Charismatic Bishop In Lawsuit.

[coadie]

Originally Posted by AtlantaBishop

I know that there has been a lot said but this thing with Bishop Long will really affect the ministry and the Churches here in Metro Atlanta. They have over 30,000 members just in the main church and have many other churches around Atlanta with thousands of members in them.

When the class action suits were filed against Bishop Earl Paulk and many other ministers names were a part of that, it really hurt the Body of Christ here. Then the Crazy Juanita Bynum - Thomas Weeks mess was such a horrible stench here. Now we have this. It is NOT FUNNY and should not be taken lightly. There are many thousands of people that will be affected by this.
Please PRAY for The Long Family - he does has a wife and four children. He has hundreds on his staff and they all have families. This will impact a LOT of people.
Pray for the New Birth Family and all the daughter churches here in Atlanta and other parts of the nation and other nations. Pray for these young men and their families. I am asking you guys to sincerely pray that God will do a work in all their lives and that somehow God will turn it around and that a Revival of Holiness and Separation from the world will come out of this.
The News media are following these young men around and hounding them day and night to get a story out of it. They followed one all the way to Colorado and coerced him into a statement late one night this week. They only put the edited parts on TV and you know TV reporters can't tell the truth for anything! Its all about ratings and money. I don't believe ANYTHING I hear on the news - especially CNN.
I hate what has happened and I have wept all week because what we need is some strong leaders to stand up and preach HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD! I am not talking about a UPC dress code - but true HOLINESS of the heart that changes a persons life!
Thanks for taking this to heart and praying for all involved.

There we have it. Holiness means separate from the world. When we do things that even the world sees as grotesque, it hurts innocent people.
If you are called to teach ,preach or other service, there are certain things you don't do because it would hurt your testimony.
Correct on the media. That is a risk most likely explained to the youths. The minute you claim there is a sex crime, the cameras come after you.

[Sam]

Originally Posted by rgcraig

Also, don't use the term "short bus" because that might hurt someone, but it's okay to make fun of LARGE people.

You guys are something else.

Yeah, hang off of us LARGE people.

[ManOfWord]

AB is spot on! I hate to see anyone hurt by these things, but my point all along has been let TRUTH come to the surface and forefront and sort this whole mess out. If these allegations are true, (and based upon the past of the whole "list" of preachers who've had these kinds of problems, I think they probably are) then, as AB has said, MANY will be affected and hurt.

That is what happens when leaders don't hold to BASIC morality. Even the worst of sinners understands that preachers should be above this type of activity. NO, none of us are perfect or straight arrows, but we should have a moral compass which we live by which at the very least should include moral/sexual fidelity. I'm sorry, but there is no excuse for this type of behavior in anyone who claims to be a man or woman of God, including me.

The Bible is very clear that leaders are to be above reproach and have a good report among the unbelievers. This DOES hurt everyone. It hurts me to think about these young men if even 1/10 of what they claim is true. When is the last time, when allegations of these types were made against a "minister" that the minister came clean right out of the gate? Or when is the last time the allegations were untrue?

Bishop Long, may God truly have mercy on you, your family, congregation, body of Christ. I pray that the truth sets us all free from our prognostications, which is all we can do at this point.

[ManOfWord]

Since I work in law-enforcement (Sheriff's Chaplain) this reminds me of a person who is pulled over under suspicion for drug related activity. The officer asks them to step out of their vehicle and then asks if there is anything illegal in their vehicle. They respond, "No" and the officer asks for permission to search their car. Like an idiot, almost every time, the driver will say, "Sure, go ahead. I've got nothing to hide."

The officer searches, discovers a bag of "whatever", shows it to the person, who then say, "Hey, I don't know how that got there. It's not mine!"

It's like the person somehow believes that that when they give the officer permission to search that he'll say, "No, that's OK. I believe you. I'm not going to search your car."

It's human nature to hide our "darkness." But that is precisely the reason it gets exposed so that we can deal with it and get free. God gives ample opportunities for us to deal with the "darkness" privately so we are not "exposed." However, if we choose not to deal with it, it is not so much that God exposes us to shame us, it is simply that our failure to deal with it has caused that which we are hiding to continue to grow to a point that it gets exposed by virtue of its "size" and degree of impropriety.

I'm all for mercy for all who have sinned, but we either deal with it on our knees, get someone to help us etc. or we'll have to deal with it publicly. It really is our choice and God is on our side to heal us and set us free. If we choose our own route, then we'll just have to deal with the fall-out. Unfortunately, many others will get dragged into it as well and that is what AB is saying.

[Mr. Smith]

Originally Posted by ManOfWord

Since I work in law-enforcement (Sheriff's Chaplain) this reminds me of a person who is pulled over under suspicion for drug related activity. The officer asks them to step out of their vehicle and then asks if there is anything illegal in their vehicle. They respond, "No" and the officer asks for permission to search their car. Like an idiot, almost every time, the driver will say, "Sure, go ahead. I've got nothing to hide."

The officer searches, discovers a bag of "whatever", shows it to the person, who then say, "Hey, I don't know how that got there. It's not mine!"

It's like the person somehow believes that that when they give the officer permission to search that he'll say, "No, that's OK. I believe you. I'm not going to search your car."

It's human nature to hide our "darkness." But that is precisely the reason it gets exposed so that we can deal with it and get free. God gives ample opportunities for us to deal with the "darkness" privately so we are not "exposed." However, if we choose not to deal with it, it is not so much that God exposes us to shame us, it is simply that our failure to deal with it has caused that which we are hiding to continue to grow to a point that it gets exposed by virtue of its "size" and degree of impropriety.

I'm all for mercy for all who have sinned, but we either deal with it on our knees, get someone to help us etc. or we'll have to deal with it publicly. It really is our choice and God is on our side to heal us and set us free. If we choose our own route, then we'll just have to deal with the fall-out. Unfortunately, many others will get dragged into it as well and that is what AB is saying.

And occasionally, the person driving the car actually doesn't know how it got there.

About 15 years ago, I operated a business that required truck deliveries to a suburban area of a large city. I hired a helper who rode with me. About 3 months into the delivery season, I discovered he was heavily using drugs and always had something on him. Had we been pulled over, and had he thrown his stash underneath the seat, and had I been asked if the truck could be searched (and once, it was with another employee at a weigh station...we were about 500 lbs. overweight), I would have consented because I had nothing to hide.

And I probably would have been arrested and my pretty face would have been in the newspaper.

The moral of the story is, not every guy who says, "Huh?? It wasn't me!" is actually hiding something. Some people really are innocent of what has been claimed.

[ManOfWord]

Originally Posted by Mr. Smith

The moral of the story is, not every guy who says, "Huh?? It wasn't me!" is actually hiding something. Some people really are innocent of what has been claimed.

And most are not.

[rgcraig]

Originally Posted by ManOfWord

And most are not.

Like Paris Hilton NOT knowing what's in her purse?

[coadie]

Originally Posted by rgcraig

Like Paris Hilton NOT knowing what's in her purse?

She has no idea how it got in her purse.

[Mr. Smith]

Originally Posted by ManOfWord

And most are not.

But some are. Maybe one day, you'll be one of the "Some" and you'll be thankful for people like me that rush to your side to support you and believe in you.

[Mr. Smith]

Originally Posted by rgcraig

Like Paris Hilton NOT knowing what's in her purse?

We love to see the worst of everything, don't we?