Maybe Ed Young, Jr. was going through something really horrible like that. I’m sure if I was going through something like that, I could be far more infantile than I want to imagine.

Nonetheless, he still comes off amazingly smarmy and self-righteous, which is remarkable for a leader of his caliber.

I cringe at what I hear as self-righteousness – he just bangs away at “sheep stealing” and “sheep trading” but dude! How many people have come to his church from other churches because his work offered better programs, preaching, etc… Did he have a sign at the door saying, “Go back to where you came from, you church-hopping toads!” Um, I don’t think so.

He gets all fired up about lack of loyalty and betrayal but it’s the same thing – how many talented people came to his work from another? Did he refuse to develop or employ their talent? Did he return their tithes & offerings? I doubt it.

Ed Young, Jr. takes a bit of time to cast aspersions on what others perceive as their call from God … tread lightly, man. It’s absolutely fair to question someone’s motives or intentions but I don’t think what I heard here was fair.

And I’m really disturbed about the last piece, “If you haven’t lived it out, I won’t hear from you…” To me, this simply sounds like so much, again, self-righteousness.

If I had to guess, I would say he has absolutely no idea how much of his ego is tied up in the success of his church. Absolutely no idea. He’s been so successful for so long, it’s like he almost thinks he’s speaking for Jesus. At least, that’s the way I feel listening to this. But because his ego is so tied up in it and because he identifies his personal feelings with Jesus’ personal feelings, he feels personally justified in lashing out at people whom he clearly finds to be threatening.

Honestly, I can relate. It’s easy to feel threatened by another’s success or to think that anything that might take from my “success” is definitely NOT God’s will.

I pray for that brother. Hopefully he just had a rough couple months and now he’s doing better. Hopefully he watches this a year or so down the road and thinks, “Man, I guess I was feeling a little vindictive that day! How petty. Lord, please forgive me.”