Tag: Church

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Eddie Long’s New Birth Christian Academy Closes

The ReadyWriter

Bishop Eddie Long’s New Birth Christian Academy is closing its doors after 18 years in operation. I guess this all apart of “God’s operation and the Eddie Long empire shut down”.

The private school’s 200 students learned about the school closing in a letter sent home to their parents and signed by Carlton Donald, the board’s vice-chair.

The school’s tuition ranged from $5,253 for New Birth members to $6,198 for non-members, according to the Atlanta Journal.

The school’s closing is just another step toward the dismantling of Eddie Long’s church empire in Atlanta. The church has laid off staff after losing hundreds of members since Long settled a sexual coercion case filed against him by four former New Birth members who were heterosexual and gay.

Additionally, Bernice King, daughter of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, stepped down as a church elder in May. And 10 former parishioners filed a $1 million lawsuit against Long and the church alleging they lost their life savings in an investment scam.

Long, who temporally stepped down as the church’s senior pastor this month, reportedly used the school as a hunting ground for young males to satisfy his sexual appetite. In court documents, Long was accused of coercing the young men with Bible passages and plying at least two of the boys with cash, trips, gifts and cars to loosen their sexual inhibitions.

Earlier this month, the embattled preacher’s long-suffering wife, Vanessa, announced she was filing for divorce.

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“The Eddie Long ‘Sex Case’ In Mediation”

The ReadyWriter

 

After all of that talk about…

“I’m gone fight this thing” and

“I’m NOT the person being portrayed in the media” and

“I feel like David against Goliath, I’ve got five rocks and I haven’t thrown one yet”.  

Now Bishop Eddie Long and his accusers have agreed to a mediation instead of a public trial.

Mediator Ellen Malow states “Almost all mediation when the case settles neither side gives any admission of guilt or responsibility, this is standard in any settlement agreement.”

Some legal experts say this looks like an admission of guilt while others say this is not the case. I think so, anything can be decided on when a case is in mediation (i.e., no future book deals, a gag order, sealed records and files, a substantial amount of money) and the list can go on.

Long is being sued by four young men who say’s he used his power and influence to coerce them into a sexual relationship.

He denied the claims in a court filing even though he admitted to taking them on trips, giving them gifts and sometimes sharing hotel rooms.

If a settlement agreement is reached in a private mediation, we may never know the outcome of this case.

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“Bishop Long Not Settling/Trial Goes To Court”

The ReadyWriter

“We were in court last week, discovery is happening right now. We’re setting up deposition dates, so the litigation is proceeding along,” said BJ Bernstein.

Bernstein is the lawyer representing four young men, who filed lawsuits against Bishop Eddie Long, and told Channel 2 Action News the lawsuits are moving forward, and she will soon begin taking depositions.

“We’re talking about getting forward and going through with the case and planning for deadlines set by the judge” Bernstein added.

Bernstein would not comment on any other pending lawsuits, or additional victims.

Anthony Flagg, Jamal Parris, Maurice Robinson and Spencer LeGrande filed civil suits against Long, accusing him of using his spiritual authority to coerce the young men into sexual relationships.

Long has since denied the claims in court documents, but admitted serving as a mentor to the men.

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“Neptune Pastor Admits 3-Some’s in Dirty Sex”

The ReadyWriter

Is he a hypocrite or what?

Not even a WEEK after imposing an ultimatum on his church leaders to delete their Facebook accounts, it has been revealed that Pastor Cedric Miller, of Living Word Christian Fellowship Church in Neptune, New Jersey, and his wife have had multiple instances of sex with a church assistant and his wife.

In a court testimony Miller gave in April 2003, he said his wife had an extramarital affair with the church assistant. Miller said he participated in many of the sexual encounters and said the assistant’s wife was sometimes present as well.

Miller said the dalliances — which occurred in his (Millers’ home) — sometimes took place during Thursday night Bible study meetings and Sundays after church. But the minister said the encounters “came to a crashing halt” when several women in the church accused the assistant of having sex with them too.

Pastor Miller had no idea that when he sparked media debate and attention with his message, inquiring minds and critics alike, were surely going to check his profile for all of the dirty little skeletons in his closet. 

Maybe next time, he should make sure he is the, “he without sin” before he cast his first stone.

Thanks to Ceo Blog reader “SlickRick” for ensuring an update to this story.

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“NJ Pastor Tell Married Members… To Ditch”

The ReadyWriter

Facebook!

Thou shalt not commit adultery. And thou also shalt not use Facebook.!!!

The Rev. Cedric Miller said 20 couples among the 1,100 members of his Living Word Christian Fellowship Church have run into marital trouble over the last six months after a spouse connected with an ex-flame over Facebook.

The Neptune, NJ pastor, is ordering about 50 married church officials to delete their accounts with the social-networking site or resign from their leadership positions.

At first he had asked, his married congregants to share their login information with their spouses, and now plans to suggest they give up Facebook altogether.

“I’ve been in extended counseling with couples with marital problems because of Facebook for the last year and a half,” he said. “What happens is someone from yesterday surfaces, it leads to conversations and there have been physical meet-ups. The temptation is just too great.”

On Sunday, he plans to “strongly suggest” that all married people stop using Facebook, lest they endanger their marriages.

“The advice will go to the entire church,” he said. “They’ll hear what I’m asking of my church leadership. I won’t mandate it for the entire congregation, but I hope people will follow my advice.”

Sorry people but I agree with Pastor Miller, people use Facebook as an opportunity to invite others to social gatherings, to share Scripture or talk about what went on at church, for businesses., etc. and those are all positive and worthwhile things but the downside can be just too great.

It’s an individual’s choice and an individual’s decision but a useful tool can become a trick of the enemy.

Oh and the picture represents what the Bible says: “if something causes you to sin, whether it’s your eye, hand or foot, you should cut it off, because it’s better to be blind or lame and going to Heaven than to have all your parts and end up going to Hell”