Signs of Spiritual Abuse by Steven Lambert

[ZNPaaneah]

Originally Posted by Igzy

As posted at:
http://www.slm.org/trtdigst/articles/abuse.html

The Signs Of Spiritual Abuse ©
By Steven Lambert, ThD

Are you one of the many loyal and sincere church members who faithfully and cheerfully attend, support and participate in a local church, but have a nagging, persistent inward "thought" that "something is just not right here?"............

Then, you begin realizing, somehow, somewhere along the line you began losing your joy, your zeal for the Lord. It used to be you could hardly wait for the services and to be involved; now it is drudgery to go at all. You used to have such a light and blissful feeling as you worshiped the Lord in the services; now you just go through the motions, feeling heavy, staring placidly toward the platform, sometimes wishing you were somewhere else.....

"What on earth has happened to me? What's wrong with me?" you ask yourself. "Is it just me?" Then, you begin to look around the room and study other long-time members. You compare how they are now to how they were when they first came. Is their life, as it should be, appreciably better, or have they and their family experienced an inordinate share of tragedies, seemingly inexplicable difficulties, and reversals? By and by, you begin to realize that many of the other members have lost their "first love" too, their zeal, their enthusiasm, their joy in serving the Lord, and that, though Christians, like everyone else, certainly experience adversity, many of these members' lives have been on a gradual, downward spiral, instead of advancement and blessing.

Does this scenario sound familiar to you? If so, don't think you're alone—it's repeated several times every week by multitudes of sincere, faithful, and trusting believers. They've had this inward intuition for quite some time that something was just not right at their church or in their group, but just couldn't put their finger on precisely what it was. The teaching "sounded" right, all the right things were being said, good things were happening, many members were being "used" in various "ministries" of the church. Still, this nagging sense something is awry persists........

The following are some of the common signs and symptoms, or common characteristics, of authoritarian abuse manifest in hyper-authoritarian groups, churches, networks, and ministries....

1. Apotheosis of the leadership — exalting them to God-like status in and over the group;
2. Multi-level authority/government hierarchy;
3. Absolute authority of the leadership;
4. No real accountability of the leadership to the corporate body;
5. Hand-picked sub-leaders, based on their demonstration of submissiveness to the ultimate leader rather than on the basis of their leadership skills, spirituality, and anointing and appointment by God;
6. Pervasive abuse and misuse of authority in personal dealings with members;
7. Paranoia and insecurity by the leaders;
8. Abuse, misuse, and inordinate incidence of "church discipline;"
9. Personal materialism, covetousness, and self-aggrandizement by the leaders;
10. Members and/or sub-leaders must make a "spiritual covenant," sometimes a signed covenant agreement, pledging their total commitment and financial support to the leadership and church/ministry;
11. Partitioning of the group into smaller groups that are led by internally "raised up" lay-leaders who have not been anointed or appointed by God for leadership within the church;
12. Financial exploitation and enslavement of the members;
13. Inordinate attention to maintaining the public "image" of the ministry;
14. Doctrinal demeanment and devaluation — the requisite of espousing and teaching "sound doctrine" is demeaned and devalued;
15. Theological incompetency by the leadership, especially with respect to the rules of hermeneutics and Bible exegesis employed in the formulation of doctrine, giving license to twisting and adulteration of Scripture in order to provide proof-texts for unorthodox and invented doctrines;
16. Spiritualism, mysticism, and unproven doctrines;
17. Abuse and misuse of prophetic giftings as a means to dominate and intimidate;
18. Devaluation, disallowance, disregard, and displacement of the true Fivefold Ministry within the church;
19. De facto legalism, or works mentality, and its resulting loss of the "joy of salvation," though "freedom" is forever preached from the pulpit and the church is constantly touted as being a "safe church" by the leadership;
20. Esotericism — hidden agendas and requirements revealed to members only as they successfully advance through various stages of "spiritual enlightenment," i.e., unorthodox, unproven indigenous doctrines;
21. Isolationism — corporate and individual, especially with respect to exposure to outside ministry sources;
22. Performance-based approval and promotion system of members predicated on "proven" "loyalty" (i.e., submission) to the leadership;
23. Devaluation, suppression, and non-recognition of members' bona fide God-given talents, abilities, gifts, callings, and anointing, as a means of subjugation;
24. Requiring members to perform menial tasks, such as cleaning toilets, setting up chairs, and acting as the leader's personal valet or slave, as a supposed means to humble them and teach them to "obey their leaders;"
25. Constant indoctrination with a "group" or "family" mentality that impels members to exalt the corporate "life" and goals of the church-group over their personal goals, callings, and objectives;
26. Members are psychologically traumatized and indoctrinated with numerous improper fears and phobias aimed at keeping them reeling in diffidence and an over-dependence or co-dependence on their leaders and the corporate group;
27. Corporately, there eventually develops an inordinately high incidence of financial, marital, moral, psychological, mental, emotional, and medical problems, including sudden deaths and contraction of "incurable" and "unknown" diseases;
28. Lack of true personal spiritual growth and development, especially in terms of genuine faith and experiencing the abounding grace, forgiveness, goodness, blessings, kindness, and agape-love of God;
29. Members are required to obtain the approval or "witness" of their leader(s) for decisions regarding personal matters;
30. Frequent preaching from the pulpit regarding not getting out from under the "spiritual covering" of the leadership;
31. Members departing without the prior permission and blessing of the leadership leave the group under a cloud of manufactured suspicion, shame, and slander;
32. Horror stories frequently told by leaders about individuals or families who left the group without the prior permission and blessing of the leadership, and the terrible consequences and curses they suffered as a result;
33. Departing members often suffer from various psychological problems and display the classic symptoms associated with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

