Update #25

by:   Lynn Green

Unless something drastic happens, this will be my last report on Juanita Bynum until her divorce is finalized. She has an article forthcoming in Essence Magazine and she has been on every major network sharing her story, so you all have had your fill of this saga, I am certain.

A few days ago, one of my readers, “TJ” sent me an article on Bynum. Because I’m tired of talking about her (this is my 25th blog about her!), I initially was not going to deal with the article at all because my goal is to bring that chapter to a close for good, save for the tomb stone article I will write once her divorce finalizes.

I had scanned the article three times, was planning to delete it, and then something caught my eye that caused me to pause.

So, will this forgiving trait help Bynum keep her flock?  Yes, say Butler and others. “Where else can you say that you were the church Jezebel,” marvels Butler, “and then recast yourself as a pure, holy single woman living a godly life, then all of a sudden you get married in a big elaborate wedding to a bishop, with 40 bridesmaids and then go off and have a ministry with that husband and tell other church couples, ‘This is how to love your husband because we got it right’?  and then your husband beats you up in the parking lot, and now you’re an advocate for domestic violence?” source

The line that caught my eye was, “will this forgiving trait help Bynum keep her flock?” The flock has been lost in all of this drama, haven’t they? Yet, those flock are God’s sheep and He has cautioned a “woe” to the shepherd that scatters the sheep. But this is not actually a religious blog per se, even though I am a born again Christian, so I rarely go deeply into scriptures here.

It is fair, however, to ask whether or not Juanita Bynum (and even Weeks) actually ever cared about the flock of her church? Or were they merely a means to an end for her? From what I have seen, the flock of her church have been pretty bruised. I will pause to say that early in the Bynum – Weeks fiasco, I banned much of her flock off of this blog because they were bringing a peculiar doctrine here that supported men beating women and I had to block that doctrine from this blog for obvious reasons.

Facts

a. A member of Weeks’ church told me that when Weeks moved to Georgia from Maryland, he promised his church he’d come back. That promise fell through and he pretty much abandoned his Maryland flock. Just left them out in the cold to fend for themselves and scatter to the wind. Would Jesus have left His sheep without shelter and abandoned? I think not!

b. We have learned that Weeks’ church in Georgia was so close to eviction for non-payment of the lease, that he was within days of a being put out; yet, I doubt that his church members had a clue. Now how does that show love for the flock? They could have been out of a church home and had to find out about it via the newspapers.

c. We discovered that, according to Weeks, she wanted to elicit funds from his church members—who had no idea at the time that they were separated. In fact, their last meeting was about the topic of her using the church flock to help her raise funds for one of her projects.

d. It can be reasonably assumed that Juanita Bynum was “first lady” of Weeks’ church, right? Yet, do you get the impression that she ever has even desired to write them a goodbye note or to send them any message of concern or care for their welfare? It feels like she has a total disassociation from them. They were fine to elicit money from, but there was no true love for them.

e. We also learned that during their separation, Juanita Bynum had told Bishop Weeks to stop using her name or likeness in the church. All of that was kept a secret from the flock. What type of respect did that show for them and WHY have they continued to tolerate the disrespect? Is it backwardness or ignorance on the flock’s part?

f. Bynum has her own followers aside from the church. It looked quite odd that she—a millionaire, had the nerve, audacity and sheer gall to ask for $200,000 for a so-called “threshing floor” when she can just as easily take her butt into a spare bedroom to pray. Or she can pray in her own bedroom since I’m certain she does not share it with anyone.

I would have been impressed and she would have looked sincere had she requested $200,000 to build a shelter for battered women! But no, she appears unable to think beyond herself. It’s all about self.

In her marriage, the fact that she was cautious to keep her name off of Weeks’ rented house and church (both of which he was almost evicted from)tells me that she is a very calculated woman who never fully bonded with him. It was all about “that’s yours” and “this is mine”. And while he was running up bills he could not afford to pay, she was holding fast to her assets—her huge lakefront property that she is buying (not renting)and her millions of dollars.

What is Bynum’s ultimate goal? Her goal is to uplift Bynum at the expense of anyone who steps in her pathway. And if they don’t move, they are going to be run over. Look at her pattern. She wanted a fairy tale wedding (not marriage but wedding). Well, she got her wish. She got her televised fairytale wedding to her glass prince. But we later discovered that he still owes Tiffany’s for the jewelry he purchased while trying to impress her! Not long after their wedding, she was flying all over the world like he did not exist. She basically resumed her single life. Apparently he was just there to supply the legal sex when she so desired.

Bynum said something in her No More Sheets video that I’ll never forget: “You still have residue on you from the streets”.

Yep. You were talking about yourself, Juanita. It’s just that at the time, no one knew. And after a decade, nothing has changed. Ms. Bynum, you still have residue on you from the streets. Pray it off, girl.