Bishop Eddie Long’s daughter breaks her silence on his death

Atlanta bishop Eddie Long who was accused of sleeping with five teenage boys dies of cancer aged 63

Bishop Eddie Long, pastor of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, died at 63 this weekend, and while many are mourning his passing, his daughter, Taylor, has broken her silence to speak out about her loss as well.

Both Taylor and Long’s church confirmed that Long had passed away due to a fight with cancer, though they noted that Long did not let his illness “kill his faith nor his spirit.”

Taylor posted a picture of herself with her father along with her message of love: “I love you Dad. Thank you for being perfect. I cherish every moment I’ve shared w/ you even up to your last breath. I don’t blame God for wanting you back, I would too,” she wrote.

She then added, “Everything I do is for you, it’s been my honor to be your daughter,” she continues. “Thank you for being the greatest example of a wonderful father & husband. You kicked cancers ass! Job Well Done my angel.”

Long’s wife, First Lady Elder Vanessa Long, also shared her love and loss, saying, “I am confidant through my belief in God that my husband is now resting in a better place. Although, his transition leaves a void for those of us who loved him dearly, we can celebrate and be happy for him, knowing he’s at peace.”

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Bishop Eddie Long tells church that God healed him {VIDEO}

According to New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Bishop Eddie L. Long has died at the age of 63.

The church says that he “is now spiritually healed and home with the Lord.”

The statement went on to say, “Bishop Long, Senior Pastor of New Birth, transitioned from this life early Sunday morning after a gallant private fight with an aggressive form of cancer.”

Those in the know, say that Long had maintained his commitment to God and had said that the cancer would not kill his faith or his spirit.

Many had speculated about his health after a video he published last month showed him looking thin and frail. He had not disclosed his illness previously.

While Long had missed multiple services over the last few months he was at the Church for the Christmas and New Year’s Eve services.

His wife of 27 years, First Lady Elder Vanessa Long, said, “Although his transition leaves a void for those of us who loved him dearly, we can celebrate and be happy for him, knowing he’s at peace.”

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Steve Harvey asks Eddie Long if he had sexual relations with any of his accusers {VIDEO}

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US evangelist Eddie Long vows to fight 'sex' allegations, said "I have never in my life portrayed myself as a perfect man but I am not the man that's being portrayed on the television. That's not me". / 2 Men Accuse Bishop Eddie Long Of Sexual Abuse, now another 2 men has come forward, also pictures of the BISHOP posing in his bathroom, released (WATCH VIDEO & PICS)

This week, Bishop Eddie Long was interviewed on the “Steve Harvey Show,” and while he was open to talking about such deep personal subjects as his struggles with suicidal thoughts, he refused to answer questions about the allegations of sexual abuse that have plagued him and his ministry.

Harvey asked Long about the allegations brought against him in 2010 by Anthony Flagg, Spencer LeGrande, Jamal Parris and Maurice Robinson. The four men said that he coerced them into sexual relations by leveraging his influence and also showering them with gifts.

But when asked, the senior pastor at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia said that he could not talk about the allegations because of the terms of the settlement that was reached in 2011.

He described his experience after the allegations as an ongoing chess game. He said that he wanted to tell the members of his congregation what was happening but was prevented because of the terms of the settlement.

At one point, he said, he felt his path was so dark that he considered suicide.

“When you’re going through something, the shouts of your haters seem to be louder and more multiplied than the people who are with you,” Long said.

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Bishop Eddie Long, left, embraces a friend at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta

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As Bishop Eddie Long poked through a salad in his church office one summer day in 1999, he shot a weary look at a person ticking off his ministry's successes.

His Atlanta megachurch had already reached 25,000 members. He had been invited to the White House, built a global television ministry and drove around town in a luxury automobile.

But Long told the visitor who had come to write about him that the pressures of being a high-profile pastor could be brutal.

"You don't want any of this," he said in a raspy baritone as he shook his head. "You don't want any of this ..."

Long didn't get more specific about those pressures.

Today, the 57-year-old minister, known for his public crusades against homosexuality, faces serious allegations.

On Tuesday, two young men who were members of Long's New Birth Missionary Baptist Church filed lawsuits claiming he used his position as their spiritual counselor to coerce them into sexual relationships.

See PDF of lawsuit filed by Maurice Robinson

The men -- Anthony Flagg, 21, and Maurice Robinson, 20 -- allege Long used a private spiritual ceremony to mark a "covenant" between them, with both becoming his "spiritual son."

See PDF of lawsuit filed by Anthony Flagg

Flagg alleges that Long then used that relationship to take him on overnight trips where they shared a bedroom and engaged in kissing, masturbation and "oral sexual contact."

Robinson, who claimed Long engaged in oral sex with him, said the pastor would cite Scripture to justify their relationship.

"We categorically deny the allegations," Art Franklin, Long's spokesman, said in a written statement. "It is very unfortunate that someone has taken this course of action."

Franklin said "our law firm will be able to respond once attorneys have had an opportunity to review the lawsuit."

The men's lawyer, Brenda Joy (B.J.) Bernstein, would not make them available for comment.

Long's crusades against homosexuality

The allegations against Long run contrary to his public image.

He is a celebrity preacher in the black church world and a star in the evangelical world as well. His church is one of the largest in the country.

In the pulpit, Long seamlessly blends muscle and ministry.

