A New York City designer/actress, who is a Muslim, claimed to be the woman former Hillsong NYC pastor Carl Lentz was in a relationship with and she said she had no idea he was a popular Christian minister.
In an interview with Sun, a 34-year-old woman, who was identified as Ranin, said she decided to speak out because she was greatly hurt after the megachurch pastor told his followers about his infidelity and she wanted to share her side of the story. Hillsong announced last week that Lentz was fired from the global megachurch due to “leadership issues and breaches of trust, plus a recent revelation of moral failures.” Lentz later acknowledged on Instagram that he cheated on his wife, Laura. Ranin disclosed that she and the popular pastor were in a relationship for more than five months before they broke up, just last week. “There was another person on the other side of his statement that got hurt,” Ranin said, commenting that his Instagram post about his firing was “offensive” as it implied that they “just had a fling.” “I wasn’t there for just sex, we both found comfort and a deep, special connection with each other,” she said. “I am very hurt because we both feel the same way about each other.” “He loves me and I love him,” she continued. “It was a love relationship that wasn’t planned. It wasn’t just a fling or just a sexual relationship.”
Ranin, a professing Muslim, said they met in May at Domino Park in Brooklyn, New York. She said he approached her. “I have no knowledge of the Christian world; I’m Muslim,” she stated, claiming she had no idea he was a celebrity pastor at first. He told me that beautiful women come from the Middle East and we kept talking from there. We walked and talked more for a little bit and exchanged numbers.” Ranin went on to say that he shared his first name with her and “that his job was as a sports agent.” He reportedly told her that he did not want to give her his last name so she could “get to know him in person” first before looking him up on Google. Lentz is often pegged a celebrity pastor in mainstream media because some of his friends and congregants included A-list stars such as Justin and Hailey Bieber, Kevin Durant, Selena Gomez, Kylie Jenner and others. He is also credited for baptizing Justin Bieber in the bathtub of former New York Knicks player Tyson Chandler. The 43-year-old allegedly waited until later on in their relationship to tell Ranin he was married, she claimed.
Lentz has been married to Laura for 17 years and they have three children together.
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Harrison Okafor
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Judith is a believer, a lover of Christ and a Gospel freak person. A passionate gospel blogger and press writer. I work with GospelHitsNaija.net Media, no 1 Gospel music platform.
