Current Events –
Eddie Long, Controversial
Atlanta Pastor, Dies

Bishop Eddie Long, the flamboyant megachurch pastor whose reputation was ruined after several male church members accused him of sexually molesting them while they were teens, has died.

Current Events
Bishop Long passed away on Sunday morning “after a gallant private fight with an aggressive form of cancer,” a church statement said. The once muscular pastor disappeared from the limelight toward the end of summer in 2016. When he reappeared during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, he was nearly unrecognizable after losing a substantial amount of weight. Bishop Long needed assistance even walking to the pulpit of his church, and blamed his enormous weight loss on a raw vegan diet.

Eddie Long was the senior pastor at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia since 1987, and grew the church from a modest 300 members to more than 25,000 — one of the largest congregations in the country. His success birthed television and international ministries, as well as several satellite churches in Miami, Denver, and Charlotte, North Carolina. That same success also spurred a lavish lifestyle for the flamboyant pastor, which afforded him the opportunity to fly around the world on a private jet, drive around Atlanta in a $350,000 Bentley and live in a multi-million dollar mansion with 6 bedrooms and 9 bathrooms.

Eddie Long preached a “prosperity gospel” in which the faithful would be rewarded with wealth (he frequently displayed his own wealth as proof of what was possible). However, he also preached against homosexuality, which was ironic once it was discovered Long himself had been sexting photos of himself to young men and engaging in sexual encounters with young boys who were under his tutelage.

Four young men, who were each former members of Long’s church, filed a lawsuit against him claiming he frequently seduced them with offers of trips, clothes and cars in exchange for sexual relationships. At least 2 of the men accused Eddie Long of grooming them for sex through the church’s LongFellows Youth Academy, while the other two men, who attended a satellite church in Charlotte, made similar allegations in legal cases. Long promised to fight the allegations, but quickly settled the lawsuits out of court for an undisclosed amount and never admitted any guilt. Soon after, his second wife, Vanessa Griffin, filed for divorce, although she later returned to the marriage. His life and his ministry was never the same afterwards.

Eddie Long is survived by his wife, as well as 4 children and 3 grandchildren.  He was 63.

OK WASSUP! covers current events:
Bishop Eddie Long dies at 63.