O Ativismo Religioso torna o ambiente propenso para o abuso espiritual.
Religious activism makes the environment prone to spiritual abuse.
Abaixo você encontrará testemunhos reais de sobreviventes do abuso religioso, salvaguardando os direitos de privacidade, foram utilizados apenas as iniciais de seus nomes.
Below you will find real testimonies from survivors of religious abuse. To safeguard their privacy rights, only the initials of their names have been used.
"When we realized that we were under manipulation, we decided to leave the church peacefully. We asked for 'the blessing' to disconnect and it was denied. They sent messages to the whole church via Whatsapp in order to embarrass us and cast doubt on our character. At that moment there was no doubt about the kind of 'leadership' we were involved in. We have moved on without their 'blessing', yet we are free, filled with the Lord's peace in our hearts and freed from the yoke of that abusive leadership!" RO
A few years ago I volunteered at a renowned ministry in my city, I was very involved with that flame of first love burning in my heart. However, I had to be a full-time musician in order to be accepted by them, so I started living off the work with a small stipend. I served the pastors of the church for five years and experienced many musicians being insulted. Some worship leaders used their authority to manipulate the brothers who served at the altar and who depended on the stipend to support themselves. The people there didn't see the priest sweeping the dirt from the altar to the front of the altar.
The garbage was always hidden behind the altar. Those behind the altar saw all the dirt and the stench of the remains produced by the offerings they gave to God. I dealt with a pastor in adultery, another pastor who used cocaine and snorted it before going up to preach in the pulpit. I experienced a very difficult situation: a pastor appointed as worship leader had just left another denomination for reasons of pedophilia and our church ended up taking him in.
An arrogant and haughty man, I had several clashes with him. At one point they announced the recording of a major musical project for the church, a DVD, which ended up being very successful in Brazil. After the recording, they approached all the musicians with a document in which we had to sign an assignment of production and recording rights to a bank account where the pastor's wife and children were the holders. They robbed us. God told me he wasn't on that altar. I signed the document and left the church.
I nurtured the idea that I could keep my faith in God in my own way, but everything that reminded me of the church made me sick to my stomach. After ten years wandering the world I became a man as dirty as those I met. I died spiritually, until I heard the Lord calling me again through a distressing situation. Little by little I began to pray again, then I met a man of God, a pastor who became responsible for walking with me and reconnecting me to a true life of communion with the Lord and the true church of Christ." RO
"It took me a long time to understand the kind of environment I was in. The damage to my health was enormous. It's been eight years of treatment, but God's grace has sustained me every day, helping me to deal with the wounds." PG
"I experienced manipulation and abuse in the flesh, after ten years out of this place I feel free of the hurts they caused me, however I still struggle with the memories of abuse I suffered. Today I am being reborn in another church, believing that God can also heal my memories just as he healed the wounds they inflicted on me. He is powerful enough to do that, after all it wasn't him who hurt me, it was a man!" AS
"I suffered a lot because I was under an oppressive leadership. Today I am free". PN
“I'm a survivor of spiritual abuse, its traces have left a deep destruction in me, today I've been fighting for seven years, trying to recover from the traumas I've suffered.” SS
"I lived under spiritual manipulation for more than ten years, but understanding God's will brought deliverance and healing to my heart. Today Christ lives in me!" EF
"I suffered an assassination attempt because I didn't agree with the abuses of the leader I no longer serve. He leads an extremely famous church in my city. Perhaps one day, God will allow his name to be projected in the media for the abuses he still commits, since the legal authorities take no action. I fear for my life. PO
"My family and I went through a very difficult time in the ‘apostolic’ ministry where we congregated. The intense spirituality they seemed to carry attracted us, their discourse seemed legitimate and well-intentioned. However, soon the manipulations began to surface in the details, in the simplest matters of living together. For example, we couldn't go to any brother's house, eat or have coffee without the church leader's permission. Everything had to pass through his sieve, because God had to speak to him first about any decision we made. Our departure was very intense and painful.
An ordinary situation was conjured up, and in a harsh, despicable and arrogant way my family and I were morally attacked. We were attacked by them even on social media and in their pulpit sermons for several months running. The short period of time of almost a year that we were involved in the work in that place was enough for me to almost die. The repercussions of the abuse I experienced were enough to seriously sicken my soul, body and spirit. I never thought I would go through this in my life.
Day by day I am getting back on my feet, with the help of God's Holy Spirit, through prayer and forgiveness. Psychological treatment was also fundamental to my recovery. I take this experience into my life as a great lesson and example of how not to be or act towards others in a destructive, narcissistic and self-centered way. I try to look and act like Jesus; loving and forgiving."