Spiritual abuse; are you a victim? Part II

Matthew 23:15  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

I have written several posts that deal with the leaven of the Pharisees. Yes, I believe that much of evangelical Orthodox doctrine is in fact what Jesus called the leaven of the Pharisees. In Matthew chapter 23, Jesus calls out the Pharisees for their practices. It is my belief that one of the originators of spiritual abuse was the Pharisees of the first century. The above verse could be ascribed to much of evangelical Orthodox Christianity today. In fact, if you read the 23rd chapter of Matthew, it becomes obvious that much of what is written here could be charged against evangelical leadership. One of the underlying causes of the spiritual abuse issued by the first century Pharisees was their legal – constitutional reading of Scripture.

I find it very interesting that the word that is translated as hell in Matthew  23:15 is the Greek word Gehenna. As I have established in other posts, Jesus's references to Gehenna, always pointed toward the impending judgment that was about to come upon the Jews, their city, and their temple. So in essence, he was warning the Pharisees that while they struggled so hard to create converts, that they were in reality converting them to face judgment.

In order for spiritual abuse to gain a foothold, there has to be a method of developing fear within individuals. There can be no spiritual abuse without fear. Here again, with much of evangelical Orthodox Christianity, fear is maintained ultimately by the view held of the Scripture. Leaders claim to have the correct, only interpretation of the Scripture. They convince the members of the group that… to not hold that view… would in some way anger God, and remove them from place of favor. They convince members that there is a very narrow way to gain God's favor. When you think about God's favor, it always comes to the view held of grace. Grace is defined as God's favor toward an individual… Favor that is unmerited. To control by fear, the leadership has to place restrictions or limits on the extent of God's grace. This is mainly accomplished in evangelical Orthodox Christianity by adopting a legal constitutional understanding of Scripture.

This is one of the main reasons that it is so important to see clearly that Jesus and his followers did away with the legal – constitutional understanding of Scripture, and replaced it with a solely redemptive view. It highlights the importance of Scripture passages like 1John 4: 18. "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love." If the above passage of Scripture is true, then, there can be no spiritual abuse. It should be so obvious that the leaven of the Pharisees… In other words, the doctrine of the Pharisees… Is one of the main sources of spiritual abuse. Any time that leaders use fear to control, it is spiritual abuse. Paul says in 2Corinthians, "for the love of Christ controls us." This is the supernatural way that individuals are transformed. It is by the love and grace of Christ.

The law of the spirit of life; not law of sin and death

Romans 8:1-2  There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  (2)  For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

What is the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus? What is the law of sin and death? In Romans chapter 8 we are given a contrast between the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus and the law of sin and death. So the above questions remain, what exactly are these laws? My answer, they're both the same law. The difference is Christ Jesus. Jesus of Nazareth makes all the difference between life and death. Where does the condemnation come from? It comes, and rightly so from law established righteousness. With law established righteousness, you are either righteous or you are not. James goes on to explain that in regards to Law righteousness, that if you break one command, you end up breaking the law. So then, in simple terms the law of sin and death refers to a particular use of the law. If the law is used to establish righteousness by behavior it cannot be anything but the law of sin and death. The reason is that no one can fulfill the SHEMA. The Shema is found in Deuteronomy.

Deu 6:4-9  "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.  (5)  You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.  (6)  And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.  (7)  You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.  (8)  You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.  (9)  You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

When you look at the Shema, you see the command to love God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your might. All means all! It is impossible to fulfill this commandment… It simply cannot be done. 

However, add Jesus Christ to the scenario, his willingness to die on the cross to prove the eternal love of God, and all at once, faith in God's eternal love will produce supernaturally the ability to fulfill the Shema. You cannot help but love God once you realize that he first and foremost loves you… Loves you so much… That he sent Jesus to prove his love. This is precisely why the writer first John said that it is not that we loved God (not that we fulfill the Shema) but that he first loved us and gave his son is a propitiation for our missing the mark. It was with the Shema in mind that first John 4:10 was penned.

1John 4:10  In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

This is precisely the way that the law of sin and death becomes law the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. It is by God's grace. Therefore, there is no condemnation what so ever… Not ever! This becomes the catalyst for transforming love within the believer. This becomes the source of all obedience. We obey the Shema supernaturally because we believe that he really truly loved and loves us.

Spiritual abuse; Are you a victim?

A big part of my paradigm shift centers on the topic of spiritual abuse. Spiritual abuse runs rampant in evangelical orthodoxy. So many people across this planet, in one way or another, fall victim to it. It stems in large part from the constitutional-legal view of Scripture and is found most often in what are called Bible believing churches. Many of these churches are cultic in nature. I'm not saying that evangelical orthodoxy is a cult per se. However I am saying, that evangelical orthodoxy lends itself easily to cultic behavior, and that the two, all too often, go hand-in-hand. In most cases, spiritual abuse gets its teeth from the constitutional-legal reading of Scripture. It is easy to project the idea, that if one varies or strays from the acceptable norm of doctrine, they then somehow put themselves outside of the will of God, and it is this accusation, that is the source of spiritual abuse.

The breeding ground for spiritual abuse is an autocratic and authoritarian model of church governance. I call it, the "it's tight, but it's right" syndrome. Over the course of my affiliation with many and various churches, I have heard from time to time, altogether too frequently, preachers say from the pulpit… It's tight, but it's right… When I hear someone use this phrase, on the one hand I want to laugh, and on the other hand it makes me want to cry because I can be certain that at the business end of that phrase lies spiritual abuse every time. It is essentially saying, whether or not you want to hear it from me, it is what the Bible says, and so you better listen. The problem with this statement as I have shown over and over again on this blog is that interpretation is not always right. In fact, in most cases within evangelical orthodoxy, interpretation is faulty at best, and downright erroneous at its worst. All one need do is look at the 30,000+ denominations that exist today and one can readily see that interpretation is certainly not tight and frequently not right.

