"Spiritual abusers convince the spiritually abused that there's no such thing as spiritual abuse." -Mike Adams

Welcome to episode 35 of The Grace Cafe Podcast! We continue to hear from different people, detailing their stories and experiences with spiritual abuse. Spiritual abuse is real and if it hasn't happened to you, that doesn't mean it hasn't happened to the person next to you. In spiritual abuse, some people get a free pass while others are singled out and preyed upon. We've seen this pattern over and over again.

In this episode we talk about:

• Muzzling the spiritually abused.
• Labeling those who are brave enough to share their story as gossips in order to silence them.
• Top-down abusive authority within religious institutions.
• Matthew 18 and church discipline.

Our previous episode of Susan's story of counseling and therapy for spiritual abuse is here:

• PODCAST: Out Of My Chains and Into Your Mercy 

Susan's blog by the same title is here:

• BLOG: Out Of My Chains and Into Your Mercy 

Mike's recent blog on submission to leaders in Hebrews 13 is here:

• Who Are The Leaders and What Is Leadership?

Other blogs Mike has written that we talked about in this episode:

• Why is There a Pulpit? 
• The Pastor-Driven Church
• Re-thinking Formal Church Membership

Other blogs Mike has written related to this episode:

• What is a Pastor?
• Pastors, Titles, Authority, and Calling
• The Clergy/Laity Distinction
• Community and Accountability

-Enjoy!