The article below, found here, discusses an individual’s experience in the aftermath of leaving a cult. Though I do not consider the Honor Academy a full blown cult, (updated June 2011 – I do now!) I think that many of these characteristics apply to interns as well. I reprint it here in its entirety: After […]
Life in the Aftermath of Teen Mania Read More »
Fulfilling Biblical “requirements” does not make you extra Christian (just ask the Pharisees). You can’t be a “better” Christian than someone else. You might acknowledge your own poverty more and allow the Lord in your life more – but even that is a result of God’s mercy and grace and grants you no license to
Being Extra Christian Read More »
In the anger stage we start placing blame. We might be angry with ourselves, angry with God, angry with other people, angry with Satan. Personally, I know that I have felt most angry with God over my experience. And not just once, but at many different times. While feeling angry is not sinful, we can
The Grieving Process: Anger Read More »
The stages of grief are not an exact science. We do not move neatly from one to another in progressive order. We often go back and forth and sometimes we even experience more than one at a time. Once again, it is important to interpret the stages loosely, and expect much individual variation. There is
The Grieving Process: Denial, Shock, Pain & Guilt Read More »
Another one of the greatest objections I hear from people about this blog is that I am allowing or encouraging people to be bitter and angry. Well, guess what? I am. Only through acknowledging what has happened to us can we truly heal. And acknowledging that should make you bitter and angry. You were lied
Why It’s Ok to Be Angry Read More »
One of the greatest objections to this blog is that I am not following the Bible’s prescription for confrontation as laid out in Matthew 18:5. “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone…” To address this important issue, I’d like to quote an extended passage from
The Myth of Matthew 18 Confrontation Read More »
Yesterday, I gave you links to some free books I’ve found helpful in my journey. Today, I’d like to whet your appetite by highlighting one of them. As I was reading it last week, I pulled some quotes that I thought fellow TM alumni might enjoy. – “That’s the worst part of religious thinking. It
So You Don’t Wanna Go to Church Anymore Read More »
Churches That Abuse by Ronald Enroth is a great book that I’ve referenced here before. It gives a rundown of abusive practices and characteristics to help you understand what you have experienced. He has also written Recovering From Churches That Abuse. Both of these titles are out of print but you can buy used copies
All These Books Are Free Read More »
For your weekend reading pleasure, here are some words of truth I’ve enjoyed this week: 1) “Our fundamental lack, is the lack of seeing the love of God” 2) “How could God love me when I doing nothing for Him?” If you don’t sense God’s love and acceptance when you do nothing . . .
I was an August intern, from the class of 2000. I was K-Crew, Breakfast Crew – and I LOVED Teen Mania. Don’t get me wrong – I still believe God brought me there. I had a deep peace that it was where I was supposed to be. And there were many good things He
Spiritual abuse can occur in many contexts and in many ways but the same threads run through it all. In the first chapter of the book, Soul Repair, spiritual abuse is described this way: Whenever we give others the message that their relationship with God depends on something other than God’s love and grace –
Elements of Spiritual Abuse Read More »
If you need help leaving the Honor Academy, please get in contact with me. It doesn’t matter if you are quitting or being dismissed. If you need a place to stay, someone to pick you up, or just a couch to crash on for the weekend while you think things through – I have sympathetic
Leaving the Honor Academy Read More »
I recently came across this great interview with Jeff VanVonderen, author of “The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse.” Towards the end of the interview, he discusses the recovery process. I’ve found this example to be very true in my life. This especially applies to those who have experienced rejection or disapproval from the HA staff
Why Recovery is So Hard Read More »
We did this new L.T.E. (Life Transforming Event) called “World Awareness.” They didn’t tell us what was going on and it wasn’t optional. It was said to be called “The Movie LTE” we were going to watch movies about persecution and talk about it. We went in for our first movie then all the
Erin’s Story, Part 2 Read More »
Even though I abandoned many of the things I learned at Teen Mania, like many of you I still lived under guilt and condemnation. Even years after leaving the Honor Academy, the thought of Dave’s disapproval still hurt and hung heavy over me. Getting over his opinion of me was one of the greatest days
Just came across this great article by Darrin Hufford about grace called “A License to Sin.” The number one complaint I get about the grace message from people is that they feel it’s giving us a license to sin. I am certain I’ve heard this accusation no less than a million times in the last
Going through therapy with a professional counselor was the best thing I could have done after leaving Teen Mania. I highly recommend it if you are struggling through these same issues. The next milestone in my recovery, was about 3 years ago. I was driving across town listening to the radio. Just another ordinary day.
Even though I was learning that the “dark night of the soul” was a common experience, it was still not pleasant to go through. I was making progress in recovery for sure, but still suffering under extreme guilt and condemnation. For the next 2-3 years, I went through varying levels of depression and confusion. As
Now, it is a very curious thing that even though I left the internship, and even though it almost killed me, I still held rigidly to what I had been taught there. After all, there were times that I had heard God speak to me and I had grown closer to Him. I did not
“I, too, was there the same year as Recovering Alumni. I think it was kind of a transition year…some of the old-timey crazy was still in full-effect, and some of the NEW! IMPROVED! CRAZY hadn’t yet been implemented. (examples: We still had to build the Quonset huts and do lots of other (extra) manual labor
This quote has really been a blessing to me this week: (2021 Update: link now points to Wayback Machine) Sanctification is never advanced by self-focused grief or guilt. It is energized by joy and driven by love. This is the distinction that gospelized sanctification emphasizes. Only a remembrance of the gospel will free us from our
hi there, I’m an HA alumni that graduated august of 08. my name is Jeff and i would like to share one particular incident that happened while i was there. if you’d like to publish this, be my guest. I want to start out by clarifying that the HA isn’t all bad, i did get
Jared Wilson at the Gospel Driven Church has done some excellent writing on the nature of the Gospel and the Christ-less Christianity that inhabits much of our consciousness. He consistently takes apart our desire to “do” good works and “be” good Christians vs. what God has done for us in Christ. “Do” isn’t any less
One of my favorite bloggers, the Internet Monk, has often opened my eyes to the Gospel truth and helped me untangle the burdens of a tormented conscience. No other blogger has helped in my recovery more. Satan revels in torment of the conscience. The Spirit exposes our need of Christ. The accuser comes up with various
Torment of the Conscience Read More »
“My hope is not in my moral progression but the cross of Jesus Christ alone.” – Matt Chandler 1 comments: Anonymous said… When we seek to be perfect according to man’s standards we have missed the mark. Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love for it sums up the law and the prophets.
