The Truth Really Will Set You Free

It's been about ten years since I left the last apostate church I'd belonged to. I say the "last" one, because I'd belonged to three different ones since I became a Christian.

I'm not here to knock all churches because I don't believe all churches are abusive. I'm sure there are still some good ones out there, even in this age of general apostasy in the mainstream organized churches of America. Apostasy simply means "the falling away" from the "faith once delivered to the saints".

From spending considerable time researching in books and the Word of God, I've found that most ALL denominations and organized churches pattern themselves after the Nicolaitan error. But that will have to wait until a later post. There is plenty of information online about the "doctrine and deeds of the Nicolaitans", the thing that Jesus said he hated, for you to study in the meantime to come to an understanding of just WHY Jesus said he hated it...and by the way, so do I.

Even though as a young in the LORD Christian, I experienced a great deal of abuse in the churches I went to those first few years of my church experience...I learned much that helped me understand how and why this could happen in the "household of God" and how to avoid abuse in the future. Maybe these experiences were to be used of God to help others to avoid spiritual abuse and the pain that goes with it, I'm not sure, but I do know it taught me well about the nature of deception.

No one has to succumb to spiritual abuse if they will learn this one very crucial lesson, the Bible is there for you to study for yourself with the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit as your primary teacher. If you will simply do that on a daily basis, coupled with prayer, you will soon learn to recognize deception, the truth from the false. People who merely go to church and allow various teachers to spoon feed them their deal, IE; whatever doctrine it is they lean toward are setting themselves up to be deceived, and hurt bad.

I've linked the title of my post to "Churches that Abuse" for some guidelines to help folks to recognize them. I do recommend it, but still, nothing will replace the bible, the Holy Spirit and prayer as the anchors of your spiritual life that will keep you from being deceived. Spiritual abuse will not be possible if you know the truth, and the truth really will set you free.

God bless you, Scarlett

Warren Jeffs the Pervert "Prophet"

Doesn't this guy just want to make you toss your cookies? You know, a very wise and godly man, Darrell Womack, told me once, that when apostate wolves such as Jeffs get a measure of control and power, they will ALWAYS, without exception bring it down to the lowest element, sex.

If you think Warren Jeff's case is unique, think again. Actually the only thing that sets his sexual crimes apart is the huge number of victims he managed to acquire.

Spiritual abuse can and does take many forms. If you or a loved one has been affected by spiritual abuse in the form of sexual abuse by someone in a church setting, whether it be a pastor, youth minister or anyone.....the first thing to do is report it to a trusted member of your family, and next, someone in the church. And depending on the age of the person and the situation, it may very well be necessary to contact the police and press charges against the abuser.

Sexual abuse is not to be tolerated anywhere. Clearly, it is not to be tolerated in the church, or swept under the carpet and kept hush hush. No, sexual molestation is against the law, period. Exposing predators such as Warren Jeffs, and any pervert in any church anywhere is God's way of purging and cleansing the goats out of his church.

Identifying Predators, Spiritual, Financial, Sexual

There are common traits, common behaviors in human predators of all kinds. Spiritual scammers often operate the same way and use the same methods as other types of criminal con artists, batterers, and rapists. These different kinds of abuse often blend into each other.A liar doesn’t just tell falsehoods/lies to strangers or only in certain situations. A liar routinely lies to everyone. In the same way, a spiritual fraud is not just a spiritual liar. He or she will always lie about other things as well.Understanding these patterns of deceit among abusers and rapists gives us direct insight into the patterns of spiritual frauds. The following points are offered specifically about the patterns of physical abusers but the parallels to spiritual exploiters should be clear. The aim of this post is to help people in spotting frauds before they can do harm, and to help those who have been harmed find help.1. Abusers are charming and tend to be very skilled at social manipulation.2. They are skilled liars. They will also declare they are very honest and honorable but their actual actions will show otherwise.3. They are in control of their actions, not out-of-control. They do not harm everyone they meet. They are very careful to abuse people they feel confident they can get away with harming, such as wives/girlfriends, children, “apprentices,” or those they are “instructing” ceremonially. Substance abuse may increase their aggression but you should never accept being high/drunk as an excuse for their actions. They are far more in control of their actions than they let on and they also harm their victims when sober.4. They blame others for their behavior. “The abuser shifts responsibility for his actions away from himself and onto others, a shift that allows him to justify his abuse because the other person supposedly "caused" his behavior.” The fact is, abusing another person is a choice. It is the fault of no one but the abuser. 5. While “friends” and acquaintances will be subjected to manipulation, lies and sometimes emotional abuse, usually only the abuser’s intimate partners and immediate family will see the monstrous side of them. Abusers are very invested in their public image, and will use acquaintances to lie for them and/or pass on their lies in their defense. They will spend a great deal of time lying to non-intimate “friends” to lay a false trail of misdirection and alibis. On the internet and in long-distance phone calls, it is particularly easy for abusers to construct a good front for their online friends who may never meet them in person.6. Abusers specialize in finding out your vulnerabilities. In the beginning they will tell you how special you are. They will encourage you to confess your fears and vulnerabilities, and they will make a good show of being vulnerable themselves (even though it is just an act and built on lies). They do this to make you emotionally dependent on them, and so later they can use these things to harm and manipulate you. 7. They will seem too good to be true. And they are. There is a common misconception that predators and abusers are easy to spot, that they display obvious signs of their predatory nature. While there are warning signs to look out for (linked below), predators have carefully tailored their disguises through their years of abusing others and getting away with it. If predators weren’t skilled at convincing potential victims and supporters that they’re a nice guy (and those who commit physical abuse are overwhelmingly male), they wouldn’t be successful at what they do. They’ve learned how to fool and manipulate people. It’s their profession. If they weren’t good at fooling people, they would have moved on to some other way of making a living by now. By the time an abuser is middle-aged or elderly, they are very experienced at it; they are not going to change. Abusive behavior usually starts after the victim has made an emotional, spiritual, and/or financial commitment to the predator. Abuse usually starts right after some milestone: moving in together, getting married, pregnancy, or the birth of the first child. With spiritual predators, it’s often once the victim has made a ceremonial commitment and/or given the predator a large amount of money. Once that investment on the part of the victim is there, the predator knows the victim will be hesitant to throw away all that time and effort they’ve invested in the relationship. By that point the abuser has probably also isolated the victim from other sources of support and information, and has made sure the victim sees them as the unquestionable source of the truth. The vast majority of rapists don’t hang out in alleys to commit “stranger” rape. “Over 70% of sexual assaults are committed by someone the survivor knows. Over 40% of sexual assaults occur in the victim's home and another 30% take place in the home of a friend, neighbor or relative.”If you’ve been abused, there is help available. Once you know the patterns to look for, abusers are much easier to spot. Remember, if someone has harmed you, you can bet there are other victims out there. If everyone who has been abused speaks up, the world will change. Those who work the hotlines, who counsel victims of domestic violence and other forms of sexual and spiritual abuse, have heard it all before. They will recognize your story. They won't be shocked and you don't have to be ashamed. The patterns are all too common.