When headlines flashed across the national media that TV Evangelist Juanita Bynum and her soon-to-be ex-hubby Bishop Thomas Weeks III slugged it out in the parking lot of an Atlanta hotel, we stopped in our tracks and said holy shhhhhucks, say-it-ain’t so!

Hmm! Hmm! Hmm!

The pastor and his profitess, ooops we meant prophetess, wife acted the plum-ass fool and wilded out in the street, like ghetto-lovers from the hood. We quickly tuned in to CNN for up-to-the-minute reports, combed You-Tube and TMZ in hopes finding highlights of the fight and feverishly emailed online news stories to everyone in our electronic address books.

We sheepishly and shamefully shared the tragic story of these two religious leaders and waited with baited breath for the next. Between reading and sending emails, we called our closest girlfriends, “Gurrrrrl, did you hear about Juanita?”

Hmm! Hmm! Hmm!

Women immediately and openly sympathized with Juanita --- “Poor baby! See, I told you, men ain’t sh--! Guess his mama never told him that men don’t hit women!” And men secretly wondered “What the hell did Juanita do to make him black-out on her ass? She probably said some slick sh-- and he lost it. Juanita set dude up and dropped the gauntlet!”

Collectively, everyone remembered the multi-million, New York wedding in 2003, just four years ago. And if you didn’t see it televised on Trinity Broadcast Network, you read about it in the pages of Ebony. There were close to 100 people in the wedding party and about 1,000 guests. And Juanita’s rock --- it was a ridiculous 7-carats.

By all accounts, Juanita and Thomas were in love. The fairytale wedding; The perfect couple; A match made in heaven; The apple of each other’s eye. Marriage was good for Juanita, we thought. She glammed-up and was stylin. Lord have mercy, everyone thought Juanita’s “No More Sheets” method of getting the right man had paid off for her.

After all, it was Juanita who told millions of single women, who bought the video, that if they stopped sleeping around with the wrong man, the right man would come along. Her fire-and-brimstone sermon was so good that Bishop TD Jakes had her speaking at women’s conferences and helped the flight attendant-turned- hairstylist emerge as the princess of the pulpit.

Juanita was revered. If God did it for her, he could do it for every other woman. Her fans hung on to her every word and she established a cult-like following of women who believed Juanita was the truth. And after the once-in-a-life-time wedding, she and her husband were on the Church-Chitlin’ Circuit counseling couples, writing books like “Teach Me How To Love You,” which Just Between Girlfriends recommended as a book club selection, and they hosted relationship seminars.

It was either in a sermon or in a book that Juanita talked about her first marriage and abusive relationship. She said her marriage to Thomas Weeks III had given her a true picture of what marriage was supposed to be. She told wives to give it up to their man all the time and make sure he is pleased.

Blah-blah-blah! Yeah right, Juanita! At the time of the slugfest Juanita told authorities they had engaged in pushing and shoving prior to the ATL beat down. But will all the phony public posturing, photo opps and televised pulpit pageantry, there was no way for anyone to know that ‘Nita and Tom-Tom were living a lie.

Now, Thomas Weeks III is about to catch a case for allegedly beating, choking and stomping his wife and Juanita has proudly announced on TV and on Tom Joyner’s nationally syndicated radio show that she is “the new face of domestic violence.”

We’ve already been “hoodwinked, bamboozled and led astray” by these holy-rolla charlatans (yeah, it’s a bit harsh), who have run amok in the name of Jesus. Juanita and Thomas Weeks, who had already separated before their skeletons fell out the closet on Aug. 21, knew their marriage was at best rocky when they were writing books, hosting seminars and counseling married folks --- that was just wrong!

First, Juanita needs to apologize for being less than genuine with those who followed her. She also needs to rethink calling herself the new face of domestic violence, especially when organizations like Just Between Girlfriends have been on the forefront for years of raising money and awareness to help combat domestic violence. JBG knows what the real faces of domestic violence really look like.

The real faces or domestic violence have been battered beyond belief and recognition, like Angela Riddick who was shot in the face at point blank range by a jealous boyfriend. The real faces of domestic violence have been strangled, dismembered and burned on a barbecue grill like beautiful college student Tynesha Stewart. The real faces of domestic violence don’t decide they want the title, they survive brutal and horrific attacks and speaking up is their testimony.

There is certainly sympathy for Juanita Bynum and surely she has a testimony share and story to tell. Now, she’s on the cover of Essence a two-part series written by our own JBG member Denene Millner. We love our sistah, she is in our prayers and we wish her the best. However, Juanita is also on our radar and we hope we don’t see her go from peddling her message of “No More Sheets” to peddling “No More Beats!”

The God we serve sits high and looks low! He is almighty. He is just. He is all-knowing. He is the king of kings. He is the icing on the cake. God is the Alpha and Omega --- beginning and the end!

For what shall it profit a woman, if she shall gain the whole world, and lose her own soul?