He wears tight shirts that display his weight-lifter arms. He writes books such as "Gladiator, the Strength of a Man," that teach men how to be warriors for God. He says he has a special calling to reach out to men.

He's a married man who preaches about the sanctity of the union between a man and a woman. He denounces homosexuality. In 2004, he led a march in Atlanta against gay marriage. He once declared that his church had created a ministry that "delivered" people from homosexuality.

His public statements about gays and lesbians have helped reinforce homophobia in the black church, says Shayne Lee, a sociologist and author of "Holy Mavericks: Evangelical Innovators and the Spiritual Marketplace."

"The homophobic atmosphere he helped perpetuate," Lee said, could "come back to possibly harm him."

Long's controversial ministry

Long has been the center of public controversy before.

In 2005, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that a charity Long created to help the poor and spread the Gospel had made him its biggest beneficiary.

An examination of the nonprofit's tax returns and other documents revealed that the charity provided him with at least a million dollars in salary over four years, and the use of a $1.4 million home and the $350,000 Bentley.

A frequent critic of black preachers (he once said they "major in storefront churches"), Long responded by saying he was a CEO of a global business who deserved his lifestyle.

"You've got to put me on a different scale than the little black preacher sitting over there that's supposed to be just getting by because the people are suffering," Long said, explaining the compensation he received from his charity.

In 2007, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, of the Senate Finance Committee, sent a letter to Long asking detailed questions about his financial operations. Long was one of six televangelists whom Grassley targeted.

After an initial flurry of publicity following Grassley's request, the investigation appeared to peter out.

In recent years, Long seemed to become more humble, says the Rev. Tim McDonald, senior pastor of First Iconium Baptist Church in Atlanta.

In private talks, McDonald said, Long told him about the pressures of leading a megachurch. He said he no longer had as many close friendships and yearned to return to the more intimate relationships that McDonald seemed to have with his much smaller congregation.

"He said, 'Tim, I may have the numbers, but you have the love,' '' McDonald said.

God's 'scarred leader'

For all his outward confidence, Long also displayed a vulnerable side.

He built an intimate bond with many members of his church by talking about his private failings: his divorce from his first wife; being rejected by his father; and being fired from a job in corporate America.

He called himself God's "scarred leader."

He also became known for his generosity. He would give out cars and money to strangers at church services. He built ministries to help the poor, AIDS patients and young people.

He talked proudly about his ability to reach young men. He called himself a "spiritual daddy" to many of the young men he mentored at New Birth.

He would pay the college tuition for some men, give business suits to others and play basketball and lift weights with his male ministers.

Once, he even boasted to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that some mothers at New Birth trusted him enough to bring their wayward teenage boys to him for paddling.

"When I say bend over, even on Sunday, they bend over," he said, referring to the boys he paddled. "Why? Because they respect me. Because I first died for them ..."

The two men who filed suit against Long, though, said he used their relationships to instruct them, as "spiritual sons," to follow their "master."

They also say Long enticed them "with cars, clothes, jewelry, and electronics." Robinson claims the pastor paid for his college tuition.

In Flagg's suit, he claimed that when some young men found girlfriends, Long would attempt to block those relationships by "increased contact and spiritual talk" about "the covenant between the Spiritual Son and himself."

In addition to Long, the lawsuits name as defendants his church and a youth academy where Long was pastor and mentor. Both suits seek unspecified punitive damages on counts ranging from negligence to breach of fiduciary duty.

Lee, the sociologist who has written about Long, says he expects him to mount a fierce counterattack.

"He'll demonize the accusers," Lee said, "and couch it in terms of how the enemy Satan is trying to hurt the ministry."

The suits claim many of Long's alleged victims are known in the church as his "Spiritual Sons," though it notes that the congregation is "likely unaware" of what allegedly came with the title.

As teenagers, Robinson and Flagg joined one of the church's ministries, the tuition-based Longfellows Youth Academy. The court documents say the program "purports to train young men to love, live and lead as they proceed on their 'masculine journey,'" and "seeks to create committed men of God."

Allegations of sexual impropriety Through the academy, the two young men formed closer relationships with Long, the documents say, but the nature of those relationships crossed the line into impropriety.

On a 2008 trip to New Zealand for Robinson's 19th birthday, the suit claims Long engaged in oral sex with him, and that after the getaway, Long "regularly engaged in sexual touching and other sexual acts" with him. It also claims Long regularly gave him cash, paid his college tuition and attempted to "engage in sexual relations" with Robinson during a May grief counseling session after the death of Robinson's best friend.

Flagg's lawsuit states that Long arranged for him to move out of his mother's home so he could provide him with further spiritual guidance. The suit says Flagg's mother believed it would provide "stability and more opportunity to learn and grow with such an important spiritual mentor in her son's life."

But the lawsuit alleges that Long started sleeping in the same bed as Flagg, and "engaged in sexual massages" with him. It says Long "then increased the sexual contact" to include oral sex. Flagg also allegedly traveled with Long; the suit claims that Long and Flagg shared a bedroom on overnight trips and "engaged in intimate sexual contact" which included "kissing, massaging, masturbating ... and oral sexual contact."

Bernstein told reporters after the filing that Long "would use biblical stories to talk about how important it was to follow your leader," but that he also claimed "that the acts that he was engaged in were not necessarily meaning that he was a homosexual or that either of them was."