After Creflo Dollar Chooses Long Over Alleged Teen Victims, It's Past Time to Check Our Spiritual Leadership
“But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.” — 1 Corinthians 5:11
When I saw this video yesterday of Atlanta megachurch pastor Creflo Dollar admonishing the members of Bishop Eddie Long’s church, New Birth Missionary Baptist, for leaving the church after Long settled the homosexual misconduct lawsuit against him (for tens of millions of dollars, allegedly), my stomach turned. Dollar tells his congregation that Long is his “friend,” and his “friend” just had a “wreck,” and we “Negroes” just left his poor friend to twist in the wind. Long, of course, was accused of abusing his role as pastor, using money and lavish trips and gifts, in order to coerce young men into sexual activity with him, as a way for the young men to be closer to God.
The accusations against Long are beyond deplorable. The fact that he settled this lawsuit instead of fighting to save his good name, like he promised his congregation he would — and refuses to release any details about the settlement — is enough to make anyone suspicious. As CNN’s Roland Martin wrote, “No, Bishop Long,” we cannot just move on with no explanation and pretend like none of this happened.
But what is just as sickening is the fact that Dollar would admonish people for not sticking by Long (like a good, abused wife should do). Not only is this perverted thinking, it is not biblical. Here is what the BIBLE says about what one needs to be a bishop:
1 Timothy 3
1This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.
2A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
3Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;
4One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
5(For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)
6Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.
7Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
Bishop Long has to go. By settling the lawsuit without explanation and leaving no “good report of them who are without” one, he no longer qualifies to be a bishop or lead a flock. Instead, he serves as a stumbling block to those who do not yet know Christ.
I have no authority to say that Long will never again qualify to preach or be a pastor, as Dollar suggests that Long’s critics are saying. I’m saying Long needs to step down and seek serious therapy and spiritual counseling for whatever is ailing him. He should submit to the authority of another pastor, or the Baptist convention — someone — who can be in prayer with him and discern whether he is spiritually able to return to the pulpit. He should not return to the pulpit a minute before that.
This is not an issue of forgiveness — all have sinned, all will continue to sin every day. This is about being in a trusted leadership position over the spiritual lives of other people. As James 3:1 says: “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” I think it’s safe to say that child abusers should be among those “many” who should not become teachers. But beyond that, there should be an understanding amongst preachers and their congregants that pastors/preachers/spiritual authority figures are held to a higher standard — because THEY HAVE TO BE! And with that higher standard, comes higher consequences when you fall as extremely short as Long is alleged to have fallen.
This is not a “wreck.” These are lives of young men whose spiritual life may very well be derailed because of the extreme alleged violations of their trusted pastor. These are single mothers who trusted their sons to this pastor, hoping he would be a good father figure for them. These are people all over the world who are looking on, wanting to know who Christ is and being turned off by the outrageous example being set by Long and Dollar. This is disgusting.
Christians, we need to wake-up! Not only do we need to call out other people’s leaders, like Long, when this sort of abuse is alleged, but we also need to check our own spiritual leadership, as well! How will we know if our leaders are not practicing what is biblical if we are not reading the Bible for ourselves? Though we shouldn’t need the Bible to tell us that abuse is wrong, we seem to need it to tell us that there are pastors out there who are not following God’s will. (Lamentations 2:14; Ezekiel 22:28; Matthew 7:15-23; Matthew 24:24)
We serve God, we serve CHRIST, and our allegiance is to Him, not any pastors who are acting of their own accord and operating outside of the will of God. Read your Bible! Develop your spiritual relationship with Christ for yourself so that it won’t be shaken when your human pastor messes up, or worse, does something as despicable as Long is alleged to have done and Dollar is doing. Pray for discernment so that you may never be caught sitting under unholy leadership.
Shame on Long for settling if he is innocent and remaining in the pulpit if he’s not; shame on Dollar for admitting Long was wrong but excusing it as just a “wreck” that should be defended; and shame on every member of Dollar’s church who applauded and agreed with him as he spoke. We’ve got to do better. The Kingdom of God is at hand.
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Couldn’t have said it better myself! Thanks for sharing.
Amen, Creflo Dollar is wrong, these Pastor are bring shame to Christ name
So then what do we do about Dollar? Is he the only one? I’m not surprised at all by his backing of Long, but then I’ve never been a fan of megachurches. If it were me, I’d say the concept of the megachurch is the problem (not with Long’s actions, but with the type of support Long has received from Dollar). I could say that is an argument for another day, but I’m not quite sure it is. Relationships with God are supposed to be personal, are they not? Jus how personal can you be when influenced by these large congregations?
At the same time you shame Long and Dollar, let’s applaud those individuals strong and wise enough to walk away as they did. Here’s to hoping they can find their spiritual guidance elsewhere, and that all is not lost. If it were me, I’d feel betrayed, which would lead to confusion about where I’ve been seeking leadership for the past, however many years. Any words for them?
Thanks for reading and commenting, guys!! And great point, Bengemin, the fleeing members should be applauded for walking away. I’m praying the same, that they find true spiritual guidance elsewhere. I think the words I have for all Christians are especially for these members, as well: “Read your Bible! Develop your spiritual relationship with Christ for yourself so that it won’t be shaken when your human pastor messes up, or worse, does something as despicable as Long is alleged to have done and Dollar is doing. Pray for discernment so that you may never be caught sitting under unholy leadership.”
