Posts Tagged ‘Eddie Long Saga’

It is what it is…SOMEONE WAS PAID OFF!

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The divorce petition filed by Vanessa Long against Bishop Eddie Long, pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, has been dismissed, according to DeKalb County court filings posted online that were later confirmed by the minister’s lawyer.

The online postings in the case of “Long vs. Long” dated Monday indicate the petition was dismissed “without prejudice.”

One of Bishop Eddie Long’s lawyers, Lawrence Cooper, confirmed to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that  Vanessa Long had asked that the divorce petition be dismissed. He declined to say if the Longs were reunited. In an emailed response to the AJC, Vanessa Long’s lawyers declined to comment.

It is the second time in three months that Vanessa Long has called off plans to divorce the popular DeKalb County minister, who has battled accusations of improper sexual relationships with male members of his congregation.

Long, who has repeatedly denied the allegations, settled lawsuits filed by several of those members last year.

On Dec. 2, Vanessa Long announced she was seeking to end her 21-year-marriage following “a great deal of deliberation and prayer.” Later the same day and in a statement sent through New Birth’s public relations firm, she was quoted as saying that upon further “prayerful reflection,” she was withdrawing the divorce petition.

“I love my husband,” she was quoted as saying. “I believe in him and admire his strength and courage.” The New Birth elder  said her decision to seek a divorce was driven by “years of attacks in the media that frustrated and overwhelmed me.” She and her husband had “mutually agreed to find healing,” Vanessa Long said.

But then, even later on Dec. 2,  her attorneys announced Vanessa Long was proceeding with the divorce “consistent with her original [statement] made this morning.”

In the divorce filing, Vanessa Long, 53, said her marriage to the New Birth senior pastor was “irretrievably broken” and there was “no hope of reconciliation.” The couple had been in a “state of separation,” according to the petition.

Full Story HERE.

The Mo’Kelly Report is a syndicated politics and entertainment journal. Visit http://mrmokelly.com for the latest from Mr. Mo’Kelly. Contact him at mrmokelly@gmail.com.

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The stuff Mo’Kelly gets in his email box…you guys are WRONG!

The Mo’Kelly Report is a syndicated politics and entertainment journal. Visit http://mrmokelly.com for the latest from Mr. Mo’Kelly. Contact him at mrmokelly@gmail.com.

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The tweets were likely fleeting in nature, consistent with how the multitude of us use Twitter to socially interact. Momentary thoughts, ephemeral emotions…140 character snapshots of one’s conscience. CNN commentator Roland Martin has come under fire for two tweets during the Super Bowl which GLAAD argued were homophobic and encouraged violence against the LGBT community.

Regardless of whether one finds merit in GLAAD’s complaint or instead supports Martin’s sense of humor, know that the response from the LGBT community was swift, direct and immediate in nature. GLAAD has asked for CNN to fire Martin. As of this writing, CNN had not offered a final decision.

UPDATE: CNN Suspends Roland Martin (2.8.12)

That was Sunday, both the controversial action and the subsequent response.

Monday, parents mostly Latino in nature protested the inaction and lack of communication in the wake of the arrest of two teachers for sexual misconduct at Miramonte Elementary School in Los Angeles. In response to the protests and other public outcry, the whole of the teaching staff was immediately replaced.

Immediately.

Also Monday, the social pariah Bishop Eddie Long of New Birth Baptist church in Atlanta offered an apology to the Anti-Defamation League in response to a controversial “coronation” ceremony performed by Rabbi Ralph Messer the previous week. The video of the service went viral, instantly sparking immediate outrage from Jewish community leaders.

The Jewish community outrage and eventual apology were separated by fewer than 48 hours.

That was Monday.

Three separate ethnic and/or social constituencies used their social capital to leverage media and public opinion to force an immediate redress of issues.

Although the outrage in regards to the Eddie Long ceremony in New Birth (an African-American church) was unanimous irrespective of race, nobody within the African-American religious community stepped forward and demanded an apology. In fact, let the record reflect that Eddie Long took fewer than 48 hours to offer a public apology to the Jewish community for an offensive ceremony, yet to this day has said nothing about the foolishness surrounding his behavior leading up to his sexual coercion settlement involving five young males.

There has been no widespread public call within the religious community demanding for him to step down, be sat down or altogether shutdown.

One might wonder why some of the other African-American megachurches haven’t leveraged their power individually and collectively to express their own outrage at Bishop Long. Right now, the ADL seemingly has more power in affecting Eddie Long’s behavior than his own peers. As of this writing, not one Black megachurch preacher has spoken out against Eddie Long.

Not one. Zero. Null set.

