I did it! (Not God.) #exfundie #religoustrauma

DJ KHALED - I DID IT (Lyrics) ft. Post Malone, Megan Thee Stallion, Lil Baby & DaBaby

Stayed down 'til I came up
I did it, I did it, I did it
Ten toes and never changed up
I did it, I did it, I did it
Got my hands in the air right now 'cause I always wanna be here right now
I did it, I did it, I did it, I did it (Ayy), I did it, I did it, I did it

First of all, I hold no ill-will towards anyone from which I knew while a practicing Christian, nor do I have anything against anyone having a religious belief of such.  If a belief in the unseen can enhance yourself, your life, and interactions for the better than there is no fault found.  My spiritual journey throughout my life has been varied, from a seeker in my younger years, to the wild fundie years, and finally to a place of serene acceptance that my path is truly my own, a belief in the unknown yet an appreciation for what is known, a true, lasting connection to both, with no need to outwardly prosyeltize or force others to conform.   That said, this entry focuses the toxic element of religious teachings attempts to control and manipulate scriptures to break one's will.  

As a fundie Christian, specifically in Calvary Chapel, I was taught that there was no good in me apart from Jesus Christ, who came to save me, cleanse me white as snow with his blood shed upon the cross.  Furthermore, that all that I ever did that was positive was of the work of God within me.  Anything I did on my own, out of sinful indulgences of which were varied such as the gluttony craving of over or under eating indulgence, an angry thought, to the sexual sin of premarital union, were not sanctified by God.  After such involvement, I needed to then confess to Jesus, get right with the Lord, in order to once again be on fire and filled with the spirit to do good works, led by, orchestrated, and fulfilled by God.  Furthermore, to God alone be the glory, any fulfillment or gratitude towards me was to be humbly reflected back on to me.  Added to such, weekly I was told that the world had a vitriolic hatred for Jesus himself, Jesus in me, thus regularly I digested the world's hatred of me, for no specific cause or action.

Thus, entering Christian religion with an already shaky sense of self worth, I was an easy target. With a smiling warm welcome they proclaim there is no condemnation or legalism, yet indeed there is but couched in the manipulation of wording and conditional love.  Leaving the church, I was more a shell of a soul since entering, with little to no regard for anything that I could do or achieve in the world.  Even after leaving and slowly attempting to make my way through the world, I still tried to maintain  a connection to a higher power through the main organized religion of the USA, hoping to look past the toxic to find the good once more.  In marriage and without, I struggled always on the brink of poverty and felt an almost inward duty to maintain that suffering with gratitude for what Jesus will work through me.  Anything I  did to survive in this early shaky years of deconstruction, from finding financial assistance to food assistance, was done with the reasoning that God provided, no effort of my own was inwardly celebrated.

A few years later, separated, then divorced from my abusive husband, deconstruction fully in process, I still felt unworthy of successful thriving and such was trapped in the continuous struggle of survival and poverty mindset.  My life was in a constant state of imbalance and lack mindset.  With every project I completed in financial lack and without a budget of any sort, I never stopped to praise myself and fully receive such without a caveat.  Never did I take the time to rest and fully appreciate what had been done.  Until now.

I planned each charted course
Each careful step along the byway
And more, much more than this
I did it my way

Frank Sinatra, My Way, With Lyrics

In 2019, I experienced what was the beginning of the cleanse.  At my most extreme suffering of lack while clinging to a one day vision of prosperity, those relations in my life that I once viewed with a sense of duty and with hopes of good, one by one began to exit out of my life.  Whether from a wellspring of strength within myself yet unknown I placed a boundary or from choices of their own, I found myself suddenly without what I once felt was lasting.  Upon entering the great Covid lockdown of 2020, I found the opportunity to be still, at last, time to process, to heal, to reset.  Actively, I made the decision to continue working and reach my financial goals despite the difficulties of the world shutting down.  Through this as well the daily determination to heal, I began to realize with pride all that I had accomplished in years previous instilling in me a new desire of continuance.  Slowly, I began to discover the beauty of creating art for art's sake, for the healing of the soul, and thus the pathway of truly thriving was open to me.  Through the steadfast work and focus, I began to climb out of poverty to lower middle class, worked to reduce my debt, raise my credit score, and continuously reach my short and long term intentions.  Furthermore, without the toxic element of a not healthy relation, I was made aware of the positive forces of love about me, a steadfast loyalty of a long-held friend to those only newly arrived, I could finally recognize authentic love for me.  Their love coming from without helped me find the belief that I was worthy of love from others and, most importantly, from myself.  

