Nobody should have to willingly submit to someone who abuses him or her. Love is weightier and therefore takes precedence over submission every time. Truth must have order or it becomes a destructive perversion, a dangerous counterfeit or a devious delusion.
Spiritual Abuse
Jake Kaill
Scripture is never meant to be used as a means to control or manipulate another person. Consider this: when the Word of God gets separated from the heart of God and the Spirit of God, it is no longer the Word of God, and you are not obligated to obey it. “The letter kills but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6). Jesus showed that we don’t have to obey a Scripture when it is quoted to us by the devil. We must learn to discern the spirit behind the words, not just the content of the words. Rejecting spiritual abuse is not disobeying God; it is resisting the devil!
Author Unknown
Beware any leader that makes themselves the answer in place of God. Instead of teaching the body of Christ how to hear God for themselves, such dangerous leaders deceive themselves and others that they are people’s direct line to God
Katherine Walden
Leaders and Pastor: If your church is full of people who look like you, talk like you, and think like you, then you have failed to lead people to Christ. Your goal should never be to create a church full of ‘mini-me’s who think like you, dress like you, talk like you, and who agree with every doctrinal point you make. Your goal is to lead them to Christ and to allow His empowering grace to fashion each individual into a believer who can think for themselves, pull out Biblical truths for themselves, and who can rightly discern God’s will and direction for their lives. There should never be a spoken or unspoken threat to ‘tow the company line or else’ policy in your church structure.