Spiritual Abuse

1
Spiritual Abuse

• Part I It's characteristics and methods
• Presented by Bob Munson, ThD
• Administrator, Bukal Life Care Counseling
  Center

2
What is spiritual abuse? 2 definitions

• misuse of a position of power, leadership, or
  influence to further the selfish interests of
  someone other than the individual who needs
  help.
• the manipulation and exploitation of others by
  the misuse of spiritual privilege and power.
• The definitions recognize spiritual as greater
  than simply supernatural, but includes Tillich's
  view of spirit as power combined with meaning.

3

• For the most part, this presentation will focus
  on spiritual abuse that is tied to the
  religious... particularly as related to church,
  parachurch, and discipling relationships. In
  other words, abusive religious systems.
• However, it is good to note that spiritual abuse
  of one form or another is common in many settings
  and forms.

4
NOTE

• 1. Most if not all spiritual abusers do not see
  themselves as abusers.
• 2. Most who are spiritually abused do not see
  themselves as being abused... at least at first.

5
NOTE

• 1. Spiritual Abuse has been with us for a long,
  long time (see Ezekiel 34, Matthew 23, III John).
• 2. Few groups or leaders really start out as
  abusive.... it develops gradually over time.
  Commonly, the seed of the problem was there in
  the beginning, but it took awhile for that seed
  to bear its destructive fruit.

6
5 Hallmarks of Abusive Religious Systems

• Authoritarian Unconditional obedience to the
  leadership.
• Averse to Criticism The person who dissents is a
  problem to fix-- not the issue brought up.
• Image Conscious Protecting the reputation of the
  leaders or church is more important than truth or
  justice.
• Perfectionistic Individual worth is determined
  by performance. No compassion for
  weakness/failure.
• Unbalanced Group distinguishes itself by
  overemphasizing a minor theological point.
• -From The Watchmen
  Fellowship

7
4 Rules of Spiritual Abuse

• List by Dr. Graham Barker or the School of
  Counseling at the Wesley Institute of Drummoyne
• Spiritual abuse shares many common features with
  other abusive systems. The most identifiable are
  the unspoken rules Dont trust, dont talk,
  dont think and dont question.

8
1. Don't Trust

• The power wielded by abusive leadership is
  generated from the double premise that they alone
  are Gods
• anointed and that their biblical
  interpretations alone are to be trusted. Any
  interpretation or information that does not
  receive
• their endorsement is untrustworthy.

9
1. Don't Trust

• The dont trust rule squashes the individuals
  confidence in their own
• judgment and their ability to make decisions for
  themselves. Any personal experience that
  contradicts the leaderships
• teachings is also deemed untrustworthy and an
  indicator of spiritual immaturity.

10
2. Don't Think

• Leaders of closed systems do not tolerate the
  study and consideration of alternative
  interpretations of
• Scripture. Their viewpoints are considered
  unquestionable truth. This closed mindset often
  extends to edicts on
• personal life clothing, occupation, ministry
  location and even marital choices may be
  prescribed.

11
2. Don't Think

• Independent thinking,
• particularly any close analysis of the groups
  belief system, is considered a sign of dissention
  and disloyalty.

12
3. Don't Talk

• In abusive systems any discussion of group
  issues with nonmembers
• is discouraged. The leadership will not
• tolerate outside consultation since it could
  expose the membership to alternative solutions
  and undermine the
• leaderships authority.

13
4. Don't Question

• Abusive leadership will not tolerate challenges
  to its authority. Dont question is a powerful
  rule. The
• member who questions the decisions or standards
  of the leadership is usually ostracised,
  humiliated or excluded from
• ministry opportunity.

14
8 Methods for Mind Control

• Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism
  by Robert J. Lifton describes 8 methods used in
  organizations that seek to mind/thought control.
• Quotes in this section are excerpts of this book
  as listed in
• http//www.rickross.com/reference/brainwashing/bra
  inwashing19.html

15
1. Milieu Control

• Establish domain over not only the individual's
  communication with the outside (all that he sees
  and hears, reads or writes, experiences, and
  expresses), but also - in its penetration of his
  inner life - over what we may speak of as his
  communication with himself.

16
2. Mystical Manipulation

• Higher Purpose or Special Revelation is used
  as justification for requiring TOTAL FAITH. The
  purpose supercedes all other purposes.
• The mystical imperative suggests that ANY
  questioning or reflection not in line with the
  beliefs of the group is from the dark side (the
  enemy, from Satan, etc.).

17
3. Demand for Purity

• The experiential world is sharply divided into
  the pure and the impure, into the absolutely good
  and the absolutely evil. The good and the pure
  are of course those ideas, feelings, and actions
  which are consistent with the totalist ideology
  and policy anything else is apt to be relegated
  to the bad and the impure.

