Chapter 1
Cults and Churches . . .
My partner and I were driving in our ambulance down a street in Portland, having just completed a call. We picked up on our pre-call conversation, which was me sharing with her about my experience of membership in a small, fundamentalist, high-control, nasty little churchâmy nasty little Bible church. I told her of betrayed friendship, marriages, unprotected children, estranged relatives and non-church fiends, constant pressure to give more time, more money, more loyalty, more, more, more, of everythingâover to the church.
âWell, thank the Lord you werenât in a cult, anyway. That would have only made things worse.â
âHow so?â I asked. âI mean, how would things have been worse?â
âWell,â she continued, âon top of all the behaviors, sins, trouble with law, alienation from family and pressureâit would have been even worse if youâd been involved in a group with a weird, cultish theology, like the Moonies, or the Mormons, or Krishnas, or those poor people down in Waco, or in Jonestââ
âYeah, I get it,â I said. âAt least we were Christian, right.â
âRight! At least you were Christian, so you know you have the power of God to help you heal and help your family recover. And, at least your church taught the Bible and believed in Jesus. When it all comes down to it, thatâs what counts. Does a church believe in the Bible, and Jesus, or do they not. Thatâs the whole ball of wax, right there. If a church has those two things, it cannot be a cult. It might be a lot like a cult, even cultish, but not a cult.â
âBy this you know the Spirit of God, that every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has comeââ
ââin the fleshâ my friend interrupted. âIn the flesh, Ken.â
She continued, âYou see, Ken, everyone who does not confess Jesus is simply not from God. Not . . . from . . . God. As horrible as your church sounds like it gotâdid it ever deny the divinity or the humanity of Jesus Christ?â
âNo,â I answered. âNever. Iâve always been clear on that, and never really wondered if I, or that church, was Christian. I just never thought of it as being like a cult, and Iâm starting to question why itâs so important to us that we describe horrible churches as being like a cult, cult-likeâand seem so intent on preserving some shred of legitimacy, some dignity, when we describe churches that are obviously cultic. Itâs almost like we think Christianity itself would somehow fall from some lofty state if it had to admit that it had been infiltrated by leaders who built churches, and took over churches, and made them more cults than churches.â
âWhoa, whoa, whoa, Kenny. Youâre opening the door to the idea that a cult is a place where people are treated badly, but youâre not referring to its beliefs, at least not overtly. Do you think a group can deny Christian doctrine, even Jesus himself, and the Bible, and call itself a church?!â
âI donât know. Iâm spending more time these days wondering how a church that acts like a cult can somehow argue that itâs not a cult. Maybe itâs both. Christian and cult. A Christian cult.â
âKen, I donât think thatâs possible.â
âI know. But it happened. It happened to me.â
The final project for my doctor of ministry degree, âSpiritual Abuse in the Church: A Guide to Recognition and Recovery,â has three chapters devoted to the question of whether or not an unhealthy, hurtful church that abuses its members should simply be called a cult. I wrote of the history of cultic studies and drew the distinctions between a Christian church or group that hurts its members and a non-Christian group that abuses its membersâand is generally thought of as a cult.
But as my studies progressed, I observed that from a functional standpoint, there is no great difference at all between the Christian church that ostensibly holds to sound, orthodox beliefs and the most far-out, bizarre (to me, anyway) cult. One might be more tied down with moralistic, straight-jacketed rules and traditions than the otherâbut both exercise a soul-crushing subjugation of members. Both are usually led by the same sort of narcissistic, autocratic leaders who are clever, persuasive, and charismatic. Both, without exception, are emotionally diseased. Both promise heaven but deliver hell. Both direct the attention of members to the eternal promises of abundant blessings, peace, and power, while their day-to-day experience becomes one of breathless busyness, emotional fatigue, fracturing marriages and families, depleting bank accounts, and spiritual starvation. Both are horrible places for families and children.
I recall my Christian friends and family visiting the small church that Sharon and I had joined. They evaluated our doctrine as being sound, and pretty much what they understood to be orthodox. They commented that our commitment to live as followers of Jesus was admirable, even a clear indication of our conviction. We were living out what we believed: active in Bible study, church activities and classes, and in speaking of our faith to those who did not share it.
However, though our family and friends were experienced, mature Christians, none of them considered joining our church. None of them ever recommended the church to their friends or other family members. They eventually shared with us their unease with the churchâs excessive demands on the time and resources of our young marriage and growing family. They timidly mentioned the changes theyâd noted in usâchanges for which they suspected the church was responsible. And they were right: We were quickly becoming intolerant, moralistic prigs, eagerly exercising what seemed a spiritual gift of ruining every family gathering we attended. As years passed, they also noted the inevitable religious burnout that we suffered as we turned into self-indulgent, depressed, and dissipated wrecks. But they struggled in using the word cult to describe us. The furthest they would go was to say, âYou almost seem to act like youâre in a cult, Kenny.â That âCâ word is powerful but poorly defined, and, in the minds of many, never to be suggested of a Christian church.
I believe this reticence to consider that a Christian church could actually be a cult (with good doctrine, nonetheless!) continues. Often, our limited understanding of the qualities of a cult have not served us well to recognize those dynamics in unexpected contexts. I use the term abusive church in this book to describe the hurtful, malignant churches that I describe. I do this because Iâm not really interested in pushing anyone into a corner to admit, âOK, Ken; I was in a cult.â But make no mistake: When I write of abusive churches, I am at the very least describing churches that treat their members in a destructive, cultic manner. They are cults disguised as churches, or churches that have become cults.
Chapter 2
Spiritual Abuse . . . in the Bible?
Do you think the Bible is full of sanctified saints who lived spotless lives, walked 18 inches off the ground before they died and went to heaven, where they inherited golden harps and reserved seats on a heavenly clouds? Think again. TMZ, the National Enquirer, the internet, and any other gossip source havenât got a thing on the sins, foibles, and missteps of the people of God as described in the Bible. Its pages are replete with accounts of betrayal, swindling, lying, violence, political intrigue, marriage troubles, and moral compromise, and they leave little to the imagination. Alongside these brutal and often salacious sins are numerous accounts of the misuse of power in which bullying, unscrupulous leaders take advantage of well-intentioned, religious-minded folks. Letâs consider a few examples.
Hophni and Phineas were two sons of Eli, the high priest of Israel. They served in the tabernacle-shrine of the nation, located in a small village called Shiloh. Taking advantage of their familyâs position in the religious life of Israel, the sons routinely stole the sacrifices brought by their fellow Israelites who came to worship at Shiloh. Instead of offering the choice meat brought to the tabernacle to be offered up in worship, Hophni and Phineas took the meat home for themselves. Instead of receiving valuable gifts of support for the tabernacle ministryâthey stole them. And they also slept with the women who volunteered to assist in the tabernacle worship rituals and services. They used their religi...