Last fall I made a teaching video for Give Her Wings Academy, which I’m now happy to share here. It’s from several chapters of my book Untwisting Scriptures that were used to tie you up, gag you, and tangle your mind.
I hope you enjoy it while you’re staying put riding the wave of the coronavirus!
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Go here to download your free Guide, How to Enjoy the Bible Again (when you’re ready) After Spiritual Abuse (without feeling guilty or getting triggered out of your mind). You’ll receive access to both print and audio versions of the Guide (audio read by me). I’m praying it will be helpful.
Bravo. Thank you for the clear presentation of Gospel truths.
First if all, you are so beautiful 🙂
Is it ok to share this? (Assuming yes, as this is a public blog post)
Absolutely! Blogs thrive on shares–sharing is caring.
Love to you, friend.
Thank you, Rebecca. That was very clear and concise!
There is an extremely dangerous teaching in the charismatic cults. The series is called “Under Cover: The Promise of Protection Under His Authority,” by John Bevere. It is a several week video series that we were required to undergo in a church that ended up being a cult. We were being indoctrinated to give blind obedience to church leaders. We were told how sinful it is to ever speak against God’s anointed and that if we ever wanted freedom from bondage, desire God’s blessings in our lives, and wanted to be a part of anything in the church we had to follow this teaching exactly. This is an new apostolic teaching that says we have to come under the authoritative covering of the church leadership, otherwise we would be outside of God’s will and outside of His protection. Then bad things would happen to us as a result. I might add, that besides boatloads of manipulation, including what I call “spiritual rape” was that every single Sunday they preached on tithing and “seed-faith giving” for about 10 minutes before the regular sermon. I could tell you other stories that would make the hair raise up on the back of your neck, but then I digress. Anyhow, the scriptures were so grossly taken out of context and weaponized against weaker, hurting people and those who suffered financially were told time and time again if they wanted a 10-fold return, they had to give sacrificially. And they just got poorer and poorer, while the leadership used the money for building projects and traveling to Israel, etc. Very sad and very destructive!
Indeed that’s a cult. A hideous monstrosity. I hope and pray that people are getting safe from it. Thank you for telling about it, and the destructive book, here.
Yes, John Bevere’s books have been used by many cultic pastors. Mine included. I would not recommend his books, especially the ‘Bait of Satan?’…
Oddly, he did have guts to stand up to the false and cultic prophecies… when it comes to those, he did recommend people to use their own discernment and not go along with false teachers.
Lisa’s (his wife) teachings are loved by many who are in the advocate / helper camp… because she knows how to encourage women to rely on God… but it is important to keep in mind they are deeply rooted in the charismania / submission / ‘pastor knows best’ camp.
I’m so glad you made this video and posted it. I can’t even make my way through it all because it’s really painful. I hadn’t heard of Bill Gothard until more recently, but the teachings and the mentality was sure taught. A person absorbs it if they grew up with it and so they don’t even realize they operate out of this foundation. I wasn’t even conscious about such beliefs, but I had been taught such along the way, probably by friends of Gothard, churning out books and Christian radio programming that supported such mentality.
It’s cultish and it’s presented as very much Christian and that by laying down one’s rights, life, property, etc., that God would look favorably upon that. It was also how you showed yourself to be a Christian – by being a doormat, and an obedient one, also a person with no expectations whatsoever of others. It’s hierarchal, too, with the husband being the ruler of the household and wives were to be unquestioningly obedient.
Are you familiar with deprogramming and those who work with cults? I think Gothard’s teachings have created a cult of sorts. Because when I did try and stand up for myself, I was harshly attacked and shamed and pushed to feel as though I was a bad, non-Christian and that I should go back to the doormat stance. “Rebellious” and “disobedient” and “loud” as well as “bitter” were labels thrown around to make a person indeed feel as though they are that belligerent, ‘difficult’ customer throwing a huge fit and creating a scene at a store for something petty.
Hope everyone is taking care of themselves with regards to COVID-19. As Christians, it’s heavenward we go if we end up being a fatality, but I think it’s still good to stock up, stay home, and safeguard oneself. It also helps safeguard others via social distancing. People should take it seriously because of the state of our healthcare system and once it gets overwhelmed, and it very easily will, there’s no turning back. Plus, most Americans are but one major illness away from bankruptcy. We live and die by the Lord’s Hand, and yet I think it’s still good and reasonable to be prudent.
Yes, I agree, and thank you. (My apologies about taking a while to approve your comment; I wasn’t notified about it.)
Yes, I’m familiar with cult deprogramming–that’s a lot of what I do with my work, both my public work (my blog and books) and my private work (meeting with people one on one). Also, when it comes to Gothard’s teaching in particular, the website http://www.recoveringgrace.org was focused on exposing and untangling his teachings for those who were in his cult.
Cult life reminds me of North Korea–you think it’s normal, until you get out.
Indeed, cult life is perceived as normal, until you get out. And it doesn’t even have to be extreme like North Korea. There are lots of brainwashed, indoctrinated people here in the States. Battered wives are brainwashed by their abusers. Prostituted women are brainwashed by their pimps. I see such as cultic too. Same with the false teachings of so many fake-Christian authors and pastors.
And it’s so painful. I was thinking of your work as cult deprogramming but I wasn’t sure if it was something different from what your video just did. I’ve been told that I desperately need to be deprogrammed. I really found your video to be painful (the truth shows the lies) but you did it so well, because you spoke to those internal uncertainties and objections/resistance. You really know what you are talking about and present it in such a good, thorough way. I could feel some shackles loosening up while watching your video.
Thankfully, people like you not only understand cults, but you can articulate things in such a way that people see the cultish teachings that shackled them and helped them be harmed in life in ways others would not.
Can your book be purchased directly or is only through Amazon?
You can also buy it from me, if that’s what you mean. Online, it’s only at Amazon, unless there are some second-hand sellers carrying it.
If you would like for me to send a pdf to you, you can pay the Kindle book price for it, to rebecca@heresthejoy.com at Paypal.
Thank you for asking!