Today, I no longer view myself through the lens of lack, the Christian context of an evil heart I relinquish, and now fully I recognize my worth, my ability to achieve, accomplish, and make happen step by step.  Not God, but myself realized.  

I did it! Not God. 

Yo! Adrian I Did It!

 

For A Friend Becoming #Fundie

 

The Cult We Grew Up In - Calvary Chapel w/ Musician GayFesh

I have shared often through this blog as well on other facets of social media and in my personal life about my past experience involved with what I believe to be a fundamentalist church (cult-lite), Calvary Chapel, how and why I left, and the ways I found myself deconstructing from the effects of spiritual abuse and manipulation.  When I left in 2010, (See: https://artistthriving.blogspot.com/2016/08/on-day-i-left-calvary-chapel.html), I had a lot of pain and anger to sift through, waylaid by my falling headfirst into another disastrous toxic relationship with my now ex-husband, followed by years of toxic friendships to disentangle, but within all of that timeframe, after 6 years of being 'out and away' from the clutching control of Calvary Chapel, I felt my mind becoming fully free.  No longer did I fear the condemnation if I was not attending regularly the multitude of weekly services of Calvary, studying the Bible, the word as they refer to it, based on their teachings, and maintaining an identity that confirms to their will.  Even so much as my morning quiet time, devotionals as its called, if I had failed to do such, even after 6 years of leaving, if something occurred wrong, something as simple as a car break-down, would at one point derail me into fears of what I should have done to prevent.  

I recall the day of an actual car breakdown, the moment I finally felt free from the clutches.  It was another bad experience with the PT Cruiser, which I now unlovingly refer to as a "Piece Of Crapper", and upon returning after a dog walk and trying to start, it would not.  Anger at first at the once again of a regularly repeated occurrence, then the heart sinking feeling of the prescribed fear base teachings whispering "if only you had been obedient" came rushing upwards.  But, this time, at that particular moment, reason took over brought in by the love of other former fundie friends whose laughter had brought healing and the lack of not being a part of the control for then 6 years made it also possible, to fully and finally achieve grace.  Looking down in the car console, I saw my friend's toy sonic screwdriver left there from a few days ago filming.  Happily, I picked it up and gleefully sat playing with it while waiting for the tow truck.  On that moment, I was fully and finally free from the fundamentalist toxic control of Calvary Chapel.

As the days and years progressed, there were other avenues and connections of abuse to disentangle and heal, but my religious abuse was relieved.  No longer did I feel the anger, the heart-break, the need to rescue those still involved.  Instead, I felt the warmth of gratitude for their season in my life and the overall experience, both positive and negative, it taught me in my soul's evolution.  No longer do I feel the need to comment to correct or am triggered by something they post that no longer aligns with my socio-political or spiritual beliefs.  If I feel the need to address something, I reach out to them privately.  I no longer feel the need to 'save the saved from being saved'.  

In my spirituality now, as born-again wiccan (I lightly practiced such in high school and college) and agnostic, I no longer feel this pressing need to convert anyone to any ways of my personal thought or belief (unless it pertains to Night Court being the best TV show ever, obviously I am compelled to do that).  

All that to say, recently a sweet friend started posting about her conversion experience to Christianity.  In her early twenties, this dear friend found her way into the confines of a local Calvary Chapel in recent years, seems to become heavily to lightly to then heavily involved, seemingly based around personal life troubles and adjustments.  Her story and connection to Calvary Chapel is all too familiar to mine.  Like her, I discovered Calvary Chapel's brand of Christianity in my early twenties when a boyfriend dragged me to church, the same boyfriend who was emotionally abusive and controlling, during the early days of my mental illness breakdown.  Similarly, my friend has shared with me and others her struggles with a very toxic and abusive familial upbringing.  I relate hard to this and can fully understand how on the surface, of which I, too, experienced in the early days of my Calvary life, seem in direct opposition to that of the abusive.  

But, that which will eventually become an abuser does not first come out as abusive, rather, there are tactics that are taken to instigate and ensnare, the first being that of 'love-bombing'.  What seemingly feels as authentic friendship and positive attention, and sometimes is, takes on a sinister meaning when the reasoning behind is to eventually control.  Now, I must admit that there were for me connections within Calvary that were positive, and most likely for my friend, however, there was and is an element that the purposes for overwhelming positive attention falls into a area increasingly more toxic.  Coming from a shaky place of instability of emotion, trauma in early life and mental illness, makes one more susceptible to anything that appears, at least, on the surface to be an antithesis of that.

