A number of religious figures have stepped up criticizing the 14-minute long YouTube clip of Bishop Eddie Long of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church being proclaimed a “king” by a Messianic rabbi.
Rabbi Ralph Messer, during a Jan. 29 service at the Baptist church in Lithonia, Ga., directed assistants to wrap Long in a purportedly 312-year-old priceless Hebrew scroll from World War II, and proclaimed that Long was now “hidden in the word of God.” After inviting Long to sit down on a chair and handing him the Torah scroll, four helpers lifted the chair on which Long was sitting and paraded the minister across the podium, while Messer proclaimed him a “king.”
The rabbi went on to say that Long sits between two courts, the court of justice and the court of blessings. Worshipers in attendance applauded as the minister was ushered about in the air on the chair as the ceremony continued.
Messer, who leads Simchat Torah Beit Midrash (STBM) – a congregation promoting interfaith discussions – teaches principles of the Torah that he claims “produce life” or prosperity.
The video of the rabbi proclaming the troubled Long a “king” has sparked hundreds of comments from people on YouTube and Twitter who were either confused by the ceremony or did not quite understand how Long, who has been embattled in accusations of sexual misconduct and faces a divorce, might be considered a “king” in any context. A number of religion authorities, however, have also weighed in with their opinions on the issue.
The Rev. Wil Gafney, Ph.D, an Associate Professor of Biblical Hebrew and Jewish and Christian Scripture, wrote a lengthy commentary for The Huffington Post in which she exposes no less than 27 different ways in which Rabbi Messer presented “false” understandings of the Torah.
Source: Christian Post | Stoyan Zaimov
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