Abused God

Looking at the experience of Holocaust survivors and of survivors of child abuse, this work asks disturbing questions why God permits victimization of the innocent.

This is an incredible book! The reader will understand the subject of spiritual abuse among Brazilian religious leaders, around the greater Boston area and how to respond to it in appropriate ways. There are powerful facts behind this book. It projects a powerful voice of passion and conviction. This book offers critical evidence that a significant number of Brazilian leaders have become dysfunctional and abusive. In this context, Rev. Dr. Pinto-Moura reports that the World Revival Church (hereafter WRC) is an example of a dysfunctional culture producing codependence. They seem to continually strive with combined elements of unbalanced and unorthodox doctrines, controversial government, disciplinary problems, irresponsible leadership - which result in explosive turmoil, division, wounded and confused sheep, and a derogatory reputation in their community. There are scores of people who have been deeply wounded by their experience with WRC. Religious addiction is identified and attacked as a part of this problem. It has been enormously traumatic. This book exposes this complex issue balancing facts with compassion. Developing a healing approach is needed. This supportive data is the result of scholarly studies and truths from the Bible. It substantiates a biblical response to the challenge to bring spiritual health to the Brazilian churches in the U.S. This book addresses healing strategies and explores possible solutions to the demoralizing problem of spiritual abuse. This book is revolutionary, prophetic and apostolic! The healing guidelines can be applied to any ministry and person experiencing the pain of leadership abuse. Rev. Dr. Regina Pinto-Moura is married with Apostle Jota Moura. They lead the Shalom International Baptist Community. She is ordained by The American Baptist Churches in Massachusetts. She has her Masters in Counseling Psychology and Addiction from Cambridge College. Her Doctorate is from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary for her studies in Ministry in Complex Urban Settings.

She's seen slave dungeons in Ghana. Genocide in Rwanda. Systemic sexual abuse in Brazil. Child abuse and domestic violence in the US. After forty years of counseling abuse survivors around the world, Dr. Diane Langberg, a world renowned trauma expert, remains certain that what trauma destroys, Christ can and does restore. This book will convince you, too, of the healing heart of God. But it's not a fast process, instead much patience is required from family, friends, and counselors as they wisely and respectfully help victims unpack their traumatic suffering through talking, tears, and time. And it's not a process that can be separated from the work of God in both a counselor and counselee. Dr. Langberg calls all of those who wish to help sufferers to model Jesus's sacrificial love and care in how they listen, love, and guide. The heart of God is revealed to sufferers as they grow to understand the cross of Christ and how their God came to this earth and experienced such severe suffering that he too is "well-acquainted with grief." The cross of Christ is the lens that transforms and redeems traumatic suffering and its aftermath, not only for the sufferer, but it also transforms those who walk with the suffering. This book will be a great help to anyone who loves, listens to, and seeks to help someone impacted by trauma and abuse. There is no quick fix, but there is the hope for healing through the love of God in Christ.

Learn how God's grace can help you heal from emotional wounds and abuse in this spiritually uplifting guide to living a beautiful, healing, and fulfilling life. Many people seem to have it all together outwardly, but inside they are a wreck. Their past has broken, crushed, and wounded them inwardly. They can be healed. God has a plan, and Isaiah 61 reveals that the Lord came to heal the brokenhearted. He wants to heal victims of abuse and emotional wounding. Joyce Meyer is a victim of the physical, mental, emotional, and sexual abuse she suffered as a child. Yet today she has a nationwide ministry of emotional healing to others like herself. In Beauty for Ashes she outlines major truths that brought healing in her life and describes how other victims of abuse can also experience God's healing in their lives. You will learn: How to Deal with the Emotional Pain of Abuse How to Understand Your Responsibility to God for Overcoming Abuse Why Victims of Abuse Often Suffer from Other Addictive Behaviors How to Grab Hold of God's Unconditional Love The Importance of God's Timing in Working Through Painful Memories.