There’s definitely a sense of betrayal that these people are feeling, and it’s also a sign of what we all should be praying for: that God would prick our hearts when we are in environments that we shouldn’t be in or submitting to leadership that is unholy. Our spirits ought to be sensitive enough to God to know when something in the water aint clean. No church or pastor will ever be perfect. I’ve had my feelings hurt by quite a few pastors in just the past two years. But I know that their leadership is holy and God-ordained. And the moment it is no longer, I pray that God will let me know so I can be up out!
But definitely we should pray for these fleeing members — as well as onlookers who seek to know more about Christ –that they would not be discouraged by Dollar’s no-sense-making self or Long’s alleged atrocities.
Amen Amen Amen and Amen again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@ District Diva I was in that service and the sermon was not in defense of Bishop Long. I get annoyed when people like you who don’t go my church make assumptions based on clip snippets put out by bloggers who make a living lying. The sermon was on what happens when Christians sin and he discussed what happens when Pastors fall into sin. Yes he alluded to Bishops troubles and the perspective he gave is not incorrect. Not if you read your bible and not cherry pick scripture to condemn people. Get the whole sermon before you judge. Pastor Dollar was saying that the members should be there to support a Pastor who has fallen the same way the Pastor has supported the members who have had issues and fallen. Any sexual abuse is wrong and disgusting. Nobody is saying that is right but the blood of Jesus was shed for a reason. So, we get self-rigteous and judgemental and we negelct to do our due diligence and we make assumptions. You and everybody on these blogs will be judged for how you present things to people. You and many other bloggers have taken a portion of the sermon and blown it completely out of context and I would know since I was there physically and heard everything the brother said.
In cases like this settlements are not unusual. I wanted to see him fight it in court but he decided otherwise. New Birth has a board and Elders. Bishop Long is under spiritual authority. Believe me he would not be there if they didn’t want him to be. Those churches are not dictatorships. There are checks and balances based on the word of God. Why don’t you do some homework baby.
Personally I think Bishop needs to talk to the sheep God sent him and have a family meeting maybe take a year off but thats not my choice to make. He can be restored. My responsibility as a Christian is to pray for him and the boys and believe God for the best. I am in no position to judge or be critical about a situation I know only through the media.
I see you like to quote scripture. In 1 Corinthians Paul was talking about a man in the church who had not repented. I don’t know whether Bishop has repented or not. What has happened to New Birth is sad all around. I mean we are so busy concerned about his front porch when I got enough mess on my own porch.1 Timothy says that a Bishop should be blameless. It doesn’t say he won’t be. In the event that he is not he has an advocate with the father:
1 John 2
1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world
Oh and you said that what he said was perverted okay then what does Galatians mean when it says:
Galatians 6: 1 says:
1Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
And you sit here and dispense shame on folks. What! Shame on your for not reading the Bible. Hey I guess your life is squeaky clean. Shame! All you Bible thumpers and your self-righteous indignation. The apostle Paul who you quote had a dubious past before he fell on the road to Damascus. The people God uses in the Bible had troubling lives. I am not going to get into some online argument with you because its just a waste of time. I ask that you be responsible and consider the full truth before you run with half the truth.
Stop defending the wicked, the bible is clear on this behaviour… stop trying to twist it to protect these pastors who preach for filthy lucre, God is exposing them and people like you who sit in their pulpits and make idols out of them …enough said.
Thanks for reading and commenting, TJ. I respect your right to your own opinion and to choose to stay under Creflo Dollar’s leadership. Let’s be clear: this is not an issue about sin or forgiveness, as I stated in my blog post. For one to be forgiven, the sin has to be ADMITTED, ACKNOWLEDGED, and there must be repentance. Eddie Long has never admitted guilt — nor innocence, for that matter. Those are just facts. Secondly, you say that Long is under the authority of Bishops, but according to this report, Long is in fact the CEO of New Birth and no one has the authority to remove him from “his” church: http://imspeakingtruth.wordpress.com/2010/10/05/eddie-long-is-a-ceo-not-a-bishop/. Third, you say that ” I was in that service and the sermon was not in defense of Bishop Long” but then you turn around and acknowledge the fact that when Dollar says “that’s my friend,” “you need to go back” to his church, he just “had a wreck,” that he “alluded to the Bishop’s troubles.” I would argue, then, that we only disagree on what it means to “defend” Long. I didn’t listen to the whole sermon — Creflo is not my cup of tea and never has been — but this portion of the sermon is clearly about his “friend” Long, and he is clearly scolding members who no longer want to be under Long’s leadership.
If you read my post and the scriptures I cite about the requirements for spiritual leadership and you still disagree, you disagree with the Word, not with me, and that’s your choice (though I do find it odd for any Christian to call another Christian who is relying on scripture to come to a conclusion as a “Bible thumper” as if that’s some sort of insult! LOL.)
Again, the scriptures you quote all refer to someone who has acknowledged sin and has repented of it. As soon as Long does that, I am sure there will be plenty of folks at the ready to wrap their arms around him, pray for him, and get him back on track, though someone with a history of abusing teenss should probably never be trusted to be around teens again. As another blogger aptly put it, “If my kid was on his soccer team, he’d never play soccer for that man again.” It’s just that simple. The Bible says to guard your heart from evil and sin. Your soul is no different. If you’ve prayed about it and God is telling you your soul is not in danger sitting up under Dollar or Long, then that’s between you and God, and I wish you blessings.
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