“And when he thought about it, he wept.” (Mark 14:72)
I am hopeful that Joshua Harris comes back to the Lord, aren’t you? The last few days I have been reading articles with very terse words about his recent apostasy from the Christian faith. If he is truly lost and was never born-again then we must pray for his salvation (for Hell awaits him). If he is like Peter who denied Jesus three times we must pray for his repentance, restoration and return to the truth of the gospel. Only time will tell which person Joshua Harris is, but in the meantime, I urge you to pray for him.
If he isn’t like Peter….
Then perhaps he has never been born-again. We would do good to remember Peter’s warning in his first epistle chapter 5:8, “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” Has the adversary devoured Joshua Harris? It seems as though time itself has been the enemy of Harris. Slowly and over time Harris’s views have begun to change from biblical orthodoxy to a pragmatic secular humanism. This guy was so conservative 20 years ago that he kissed dating goodbye because of his desire to honor traditional marriage created by God. He and his wife recently divorced and are moving on without each other. He has now kissed his marriage goodbye. Speaking of marriage, on his Instagram the 27th of July he wrote, “to the LGBTQ+ community, I want to say that I am sorry for the views that I taught in my books and as a pastor regarding sexuality. I regret standing against marriage equality, for not affirming you and your place in the church, and for any ways that my writing and speaking contributed to a culture of exclusion and bigotry. I hope you can forgive me.”1 Now it seems as if Joshua is saying in this post that there isn’t any truth regarding marriage itself. He has even bought into the language that views outside of traditional marriage are bigoted. I truly feel sorry for where he is at and wonder if this has just been a slow fade going on for a long time now. In the Casting Crowns song Slow Fade, verse two says this, “It’s a slow fade when you give yourself away It’s a slow fade when black and white are turned to gray And thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid When you give yourself away People never crumble in a day It’s a slow fade, it’s a slow fade…”
If he is like Peter….
“And when he thought about it, he wept.”
This verse comes from the story of Peter’s denial. Just a few hours prior to his denial, Peter had claimed that he was ready to die with Jesus! When things got sideways in the Garden of Gethsemane all of the sheep including Peter scattered (of course after he had cut off Malchus ear). Soon after came the denials and the broken heart over the damage those denials had done to his relationship with Jesus. Peter, however, would have godly sorrow that leads to repentance and his eventual full restoration just a few days later (Jn. 21:15-17). C.H. Spurgeon says of Peter, “The penitent apostle would be sure to weep when he recollected the Savior’s full forgiveness, which restored him to his former place. To think that we have offended so kind and good a Lord is more than sufficient reason for being continual weepers.” I am hopeful that Joshua Harris will soon hit his knees and be restored.
Join with me in prayer that Joshua Harris would cry out to the Lord like Peter did and receive His grace, mercy, and restoration. Pray that this man is like Peter and has temporarily lost his way.
All Scriptures taken from the NASB Bible
Great post Martin. Very good reminder for me on how to stay vigilant, walk in newness of life, and walk in the Spirit so I don’t allow the slow fade to happen. Lot of references in his post to the words “I” and “my”. Very little, or none, about care for his wife and kids. Satan’s victory plan always uses those 1st person words. It’s one post but words mean things. Lord, restore him to be a warrior for you, even better than before, and perhaps kiss his wife again someday, this time with unequivocal devotion to Christ and to her.