Jezebel & the Frog Prince

by Jackie Alnor
Apostasy Alert

"Jezebel & the Frog Prince " – sounds like an Aesop's fairy tale where the loving couple lives happily ever after. But not in the corrupt kingdom of televangelism where lowly church people are transformed into famous starlets whose role models are the rich and famous seen on the primary channels of the boob tube. The big difference between the secular and the religious celebrities are that the secular ones got to the top because of their talent and the televangelists rose to fame on the backs of the poor widows’ mites.

This sad episode began in 2003 when the Trinity Broadcasting Network aired the wedding of Bishop Thomas Weeks to "prophetess" Juanita Bynum. The net cost for the event exceeded one million dollars and was one ugly display of conspicuous consumption with a big load of bad taste thrown in. Newsweek reported in an article called "Evangelist with a Big Stick":

"The ceremony featured a wedding party of 80, a gown with a bodice covered in crystals and a 7.76-carat diamond ring…Bynum had waited all her life to have a fairy-tale wedding, she says. ‘It started out with a $500,000 budget, and then it just started growing like the blob,’ she says, adding, ‘I didn’t think it robbery to celebrate my day.’"

The fairy tale ended just four years later in an Atlanta hotel parking lot in a scuffle in which the fairy tale prince Weeks went ballistic all over his Jezebel bride. Charisma Magazine’s Editor Lee Grady expressed the outrage so many Christians felt:

"Bishop Thomas Weeks III was arrested after being accused of kicking, choking and hitting his wife, prominent preacher Juanita Bynum, in a hotel parking lot in Atlanta on Aug. 22. We did not need another embarrassing display of religious hypocrisy played out in the national media. The incident gave the whole church a black eye and bruised our reputation. When I first heard that Weeks excused his actions (the devil made him do it, he claims) and that his congregation cheered his return to the pulpit (after he fled from police and then posted $40,000 bail), I was riled. What was this guy thinking?"

After the incident, Bishop Weeks gave a statement to the media via his attorney that seemed to imply that he isn’t the only one in the marriage that uses physical violence. The statement read on Fox News Atlanta, stated that they agree with Bynum that "any violence is a very important social issue." The female lawyer completed the statement saying emphatically, "In fact, any violence in a relationship is an important social issue!"

Now evidence has come forth that demonstrates Bynum’s violent temper. Grady’s editorial called Juanita Bynum on her bad behavior leading up to the incident:

"I’m all for rousing sermons, but what Bynum often offers her audiences is downright mean. Eleven days before the Atlanta incident, Bynum told women at a large conference that they needed to learn to become harsh. Shocking clips of her comments were then posted on YouTube. Bynum told of how she corrected an unnamed assistant for being too nice when carrying out her orders. 'I’m trying to teach you to be a bulldog!' she declared with gritted teeth and a hateful expression."

"When women did not shout loud enough after her comments, Bynum threatened them too. 'If somebody don’t start praising God right here, I’m gonna have to hit somebody with this microphone,’ she said. She also implied that women who treat others with polite restraint are ‘too suburb’ and need to learn the street-wise tactics of the ghetto."

"Is this the new face of domestic violence? An angry woman preacher who threatens to hit people? A 'bulldog' who barks orders and treats subordinates rudely? Please."

Another clip from YouTube shows Bynum laughing about how she handles men who give her trouble – she just threatens violence upon them. In this clip, she talks about threatening her man with a brick while Bishop Weeks looks on chuckling.

TBN: An Enabler of Evil

Days after Bynum announced that she had filed for divorce from her second husband, the Trinity Broadcasting Network gave her a platform – the entire Praise the Lord program on September 4th– for her to announce that she was not going to lose a day doing her own brand of "ministry." The TBN announcer, introduced her as "Prophetess Juanita Bynum," a blind endorsement of her self-appointed spiritual greatness. The show opened with the most shameful display of celebrity idolatry imaginable, as Bynum pranced around shouting while an organ played a dramatic refrain in the background. As is TBN’s custom, when one of their own on-air celebrities gets bad publicity –due to their own outrageous behavior – TBN gives them a quick platform on the airwaves to do their damage control. So it has been this past week with Jezebels Paula White and Juanita Bynum.

Paula White, like Bynum, after announcing divorce plans from her second husband, Randy White, showed up on TBN’s Praise program hosted by singer Carmen. She too announced that she was going to just keep on going as if nothing was wrong as she makes money rubbing elbows with the likes of Donald Trump. Both women have followed in the steps of Tammy Faye Bakker Messner whose love affair with the television camera was apparent from the fact that she would agree to be on any TV program, no matter how undignified it made her look.

These women flaunt their carnal desires for wealth and success in the most nauseous manner imaginable and TBN lifts them up to the world as role models of Christian behavior. Grady pointed out that "the American church is hijacked by carnality" by these women.

In the bulldog video on YouTube referred to above, it opens with Juanita Bynum screaming out at the top of her lungs: "When I get out of this conference this year, I’m going to possess my place in the world, not in the church!"

Bynum had already told Fox News of her plans to trade in her ministry to be a secular spokesperson for domestic abuse. She said she would begin her new crusade the following weekend at a campaign party for Illinois Senator Barack Obama. She said the 2,000-person affair will be held at TV talk show host Oprah Winfrey’s home in California. Bynum’s followers have often called her a "Christian" version of Oprah. Apparently, she is quite comfortable with the African-American rich and famous. So what if Obama supports partial-birth abortion and Oprah is an open new ager. Bynum has shown her true colors – what matters to her is not spiritual truth or faithfulness to God, but her own success and wealth. The most despicable example of this fact can be seen on Bynum’s own website in a video announcement of her greatness.

The tribute to Bynum begins with her dancing around in a variety of robes and holy attire. The announcer’s voice is dubbed over her antics saying:

The announcer highlights her attributes (comments in parenthesis are my observations) :

Best-selling author (thanks to Charisma Publishers and TBN)

Popular television personality (courtesy of Jan Crouch)

Ambassador to world leaders (thanks to T. D. Jakes)

National recording artist (glory to her role models Aretha Franklin & Donna Summer)

Executive producer, playwright, and "powerful actress" (by way of idolatrous church members)

Business woman with her own for-profit companies (seed money via the widow’s mite)

Announcer: "Though she has crossed denomination lines, is respected as a spiritual leader in this generation and as one of the most admired African-American women of today, still the totality of Juanita Bynum has yet to be revealed!"

Upcoming ventures include:

New magazine – Ethné

Her own reality show

Opening of the Country Spa

Mount Olive line of candles & tea

Her own make-up line also called Ethné

Then the final rallying cry: 

"From the preacher, teacher, ambassador, entrepreneurial mastermind herself – Juanita Bynum!"

That shameful display of self-promotion and her calling herself a "prophetess" is what makes it biblical to refer to her as "Jezebel." Every Christian in America should write a heartfelt letter to Paul Crouch Jr. at TBN rebuking him for allowing such wickedness to be displayed on the public airwaves when he has the power to stop it. This fairy tale of Jezebel and the Frog Prince puts all of Christianity up for ridicule -- what an unhappy ending for all of Christendom. The enablers are just as guilty as the perpetrators in bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to public scorn.

"Nevertheless I have a few things against you, 
because you allow that woman Jezebel, 
who calls herself a prophetess, 
to teach and seduce My servants 
to commit sexual immorality 
and eat things sacrificed to idols." (Rev. 2:20)