Wolves in Sheep's Clothing
Ranked #6,718 in Culture & Society, #141,174 overall
Eddie Long
Before I get started I will say that it's never good to kick a man when he's down. Generally, I'm the type of guy who cheers for the underdog. When Michael Vick was sentenced to two years incarceration for dog fighting, I told everyone that would listen, I rooted for Mike when he was up and I'll support him now that he's down." That's why I am thrilled to see Vick's maturation and the success he is having as the starting quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles. Hopefully, in the next couple of years, he will be a Superbowl winning QB.
I stated that to say this: this Lens is not about tearing down the beleaguered and embattled Eddie Long of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta, or the other televangelist listed. I put this composition together to get feedback and to provoke rational thinking from the good "Christian folk" who continue to support ministers who boldly misuse their flock while hiding behind the "good book."
You might ask, "why support Michael Vick, and not Eddie Long, Earl Paulk, Creflo?" My response: I was never a fan of the televangelist or "prosperity preacher." This new "prosperity" tag is just a cool way to take your money. You would probably come out better playing the lotto.
The Sunday after Coretta King's funeral is the only time I attended New Birth. I was hoping to hear Rev. Bernice King speak or preach, in light of her mother's passing. She didn't, so I unfortunately had the 'opportunity' to hear Long preach in his trademark "muscle shirt." In fairness to Mr. Long and the devoted members of his mega-church, I rarely attend any church that falls under organized religion. That's the primary reason I didn't support Mr. Long while he duped hundreds of thousands of people. Now that he's dealing with the consequences of his whore-mongering, I am still not a fan. I'm sure he and his plethora of supporters could care less. However, keep in mind, this man was considered one of the most powerful black men, not only in Atlanta but throughout the United States. The fact that he continues to hold the position is rather appalling.
Eddie Long has been outspoken in the past, and has led marches to deny certain rights and liberties of Gay Americans. His most recent sex scandal settlement proves that he is a closet homosexual. Otherwise, he would have nothing to hide or cover-up and would have vehemently fought the allegations. I'm quite certain he won't be leading any more anti-gay rallys.
The pseudo spiritual leader has used his clout to coerce voters and also to influence or deter black men from attending the "Million Man March" in 1995. I'm no Muslim and not necessarily a supporter of Louis Farrakhan, but the March was about black men coming together and atoning for their misdeeds and trying to become better men, better fathers, better people. Eddie Long wrote a letter to his congregation urging his members not to attend primarily because Muslims believe Jesus to be a prophet and not the "Son of God" as Christians do. The Million Man March was not about "religion," it was about Black men trying to do better. It is my belief that he wrote the letter to let his constituents and fellow televangelist know his stance so he would not lose any potential financing. Otherwise, why should he care whether his members attended or not. It's not like he was ministering to a bunch of kids, these were grown people with their own minds. They should decide whether to attend or not.
What is astounding to me and one of the many questions I have is, why are you still financially supporting this individual? He has blatantly used your "tithes and offerings" to not only finance his trips and expenses that he spent on dining the four young men (and there has to be more than those four, the others have chosen to remain silent for various reasons), but also to assist with the mediation settlement? And don't feed me this garbage about him "having his own business" and "not accepting a salary." PLEASE. Whatever business he has or had spawned directly from the profits of the church!
Please don't say, "I give my 10% to God, what he does with it is not my concern." This response is tantamount to saying, "I give my 16-year-old child a weekly allowance," (he promptly goes out and does something either illicit, immoral, or illegal with the money) "what he does with it is not my concern." It is your concern, just like it should be your concern about where your 10% is going. If you are still attending the church, you are still supporting Eddie's clandestine affairs with young men. How do I know that he will continue to sexually manipulate young men? If an alcoholic, drug abuser, or wife-beater, never admits to his problem, and does not believe he has a problem at all, he cannot and will not be cured. You think Eddie will go to therapy?
The churches insurance ultimately paid the brunt of the settlement but if you're a paying/tithing member you are definitely a financial backer and an investor in New Birth Missionary Baptist Church.
I stated that to say this: this Lens is not about tearing down the beleaguered and embattled Eddie Long of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta, or the other televangelist listed. I put this composition together to get feedback and to provoke rational thinking from the good "Christian folk" who continue to support ministers who boldly misuse their flock while hiding behind the "good book."
You might ask, "why support Michael Vick, and not Eddie Long, Earl Paulk, Creflo?" My response: I was never a fan of the televangelist or "prosperity preacher." This new "prosperity" tag is just a cool way to take your money. You would probably come out better playing the lotto.
