LETTER TO Ex-Pastor
By Anonymous Ex-Member
This
letter is one more step in my healing process. Because of all the abuse
(spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical) that happened to me in my years at
the <name withheld> Gospel Assembly, I have Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder.
Guess
what triggers my PTSD episodes? You got it- church!!!! One day I hope to be healed to the point that
I don’t throw up when I walk into a church. God, grant healing to all who have
suffered spiritual abuse and grant us restoration. God, grant understanding to
our abusers. Let them come to the knowledge that they are abusers. Let the
abused and the abuser find healing in your love. God, break the circle of pain.
Amen.
Dear
pastor of the <name withheld> Gospel Assembly:
It is a
strain to marry a polite greeting to your name, but as we live in a polite
society and I am conforming to society rules of formal opening, the greeting
remains.
Enough
blathering…
The
point of my letter is to inform you that are a spiritual abuser. I don’t know
if your abusive tendencies arise from your past? Perhaps you were a recipient
of abuse from your family or even a GAC leader? This I don’t know the answer
to, and in actuality, it is a moot point as you are the only one who knows in
certainty. Perhaps you have never heard the term “spiritual abuser”.
Let me
clarify:
In the
book “The
Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse”, authors Johnson and VanVonderen explain how spiritual abuse is
parallel to family system abuse:
“In a
healthy, functional family system, the parents occupy a place of authority in
order to provide need-meeting relationships, experiences, and messages to the
children… When a parent uses his or her position to force the children to
perform or uses a too-harsh standard to judge by or uses the position of power
to gratify his or her own needs, the parent has crossed the line into abuse…
When a child trusts and then is emotionally, verbally, physically, or sexually
used for an adult’s gratification, that is abuse.”
<Name
withheld>, you haven’t just crossed the line into abuse- you have built a
kingdom with it and into it. In your belief that you are God’s judgment stone
you have made yourself and those who support you into ‘God’s lynching crew. You
have spiritually, emotionally, and physically ‘lynched’ people’s God-given
right of personhood and equality. I hate to be the one to tell you, but God
never advertised for a ‘judgment stone-spiritual lynching assistant.’ Perhaps
you should check your hiring papers – you might find a signature on there you
wouldn’t like.
Nathan
told David a parable of a rich man who stole the poor man’s sheep to feed his
guest. <Name withheld>, you didn’t just steal your poor neighbor’s sheep
to feed your guest. You, the ‘shepherd’, took your own sheep to feed yourself.
You are the woman. I say this, not as a judge as that isn’t my place; I say
this as a fellow child of Christ.
In
Matthew 18: 15 Christ says, “If a brother or sister sins, go and
point out the fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you
have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two along, so that
every matter maybe established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.”
You
have had many ‘private pointing outs’, so I am coming with two or three witnesses
of this website. As God created you, Janice, a creation in His own image, He
loves you. He provided you a Sacrifice that will cover every abuse you have
perpetrated. Christ will take every destructive action, word, and thought you
have committed on His very own Body of believers on Himself- He will cover them
with His precious blood. As a fellow child of Christ, I urge you to take the
Advocate God has allowed you. He will take your sentence, as He has mine, on
His very self.
If you
choose to ignore this Advocate, I would remind you that, as God is mercy, He is
equally justice. A dire warning for offenders is in:
Luke
17:1 – “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come,
but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for you to be
thrown into the sea with a millstone tied about your neck than for you to cause
one of these little ones to stumble. So watch yourselves.”
As you
are so fond of saying, “I didn’t say that, God did.” In the name of grace of
peace, I ask you to come forward, admit your abuse, and break the cycle of
pain. Remember Zacchaeus? Christ came to his house and the tax collector turned
from his abuse of the people. Let Christ come to your house. Turn from your
abuse. Repay back what you have stolen.
You
often portray yourself as a ‘David’ to those who have turned from you ‘Saul’.
You say they plot for your life, awaiting your ruin. I say to you that the
opposite is true. Those you have abused and stolen from haven’t taken you to
task for your wrongs against them. They have moved on with their lives, growing
and maturing into the humans they were meant to be, the people they would have
been without your abuse. They go on bravely, facing years wasted in your
service, money given to bolster your kingdom (not God’s) that you have built.
You, on
the other hand, pursue them with prayers for their demise, for their
destructive and violent end. You see God as your ‘long arm of the law’. I would
re-think the whole Saul and David scenario. You aren’t David. I don’t wish to descend
into a ‘Jerry-Springer-ish’ orgy of blame throwing, so I will bring this letter
to it’s close.
I want
you to know that you are an abuser. I also want you to know that there is
forgiveness and grace. If you choose forgiveness, I want you to know that with
about ten years of good counseling I will able to stand in the same room as you
to hear the true account of your life. By then I will have gotten over my
‘house- elf’ mentality and won’t cringe or throw-up when I see your face. I was
a good house-elf for you. I took your abuse and your mentality that I was less
than human and put here on earth purposely to serve you. As you were the
‘master’ and I but the lowly house-elf, I kept your secrets. My mind and soul
punished me severely when I dared think or say that you were wrong.
No
more!!!!!!!
You are
not material of Voldemort proportion – however, you are definitely Malfoy
status. As Dobby the house-elf says, in Prisoner of Azkaban, “You are a
bad, dark wizard.”
Now I
am a free house-elf and I may work for when and for whom I choose. If the
‘Harry Potter’ references offend you, I was glad to be of service one last
time. <Name withheld>, for your immortal soul’s sake, choose repentance.
End the abuse. Restore what you have stolen and come into the waiting arms of
forgiveness.
A
fellow child in Christ,
God is
good to all
Dear message
board brethren and sisters,
Thank
you for your patience and support. My journey has finally led me to the point
that I could write this letter and I am so relieved.
Now I
can freely pray my Amos 5:24 prayer:
“But let
justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-ending stream!”
Pray
God His justice will roll through <Name withheld>, Gospel Assembly and
wash away the pain and abuse.
God is
good to all