The comments of the previous post discussed the scripture about 'turning the other cheek'.This is a scripture that abusive pastors often manipulated to keep parishioners under their toxic control.The Word of God, meant to set you more free from pain, fear, and doubt is twisted to enslave you to serve their selfish purposes.
"Touch not my anointed" was the scripture that my ex-pastor used over and over to solidify her hold on the hearts and minds of her enslaved congregation. She often used Ananias and Sapphira as a warning of the consequence of hiding information from her. This was an effective tool- who wanted to drop dead? Were scriptures used to enslave you in a toxic church?Share your comments this Sunday with Margaret W. Jones, Ph.D, author of Not of My Making by posting a comment below or e-mailing your thoughts to toxicsheepnomore@yahoo.com
4 comments:
Where in the bible is "touch not my anointed"? I was trying to look it up as I wanted to read the verse in context. I wanted to see what it really means. Mary Alice Chrnaloger in Twisted Scriptures talks about this misuse of scripture to enslave others. In my case the verses that were used to control my behavior were "shake the dust off your feet" and the one where Jesus says if you have quarreled with someone you should reconcile with them before making an offering at the temple. The message was that I shouldn't take communion and that I should leave the church.
Psalms 105:15 "Do not touch my annointed ones; do my prophets no harm."
Mary Chrnaloger's book is on my reading list-
I want to re-evaluate every scripture that was used to control me.
I just came back from church. The Anglican priest there is a Biblical scholar. I will have to bring in a list of these passages and see what he says about them.
Not used against me but against a good friend whose only sin was asking questions of the pastor. The pastor used the passage in Numbers 12 about Miriam and Aaron telling Moses that God didn't only speak through Moses, but through them, too. Later, Miriam gets leprousy. The pastor used this passage to send a clear message: If you think God speaks through you and not me alone, you are a sinner like Miriam, and something bad could happen to you. This was used to deflect criticism and to intimidate. The pastor forgot to mention the parenthetical in that passage that says that Moses was very meek, above all men on the earth. My friend, and most of the church, eventually left.
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