Evangelist leader The Rev Ted Haggard admitted yesterday that he bought methamphetamine and received a massage from a male escort, but claimed he did not use the drug or have sex with the man.

As president of the association, Haggard had tremendous influence with the lawmakers and had crusaded against same-sex marriage and homosexuality.

His resignation came after a Denver man, named Mike Jones and describing himself as a male sex worker, disclosed he had sexual encounters with Haggard and these were often laced with intake of drugs.

Haggard said Jones was referred to him by a hotel in Denver and that he had bought the substance from him. "I was tempted, but I never used it, " said Haggard.

Meanwhile, Jones denied he has ever sold the drug to Haggard. He claimed he had advertised himself as an escort in gay publications or on gay websites and denied he had association with the hotel.

According to reports, Jones failed a lie detector test on Friday that he volunteered to take, but the man who conducted the test said there could be variations in the results because Jones had told him he slept little and was suffering from a migraine.

The revelations are likely to impact the mid-term elections as Haggard is seen as a loyal supporter of the Republicans and the Bush administration. He has also been a leader for campaigning for the 43rd Amendment, which would define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Jones had said this was his main motivation for going public.

Meanwhile, the executive committee unanimously accepted Haggard's resignation from the 30m member National Association of Evangelicals, covering thousands of churches and some 50 denominations.

Haggard had denied the charges, saying he did not know Mike Jones, his male escort accuser. But he has also stepped down "temporarily" from the leadership of his own New Life Church, pending the outcome of an investigation by an outside board of overseers.

"I've never had a gay relationship with anybody, " said the 50-yearold Haggard, who is a father of five children. "I'm steady with my wife.

I'm faithful to my wife."

He suggested that timing of the allegations was directly related to the mid-term elections on Tuesday, in which the evangelical turnout will be a crucial for Republicans as they seek to prevent a Democratic takeover of Congress.

Prominent among the issues the Republicans are employing to galvanise this vital mid-term election is that of gay marriage. Amendments banning gay marriage are on the ballot next week in eight US states, including Colorado where Haggard and the New Life Church are based.

If Jones is to be believed, it was the vociferous opposition of Haggard against gay marriage that prompted him to go public with his charges. In a local TV interview, he accused the pastor of "preaching one thing and but doing the opposite behind everyone's back. This story should be out, it's so wrong."

The case grew more confusing as Jones underwent a polygraph or 'lie detector' test, which apparently revealed "some deception". On the other hand, Ross Parsley, the acting senior pastor at the New Life Church, told reporters that Haggard had made "some admission of indiscretion".

"He confessed to the overseers that some of the accusations are true, " Parsley told congregants of the 14,000-strong New Life Church in an email, adding that Haggard had "willingly and humbly submitted to the investigation".

Jones (49), alleges that the pastor paid him to have sex almost every month over a three year period up to last August. He said he advertised his services as an escort on the internet, as a result of which he was contacted by a man who called himself Art, who used methamphetamine before their meetings to heighten the sensation.

Jones then says he saw the man he knew as 'Art' on television, identified as Ted Haggard. He further claims to have compromising voicemail messages from the pastor, and an envelope in which, he says, Haggard sent him money. According to a Colorado TV station, one of the voicemails begins: "Hi Mike, this is Art. I was just calling to see if we could get any more. Either $100 or $200 supply."

The initial reaction in evangelical circles was shock, along with a strong suspicion the affair was politically motivated. Though Jones insists he is not working for any political group, his charges could damage Republicans if the scandal deters significant numbers of evangelical supporters from going to the polls. "These types of charges are shocking if true, " said Dan Bartlett, a senior White House adviser.

Haggard became president of the evangelical association in 2003, and is among the conservative Christian leaders regularly contacted by the White House. He also lobbied the administration to press for the nomination of conservative Supreme Court judges after two seats on the country's highest court became open last year.

WHAT TED SAID. . . . .

"For many people, the stereotypical image of an evangelical is a very serious old man with an expensive suit who is against whatever is happening that day."

"The spirit of the Lord woke me in the middle of the night and powerfully spoke to me.

He told me that if we could mobilize 1,000,000 intercessors to pray for Saddam Hussein, he would leave Iraq, thus avoiding the need for a war."

"As time goes along, as we discover more and more facts, that we'll learn more and more about how God created the heavens and the earth."