fidzbit

In a recent sexual abuse case, which is having a significant impact on Christians and churches in Wales, one of the victims was quoted (in the prosecution statement, as reported on the BBC news) as saying “I thought dark spirits were abusing me”. I think I am right in saying that the abuse happened whilst the victim slept. In that half-conscious, dreamy state it must have felt like a nightmare was coming true. Alongside the emotional and physical distress, this individual experienced a sense of spiritual distress. Was this just a vivid imagination or is there more to it? Is there a relationship between abuse and the spiritual realm of the ‘occult’? I am not here thinking about satanic cult conspiracy theories or about the disturbing things which some people claim to have experienced whilst actively and intentionally seeking interactions with spirits. What is on my mind is the fact that victims of human-on-human abuse sometimes express their traumatic experiences in a spiritual framewo...

It was about 11 years ago that I was first drawn into contact with a modern day Christian cult. You will not find it alongside Jehovah’s Witnesses and Latter-Day Saints in an encyclopaedia of religions. In fact, it took me a while to realise that it was a cult. At first I thought that these were just Christians with some really weird and difficult pastoral problems. It gradually became clear that they were not really Christian problems at all. They were problems created by a subtle but very, very nasty distortion of what the bible teaches.  This false teaching created an environment in which spiritual, physical, emotional, and sometimes sexual abuse thrived. God was not a gentle and loving Father but a moody tyrant in the sky - and human fathers were taking their lead from the bad example of this devilish false-god which they had cooked up in their own imaginations. It was worked out to different degrees, depending on the temperament of the parents, and could be particularly harsh ...

This is a difficult blog to write. I feel ashamed, hurt, angry, and perplexed and I do not want to draw unnecessary, unhealthy attention to a horrible situation. At the same time, we cannot allow this to become an ‘elephant in the room’. We do not need to talk publicly and in detail about this but we do need to talk quietly with one another. What has happened is real, and it is painful and damaging in many ways for many people. Yesterday the national news reported that Ben Thomas has been sentenced to ten years in prison for a string of sex offences. Some of his victims are my friends. Through sensitivity to their suffering and respect for their privacy I will not say anything more about them. His wife and family are my friends. When we lived in North Wales we played on the beach with his kids and ate ice-creams together. We have not been able to get in touch with them since this news broke and we are desperately concerned for them. Through sensitivity to their suffering and respe...