Thread by @ThigpenTiffany

When I went forward in 1991 to tell my Pastor about my abuser, my Mother was with me. When we left that office, my Mother was no longer 'with' me, she bought into the narrative that we needed to protect the church. We were told to be silent, silence became my world,pretend(thread

Not because I wasn't coming unglued inside & needed help, not b/c I was ok, I was a teen who didn't understand what just happened & what it meant in my identity. I was suddenly wary of everything. I was physically sick, lost so much weight, couldn't eat, shriveling w/ a smile(2)

With a smile b/c no one was to know what happened & I was @ church constantly as a youth, I was panicking in public spaces but no one knew b/c I hid it, I felt I didn't fit in anywhere now & pulled from friends, isolating my world. Parents never talked about it again as we all(3)

continued to serve & attend, while the predator kept preaching & growing, my own Pastor Vines the same, Patterson the same. Everyone but me moved forward. I know this to be true of all of his other victims as well. I in shame bought into the msg. sold that I was (4)

"protecting the church" I bought into it being "evil works of the devil to destroy the church" imagine how that makes you feel as a teen who was abused for evil means. What does that say about you internally? I felt tainted, dirty, used, branded already, no need for the pile on(5

Yet, there it was. Perform, pretend, smile for Jesus, keep moving fwd. to protect the "ministry". Where is this Biblically required??? When on the cross did Jesus say hide the sins? He BORE them for us. I reject this message that the victims are Satanic/Evil/Destructive - you (6)

YOU are destructive to the ministry, to the GOSPEL, you are telling the world & the church lies about who God is. You are taking the hand of the enemy & helping him destroy the church - we are shining light to give and bring HOPE, we are Messengers, we trust Him, DO YOU? #SBC21

In 2007, when I came fwd publicly against my abuser, at 1st I still had eaten from the apple that told me to tread lightly & "protect the church" so I focused on the abuse & not the cover men, initially(Vines & Patterson) I felt guilt/burden still as a grown woman...until (cont)

Patterson came after me & accused that I would destroy his family, Vines son called me to ask me to stop harming his Dad, my parents were contacted to encourage them to "stop me" again with the lie that I would damage the church & ministries. The call from my Mom asking me to...

"let it go" still haunts me today - how do you let go what you can't process & when the abuser is still harming others? 1991-2007 I'd let go the best I could, w no help from anyone as it was a secret. Enough was enough, I had matured enough to know God was bigger than the lie...

Jesus was warring for light to be shown on the dark infesting the church, the victims were drowning and the light and justice was the only HOPE for us all. And my adult life became again tainted by the church for speaking out - the hell I went through - the craters in my family..

damage to my soul, spirit, mind, emotions - but not my faith b/c I no longer believed the lies meant to exert power & shame & silence. The religious elite looked exactly as that, now I didn't care what they thought, there was no humility from them, not of God's fruits. And here..

we are today 2007-2021 - Vines nor Patterson have ever shown any different fruits, now they have created an entire network of followers that still are selling the apple of "protecting the conservative church" it's a lie. They are still protecting themselves & the blinders. End