UPDATE 12.9.12: Although I knew of Bishop Paul S. Morton’s youtube video and public rebuke of Eddie Long, Mo’Kelly was originally under the impression that St. Stephens was not a megachurch.  Some local readers to the area have emailed Mo’Kelly indicating that St. Stephens is in fact a megachurch.  Thus noted here.

T. D. Jakes of the Potter’s House in Dallas, TX recently offered the following to CNN while discussing Long’s impending divorce and previous sexual coercion charges.

If there was actually misconduct, the young men involved in the case were old enough to make their own decisions. They are not juveniles.”

Jakes conveniently skipped over the fact that Long was married and adamantly against all types of homosexual behavior. Jakes blithely disregarded the inherent moral and ethical contradictions given Long’s position and power. Despite Jakes’ stance, it really is acceptable to assess blame on the married man engaging in sexual behavior with adolescents (they were not 18) in the discussion of said man’s divorce. Jakes, for whatever reason, stopped short of finding ANY fault with Long.

But true to form, Jakes did find time to blast the GOP for supporting Newt Gingrich over his children as janitors remarks and that Gingrich is “a thrice-married, twice-divorced adulterer.”

Evidently multiple marriages, divorces, adultery and disparaging behavior towards young people don’t apply to Long; who is now twice-married/divorced with an 8-figure settlement connected to homosexual acts of adultery.

The hypocrisy is beyond staggering, it is stupefying. The remarks on both Gingrich and Long came THE SAME DAY, December 11, 2011 in two different interviews.  The links don’t lie.

What Jakes doesn’t seem to understand is that when viewing someone head-on, it makes talking out of both sides one’s mouth much more obvious.

Prosperity preacher Creflo Dollar, with ministries in Atlanta, New York and his own private jet to ferry him between the two, told those in his audience who came to his church after leaving Eddie Long they should “go back.”

He too absolved Long of guilt and blame.

Eddie Long remains in his pulpit after an alleged 8-figure sexual coercion settlement, impending divorce and the only people in the religious community adamant in their anger towards him were Jews…for reasons wholly unrelated to the more serious ones?

Really?

Seriously?

One of Long’s accusers Anthony Flagg, alleged he accompanied Long on overnight trips to New York, Dallas and other cities; most of which “coincidentally” connected to other Black megachurch preachers in league with Long on the Federal Marriage Amendment.

A coincidence, to be sure (wink, wink).

Flagg in subsequent interviews also indicated he stayed in the W Hotel in Times Square, which happens to also be the place where megachurch pastor Zachery Tims was found dead with a powdery substance on his person.

Just in case you were wondering, Flagg says he also stayed with Long at the W Hotel in Dallas, just 12 miles from T.D. Jakes’ main campus.

Of course this is all coincidental and circumstantial (wink, wink).

How quickly were the late Joe Paterno and the university president removed and fired respectively for their mishandling of the Penn State sexual abuse scandal?

Exactly.

Eddie Long continues to “offend” people specifically because we in the African-American community have abrogated our responsibility to protect our children. We have allowed his ministry to continue with little more than angry editorials and spirited radio commentary.

New Birth is not just “a” cult but seemingly a link in a chain of interconnected, prosperity-preaching cults; guided not by sound Christian tenets but something altogether nefarious and un-Christian in nature.

The common thread between Penn State, Miramonte and New Birth is that somebody did nothing when circumstances required far more; allowing young people to be abused. If there is immediate action in the moment, future misdeeds can be averted. The communities surrounding Penn State and Miramonte took immediate steps to make sure the right actions were taken.

New Birth…nothing.  We as African-Americans did nothing.  This is on us, as are his future transgressions.  We have allowed Long to proceed with impunity. He will embarrass and “abuse” the African-American community again and again, until we put an end to it and his ministry once and for all. We just have to care enough and love our own children enough to stand up for them.

The Mo’Kelly Report is a syndicated politics and entertainment journal. Visit http://mrmokelly.com for the latest from Mr. Mo’Kelly. Contact him at mrmokelly@gmail.com.

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The Mo’Kelly Report is a syndicated politics and entertainment journal. Visit http://mrmokelly.com for the latest from Mr. Mo’Kelly. Contact him at mrmokelly@gmail.com.

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Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney

From The Huffington Post

The following lists the first 7 of 27 reasons why the infamous Eddie Long coronation ceremony is not only biblically inaccurate but also factually incorrect in innumerable ways.  This list was compiled by Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney.  More on Rev. Dr. Gafney HERE.

