Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 9, No. 2, 1992, Page 76
Many areas of members‟ lives are subject to scrutiny, and the church standards
established are usually based upon the life-style adopted by the leader.
Rules and legalism abound.
Members not following rules established by the leadership (or threatening exposure of
the manipulation and abuse) are often labeled “reprobates” or “dupes of Satan,”
and are dealt with harshly. Ostracism of former members and excommunication of
dissenters are common.
For members choosing to leave a spiritually abusive church, returning to the realm of
normalcy is difficult.
Effectively elaborating upon each abusive element, using illustrative case histories, Enroth
explains how each victim was initially deceived, the abuse experienced, and the aftermath of
the individual‟s experience with toxic faith. The tragedy of spiritual abuse is explained as a
phenomenon often resulting from unhealthy leadership styles, even when the church is one
that is Bible-based and, for the most part, theologically sound.
Dr. Enroth realistically warns that abusive churches will always exist. With this in mind, how
can abusive churches be recognized, avoided, and deterred from spreading”
According to Enroth, unquestioning obedience and blind loyalty are the hallmark warning
sings. “Abusive leaders are self-centered and adversarial, rather than reconciling and restor-
ative,” writes Enroth. He points out that most of the abusive churches in his study are
independent, autonomous groups that are not part of a denomination providing checks and
balances or that do not have any kind of accountability for those in charge. Rather, they
establish their own rules of discipline and church courts. Numerous case histories are cited in
his book providing examples of these abusive leadership styles. Dr. Enroth concludes his book
with a challenge to the Christian church encouraging “the development of discernment skills
among believers so that the likelihood of following an aberrant teacher or a false doctrine is
diminished.”
How can the effects of spiritual abuse be understood by one who is unfamiliar with this
phenomenon” How can victims of spiritual abuse be helped”
Dr. Enroth compares individuals injured by a spiritually abusive environment to rape victims
or those suffering from the delayed stress syndrome experienced by war veterans. He
explains that recovery from “spiritual rape” is a long and painful process, even if the exposure
to the influence only lasted a few months or less. According to one victim, “The complexity of
the experience is so great that it is impossible to adequately communicate it to someone who
has not gone through it.”
Though it is possible to heal from spiritual abuse without a support system or professional
help, it is difficult. It is also difficult to help someone when the dynamics of an experience are
not understood. Churches That Abuse is a long-awaited book, providing empathetic insight
into a spiritually abused victim‟s plight it is also a valuable resource providing guidelines for
those wanting to reach out to a victim. Reading this book will help to authoritatively define
and validate the reality of spiritual abuse for victims who have felt “crazy” because of their
inability to define their problem adequately. It is a book that boldly exposes the insidious
dynamics and ramifications of spiritual abuse for those who have not experienced or been
exposed to such abuse. An enlightening book for pastors, church leaders, church members,
and those in the helping professions, it is also recommended as a must-read educational
resource for members of all faith communities.
As one who has personally dealt with the paralyzing effects wrought by an abusive church
environment, I heartily endorse Churches That Abuse and strongly encourage the addition of
it to church, professional, and personal libraries. Until the reality of spiritual abuse is
recognized and acknowledged, this heinous form of abuse will continue to be swept under

Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 9, No. 2, 1992, Page 77
church pews, sowing havoc in Christian churches and, as Dr. Enroth‟s book reveals, no church
is immune. Even more tragic, toxic faith and spiritual abuse that are not confronted will
continue shattering the lives of unsuspecting, trusting Christians who turn to such churches
for refuge, hope, and spiritual nurturing. Understanding the scope of a problem is the first
step in curtailing or stopping it. Churches That Abuse provides this crucial understanding.
Maxine Pinson
Publisher/Editor, Savannah Parent
Apologetics in the New Age: A Christian Critique of Pantheism. David K. Clark
and Norman L. Geisler. Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1990, 254 pages.
The truth claims of new religious movements and psychotechnologies have been essentially
ignored in public by the anti-cult movement in its initial decade and a half. Persons of varied
theologies and shared goodwill aimed their counterattacks at the human-rights-violating
practices of the cults. Fraud, deception, denial of informed consent, ritual abuse, involuntary
servitude, economic exploitation, sexual abuse, mistreatment of children, and other forms of
religious malpractice provided the focus.
But in the privacy of deprogramming and exit counseling sessions, the incongruities and self-
contradictions of cult truth claims played an important role in the discrediting of the groups
and their gurus. Truth claims were a potent issue.
For those of us who are publicly engaged in defending our faith traditions against the cultic
invaders, the examination and critique of competing truth claims has been an important part
of our functions. In my own Christian tradition we call this “apologetics.” My own approach to
apologetics included emphasis upon the cults as new versions of the old gnostic heresy which
claimed salvation by special illumination, as well as identification of the cultic denial of Jesus,
The Holy Bible, and the mainline churches as valid and efficacious.
Within the anti-cult movement, public discourse regarding truth claims reached a new level in
May 1991 with the visit of Dr. Johannes Aagard of Aarhus University in Denmark to meetings
sponsored by the American Family Foundation. His frontal challenge to cults on the field of
truth claims is demonstrated in Vol. 8, No. 2 of the Cultic Studies Journal, “Conversion,
Religious Change, and the Challenge of New Religious Movements” (1991).
Authors Clark and Geisler contribute to the examination of truth claims, particularly the
element of pantheism in New Age teachings. As self-professed Christian philosophers, they
engage in the apologetic task which they define. “Apologetics is a rational defense of the faith
offered in the spirit of concern and genuine care for the other. It is “speaking the truth in
love” (reference to St. Paul‟s ethical admonition to the Ephesians in 4:15) and both TRUTH
and LOVE are important.”
The urgency for this task comes from the emergence of Stoic pantheistic philosophy in the
New Age movement in such a way as to catch Christian apologists unaware. “Christians have
become successful in defending their faith against Epicurean atheism, but they are relatively
defenseless in the face of Stoic pantheism,” the authors contend. Pantheism is understood as
the idea that God is not a personality but all reality, that is, all the laws, forces and
manifestations of a self-existing universe.
Clark teaches at Bethel Theological Seminary and Geisler is dean of the Center for Christian
Scholarship at Liberty University. They set out to teach the reader about the five types of
pantheism, ancient and modern (permeational, absolute, multilevel, emanational, and
modal) and to show that Christians resist these ideas, not only because they are in basic
conflict with Christian teachings, but also because they fail by the four criteria of rational
plausibility: (1) consistency, (2) coherence, (3) proper evidence, and (4) clarity in concepts.