Posted on 04/07/2014 3:47:13 AM PDT by SoFloFreeper
Florida megachurch pastor Bob Coy has resigned from his 20,000-member Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale congregation over a moral failing.
A statement on the churchs website reported the news: On April 3, 2014, Bob Coy resigned as Senior Pastor of Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale, effective immediately, after confessing to a moral failing in his life which disqualifies him from continuing his leadership role at the church he has led since its founding in 1985,...
(Excerpt) Read more at religionnews.com ...
Florida ping?
Sad.
Caveat: that last quote was from a blogger....no idea where he got his info.
What is it with so many of these televangelists that they can’t seem to keep their pants on. Billy Graham they sure aren’t.
Bob Coy wasn’t a televangelist per se. He was just a local pastor who televised his sermons as the church grew. All that said, this is terribly sad for everyone. At least he resigned. He had character enough to know he was disqualified.
Too bad we can’t have religion without religious leaders. Okay, that’s silly, but too many phonies out there getting rich. Reminds me of a hypocritical rabbi I encountered when my father died.
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Remember listening to him on the radio years ago.
How sad. Praying for restoration.
It is because they are human and thus sinful,as we all are. And their fame and notoriety make it all the more tempting to sin. But I think the biggest problem they have is that Satan (the devil),puts so much pressure (temptation) on them to cause them to fail, for obvious reasons. That is why every church constantly holds their pastors in prayer to help protect them.
But when a pastor's own church falls short of obeying Christ's teachings, then they all become weak, including their pastor. And sadly, that is exactly what is happening to Calvary Chapel.
The Calvary Chapel Movement (of which the church we are talking about is a part of) began by Chuck Smith (around the 50's I think)was very successful for a long while in Anglicization and bringing people to the Lord. Thus they grew and grew and all became mega-churches. But then the deceptive teachings of "contemplative spirituality", and the "emerging church" have recently crept in.
Contemplative spirituality is a belief system that uses ancient mystical practices to induce altered states of consciousness (the silence) and is rooted in mysticism and the occult but often wrapped in Christian terminology; the premise of contemplative spirituality is pantheistic (God is all).
The emerging church is harder to explain and point out the dangers, but basically .... though it claims to be Christian, seeks to use culturally sensitive approaches to reach the postmodern, un-churched population with the Christian message. Some Emerging Churches might use props such as candles, statues, and incense along with poems, open mics, and videos, etc. EC services are sometimes extremely informal, while others are more formal. They seek to make the congregation feel "good" rather than teaching them the somewhat difficult to accept doctrine that sin is sin, and Jesus explicitly laid out what is sinful. So the congregation leaves the service with a false sense of "I am a Christian, so all is well" feeling, rather than a conviction that "I go out of here today knowing that I will be tempted to sin, so I must be always watchful, confessing these sins and asking for Christ's cleansing Grace.
So, can you see how with the "feel good" doctrine approach, how a pastor could rationalize his own sin, even as Bob Coy did?
Think Eve
No, blame the owner of the penis
The whole mega-church phenom is one mostly of our day, in history it is an aberation to have one man put at the head of thousands of people.
It’s totally unscriptural, and rare is the man that can withstand that level of exaltation without falling. It is almost always a form of man-worship, and few can resist believing the idolization they receive. “Pride cometh before a fall.” It’s a place God never intended any man to have.
Jesus walked away when the crowds wanted to make Him king - he knew the source of the desire in fallen man and would have nothing to do with it. He chose the cross as His place of being exalted, and the exaltation from His heavenly Father - and every man here should follow that example.
Billy Graham never allowed himself to be put in this situation, and focused on his true ministry instead of building a machine that would exalt him. A Christ-like man indeed - as David Wilkerson and many others.
John Piper - a true man of God - is a rarity who demonstrates the life of a humble broken man who stays on his face before God - even admitting how his high position had led him to be tempted with pride.
Oh, for more men of God like these three......
“I go out of here today knowing that I will be tempted to sin, so I must be always watchful, confessing these sins and asking for Christ’s cleansing Grace.”
That was Billy Graham’s attitude. And his son Franklin Graham, seems to be following in his father’s footsteps in taking money to where it is needed. I don’t believe evangelists have to live a life of poverty, just that they don’t rip off their churches bigtime. Or go after the women to go along with the lifestyle. It’s the attitude of too many of today’s televangelists. So many have fallen.
Too much money rolling around in these megachurches; too many financial temptations, too much adulation from large audiences of parishioners, too much leading the good life. Reminds me of that Archbishop down in Atlanta that recently built in his archdiocese an over million dollar mansion that he would of course live in, rather than put his parishioners’ money to better use.
Very well put Dowdy ..
It’s a shame, and yet the world might not be as condemning as he’d fear. Today it’s like “oh, was it just porn?”
I hope and pray he soon gains strength in the Lord again, licks the devils behind this, and then comes back stronger to help others out of such difficulties. Satan shall not get the last word.
AMEN to that, my FRiend. And as we both know, the Good News is that Bob Coy can be forgiven and totally cleansed of his sin. And that is comforting to me in more ways than anyone will ever know!
Well, Calvin was the head of the church in the entire city of Geneva and wasn’t immoral....not every Pope has been immoral either.
But on the whole, I think you are right....the temptation for any man in power is great.
You are misinformed. Calvary Chapel continues to battle against contemplative spirituality and the emerging church. I listen to several programs by CC including Pastor's Perspective which is a call in answer program. Pastor Chuck was on there answering questions until 2 days before he died, and I have NEVER heard anyone from CC give a pass to comtemplative prayer or the emerging church. They always call it for what it is; new age spirituality. Of course there could be pastors of smaller churches which do, but that is the exception.
We are thankful that there are many men of God who have withstood the temptation presented by position and power.
That does not disprove the abnormality of the position.
And most truly godly and humble men will not allow themselves to be put there.
The emphasis in the NT is wholly on a plurality of leadership - not that of a single person. We find no man in the NT in that position, including James, Peter and Paul. To conclude they were in such a position requires a serious twisting of scripture and the inserting of imaginations that just are not there.
A plurality of leadership provides accountability that normally will keep an individual from exalting himself above others.
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