18
4. Cult of Confession

• Confession is carried beyond its ordinary
  religious, legal, and therapeutic expressions to
  the point of becoming a cult in itself. There is
  the demand that one confess to crimes one has not
  committed, to sinfulness that is artificially
  induced, in the name of a cure that is
  arbitrarily imposed. Such demands are made
  possible not only by the ubiquitous human
  tendencies toward guilt and shame but also by the
  need to give expression to these tendencies. In
  totalist hands, confession becomes a means of
  exploiting, rather than offering solace for,
  these vulnerabilities.

19
5. The Sacred Science

• The totalist milieu maintains an aura of
  sacredness around its basic dogma, holding it out
  as an ultimate moral vision for the ordering of
  human existence. This sacredness is evident in
  the prohibition (whether or not explicit) against
  the questioning of basic assumptions, and in the
  reverence which is demanded for the originators
  of the Word, the present bearers of the Word, and
  the Word itself.

20
6. Loading the Language

• The language of the totalist environment is
  characterized by the thought-terminating cliché.
  The most far-reaching and complex of human
  problems are compressed into brief, highly
  reductive, definitive-sounding phrases, easily
  memorized and easily expressed. These become the
  start and finish of any ideological analysis.
• For an individual person, the effect of the
  language of ideological totalism can be summed up
  in one word constriction.

21
7. Doctrine over Person

• The underlying assumption is that the doctrine -
  including its mythological elements - is
  ultimately more valid, true, and real than is any
  aspect of actual human character or human
  experience. Rather than modify the myth in
  accordance with experience, the will to orthodoxy
  requires instead that men be modified in order to
  reaffirm the myth.

22
8. The Dispensing of Existence

• The totalist environment draws a sharp line
  between those whose right to existence can be
  recognized, and those who possess no such right.
  Yet one underlying assumption makes this
  arrogance mandatory the conviction that there is
  just one path to true existence, just one valid
  mode of being, and that all others are perforce
  invalid and false.

23
Some Characteristics of a Spiritual Abuser

• -Need to control others
• -Authoritative style
• -Commanding personality
• -Inability to tolerate criticism/dissension
• -Surrounds with a small, exclusive clique
• -Self-proclaimed expert, anointed
• -Secretive about private life

24
Many religious traditions have components that
make them susceptible to spiritual abuse

• -Separatist traditions can drift into an abusive
  isolationist structure.
• -Hierarchal or apostolic structures can lead to
  unthinking obedience.
• -Prophetic groups open the door to secret
  revelation that quashes critical thinking.
• -Holiness movements can drive towards a
  perfectionistic mindset.
• -Apocalytic groups can reject the value of
  structures and relationships in the here and now.

25
Signs to Look Out For

• -Are the leaders open and accountable?
• -Do they encourage critical thinking?
• -Are they willing to consider new ideas and
  initiatives?
• -Are they open to a diversity of opinion and
  interpretation?

26
Correcting Myths About the Abused(From Stephen
Martin)

• People do not normally choose to be part of an
  spiritually abusive group. The group appears to
  be a sheep, yet is a wolf in sheep's clothing.
• People are not fools, crazy, or unspiritual for
  getting into such a group. Often they are very
  moral and are idealistic, unhappy with other
  groups they have seen. Abusive groups, in fact,
  often seek out the best and the brightest.
• Just leaving an abusive group is not necessarily
  enough. The abused are now wary and mistrusting
  of others who appear to be kind and helpful
  (their old group appeared that way as well). They
  need special care in recovery.

27
TThe word of the LORD came to me "Son of man,
prophesy against the shepherds of Israel 'This
is what the Sovereign LORD says Woe to the
shepherds of Israel who only take care of
themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the
flock? You have not strengthened the weak or
healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have
not brought back the strays or searched for the
lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally.
So they were scattered because there was no
shepherd Therefore, you shepherds, hear the
word of the LORD because my shepherds did not
search for my flock but cared for themselves
rather than for my flock I am against the
shepherds and will hold them accountable for my
flock. I will remove them from tending the flock
I myself will search for my sheep and look
after them I will bind up the injured and
strengthen the weak I will shepherd the flock
with justice I will save my flock, and they
will no longer be plundered You my sheep, the
sheep of my pasture, are people, and I am your
God, declares the Sovereign LORD.'" (Excerpts
from Ezekiel 34)
28
References

• Enroth, Ronald M. Churches that Abuse.
  Zondervan.
• The Watchmen Fellowship
• http//www.rickross.com
• Barker, Graham. The Insidious Harm of Spiritual
  Abuse Alive Magazine
• Lifton, Robert J. Thought Reform and the
  Psychology of Totalism.
• Martin, Stephen. Wolves in Sheep's Clothing
  www.wellspringretreat.org.