtedly gifted and were influential in directing individuals from all walks of life toward God. While they are also human beings with frailties, people were hurt not just because of the sins they have personally committed, but because of the hypocrisy.
"The scandals of 2020 and 2021 will not be the last time Christian figures come under fire for wrongdoing. If we proclaim a higher standard, we should be held to that standard," commented Wilson.
Despite the deeply humiliating news about high-profile Christian leaders, Wilson believes that the best course of action is to bring things into light. Cover ups or leaving sins in the dark will just lead to ugly consequences.
"For my siblings and me, the path to healing and redemption meant facing the truth of what occurred.," said Wilson of his experience. 'We couldn't succumb to the lies Dad initially told us, to rationalizations Mom clung to or to rumors others circulated. Whether our dad ever repented or apologized, we had to confront the damage caused."
Wilson went on to share that they chose to be honest about how they felt by allowing themselves to express rage and emotional anguish. They also tried to comfort other people who had been hurt by their dad.
"Ultimately, we had to go to our heavenly Father and tell Him how we felt. We couldn't hold it in and pretend everything was all right. It wasn't," he said.
Wilson continued that he held nothing back while in the process of healing. He took many long walks, cried, yelled, and pleaded with God.
"If He couldn't handle my darkest moments when I needed Him most, then I would have walked away for good," he said.
To comfort him, Wilson said that God spoke to him through songs and Scriptures. He also learned to see wisdom from his dad's early instructions in the light of God's words instead of filtering them through his dad's sin.
"As all of us wrestle with the recent scandals, knowing more will inevitably come, I urge you, my brothers and sisters to face sin and call what it is," he said while noting that Christians follow the guidelines in Matthew 18: 15-17 which aim restoration both to the perpetrator and the victim.
Aside from humility, honesty, and testing everything while holding what's true, the rest of Wilson's remarkable story dwelt on forgiveness and how God redeemed their lives. Read the two-part series published by Charisma here.
