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Confronting the Reality of Spiritual Abuse in the Church
This cartoon portrays what happens too often in the Church in general and Christianity as a whole.
Sheep scattered, slaughtered. One says to another, “You still got to admit he was a great teacher though.”
This happens in businesses, universities, politics, families, and so many places.
But we’re talking about the church because it boasts being so good to and for people.
Too many highly respected spiritual leaders leave victims in their wake. I’ve experienced this and I know so many others who have as well. I have stories and I hear stories every single day.
It’s not rare.
It’s rampant.
More stories will emerge as people no longer settle for silence.
I have a few conclusions:
- When they say, “Keep this a secret so as not to bring disrepute on the ministry”, believe them. They’re right! They know this because what they’re doing is wrong. They saw their ruin coming.
- Such spiritual leaders claim their teaching demands complete acceptance to be completely effective in your life. Don’t you wonder why their own teaching was so ineffective in their own lives?
- By their fruit you will know them. We must analyze the theology of such abusive teachers because I think there’s something amiss. They felt something in their theology allowed them to behave the way they did with impunity.
- Finally, they say the good outweighs the bad. Their victims don’t say this. The victims should be heard. The fact there are victims betrays a complete and catastrophic failure.
Let’s do an experiment:
Which would you choose?
We know what their fans would choose.
We know what their victims would choose.
Resources on Spiritual Abuse
Here are a list of other blog posts I've written on Spiritual Abuse.