The Sunday after Coretta King's funeral is the only time I attended New Birth. I was hoping to hear Rev. Bernice King speak or preach, in light of her mother's passing. She didn't, so I unfortunately had the 'opportunity' to hear Long preach in his trademark "muscle shirt." In fairness to Mr. Long and the devoted members of his mega-church, I rarely attend any church that falls under organized religion. That's the primary reason I didn't support Mr. Long while he duped hundreds of thousands of people. Now that he's dealing with the consequences of his whore-mongering, I am still not a fan. I'm sure he and his plethora of supporters could care less. However, keep in mind, this man was considered one of the most powerful black men, not only in Atlanta but throughout the United States. The fact that he continues to hold the position is rather appalling.
Eddie Long has been outspoken in the past, and has led marches to deny certain rights and liberties of Gay Americans. His most recent sex scandal settlement proves that he is a closet homosexual. Otherwise, he would have nothing to hide or cover-up and would have vehemently fought the allegations. I'm quite certain he won't be leading any more anti-gay rallys.
The pseudo spiritual leader has used his clout to coerce voters and also to influence or deter black men from attending the "Million Man March" in 1995. I'm no Muslim and not necessarily a supporter of Louis Farrakhan, but the March was about black men coming together and atoning for their misdeeds and trying to become better men, better fathers, better people. Eddie Long wrote a letter to his congregation urging his members not to attend primarily because Muslims believe Jesus to be a prophet and not the "Son of God" as Christians do. The Million Man March was not about "religion," it was about Black men trying to do better. It is my belief that he wrote the letter to let his constituents and fellow televangelist know his stance so he would not lose any potential financing. Otherwise, why should he care whether his members attended or not. It's not like he was ministering to a bunch of kids, these were grown people with their own minds. They should decide whether to attend or not.
What is astounding to me and one of the many questions I have is, why are you still financially supporting this individual? He has blatantly used your "tithes and offerings" to not only finance his trips and expenses that he spent on dining the four young men (and there has to be more than those four, the others have chosen to remain silent for various reasons), but also to assist with the mediation settlement? And don't feed me this garbage about him "having his own business" and "not accepting a salary." PLEASE. Whatever business he has or had spawned directly from the profits of the church!
Please don't say, "I give my 10% to God, what he does with it is not my concern." This response is tantamount to saying, "I give my 16-year-old child a weekly allowance," (he promptly goes out and does something either illicit, immoral, or illegal with the money) "what he does with it is not my concern." It is your concern, just like it should be your concern about where your 10% is going. If you are still attending the church, you are still supporting Eddie's clandestine affairs with young men. How do I know that he will continue to sexually manipulate young men? If an alcoholic, drug abuser, or wife-beater, never admits to his problem, and does not believe he has a problem at all, he cannot and will not be cured. You think Eddie will go to therapy?
The churches insurance ultimately paid the brunt of the settlement but if you're a paying/tithing member you are definitely a financial backer and an investor in New Birth Missionary Baptist Church.
Contents at a Glance
Earl Paulk
Cathedral of the Holy Spirit
If you have noticed, I didn't preface Eddie Long's name with "Bishop" nor will I start the late Earl Paulk's epithet with the word. To do so would not do any justice to the few legitimate Bishops in the world.Earl Paulk co-founded the Cathedral at Chapel Hill in Decatur and helped grow it to a peak membership of about 10,000 in the early 1990s. Under Paulk's leadership, the church endured scandal after scandal with the coup de gras coming a couple of years before Earl's "timely" demise.
Many members left the Cathedral in the early 1990s when the church faced another sex scandal involving several married male members of the Paulk family, including the bishop and his brother, the Rev. Don Paulk.
"Six women who said they were sexually involved with clergy members of the Paulk clan said the ministers justified the relationships because they were "special" or "kingdom" relationships between mature Christians, not bound by earthly interpretations of morality and marriage."
"In late 1992 and 1993, the church's weekly offerings plummeted from about $170,000 to $70,000, and it laid off large numbers of staff." from apologeticsindex.org
My ex-wife and I were married in the chapel at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in October of 1993. We had recently joined the church. After reading the above information on "apologeticsindex.org" I now understand why "The Bishop" appeared to be so adamant about "tithing" and "faith offerings." He would also make an open plea to the remaining Caucasian members of the church not to "take flight" as so many others had. During his pleas he often talked about "marching with Dr. King." I see now it was all part of his hoax, all in an attempt to recoup the money he was losing. "Oh what a tangled web we weave .."