1. The claim that Holocaust Torahs cannot be insured “because there are no more” is patently false. They are regularly insured as are other one of a kind objects d’art, i.e. the works of Picasso.
2. The Torah cover is not a “foreskin.” Hyper-masculine, hyper-sexualization of the Torah reduces the holy Torah to a problematic phallic symbol — God’s? or Long’s? — and categorizes the most destructive behaviors associated with New Birth ministries in recent years. Grammatically and symbolically, the Torah is feminine in Hebrew and is personified as “She,” as in “She is a Tree of Life,” in Prov. 3:18.
3. The Temple in Jerusalem was not a synagogue or Beth Midrash, where Torah scrolls were kept and studied.
4. The Torah wrapper is not referred to as a “belt of righteousness.”
5. The tree in the vision in the book of Revelation whose “leaves are for the healing of the nations,” (22:2), is a fruit tree — not a Torah scroll — and the text does not say that there are “39 leaves” as claimed in the video.
6. The claim that “only one of great authority” is given a “finger” to touch the scroll is patently false. Any bar or bat mitvah, girl or boy, woman or man, who has completed the rite of passage, can chant the Torah according to the (minhag) custom in their congregation. Torah scroll pointers, called “hands,” (yadayim), not “fingers” are common gifts and possessions in Jewish families and communities.
7. The claim that 90 percent of the Jews in the world have “never seen, approached or touched” Torah scrolls is utterly without foundation. The Torah is taken out of the Ark during Shabbat and other services; it is processed through the assembly twice where people reverence it (Her!) by touching and kissing it/Her.

Read the OTHER 20 reasons why this “ceremony” was a blasphemous, sacrilegious sham HERE.

The Mo’Kelly Report is a syndicated politics and entertainment journal. Visit http://mrmokelly.com for the latest from Mr. Mo’Kelly. Contact him at mrmokelly@gmail.com.

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Mo’Kelly doesn’t even know what to say about this foolishness…yet.  Be sure not to go to sleep and miss what happens at 7:00.

This is some Bull ish!

The Mo’Kelly Report is a syndicated politics and entertainment journal. Visit http://mrmokelly.com for the latest from Mr. Mo’Kelly. Contact him at mrmokelly@gmail.com.

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From Christian Post

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While many students across the country will be returning to classes next week, one school in Georgia will be closing down before the school year is completed.

New Birth Christian Academy, a school affiliated with Bishop Eddie Long’s New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, sent a letter to parents saying that the school would not continue with classes after the Christmas break.

With the 18-year-old academy closing, over 200 students will find themselves without a school.

The letter sent to the parents of students cited decreased donations and enrollment, as well as a bad economy, as the reason for the closing. It also said that school officials would help parents find other schools to enroll their children for the duration of the 2011-2012 school year.

Although the school denies any connection between the decision to close and the many recent scandals connected to Eddie Long, some parents are skeptical.

Full Story HERE.

The Mo’Kelly Report is a syndicated politics and entertainment journal. Visit http://mrmokelly.com for the latest from Mr. Mo’Kelly. Contact him at mrmokelly@gmail.com.

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What a joke.  Now…FINALLY he wants to act like he understands the distraction he has been and the lives he has adversely affected.  But even in “taking a leave” he remains defiant.  See below…

From AJC:

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Bishop Eddie Long is taking a brief leave from the church he transformed into one of the nation’s biggest and most influential, telling congregants at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church Sunday he was going to use the time to heal his family.

“I’m still your pastor. You’ll still receive my direction,” Long said Sunday. “You’ve given me some weeks to take care of some family business.”

Long’s wife, Vanessa, filed for divorce late Thursday afternoon. She said Friday morning, via a statement prepared by the church’s spokesman, that she had changed her mind but by day’s end announced the divorce was on.

“Rumors that Bishop Eddie L. Long has stepped down as senior pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church are completely false,” according to a statement from the church. “As Bishop Long stated in his earlier comments, ‘Vanessa and I are working together in seeking God’s will in our current circumstances.’ As any loving and committed husband would do, Bishop Long will take some time to focus on his family but he will continue to be the senior pastor of New Birth.”

In remarks released Friday evening, Long said his love for his wife of 21 years is “deep and unwavering. It remains our sincere desire to continue working together in seeking God’s will in these circumstances.”

Long, with two of his children standing by his side, reaffirmed he had no plans to resign, adding he had not “stepped down” but instead “stepped up.”

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Whatever dude.  Stepping up would have been doing the right thing and/or not doing the criminal thing years ago.

Full story + video news report HERE.

The Mo’Kelly Report is a syndicated politics and entertainment journal.  Visit http://mrmokelly.com for the latest from Mr. Mo’Kelly.  Contact him at mrmokelly@gmail.com.

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