Prophetess Juanita Bynum has been no stranger to controversy. After her big break in 1998 when she delivered her famous “No More Sheets” sermon and years of ministering, she’s back in the spotlight after a clip of her begging asking for a very specific request has some folks side-eyeing her— again.
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At a recent church event, Bynum was seen telling a congregation in a now-viral clip on Instagram how, “God wants some people to pay some bills for Him. He said, ‘Everywhere you go I will handpick 21 people in the building that will sow this $1,066 because of what I’m going to turn around in their life.’”
Unless you are confused, she’s asking that amount from each person. “$1,066 is nothing,” she said. As the former hairdresser and flight attendant spoke on the altar, people from the pews got out of their seats and waltzed to give their offering. “You can get money back,” she added, but maybe not enough people moved because she called out “five more people” who were “just sitting here deciding. You’re not deciding about money, you’re deciding about your future.”
The Chicago native encouraged folks to “come now” with their cash, because, “This is about the restoration of your faith.”
ItsOnSite posted the clip on Instagram on Monday (Sept. 29), and folks sounded OFF in the comments.
“This why I have a very personal relationship with god… yall can have the church,” one person wrote.
A second person joked how Bynum “didn’t even need a gun & a mask.”
Another Instagram user asked, “That’s a very specific number she came up with. I wonder what she needs $22,386 for?”
Other comments included: “God got bills??” and “Any church I go to and this happens I’m walking right out! These people are scammers.”
But not everyone was against what Bynum was asking for.
“I literally pay my tithes in church and make it back 10 fold every week. God is real,” one person said. “You have to believe and have a pure heart. You also have to have faith with works. Stay true to His Word and he will never leave you nor forsake you.” Another person agreed, writing how they are “a firm believer in paying tithes and giving back to the Lord because he has given me.”
Although the comments were mixed, Bynum’s ministry and career has been marred with controversy throughout the years.
After marrying Bishop Thomas W. Weeks III in a lavish, million-dollar wedding that was televised in 2002, she filed for divorce five years later after Weeks “choked her, pushed her down, kicked and stomped her” in a hotel parking lot near Atlanta, according to a police report. Their divorce and subsequent legal matters became a public scandal, Weeks ended up pleading guilty to aggravated assault in 2008, and Bynum began to help other domestic violence survivors.
She was also dragged online after announcing a four-week prayer course called the “International Prayer Institute” for the low, low price of $1,499.99– a discount on its regular price of $1,999.99. Folks called her out for what they called “charging for prayer,” something Bynum denied, saying folks who signed up was instead paying for her decades of expertise.
In 2007, promoter Al Wash of ALW Entertainment sued the televangelist for breach of contract after he paid her a $140K advance for a play based on her “No More Sheets” sermon. A warrant was issued for her arrest for failing to appear for “a civil court appearance, of which I knew nothing,” and she was taken into custody, in April 2013. She was released the next day and continues to minister.
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