Although I have my reservations about G. Craige Lewis and someone else has already done a good job of detailing those reservations because myself and others made note of them. I can say that I’ve found that G. Craige Lewis is original with whatever he delivers. Then we have Reuben Armstrong. A guy who I also have reservations about. The difference, is that Lewis has written pages all over his sites, so we know he can produce original writing. While with Armstrong, he’s got a new book and was a man in the media, but never one I’ve seen produce much written material.
So with that in mind, when I read Lynn’s post over at HicktownPress about material in Armstrong’s book looking just like words written by G. Craige Lewis. And knowing that the writeup by Lewis was published on the Internet before Armstrong’s book was released. All I can say is, unless Lewis got a VERY advanced copy of Armstrong’s book and copied from it. (Which I’m most doubtful of. No matter what anyone thinks of Lewis, nobody has ever said he’s not original in the material he produces.) Given Lewis’ history of original penmanship and Armstrong’s lack thereof, I can’t help but think Armstrong lifted material from Lewis without any attribution. Given what Lynn has found and documented.
We do know that Reuben knows how to sue people and I figure he would have already had HicktownPress shut down if Lynn was lying. We know Reuben knows how to sue, Reuben knows how the self promote, Reuben knows how to sensationalize, but we’ve not seen much of Reuben knowing how to write. So I’m just hard pressed to think Reuben Armstrong is clean here and that this is all just some sort of mistake. All roads lead my mind to one word, plagiarism. And I’d have to see some pretty irrefutable evidence to think otherwise. All of this is just my opinion of course.
I’m guessing if Armstrong’s book were actually popular, that we might discover Mr. Lewis’ work might not be the only one that has an odd similarity to work in Armstrong’s book.
This is just pathetic!
update 10/3/2007 8:18PM: I asked Lynn to see if Reuben’s book includes the sections that are also in Lewis’ paper about Bynum’s beating. She found this quote for me in Armstrong’s book, that she says is identical to Lewis’ paper. I asked her to see if this specific quote was there:
She can now capitalize on those bruises.
Because it proves Armstrong’s book was not completed till AFTER the Bynum/Weeks incident.
Page 127 of the book:
She can now capitalize on those bruises. She can hold conferences for battered women. I can just imagine her on the major talk shows such as Oprah, Tyra, Larry King and the Reuben Armstrong Show. Those little bruises are worth millions when you are in the business of exploiting personal issues for gain. Get ready for Juanita Bynum to cash in millions of dollars from books sold on battered women…
Here’s what Lewis has:
She can now capitalize on those bruises. A conference on battered women and how you don’t need a man! I can just see it now. Oprah, Tyra, Larry King, and more. Those little bruises are worth a bunch of money when you are in the business of exploiting issues for gain. Get ready for her ministry to go into the stratosphere and books on battered women will be written.
Notice Armstrong’s version includes “the Reuben Armstrong Show”. Talk about a self promoting ham! He’s trashing her out one side of his mouth, while just hoping she’d boost his audience by appearing on HIS SHOW. James 3-4 comes to mind. Lynn has more from those quotes in comments here.
Lynn says it continues from there with both being virtually the same.
Bynum was alledgely beaten on 8/21, news reports broke on the evening of 8/22. Pictures of the bruises started showing up on 8/23. G. Craige Lewis’ blog post was released on 8/27. Given statements about the bruises, nobody could have written a word about those till at least 8/23. This would mean if Armstrong was the author, he would have had to have completed his book on 8/23, sent it to publishing and within 4 days had books printed AND one in the hands of G. Craige Lewis to copy from. HIGHLY UNLIKELY. Move the scenario of Armstrong completing his book later than 8/23 and what are already horrifically low odds only become more horrific. It’s far more plausible that Armstrong saw Lewis’ post on 8/27, added it to his book, completed it sometime on or after 8/27, sent it to publishing and within about 3 weeks had the book ready for shipping and Armstrong’s web site notes:
All orders will be mailed on September 18th 2007
I think Reuben Armstrong not only lifted material from G. Craige Lewis, he went a step further in adding a double-tongued statement of having Juanita Bynum show up on his show to capitalize on it all. He was hoping she’d use him to capitalize on the moment, so he could use her for the same!
