Heritage Bible Chapel Admonishes a Former Member to Repent or Else… —The Wartburg Watch

What do you do when the church from which you resigned continues to pursue you?

via Heritage Bible Chapel Admonishes a Former Member to Repent or Else… —

Share the Pain

If it weren’t for the support of others I never would have gotten out of my marriage except by death. In American-eze I’m weak. In American-eze I should have been able to just do it all…

Source: Share the Pain

A Special Account from Christopher — Don’t Miss This — Give Her Wings

Hey everyone! My name is Christopher and I’d like to briefly share my experience of my parent’s divorce and the ways that Give Her Wings had immeasurably provided hope for my life in a very dark time. All divorces are terrible for many reasons. First, it’s the tearing apart of two people who initially loved each…

via A Special Account from Christopher — Don’t Miss This — Give Her Wings

Thugs in the Pulpit: Avoiding Abuse from Church Leaders — The Wartburg Watch

Abusive church leadership was addressed back in 2004, and it appears little has changed in 2016. Perhaps it is getting worse!

via Thugs in the Pulpit: Avoiding Abuse from Church Leaders —

Sexual Abuse in The Christian Church

GRACE director answers the question:
How Safe Is Your Church?
“If the church can actually begin leading on this issue and the world look at the church and say ‘Wow thats an example we want to follow’ I think we would see some amazing results in the lives of precious souls.” A MUST watch.

https://lmpgnetwork.wistia.com/medias/nu6djwfyob

Gaslighting by Lilly Hope Lucario

A Gospel Coalition Church, Agape Bible Church, Covers Up a Pastor’s Teen Sex Abuse. Why? —

TGC and BFFs may be contributing to ongoing child sex abuse problems in TGC churches.

via A Gospel Coalition Church, Agape Bible Church, Covers Up a Pastor’s Teen Sex Abuse. Why? —

Calvinism At Grace Bible Fellowship of Silicon Valley: #SomeLivesMatter

by Velour/MtnShepherdess ©

calvinism-some-lives-matter

My comment to Roger Olson: Thank you for the education about classical Calvinism which I did not know. When I saw the t-shirt I roared with laughter and promptly ordered one. I had a “tour-of-duty” of a NeoCalvinist church (eight years), complete with excommunication and shunnings for any reason, the most threatening was being a Berean and using critical thinking skills. (A woman in finance, a doctor, and then me.) The pastors/elders told church members that dissenters weren’t “one of us” and were “destined for Hell” and were to be excommunicated and shunned (“keyed out”). NeoCalvinist churches seem very authoritarian, brutal, and frankly vicious. I believe they are practicing the 1970’s heavy-Shepherding Movement’s tactics, whose founders repented. I will wear my t-shirt with pride, opposing un-Christian authoritarianism.

Roger Olson’s [theologian/professor/author] response to me: Fortunately, not all Calvinist churches are like that. That sounds almost like a cult. My Calvinist friends would not condone such behavior (even if they would probably restrict leadership to Calvinists).

Complete article:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/rogereolson/2016/09/some-lives-matter-and-calvinism-my-response-to-the-t-shirt

Batterers

Batterers rarely disclose their violence fully, even in the face of considerable evidence. Our clients also deny the effects of their battering on their partners. This denial can sometimes hold firm through months of participation in batterer programs, though the existence of independent evidence, such as police reports with which to confront the client, can assist in breaking down denial. Even those men who admit to some portions of their violence typically minimize their history of abuse, reporting significantly less violence and threatening behavior than their female partners attribute to them and than is revealed by court and police records.

The Batterer as Parent, Lundy Bancroft

Dangerous People

dangerouspeople