David R. Johnson > Quotes

“None of us is as smart as all of us!”
― David Johnson

“Legalism The weight we are describing is called legalism. It is a form of religious perfectionism that focuses on the careful performance and avoidance of certain behaviors. It teaches people to gain a sense of spiritual acceptance based on their performance, instead of accepting it as a gift on the basis of Christ. Why were the leaders of Jesus’ and Paul’s day spreading legalistic teaching? Was it simply a matter of being right? It’s more serious than that. Look at Galatians 6: 12-13: Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you to be circumcised, simply that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For those who are circumcised do not even keep the Law themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised, that they may boast in your flesh. You see, living with Jesus as your only source of life and acceptance is a confrontation to those who seek God’s approval on the basis of their own religious behavior. This, then, explains the pressure you feel to perform religious behaviors in spiritually abusive contexts. If you perform as they say you must: (1) it will make them look good; (2) their self-righteousness will escape the scrutiny of the cross of Christ as the only means to God’s favor; (3) it will allow them to examine you instead of themselves; (4) they will be able to “boast in” or gain a sense of validation from your religious performance. Can you see the abusive dynamic described in chapter one? Here we have religious people trying to meet their own spiritual needs through someone else’s religious performance. And it’s all cloaked in the language of being holy and helping others to live holy lives.”
― David R. Johnson, Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse, The: Recognizing and Escaping Spiritual Manipulation and False Spiritual Authority Within the Church

“Oh my lord," Smiley exclaims.  "We've got to roll her off of Billy before he smothers to death.”
― David Johnson, April's Rain

“The way you can spot a false system is that the leaders require the place of honor. It is our belief that the less secure a leader is, the more important titles will be to him or her.”
― David R. Johnson, Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse, The: Recognizing and Escaping Spiritual Manipulation and False Spiritual Authority Within the Church

“Maybe to some, the removal of recognition sounds disrespectful. The true issue is not whether you choose to use a title or not. The true issue is whether you need it—whether you have to have it. The Pharisees required it, and Jesus pointed out that this is one mark of a false spiritual leader.”
― David R. Johnson, Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse, The: Recognizing and Escaping Spiritual Manipulation and False Spiritual Authority Within the Church

“They turn their attention back to Ella playing.  As they look, April takes a deep breath, opens her mouth, and in a voice as clear as crystal, sings - Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.  I once was lost but now I’m found.  Was blind but now I see.”
― David Johnson, Tucker's way

“Churches where tired, wounded people are given formulas and advice to help in time of need, or are shamed for having a need, do not represent the true King.”
― David R. Johnson, The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse: Recognizing and Escaping Spiritual Manipulation and False Spiritual Authority Within the Church

“Americans have always thought they had a democracy form of government. We don’t. We have a constitutional republic – a representative form of government.”
― David R. Johnson, Miss Alphie's Secret

“In Philippians 3, Paul says, “. . . let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained” (v. 16). He does not say, “Live to attain the standard.” He says, “We have attained it.” As we have seen already in our study of the Law, there is no way we can attain the standard by trying to be good standard-attainers. We meet the standard because we are in Christ.”
― David R. Johnson, The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse: Recognizing and Escaping Spiritual Manipulation and False Spiritual Authority Within the Church

“I’ve also come to some conclusions. First, I don’t think it is possible to leave a “Christian formula seminar” with a clean conscience. Under the banner of being a tutor to lead us to Christ, more often they cause people to become almost totally self-occupied. And when we look at ourselves we always fall short. I suppose that a person could scrutinize how they behave as a Christian and come out guilt-free. Unfortunately, this is called self-righteousness. I also think that these kinds of seminars lead people to live the Christian life for the wrong reason. Self-occupied people who leave a formula seminar with a dirty conscience and a list of things to do attempt to live out the Christian life in order to clean up their conscience.”
― David R. Johnson, The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse: Recognizing and Escaping Spiritual Manipulation and False Spiritual Authority Within the Church

“The religious leaders are so self-consumed that they don’t have time or energy to minister to people’s real needs.”
― David R. Johnson, The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse: Recognizing and Escaping Spiritual Manipulation and False Spiritual Authority Within the Church

“Spiritual abuse can occur when a leader uses his or her spiritual position to control or dominate another person. It often involves overriding the feelings and opinions of another, without regard to what will result in the other person’s state of living, emotions or spiritual well-being. In this application, power is used to bolster the position or needs of a leader, over and above one who comes to them in need.”
― David R. Johnson, The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse: Recognizing and Escaping Spiritual Manipulation and False Spiritual Authority Within the Church

“Each of us has been programmed to look outside of ourselves for the definition of our identity. The behaviors and opinions of others, our own behaviors, the things we collect—all these responses have told us who we are. In Philippians 3, Paul calls this “a mind to put confidence in the flesh.” It is at this point we must look again at Psalm 51. David, having begun at the right place spiritually—broken, poor in spirit—immediately lifts his eyes to the right source of life. He immediately asks God to intervene on his behalf. He’s not simply asking to be “fixed up,” but to be re-created: “Create in me a clean heart . . . Purify me, and I shall be clean.”
― David R. Johnson, The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse: Recognizing and Escaping Spiritual Manipulation and False Spiritual Authority Within the Church

“(2 Timothy 2:15). It is as if Paul took Timothy aside and said, “Son, authority will come when you rightly divide the word of truth. It won’t come because you’re loud. It won’t come because you throw your ecclesiastical weight around. If you want authority, figure out what God has been saying through His Word, tell the people what the Word says, and your authority will be founded upon that.”
― David R. Johnson, The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse: Recognizing and Escaping Spiritual Manipulation and False Spiritual Authority Within the Church

