This shepherd strayed from his flock \u2014 and his side piece says ye shall know the truth.<\/p>\n
Celebrity pastor Carl Lentz\u2019s life came crashing down around him this month after the star-studded\u00a0megachurch Hillsong fired\u00a0the 42-year-old father for what was initially only referred to as \u201ca recent revelation of moral failures.\u201d The day after Hillsong\u2019s founding pastors announced the news to the global Hillsong community, Lentz offered further specification of his misdeeds in an Instagram post: He had cheated on the mother of his three children, wife of 17 years and fellow minister, Laura Lentz.<\/p>\n
Now, his mistress has spoken up about their fiery, five-month pandemic romance and the hypocrisy of a man who she said was unable to practice what he preached.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m here to tell the truth,\u201d NYC-based fashion designer Ranin, 34, told The Post, \u201cand maybe by doing that, other people will have the courage to speak up too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lentz has not responded to The Post\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n
The Palestinian beauty, 34, said she met Lentz on a Friday in May, at Williamsburg\u2019s Domino Park. Ranin was with her dog, looking for somewhere to sit when Lentz offered her\u00a0his circle. They got to talking. They left the park together.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was telling him everything,\u201d she said. \u201cI thought he\u2019s single, he\u2019s a good looking man, why not?\u201d<\/p>\n
They split ways, but he took her number \u2014 in the Notes application on his iPhone, not as a saved contact. \u201cThat, for me, was a red flag,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The next day he asked her to save him a circle in the park, she claimed. \u201cWhen I saw him, he asked me so many questions,\u201d she said. Lentz, who\u00a0famously baptized\u00a0and was close friends with Justin Bieber, repeatedly told her that he worked with celebrities. She asked if he was married. He said yes. \u201cI still didn\u2019t know who he was,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
After he left, she paid an app to do a background check based on his phone number. \u201cEverything came out,\u201d she said. \u201cIt hit me so hard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
She realized she\u2019d once met him, almost a decade prior when, following her divorce, a friend of hers had taken her to the Hillsong Church in Manhattan. \u201cI wasn\u2019t really paying attention but I saw a glimpse of him,\u201d said Ranin, who is Muslim but \u201cvery open to whatever,\u201d and would attend church with her ex-husband\u2019s family while they were married.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was like damn, this is the guy from the church I saw seven years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Sunday that same weekend, he came to her house, she claimed, and they drank tequila and talked for hours. \u201cWe were sitting and he asked if he could put his hand on my thigh,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was awkward, he didn\u2019t know how to act at first. He was timid, acting like he was a virgin.\u201d<\/p>\n
He allegedly told her \u201cthe most beautiful women come from the Middle East.\u201d<\/p>\n
They began texting and FaceTiming constantly, she claimed, deluging each other in videos and digital communication. \u201cWe started to develop feelings for each other,\u201d she said, claiming they were seeing each other roughly every other week \u2014 always at her home, never at his. They\u2019d drink tequila \u2014 so much tequila, she said \u2014 talk (although not about Christianity) and argue constantly. \u201cI leave him on read all the time cause he pisses me off,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
He\u2019d allegedly talk about how \u201camazing\u201d his wife was and the guilt he felt about what he was doing to his family.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe kept saying that we didn\u2019t plan this, that this is life and we fell into it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
They repeatedly ended things.<\/p>\n
Adv<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n \u201cI kept walking away,\u201d she said, but \u201che never knew how to say bye.\u201d<\/p>\n She said he called her his \u201cMiddle Eastern unicorn woman\u201d and told her she reminded him of his friends the Kardashians, which bothered her. \u201cI don\u2019t like when people drop names,\u201d she said, noting that she used to work bottle service in Manhattan and has celebrity friends, too.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a professional narcissist\u201d and \u201clies too much,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n In September, they began seeing each other more, often twice a week. \u201cWe were obsessed with each other,\u201d she said. \u201cHe was like a drug to me. I was a drug to him.\u201d<\/p>\n Then, over the course of one weekend, his wife \u2014 and then his job \u2014 saw their texts. \u201cAll his messages are linked from the iCloud,\u201d she said, and somebody from Hillsong saw them on his computer. \u201cHe\u2019s not really a good cheater.\u201d<\/p>\n Even after he was fired, they continued speaking \u2014 up until a final exchange this past Thursday, following his Instagram post.<\/p>\n \u2018He\u2019s not really a good cheater.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201c\u2018My life is over,\u2019\u201d he said, alleged Ranin. \u201c\u2018I usually am the one who is helping couples who are cheating, and now I\u2019m in their shoes.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n In retrospect, Ranin said their relationship was likely a product of the pandemic \u2014 \u201cHe hadn\u2019t been doing anything for so many months, he hadn\u2019t been onstage, what else was going on in his life? He needed to do something that would excite him.\u201d She also suggested he might be having a midlife crisis and going on a \u201cself-sabotaging journey\u201d by way of getting into a \u201cfiery relationship\u201d after spending so much of his life in a \u201cstagnant relationship\u201d and a \u201cstrict place.\u201d<\/p>\n While they both made mistakes, she acknowledged, \u201cpeople like him shouldn\u2019t preach\u201d or drink so much. \u201cThere\u2019s no deepness there,\u201d she said of Hillsong \u2014 which reportedly has more than 150,000 members. \u201cIt seems like it\u2019s a cult.\u201d<\/p>\n Now that she has come forward with her story, she expects others may follow.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m waiting to see if anyone else will speak up,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n This shepherd strayed from his flock \u2014 and his side piece says ye shall know the truth. Celebrity pastor Carl Lentz\u2019s life came crashing down around him this month after the star-studded\u00a0megachurch Hillsong fired\u00a0the 42-year-old father for what was initially only referred to as \u201ca recent revelation of moral failures.\u201d The day after Hillsong\u2019s founding …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":68635,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[391],"tags":[4454],"yoast_head":"\n\r\n \t