This is worse than pathetic, it’s down right rotten!
update 10/3/2007 9:51PM: HickTownPress has posted a review of Armstrong’s (or maybe I should call it Armstrong and G. Craige Lewis’) book. Check that out. And keep in mind that Lynn has helped expose some pimps, so it’s not like she’s in the pimps’ cheering section.
update 10/4/2007 4:02AM: Reuben Armstrong posted a vid on YouTube delaying the release on 8/26. I had included it as part of this previous post and you can see I had it embedded there.
Now when you click the link for that video at:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=uVQGChHNxRE
It says:
This video has been removed by the user.
That video worked yesterday 10/3/2007 and does not work now, 3:55AM on 10/4/2007. That video said he was delaying release because of legal issues with Streamingfaith.com, but we all know that was just days after the Bynum incident. Interesting that Armstrong has removed that video.
But it does not matter that Armstrong removed it from YouTube, because I had a copy of the video and here it is! It is in FLV format.
update 10/4/2007 8:46AM: For you who are not familiar with the FLV video format, you’ll need this free player in order to play that video and any you download from YouTube. How can you download YouTube videos? There are many ways, the easiest is probably to get the latest RealPlayer and use its tool that integrates with your browser.
update 10/4/2007 11:17AM: For the convenience of those who can’t manage an FLV file, I’ve made a copy of the video here in a very low resolution WMV format (that’s Microsoft Windows Media). Anyone with Microsoft Windows should be able to view that easily. I’m not making any more 
. The FLV version looks much better. To make a better WMV copy of the FLV file would consume more of my bandwidth than I desire to spend on this.
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October 3rd, 2007 at 5:59 am
When my article appeared, Reuben told one of my readers (who he speaks with on the phone) that he was shocked and disappointed that I printed the article—and that I cancelled the interview I had planned with him on BlogTalk Radio.
He then told her to give me his telephone number for me to call him. I told her that I had NO intentions of calling him, especially at my own expense. I further told her that I was surprised that he’d be more interested in speaking with me than in speaking with Minister Craige.
If someone lifted my work, I’d be on a mission to reach that person. Not once did he expess any anger that his writing appeared on another man’s blog. His sole interest was in speaking with me. Sound strange? I agree.
I told my reader to express to him that he is welcome to write down his side of the story and that I would print it on my blog. I believe in getting things in writing as opposed to speaking on phones where no proof is left behind unless I tape the conversation.
But since I’ve been told that he cusses like a sailor, I don’t want to speak with him on the phone anyway.
To date he has not contacted me and has not taken me up on my offer to write down his side of the story. Does that sound like a victim to you? I’ll let others be the judge. I’m just printing facts as I see them.
Lynn
October 3rd, 2007 at 10:27 am
Is Lewis aware of this? If so what has he said? Im pretty sure his side of the story would prove/disprove Armstrong’s plagarism.
If he did do it, he’s a strait up dummy. Youre right IC, if he had written anything before he would know not to blatantly lift someone else’s work like that.
Especially when its already been printed on a website read by thousands of people!
And then he could have simply gave Lewis attribution and went on his merry way.
What a dummy. Who published his book?
October 3rd, 2007 at 11:09 am
Isnt it possible that Lewis saw the book before it was distributed? I mean it was supposed to come out earlier in August and Ricky Smiley stated that he had already read it before August 27th and was pumping the book up. I do have to say that I did notice that it was exactly the same, but not sure who wrote it first.
October 3rd, 2007 at 11:28 am
IC,
I checked some dates and this is what I should have stated:
Isnt it possible that Lewis saw the book before it was distributed? I mean it was supposed to come out in August (8/29), I believe that is 2 days after Lewis’ article. That means the book was likely already written, so this gets more interesting. I do have to say that I did notice that it was exactly the same, but not sure who wrote it first.
October 3rd, 2007 at 11:35 am
Well Lennie, I’ve talked with Reuben once and there was no cursing, but our conversation was not involving anything like this. So I can’t say how it would go if you two talked and I’m not calling him again, given I’ve found as noted in my reservations about him, that he can flip-flop. So I only continue to lose any trust I had of him and any belief I had that his efforts are from righteous motives.
It’s always possible that Reuben Armstrong contacted G. Craige Lewis and Lewis said “sure incorporate it into your book and act like you wrote it”. I find that highly unlikely, especially since Armstrong has not put his position in writing.
Of course this is all just my opinion.
