For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
2 Corinthians 7:10
James MacDonald is the former pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel, a multi-campus megachurch with locations all around the United States, who was fired after allegations surfaced of misconduct.
After conservative talk radio host Mancow publicized recorded comments that seemed to indict MacDonald of conspiring to commit murder, MacDonald was fired from Harvest. Harvest members then reacted to MacDonald’s firing.
Leading up to his firing, MacDonald was accused of various acts of misconduct, including conspiring to plant illicit images of underage children on Mancow’s computer. Later, one woman accused him of touching her “inappropriately.”
It didn’t take long, however, for MacDonald to start signaling his return to ministry. As with most fallen pastors, they tend to go into hiding for a few months then come back and act like nothing ever happened. In a previous Facebook post, MacDonald already began to make excuses, calling for vindication from “false accusations” made against him.
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Today, MacDonald issues a public “repentance” on his Facebook wall which is clearly a denial of the wrongdoings and an attempt to shift the blame onto other people. He writes,
My Repentance
I was, am, and will remain very sorry for the careless and hurtful words that were illegally recorded and publicized. I immediately sent written apologies where appropriate, grieving what it revealed about the state of my heart at the time, as well as the hurt caused to those who trusted us to be a more consistent example of Christlikeness. I have no excuse and am truly sorry.
Folks, this isn’t repentance. This clearly looks like worldly sorrow that leads to death (2 Corinthians 7:10).
For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.
Luke 8:17
He is not sorry for hurting people and conspiring against people — he is “truly sorry” that these things were found out. If he is truly sorry, why is he concerned that the recordings were [allegedly] recorded illegally? If he were truly repentant, he should consider it grace from God that he was found out so that he could receive forgiveness from God.
You can read his entire Facebook post here, but in the meantime, pray for him and hope that he truly repents.
