It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. - 1Corinthians 5: 1-2 (ESV)
I am not overstating it when I say that the man who caused all the trouble hurt all of you more than he hurt me. Most of you opposed him, and that was punishment enough. Now, however, it is time to forgive and comfort him. Otherwise he may be overcome by discouragement. So I urge you now to reaffirm your love for him. I wrote to you as I did to test you and see if you would fully comply with my instructions. When you forgive this man, I forgive him, too. And when I forgive whatever needs to be forgiven, I do so with Christ's authority for your benefit, so that Satan will not outsmart us. For we are familiar with his evil schemes. - 2Corinthians 2: 5-11 (NLT)
James Fortune is a well known name in gospel music circles. He has been nominated for a Grammy Award twice. In 2004 he had the number two most played gospel song in the country. In 2008 he had a hit single that stayed at number one for 25 straight weeks. In 2013 he was given his own Christian radio program. Then in October of 2014 he beat his wife with a barstool so viciously that it resulted in broken bones and internal injuries. Now, we all live in this fallen world and battle our flesh every day. This is not to cast aspersions at Mr. Fortune. We are Christians and as such we ought to show the world what forgiveness is and what it looks like. The problem is that on January 25th, 2015, a mere three months after being arrested for aggravated assault against his wife, James Fortune was "restored" to his ministry. There was a huge celebration party which drew celebrity Christians such as Hezekiah Walker. Billed as a "Restoration Praise Celebration" just a handful of months after he took a barstool to his wife's head. If you ever wonder why the world does not consider the church serious any more you need to look no further. This is the same James Fortune by the way who pled guilty to felony injury to a child, his stepson of four years of age, back in 2003. Fortune had left him with disfiguring burns over 50% of his body. This is who has been restored yet again, after apparently undergoing the express repentance program offered by sham Christians who do not care about the damage they do to the witness of Christ.
This is nothing new beloved. Do we remember Ted Haggard? Pastor Ted was a mega church pastor preaching to over 10,000 people every week in Colorado. He was the head of the National Association of Evangelicals. He was a fire and brimstone preacher who routinely used the pulpit to rail against homosexuality. Then one day it was discovered that he had been paying a male prostitute for sex and crystal meth for several years. The Bible says what we hide in the dark will come to light. Haggard tried to pretend he was restored less than a year later but the allegations kept coming in. The infamous fall of Jimmy Swaggart also had two rounds. The first one cost him his Assemblies of God credentials because he refused to go through a proper restoration process. Claiming he was restored, he soon fell again.
These examples and ones we see every single day across Christendom are not meant to revel in the fallen. It is to point out the lunacy of what passes for "restoration" in Christian circles today. The Bible is not silent on this matter. The key verses today come from the two different letters Paul wrote to the church at Corinth. The verses from the first letter deal with Paul's outrage at the lax attitude the Corinthians were having with someone in their congregation. Not only was this person living in sin but the sin was particularly egregious. He was engaged in sexual relations with the wife of his father. Paul sternly reprimands the people to expel this person from the congregation. The second set of verses comes from the second letter to the Corinthians, which was probably only written within a year of the first. In it, Paul now directs them to restore their fallen brother. The usage of the past tense indicates that the expulsion had worked and the man had repented. Having done so, Paul did not wish for the man to become discouraged. He wanted him forgiven and comforted. While sin has a price, so does repentance. The church ought to be in the restoration business for genuine repentance. This story however reveals some serious flaws in how many in Christianity today approach this process. The first lesson we need to take away from this story is that this process is not about the individual. It is about the whole. It is about the bride of Christ and ultimately, about Jesus Himself.
Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. - 1Corinthians 5: 6-8 (ESV)
One of the most overlooked teaching points in the Bible. Just a little leaven (sin) leavens the whole lump. We tolerate sin too easily in the church. We seek to restore for the sake of the individual instead of the safety of the body as a whole. That is not the Biblical model. Secondly, restoration is to the fellowship - not to the ministry. This is perhaps the greatest point that is lost today. No one is rooting against the restoration of James Fortune to his walk with Christ. We need to realize that it is his walk that was damaged by his actions, not his ministry. He needs to be restored to Christ not to the gospel recording industry. Recently, we saw the demise of mega church pastor Mark Driscoll. He was caught spending tithe monies to falsify the New York Times best seller list. He was caught plagiarizing every book he ever wrote. He was caught mocking the people he had hurt by referring to them as a "pile of dead bodies behind the Mars Hill bus." Former ministry workers and employees have all come forward to tell the story of a megalomaniacal bully posing as a pastor. After much public pressure, Driscoll stepped down last year. Just a few months ago. Yet the rumors are already swirling that Robert Morris of Gateway Church will bankroll the new Mark Driscoll church. Are you serious? Driscoll restored in less than a year?
I am not being harsh beloved. I am being biblical. Should we be praying for the restoration of Mark Driscoll? To his walk with Christ - absolutely. To his role as a pastor - absolutely not. The Bible has strict guidelines for what are acceptable behaviors for pastors and Mark Driscoll has disqualified himself. Just as Swaggart once did and Haggard once did. Just like James Fortune did when he picked up a barstool and crushed his wife with it. Forgiveness does not mean James Fortune should ever sing gospel again. Restoration does not mean that Mark Driscoll has to preach again. Perhaps after several years but a handful of months makes a mockery of this process God has outlined.
And what of the lost beloved? What do you think they learn when they see the church having a praise celebration for the restoration of man twice now guilty of horrific violence against his own family? What lessons are we imparting? Now look, I pray that James Fortune is restored to his walk. I pray he gets some real help for whatever demons haunt him. But should he be selling gospel music? Seriously - think about that for a minute. Think about how much of the Bible warns us against hypocrisy. Beloved I am not rooting against these brothers but for them. Restoring their ministry has nothing to do with where the problem lies. Ted Haggard's problem was not that he could not preach anymore. It was sin. James Fortune's problem is not that he could not sing anymore. It was sin. Mark Driscoll's problem was not that he could not preach anymore. It was sin. Restoration starts with repentance from the sin that caused the problem. It should also be bathed in humility, as if you recognize the gravity of the situation. Not that you throw a huge party and invite all of your Christian celebrity friends to show the world you are back. Not that you rely on other Christian celebrity pastors to restore your preaching ministry when you still have not even made it right with that pile of dead bodies you were bragging about. If you are more worried about your next pulpit or your next number one hit then my guess is you have missed the point. My guess is that the restoration is entirely carnal. A carnal restoration may mean that you write a new song that goes straight up to number one. It may mean that you create another mega church. But it doesn't mean you are actually restored to Christ. The object here as the key verses teach us is to not be outsmarted by Satan yet I can think of no greater scheme of the enemy in these situations than to embrace a carnal restoration while the leaven is still spreading through the entire lump. Restoration is about God not man. It is about the fellowship not the ministry. God help us.
Rev. Anthony.
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