Lennie, if Armstrong thinks you’re mistaken and that you have wronged him, the rule in scripture (Matthew 18:15-17) and even under man’s law is for HIM TO APPROACH YOU and offer his side. From there it would be up to you to make corrections if any need to be made.
You have granted him the opportunity to contact you in writing. Under man’s law this is the appropriate manner for him to notify even an MSM journalist of an error. Armstrong has not made contact with you (it’s been over a week since your post went up), so the assertion stands (in my opinion) until Armstrong can somehow explain this away. You’ve presented the material and we know the dates each work was released to the public.
I figure posting this here, all affected parties will hear about this. I know their people are lurking.
October 3rd, 2007 at 11:42 am
Hi stacey,
As you know, this is all just my opinion. From my having read other material from Lewis and hearing Lewis speak. Compared with what I’ve seen from Armstrong and from speaking with him directly. To me the work has the style of Lewis, not Armstrong. Lewis is one who speaks of things much more in a spiritual sense, not Armstrong.
I base my opinion not just on the release dates, but also on what I’ve witnessed these men muster in their prior works.
Armstrong’s book was continually delayed. Just because someone had an early copy does not mean that is the edition Lynn has.
October 3rd, 2007 at 1:23 pm
IC,
I also have read Lewis’ other writings and to me it sounds more like him. I agree it was just another idea.
~S~
October 3rd, 2007 at 6:32 pm
Now, look at the paragraph above which appeared on page 127 of Reuben Armstrong’s book (labeled, #2) and compare it to #2 on Craige’s blog:
She can now capitalize on those bruises. A conference on battered women and how you don’t need a man! I can just see it now. Oprah, Tyra, Larry King, and more. Those little bruises are worth a bunch of money when you are in the business of exploiting issues for gain. Get ready for her ministry to go into the stratosphere and books on battered women will be written. Forget the marriage stuff, this is worth more money because most of her following are single, hurt, black women, so this will play right into her hands. Get ready for the “What’s Love Got To Do With It 2″ conference that will eventually be a movie starring the prophetess??
Coincidence? Not likely.
October 3rd, 2007 at 6:46 pm
Oh, and here is #2 from Reuben’s book in its entirety:
She can now capitalize on those bruises. She can hold conferences for battered women. I can just imagine her on the major talk shows such as Oprah, Tyra, Larry King and the Reuben Armstrong Show. Those little bruises are worth millions when you are in the business of exploiting personal issues for gain. Get ready for Juanita Bynum to cash in millions of dollars from books sold on battered women. Forget the marriage stuf, because a battered woman is worth more money than simply ending a marriage. Most of her followers are single and hurt black women, so this plays right into Juanita Bynum’s hands. Get ready for the conference, “What’s Love Got to Do with it Part II.” that will eventually be a moving starring the prophetess, Juanita Bynum.
That is #2 on page 127 in its entirety.
Coincidence? Somebody plaigerized somebody!
October 3rd, 2007 at 6:47 pm
The word “moving” in the last sentence above is a typo. It should be “movie”. Sorry about the typo.
October 3rd, 2007 at 8:25 pm
See the updated post. I asked about that particular quote, because it sets dates for things that start to make it almost impossible and highly improbable that Lewis copied Armstrong. It very much probably was the other way around.
Of course, this is all just my opinion…
Armstrong lifted words and charged a fee for what Lewis gave the world for free. Armstrong made merchandise of Lewis’ blog post. No attribution given.
Maybe Armstrong should send X-Ministries (that’s Lewis’ ministry) a love offering
?
October 4th, 2007 at 12:42 am
Hello IC,
I’m the person that spoke on the phone with Reuben Armstrong from Lennie’s site hicktownpress.com. Oddly enough, I thought my interaction with him was …how do I say it… unsettling.
I initially called Reuben because Lennie received her book 10 days after ordering it, and I ordered mine’s 30 days prior and still had no book.
Sure enough I called Reuben and he was very pleasant and friendly. We spoke on the phone for a few min and he assured me if the book didn’t come by that Friday he would overnite it. I received the book the day after the initial call.
