My Open Letter To Eddie Long

An Open Letter to Eddie Long

It has been over a week since news broke about the civil lawsuits filed against you. In the time that has passed we have seen or heard nothing from you other than your patent self-aggrandizing that seems to be the anchor of the Eddie Long brand. 

The blatant defiance and arrogance that you displayed during last night’s “Empowerment” service was sickening and in total contradiction to the Christ that you’ve publicly claimed to love and worship. I was truly disgusted by your code messages (not to the media but to whomever has more pics and videos of your deviance), your clergymen’s bullying of the congregants, ordering them to give their best seed for offering, and reminding them that obedience to you as their leader is pleasing unto God. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Before I go any further, let’s do away with the Bishop and Reverend titles. The Bible says that ministers are servant leaders who are not above any other member of the body of Christ, anyway. You read that part of the Bible, right? Good. So, let’s take it down a notch; you’re just Eddie to me anyway.

The charges against you are serious, and the evidence presented thus far is quite damning even if you try to defend yourself. For you and your legal team to insist on this being kept out of the public clearly implies that you have something to hide. If you didn't, you'd be more vocal in your own defense.

You’ve programmed your followers to trot out that “touch not my anointed” scripture(1 Chronicles 16:22) whenever someone dares to challenge or question anything about you. But because you have bastardized the gospel to suit your selfish desires, your followers are ill-equipped to rightly divide the Word of God for themselves. You see, if you were teaching sound doctrine, and if you had led your people to become capable of reading the Bible for themselves, they would know that the “touch not my anointed scripture” does not apply to you. You may have been anointed by God at one time, but that is not for me to say. Now it’s easy to see that you are not under any anointing now. The pictures of you with the three young men in your clandestine hideaway in downtown Atlanta is proof of that.

Watch this, Eddie. Let’s go to the Word. Turn with me to Matthew 7:15-20. I’ll give you the scripture from the New International Version of the Bible:

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.”

Put a pin right there.

What fruit have you produced, Eddie? The New Birth corporate entity? Your New Birth church franchise? Your “Taking Authority” broadcast? Your LongFellows Academy? Your Father’s House Ministry Association? Your books? The eerily demonic New Birth logo? The slick ads and posters with your image plastered all over them? The house, the car, the custom-made clothing, the jewelry? Sure, you have donated hundreds of thousands to local and international charities. You’ve provided shelter to the homeless, food and clothing to the needy. But those works far pale in comparison to the Eddie Long and New Birth brands that loom large on TV, the internet and in the megachurch arena. Is Jesus anywhere in your tree? Methinks not, because I surely don’t see Him anywhere on your website. (But what I do see is that the first tab on your website is for Contributions. Interesting.)

Now you may point to your snazzy new vision statement and the logoed t-shirts: “Love Like Him, Live Like Him, Lead Like Him” as being your fruit, but one could argue that the ‘Him’ in the vision statement/slogan is actually you. Like other wayward mega church pastor-slash-CEOs out here, you use Jesus as bait to draw the people in. Then you dangle God above their heads like carrots leading them further and further towards the altar you’ve built for yourself. It’s really hard for me to believe that you are referencing the Lord in “Love Like Him, Live Like Him, Lead Like Him”, especially when it’s rather obvious that you yourself as the leader of the New Birth flock, fail to carry out that vision statement.

I tend to think that your shiny new slogan is a subtle, yet deliberate way to get gullible followers to ascribe to your insatiable God complex. If you tell them in the beginning that the Him is Jesus, yet the Him that they see is you, and you keep playing abracadabra, hocus pocus magic tricks – Watch This! – with the people, they eventually could see you and Christ as one in the same.

If you proclaim to “Love Like Him”, you would have taken the opportunity to acknowledge and pray for the four young men who have brought the sexual misconduct charges against you, whether or not you are guilty of the allegations. To “Love Like Him” means to demonstrate Christ’s unconditional love for everyone regardless of their station in life, their sexual orientation or how they treat you. God loves the sinner, but hates the sin. Did you know that? When you “Love Like Him” you think of your members, and you put their needs and interests before your own because you only want the best for them. You don't castigate or condemn them. You emulate Christ's love when you "Love Like Him". He loved us so much that He gave His life for us. 


What have you sacrificed because you love your New Birth members or non-believers? I’ll give you some time to marinate on that one. But in the meantime, look past your s-curl hairpiece, your Bentley, your private jet, your mansion, your hideaway condo, and look deep within your soul and ask yourself one question: can you say that you truly “Love Like Him”, Eddie?

To “Live Like Him” means to exemplify Christ in everything you do. Our Savior walked this earth displaying humility and dignity in His words and deeds. He had no need for material trappings. He gave what He had, shared what He could to ensure others’ needs were met. Jesus didn’t drive a luxury vehicle or live in a large, beautiful home. He didn’t wear stupid looking suits that made him look like Uhuru's crazy half-brother Umbuku from the planet Zultron on Star Trek. Jesus lived a modest life, and that’s what we should be striving for.

