Reports from the Associated Press say that Bishop Thomas Weeks, estranged husband of Evangelist Juanita Bynum, wrote in his new book that she has tried to use their highly publicized physical altercation to revive her own flagging ministry. Weeks made the same admission to EUR last December
The self-published book includes chapters with titles such as “I Would Rather Push You Now Than Punch You Later” and “She Wanted to Be Oprah at Any Cost” and says it was him who suffered physical and emotional abuse in the relationship.
In the 153-page book, “What Love Taught Me,” Weeks says the August 21, 2007 dispute was nothing more than a continuation of the “heated fellowship” the two ministers engaged in during their marriage. The scuffle between the two in a hotel parking lot landed Weeks in jail on charges he pushed, choked and beat Bynum, and he ultimately pleaded guilty to assaulting her. He is serving three years of probation.
Bishop Weeks claims his wife instigated the parking lot incident and used it to paint herself as a poster girl for domestic violence and to boost her ministry.
“Ultimately, she had to have …a plan to destroy my credibility, to leak issues that were in the process of being resolved…so that she could get out of the marriage almost blameless,” he wrote.
Weeks said he wrote the book in the wake of his arrest. Within days, Bynum announced her intentions to become “the new face of domestic violence” and last week, she appeared in a two-part episode of “Divorce Court” offering advice to a couple dealing with alleged abuse in their marriage – moves Weeks said were indicative of her desire for more secular fame.
The Bishop said he is telling his story to help others heal, to clear his name and to ring balance to the story that has unraveled over the past eight months. He said in the book that they both had strong personalities and that there were times when their arguments turned violent.
Weeks also claims in the book that on that night, August 21st, the couple had just finished arguing at the Renaissance Hotel when Weeks left and headed for his vehicle. Bynum followed, according to him, blocking the driver’s side door and began to cause a scene. Weeks said Bynum then swung at him with a cell phone in her hand.
He claims, to avoid her blow to the head he pushed her away with great force causing her to hit the ground pretty hard. By the morning, he writes, reports of the confrontation were circulating on the Internet and in the media. Two days later Weeks turned himself in to face charges of aggravated assault and making terrorist threats.
Bynum is a former hairdresser and flight attendant who became a Pentecostal evangelist, televangelist, author, and Gospel singer. Among her books are “No More Sheets: The Truth About Sex” and “Matters of the Heart.”
Weeks is a Bishop and is pastor and co-founder of Global Destiny Ministries in Duluth, Georgia. He co-wrote “Teach Me How To Love You: The Beginnings,” with Bynum.
