Photo Credit: Relentless Church / Illustration via EEW Magazine Online

By Rebecca Johnson // Opinion // EEW Magazine Online

Either Pastor John Gray is lying, or God has done the quickest work ever known to mankind in the area of trauma care, therapy, and holistic healing using the tools of natural medicine in the form of mental health services.

The sex scandal prone leader – who has lost major credibility in the faith community after repeatedly making excuses for multiple extramarital affairs – claimed to have gotten “deliverance” in a new sermon series.

“It’s one thing to be sorry about sin; it’s another to put barriers up so you don’t sin again. That’s when you go from sadness to repentance. When you turn,” proclaimed the preacher who presides over two ministry locations – one in Greenville, SC, and the other in Atlanta, GA.

“I’ve been sad a lot of times,” he continued, during the church’s “Summer School” sermon series in a message titled “Unwrapped. Unlocked. Unleashed.”

“But it wasn’t until I turned that I got deliverance,” claimed the former associate pastor at Lakewood Church who boasts mentors like Bishop T.D. Jakes.

Pictured Above: First Lady Aventer Gray, the long-suffering wife of serial cheater, Pastor John Gray, embraces the emotional pastor whom she continues to support and stand by despite multiple adultery scandals in the span of only a few years. (Photo Credit: Relentless Church/ Illustration via EEW Magazine Online)

Gray also said that he had “put parameters in place, accountability in place” and had “never had that” before. “But now,” he added, “I’m unwrapped. I’m unlocked. And I’m unleashed.”

All that would be well and good if three weeks ago – ahead of the unleashing of a news story that Gray had allegedly engaged in online sex acts with an adult entertainer – he had not taken to social media to trauma dump and tell all his followers, “I am not okay.”

By his own admission, the I Am Number 8 author had been having suicidal ideations including detailed thoughts on how to take his own life. Additionally, Gray said, he was constantly sinning and battling ongoing shame and trauma tied to the sexual abuse he suffered as a young child. He even shared a never-before publicly revealed, emasculating memory of a man once urinating in his mouth.

With a somber look, in the online stream, Gray, who has long been known to have a way with words (which has arguably led to his success as a sought after charismatic speaker) told his audience, “The truth is, I have not been well, and I’ve kicked the can down the road over and over again, but some months ago, I began to reengage in the process of healing and truth-telling about my own soul.”

The conveniently timed “truth-telling” upload came amid Internet chatter caused by Atlanta-based celebrity news blogger, Latasha Kebe, known online as Tasha K. She had been teasing a since published tell-all interview with an unnamed adult entertainer who said she had been engaging in illicit online sex acts with Gray.

As the social media rumblings grew louder, the former star of the OWN docuseries, The Book of John Gray, was suddenly in the confessing mood.

Though he never specified what dastardly deeds he had done, he said, “I’m in this place – and I’m going to be honest – I kept asking God, ‘How come I can’t get free from these sins?’ There were things I’ve been praying about since I was ten years old, and I couldn’t get free.”

What things?

Well, Kebe, who produces, hosts and publishes a YouTube channel called unWinewithTashaK, had video evidence – and what urban vernacular calls “receipts” – showing that the unnamed, Florida-based adult entertainer, who specializes in providing erotic massages, had been communicating and facilitating virtual sex with the husband of Aventer Gray, and father of the couple’s two children, Theory and John IV.

According to the whistleblower, Gray had allegedly tried to cover his tracks by communicating under a false name, Charles Hall. He was said to be texting, calling, requesting pictures, sending money, and pushing for the woman to visit in-person in South Carolina – something she declined, preferring to keep interactions exclusively online.

The Floridian also refused to disclose how much she charged Pastor Gray, who is employed by his ministry, saying, “I don’t want the church to be mad at him.”

The supposedly delivered minister, right at the beginning of June, told his followers that he, in fact, was anything but – as evidenced by this statement: “The Jesus of the Bible, the greatest psychologist that ever lived, has beckoned me to a place of healing to continue the work.”

Gray, who referred to his sexual abuse and mental trauma as “reasons” but “not excuses” for his sinful, indulgent behaviors, said, “I don’t blame anyone, and I certainly don’t want God’s name attached to the things I have not addressed. And so, God is allowing me to go deeper into this place of healing with the right therapists, the right doctors, the right clinicians, neuropathway experts, and when I finish the work, I’m going to give those tools to as many people as I can.”

While there is never any shame attached to seeking deliverance when a pastor openly sins – and does so repeatedly – an interim, if not permanent, period of stepping down to receive the necessary help and accountability is recommended.

In no world or scenario is three weeks enough time.