Bishop Eddie Long apologizes for Torah scroll ceremony
February 6, 2012
(JTA) -- A Baptist bishop in Georgia has apologized for a church service in which he was wrapped in a Torah scroll and called a king.
"The ceremony was not my suggestion, nor was it my intent, to participate in any ritual that is offensive in any manner to the Jewish community," Bishop Eddie Long wrote in a letter sent Saturday to Bill Nigut, Southeast Regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Nigut released the letter on Sunday.
Last week during a service at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga., Ralph Messer, a Messianic Jew and self-described rabbi, ordered congregants to wrap Bishop Eddie Long in a Torah scroll and lift him up on a chair bar mitzvah-style while he held the Torah scroll, which was identified as being rescued from Auschwitz. The church has 25,000 members, according to its website.
Some 600,000 viewers have watched a video of the service on YouTube.
In an article in the Journal Constitution last week, Nigut was critical of the ceremony, saying it "in no way represents any Jewish ritual that I'm familiar with. We do not proclaim individuals to be kings."
In the letter sent to the ADL, Long also said that "I sincerely denounce any action that depicts me as a King, for I am merely just a servant of the Lord.”
Long was sued in September 2010 by four former church members who alleged that he used his position to coerce them into sexual relationships, according to the Journal Constitution. The suit was settled in May.
Nigut told CNN that he thought the apology was "very heartfelt, sincere" and that "I was very gratified by Bishop Long apparently recognizing what our concern was." source:
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Ralph Messer is not a Messianic Jewish Rabbi
"As for Ralph Messer, I for one do not believe someone who has gone this far into harmful error and sensationalism has any role to play in religious leadership of any kind at any time in the future. "
By now, most of you have seen the horrifying desecration of a Sefer Torah (a scroll hand-copied by a Jewish scribe with meticulous care) by Ralph Messer at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia (only about ten miles from my home in Snellville). Dozens of people have been sending me emails, Facebook messages, etc., asking for my view. In my opinion, this event was far less the fault of Bishop Eddie Long than of Ralph Messer. I have been told that the video at the 9:57 mark shows the Bishop’s discomfort with the ceremony. Furthermore, I pin the blame on Ralph Messer who claims to be a rabbi and claims to be Messianic Jewish.
Ralph Messer is not a rabbi affiliated with the UMJC, the MJAA, or the IMJA. He does not represent Messianic Judaism. Anyone may claim to be a priest, rabbi, or pastor. A friend constantly tells me that there are mail-order and internet “Ordination Certificates” available as cheaply as $5. I have heard of Ralph Messer and from time to time people have sent me material by him. I have regarded it with the same lack of seriousness as a Chick tract (google Jack Chick) or a video of Robert Tilton.
The fact that talented showmen who have no legitimate message, who are self-authorized, who contradict the sound values of religion repeatedly, can gather crowds and make names for themselves should not surprise anyone. I run across the kind of gullible people who believe the Ralph Messers of the world all the time. Many of them are good people. And many see the light eventually and move past their hypnotic fascination with the showy spectacles. The ones who should be ashamed are the wolves in sheep’s clothing like Ralph Messer. The message of people like Ralph Messer is not Judaism (the historic faith which is thousands of years old and which has a rich, multi-layered tradition that has continued developing ever since) nor Christianity (ditto).
Many of us (leaders in Messianic Judaism) have been talking informally. I know a number of us — I’m speaking only informally and not as a representative of any organization — would like to see Bishop Eddie Long apologize, return the Torah Scroll either to Ralph Messer or whomever its previous owner was, and make a public statement that it was never his intention to have someone claiming to be a rabbi cause an offense in the Jewish community. I believe the Jewish community would be very forgiving of a pastor who was the victim of a rogue clergyman making grandiose claims.
As for Ralph Messer, I for one do not believe someone who has gone this far into harmful error and sensationalism has any role to play in religious leadership of any kind at any time in the future. Repentance by Messer would not satisfy me. An apology and early retirement would impress me. Of course, the U.S. Constitution gives Messer the freedom to be as foolish and wrong as he desires as long as he abides by the laws of our country. As for the people who have listened to Messer’s teachings and who have been fooled by the showmanship, there are many churches and synagogues where a meaningful faith and practice can be found. I hope Messer’s followers will learn from this and find true Judaism and/or true Christianity. If there are any Jewish followers of Yeshua (Jesus) in Messer’s congregation (I doubt it), I encourage them to find a UMJC, MJAA, or IMJA congregation and move on. SOURCE:
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