Bishop Eddie Long, the beloved pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, has been one of the strongest crusaders against same sex marriage and homosexuality. In 2009 Long discussed the role of sexuality with CNN’s Don Lemon, who in recent days confessed to a watching world that he was molested when he was young. At the end of this clip, Long states: “I don’t believe in the gay lifestyle, and I believe it’s not God’s way.”
Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post wrote an editorial entitled “Eddie Long isn’t practicing what he preaches” . “Watcher”, one of our astute readers, alerted us with the link yesterday, and today our local newspaper featured Robinson’s editorial under this headline: “Bishop Long and a whiff of hypocrisy”. Perhaps other newspapers around the country have followed suit.
The following statement by Robinson really stood out: “…And the biggest irony of all is that his very public travails may force the African-American church to finally confront its long history of homophobic hypocrisy.” (Dee, did you catch the split infinitive?)
Robinson is quick to point out the following event involving Long:
“In 2004, Long led a march to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s gravesite in support of a Georgia constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. The black church in America has long mixed political activism with a deep social conservation. But while polls show that the nation has become much more understanding and tolerant of homosexuality, the black church has been painfully show to change.”
Based on my findings, it certainly appears that Bishop Long views the sin of homosexuality as far worse than other sins. Why,because he has emphasized this sin in his school and church. Yet he is facing serious accusations of having indulged in said sin himself.
In a healthy, well-balanced church there should be, and often is, expositional teaching on a panoply of sins. What greatly concerns us is a pastor who decides to single out a particular sin over an extended period of time. When this happens, we, as Christians, must ask “WHY?” Is there some kind of self-loathing going on here? Is he trying to get caught? Long should be well aware of the Scriptural admonitions on this sin. Is he perhaps, preaching to himself and pretending he is preaching to his congregation?
Another issue must be raised if these accusations are proven conclusively. Could the Bishop himself be a victim of pedophilia? One of the saddest aspects of pedophilia is that the victim often goes on to molest the next generation. We often read of generational sin. Some, we believe, incorrectly to interpret this to mean that some demon has cursed an individual and this curse is passed down to subsequent generations. Most theologians would concur that this is simply talking about the long term effect of sin. It is well know that many children of alcoholics go on to abuse alcohol themselves. So is the case with pedophilia. You can find these sad statistics in our articles on pedophilia.
Long's friends should ask him about the possibility of a pattern of abuse in his life which may have begun in childhood. Interestingly, most victims of pedophilia go on to molest kids in the same age range of the timing of their own abuse. So, if Long abuses kids that are 16, it might mean he was also abused at this age. Sadly, the boys he may have molested may go on to be the next generation of abusers. This magnifies the sin. Long, if he has hidden his activity, is now complicit in other victims of abuse in the future, even if he has never laid a hand on them.
Why is the gay lifestyle worse than stealing, lying, or adultery, for example? Let me be clear – I believe that practice of homosexual acts is a sin. Some of our commenters have admitted that they struggle with same sex attraction. Perhaps you have read their testimonies. As we explained in our response to them, we are all tempted to sin in various ways. Although Christians are involved in the process of sanctification, we need to be painfully honest. We overcome one sin, with the Lord's help. and often get hit in the face with sin that we hardly knew existed.As one pastor has said, "Our Christian life often looks the Dow Jones Industrial Average, slightly trending upward but having both radical ups and downs." We will inevitably fall and so we must confess our sin and strive to emulate Jesus Christ.
Pete Briscoe once addressed the issue of chronic sin. Someone had asked if the chronic sinner is really saved. His illustration has stuck with Dee for a long time. He said that all sinners are saved only by grace. As Paul, they must keep their eyes fixed firmly ahead on the Savior who is constantly calling and encouraging . When one falls, one must get up, brush away the dust and continue on. This process will be repeated over and over. The true Christian is the one who wants to not sin, inevitably does, and then is willing to confess it and go on, no matter how long and how hard the road is. He said, that if the "want to" is in the life of such a person, then said person is truly a believer and following God. Here is what is said in Phillippians 3:12-14
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus
The last place we should be shocked about a sinful fall is in the church. In fact, we should be shocked if sin is not apparent. However, the church in America is often perceived by those outside of the faith as a hypocritical entity, pointing fingers away from themselves and pointing to the "sinners" in the world. They shake their heads at our hypocrisy.
