The house has just come crumbling down on Bishop Eddie Long.
The embattled leader of the 25,000 member New Birth Missionary Baptist Church outside Atlanta, who was accused of multiple sexual relationships with several under aged male members of his church, now finds himself in a situation he may have never imagined even just a few short months ago.
On Friday, Vanessa Long filed for divorce from the Atlanta minister, claiming irreconcilable differences. The fact that she stood publicly by his side for so long through the myriad of sexual charges and the secret payoff he made to the men to buy their silence, is beyond surprising. But, it appears Vanessa Long has reached the end of her rope and has had enough!
Last fall, Bishop Long was accused by 4 young men of coercing them through trips and gifts into having sex while they were minor teens. Long strongly denied the allegations, assuring his congregation that he would fight the charges in a court of law to clear his good name. But that court fight never materialized and Long never mentioned the situation again, acting as if it never happened. The next anyone heard was that Long had entered into a secret agreement with the men, paying them a multi-million dollar settlement over several years for them to remain silent and just go away. Obviously, this didn’t make for a pleasant setting inside the Long household. The silent and supportive wife role Vanessa Long played for so long is no more, as she has made it known her marriage is irretrievably broken. Weekend reports that she called the divorce off are incorrect, according to her lawyer.
Now, Bishop Long will take an indefinite leave from the church he helped build — which is probably excellent news for the church board and it’s members. Long has preached a staunch anti-homosexual message for many years, even promising to “cure” homosexuality. So the news of him being involved in multiple homosexual relationships himself, with under aged teen boys has deeply affected membership. In recent months the church has been hemorrhaging members, donations and collections are down, and most Sundays the church is only half full. The once thriving mega-church has been gradually going under, as Long has been slowly but surely losing his base. And now he is losing his wife!
<span>I first heard about this last Friday morning. However by Friday afternoon Atlanta news reported that she had had a change of heart and had actually withdrawn the divorce petition. And then by late Saturday they reported that she had reconsidered again and indeed had decided to go through with the divorce afterall. </span><span></span><span>This morning I've read that she NEVER withdrew her petition. New Birth was responsible for pushing that "LIE" to the media and the media ran with it. Apparently, her lawyer moved just as quickly to shoot down the misleading info. </span><span></span><span>Whatever the case may be(?)…it does appear that she IS divorcing him. I imagine she's probably suffering all kinds of mental and emotional anguish. Not to mention shame. But I also can't hlep but believe that at least somewhere in the back of her mind she had to have known that *something* about her husband *AIN'T* quite right. </span>