Not to belittle or make light of his death, but it's often stated that a person met and "untimely demise." I can almost guarantee you that Mr. Paulk was glad to check out when he did. He was 81 years of age and about to face criminal charges, and numerous embarrassing accusations from a plethora of women, including at least one family member. Of course he will still not dodge the consequences of his actions because "reaping what you sow" extends from one lifetime to the next.
Rather than tell you the story of Earl Paulk, click on each picture in the gallery below and you will get a glimpse of his evil deeds.
Sheep's Clothing Gallery
Earl Paulk, founding pastor of Cathedral of the Holy Spirit is shown in a 1992 photo. Paulk died March 29, 2009.
Sheep's Clothing Videos
"By their fruits"
The men and women mentioned in this article, aka "Bishops," are a few examples of a long list of people who have wore the clothing of a sheep but are straight up wolves. You can quote from the bible all you want. "All have sinned and come short of God's glory," and pull myriad other scriptures out of the hat. However, what many fail to realize is that these people held and still hold positions of leadership. And not the kind of ephemeral leadership of say, a high school principal, or even the governor of a state, but are leaders of a multitude of spiritually gullible people. Not only do these twisted individuals have congregations in the thousands but have a television ministry that reaches millions.
We actually hold athletes, especially black athletes, to a higher standard than we do our ministers/bishops. Micheal Vick went to prison for a little under 2 years for dog fighting. Plaxico Burress was just released from a 20-month stint in prison for shooting himself in the leg. While on the other hand, Earl Paulk misled, lied, cheated, and basically committed fraud for several decades before the roof began to cave in on him, and even if he would have lived through it, he would have taken the same road that Eddie Long just took. He would have mediated and bought his way out of it, WITH YOUR MONEY! How tragic is that? WAKE UP PEOPLE! GEESH!
You are blindly following someone because they have somehow motivated and manipulated you to give 10% of your earnings without questioning what they do and how they conduct their lives. And they are using the bible to justify their position just as the bible was once used to justify slavery.
Here's a few quotes on religion:
"Churches were established because of humanities fear of the weather, the dark, the plague, the eclipse, and all manner of other things that are now easily explained. When evil men realized the vast profits associated with widespread fear of the unknown, humanity was compelled, on pain of extremely agonizing consequences, to pay the exorbitant tithes and taxes that raised the imposing edifices of religion." ~ Christopher Hitchens
"Explaining the various thought processes that place people in a certain religion is not intended to serve as proof that the belief system is wrong, but rather to demonstrate that devout observation of the system is typically void of rational and independent thought. In other words, the religion was offered, accepted, practiced, justified, and passed on; but it was not seriously questioned. This is not a coincidence." ~ Jason Long, PhD
"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit." ~ Thomas Paine
We actually hold athletes, especially black athletes, to a higher standard than we do our ministers/bishops. Micheal Vick went to prison for a little under 2 years for dog fighting. Plaxico Burress was just released from a 20-month stint in prison for shooting himself in the leg. While on the other hand, Earl Paulk misled, lied, cheated, and basically committed fraud for several decades before the roof began to cave in on him, and even if he would have lived through it, he would have taken the same road that Eddie Long just took. He would have mediated and bought his way out of it, WITH YOUR MONEY! How tragic is that? WAKE UP PEOPLE! GEESH!
You are blindly following someone because they have somehow motivated and manipulated you to give 10% of your earnings without questioning what they do and how they conduct their lives. And they are using the bible to justify their position just as the bible was once used to justify slavery.
Here's a few quotes on religion:
"Explaining the various thought processes that place people in a certain religion is not intended to serve as proof that the belief system is wrong, but rather to demonstrate that devout observation of the system is typically void of rational and independent thought. In other words, the religion was offered, accepted, practiced, justified, and passed on; but it was not seriously questioned. This is not a coincidence." ~ Jason Long, PhD
"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit." ~ Thomas Paine
Televangelist Investigation
launched by Senator Charles Grassley
Remember Sen. Charles Grassley's investigation, or attempted investigation, into the financial records of Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, Eddie Long, Joyce Meyer and Paula White?They were initially required to submit financial records to the Senate Finance Committee by December 6th 2007.
Here's how that turned out:
- Two of the targeted televangelists - Joyce Meyer, based in Missouri and Benny Hinn, based in California - told Grassley that they have made changes in how they govern their ministries or set compensation.