All this to say, I cannot openly and directly share this with my friend or anyone else involved with Calvary or another high control religious organization, nor do I desire to spend my time trying to convince, for it will fall on deaf ears and be meant with an offense.  Furthermore, I hold no anger towards belief in any form of spirituality.  Rather, everyone has their path to lead in life, their journey to take, for the reasons based on the circumstances and lessons to be learned.  Furthermore, in the early stages of the love-bombing within any toxic relationship, the abused will not have the ability to see the flaws, the cracks, the disturbances that will eventually lead to despair.  

But, for my friend as well as others involved, I can continue to be present when needed as a friend, to offer a listening ear sans judgment, advice if wanted.  I can show that authenticity of love and friendship does exist outside of the confines of the church.  And, I can make myself available when and if this person needs to make the traumatic decision to break away, as I did, and hold space as they navigate the painful process of deconstruction.

7 Tips for Helping Someone Out of a Cult

I was groomed. (TW: Pastoral Abuse)

I was groomed.  By a pastor.  Specifically, a Calvary Chapel pastor. 

I knew you were trouble

Once upon a time, a few mistakes ago

I was in your sights, you got me alone

You found me, you found me, you found me

I guess you didn't care, and I guess I liked that

And when I fell hard you took a step back

Without me, without me, without me

And he's long gone when he's next to me

And I realize the blame is on me

And the saddest fear comes creeping in

That you never loved me or her, or anyone, or anything, yeah

So, I set out this week to write a blog about my dealings with imposter syndrome and I shall do thus in the very near future.  But, something else kept pressing hard on my heart, something which was brought into my clear focus after reading my friend, Amy Nordhues book, "Preyed Upon: Breaking Free From Therapist Abuse", which she details her account of being groomed, taken advantage of, controlled, and sexually molested by a spiritual elder and her therapist.  

Personally, as I read Amy's accounts of the tactics used by her therapist, I suddenly was brought close and personal with the truth that I had been chosen by a pastor in his attempts to groom me, control me, for his own pleasure.  Fortunately, I was able to release myself from under his sway in that it never went beyond the initial stages of manipulation and grooming, never became physical in any regard, but nevertheless the mind control tactics he utilized to silence and shame me have had longlasting effects.  Even now, as I sit in a place fully deconstructed from the fundamentalist worldview I fell prey to, it stings to admit to myself that I was a victim of pastoral abuse, and that a huge part of my religious trauma stems from that yet unexamined or healed from fully.  

Perhaps because it never went beyond the initial 'flirting' and special treatment he placed upon me, perhaps out of my own guilt from behaviors I fell into while in the midst of my early recovery, perhaps ultimately it is because I have utmost respect and love for his family, it is an issue that I have yet to fully comprehend, admit and release.  

But it occured.  And, I have no evidence to accuse nor do I want to, ultimately I want to move on from my life further and further into healthier relationships where I find peace, trust, and am fully valued, not used.  But, there comes a time when that layer of pain needs to be peeled off, examined, understood, and healed.  Many would say that I need to be able to forgive him for his behaviors, but first I need to forgive myself and in so doing come to understand how I became fodder for his ploys.  

Many friends and acquaintances, even family members, that knew me during that time of life could point to my struggles with my mental health and actions of abuse that I perpetrated occured because of that as my fault alone and that this pastor was the caretaker who went above and beyond in assisting me towards health, longsuffering he seemed, while I was the abuser, he the victim of my manipulation.  In all honesty, I admit my wrongdoings and as long as I live will strive to live in a way that redeems and seeks forgiveness for those I have wronged, as sure as I continue to move myself forward.  As I continue in my healing journey in understanding and forgiving myself, I am fully able to release the anchors that weigh me down by past transgressions and move forward into making a more positive life for myself and those around me.  

But, what I have come to realize is that all my life I have been traumatized by a variety of abusers and the more I realize this and separate myself from, the better my life becomes and the more I do not victimize or abuse others.  Furthermore, the grooming and specialness this pastor poured upon started before ever I attributed signs of extreme mental illness.  Rather, when he met me, he had yet to see any signs of dysfunction, even though I have experienced all of my life symptoms of bipolar mood disorder as well as have suffered life long with the effects of abuse.  But, as I had been so aptly taught, I was fairly decent at masking and hiding my darknesses, until extreme stress brought the struggles to the forefront.  

It is important for me to note that of the four pastors I had a friendship with of the three Calvary Chapels I once called home, only one victimized me in this regard.  It is of extreme import that I impress that the manipulative tactics of this said pastor was ramped up during my early days of diagnosis, coming to my aid as prayer warrior, counselor, spiritual advisor, attempts to enable my reliance on him, through special allowances at times, as well as isolation from others, and as I derailed further into madness seemingly he looking like the victim aligning himself with others' in the church family who actually were, while still stirring my emotional pot to victimize me separately.  

