Covering and Authority

I added the following to the top this page to flesh things out.

To understand Paul’s view of the church we have to understand how he came to have the authority of an apostle.  He wasn’t appointed by anyone or any organization.  He was appointed by God.

Gal 1:1  From Paul, an apostle (not from men, nor by human agency, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead)

As an appointed messenger of God he felt that he had the authority to build people up (2Cor 10:8) and he could speak authoritatively about what God’s will might be in a certain situation (1cor 7:10).

Even though Paul could speak authoritatively to a situation he chose not to.

1Th 2:7   although we could have imposed our weight as apostles of Christ; instead we became little children among you. Like a nursing mother caring for her own children,

1Th 2:8  with such affection for you we were happy to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.

It is abundantly clear that in Paul’s concept of ministry that the real authority in the church is the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit’s ministry is expressed through spiritual gifts in the entire body (1Cor 12) but is best expressed through genuine love (1cor 13).  Authority, even Paul’s authority was nothing without love.

ChurchExiters.com is for those that have experienced spiritual abuse.  Here is a blurb from the front page.

This website explores the issues of people who have experienced spiritual abuse in their local churches and how they have recovered.
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Every year dedicated Christian people leave churches because of spiritual abuse. What factors contribute to dedicated and active believers leaving their church and becoming exiting statistics? The stories of people who left their home church because of a negative and hurtful experience paint a picture of a widespread occurrence, which beckons consideration by church leaders and church congregants alike.

The Purpose of this doctoral research was to understand how Christians had gone from the devastating experience of spiritual abuse at their local church to a condition of spiritual restoration.  It aimed to demonstrate how people, who had experienced grief and loss in their Christian lives at the hands of church leaders, had over time regained spiritual equilibrium.

The original dissertation is available at A.C.T.S. Seminaries on the Trinity Western University campus in Langley, B.C.

I’ve already ordered her book!  Hopefully I’ll find the time to review it in the next few weeks.

In their book Toxic Faith Stephen Arterburn and Jack Felton make the case that authoritarian parents and church leaders are often addicts of religion. 

A person with toxic faith can worship a false god just as easily as an alcoholic can worship a bottle of booze.  The person with toxic faith is just as likely to be willing to die out of devotion to that false god as the drug addict is willing to die out of devotion to drugs.  The toxic faithful adhere to a toxic religion in order to dodge the emotional turmoil that comes with facing the reality of their circumstances.  Their lives focus on the religion  and not on God.  The religion engulfs them and they lose themselves to its practice. (pg 92)

What aspects of the religious life offer the same compelling experience as drugs or alcohol.  The admiration, attention and power are an alluring cocktail to those who aspire to be church leaders.  Combine this with guilt, performance anxiety and a narcissistic  desire to be a recognized spiritual leader and you have a potent mixture that is just as compelling than alcohol to the alcoholic.

On page 106 Arterburn and Felton compiled a list of Foundations for Religions Addiction

• Abusive parent, often the father.  Abuse is physical, emotional or sexual.
• Child deprived of nurturing.  Neither parent meets the basic emotional needs of the child
• Feelings of alienation.  Child feels detached from the family and what is perceived as a perfect world for others.
• Attitudes of perfectionism from imperfect parents.  Demanding parents inflict the child with an irrational desire to be perfect and make no mistakes.
• High expectations.  The parents are relentless in demanding the child be what they were not and attain what they did not.
• Low affirmation.  Although the child exerts tremendous effort, the parents are never satisfied and rare provide positive feedback.
• Parents’ addiction problems.  Frequently, one or both parents will be alcoholics or sex addicts, or they will exhibit some other obvious compulsive behavior.
• Absent father.  A child of divorce may have little male influence.
• Feelings of being dirty.  Abuse and negative attention leave a child feeling guilty and dirty.
• Poor peer relationships.  Afraid to share personal reality with others, the child feels cut off emotionally from friends and often seeks destructive relationships.
• Vivid fantasy world.  Reality becomes so difficult that the child creates a fantasy world and retreats to it frequently.
• Feelings not shared.  The home has provided little freedom to express emotions, and the child never learns how this is done or why it is helpful.

The more I researched authoritarianism in the church the more I understood that even the most abusive leader still a flawed human like the rest of us.  There are factors that lead people to adopt authoritarian religious systems both as leaders and followers.  These issues go much deeper than just flawed teaching or flawed theology.  I’m going to be blogging more from Toxic Faith and other helpful books.

You can check out Tyler Ramey’s review of “Under Cover” here.  Just scroll down below the logo.

The video is a tongue-in-cheek. Regardless it is a good example of how Covering Theolgy is applied.

Spiritual Covering

Prayer warriors of the New Apostolic Reformation getting some exposure.

1. The leader must be in control of every aspect at all times.

2. When problems arise, immediately find a guilty party to blame.

3. Don’t make mistakes.

4. Never point out the reality of a situation.

5. Never express your feelings unless they are positive.

6. Don’t ask questions, especially if they are tough ones.

7. Don’t do anything outside your role.

8. Don’t trust anyone.

9. Nothing is more important than giving money to the organization

10. At all costs, keep up the image of the organization or family.

Taken from Toxic Faith page 223.