Predators in the church

[happiernow]

The church allows sexual predators to flourish. I have experienced this first hand. Does anyone else have experience with this?

[Ohio]

Welcome HappierNow!

Thanks for sharing your heart-breaking story. Though we on this forum are in no way professional counselors, we have provided some needed help for others who have left the LC. I can say that you are not alone and others have been thru similar ordeals, though yours is one of the worst. Many others like yourself, after leaving the LC, had to "put God in the closet" while they got their hearts and lives back together.

I just can't believe what a fighter you are. Congratulations on your academic achievements! I just marvel at your ability to persevere and aim your life in the right direction! I think you will accomplish great things in your life.

I do hope sometime soon you could obtain some healthy counseling to work thru the horrors of the past. Though this may be the last thing you want to hear, I can say with assurance that our Heavenly Father does love you, and does know all your sufferings. None of us can explain why all those around you, failed you, failed to protect you, and then blamed it all on you. I can say thru experience that often times the sanest person in the room gets blamed the most.

Thanks again for sharing.

[Nell]

Happiernow,

Your story breaks my heart. I'm so sorry. It's amazing that you have chosen "happiernow" as your moniker. I believe that during the horror you've experienced in your young life, that God was weeping with you and his heart is surely broken also. The things you described are not of Him, but clearly from his enemy, the Devil.

No one can hurt you as much as your family. That includes your earthly family as well as your Christian brothers and sisters. There are many stories of abuse by Local Church "authorities" who lord it over God's children.

Please don't give up on Him. How can I help you?

Nell

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by happiernow

The church allows sexual predators to flourish. I have experienced this first hand. Does anyone else have experience with this?

Witness Lee's own son Phillip was a sexual predator, and WL himself enabled it. There were a number of victims at LSM. The so-called church "storm" back in the 1980's was due to this.

I was active in the LC many years, but as soon as I learned this, I left for good, and lost nearly all my respect for WL and his ministry.

[aron]

Originally Posted by happiernow

The church allows sexual predators to flourish. I have experienced this first hand.

I don't know the details of your story, and respect your and others' privacy. But we do know that groups promoting human-centered unity are ripe for predators to exist. As long as these ones are "positive" they're covered over. Diversity of thought, expression, and experience are suppressed and even shunned, as conformity to the Hive and it's all-too-human center, here aka "the ministry" and its representations, are continuously and obsessively stressed. In such an environment, those who're zealous (or appear so) will be given the blind eye, while "rebels" will be exposed at every turn.

Just remember that your life and person are as precious to God as anyone else's. Jesus' teachings and actions made this utterly clear. And your voice exists, just like any other. Silence is a tool of conformity and a cover for exploitation and oppression.