OMG!!! So many similar abusive tactics and deception to our ex narc-elder. A must watch! It’s worth the time. What parts of her testimony resonate with you? Please send comments to: ubmrecovery@gmail.com
Recommended Resources for People Recovering from Spiritual Abuse:
(Re-used and modified from Steve’s Top 16 Recommended Resources for People Recovering from Spiritual Abuse.)
- Broken Trust: A practical guide to identify and recover from toxic faith, toxic church, and spiritual abuse by F. Remy Diederich (this title available from Amazon Sept. 18, 2017)
- Toxic Faith: Experiencing Healing from Painful Spiritual Abuse by Stephen Arterburn and Jack Felton
- The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse by David Johnson and Jeff VanVonderen
- Twisted Scriptures by Mary Chrnalogar
- The Heresy of Mind Control by Stephen Martin
- Churches that Abuse: Help for Those Hurt by Legalism and Authoritarian Leadership by Ronald Enroth
- Coping with Cult Involvement by Livia Bardin
- Spiritual Abuse Recovery: Dynamic Research on Finding a Place of Wholenessby Barb Orlowski, D.Min.
- To Be Told: Know Your Story, Shape Your Future by Dan Allender
- Leading with a Limp by Dan Allender
- “Spiritual Authority” by Hal Miller (an article @ http://www.home-church.org/scc/authority.html )
- The Wrong Way Home: Uncovering the Patterns of Cult Behavior in American Society by Arthur J. Deikman, M.D.
- Boundaries by Henry Cloud and John Townsend
- Families Where Grace is in Place by Jeff VanVonderen
- Forgive and Forget: Healing the Hurts We Don’t Deserve by Lewis B. Smedes
- When God’s People Let You Downby Jeff VanVonderen
Are Narcissists Evil?
From our abusive experience, spiritual narcissists ARE evil. Their very actions often contradict the teachings of the Bible/Jesus, such as: love your enemy, do good to them that despitefully use you, and forgive one another as I have forgiven you.
Spiritual Narcs (S-Narc) have an agenda and work very hard to maintain their facade to keep their charade going. It might look good, but if you spend any time in the local fellowship you sense something is off, something smells bad. The Narc-Elder typically has tools to keep people under his control such as the threat of shunning (‘faction protocol’) or fear and intimidation of missing God’s approval/blessings or actual physical curses or catostrophic events such as earthquakes, Planet X hitting the earth and other such silliness. It would almost be funny if it wasn’t so seriously abusive to the victims. This kind of fear, intimidation and control impedes victims of their relationship with God through the Holy Spirit. The S-Narc places himself (or herself, i.e., a ‘Prophetess’) in place of the Holy Spirit though words of revelations and DREAMS.
WARNING!!! When dreams are emphasized more than your personal relationship with Christ through the Holy Spirit, … RUN! Start working on an escape strategy/plan. We have a whole section dedicated on HOW TO ESCAPE. You have to plan, else you risk things getting really bad with others in your abusive group. Remember, people will react different ways to you leaving, so it’s best that NOBODY knows your plans until you are already escaping. Again, see our Process Point section on Escape.
To get another angle on this subject, check out this article Kaleah LaRoche on evil narcissists. Click HERE for the link to the full article.
Book Recommendation: Toxic Faith
Experiencing Healing from Painful Spiritual Abuse
When religion becomes a means to avoid or control life, it becomes toxic. Those who possess a toxic faith have stepped across the line from a balanced perspective of God to an unbalanced faith in a weak, powerless or uncaring God. They seek a God to fix every mess, prevent every hurt, and mend every conflict.
Why People Become Narcissists, Gaslighters and Cult Members
‘… Where can you get a deck of trump cards? Many people get them from cults. All cults issue decks to their supporters. That’s a cult’s appeal. It’s why people are willing to be brainwashed.
They think they’re joining the cult because they’ve found truth. They think the cult’s lifestyle and prejudices are justified. They never notice that the trump cards in their hands are the same trump cards played by all other cults, even the cults that they hate most. …’
Click HERE for the rest of the article.