I am not sure how many people recognize that there is such a thing as “spiritual abuse”; however, the first time I heard the phrase it resonated with my understanding of the leadership and doctrines of some churches and religions.  I am having some difficulty figuring out how to write what is on my heart, though, because I recognize that all abuse affects our spirits.

It is easy to recognize spiritual abuse in cultic activity such as Heaven’s Gate, Branch Davidian, Rajneeshpuram, or the horror of Jonestown; yet any religion or Christian faction that uses fear to control its members, or preaches a dogma contrary to or twisted from scripture is guilty of spiritual abuse—whether intentional or not.

There are two extremes in scripture that represent the nature of those who wield abusive spiritual authority—overly legalistic and controlling or extremely liberal and permissive.  Also, there are the financially manipulative who prey on the most vulnerable people in our society—and they can be either legalistic or permissive.

Jesus confronts the religious leaders of His day by telling them, “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces….For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law:  justice and mercy and faithfulness….For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence…For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.  So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matthew 23:13, 23, 25, 27-28).

The thing about quoting familiar scriptures is that they take on a “ho hum, nothing new there” quality.  And with this scripture in particular, it is easy identify and label hypocrites (usually someone we do not like, either personally or doctrinally), yet one of the points Jesus was making is that it is not so easy to identify hypocrites and those who detract from the gospel—their power is more subtle.  Yet they are notorious for creating burdens for others, ones that they are unwilling to carry themselves (Matthew 23:4).  For many, salvation by grace through faith is not quite enough—the Holy Spirit isn’t quite enough, or as Paul wrote, out of frustration it seems, to the Galatian church, “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?…Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?  Are you so foolish?  Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? (Galatians 3:1, 3).

People attempting to take advantage of God’s people, particularly the vulnerable and naïve, is nothing new—ancient Israel dealt with corrupt leaders and false prophets.  The prophet Micah warned, “Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who detest justice and make crooked all that is straight, who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity.  Its heads give judgment for a bribe; its priests teach for a price; its prophets practice divination for money….Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed as a field; Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins” (Micah 3:9-12).  Their spiritual leaders also had a propensity for telling people what they wanted to hear rather than the words God was speaking:  “Ah, Lord God, behold, the prophets say to them, ‘you shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.’  And the Lord said to me:  ‘The prophets are prophesying lies in my name.  I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them.  They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds’” (Jeremiah 14:13, 14).

The apostle Paul gives a New Testament perspective, “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2 Timothy 4:3, 4).

Perverted religion skews our perception of who we are as sinners, incapable of personal righteousness, and who God is as completely loving and completely righteous—requiring a righteousness from us that only He can provide.  The problem many have experienced is the introduction of subtle biases into our hearts and minds that whisper we have to be good enough for God to love us; and when breaking away from traditions or doctrines that do not have Biblical support, often there is an undercurrent of fear that we are doing something wrong and God is going to punish us.  However, “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7).

The reason I’m writing this is not to cast suspicion on pastors, Bible teachers, or those who have prophetic ministries; rather, it is to remind us that we have a an inerrant, infallible standard for truth—the Bible.  As we commit ourselves to reading God’s Word and allow the Holy Spirit to fill our lives and guide us, we will be equipped to withstand the enemy’s tactic of perverting truth.  We will also receive training and the words to speak into the spiritually wounded places in our hearts and the hearts of others, for “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16).