He did what he did to isolate me from others.

Once again, I must confess and openly admit that I was wrong in my behaviors, that at this point, I had suffered all of my life with emotional outbursts that had largely been either placated or, worse, ignored.  So, it was in this time, that due to these emotional outbursts and irregularities, they were finally called to the carpet, whereas due to them I lost my teaching job, close friendships, church family, and boyfriend, as should be the consequences for toxic behavior, mine own or of another.  

Yet, as I have mentioned above, my issues with anger and abuse were greatly magnetized by being the victim and abuse of another, however, that may be.  It was only when marrying my husband and realizing that I was quickly heading into battered wife syndrome, then separating and divorcing him, that I began to see how far back the abuse and types of abusers had plagued me throughout my life, causing such harm within and without, nearly causing me to become incompetent to survival yet alone to truly thrive.  

So, yes, he groomed me, out of his own desires.  It hurts to say, I want to believe he is good at heart and has the best intentions, a loyal husband to his wife and a pious individual intent on leading others to the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Perhaps part of him is such, but in the nuance of all people he is not alone in such.  Furthermore, Calvary Chapel, as well as other fundamentalist churches of its ilk, do not condone mental health healing, rather any irregularity is attached to sin, being out of God's will, the attacks of satan himself, and thus all of these matters should be dealt in the confines of the church and through christian counseling.  In addition, education beyond the simplest elementary training is looked down upon as satanic and a detraction from God's design for one's life.  Thus, further education is discouraged and for the most part pastors, spiritual leaders, or christians in general rarely seek higher education or they are home-schooled with material that suits the purposes of their worldview.  Then, a young man, at the tender age of 18, is told they are chosen by God, anointed by the most high, to lead a church of all ages, and all must submit to the authority of the senior pastor.  No matter the good intentions, most men without any formal training or critical thinking skills would fall prey to abuse of power, cult of personality, or, yes, sexual misconduct.  Pastors declare from the pulpit, "don't worship me, don't worship me, but worship God" to no avail.   In addition, the purity culture mindset is firmly rooted upon and all are encouraged not to commit any sexual act before marriage, resulting in short term 'courtships' and then marriages to those they do not fully know or may not be fully compatible.  Divorce, as well, is never an option. 

In addition, one of the main teachings within Calvary Chapel christianity as well as others is that the root of evil and sin was brought about by Eve's discretion and disobedience.  Thus, the woman is the cause and the stumbling block for men.  So much of that is reinforced in purity conferences where young girls and women are separated from men and lectured on how we need to dress to conceal in order not to cause the men of the church to detract.  A quick google or youtube search on "Calvary Chapel" and many articles and videos will emerge discussing this form of abuse of power from a variety of pastors.  In this regard, Calvary Chapel is not the only victimizer, the Catholic Church has also been found at fault, as well as other mainstream christian churches, and perhaps other faiths, have perpetrated this abuse.  Whenever a person is in a position of power and authority of another, there is probability that abuse can occur if the personality style and perhaps their own unhealed trauma abuse history is at play.  

I reacted to this stance by diving deeper into my life-long struggle with body dysmorphia and developing anorexia nervosa.  Perhaps, if I could lose my natural body features, become more child-like in frame, I would be less likely to cause a male church member to stumble.  After all, I was like Eve, a female, and, furthermore, was I also a Jezebel? 

So, yes, I was victimized and groomed by a Calvary Chapel pastor.  His name I will not state because I have no evidence, but I will admit the denomination.  This grooming and special treatment occured when he first met me, during my mental breakdown, and then the early stages of my recovery.  He isolated me from the church family, which was yes, needed, due to my abusive actions, but these actions were perpetrated by his intentions.  Once I was separated from them, he began to play 'serotonin games', or rather 'come alittle closer, no go away', whereas in private settings or even if we met at a cafe, he was all smiles and we had a close conversation, while other times when others were around, he would seem almost cold to me, telling me how he couldn't be my friend, I was becoming too involved with his life and needed to stop.  Yet, later on he would once again, reinforce the interaction by pulling me towards him.  

During a particular stressful time of my life and early recovery, after dealing with the loss of my favorite grandfather as well as breaking up with my boyfriend, and having not ever been able to feel any sort of intense 'negative' emotions all of my life, I came to the pastor who had groomed me to rely upon him solely, crying uncontrollably, he insisted that my tears were 'crocodile ploys of manipulation' (at times they were, but in this instance not), and later after heavy targetted prayers to reassure, encourage, and control, when I felt less weepy, and when walking out the door, I made a joke, he smiled sardonically, and said, "Lots of women I have ministered to have fallen in love with me'. *** Too shocked to say anything, I did not express, I was dumbfounded yet internalized that in wonders, was I in love with him? Yet, I kept coming back to the truth that I was not and after years of talking to other post fundies, of sharing this story, and deconstructing, I can attest this was a tactic of his to confuse and confound me, to get me to further need him, and once he got what he desired, if he ever did, to make it seem as if I was the Eve that had seduced.

