Clergy Sin

What are we to make of it? Ordained priests accused of and admitting sexual acts with adolescents.
We have, in the past, seen a number of instances among Protestants of ministerial sin exposed to the public – Jimmy Swaggert, Jim Bakker, Garner Ted Armstrong. And now the Roman Catholic church has been forced to investigate their priests concerning sexual activities with young people.
How are we as children of God and members of the Body of Christ to view this sin of the clergy?
We know how the world outside of Christianity views it. They laugh and scoff and say things like: "Some kind of men of God these are!" "This proves Christianity is just hypocrisy!" "What kind of supposed Christian power to live a good life is there if these leaders can't even set a good example?" "These guys have been charlatans from the start and have been in it all along for just what they could get out of it."
But is this the way we as Christians, having the indwelling mind of Christ, to view these men? In general, I think not.
Certainly it is possible that some "men of God" are charlatans. But I have come to believe that the vast majority of these leaders who fall started out at conversion just as sincere in their desire to make Jesus the Lord of their life as I did. They became a new creation just as I did. Christ came to dwell in a living union with their spirits just as He did in me. They are forever children in the Family of God just as I am.
Well then, WHAT HAPPENED? Why couldn't they be examples of the Christian life?
Satan's overall control of a person is removed at conversion and replaced by Christ's Spirit control. The human spirit becomes the dwelling place of Jesus Christ.
But Satan hangs around the fringes of the Christian's life trying to exert as much external influence as he can to divert the Christian mentality away from awareness of Christ. And all Christians succumb to this influence, some more, some less. Christ does not leave when the Christian sins. There is a correction process from God the purpose of which is to draw us closer to His lifestyle of dependence on Him.
Knowing Satan's goal to disrupt Christianity, where do you think Satan would focus much of his influence toward sin in the Christian? Wouldn't it be in the public leaders of the church, the priests and ministers? If he can discredit Christianity by discrediting its leaders, he can achieve much of his plan.
And the area of sexual activity would be a prime place for Satan to work. The public seems to view getting caught at any kind of deviant sex as a great news item. (Of course, there is much going on within the public itself that is not "getting caught".)
The world, the flesh and Satan himself have an external influence on every Christian. But I believe that the combination of 1. Church power raising the ego level of the minister and 2. Satan's extra influence on this ego, cause the minister to "miss the mark" by sinning and setting a bad example.
You, I, and every Christian have the work of Christ in the world through us to ratify Christianity. You have your little world to demonstrate to and I have mine. But leading church people on TV and in sermons at church have a larger world to play to. I am certain that Satan works quite harder on the "big guys" than on the "little guys" like us. Leading clergy actually fall easier and require more spiritual correction from God than the average Christian.
Jesus said that a Christian will demonstrate "fruits" in his life. He will achieve many good accomplishments. And there HAS been much calling of others to Christ by these men of God who have slipped into sexual sin. Even in spite of their failings, there has been evangelistic fruit.
There is an old expression, "The bigger they are, the harder they fall!" Everything that happens to a Christian is used by God to draw him closer in awareness of his status in Christ. The more an independent ego (and it seems especially in the sexual area) rears its ugly head in a Christian causing bad independent choices, the more correction by consequences is needed. A child in God's Family is STILL a child in God's Family even after he sins. Forgiveness from God comes easy, but the material consequences can linger for a lifetime.
In the case of the Protestant ministers and the Catholic priests and others, the loss of ministry and the public shame can last a lifetime. But this does not make them "bad" people. They are children of God who slipped into "bad" things.
One important aspect needs to be considered. Of course, Christianity will always need leaders. But I believe that the concept of a hierarchy of clergy is not Biblical. There should be no division into "clergy" and "laity". The early churches described in the Bible show no power structure of hierarchy. The "pastor" was just one who kept the church service flowing directing participation among all the brethren.
A hierarchy structure creates a power structure which tends to try to perpetuate itself by the use of more power. The cover-up by bishops of illicit sex among the hierarchy of priests is an example of power used to retain power.
What are we to learn from this clergy sin? We, even with Christ living in us, can and do slip-up and go independently at times. This is just part of living in the world. The Holy Spirit within does all He can to keep us aware of our Family birthing, but we still can be influenced toward independent thinking. And the more ego mentality and power mentality we have, the harder it is to CHOOSE to trust in Christ.
"There is one God, and one MEDIATOR between God and men, the man Jesus Christ" (1 Timothy 2:5).
"Christ is the mediator of the New Testament..." (Hebrews 9:15).

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