(ThyBlackMan.com) I bet you thought I was going to let this pass didn’t you…
Last week Eddie Long pumped the brakes on his sex scandal that rocked the Black Church and sparked discussion, criticism, ridicule and just about every other emotion you can get when a man of the cloth is accused of such things. He’s maintained his innocence since the story broke, famously 
proclaimed to be David in this battle against the Goliath and kept preaching to the choir, it was business as usual at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church.
Well, not quite…
It seems like the membership has slipped a little, the offering has been coming up short, staff was let go and they were a little short on a bill or two. But he kept pushing on like the great men of the Bible and even planned to expand his ministry to a satellite church in Birmingham. This was all previous to the settlement reached two weeks ago with the young men that accused the Bishop of sexual misconduct. In the ensuing weeks, he’s lost an associate pastor, more members and the criticism has ramped up again in the media and in the community.
What happened to vigorously defending yourself? What happened to the determination of David? David had a slingshot, not millions to resign on, like $15 of them to make something go away. I’ve read where folks have said that the settlement wasn’t an admission of guilt, but more of a cost to get past this scandal. I don’t know about you, but if Truth is on my side, I want my day in court so it can be heard. But in the words of that great Ghetto philosopher Slim Charles, “If it’s a lie, we fight on that lie,” and the fight in this case ended with $15 million that seems to be keeping everyone involved quiet.
Everyone involved…not Creflo Dollar.
Dollar, another high-powered preacher has “ordered” all of Long’s fleeing flock to return to his church and to stand by the embattled pastor, saying something about a “wreck” and being judgmental and some other stuff. What? Nigga please! I would’ve been up and out of that church the day I heard a rumor about the preacher and some boys. The problem isn’t the homosexuality, it’s the hypocrisy and the infidelity, his wife is rumored to have stepped off too. Will Creflo command her return too?I don’t know about you, but I tend to hold pastors, preachers, reverends, ministers to a certain standard. I know they are simply man and woman, but I trust in their commitment to faith and their ability to lead me in the Word. As a member of the church, I expect more of the pastor than I do a deacon, a teacher, a politician or a janitor, because he has pledged to teach the Word of God and be not worldly in his ways. Maybe I’m asking too much, maybe the departing members of New Birth expected too much, or maybe Creflo Dollar’s requirements for virtue and piety have been skewed by his gospel of prosperity?
Yeah, I went there!
It’s one thing to know that your hard earned money is fueling the jet or paying the note on that Bentley, but now you’re paying his hush money? I think that’s where people drew the line, they wanted to stand by him and prayed the allegations were false, but when word of the settlement hit, that means there’s an element of truth in somebody’s lies and that’s a little too much for most people to continue to support. That is, until the tearful confession of some indiscretion, the plea for forgiveness and the prayer for help through his tough time. It’s gonna come, we’ve seen this movie before; defiant in the face of accusation, unbowed by criticism, but sobbing under the light of the truth.
Somewhere in all of this the lives of four young men have been potentially irreparably damaged and there’s a woman living with the pain of learning that her husband may have been unfaithful by using his position and the Word of God. I’m sorry Mr. Dollar, but that’s enough for me, him, her, him and her with the big hat to step off.
If not…let this be the reason!
Staff Writer; Al-Lateef Farmer
More of his work can be found over at: The World According to Teef.
Also feel free to connect via Twitter; http://twitter.com/wrldacrdng2Teef
