I have no opinion or commentary about Pastor…oh, sorry…Bishop Eddie Long and the allegations he coerced young males in his mega-church to engage in sex with him, while also openly opposing gay marriage and decrying homosexuality as a sin.
However, I have a lot of opinions about his adherence to biblical principles, most especially Jesus’, as he rolls around in fancy clothes and cars and rakes in big bucks, advocating that Jesus was wealthy and wants all of his followers to be wealthy, too.
But why share all of those opinions when I can keep it simple and just say that Eddie Long needs to re-read the New Testament.
Because in my opinion, Bishop Long is going to have, as Jesus noted, nearly as hard a time getting into Heaven as a camel has of getting through the eye of a needle.
Why cant Bishop Eddie Long be left to continue to entertain his gathering. Afterall Ted Haggard got away with it, Jimmy swaggart wasnt called to accountability and who is to stand in the way of a man making money from people who are willling? Dont try to quote church discipline. No body preaches out of the Bible any more. Who needs the Bible if we have Word of Faith? Maybe this scenario of Eddie being caught in a conundrum is a gentle reminder from the finger of God that we need to examine our selves and the preachers we are paying exhorbitantly to appear on TBN, GOD TV to tickle our ears. Maybe there’s alot worse that could have happened. What if Eddie Long just collapsed like Annanias and Saphira without an opportunity to set things right with God? Eddie, you may have 5 rocks and havent used one yet…count yourself lucky to be given a hand to even stroke a pebble. God is a Holy God and he demands Holiness exemplified in his ministers. At the heart of the matter is not Bishop Longs good works in Honduras and Africa..the question is:Bishop Long are you living a life of intergrity and righteousness that fits the office of a man of God (Bishop)?If not are you repentant?
And I have decried people like Haggard and Swaggert before too. And Osteen. And Robertson.
When I see an opportunity to call such high-profile hypocrites to task, I will. Not because I have the right to judge them…but I DO have the right to criticize them and point out how they have strayed. They may not listen to me (in fact, they likely won’t know me or my criticism exists) but it is my hope that I can open some people’s eyes to the wrongness of churches and church leaders like these.
You’re right that we need to examine ourselves, because it takes followers to feed such massive egos. But those who are bloating themselves at the expense of Jesus’ words also bear their own burden to see what they are doing wrong.
There are preachers and pastors who still preach based on Jesus’ teachings primarily. They may not be as numerous as they should be, but they exist.
They, however, don’t get lifted up, because people would rather be told what they WANT to hear, than to be reminded of what they SHOULD be doing.
so many religious ‘leaders’ are pyramid schemers it makes me ill.
It’s sad, robyn (and true) but you know, it’s given me a new insight.
I used to criticize people who said “I’m spiritual but not religious” because I assumed that simply meant, “I believe in a higher power, I just refuse to acknowledge that this higher power might actually expect something of me.”
Now, I admit that I STILL think a LOT of people who use the “spiritual but not religious” phrase DO mean that (whether they know it or not)…but I increasingly have come to realize that not as many of them are probably that way as I once thought.
And that’s because I tend to refer to myself as spiritual more than I do religious.
Precisely because so many churches have gone so wrong in so many ways. Even though the church I attend is pretty socially minded and community involved and very inclusive, I STILL find myself shying away from too strong an identification as being a church-goer or a “religious” person.
I wish to be in tune with God, but so often the churches and church leaders are sounding discordant notes, and so I’d rather talk about how I am on my spiritual path, rather than a religious one.
Because too many religious institutions are either pens for sheep to be fleeced by wolves…or they are places that preach religiosity over true understanding of God’s plans for us.
Sad, but true. Welcome to Capitalist Christianity in the West…and those 2 words are so closely linked it’s scary.
Like the harsh words and the stance, i like the backbone – I think we were all getting to passive – sometimes we just need to start calling stuff out for the sham it is.
Capitalist Christianity in the West.
You hit the nail on the head with that one.
Unfortunately.
Hadn’t thought about it in quite such stark and concise terms but there it is.
I’m starting to feel like people such as you and I and others that share similar feelings and try to call attention to the dangers of what’s going on are like the environmentalists in a heavy industrialized town. Trying to shout from the rooftops about a different way that goes back to basics, while most everyone shouts as down as “fringe whackos.”
I suppose it wouldn’t be so bad if we didn’t get seen as whackos by the supposedly religious and the agnostic/atheistic alike