Wounded Sheep

"There was a rancher who owned a lot of sheep, and shepherds were hired to watch over different flocks. Some flocks were larger, some were smaller, but all the sheep belonged ultimately to the rancher, not the individual shepherd in charge of them.

Some of the shepherds were doing their job well and faithfully. The sheep were well cared for, and the shepherds had the exhaustion and bags under their eyes to prove it. Other shepherds however were not. Some beat the sheep under their care. Some didn't feed them properly. Others overfed them but then didn't exercise them. Some were abused in other ways, or poisoned because the shepherd didn't seem to know the difference between good feed and bad. Some shepherds were fleecing the sheep far too often, and as such they were sick and ill prepared for the winter.

As a result, some sheep broke from their flocks and stalls and ran for the hills, terrified of the shepherds put over them. Out in the hills, some of them were able to survive on their own and were doing okay for the most part. Others however got into poisonous plants. Some couldn't traverse the terrain and were injured, many of them quite seriously. Others ate themselves over cliffs, as sheep are quite capable of doing.

And as I saw this in my head, I could sense the concern the Rancher had for his sheep which had fled. I could also sense the anger which he had towards the shepherds in question, to whom He had entrusted His livestock."

This is probably one of the hardest forms of abuse to talk about for any Christian because we are conditioned from the beginning to submit to those in spiritual authority over us. They are supposed to have the answers and are supposed to guide us into a closer relationship with the Lord.

When we join a church or a Christian organization, we put ourselves into the vulnerable position of obedience to that church, and that church's leadership's authority over us because that is what we are taught to do by Holy Scripture and by common universal tradition within the church. And any dissent from the teaching of that church leadership, or accusation against that church leadership is almost automatically seen and dealt with as heresy and divisiveness.

We are taught that we need the communion, fellowship, and ordinances or Sacraments of that church (and sometimes only that church), in order to remain right with God.

This kind of abuse happens when this is used as leverage by the church leadership and other members of the congregation to extort money, favors, position, agreement with their decisions no matter how hurtful they may be, etc. from a church member. They are threatened with excommunication, shaming, and loss of friends and even family if they don't comply.

Another kind of abuse also happens when a church leader simply puts his own interests above the interests of those in his congregation who need his counsel, support, and guidance. This is the abuse of pastoral neglect.

In the same way, and using much the same leverage, pastors, priests, and other church leaders can also experience the same kind of abuse at the hands of their own pastoral superiors, or in the case of more democratic churches, at the hands of their own congregations.

The victims of this abuse are made to feel like they're the ones doing something wrong. They're the heretics. They're the ones causing the problem. They're too needy. They need to suck it up and get a life.

What can be worse is those within the church who haven't gone through it and who don't understand.

This isn't Jesus. But all too often, because people begin to associate their church leaders with Jesus, they react to Him as though He is the one abusing or neglecting them when nothing could be farther from the truth.

God is not the abuser, he is the one who heals, comforts, and loves His sheep. This is the first distinction which must be made clear so that, in fleeing the abusive shepherds, we don't run from our owner.