Clik here to view.
To Train Up A Child…. Abuser (Part 2)
This is the second part of a post about the abusive teachings of Michael and Debi Pearl’s book, To Train Up a Child. You can read the first part here. 5.) Faulty Theology – Pearl’s entire “training”...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Strange Trial of 1 Timothy 2:12
In the spring of 2014, in a small courtroom in the quiet town of Public Opinion, Ohio, 1 Timothy 2:12 stood trial. The charge? Discrimination against women and crimes against humanity. You probably...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Brother’s Keeper or Big Brother? 15 Signs of Surveillance in Your Church
We’re back to our series entitled “Frankenstein Faith” about scriptural distortions in the church and how to correct them. [You can see other posts in this series at the end of this post] In George...
View ArticleClik here to view.
“The Other Half of My Brain is My Grandmother”: Why Christians Must Learn to...
I grew up in a Bible cult full of intelligent, sincere people. Many were college graduates. But when it came to studying the Bible, for the most part we rolled over and accepted whatever our pastor...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Missing Link: Bill Nye, Ken Ham, and the Lack of Transitional Bloggers
In case you missed it, Ken Ham, founder of the Creation Science Museum in Kentucky, and Bill Nye (of Science Guy fame), will debate “Is Creation a viable model of origins in today’s modern scientific...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Confirmation Bias and the Bill Nye vs. Ken Ham Debate
Lower your pitchforks. This is not a post about origins. Instead it is a post considering the reaction to the Bill Nye vs. Ken Ham debate held on Tuesday, February 4, 2014. I have read dozens of blog...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Personality Disorders in the Church: Paranoid Personality Disorder (Part 4 of 5)
In my research on cults—and in my own experience as a former cult member—I have learned that many cult leaders evidence traits of undiagnosed personality disorders. What is a personality disorder?...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How to Deal with Personality Disorders among Church Leaders (Part 5 of 5)
I am not a clinician and this is not a prescription. This is my attempt to start a conversation which is long overdue. I welcome the input of Christian brothers and sisters whose education and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Brainwashing Writ Large: Vladimir Putin and the Crimean Crisis
For 25 years I was a member of a Bible cult. One of the first questions people ask me when they discover this is, “How could any intelligent person get sucked in by a group like that?” Many people...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What Mark Driscoll Can Teach Us About Church Leadership
In his recent article, “Mark Driscoll’s Problems, and Ours,” Carl R. Trueman pens a thoughtful synopsis of the crisis in church leadership in the Reformed movement as seen through the lens of Mark...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Lion Makers: Fred Phelps and the Outcome of Cult Leaders
In India, there were four Brahmans who set out on a journey. Three of them were highly educated but had little common sense. The fourth had little education but good sense. As they journeyed through a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Rethinking Matthew 18 – Gossip Control and the “Can’t Talk” Rule
Editor’s note: This is a re-post from Dr. Stephen Crosby’s blog, “Sword of the Kingdom.” This article about the “Can’t Talk” rule explains how authoritarian church leaders misuse the church discipline...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Does the Church of Wells Teach a False Gospel?
Over the past several months, the Church of Wells in Wells, Texas has received national media attention, most recently by the ABC show Nightline Prime with Dan Harris, which aired on 4/5/14. Background...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Review of “A Journey to Waco: Autobiography of a Branch Davidian”
A Journey to Waco: Autobiography of a Branch Davidian by Clive Doyle with Catherine Wessinger and Matthew Wittmer. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2012. 298 pp. On February 28, 1993, ATF agents...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Review of “Girl at the End of the World”
Girl at the End of the World by Elisabeth Esther. Convergent Books, 2014. 224 pp. Elisabeth has written a poignant memoir, one that will likely ring true with many other survivors of fundamentalist...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Frankenstein Faith: Misuse of the Old Testament (Part 5 of 10)
In the late 1990s I attended a running camp for two summers in the mountains of New Hampshire. The camp had a lake, cabins, and was surrounded by thick piney woods. Built into a natural plateau was a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Checklist: 55 Attributes of a Spiritually Abusive Leader
To recognize a spiritually abusive leader, first we have to define spiritual abuse. Jeff VanVonderen, co-author of the classic book The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse, defines spiritual abuse like...
View ArticleClik here to view.
My Pastor Can Beat Up Your Pastor: Alpha Dogs and the Cult of Christian...
Let me introduce you to four men who want to lead you to God. Leandro Leandro stood big and rangy in the hallway, a couple inches over six feet with sweet tats, huge biceps, and slicked-back hair....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mind Games of Abusers: When Words Have No Meaning
If you dialogue with a spiritually abusive leader or cult member, prepare to enter a mind warp. The rules of sense, reason, and accepted definitions go out the window and are replaced with jargon,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Top 12 Blog Posts
Two years ago I started this blog in order to confront spiritual abuse with grace and truth. I wasn’t sure there was anyone outside of my immediate family and a small circle of friends who would read...
View Article