***(Note: this pastor confided in myself and my boyfriend at the time that he had been molested by a youth counselor in junior high.  In addition, when I was attending a christian based 12 step recovery program, Celebrate Recovery, this pastor had also been going through a similar accountability group with one man at his church, however, he jokingly laughed at how he had stopped halfway through, sighting "bad at his recovery".  I strongly suspect it had something to do with not wanting to openly admit something that would not only lose him favor and sway over the parishner he was counseling but possibility cause him to lose his position and possibly face legal action.  However, that is strongly conjecture.  Furthermore, similar to that of, say, the Catholic church scandal, it is becoming increasingly widely known that many Calvary Chapels have dealt with a myriad of pastoral abuse regarding sexual mis-conduct whether with another adult or even towards a child.  All too often, like the Catholic Church, the pastor is quietly moved to another part of the country or world without explanation, as a form of cover-up.  The pastor that wounded me specifically had recently moved from serving first at one church, then moved to another, before moving to start his own church in another city.  The three cities weren't that far apart from each other and I do not want to convict of something I know not with certainty, but upon looking at my experience as well as reading other materials of predatory behavior from religious leaders, a deeper look into the reasoning for those moves might be warranted. )

For the majority of my life, I have looked for a warm father figure to make me feel whole, whether it be through the television show, Night Court, in the person of Harry Anderson, from my favorite high school teacher, Fernando Nugent (the strongest and warmest father figure I ever have had), or even from romantic partners.  Just a few years before attending this church and meeting this pastor, I had lost that favorite high school teacher and yet had not fully had grieved.  Thus, I was in search of another to fill that role and being a newly minted believer I could look no further than a strong spiritual leader as this pastor, who was also seemingly a strong and deeply committed family man.  That alone was what I was seeking and what I desired.  

As I write this, it pains me to admit that I was not alone in his desires or attentions in this regard, that there were most likely others before me, as he seemed to admit, and most likely have been others after me.  It both pains me to think that he could have gotten away with more in his attempts to groom, seduce, control but also there is some hold out on hope that whoever she or he is they could call him out and press charges.  For me, I cannot do such as I have no actual proof of any misconduct, it never went that far.  Even in my early stages of recovery, I was able to start breaking free from his grasp as I became increasingly aware of my own abilities discovering my own strength and was able to once again use my critical thinking skills to begin to see the flaws within Calvary Chapel, at first, being the emptiness and fakeness of the human interactions on a surface level.  This caused me to walk out the door one Sunday after church, not knowing at the time that I would never return, yet once done, the Pandora's Box was open and out came all that I was seemingly condoning or making allowances for, that is what you call deconstruction, my friends, and it is not an easy process, although so very necessary and freeing. 

Thus, my admitting of this pastor's abuse, seemingly mild, is one of the deepest faults to be revealed about Calvary Chapel.  Yet, at this moment, it is for my own benefit and healing that I admit.  In earlier years after initially leaving Calvary Chapel, I wondered why he was the first ever person I blocked on all my social media accounts, why I felt fear whenever I thought I could see him or did run into him, why I felt guilt where there was none even after I had worked through and absolved my own, but now I am realizing the reasons why and am proud of my younger self for taking those steps to break free, even though I didn't understand then.

No, I cannot call the cavalry to take down this Calvary pastor, however, I will share my story and work towards my own healing for my own good as well as the good of others who may have fallen prey to such type as pastoral or spiritual abuse, or who may be targetted in the future.  By bringing light to such offense in my own past, I can help to raise awareness as a whole and begin to help others in their healing, deconstruction, and to truly, break free.

Breakaway

Trying hard to reach out

But when I tried to speak out

Felt like no one could hear me

Wanted to belong here

But something felt so wrong here

So I prayed (I would pray)

I could breakaway

I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly

I'll do what it takes 'til I touch the sky

And I'll make a wish, take a chance, make a change

And breakaway

Out of the darkness and into the sun

But I won't forget all the ones that I love

I'll take a risk, take a chance, make a change

And breakaway

I used this article as reference when writing this blog entry: The Grooming Behavior of Pastoral Predators

 If you have experienced any form of this, feel free to contact me: cafegirlproductions@gmail.com