Has the church made a critical error? I think in some instances that the church is not modeling the grace of the Christian life. We do an awful lot of condemning of outsiders and seem to want to overlook that we are just as sinful as they. Look at the number of divorces in the church.How different are we?
What are our perceptions of pastors? Some theologians would have us believe that they are specially anointed and somehow get a pass on the issue of sin. This could not be further from the truth. Pastors are as prone to sin as any person in church. Period. If indeed, the accusations are proven to be true, Long has disqualifiend himself as a pastor.
Do we believe they are perfect? Bishop Long has openly confessed that he is not a “perfect man”. It’s not the fall that hurts Christendom — it’s our inability to admit that we are terribly fallen. We have observed that many members of churches will not accept that their pastor has sinned. It is astonishing to watch the denial of many Christians when a leader has screwed up. They attempt to cover up and justify the actions of the pastor with the same zeal some have for Christian apologetics. Have they put their faith in someone other than Jesus? Here is a piece of advice. Leave the apologetics for defending faith in Christ. He was perfect. Your pastor is NOT! Follow Jesus, not man.
We leave you to ponder Robinson's concluding remarks:
"Then who is Eddie Long? The upstanding father of four who came to the pulpit hand-in-hand with his wife and denounced — but did not deny — the allegations against him? Or the manipulative sexual con artist who, according to his four accusers, does not remotely practice what he preaches?
The four men, in their civil lawsuits, tell remarkably similar stories. They say that Long took a special interest in some of the young men who attended his church in Atlantaand a satellite church in Charlotte. They say he took them separately on trips to such destinations as Kenya, South Africa and New Zealand when they were teenagers — but above the age of consent in Georgia, which is 16.
The men say that Long bought them lavish gifts, including cars and jewelry, and led them gradually into sexual activity, citing biblical passages as justification. One of the men says that Long performed a religious "covenant" ceremony with him that sounds strikingly like an exchange of marriage vows.
I'm guessing that maybe Long has some questions of identity to grapple with. He might choose to seek and confront the answers, or he might not. But meanwhile, African American preachers and worshipers across the nation are watching — and, one hopes, learning.
"That is not me," Long said. But what if it is?
Nothing he learns about himself can negate all the good works he has done in his ministry — all the people whose lives he has changed with a message of faith and hope. Maybe he could forgive himself. Then maybe he could forgive all the gays and lesbians he so coldly condemns."
Lydia's Corner:
Genesis 8:1-10:32 Matthew 4:12-25 Psalm 4:1-8 Proverbs 1:20-23
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The following statement by Robinson really stood out: “…And the biggest irony of all is that his very public travails may force the African-American church to finally confront its long history of homophobic hypocrisy.” (Dee, did you catch the split infinitive?)
I bet Dee is fond of some split infinitives, like “To boldly go where no man has gone before…”
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I say that there is literary license in the great artistic movies and shows of all times and that, in my opinion, includes the Star Trek epic adventures.
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Although Christians are involved in the process of sanctification, we need to be painfully honest. We overcome one sin, with the Lord’s help. and often get hit in the face with sin that we hardly knew existed.As one pastor has said, “Our Christian life often looks the Dow Jones Industrial Average, slightly trending upward but having both radical ups and downs.” We will inevitably fall and so we must confess our sin and strive to emulate Jesus Christ.
This is true. When looking at a chart that’s trending upwards but has peaks and valleys along the way, the further back you stand, and the longer the period of time you use, the more evident the upward trend becomes, and the less evident the ups and downs become. We need this perspective of distance and time to accurately perceive our own spiritual growth and that of others.
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Junkster,
Thanks for making me laugh. You always keep us entertained here at TWW.
Blessings!
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In the words of the always logical and wise Vulcan philosopher Surak, “True dat!”
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My pleasure! 🙂
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Junkster
The perspective of my pastor is somewhat different. He is now, age wise, a true elder, having been around the church for many, many years. It is his perspective sin is just as prevalent in the life of the believer even after years of faithful service. He says that it is just deeper, not as superficially visible to others. But, the deeper we go, the more we see. It proved to be an interesting discussion in the class that day. I am interested in your thoughts on this matter.
