Thoughts from Rebecca Davis - Untwisting the Scriptures

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[Huldah]

Rebecca Davis is the author of the "Untwisting the Scriptures" series of books, and she has also spent a great deal of time working with the victims of spiritual, domestic, and sexual abuse. She recently posted this helpful thought on her Facebook page and on her blog at https://heresthejoy.com/2022/11/the-epiphany-that-changed-my-life/:

All spiritually abusive teachings boil down to two points:

- Obey your earthly "authority."
- The trouble you experience is always the result of your own sin.

Full recovery from spiritual abuse comes when you deeply experience two truths:

- God is good.
- All your righteousness is to be found in God alone.

I hope her insights will be of help to others on this forum.

[Janet Easson Martin]

Thank you so much, Huldah, for drawing our attention to Rebecca Davis and her study in these three areas of abuse, especially spiritual abuse. I had seen her book, but hadn’t really read any of it yet. Reading the page you gave us the link to was quite interesting. I had a similar “epiphany” in 2014 when I began continuously and desperately relying upon ”all my righteousness is in Christ.” So did John Bunyan which I wrote about a couple of times in the Essential Affirmations Topic (I think). This present knowledge (of our righteousness in Him) and present faith or reliance on it propels us to walk with him. Like others have said, you almost can’t help but obey Him.

Rebecca’s Wall poster with key points she has observed were certainly a pattern in GCx. I especially agree with full recovery happens when you really rest (by faith moment by moment) in “All your righteousness is to be found in Him alone.”

So glad you pointed out her blogsite and her ministry. Will be reading more of her stuff.

[Janet Easson Martin]

Wanted to see and hear Rebecca Davis “in person” so I watched the first half of her video, Untwisting “You Should Surrender Your Rights,” on her YouTube channel, Rebecca Davis Untwisting Scriptures. I love that she is not just spouting something off the top of her head, but is intelligently presenting her thought-provoking message or argument. She seems to search the scriptures and research her topic well. Of course her focus seems to be freeing those who have been suppressed, oppressed, and abused by educating them on the truth of scripture including the fullness of power, authority, and right standing in Christ according to Scriptures.

In watching this particular podcast I found myself somewhat fascinated in discovering new facets of the darkness we were under in GCx. The more I learn, the deeper that darkness seems to get. In specific, she highlighted the area of rights or controls of our lives. She founded much of her definition of “rights” from the root —meaning to say or do what is right; and looked at that word in scripture. Two points stood out to me. The first was the “right” to question things that are not right. The second was that rights are not to be surrendered to men, but to God.

I thought of the common scenario in GCx culture where something is taught from leadership that clearly is “off” (anti-scriptural or extra-scriptural though presented as biblically supported) and people privately approach the leadership questioning it. They are basically scorned for not respecting the “spiritual” authority of these men. In fact, they are often told they are rebellious to God. If they share their genuine concerns with others in the group which is their God-given right to be watchful and noble minded (to learn accurately the Bible and the character of God); they are met with a larger formal inquisition by the leaders and even shunned. This happened all because the members were practicing healthy, human and not to mention -biblical rights! This happened all because men who claimed to represent God did not say and do what was right.

I found at least the first half (~25 min) of this podcast to be insightful and pretty helpful. Haven’t watch the second half yet. Here’s the link:


Untwisting “You Should Surrender Your Rights” - Rebecca Davis Untwisting Scriptures

https://youtu.be/ndLqU9YNj5s