Bishop Eddie Long and other church related scandals: What we should really be focused on

When I first heard of the Bishop Eddie Long sexual misconduct allegations, my first response was, “I pray that it is not true”. Then I thought to myself, “what if it is”? The book of James 5:16 says confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Knowing this, I understand that if we as saints of God find ourselves being tempted at any time, we have an obligation to confront that temptation immediately and seek the power of the Holy Spirit to empower us to stand and resist. Then if we fall to temptation, we are to confess it, seek the prayers of fellow believers and turn away from the behavior.

I’m aware that the devil is always on his job to attempt to kill, steal and destroy all who follow after Christ Jesus; therefore as the Bible teaches us, we must remain watchful and continually seek God’s wisdom as to how to handle these attacks. In order for allegations like the ones brought against Bishop Long to seem unlikely to be true when we first hear them, the reputation and character of our leaders must be in line with what the scriptures teach us is characteristic of righteous people. 1Timothy 3:2 says a bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach. From this we understand that church leaders are held to a high standard of conduct. All believers are held to a standard, but in order to be a suitable church leader, one must be seasoned and able to teach others from a pure heart and have nothing that anyone can say against them that they have done in error.

My prayer is that Bishop Long is innocent, but if there is truth to this, this is just another of many indicators that we need for the body of Christ as a whole to drop the gimmicks, the entertaining foolishness in the pulpit, the hunger for prestige, the pride, the tolerance of blatant sin, the lack of accountability, the greed, the bickering, the back-stabbing and all the other non-holy carnal stuff we have been allowing in our congregations, and get back to being humble, obedient servants rightly dividing the Word of truth and depending on our Father who enables us to stand in the evil day! Even if the allegations are false, this is still the same indicator of the same need.

Paul taught us in 1 Corinthians chapter one that we are of Christ, so it doesn’t matter who is in the pulpit. Our allegiance is to God and God alone. We often see parishioners worship their Pastors, singers, and ministries amongst other people and things. This leads us down a path away from solely worshipping God. What’s even worse is that some of these leaders begin to feel they are worthy of glory, honor and praise and they develop the arrogance that accompanies that way of thinking.

Christians, let’s get back to being in communion with the Lord and encouraging our friends, family and leaders to get there and stay there as well. This is the only way we can receive the full power of the Holy Spirit to keep us in the way of righteousness. Let’s not take it for granted that we will be forgiven if we repent. Apostle Paul made it clear in Romans 6:15, that because we are under grace doesn’t give a the right to deliberately continue to sin. But we are to live as Jesus said in Matthew 5:16, to let his light be seen in us through our works so others may glorify our Father in heaven by that.

Let's pray for all involved, for ourselves and our neighbors

May the Grace of The Lord be upon you always
Rob Campbell