Controversial megachurch pastor Eddie Long dies at 63

[Cooley Hurd]

Source: CNN.com

(CNN)Bishop Eddie Long, the controversial Georgia-based head of one of the nation's largest megachurches, has died, according to the church he presided over. He was 63.

Long died after a battle with an aggressive form of cancer, according to a statement by the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church.
"Bishop Long was known as one of the most influential faith leaders in the world," the church said in the statement. "He stood strong as a Kingdom Builder, pioneering leader, and revolutionary mind changer."
"Although his transition leaves a void for those of us who loved him dearly, we can celebrate and be happy for him, knowing he's at peace," his wife Vanessa Long said in the statement.
At its peak New Birth Missionary Baptist Church had about 25,000 members.
But Long had a controversial past. In 2010, he and his church settled a lawsuit filed by four young men who accused him of pressuring them into sexual relationships while they were teenagers and members of his congregation.
Long, who preached passionately against homosexuality for years, denied the allegations.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/15/us/bishop-eddie-long-dead/index.html?adkey=bn

[hrmjustin]

1. When he had a ceremony basically anointing him king I knew he was in legal trouble.

[brooklynite]

2. Must not have had enough faith...

NewsMax: Science Proves the Healing Power of Prayer

[dalton99a]

3. Countless will die without money or healthcare

[tenorly]

4. Praise the Lawd! (and pass the loot).

Like so many of his kind, he was LONG on hyprocrisy; short on God.

[Hortensis]

10. Yup. A relative by marriage attended one, perhaps this one,

can't remember, and was caught up briefly in all the entertaining groups and events, but one Sunday she noticed that she couldn't remember hearing "Jesus" mentioned the entire 6 hours or so she was there--and finally started comparing Mega-Socialization Center to what she actually wanted out of church. Some months later she tried replacing it with a Christian dating service.

[Paladin]

5. Is there an Eddie Long Jr., ready to step in and guide this money-making enterprise?

That seems to be the way with these types (Graham, Hagee, Osteen, et al) . I'm no biblical expert, but I don't recall Jesus commanding the establishment of big-money churches, or that such churches should be rights of inheritance.....

[TexasBushwhacker]

8. 4 sons and his widow n/t

[LiberalFighter]

6. Good riddance. Hopefully the church is destroyed.

[Crash2Parties]

7. A little more context:

(from Joe.my.god )

In 2010, Long was accused of coercion by four male members of his congregation. The men, now in their 20s, filed separate civil lawsuits. They each told similar stories of Long approaching them in their early teens, indoctrinating them as spiritual sons and offering them money, cars and trips to exotic locations. When all young men turned 17 or 18, they claimed, their relationships with Bishop Long turned sexual. The lawsuits were eventually settled. Long regularly railed against homosexuality and LGBT rights in his sermons. In addition to the sex-related lawsuits, in 2013 more than a dozen parishioners sued Long for allegedly luring them into a Ponzi scheme that left than [sic] penniless.

[Hortensis]

9. He preached prosperity gospel and certainly developed prosperity,

though somehow I doubt he got it by singing passionately to god of his adoration each Sunday and then listing what he wanted for the "pro quo."

I've attended a couple of sermons at a couple of prosperity ministries, and it's easy to see how people are going so wrong. Many deserve better, truly want to serve god, but nothing about understanding even modestly complex moral issues is ever addressed at most evangelical and/or fundamentalist churches. Most of these churches do not vet wanna-be ministers for ability or training, and terrible inadequacies were always a huge failing. But for a long time now, those messages would have conflicted with being good right-wing political followers, and it's likely their omission in many churches only got worse. Prosperity-oriented or not, losing angry parishioners is a problem for any church.