- Four of the televangelists would not provide full information about their finances. Some questioned whether Grassley had the authority to conduct the investigation. Others accused him of violating their religious freedom.
- Grassley's staff said in the report that they did not issue subpoenas to further the investigation because witnesses feared retaliation if they spoke out publicly and the Finance Committee did not have the time or resources to enforce the subpoenas.
The investigation went no where because religion and politics are bedfellows. Before or shortly after Grassley's tenure I'm fairly certain he received a nice pay off for the investigation to neatly go away.
"Profits from War and Religion go hand-in-hand and were designed specifically for the purposes of power, manipulation, and control. God would not do that to us."
~ taskeinc
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Sheep's Clothing Links
- BishopAccountability.org
- Facing major surgery and embroiled in his fourth sex scandal, Bishop Earl Paulk stood confidently in the pulpit of his 7,700-seat south DeKalb cathedral in late October. Only a few hundred worshippers occupied the maroon seats on the main floor of Chapel Hill Harvester Church. Sections of the semi-circular sanctuary were roped off so congregants would sit near the front for the television cameras. The ceiling rose majestically over two almost empty balconies.
- Church founded by Earl Paulk sells for $17.6M
- The sprawling south DeKalb church sold for $17.6 million, according to CNL Specialty Real Estate, which handled the deal. Built by Bishop Earl Pearly Paulk Jr., who later lost his congregation after a sex scandal, the property was put on the market last year for $24.5 million.
- Earl Paulk Exposed by CNN
- The most recent lawsuit filed against TBN regular Earl Paulk alleging sexual misconduct was featured on CNN's Paula Zahn Now program on January 19, 2006.
- Eddie Long case officially dismissed
- Documents were filed late Friday in DeKalb County State Court confirming the sexual misconduct case against Bishop Eddie Long has been dismissed "with prejudice," one day after it was revealed a settlement had been reached.
The accusations made against Long by Anthony Flagg, Spencer LeGrande, Jamal Parris and Maurice Robinson alleged that the bishop used his influence, trips, gifts and jobs to coerce them into sexual relations. - Long Settlement Allegedly Cost $15 Million
- The Bishop Eddie Long settlement ended in a $15 million payment, claims reports. A Bishop Eddie Long settlement was confirmed to news by New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Atlanta this month. But no terms of the settlement were released to news pursuant to a confidentiality agreement. Now, however, a series of news reports claim the settlement gave Spencer LeGrande, Jamal Parris, Anthony Flagg and Maurice Robinson a combined amount of $15 million (before attorneys' fees).
- Parishioner sues pastor, saying she was molested
- A lifelong member of one of Atlanta's largest and best known churches, the Cathedral at Chapel Hill, filed suit this week charging founding pastor Bishop Earl Paulk with child molestation.
- Warren Jeffs: Prosecution Plays Tapes of Defendant Instructing 14-Year-Old 'Spiritual Wife' On Sex
- Prosecutors played two audio recordings Tuesday of a polygamist sect leader instructing his 14-year-old "spiritual wife" and several other young women on how to please him sexually, and thus win favor with God.
- Warren Jeffs, Polygamist Leader, Convicted In Child Sexual Assault Case
- A Texas jury convicted polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs of child sexual assault Thursday in a case stemming from two young followers he took as brides in what his church calls "spiritual marriages."
Mischievous Minister Mishaps
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Earlystart
Sep 9, 2011 @ 5:42 pm | delete
- A great collection. As a muslim I do not support institutionalized religions. I support the teaching that comes from the Quran and previous scriptures, like the Gospel and the Torah.
Religion is one of the most abused and misused things in human history - this fact, however, does not in any bit change the fact that Allah's teaching is true and the best guidance for human kind. See some of my lenses on the subject.
http://www.squidoo.com/god-in-islam
http://www.squidoo.com/mercy
http://www.squidoo.com/islam-explained
By their fruits you shall know: http://www.squidoo.com/1001-inventions
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taskeinc
Sep 10, 2011 @ 8:03 am | delete
- This author does not subscribe to any organized religion, including Islam.. all are divisive and Islam certainly has it's share of fundamentalist followers that have taken part in the deception/destruction and misleading of humankind, in the name of God. We all came from the same place and we'll return to the same place despite our personal beliefs or affiliations in life.
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by taskeinc
Barry Shaw, founder of Work Home Union, over 25 years in Information Technology, web/graphics design, network marketing. WHU aka taskeinc has written... more »
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