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Dee,
Your pastor sounds wise. The deeper, less evident sins can be hidden both to those around us and to ourselves. We are amazingly able to self-rationalize our inclinations to indulge the desires of the flesh. At times I feel I am no further along in my Christian growth than when I first became a believer at age 19, over 30 years ago. In some areas I feel the struggles more keenly than I did back then. And no matter what victories I may have experienced in yesterday, there is no guarantee I will not fall into the same sin, or some other sin, tomorrow.
But my prior point is that sanctification is progressive, and, though sin is always with and in us, given sufficient time and distance for perspective, some level of growth (as small as it may seem) is inevitable for a true believer. This is the result of the power and work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, not any personal achievement. I have no confidence that I will grow spiritually based on my own will or inclinations, but I can have confidence that the Father will grow me in some way or another in spite of myself.
We like to quote Ephesians 2:8-9, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” But we sometimes forget that verse 10 says “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” God’s purpose in our salvation is to reproduce Christlikeness in us, and “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6), for he is “the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2).
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Junkster
Awesome response. The older I get, the more aware I am of the mixed bag that is me. And sometimes that can be most frustrating.
I loved the idea of Jesus being the finisher of our faith. In that lies the guarantee of our ultimate sanctification. It is true that I am changing but sometimes the change is hard to see. Perhaps that is why Paul encourages us to “press on” toward the goal because it is a battle that can bring weariness.
Maybe that is the voctory. That willingness to press on in spite of the obstacles and in the face of our inherent weakness. And then, one day, when we see Him face to face, we may get a better view from the rear.
I was thinking about Ephesians 2:10. I haven’t heard that verse quoted a whole lot. Could it be the fear of works based salvation? I guess I never really got that concern. Even though I grew up in a Catholic area, I understood, right from the beginning, that my coming to faith should cause me to want to do good works. he works have nothing to do with my salvation but my salvation had something to do with my future good works.
Besides being a purveyor of all things Star Trek, you seem to be a pretty good theologian as well. I really liked your explanation.
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“The perspective of my pastor is somewhat different. He is now, age wise, a true elder, having been around the church for many, many years. It is his perspective sin is just as prevalent in the life of the believer even after years of faithful service. He says that it is just deeper, not as superficially visible to others. But, the deeper we go, the more we see. It proved to be an interesting discussion in the class that day. I am interested in your thoughts on this matter”
I totally agree with what Junk said above. I would like to add that I think there is something deeper at work. And it is so hard to articulate. Yes, sin is just as prevalent in a believers life even years later…but that is because now the believer understands more and more “what is sin”. Our very thoughts are sinful!
We all agree that murder, greed, adultery,etc are sins that are obvious but Jesus raised the bar. He said that NOW, in the NC, if you hate, you murder. If you lust, you commit adultery and so on. It is no longer a law we judge ourselves against to see if we are obeyng God. We now have the Holy Spirit that convicts us of our sin. And even if we do not carry out the sin in action, if we lust, we are sinning. Jesus raised the bar from the Law. His sacrfice was not a license to sin at all. His sacrfice ushered in the Holy Spirit to dwell within us.
But yet, here we are seeing so many in Christian leadership and the pew sitters making excuses for obvious sins of greed, pedophila, sexual molestation by Christian leaders! What does this tell us? It tells us we really do not understand sin at all. If the sins are that obvious, there is definitely a heart problem. And the problem is much deeper than we can imagine.
We are told to take every thought captive and make it obedient to Jesus Christ. This means a believer will fight the fleshly thoughts! When they become consistent, unrepentant actions, we must really question what we believe about being a New Creation or “Born Again”.
An example I can think of is that when my child acts bad, I can make her conform to a standard I have set for behavior. And she can look like she is well behaved to the world. But I have done nothing about the real problem. The real problem is in her heart. So, if her heart is not changed, someday, she will ‘break’ the standard set up by me. I would much rather it is her heart that is changed. Not just her outward behavior for a season. Because it is not the real thing.
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Lydia,
Excellent points, especially about the Holy Spirit. As a Christian, the Spirit influences my life. That’s why I will NEVER buy into the gender garbage. I believe history will show that it has been extremely detrimental to the cause of Christ.
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Just found this on Foxnews.com. Interesting that MWS wrote a song about church abuse. “You hear about stuff that goes on in the church, it just blows your mind,” he says.
Christian Artist Michael W. Smith’s New Song Addresses Abuse in the Church