Predapastors groom their congregations so when their abuse is exposed and/or they are arrested for their crimes, the congregation knows exactly what to say to control the narrative, silence whistleblowers, and rally behind the abusive pastor.
I hear these things often:
🧵 1. “We are praying for the pastor.” (This centers the abuser not the victims.)
2. “There are people out to get him.” (#DARVO 2 make u believe the abuser is a victim)
3. “The accuser is trying to use this to build their career.” (This is an easy sell if the accuser is a woman.) 🧵

“I’ve seen, again and again, brilliant women treated like garbage by mediocre (at best) male Twitter theologians and, tragically, sometimes actual pastors. Women in conservative circles can usually get away with passively cloaking their disagreement as submissive questions.”🧵

https://twitter.com/johnandrewwords/status/1638666186555621379

“Instead of stating her position, much less arguing for her position, she may feel pressure to state her position as a question. If she is afraid to object openly, she must bracket all objections with plenty of “with all due respect” and “although I appreciate your perspective”

When I wanted to go public with my story of #spiritualabuse & #psychologicalabuse at the hands of Andy Wood & Filipe Santos at Echo church in San Jose, CA, I knew immediately I wanted to speak to @reachjulieroys first. I had 4 major newspaper reporters reaching out. Julie 🧵

https://twitter.com/reachjulieroys/status/1596548772930412544

is well-versed in the patterns of the evangelical industrial complex’s darkness well-hidden behind the curtain with good people who are silent while Good Old Boys scratch each others’ backs at the expense of abuse survivors being discredited and silenced. Julie says, “you have 🧵

I dissociated when I was being psychologically, emotionally & spiritually abused by Andy Wood & Filipe Santos in his office. Later, it was reframed that I was demon possessed w/ the spirit of Jezebel & I had been wounded b4. They say they were “super gentle.” I’ve had multiple 🧵

https://twitter.com/Theholisticpsyc/status/1586417963560669185

survivors of abuse at Echo church at the hands of these two pastors tell me their stories of psychological abuse in their office where they were bullied, intimidated, coerced, belittled, gaslit silenced, called names, etc. in a clear pattern over many years. Many are in 🧵