This is a good series from Roberta Morrison. I’ve been reviewing it and getting a lot out of it that applies to relationships, even here on the WordPress blogosphere, where spiritual issues are concerned. I’ve had to examine my own life to try and understand why, at various times, I’ve had the misfortune to seem to be a magnet for dysfunctional, manipulative and controlling people. Most recently, within the last 3 years, I’ve had 3 people who’ve tried to latch onto me, and begin trying to take over my time…and life in a most aggressive way. I’ve been one of those people who try to be nice to people and as the word says, to try and be at peace as much as is possible, letting love cover all sins. But sometimes, boundaries have to be set. even if it offends the other person, like it or not. As a Christian, I believe the issues that pertain to our personal lives, most certainly navigate over into our spiritual lives, if we are not very careful. We’re all learning….there is no one that can say they are a finished product spiritually. So, what I’m trying to convey here is going to be more than just a cautionary tale, but addressing real problems with manipulative, controlling people, and especially those claiming to be Christians who may be approaching us from such a spirit, through our blogs and other social media, even emails. For example, I’ve had several who’ve come onto my blog, at first appearing to be very encouraging and supporting, expressing their “love” for me, and then gradually, becoming more controlling and aggressive to the point where I began feeling oppressed, and that they wanted to control or have a say in what I posted…..or apparently, even what I thought, and/or believed. And that everything I posted had to be filtered through them, according to their doctrines, and the stuff on their own blogs and websites. Yes, astonishingly, I was being bombarded with “teaching links” from their blogs, that were being sent to me, and also posted on my blog in the comment section; some of them quite lengthy. Even though I didn’t follow through with reading all this stuff, just doing damage control in trying to deal with this was taking up too much of my time…time which I needed for other important things…like prayer, study, and even my family! Apparently, they felt they were the sole arbiters of truth and that I needed their advice on just about everything and that I should be “admonished” by them.
The saying goes, and I believe it, that manipulation is as witchcraft. If someone comes to you, that you don’t really know, telling you they “feel led” to tell you to do this or that…BEWARE! You don’t know that God told them to do that and nine times out of ten…He didn’t! These types of CINO “Christians” in name only, are spiritual vampires…I don’t care how much scripture they have in their arsenal; it’s their motives I’m looking at, and when a so-called Christian becomes overbearing and doesn’t recognize or observe appropriate boundaries with us, we need to set those boundaries for our own preservation and spiritual safety. The bible says, “Work out your own salvation”…not someone elses!
Spiritual Abuse Sanctuary 