Be true to your cult: Smell-the-sickness edition

I pointed a few days ago toward an item at the Wartburg Watch soliciting financial help for a family grievously abused by their church. Here is the backstory.

Billy and Shauna returned to church the weekend after the rape. Shauna assured Billy that Joe could not be on the premises at the same time Bill was present. However, he saw Joe coming out of the Youth Ministry area. During church, Joe gave Billy a threatening look which caused Billy to want to leave the church. Even though Joe was not supposed to at church when Billy was there, it appears that the church and his parents overlooked this issue.

Shauna was asked to speak with Ramey privately. He told her that she was to stay quiet about what had happened to Billy. H said that if she said anything, it would be considered slander. Shauna questioned this since she was an eyewitness to what had happened to Billy. She said that slander implies a lie. Ken told her that slander didn’t mean a lie. I do not know what they teach at The Masters Seminary but I wrote a post called Slander or an Inconvenient Truth looking at the Biblical definition of the word and it most definitely means a lie told in order to cause harm to another.

The bald facts of the case are bad enough but, as you read this, there are two things more you must understand.

  • As sad as this story is, it is not unusual.

  • Healthy family loyalties undermine a church’s power over its members, and that is why they are so adamant that the church Our Invisible Friend must have first, exclusive, claim on your life. Recall this appalling tweet by John Piper, just yesterday:

    If we begin to prioritize our spouse or children over our King, we insult the King and harm our families.

And then consider what contempt churches must actually have for their members.

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