Jesus, as the Son of God, was the only perfect man on earth. Yet, as we as followers of Christ strive to be like him, we will sin and fall short of the glory of God, but it is our aim and goal to live a life pleasing unto God. There is a wonderful thing called grace that God grants us, for He knows we are prone to sin. When we sin, and repent, he forgives us and our sin is to be remembered no more. And then we move forward in our lifelong quest to “Live Like Him”.

Last time I checked, living like Him wasn’t about having expensive things, or a $3 million salary with benefits. So tell me, Eddie, how is it that you “Live Like Him”? Do you think that because you have elevated yourself to the status of a blameless vessel of God that you are living like Him?

The third spoke in the wobbly wheel that is your vision for New Birth is “Lead Like Him”. Christ-centered leadership is not appointing yourself dictator of the New Birth universe and issuing edicts to your lowly subjects. Have you ever heard of “servant leadership”? Sure you have. I’m sure you learned about it when pursuing your divinity degree. But how do you show yourself to be a servant leader? Is that what the tight muscle shirts are about? To show that you’re tough and macho and capable of pummeling anyone who dares to disobey you? A servant leader serves his people, and does not demand that his people serve him. Jesus served, met people’s needs, listened, ministered, guided. When was the last time you rolled up your sleeves (scratch that, because you’re all about the muscle shirts, we know)…when is the last time you really humbled yourself to serve the people of God selflessly?

I’m not addressing my thoughts on your possible guilt or innocence in the sex abuse case, but looking at the pictures that have been released, it's hard for me to see you as being innocent. If you were truly trying to "Lead Like Him", you would not have allowed yourself to end up in any questionable situations that would show poor leadership judgment, and faculties. 

I thank God you stopped with the 3 L's - Love, Live, Lead. If you had gone and added "Look Like Him", well, there Houston, we would have had a hell of a problem. Jesus didn't look like you: an super pimp-fantastic fool with the suits and the bling. (You thought I was going to mention that rug again, didn't you?) Jesus probably wouldn't recognize you because you're all a mess on the inside, and it shows. Your countenance betrays the image of confidence and machoness you try to pull off. Watch this, Eddie. You are a got-damned hot-a$$ed mess. Inside and out.

It grieves my heart to see that you pawn yourself off to be a Bishop leading a church, yet your church’s mission statement has deviated away from the Great Commission. Remember that? Probably not. Read Matthew 28:16-20 after you finish fluffing your scary curl wig.

I could not believe my eyes when I saw New Birth's Strategic Goals for New Birth. Sure, you’re operating under a business model, but do you not ascribe to anything Biblical anymore?
Your Strategic Goals are:

• 100% mature 
• 100% tithers 
• 100% homeowners
• 100% debt free

This is 100% garbage. Based on what I am seeing, as long as everyone in your congregation is mature (how do you define that?), forks over 10% of their money, owns a home and is debt-free, you will be satisfied. They could be wading in all kinds of sin and despair, but as long as they are mature enough to realize it, and they pay their 10%, your goals are met, huh? Prosperity preaching sure has distorted and corrupted so many. A real shame. 

I wasn’t going to touch on tithing, but since you brought it up, I was unaware that New Birth is still under the Old Testament covenant. The New Testament declares that believers should give a freewill offering. What if I wanted to give more than 10% (not to you, because you’re shady, but I’m saying...)? What if I could not afford 10% of my income? I know the thought of that makes you and your mega church preaching buddies nauseous. You and your friends would probably break out into hives if you had to admit that. If you look at the book of Malachi closely, never does it state that your tithe is solely 10% of your income. It also mentions time and talent, but I guess you can't take time and talent to the bank to deposit in your checking account.

And I suppose time and talent won’t purchase luxury vehicles. Or hairpieces. But time and talent surely would edify the body of Christ and the building. You want cash money, right? You probably take people's 10% and buy yourself clothes and hair that only cover 10% of your Body By Jake a$$. That's a damn shame. 

In light of these charges, Christian leaders and faithful Bible-believing folks were waiting for you to step down while the litigation was pending. Your ego wouldn’t let you do that. You instead chose to characterize your followers as victims with you in an attack, and you used them as a shield to deflect attention from the charges that you have yet to face. You begged and demanded their allegiance through subtle messaging. While you were busy strucking around the pulpit like Mayor McSleaze, God was not pleased. He does not ordain or condone activity that would even call into question a man’s character.

You keep playing with God, Eddie Long. When Jesus comes back for His church, He just might pass right on by New Birth because both inside and out, it looks like it’s nothing more than a multimillion dollar corporation that makes, markets and sells the Eddie Long brands of homophobia and hypocrisy.

