In these new videos, we can see Bishop Eddie Long talking to his congregation recently on Sunday, telling them that he is taking a break to deal with his family issues in light of his wife Vanessa recently filing for divorce – then taking it back – then saying the divorce is on again.
“To know how much we’ve given to others, and then when trouble comes, they walk away,” Bishop Long said to his church.
That hurtful line reminded me of Deitrick Haddon, on his 7 Days, an album that Haddon said God gave him during that one pivotal week -- one that turned up gems like Heaven Knows, where it talks about people dogging out the pastor, “the same man that prayed for them when they were lost.”
“I’m gonna take a little time off to spend with my family,” Eddie Long continued, adding, “Now while I do that, I need you to be here. And I need you to give more.”
Of course some folks are seizing that plea for faithfulness and funds as a hypocritical red herring – with some spelling the death of the church, while other supporters are sticking with Long.
This is a painful season for New Birth, but after any birth there is redemption, said one couple in the video.
“I’d be very surprised if Bishop Eddie Long ever leads a megachurch again,” said CNN religion writer John Blake in this YouTube video, who said that Long’s wife divorcing him is a very serious blow to the ministry.
“Membership at the church has dwindled,” Blake claimed, likening what’s happening at New Birth to the Chapel Hill sex scandal with Bishop Earl Paulk, saying it’s a huge building that’s now empty.
“It’s like going to a funeral – it’s like it’s dying,” Blake says of Long’s church.
All of this is sad, just sad.
When writing about Bishop Eddie Long since the scandal broke, I’ve felt measures of anger at the dishonesty and hypocrisy shown – now I just feel sad over the whole situation.
Like Da.T.R.U.T.H. rhymes, he apologized to those who looked up to him and the ones who “lost passion and a sense of wonder” – the “ones that adored ministry but still sinning under cover.” I love that The Whole Truth album so much…
But anyway, with God dealing with me and my own pride and the fact that I’m not a perfect person and I need to be more like that tax collector beating my breast instead of the Pharisee standing around acting like I’m God’s favorite pet – I have no desire to gloat or say whatever about Bishop Eddie Long right now.
Feeling beat down over my own situation surely helps us spread out measures of grace to us all. I still don’t like the fact that some of the New Birth church members don’t believe the boys (several different witnesses, as the Bible says we should get) – I think just because we’re grace-filled doesn’t mean we shouldn’t look at the glaring truth staring us in the face.
I believe there are ways we can be supportive and grace-filled and compassionate, and yet still walk in truth and not blind denial.
May the Lord Jesus Christ help us all…
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