This week I am going to write about public moral failures in the ministry. This is a subject I have no enjoyment in discussing because I find this reality too sad for words. It is always tragic when ministers who make great sacrifices for the work of God give in to the temptations of the enemy.

As much are you may respect a minister today, he or she is just one mistake away from a public moral failure tomorrow. I write this not to be fatalistic, but to remind us that everyone is vulnerable. There are no exceptions to the allure of sin. Despite the effectiveness of a ministry today, there is no guarantee that person won’t struggle in the future.

Why do these public failures happen? This is a question with many different answers. But, at the most basic level, all of us have an enemy who seeks to “kill, steal and destroy” the work of God within us. There are other issues too that we will discuss this week, but let none of us in the ministry lose sight of the fact that there is a real enemy who seeks to destroy us.