Identifying abusive people or groups

• Leaders spend much time and energy professing their authority not based on godly living but position such as husband, pastor, priest, mentor etc.

• They use the words obedience and submission quite often

• There is a preoccupation with performance

• They have many rule, most are unspoken. You don’t know they are rules until you break them. Most of these rules are unspoken because if they were looked at in light of scripture they would prove to be illogical, anti Christian and unhealthy.

• If you talk about the problem you become the problem, at that point you must be silenced with legalism, attacks or removed.

• Extremes of use of the super natural. Either denial of the Holy Spirit or claiming supernatural beyond the Bible

• The “Black Hole” that you can not escape. They look so good on the outside they are a spiritual magnet but its almost impossible to leave.

• Abusive leaders add to the burdens of those that need help. Instead of grace and mercy they offer religion.

• The individual or group claims to be special, elite, knows the one true gospel and doing it better than others, or receiving direct revelation from God that others do not.

• Isolates from others outside the family or group.