"From going through one of the most publicly covered and intensely scrutinized downfalls a preacher can endure, Carl Lentz is now sharing the devil has not won in the battle for his life. While many carry feelings of derision and distrust toward Lentz for his moral failings, the Bible gives clear instruction on how to handle a brother or sister who has repented of past sins. In a post on Instagram, Lentz shared an update on where he was in his and his family's faith walk:" - Charisma News
A preacher can endure? Let's get something straight from the start. Carl Lentz is not the victim here. He is not the hero of this story. He is the perp. Carl Lentz seduced the babysitter for his children and had sex with her on the bed he shared with his wife and that was not even the affair that took him down! The problem of course existed well before that in Lentz not being qualified for the office he held because the theology he taught was false. This keeps getting lost in the shuffle but Carl Lentz was a false teacher. He was the definition of the purpose driven cult of personality pastor. Why do you think so many celebrities gravitated to him? Lentz's pastor was Brian Houston! How disgraced are you when Brian Houston fires you? The author here keeps trying to paint Lentz in as favorable a light as possible. The reality is that most do not have "feelings" about Lentz one way or the other but certainly not derision or distrust. Now, let us deal with how to treat a brother or sister who has repented. We are absolutely to welcome them back into the family of God with open arms and stronger accountability. This Charisma News article is not advocating for a restoration of Lentz's walk. It is an excuse to allow him back into ministry. I pray that Lentz is genuine regarding his repentance. I wish no one suffer eternal damnation. He is however, completely disqualified from ministry.
'"For the last 3 years my entire focus has been fighting for my wife and my kids, my family has been my only priority. In order to do that, seeking sobriety and healing had to run parallel with those goals. Honestly nothing else mattered. None of the noise, the lies, none of the half-truths that were said about me or us, mattered. All I wanted was to prove to my wife and kids that I could show up for them like I had never done before. Although we have a long way to go, with a lot of work, a lot of honesty and a lot of prayer, we have found ourselves in a beautiful, happy and deliberately honest place. So much so that we not only celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary on May 5th, but we got to do that in the purest way. Unfortunately, that came through a lot of humiliation, embarrassment and heartache."' - Charisma News
Listen beloved. This entire paragraph is ruined by the inference that some of what has been reported is either lies or half-truths. This is typical for what guilty people do. What are the lies Carl? What are the half-truths? What is just noise Carl? Just noise? So, is it other people's fault that you are a serial adulterer, preached a false gospel, and were abusive in ministry? This is why it is difficult to accept your flowery language about fighting for your family and being in a better place if you are still not accepting responsibility for your own actions. I pray the fluffy talk is true Carl but until you actually own up to your sin, it is hard to believe you have repented of it.
'As reported by the Christian Post, "The letter comes in the wake of a two-minute teaser released by FX Networks on April 27, promoting a new docuseries set to premiere this month called 'The Secrets of Hillsong.'" The upcoming documentary was also addressed in the public letter by Lentz: "Part of the healing from that heartache led us to the decision to be a part of a documentary that we do not control, that we don't have any say in and that we haven't even seen yet. We'll see it when the world does. We were not interested in blame-shifting or responsibility deflection, we focus on my mistakes and the context for what transpired. I can honestly tell you that when you get to a place of honesty and freedom in your life, when you've gone through hell and you realize God is still with you... It is so freeing. It's the freedom I wish for all of the many people that I know that are called by God and wrestle with secrets and the feeling of not being worthy. Trust me it led me to some dark places."' - Charisma News
This all sounds good. I certainly hope for the sake of his walk with Christ that this is not just public relations. It must be incredibly difficult to go from literally being on top of the world to being a pariah. I do not minimize that at all. I am just reminding everyone these were his choices. The bible says pastors are held to a higher standard because of their listeners. How many people had their faith shipwrecked because of Carl Lentz? Do they not matter? Is the only thing we are concerned about here is Lentz? Look, repent, work on your marriage, appear in a documentary but stay away from the church. The damage has already been wrought.
