Great, another evangelical leader bites the dust. Is God trying to tell us something through this chain of scandals? The Ted Haggard allegations come just a few months after Mel Gibson's humiliating arrest, which confirmed non-Christians' and lite-Christians' worst fears about "real" Christianity. Is Christianity really a life-changing encounter with the living Jesus Christ, or is it simply a rallying cry for individuals whose real interest lies in moral and fiscal conservativism?

What makes me sad is the thought of all the people I know--young Christians, non-Christians, older Christians who are still struggling to find the "abundant life" Jesus promised--who will now have yet another reason to dismiss Christianity. When Jesus started this movement, it was full of miracles and life-change and resurrection and understanding and healing. Now, in this Christian nation, where one in three people call themselves "born again," our brightest stars can't seem to stop themselves from getting drunk, smack-talking the Jews, taking drugs, and playing with other men's penises. What in blazes is going on?

Ted Haggard was one of the leaders at the heart of the evangelical power+money arm. (Power+money all for a good cause, of course.) I've been skeptical of this arm for a long time, and now I'm ready to chew it off like a badger caught in a trap. Remind me again: where did Jesus command or model for us to seek political power? When did He teach us that money was a necessary evil--rather than just an evil?

Christianity has been scheming against God, asking Him for help but assuming He won't, and taking matters--political, military, financial, and otherwise--into our own hands. It reminds me of Jacob, who couldn't make up his mind about God either. Before Jacob met Esau--after having ripped him off--he asked God to help, then assumed He wouldn't. Jacob started scheming how he was going to protect himself from Esau's wrath. It was after that last day of scheming that God showed up in human form and fought with Jacob: literally wrestled--it still makes me laugh. And physically, Jacob won! But when he realized what was happening, God won his heart and renamed him Israel--"he who strives with God."

Are we so different from Israel? We think we're God's chosen, we offer up our milquetoast prayers, yet we don't really lean on Him. We believe God saves our souls, but not our pocketbooks, not our jobs, not our children's eyes and ears, not our happiness. We can't wait around for a miracle; we've got bigger fish to fry than helping the poor; so we form lobbying organizations and political unions, raising millions to Fight the Good (Enough) Fight.

Show me the chapter in the Bible where God said to do this. I think we're wrong, and I think God is sick of our pseudofaith. Now here He comes, showing up with His boxing gloves on. Maybe Ted Haggard's fall is simply the latest divine Right Hook--a body-blow for the Body of Christ.