“False spiritual leaders slowly stick in the spiritual knife and drain the life blood from you.”
― David R. Johnson, The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse: Recognizing and Escaping Spiritual Manipulation and False Spiritual Authority Within the Church

“Being hired or elected to a spiritual position, talking the loudest, or giving the most does not give someone authority.”
― David R. Johnson, The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse: Recognizing and Escaping Spiritual Manipulation and False Spiritual Authority Within the Church

“It takes just as much energy to not deal with problems as to deal with them.”
― David R. Johnson, The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse: Recognizing and Escaping Spiritual Manipulation and False Spiritual Authority Within the Church

“What is His is already ours: “We have obtained an inheritance” (Ephesians 1:11), because “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:16–17).”
― David R. Johnson, The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse: Recognizing and Escaping Spiritual Manipulation and False Spiritual Authority Within the Church

“In Matthew 23, referring to the religious leaders, Jesus says, “They tie up heavy loads, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger” (v. 4).”
― David R. Johnson, The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse: Recognizing and Escaping Spiritual Manipulation and False Spiritual Authority Within the Church

“Another tendency of spiritually abusive leaders is that they add to the burdens of those who follow. Instead of grace and mercy to help in time of need, they offer religion. Whatever happened to “My load is light and my yoke is easy”? Find out in this chapter.”
― David R. Johnson, The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse: Recognizing and Escaping Spiritual Manipulation and False Spiritual Authority Within the Church

“The Proselyte of the Gate This person was a Gentile who, upon hearing of the One true God and the need to have faith in Him alone, believed in God. This person was what we would refer to today as a “simple believer.” He doesn’t know the right “language” or anything about a religious system, he just loves Jesus. This kind of convert was not very impressive to a Pharisee. The one who really counted was the next one. The Proselyte of Righteousness This was the person who, beyond loving God, “converted” to the system. He got circumcised, learned the rules, and embraced all the Levitical and traditional rituals. He became a Pharisee. This person might have begun with a heart hungry for God, but before he realized what was happening, knowing how to be a good Pharisee was more important than knowing how to be a genuine man of God.”
― David R. Johnson, The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse: Recognizing and Escaping Spiritual Manipulation and False Spiritual Authority Within the Church

“In Matthew 23 Jesus melts away the facade of spiritual “honey” to reveal two deadly aspects of false spiritual leadership: a double life (v. 3), and double-talk (vv. 16–18).”
― David R. Johnson, The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse: Recognizing and Escaping Spiritual Manipulation and False Spiritual Authority Within the Church

“I had never dated someone who wanted to be with me all the time, like he did. He seemed to be attentive to everything about me, noticing what I liked and didn’t like, buying me presents. His ambitious, fiery spirit was intoxicating. However, like a drunk person, I was blind to the truth.”
― David R. Johnson, Tucker's Way / For Tucker

“Though some in authority would love to never be questioned or opposed, the fact of the matter is that such a system is a trap and a downfall for any leader. If noticing problems is labeled disloyalty, lack of submission, divisiveness, and a challenge to authority, then there is only a facade of peace and unity. It is impossible for wounds to be healed, and abuse will one day escalate. If authorities are not accountable, then you have built a system that is in opposition to the freedom that is in Christ. You are ignoring James 3:1, which says, “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we shall incur a stricter judgment.”
― David R. Johnson, The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse: Recognizing and Escaping Spiritual Manipulation and False Spiritual Authority Within the Church

“Instead of using the Word as a sword to pierce through to the thoughts and motives of their own hearts, many spiritual leaders have used it as a stick to drive others, for a variety of reasons: to keep others from holding them accountable; to protect their image; to uphold a doctrine they have based a whole ministry upon; to keep funds coming in; to build religious kingdoms in order to bolster their own spiritual self-esteem. In other words, it’s possible that some leaders teach the Word for personal gain, not to heal and to free.”
― David R. Johnson, The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse: Recognizing and Escaping Spiritual Manipulation and False Spiritual Authority Within the Church

“The mindset of the leaders—about themselves, Scripture, and their followers—is that they have “broken through” to some higher level of spiritual achievement, so they have “earned” the right to lead.”
― David R. Johnson, The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse: Recognizing and Escaping Spiritual Manipulation and False Spiritual Authority Within the Church

“Still others have innocently come under one of the various “Authority” movements that periodically sweep through the church—usually variations on the same heresy, that “vision” or “guidance” must come only through a spiritual “head” (pastor, elder, group leader, husband, etc.), ultimately denying an individual’s ability to hear from God.”
― David R. Johnson, The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse: Recognizing and Escaping Spiritual Manipulation and False Spiritual Authority Within the Church

“The unhappy news is that, for many, this is still a reality today. There are people longing for God, and they hope that the logical place to discover the truth about God is in a place that claims to have it—the church. But when they go, all too often what they discover is a system that gives them more work to do in order to be “close” to God.”
― David R. Johnson, The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse: Recognizing and Escaping Spiritual Manipulation and False Spiritual Authority Within the Church

“But the difference between an abusive and a non-abusive system is that while hurtful behaviors might happen in both, it is not permissible to talk about problems, hurts and abuses in the abusive system. Hence, there is no healing and restoration after the wound has occurred, and the victim is made to feel at fault for questioning or pointing out the problem.”
― David R. Johnson, The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse: Recognizing and Escaping Spiritual Manipulation and False Spiritual Authority Within the Church

“It makes us look at our lives and our ministry and ask the question: Are we door-openers, or door-closers?”
― David R. Johnson, The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse: Recognizing and Escaping Spiritual Manipulation and False Spiritual Authority Within the Church