Wrecked by religion in the church?
Have you seen anything prideful, controlling, cruel, in your church culture? Yes, and it’s wrecked you? No, not really? Either way, it matters what you do next.
Checklists, idols and loving God
A preacher said: “You cannot love the Lord if you do not do these things.” Paul wrote: “I tried keeping rules. It didn’t work.” How checklists lead us astray.
Abusers like Ahab & Jezebel use one another
They’re eerily alike: Ahab and Jezebel, who ruled in Elijah’s day. Men and women church leaders, who use one another to abuse everyone else.
Spiritual schizophrenia and the two-headed snake
"How long will you try to go both ways?" Elijah cried. When God's people opt into spiritual schizophrenia, they empower a two-headed snake.
Bucking the system: Shunning, submission, Jesus
Jesus grew up in a religious system God had instigated, and people had hijacked to use for their own ends. Jesus’ life shows us when and how to buck the system.
O say, can you see … what I did not?
Evil can deceive us far more subtly and far more thoroughly than we have believed possible. O say, can you see … what I did not?.
Exploited in the church, but Leah no more
As unloved Leah did Jacob, a woman can give herself to a church culture that exploits her – while rejecting her personhood, her adulthood, her worth, her.
Celebrity culture in the church
It’s alluring, deceiving and so pervasive you may live and breathe it, and not see it. How to recognize celebrity culture in the church.
To the exiles scattered by toxic church
Maybe the church has become bewildering to you. Leaders you trusted and people you respected are acting in ways that do not reflect who Jesus is, nor what they profess to believe. They have turned on anyone among them who appears to threaten the status quo. What is going on?
Nat Arnett / freeimages.com
Beware the illusion of refuge: Abuse in the church
Be wary! Leaders in a church system can create an illusion that refuge for the abused exists, where it does not. Here are four warning signs.