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February 3rd, 2012
09:13 AM ET
Bishop Eddie Long crowned 'king'By John Blake, CNN Atlanta (CNN)–Bishop Eddie Long has been called anointed, but he was recently awarded another title, as shown in a video that’s gone viral. He’s now a king. Long was wrapped in a “Holocaust Torah” and crowned a king during a recent Sunday ceremony at New Birth Missionary Church, his suburban Atlanta congregation. A visiting rabbi wrapped Long in the Torah, which he said was recovered during the Holocaust. The rabbi then directed four men to lift a seated Long in his chair and parade him before the New Birth congregation. Long wiped tears away as he looked over his cheering congregation. “He is a king. God’s blessed him. He’s a humble man, but in him is kingship, royalty,” Rabbi Ralph Messer shouted. Word of the pastor's crowning ceremony spread across the Web. Last year, Long settled out of court with four young men who accused him of coercing them into sexual relationships. CNN's Belief Blog – all the faith angles to the day's top stories A rabbi and Christian scholar questioned Long and Messer, the man who led Long’s crowning ceremony. Messer said during the ceremony that the Torah was a “priceless” 312-year-old scroll that had been recovered from the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II. He said he wanted to honor Long “on behalf of Jewish people, and the land of Israel.” Rabbi Hillel Norry of Congregation Shearith Israel in Georgia said the ceremony was “ridiculous.” There’s no Jewish coronation ceremony where someone is wrapped in a Torah and made a king, he said. “We just don’t do that. We treat it with deference,” Norry said of the Torah. “It’s not a shawl, not a crown. Don’t treat it that way.” Norry said Messer doesn’t appear to be an ordained rabbi in the Jewish faith. He also doubts that the Torah that Long was wrapped in is actually 312 years old, and had somehow escaped detection in a concentration camp. “The Torah is the size of a person. It’s not like you can hide one,” he said. Brent Strawn, an associate professor at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, said Christian pastors are not treated as kings in the New Testament. “They are almost always spoken of as servants,” he said. “This is exemplified by Jesus in the New Testament, when he wears the garment of a servant and washes his disciples’ feet.” Long declined to speak, but his spokesman released a statement from the rabbi who led the ceremony. Messer leads the Simchat Torah Beit Midrash congregation in Colorado, which describes itself as a community of Jewish and non-Jewish believers in “Yeshua,” or Jesus Christ. He said the ceremony was held to honor and encourage Long because the pastor had given so much to his church, and the world. “It was not to make Bishop Eddie L. Long a king,” Messer said in the statement. “Lifting him on the chair was to acknowledge and honor him. It is done all the time at Jewish weddings and bar mitzvahs.” Long is one of the most well-known televangelists in America. At its peak, New Birth had around 25,000 members, and Long’s sermons were broadcast around the globe. Two years ago, Long’s public image took a hit when four young men accused him of misusing his spiritual authority to coerce them into sexual relations. Long’s wife, Vanessa, filed for divorce last year.
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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Freakin troll....get the hell off this forum....and take all your stupid 'aliases' with you....as if, we don't know you're the same dumb jerk.
I run yo ass ovuh...FOOL!! AW HELL YEAH!!! PRAISE DUH LAWD!!
Religion just gets nuttier by the minute. These people are on drugs.
and not good drugs
HEEEYYY!! WAYZ DUH WHITE WYMENS!!!?
Black America still lags behind white America in emerging from the supernatural nonsense of Christianity. Have a look at the poor fools in the audience, all being cheated and fleeced by this most transparent of frauds. I guess you can't protect people from themselves.
Blacks can NEVER admit the are wrong or that another black person is wrong. They are about as intelligent as an orangutan and thats about it.
Eddie has already drained some of thems savings account with a little stock investment that went belly-up. He is just cleaning out the remainder and then *POOF* he will disappear and I will LMAO!!
nibbles,
Well, ol' Eddie is spending that money and moving along the economic health of jewelers, car makers, wig-crafters 'n stuff.
It's a shame for the po' folks who are taken advantage of, however, but they are free to give him whatever they please.
Yaw aw keep talkin big mouf. Come on down to Eddie Long church tomorrow cuz I take ya back in the Bishop quotas and dump some of the eddie long doo doo in ya mouf!!
God will Not Be Mocked! This is certainly Mockery!!!
Ain't that the truth?
You call it mocking god, others call it fleecing the suckers
@rick ~~~ nah....that's what 'you' call it....he is mocking God.
Soon I will be buy a piece of land in cuba and it be called EddieTown. You KNOW yaw asses wish you could come butt HELL NAW...UP YAWS!!
Sorry, but Rabbi Ralph Messer is a nut case. What a mockery of the 'law'! Long is NO King....he was suppose to represent our heavenly King of Kings, Jesus Christ, here on earth, and I don't believe he did a good job of that ....at all. Yes, I believe in forgiveness, but I see ‘King Long’ is still on the ‘Throne’, which belongs to ‘King Jesus‘. JMO!
All hail King Jesus
All hail Emmanuel
King of Kings
Lord of Lords
Bright Morning Star
And throughout eternity
I'll sing Your Praises
And I'll reign with You throughout eternity.
Friends. I got my money, my caddy, my swimmin pools, bling blings, white women, black boys and nothin you can do about it. Yes I like churlin but it dont matter. My conflagraton love me and suppote me so UP YAWS!!!
E.L.H., you are buck wild!!!!
OK, before this I thought of Eddie Long as one of a long line of greedy schiesters using religion to make a buck, with a penchant for pedophelia tossed in–sort of a combination of a Catholic priest and Jimmy Swaggart. Now, however, he's crossed the line into psychopathic megalomania, in other words JIm Jones territory. I hope his congregation wakes up, and soon.
Very strange story to end the week on.
Why does The Good Bishop wear that dead black cat on his head?
haaaaaaa......my thoughts exactly
Because there is no room on his lap. The torah is there.
What a sad commentary for the church members. This is would be funny if it wasn't so pathetic. Eddie Long is a false prophet and buffoon..What a sham and mockery
No daddy. i dont want it up my buttHole no moe.
He should have chosen to be a Red-Wing. Kings are not doing very well this year.
...Watching this, it's just not Eddie that is out of touch with the real world...the dude from the Jewish church. it does not take a genius to work out the Torah has clearly does not come from the Holocaust. Both of them disrespect Jews & Christians. Honestly, these guys are on another planet!
Well who is the queen . Every king has a queen.
Still Eddie.
Better question: They crowned him king of WHAT??????
The king of buggery.
yaw b shur 2 come to chuch to worship Teh Wunderfull bishopss. he a goot man an love the churlin. he b huggin and kiss on em. he a kine man.
You are too funny mate!
THIS IS SPARTA!!!!!!!!!!
This, more than anything else in our 'community', will be what destroys us.