Status Updates From Subtle Power of Spiritual A...

"If you start to say things out loud in a system where the 'can't talk' rule has reigned, more of the mess will be evident. And you will get the blame. But the truth never causes the mess, it just exposes it."

"Leaving does not kill a dead system, it just makes it look as dead as it is."

"It is the process of the Christian life to reteach my mind and soul how to rest in the promise of Life itself."

"Whenever I become aware of a sin-a behavior resulting from looking to my own performance instead of to what Jesus did on the cross-there is no shame. It is no final 'proof' that I am unworthy of God's grace and empowerment because I have temptation or I have sinned. It simply means that for a time, I again attempted to draw 'life' out of wrong sources and actions."

"If I teach Sunday school, serve on a committee, or offer money in order to validate myself or earn approval from God or someone else, it's also a sin...The sin...is not that I didn't do behaviors on the 'good list', because I did...It's that I tried to draw life and significance from something that could not give it. Instead of trusting God I turned to a false god-positive looking, but false just the same."

"If I use drugs, steal, or commit adultery in an attempt to meet my needs it is sin. What makes it sin is not that I performed a behavior on the 'bad list'-although I did do that. The sin is that I tried to draw life or significance from something that could not give it. Instead of trusting God, I trusted a false god. That is missing the mark."

"We used to believe that the successful Christian life was about doing good, and not doing sins. But sin is more than a behavior issue; sin results when we forget to trust in the real God for our identity and spiritual strength, or when we place our trust in something other than our Source."

"Not everyone who goes to church is a Christian. A Christian is someone whose life is from God because of Christ. Adhering to a set of doctrines, or excluding those who don't does not make anyone a Christian."

"Spiritual abuse has the effect of making people extremely self-focused, preoccupied with doing things right and keeping happy those who are in places of authority. Recovery begins and continues with keeping our focus on God, what He has done and who we are because of that."

"God does not renovate, He innovates. We have not been rehabilitated. We have been re-created. This is our new state and identity in Christ. It is this mindset that we must adopt daily to keep from falling into old, entrapping behaviors, or coming under the dictates of spiritual leaders who do not know how to lad us to real life and freedom."

"Trying hard to change behaviors in order to correct a negative self-concept is the wrong response. It results from not understanding or believing that our sin and shame are completely erased and our new identity has already been created by the activity of God. It erodes the Christian life into the tired state of self-effort aimed at fixing a negative self-a self that God has already replaced with a new creation."

"Trying hard to change behaviors in order to have a positive self-concept is absolutely the wrong response. At best, it leads to more shame if we fail, or to self-righteousness if we succeed. At worst, it gives people who lack life the illusion of having life, and that we have earned God's approval."

"We devise strategies in order to meet our own needs. But with each and every one, we sin-we miss the mark...this is true whether our efforts are positive or negative. We may become capable at many endeavors, surround ourselves with many things, and acquire for ourselves the approval of many. But from day one we need a new identity, not just new behavior. And we are incapable of doing anything to accomplish that."

Transform in the Greek 'means something that is done to you, not by you."

There is not test to diagnose spiritual abuse. There are only spiritual clues: lack of joy in the Christian life; tiredness from trying hard to measure up; disillusionment about God and spiritual things; uneasiness, lack of trust, or even fear of those who care about 'God things' even legitimately; a profound sense of missing your best Friend; cynicism or grief over good news that turned out to be too good to be true

"We have forgotten that preoccupation with self in the name of God is still preoccupation with self."

"Paul says that false apostles 'disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.' The abusive system gives people an opportunity to earn God's approval with their own positive self-effort."

"Unfortunately, we realize that many spiritual leaders and systems are so ingrained in their thinking that an invitation to rest in the finished work of Christ will seem 'impossible', 'unrealistic', or even 'unscriptural'."

"I may encourage you to come and serve and give to the glory of God, but the real reason I'm encouraging you to do that is because I will look like a success if you do. I will use you to make me look good. At this point, my ego has begun to feed upon you."

"There is a significant problem lurking int he shadows of my soul. The problem is subtle and very dangerous. TI is this: Unless I stay rightly connected to God, my entire sense of value as a person will come from how perform as a person and how others reward and applaud my behavior."

"Rather than pointing to Jesus, what is really valued is how well we perform in church. Eventually, we realize that memorizing and spouting Scripture, witnessing and leading study groups are terribly inadequate sources of life, in and of themselves, leaving us empty and looking for more."

"Almost without noticing, we begin to live the same way we did before we met Jesus, hoping that with all our effort we will someday, some way, measure up. But we never do measure up; we continue to carry the load and we call it 'the abundant life.'"

God is for people, not religious systems.