The Landmark Church of Binghampton, N.Y., sent Terry a letter of censure on Nov. 6, 1999 citing his separation from his wife of 18 years and intention to divorce her, church leaders said.
The letter was just recently made public.
Terry has rejected the charges in the letter, which is posted on the web site of Operation Save America formerly Operation Rescue.
Landmark pastor Daniel Little and seven elders and board members signed the letter, which mentions a "pattern of repeated sinful relationships and conversations" with married and single women and Terry's threat of legal action against the church.
Terry began displaying "spiritual deterioration--chiefly anger and self-will" characterized by a "lack of purity in speech and lifestyle" in 1997, Little said.
Little asked Terry to resign as a church elder in 1998, and last year after learning that Terry intended to leave his wife and children, asked him to resign from the church board.
Landmark leaders called on Terry to stop raising funds for his ministry, saying most of his donors "have no idea what he now believes nor the liberties and license in which he now walks, and in our opinion would hardly agree to support him if they did."
They asked Terry to stop soliciting funds "until such time as his public persona and his true manner of living are known to be the same."
Terry seems to be "an altogether different person than the one we knew and supported so many years ago," Little, his pastor for 15 years, said. Many friends and former associates have tried privately to correct him, "but he has rejected their counsel and accused [them] of treachery," Little said.
Terry is "in desperate need right now of hearing and receiving the rebuke of our Lord," his longtime anti-abortion activist colleague Flip Benham said. "His wife Cindy, his children, his pastor, his friends, and most importantly Jesus Himself love Randall Terry. We are all praying for his repentance and return to the Church of Jesus Christ."
Terry told the Washington Post that the charges were "absolute nonsense, insanity."
He acknowledged that he and his wife are separated but said his marriage problems are "personal, painful, and private."
A letter from four pastors in his defense stated that Terry "has asserted that he has only had sex with his wife."
Terry recently founded Loyal Opposition, a group dedicated to defending the traditional family and marriage.
Operation Rescue was know at its height as being among the most militant of anti-abortion organizations. It frequently sought to shut down abortion clinics by blocking entrances, leading to repeated legal problems fopr Terry and thge group.
Terry has also been an unsuccessful Republican candidate for Congress.