Spiritual abusers use the Bible and church tradition as a weapon for punishment. It is sad to me that the story of redemption, the chronicle of the living gospel, is used in such nefarious ways for such abominable purposes. At the heart of this is always a control freak. One who is drowning in fear and desperate to control all situations. 99.9% of the time, spiritual abuse is promulgated for the purpose of control. The main tactic that is used over and over is the promotion of fear and shame. These are always done for control purposes. This is the main reason that there is so much condemnation spewed from the pulpits of churches across the globe.

I see spiritual abuse being used often by the leaders of one church or group toward another church or group. It is subtle, especially in the view of one who has bought into the constitutional legal interpretation of Scripture. Many groups that fellowship together regularly have underlying issues of fear and dread that result from the rampant use of fear and shame. Simply put this is spiritual abuse in its most repugnant form.

It finds its greatest strength in the CEO pastor form of church government. Eldership alone will not rule out the abuse. If you’re a group that holds to a tightly constructed, constitutional-legal interpretation of Scripture, this abuse will always arise to the top and rear its ugly head. In future posts, we will look at specifics in this area… What I think the Bible says about it really… How the original apostles doctrine impacts this idea… How the first century church was governed by the Holy Spirit, and other areas surrounding the subject.

The Word became flesh

John 1:14  “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Over the last two years, we have looked many times at the definition of the word of God; especially, the definition that Jesus and his immediate followers gave the phrase in the New Testament writings. Since we have proven with the preponderance of evidence that it is the gospel, I think that it makes the most sense to say that the gospel was made flesh, or became flesh, and dwelt among us. Jesus is the living gospel. Many in the Messianic Judaism movement would argue that Jesus was the living Torah. I think that's incorrect. Jesus was not the living Torah or Tanakh. He was not the living Scripture. He was the living breathing good news. This is further evidence that the entire Scripture is not the word of God per se. It contains the word of God because it is a story of redemption. The story of redemption is the good news or the gospel. The good news is that there is a kingdom of God. God reigns, and that we are one and all the children of God; we’re citizens of God's kingdom. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself not counting trespasses.

This is why John states in verse 17 that while the law was given by Moses, grace and truth, came through Jesus Christ. These salient facts limit the way that we should properly use Scripture. Think about it for a minute, seeing the word of God as the Gospel, and looking at the Scripture in a solely redemptive focus in no way lessens inspiration of Scripture. What it does however, is it eliminates the constitutional, legal reading of Scripture. It helps remove the fear of death from the reading of Scripture. It brings about an assurance of eternal connectedness to God. The knowledge of eternal union with God brings about peace with God which in turn brings about an abiding love for God. Out of the supernatural love for God, close real, supernatural, transformative obedience.

Think about it for a minute please, the Bible, Torah, Scripture, etc. did not become flesh and dwell among anyone. Jesus of Nazareth, the living gospel, God's living good news tabernacled among us. It was his glory that was seen. It was the glory of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth. That's what became flesh and dwelt among men. It should be obvious that Scripture has been elevated to the place of idolatry in evangelical Christianity. The book has been placed above Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the father for that matter. Christianity has been turned from an eternal relationship with God to a legal constitutional relationship. Travel across the country any Sunday, and you will visit churches that are encumbered by this legal constitutional death. Will we not remember that the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life? Why are we so trenched in our biblical idolatry that we end up denying the Lord that the Scripture describes?

Resting in grace equals the Sabbath rest

Heb 3:18-19  And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient?  (19)  So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

A very important recurring theme in my paradigm shift is the role that grace plays in the gospel and subsequently in the transformation process. In my view, the New Testament points out very clearly that the transformation process is brought about by believing the gospel, in other words by faith. In the letter to Hebrew Christians, in chapters 3 and four, the author uses the Exodus and Israel's failure to enter the promised land as a metaphor for believing and resting in the gospel. In fact, the commandment that states remember the Sabbath to keep it holy is a prefigure of the Sabbath rest. The reason that Israel was not allowed to work on the Sabbath at all was because it represented resting in the gospel of grace and God's love.

In the familiar story from the Exodus we see 12 spies sent out (one from each tribe) to spy out the land that God had promised to give them. Instead of believing God when he said that he would give them this promised land, 10 of the spies came back with a fearful report of giants in the land, stating that it would be very difficult to gain the victory. Now, this was when God had already guaranteed that he would give them the land. If they believed God, they would have been willing to do whatever they had to do to enter that land without fear. They would have realized by faith that it was really theirs in the first place. Only two spies, Joshua and Caleb came back with a report stating that they could and should take the land… It would be no problem. The people voted, and chose not to believe Joshua and Caleb. This angered God and he swore that none of the unbelieving generation would be able to enter the land of promise. Moses got to see it from the mountaintop but only Joshua and Caleb and their families were allowed to enter the Promised Land. It was the land of rest and prosperity.

In the Hebrews passage, the writer explains that there is a yet available Sabbath rest for the people of God. Since God had rested from his work from the seventh day forward, the Hebrews writer suggests that individuals in the new covenant era, could rest from their work, just as God rested from his. So what is the work that the believer could rest from? The answer is simply the works of the law. One could completely trust God's grace, and rest in his provision, and thereby stop working to develop his or her own righteousness. It is easy to see that the Sabbath rest spoken of in Hebrews chapters three and four is really resting in God's grace by faith.

It amazes me that so many evangelical Christians work so hard to achieve their own righteousness, thereby not submitting to God's righteousness, when God clearly states through the writer of Hebrews that they should completely rest from their work.