God Has Not Forgotten You
I found the biggest challenge in my faith is when I'm facing tremendous hardship. In those times, I wonder why God doesn't come to my rescue immediately. The hardest part is knowing that he can rescue me at any time, but there is no immediate rescue. I question where is God? Why is he allowing me to suffer like this? In these times, I remind myself of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. They were friends of Jesus. One day Lazarus becomes sick and they sent a message to Jesus. Now you would think that because they were faithful followers of Jesus he would rush to their aid at once, but he didn't. He stayed where he was two more days. When Jesus finally arrives, Lazarus had died. When you are a follower of Jesus, we expect to see good things happen in our lives. When trouble appears, we turn to prayer and ask God to help us. Afterwards, we expect God to come and assist us. Unfortunately, he doesn't always come and rescue us when and how we want him too. Are you a fol...
Great article. Yes, you're right...ladies MUST beware. But they must also be AWARE as well.
ReplyDelete(1) Any lady (woman) who attends church, whether helping in ministry or not, is at risk--predators are merely looking for anyone they can attack and will try to gain the victim's confidence, looking for weaknesses (sometimes using their power and authority as a pastor to create weaknesses);
(2) In most states there are no laws against pastors assaulting ladies over the age of 18. This means there is no protection from our society to help if a lady is victimized. Don't count on the church to help--the church--generally as a whole-- historically blames the victim and exonerates the predator, even in churches that supposedly have a plan to handle these cases (such as Presbyterian Church USA).
(3) If a lady is assaulted it's because she was victimized by a predator who was in authority over her--much like incest in a family. It takes YEARS to get over the damage done, and some victims never get over what happened. Many leave the faith altogether, finding it too difficult to separate the "love of God" from what the evil pastor predator did to them.
(4) Victims are never at fault for the "crime" but they are generally blamed for what happened.
So, thanks for your article! I hope all ladies (and women), and even men, become aware that there is a need to beware of pastor predators in church. Statistically, any church with more than 3 pastors has at least one pastor predator on staff--another bit of information to be aware of.
Name withheld to protect myself
Thanks for sharing! What you have said is so true!!! The best thing we can do is keep sharing information and bring light to this disturbing issue!
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