"Overcoming Abuse God's Way tells the beautiful story of redemption--how God's faithful love pursued the heart of a broken woman caught up in the grip of abuse, and how He tenderly set her free and raised her up to a new life. For every woman who is longing for love and acceptance in all the wrong places , this story will give you hope and practical resources to live in freedom and love as God's beloved daughter." Angela Thomas Best-Selling Author and Speaker "Janet Marie Napper offers the reader a compelling and heartrending account of a life--her life--impacted by abuse and the long, difficult, and painful journey toward hope and healing in its aftermath. Written for a general audience, the book calls us to see the despair, the denial, the desire to escape, and the eventual determination that is required to change the stranglehold of the past and to chart a new direction. Survivors and those who walk alongside them will find her story a powerful lens through which to see the cruelty of childhood abuse as well as its long term consequences." Nancy Nason-Clark, professor at the University of New Brunswick, Canada; author of numerous books and articles, including Beyond Abuse in the Christian Home and Refuge from Abuse: Healing and Hope for Abused Christian Women. After reading this book, I would like other teenagers to read it. It shows us how not to make wrong decisions in boys so we don't make mistakes and get hurt. This book shows you what to look for and not get tricked into being abused by boys and men... Desi Raine Age 13

"God hates divorce!" Christian wives frequently hear this first part of Malachi 2:16 as though the institution of marriage trumps the lives wrapped up in it. Rarely quoted is the second part of the verse, which says, "along with the one who conceals his violence by outward appearances." Christian wives often think they must choose between two grim options: endure abuse or face condemnation by God for not obeying the Bible. As a result, guilt, despair, internal conflict and heartache cloak every moment as they cling to survival, trying to please both God and their husband. The future looks hopeless, and their identity and value obscured. Children grow up as secondary victims of domestic abuse, desensitized to God's ways and primed to continue the cycle of abuse as adults. Drawing from her own experience married to a dangerously abusive "Christian" man, Robin explores the common reluctance of Christian wives to leave their marriage. After fleeing her own marriage, Robin suffered from guilt and confusion as to whether God approved of her actions or not, and if she could divorce. After months of Bible study and reading the works of respected theologians and Christian leaders on the topic, she realized that in leaving her abusive marriage she had actually come into alignment with God's will. Robin understands the mentality and nature of abuse that drives these spiritually destructive marriages. She draws from a deep well of biblical insight and practical experience to give wives the tools necessary to be set free and live a life of hope, clarity and faith. God Hates Abuse is a biblically liberating and refreshing resource for Christian wives. It offers a lifeline out of the darkness of abuse and spiritual condemnation. Victims of spousal abuse will find this book validating, encouraging and healing, regardless if they are bound by their abuser or by errant teaching from the church.

Grappling with theological issues raised by abuse, this book argues that the Church should be challenged, and ministered to, by survivors. Paying careful attention to her interviews with Christian women survivors, Shooter finds that through painful experiences of transformation they have surprisingly become potential agents of transformation for others. Shooter brings the survivors' narratives into dialogue with the story of Job and with medieval mystic Marguerite Porete's spirituality of 'annihilation'. Culminating in an engagement with contemporary feminist theology concerning power and powerlessness, there emerges a set of principles for authentic community spirituality which crosses boundaries with God, supports appropriate human boundaries and, crucially, listens attentively. Appealing to Church leaders, students, practitioners and practical theologians, this book offers a creative and ethical theological enquiry as well as some spiritual anchor points for survivors.

Why yet another book about forgiveness? Abundant literature, written from Christian and other spiritual perspectives, is available specifying why forgiving those who offend us results in such improved physical, mental/emotional, and spiritual health. What makes this book unique, however, is that it deals strictly with survivors of child abuse and the profound ways that they are affected for life without some type of intervention. Learning to forgive, healing from abuse, and trusting/finding intimacy with Father God are three processes that are difficult, if not impossible, for most survivors of child abuse to experience. The power inherent in forgiveness contributes enormously to healing for deep wounds and the realization of true intimacy with the One we are privileged to call Abba, Father. Many survivors' highly personal, deeply sensitive, and incredibly dramatic accounts of abuse suffered, their choices to forgive, their experiences of deep healing, and ultimately the fulfillment of lifelong desires for closeness with God are documented in Forgiving Others and Trusting God . . . Handbook for Survivors of Child Abuse. You will find these accounts both inspirational and unforgettable! Even if you never were victimized as a child, you will gain plenty of hands-on, practical tools to assist in your own journey from overcoming any emotional or spiritual obstacles and hindrances to forgiving others and trusting God. J. E. Norris-Bernal, M.S., was a Marriage and Family Therapist for over 20 years and an active member of the American Association of Christian Counselors. Ms. Norris-Bernal is currently a college professor teaching English and Psychology courses. She is also a Christian life coach for local and long-distance clientele. Prior to her work as a mental health professional, Ms. Norris-Bernal was a professional editor for 10 years. She resides in Arizona with her husband, and they have three adult children living in Southern California.