Megachurch pastor Eddie Long has apologized to the Anti-Defamation League over an incident in which he was wrapped in a Torah scroll and crowned “king.”

The stunt was the idea of visiting speaker ‘Rabbi’ Ralph Messer.

The story of embattled megachurch pastor Eddie Long is growing ever stranger.

In a service last Sunday at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, in Atlanta, Georgia, a visiting ‘rabbi’ declared Long ‘king.’

Embattled megachurch pastor Eddie Long has returned to the pulpit.

He had taking a few weeks off from preaching after his wife of 21 years filed for divorce last December.

Eddie Long, head of one of America’s largest mega churches, announced Sunday he will take “time off” from the pulpit to work on his family.

The announcement came three days after his wife Vanessa filed for divorce.

Vanessa Long, the wife of megachurch pastor Bishop Eddie Long, announced Friday she has filed for divorce.

Last fall, four young men accused Eddie Long, senior pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, of coercing them into having sex.

Eddie Long, the leader of one of the nation’s best-known megachurches, was accused in a civil lawsuit in Georgia of encouraging church members to invest in a scheme that promised 20% annual returns on safe investments but diverted their money to a failing company.

Controverisal megachurch pastor Eddie Long says he’s moving ahead with his ministry at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church and won’t discuss allegations of sexual misconduct made by four young men who were members of his congregation.

But two of the men now say they are writing a tell-all book about what they claim happened between them and the powerful pastor.

Sexual-misconduct lawsuits filed by four men against Georgia megachurch pastor Eddie Long have been settled, according to attorneys.

The lawsuits are expected to “be dismissed, with prejudice, by close of business tomorrow.”

Bishop Eddie Long, senior pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, has made an unusual appeal on YouTube to an investment company on behalf of  several members who are facing financial hardships because of  investments  that went “sour.”

A three-year investigation into financial improprieties at six Christian ministries whose television preaching bankrolled leaders’ lavish lifestyles has concluded with the formation of an independent commission to look into the lack of accountability by tax-exempt religious groups.

The investigation report issued this week details the ministries’ luxury homes and cars, trips on private jets and expensive gifts, including two Rolls Royces that a third party reported was given to the Dollars as a gift from the church.

Bishop Eddie Long, who is accused in civil lawsuits of inappropriate sexual relations with several young men in his mega-church said he has done nothing wrong. He even referred to himself as David and stated that he had five stones and had not used any of them.

Well I guess one of those stones meant seeking a settlement out of court with his accusers – which Long is trying to do right now, writes James Causey.

Eddie Long, the megachurch pastor accused of luring four young men into sexual relationships categorically denied the allegations for the first time in a court filing Monday, saying he was only a mentor to the men who filed civil lawsuits against him.

A South Carolina pastor said he is getting death threats because he’s called for another church leader’s resignation.

Prophet H. Walker of True Light Pentecost has asked Bishop Eddie Long of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta to step down amid a sex scandal.

An anti-gay pastor fending off claims he had homosexual relationships vows he “ain’t going to stop living.”Bishop Eddie Long, head of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia, told his flock during services on Sunday his “faith” has made him stronger.“In times of challenge, there are several things that come out,” he said, according to The Associated Press. “Your faith will be strengthened or weakened. My faith is being strengthened.”Four men have accused Long of engaging them in homosexual relationships. They claim he used trips, cash and cars to lure them in, while one of the men alleges Long slipped him sleeping pills in order to sexually abuse him.

Some articles that provide a wider context to the Eddie Long case:

• It is, parishioners and observers say, a moment of undeniable crisis in the black church.

“The only person in the pantheon of black churches who is bigger than this is T.D. Jakes,” said Anthea Butler, a religion professor at the University of Pennsylvania who was among those flying down to Georgia. “And Atlanta is the epicenter of black church life. . . . It’s going to rock everything at the church, and people will really start to question these ministers.” - Sex allegations roil black church community, Washington Post

• Bishop Eddie Long case: Will it alter black church’s view of gays? (Christian Science Monitor)

• Why black church culture rejects homosexuality (CNN)

• The Black Church, Homophobia, and Pastor Eddie Long (Newsweek)

• “Long is one of the most virulently homophobic black leaders in the religiously based anti-gay movement.” (Southern Poverty Law Center)