Bishop T.D. Jakes has rebuked scandalous rumors circulating on social media over the past week, linking him to Sean “Diddy” Combs.
On Sunday, Dec. 24, Jakes addressed the accusations in his Christmas Eve sermon, and included a pointed message for anyone listening online hoping to hear gossip.
“Some of you logged in or came in out of concern. Some of you have come in to hear what I have to say. All of you expect me to address a lie, you can log off,” Jakes said to applause. “I will not use this sacred day and this sacred pulpit to address a lie when I have a chance to preach the truth.”
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As he ended his message, Jakes told parishioners at The Potter’s House church he remains a “good and faithful servant.”
“I didn’t come to convince you or nobody, because I know who I am,” he said. “That ain’t what this is about. You can think whatever you want to think, I don’t care. I came to do my job. I came to prophesize, as I was commanded. I came to hear the master say, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.'”
His wife, family members and church elders then joined him as he fought back tears.
“Some of the same people who doubt me are the very people I’m fighting for, trying to get them houses, trying to fix their communities, trying to give them a chance,” Jakes added.
He told the congregation he doesn’t “have time to be playing with freaks.”
“That’s young folks gossip anyway, because they’re not old enough to know that to be 66… that’s a stupid rumor,” he said.
“I come to tell you I’m okay,” Jakes continued. “I’ve got my own flaws and my own faults, but I didn’t do that. That ain’t the kind of stuff you forget.”
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Jakes trended on social media over the past week after viral rumors spread alleging he had intimate encounters with men at parties hosted by Diddy.
The troubled music mogul has been accused in lawsuits filed by four different women of sexual abuse, sex trafficking, rape, and domestic violence. Combs has denied all of the allegations.
As more disturbing claims surfaced about Combs in recent days, Jakes’ name made it into the conversation.
The megachurch Texas pastor has been friends with the Bad Boy Records founder for some time.
In 2021, Combs announced in a since-deleted Instagram post that Jakes would be launching a new program called Kingdom Culture with T.D. Jakes on Combs’ Revolt TV network. The rapper shared a video that showed the two of them together and called the announcement a “landmark moment for Revolt.”
Combs described Jakes as a spiritual advisor, and said the pastor, author and TV producer helped him get through difficult times.
A spokesperson for Jakes said claims of inappropriate relationships with Diddy or any other men are “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 a statement on Thursday.
“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 added.
Listen to the full sermon from T.D. Jakes below:
