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Spiritual Abuse in the Church

How many times have you heard a preacher say follow me as I follow Jesus? Today there is spiritual abuse in the church and if we are not careful we could be an unwilling victim in man’s deception. If we do not want to be a participant in the enemy’s scheme then we have to be as harmless as a dove but as wise as a serpent as the bible tells us to be.

As wise servants of God we must (as much as possible) make sure the pastor we are submitted to is following Jesus as they profess they are. The bible says the devil will come to you as an angel of light so everyone that says he or she is following Christ is not always being truthful. We will know a tree by the fruit it bears. The fruit of the spirit will yield certain fruit. Love will be at the root and if we are witnessing fruit not of God we must go by what we see.

There are some pastors that have been accused of various acts of improper behavior. Sexual misconduct is one sin that covers everything from being involved in adultery, to sexually abusing children. There have been prominent pastors of various churches and congregations that have engaged in this type of sin. Also, many Catholic churches have kept it a secret that their priest were molesting young boys and would only admit it after having been exposed by the victim. To the average person this lack of accountability is unfathomable. There was one local pastors that was charged with multiple counts of fraud for stealing money from the church’s bank account.

More often that not most spiritual abuse is committed in the local church by not teaching the word of God accurately. The word of God is many times twisted from it’s original context to conform to some hidden agenda the pastor has. Whether the word is twisted to persuade you to do certain things God never intended to make you go along with all their desires and opinions that are misleading. Some...