When you earnestly seek to do what’s right, inside a system you do not recognize as broken, you’re asking to be blindsided. When you implicitly trust leaders who depend on the system for power, image and funds, you’re asking to be betrayed. Not seeing what you need to see, you won’t have a clue what’s going on.
Even a cursory look at all levels of leadership in US churches, denominations, networks and ministries reveals that what should be foundational is often absent. Many leaders do not know how to follow God.
Today where you live, religiosity slaughters Sabbath by the very way it tries to keep it. But when people desperate for rest leave the comfort of religious exhaustion and stumble toward God himself, Sabbath remains – and the Lord of Real Rest revives them.
"How long will you try to go both ways?" Elijah cried. Where people identified with God cling to deep double-mindedness, they empower a two-headed snake.
I believe in breaking the silence of secrecy that abusers impose. I also believe that, for a survivor, silence is sometimes the most spiritual choice.
Insights from Carolyn Custis James that can help us recognize and "dis-able" spiritual abuse.