"Spiritual abuse is painful. For me the pain of talking about it is not so much that it brings up old pain from the past. It’s not about old wounds so much anymore. But I experience it as painful because we’ve been chipping away at this issue now for 15 years but we really haven’t done that much to change things. Every day I am reminded of the pain people are in because of this. Every day I hear from someone who has experienced this. They are not only in pain emotionally and psychologically, but also they are full of fear about God, thinking that they are in trouble because they haven’t gotten it right, or been good enough, or been Christian enough. That is really painful territory. And it’s difficult territory to work in."*

- Jeff VanVonderen, co-author of The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse. 

*Quote Source

"Spiritual abuse is painful. For me the pain of talking about it is not so much that it brings up old pain from the past. It’s not about old wounds so much anymore. But I experience it as painful because we’ve been chipping away at this issue now for 15 years but we really haven’t done that much to change things. Every day I am reminded of the pain people are in because of this. Every day I hear from someone who has experienced this. They are not only in pain emotionally and psychologically, but also they are full of fear about God, thinking that they are in trouble because they haven’t gotten it right, or been good enough, or been Christian enough. That is really painful territory. And it’s difficult territory to work in."*

- Jeff VanVonderen, co-author of The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse.

*Quote Source

1. God's love and favor depend on my behavior.

2. When tragedy strikes, true believers should have a real peace about it.

3. If you have real faith, God will heal you or someone for whom you are praying.

4. All ministers are men and women of God and can be trusted.

5. Material blessings are a sign of spiritual strength.

6. The more money you give to God, the more money He will give to you.

7. I can work my way to Heaven.

8. Problems in your life result from some particular sin.

9. I must not stop meeting other people's needs.

10. I must always submit to authority.

11. God uses only spiritual giants.

12. Having faith in God means waiting for God to help me and do nothing else until He does.

13. If it's not in the Bible, it isn't relevant.

14. God will find me the perfect mate.

15. Everything that happens to me is good.

16. A strong faith will protect me from problems and pain.

17. God hates sinners, is angry with me and wants to punish me.

18. Christ was merely a great teacher.

19. God is too big to care about me.

20. More than anything else, God wants me to be happy.

21. You can become God.

From the book Faith That Hurts, Faith That Heals by Stephen Arterburn & Jack Felton (Thomas Nelson Publishers).