What is Spiritual Abuse?

I saw this last night and then it was gone. It was good so I pressed the pdf button and copied it. Here is the whole text. Maybe it was accidentally deleted and the poster is not aware of it.
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"Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock.. With force and with cruelty have ye ruled them" (Ezekiel 34:2-4).

Spiritual abuse is not a term that you find in the Bible. However, it definitely has a prominent place in the Scriptures. Jesus calls it the "traditions of men".

It is also known as "bondage to men".

Neh_5:5 Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already: neither is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards.

1Sa 8:11 And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.

Spiritual abuse is an outgrowth of legalism which is bondage to the letter of the law.

In Mark 3, Jesus knew He was going to heal a man on the Sabbath and He also knew that this threatened and offended those who regarded "rules" more than people, namely the Pharisees.

Jesus enters a synagogue on the Sabbath and encounters a man with a withered hand. The Pharisees watched to see what Jesus would do. How dare He regard the needy at the expense of their rules. Because Jesus knew they would accuse Him of "working on the Sabbath", He set them up before the healing to expose their hypocrisy. He used a question to set up the Pharisees to be seen as the hypocrites they were. He asked, "Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil? To save life, or to kill?"

Imagine the dilemma the Pharisees were in. It must have felt like someone asking you if you have "stopped beating your wife or not." How would the Pharisees answer?

The Pharisees knew that it wasn't lawful to do evil or kill on the Sabbath so that left the Pharisees with one choice and Jesus knew what that choice was. Jesus set them up to be pitted against their own traditions and interpretation of the Law. Jesus also knew they wanted to kill Him when he included the reference to killing in His question. That is exactly what the Pharisees began to do when they left.

The Bible says that Jesus "looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts"

and so what did Jesus do?

Was Jesus in bondage to men? Praise God He wasn't!!

He told the man to stretch forth his hand and Jesus restored it.

Mar 3:5 And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.

The humiliated Pharisees began planning how they might destroy Him.

Mar 3:6 And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.

There is a lesson in this passage for anyone dealing with an abusive religious system. If you challenge, disagree, oppose, or in any way offend, you cannot leave with your reputation intact. In the most severely dysfunctional groups you may even lose your life, as Jesus did.

What Is Spiritual Abuse?

Spiritual abuse is the use of religion and spiritual concepts to gain or maintain inordinate power over individual(s). It is also the abuse of position over others to manipulate them to serve you rather than you serving them.

Spiritual abuse takes advantage of others that are in need of help or support or greater spiritual health. It results in weakening and undermining a person's individuality in Christ and bringing them under control of another.

This is what really grieves the Lord and His anger at spirtual bullies was not easily hidden. He certainly never minced words with spiritual abusers.

What types of spiritual abuse have you experienced.

Many have an undue loyalty to their "Leaders" because they are held to be anointed by God and their followers teach everyone that they hsould submit to anything the "Leaders" require. It is taught that God will bless their submission even if the leader is wrong.

Or maybe you have run into the "Authoritarian" person. Their system is characterized by rules and regulations except for them. They are accountable to no one.

Maybe you have run into the perfectionist where works are everything and everyone must be involved in one of their programs (preferably more than one). They convince you that if you are not involved in their works (programs) your salvation may be at stake.

For those who are reading this, you have seen spiritual abuse many times as you read the scriptures. And the most emotional and even violent responses from Jesus are directed at Spiritual Abusers.

Jesus did not shy away from confronting those who misused their spiritual authority. Because He is the "True Shepherd" and cares for the "sheep".

What does Spiritual Abuse look like to you. You don't have to name names but for those that are caught up or under the control of others, this thread may help.

We covered, "Undue Loyalty to Others", "Authoritarians" and "Perfectionists".

Two things that God seems to absolutely detest more than anything is 1) when men abuse others and 2) do it in HIS NAME, thereby misrepresenting His character to others.