I suggest you take a serious look at yourself in the mirror. You probably don't even recognize yourself. Beneath the s-curl rug top, the too-tight muscle shirts, the speedos, the Under Armour, the raging homophobic aura, there is a man, a lonely, frightened man who needs to have a real, person encounter with Jesus. You need to find that man, Eddie. Find him, get on your knees and repent. 


Watch this, Eddie. The clock's ticking. You don't have much time.


Signed,
Girl
Repost from Girlwithemail

This is WAY WAY Bigger Than Just Sum SEX

A Repost from GirlwithEmail

This Eddie Long situation is waaaay bigger than these sexual coercion charges. Reviewing his speech ('cause that certainly wasn't a sermon) yesterday, I could see that his movement and his behavior, his tone and his message indicated a deep level of fear. And that fear has as much to do with the sex charges as it does some possible blackmail scheme.

Here are some things that I picked up on:

1. Long said more than once during his speech that "I never said I was a perfect man." Obviously, that indicates that he knew there would be some new revelations coming out, and he was trying to forewarn his followers. Some of what has yet to be revealed is not related to these sex charges, but it will be damning all the same.
2. If Eddie Long declared his innocence using that specific language, he would have put himself in a very, very bad situation. He knows that whoever put his business on Front Street knows ALL of his dirt -- sex-related, legal, ethical, etc.
3. When he compared himself to David and said he hasn't thrown any of his stones yet, that was a warning shot not to the plaintiffs or attorney BJ Berstein, but to whoever is the mastermind of this whole operation. Here's the deal: this his cat is being set up. (And for the record: no, I do not believe he's totally innocent of these charges.) I don't know who it is, but Eddie Long has gone against the grain over some powerful entity. Could it be a political group? A secret society of "The Children" maybe lead by one sparkly, twirly gospel diva with his own show on BET? (just kidding...kinda). Maybe it's the clique of prosperity preachers he's been running with. I don't know. But it's someone, something that Eddie Long pissed off by not doing something he was expected to do, or by doing something he was not supposed to do. He didn't stay on script, he didn't follow the rules of the game, and somebody's mad as hell and they're not going to take it anymore. And Eddie knows this. But he also knows who is leading this campaign, and he has dirt on them, too. So when he starts singing like a canary about some of the backdoor shadiness others around him may have been party to, he's throwing his stones.
4. Watching his tense body language in the pulpit on Sunday, and the weary look on his face, These sex charges are the least of his worries. He knew this was coming. He knows that the information that has yet to be made public will ruin his entire empire once it gets out. He wouldn't have time to take it to court. He knows that once his congregation learns the whole truth -- all the shady deals, all the questionable connections, all the scheming to fleece his flock, all that he's said and done including and beyond the questionable activity with the young men -- even his most faithful followers will leave him. And he is scared to death. He wasn't kidding when he said he's in the fight of his life.
5. Many were speculating about Eddie Long's wife Vanessa, whether she'd stand by him. I had even heard rumors that she had left him. But she knows the depth of the trouble her husband is in. Wives tend to know when their husbands are unfaithful; it's women's intuition. Vanessa Long very well knew her husband has been spending lots of time with these young men. She knows what's going on. Her reassuring calmness towards her husband, and her visible support let his "blackmailers" know that whatever is going on, she's there with him.
6. While all the evidence outlined in the lawsuits are very compelling, I find it a little strange that there is too much similarity in the accounts. (Now let me stop here and state, I don't doubt for one minute that Long didn't have dalliances or at least attempt to engage in some activity with these young men. I believe those young men were victimized on several different levels.) I think they were given careful counsel on what to say to BJ Bernstein.
7. What I find most interesting about all of this are the pics of Eddie Long and some young men that turned up on HipHopBlog.com seem to reveal a lot. He totally did not look comfortable posing for the camera. I think he knew at the time that these pics would come back to haunt him, as he had no choice but to let them be taken.

Please don't get me wrong; I don't think Eddie Long is completely innocent. I don't think he's operating under any sort of anointing. He came to my church a couple of times, and I thought his message was nothing but foolishness. After about an hour of "watch this" and some inaudible mumbling and gesturing, I had about lost it. People were falling out and screaming as if he was preaching a major word. I think Eddie Long's nothing more than a gimmicky preacher...if he trots out a snappy slogan, cool graphics and a silly dance move (the Cross-Up?  Whatever.), he thinks he's doing something.

Whatever happened to rightly-dividing the Word? You don't need gimmicks and foolishness to do that. In my opinion, Eddie Long is in ministry not because of a calling, but because it's a career option. Now he got caught up in the power and influence that came with the career choice, and he got tangled up in some mess that he now can't get himself out of. He knows his career is on the line; he could give a hoot about his ministry. His career is about to be over; his corporation could very well crumble right before his very eyes.

And with the yet-to-be-revealed charges (it's going to be BIG, on epic proportions), he could lose his reputation, and everything that he's acquired during his season of prosperity.