There was article recently published on the ERLC website from an clinical psychologist named Diane Langberg.  The article’s main point was to address spiritual abuse that happens in evangelicalism.  Dr. Langberg discusses how spiritual abuse either is largely ignored or the victims are told to remain silent because the abuser is a popular speaker and influencer in the evangelical circuit of conferences and speaking engagements.  The people that come to mind would be people like Mark Driscoll when he led Mars Hill in Seattle and James McDonald of Harvest Bible Chapel in Chicago in a church context.  Others in the traveling genre would be Clayton Jennings and John Crist, both of whom used their positions to lure young women back to their hotel rooms for a time prayer which turned into sexual encounters.  And Carl Lentz, who was guilty of both.

Now this isn’t meant to downplay the reality of spiritual abuse.  What Dr. Langberg addresses needs to be addressed.  No leader is above reproach.  No pastor should be let off the hood simply because he is an influencer or sought-after speaker.  All pastoral abusers should be held accountable and all legitimate victims should be heard without fear of repercussions.  All too often the fans of said abuser don’t believe the accusations and attempt to discredit the victims, which essentially is just piling on to an experience that is already devasting.

All of these instances of abuse are behind the scenes situations.  Driscoll, Lentz and McDonald were abusive tyrants to their staff at the churches.  Jennings and Crist were sexual predators who used their speaking engagements and social media pages to lure their victims. But spiritual abuse doesn’t only occur behind the scenes.  There is another type of spiritual abuse that exists, and that abuse comes from the pulpit, blogposts on websites like the ERLC and in seminaries, and its implications are far-reaching.  This abuse is a staple of woke evangelicals.

The spiritual abuse is that of alleged racism of white people.

People like Matthew Hall, current SBC President JD Greear and their sycophants like David Platt, Danny Akin, and others, who follow the marching orders of the Don of the SBC Al Mohler, are using their positions of authority to tell white people that they are racist or have racist tendencies because they have white skin. Now, they don’t say that overtly but they say it about themselves while delivering a sermon or writing a blog.  And when they are saying this, they are implying that the white people who are reading the article or hearing the message are also racist and guilty of unconfessed sin, and they must repent. That is spiritual abuse.

It is probable that some of their audience are guilty of racism, and it is also probable that some of them are non-whites who are racists, but not every single white person is a racist.  White skin is not a default condemnation of racism. Accusing someone of racism because of something they cannot control is so ludicrous that it is incredible that it is believed as widely as it is. And what is worse, in this line of thinking, white people are helpless because they are racist either way: because they are white, and if they deny it they are also labeled racist.

The manistream church has strayed from biblical teaching.  It has taken its clue from society and unbiblical doctrines like Critical Race Theory and Marxism, and told its audience that this is what the bible teaches.  They pay lip service to God but their hearts are far from Him.