I’m relatively new to Lennie’s site so I hadn’t seen Craige’s blog posting. However, Lennie brought the similiarities to my attention (in light of him being considered a potential interviewee on Lennie’s talk radio program)I searched her blog for Craige’s post, read it, and then emailed her. I then called Reuben to express my concerns. I advised him that while part of the chapter had paraphrased (first paragraph or two–on Juanita Bynum) the rest however, was verbatim. He was not worried at all. I advised him it was in his best interest to get to the bottom of it, because if bloggers are able to call him on the discrepancy..imagine what the media would do. He said “that’s what I pay my lawyer the big bucks for.” ok, cool. I proceeded to tell him this had the potential to hurt his credibility, in addition to being labled a plagiarist(which is tantamount to death for any author). On this call, and other calls-we had talked maybe 2 times previously-I noticed he cursed freely when feeling impatient, or frustrated. He was always on the go and in the midst of frustration, he cursed. I admonished him and told him that’s not Christ like, and the same accountability he holds the “snakes in the pulpit” to applies to him as well. He apologized for cursing, but he didn’t stop cursing (in times of frustrating). Lennie made the decision that she would not have Reuben on the station to be interviewed because of the plagiarism. I relayed that to Reuben and he seemed to be ok with that. I suggested to him-several times during conversation and the various times we spoke on the phone subsequently, to contact Lennie. He pretty much ignored that request. But when he found out Lennie had posted her plagiaristic suspicions on her blog…he was taken aback. I told him he could go to the site and post and Lennie would respond. He ignored it and said he would call me later. Apparently he was reading Lennie’s blog because he called me back in less than 3 minutes, distressed. A reader of Lennie’s site had emailed Reuben and questioned him about the suspect plagiarism. I told him he hadn’t seen anything yet and it was going to get worse. I gave Lennie the phone number to communicate with him, but by then it was too late. Lennie had said all what she had to say until her inquiries were satisfied. Reuben said when he found out about Bynum/Weeks he postponed the printing to include the incident. Reuben said he had the manuscript with the date stamped on the envelope(can’t remember the date) when it went to print in D.C (something like that) but it was supposedly before Craige’s post on Aug 27th. I conveyed to him how serious this allegation was because there was no source credit in the book and he said according to his lawyer no credit has to go to bloggers. There’s no copyright protection for blogs. His “lawyer’s” attitude (based on conversation with Reuben) was ha, it’s just a blog! I reiterated to him to not underestimate the power of bloggers- I educated him on the fact that he was able to be part of Jena 6 because of blogs. I also told him celebrities when caught looking tacky, etc read what’s said about them, they tighten up, and talk about the blogs they read in interviews. People READ blogs! When ethnic (i.e., jena 6, genarlow, the young woman who’s body was found in Chicago)news hit tv, radio…it comes via bloggers in most cases first, because mainstream will not give us airtime.
He told me Craige was part of his (reuben’s)mass email list and that’s where Craige received the words on Bynum from.I have not spoken to Reuben since I posted on Lennie’s site that I supported her in her decision. So maybe he read my post and decided he was done. I don’t know. I hope for his sake he gets it together.
If my post is confusing, charge it to my head not my heart. Ask me questions if you need clarification, and i’ll be happy to respond.
Thanks,
Breeze
October 4th, 2007 at 4:30 am
Hi iventbyblogging/Breeze,
See my update just made to this post about a YouTube video Armstrong just removed.
If Armstrong is legit in all this, how come he dropped the video about delaying his book’s release just after this blog post and Lynn’s latest? If blogs don’t matter, how come the video is suddenly gone, removed by “user”. Which means only ONE PERSON could remove it HIM.
I guess he thought nobody was keeping track of his YouTube vids.
I was part of Reuben Armstrong’s mailing list up until and on 8/26. I have a copy of every e-mail he sent and absolutely none of them has ANY of the statements found in G. Craige Lewis’ blog post!
And regarding copyrights and bloggers. Either Reuben’s a liar (likely in my opinion), or his lawyer needs to learn about US Copyright laws. All material posted on the Internet no matter what format is automatically protected by US Copyright laws if posted from within the United States of America.
Armstrong needs to go study the U.S. Copyright Office web site. If he’s got a manuscript of his book sealed with a post date that he mailed it before 8/27, he better keep it handy, he might need to produce that. If it’s not sealed, it don’t count! Usually people with lawyers simply use the lawyer for that. And a guy with his criminal history would have an uphill battle in court. Even if he produced something it would be scrutinized big time given his past.
