This page is devoted to exposure and useful education regarding the control spirit (witchcraft) and the authority structure it prefers to operate in, Hierarchy. We do not sit in your churches or live your lives, but we can endeavor to equip you so that you can discern!
page maintained by Teri Lee Earl
What is Spiritual Abuse? on the Non-Conformist Christian website
On Spiritual Abuse
by Pastor Tom Friedheim
Recognizing Manipulation and Intimidation, Controlling Spirits and Manipulation, and Scriptural Guidelines For Today's Apostasy by Steve Morris
Characteristics of Spiritual Abuse: Manipulation by Ron Henzel
Arrogance God Hates by Neal Griffin
Why I Will No Longer Affiliate with Hierarchical Church
This was written by a former WCG member (Church of
God). On their main website, they complain that: "For years, we
believed that we were the one true church preaching the true doctrines.
In reality, we preached many true doctrines, but were dead wrong about
being "the one true church". " The article contains many scriptures.
Voices
From The Fringe
by Dr. Ronald Enroth
Former members report the tragedy of churches that drift into the distorted
behavior more expected of a cult
Church Abuse Poetry Therapy - A haven for spiritual healing.
The Zadok Priesthood! (Discerning the Difference Between Holy and Phony Ministries!) by David Wilkerson
Battered Sheep Ministry (some interesting and thought provoking articles on church authoritarianism and spiritual authority)
Spiritual Abuse/Cult page- numerous fine links at http://www.spiritualabuse.org/articles.html
Abusive Churches : Spiritual Abuse - an apologetics resource page with many links
INSIDE LINKS:
Mentoring and Accountability by Teri Lee Earl
The Unfolding War Against Spiritual Abuse by Teri Lee Earl
For those who have left the I.C: See: Onward and Upward page
.
1990's:
The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse by Dave Johnson and Jeff Van Vonderan. The publisher is Bethany House Publishers, out of Minneapolis, MN. They are a ministry of Bethany Fellowship, 6820 Auto Club Road, Minneapolis, MN 55438. From the back cover, "Churches are meant to be safe places where spiritual leaders help and equip the members for the work of service. There are some churches, however, where leaders use their spiritual authority to control and dominate others, attempting to meet their own needs for importance, power, intimacy or spiritual gratification..."
Quickie review:
This was an excellent book for symptoms
of spiritual abuse. However, by the time I read it in the mid 1990's, I knew these symptoms already.
I found that the book fell short on pragmatic 'advise' for those in spiritual abuse
situations,
because it did not address the options of what to do from a Biblical
perspective. For that, I turned to my own studies of the Bible (the
internet was not available as a good resource on spiritual
abuse then) I have heard this book is better than"Churches
that Abuse," because that one tended to
white wash abuse in the main line churches. That one was by
Enroth.
Above quickie reviews are by Teri Lee Earl
For a more extensive list of books
and reviews on this subject, access the following outside URL:
Spiritual Abuse & Cult Book List
RELATED PAGES ON THIS SITE:
Bible help
Cults
Spiritual Authority
Abuse (general)
Note: If you are confused about the difference
between physical, sexual, psychological, and spiritual abuse, a brief
example of the differences is given on the front page of Henry
Sheppherd's Recovery From Spiritual Abuse
website. However, keep in mind though that any authority figure which
we are dependent upon and vulnerable to (example: mother and father)
has the power to influence us spiritually by their actions or
inactions--at least until we acknowledge that influence and call upon
God to correct any errors we have taken from the experience.
Truth Page
Note especially the shepherding teaching section.
Pharisees vs Anointing