Chris Broussard calls TD Jakes' response to sexual misconduct allegations 'offensive,' unbiblical
Citing Scripture from Titus, Christian Fox Sports 1 analyst Chris Broussard slammed a suggestion by televangelist T.D. Jakes as "offensive" and unbiblical that if unverified sexual misconduct allegations leveled against him were true, all he has to do is repent and keep on working.
"I didn't like the way he handled the situation at his church that first Sunday after the allegations were made. He said something to the effect of if he did commit these things, … all he'd have to do is repent and plead the blood and all that, and he'd be forgiven," said Broussard in a post on Instagram Saturday.
The post from Broussard came two weeks after Jakes, who leads The Potter's House megachurch in Dallas, Texas, intimated to his congregation on Christmas Eve that if an unverified report casting innuendo about his sexuality and accusing him of participating in sex parties hosted by music mogul Sean Combs, popularly known as Diddy, was true, all he had to do was repent and everything would be alright.
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"The worst that could happen, if everything was true, all I got to do is repent sincerely, from my heart. There's enough power in the blood to cover all kinds of sin. I don't care what it is; the blood would fix it. But I ain't got to repent about this," Jakes declared in a public livestream of the service on YouTube, which has since been made private.
"All I got to do is step over top of it and keep on going on. I'm not in trouble. I'm talking about the power of the blood. Amen. Thank you, Jesus. I have used it, and I will use it again. But I ain't got to use it for that. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Whenever I need it, it's available to me. And it's available to you. And you can have it when you need it. But you don't have to plead the blood if you didn't do the crime," Jakes added.
Citing the requirements for leaders in the church from Titus 1, Broussard called Jakes' response "offensive" and unbiblical. He also stated that any pastor found guilty of sexual misconduct should not just repent, but they should be removed from their office or made to do so by the elders in the congregation they represent.
"That's offensive that you get up there [the pulpit] claiming to know the Word of God and say that all you got to do is repent as if we can just all live as unholy and unrighteous as we want and just repent. That's abusing the grace of God, and the grace of God is nothing to play with," Broussard asserted.
"I'm not saying he's guilty, Bishop Jakes. I'm just saying, if he is, then this is what should happen. So again, my concern is the Body of Christ. And the way that those of you believers out there, the way that you avoid getting fooled by a false teacher, a charlatan, the way you avoid getting sucked into a really bad situation, bad church situation, is to hold your pastors to the Word of God," he continued.
"What I just read in Titus, if your pastor is blatantly stepping outside of that, habitually stepping outside of that righteous, holy, self-controlled [character], then you need to jet. I'm serious," he added. "You need to get out of that church."
Jakes, a 66-year-old married father and grandfather, has been a well-known figure in the Christian community for decades, filling arenas across the globe with followers clamoring to hear his sermons, buy his books and support his philanthropic work.
Two weeks ago, Jakes' name became a trending topic on multiple social media platforms after a YouTube channel known as Tuff News TV embroiled the Woman Thou Art Loosed author in a recently-settled lawsuit in which R&B singer Cassie accused Combs of rape, as well as repeated physical abuse over nearly a decade.
In the explosive lawsuit, Cassie, whose real name is Casandra Ventura, alleged that shortly after she met Combs in 2005 at age 19, he began a controlling and abusive relationship with her in which she was given drugs, beaten and forced to have sex with male prostitutes as he filmed. Combs allegedly hosted the orgies at high-end hotels across the U.S.
Tuff News TV host Germaine McKinley claimed near the end of a 37-minute video that he received an email from an unnamed source alleging that Cassie turned over to investigators a burner phone that belonged to Kim Porter, the late model and mother of Diddy's children, who died in 2018. Cassie also allegedly shared a USB device containing recordings of Diddy's alleged "sex parties," where he reportedly hosted several powerful people, including Jakes.
"I'm also told that multiple male escorts corroborated the fact that T.D. Jakes [has] slept with multiple men at Diddy's parties and abroad," the unnamed source claims. "It's also been said that a young male has acquired a lawyer to represent him as he is set to sue Jakes for an incident that took place when he was just 16 years old."
The video's source alleges that the minor, whose family attended The Potter's House until he left in 2015, was forced to perform a sex act on Jakes. The source further alleged that the boy's family was paid off to keep what happened quiet, but he now intends to seek his own justice as an adult.
In earlier statements to The Christian Post, members of Jakes' camp dismissed the allegations as "false."
"Recent claims circulating on pockets of social media about Bishop T.D. Jakes are unequivocally false and baseless," Jordan A. Hora, executive director of public relations and communications for the T.D. Jakes Group, T.D. Jakes Ministries and The Potter's House, told The Christian Post in an exclusive statement.
"What has always been true, in the words of the late Pastor Charles H. Spurgeon, 'If you want the truth to go round the world you must hire an express train to pull it; but if you want a lie to go round the world it will fly; it is as light as a feather, and a breath will carry it.'"
Hora said it was "disheartening to witness the proliferation of numerous deepfake photos and the distortion of words through false, sensationalized misrepresentations, encapsulating purported statements to falsely speculate and attack others, including Bishop Jakes."
Derrick Williams, executive vice president of TD Jakes Entertainment, also issued a statement addressing a video of Jakes attending Diddy's 53rd birthday party in Los Angeles over a year ago.
Williams, also in attendance at the party, told CP that the video was captured during a brief stop at the party while they were on business in the area. Another source close to the situation also told CP that, as far as they are aware, that is the only party hosted by Diddy that Jakes has ever attended.
"As a filmmaker, executive producer and one of the pioneers of value-based movies, Bishop Jakes, in his role as CEO of T.D. Jakes Entertainment, paid respect to the former Chairman of Revolt during the celebration of his birthday," Williams said.
"Bishop Jakes was in LA for important business meetings, and we felt that a quick appearance at the former Chairman of Revolt's birthday event was the respectful thing to do since Bishop Jakes' sermons are aired on the Revolt Network," he explained.
"We both greeted the family, Bishop Jakes recorded a brief celebratory birthday video and left immediately to take our other scheduled meetings. Any accusation to the contrary is wholly unsubstantiated, unverified, and false," Williams insisted. "Bishop Jakes will continue to break down barriers and find relevant ways to tell faith-based and value-based stories. This and only this continues to be our North Star."
Broussard, who is also president of the K.I.N.G Movement, an organization that aims to uplift men through biblical teachings, said the allegations against Jakes, who has been described as "one of the biggest names in American Christianity" next to Billy Graham, have shaken many Christians.
"Now, I'm not going to really address him [Jakes] personally. I have no idea if he's guilty or not. If I address him personally, it will be when the truth comes out or when we know more. But I feel like this situation needs to be addressed because there are a lot of Christians who are shaken by this. And that's my concern," the Christian broadcaster said.
"If anyone was harmed by Bishop TD Jakes, then that's a concern for sure. But outside of that, my concern is the Body of Christ. Because a lot of Christians, when something like this happens, and someone who was a leader in the church falls publicly like this, allegedly, I have no idea if he's guilty. I'm not saying he is or isn't. But it can rock your world, so to speak," he added. "It can lead people to doubt the existence of God, to doubt God's power, to doubt Jesus Christ, to question whether or not Christianity, salvation, the Holy Spirit, all of this stuff is it real or is it just a scam?"
Contact: leonardo.blair@christianpost.com Follow Leonardo Blair on Twitter: @leoblair Follow Leonardo Blair on Facebook: LeoBlairChristianPost