I think Armstrong needs to contact Lewis (which ain’t easy) and plead for mercy.
October 4th, 2007 at 6:00 am
I conveyed to him how serious this allegation was because there was no source credit in the book and he said according to his lawyer no credit has to go to bloggers. There’s no copyright protection for blogs. His “lawyer’s” attitude (based on conversation with Reuben) was ha, it’s just a blog!
Now re-read the paragraph above, everybody. What does that tell you?
A sharp five year old could see both the forest and the trees in that interesting statement.
October 4th, 2007 at 9:30 am
Even if we were to beleive Reuben has an attorney silly enough to suggest that blogs have no copyright protection, what about Reuben’s personal integrity? What about his claims of being saved and conviction of the Holy Spirit? Why would he as a Christian in media desire to forsake acknowledging the work of others, leading the world to think it’s his own FOR PROFIT, when he’d desire acknowledgment of his own labor? Unbelievers in his field have more honor and respect for others than him.
I always was leery of him because of the company he keeps, but once he wanted to expose pimps I hoped he was making a better turn. Then once he flip-flopped from saying his break with Streamingfaith.com was amicable, to trying to sue them. I knew he was as crooked as those poverty pimps he runs with. And now he’s dumped the evidence. He’s done NOTHING to show he’s innocent and EVERYTHING to show he’s the one at fault. This is why I’m glad you never called him Lynn, I figure he would have fed you a line and hoped you fell for it.
And if anybody else exposed this guy, all of us exposing pimps with righteous motives would be looked at with a prejudiced eye. I certainly hope my work is heavily scrutinized. I believe my intent and efforts are able to withstand the tests. And the scrutiny helps me remain more humble and avoid being caught up in “self”. But I don’t want anybody thinking I’m like him.
October 4th, 2007 at 11:08 am
The statement below from iventbyblogging/Breeze is enough for me as well as the updates by IC.
“I conveyed to him how serious this allegation was because there was no source credit in the book and he said according to his lawyer no credit has to go to bloggers. There’s no copyright protection for blogs. His “lawyer’s” attitude (based on conversation with Reuben) was ha, it’s just a blog!”
This is a shame. In the book he also just makes statements with no backing or proof. Then he states other things and then just starts talking about something else. You would think that he would not want to steal someone elses work if he is really living a Christian life. His reasons for this book do not seem pure. I’m sure he will have hell to pay.
October 4th, 2007 at 10:47 pm
I JUST came home (from this morning)..and it’s 10.45pm. Good posts, brethren. For reasons known only to Reuben, he’s chosen not to take a course of action that would exonerate him. I’m sorry that he chose to take that route. Well, needless to say his lack of actions would definitely be a catalyst to attack his credibility from others in media, world, church etc. He’s the one that’s going to have to deal with our Father, and also i’m wondering if we’ll hear anything from Craige?? I guess time will tell.
Ivent
October 9th, 2007 at 12:28 am
Looks like Armstrong dropped his lawsuit against Streaming-no-faith, see Reuben Armstrong Withdraws Lawsuit Against Streaming Faith.
Also note the date of that press release was 9/17/2007. THE DAY BEFORE HIS BOOK RELEASE. How convenient.
I think it’s very possible.
Of course this is all just my opinion…
Notice the source of the press release is his own show. So it’s possible he set all this up himself for the sake of self promotion.
He speaks of wanting to see souls saved and “Bringing People Closer to God”. A very ecumenical statement. He does not note salvation from sin through Jesus Christ alone. He does not note that we can’t get anywhere near God unless we have faith in Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, His being the sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection.
To me, even when Armstrong tries to look good he looks bad. Because his timing is just too convenient.
October 9th, 2007 at 11:21 am
I was very upset about this book (Snakes..) because I could barely read it without reading a curse word. His context of the words are very disturbing. He’s very vulgar. This is NOT something a christian wants to read. There are better ways of saying what’s going on in the world.
We all know what happens, it’s up to us(the body of Christ) to pray for these people, because they are still children of God.We shouldn’t take part is their works but ask God to deliver them. We all have planks in our eyes so I don’t see how Armstrong can write a whole book on someone else and he’s causing the body of Christ to read vulgarity. Needless to say I didn’t finish the book because I found that it was out of control.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
Wow! This man talks about snakes in the pulpit and look whom he uses to promote his book. Juanita Bynum?