I would argue that the spiritual abuse took place in the LRC as a result of WL being a false teacher. It appears that the major point of contention over the description of false teachers by Peter applying to Witness Lee is the point that “they even deny the master who bought them”.

Titus 1:16 They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and to every good work reprobate.

I don’t care that WL “professed to know God”, I am concerned with his works. Did he deny the Lord with his works?

Were his works abominable, causing moral revulsion? Several of the stories on this forum have caused me moral revulsion. “He that condemns the righteous and he that justifies the wicked. Both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord.” Also, “he that soweth discord among brethren” is an abomination to the Lord. It is not necessary to recount the abominable acts here unless someone disagrees that the sins we know we can ascribe to WL rise to this level.

Was Witness Lee disobedient, refusing to obey rules or someone in authority? I would say yes. If someone can point to anyone in authority that Witness Lee obeyed since 1978 (the year I began to meet with the LRC) then that would go a long way towards proving that this does not describe him. But if over 20 years in the US and you cannot refer to a single person in authority that Witness Lee obeyed then I think that proves he was disobedient.

Was Witness Lee reprobate to every good work? Was he an unprincipled person, was he “wicked”? Proverbs 18:3 “When the wicked cometh, there cometh also contempt, And with ignominy [cometh] reproach.” No one can deny that this forum has brought contempt, ignominy and reproach to Witness Lee. To fabricate a story about WN’s excommunication is unprincipled. To accuse innocent sister’s of a rebellion and then have them excommunicated as a smokescreen to cover for your son’s lasciviousness is unprincipled. To publish a whitewash of the events is unprincipled. Even Witness Lee admitted he would have been ashamed to see WN after the Daystar fiasco because he violated certain principles that WN taught. According to the book of Proverbs we have made a very strong case that Witness Lee was reprobate to every good work.

Conclusion

The key point for me was realizing that Witness Lee fabricated a story about Watchman Nee. The story made the elders who disciplined WN appear shameful and incompetent without telling their side of the story that would have justified their action. Witness Lee’s story of WN’s excommunication left out critical details, it put the blame on the elders when in light of all the facts they seem to have been justified in their concern, and it was self serving for Witness Lee and his claim to be the continuation of WN’s ministry. Even if WN was innocent of these charges they were still critical to the story because even the appearance of sin is a valid reason for the elders to be concerned. Likewise because of the “self serving” nature of WL’s account it also, at the very least, has the appearance of evil.

If a person is a liar you treat them differently, I am no longer interested in what you say but rather what you do. As a result my question is “did WL deny the Lord with his works”?

To me, all of these symptoms of spiritual abuse are really symptoms of a false teacher.