NJ Pastor Cedric Miller, Who Called for Church Leaders to Ban Facebook, Had Three-Way Sexual Affair

Black NJ pastor Cedric Miller, who told church leaders to delete Facebook & social networking accounts because they are a portal to infidelity or step down, had three-way sex affair.

Remember the pastor who called for leaders in his church to delete their Facebook and social networking media accounts or step down. The Rev. Cedric Miller to be exact. Well, it seems that he has some skeletons in his closet and guess what? He didn't need Facebook to be a part of a ménage à trois and then some, a decade ago with his wife and a male church member, who was also married. Another pastor saying do as I say but not as I do. According to the Asbury Park Press, Miller said Facebook is a portal to infidelity. Pastor Miller seems to have forgotten that testimony he gave in a criminal case was public information and any journalist could dig it up and use it against him.

Miller, pastor of the 1,100-member Living Word Christian Fellowship Church on Route 35, admitted in his testimony to a sexual relationship that included his wife and a church assistant. Sometimes the assistant's wife was present, he testified. The testimony was given in connection with a criminal case against the assistant that was eventually dismissed.

"It has come to my attention that a very painful part of my past has resurfaced,'' Miller said in an e-mail response Friday, stating that the same testimony was mailed to his church leaders and other pastors a number of years ago. "This was resolved at that time and accordingly we will not allow it to detract from our mission at hand to save as many marriages as we can,'' Miller wrote.

In his testimony on April 15, 2003, Miller said his wife had an extramarital affair with a church assistant and that he (Miller) said he was present at many of their meetings. And sometimes the assistant's wife was present, Miller said."We would talk and laugh and play and just beyond what was appropriate,'' he testified. Pressed by a defense lawyer to give more detail about what Miller meant by saying "we had crossed the line many times,'' the pastor said: "I mean between the four of us. It was just, I mean there was touching, there was … it was crazy, it was as wrong as wrong could get. Yes.''"Okay, it was sex, correct?'' the lawyer asked."Yes,'' Miller said. Source: Asbury Park Press

I know the pastor deserves a second chance, but there is a saying that is so appropriate in this situation: "if live in glass house, don't throw stones."  If this pastor had not called for a ban on Facebook the lurid details of his adulterous sexual escapades would have been kept under wraps. Now he comes across as a hypocrite who has no problem being a swinger. The reality is that neither he nor his wife need to lead a church. One can only wonder what goes on behind closed doors in their home.

UPDATE#1: Pastor Miller, with his wife Kim Miller at his side on Sunday, offered to resign from his senior leadership role at the church if church leaders found him unfit to serve. He apologized for what he said was a foolish transgression from his past. Er, he's no better than Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, Ted Haggard, or all the other pastors who have fallen from grace due to sexual improprieties. How could he possibly think attacking Facebook would justify or nullify his past transgressions? It should be noted that Facebook doesn't break up marriages, but some people who use the social networking platform for all the wrong reasons. How many decent men, especially a pastor, would watch their wives have sex with another man and join in? 

I am also shaking my head over the blind devotion some black congregants have for their pastors, as though they can do no wrong. Let's see, Ted Haggard was forced to step down. Jim Bakker faced charges and was disgraced. Eddie L. Long, Paul Lewis, Jamal Bryant and Cedric Miller want to be embraced and what they are accused of doing should be shrugged off. Give me a break. The sexual transgressions of black clergy is often swept under a rug at black churches. Why?

UPDATE#2 (11/25/10): Pastor Miller said he is temporarily stepping down from the pulpit following his admission that he engaged in a three-way sexual relationship a decade ago. He said the church members gave him a vote of confidence with restrictions, which he declined to disclose in a recent interview. He claims he will return in the near future. Now, if only the other black churches facing sexual scandals involving their pastors could do the same thing and force them out. Bishop Eddie L. Long and Jamal Bryant come to mind.