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May 14, 2013
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Pastor David Loveless is the third megachurch leader in the Fla. area to resign in the wake of a sexual affair in the last half of a year. Loveless, former lead pastor of Discovery Church in Orlando, follows Isaac Hunter–former lead pastor at Orlando’s Summit Church, and Sam Hinn–former pastor of the Gathering Place Worship Center in Stanford, Fla. in his resignition following an extramarital sexual encounter.
Loveless has been married 37 years according to Christian Post, and co-authored the book Church Wounds, which examines the mishaps and blemishes of the modern-day church and its sometimes negative effects on Christians. He and his wife Caron have three married sons and seven grandchildren, according to his blog.
In her article Why Megachurch Pastors Keep Falling Into Sexual Immorality, Jennifer LeClaire, editor of the right-leaning Christian news site Charisma, points out that pastors Loveless, Hunter and Hinn aren’t the only three to “rock their churches with sexual scandals” in recent times. LeClaire, author of a book titled Spiritual Warrior’s Guide to Defeating Jezebel, takes the uncommon position of holding male Christian leaders accountable for their adulterous behaviors–well sort of. LeClaire attributes immorality and idolatry to the “spirit of seduction” of the biblical character Jezebel, who “woos people into sexual immorality and idolatry.”
She writes, “Sadly, the spirit of Jezebel is picking off pastors one by one as they succumb to the evil desires in their own hearts. Too few recognize the sinister workings of Jezebel’s covert seduction. They’ve bought into what I call the ‘Jezebel deception’ and are either tolerating sexual immorality in the church or merely failing to recognize the true Jezebel in operation because they are on a witch hunt for controlling, manipulative women.”
Brent Bailey founded the Direction Church Orlando seven months ago, and has been in ministry for 20 years. He told The Christian Post (CP) that hearing about the moral failure of other pastors saddens him and causes him to reflect on his own vulnerabilities.
“It also makes us realize how vulnerable every human being is no matter how long they’ve been in ministry or how many lives they’ve touched,” he told CP. “There really is an enemy out there that’s trying to do his best to take every one of us out.”
This article originally appeared on : AlterNet