Savage Shepherds - Extracts From Second Edition

We're running to a second edition, and there's some interesting 'post publication' material. Here are some extracts:

EXTRACT ONE:
Savage Shepherds was first published in November 2006. In a reaction to a press release that had been shown to him by a member of the River of Life Fellowship, one of the elders rang me to say he wanted to see me. It was clear he was annoyed, for although I had changed names of people and places, even some dates and the minor details of some events to conceal identities, ours is a small town and I suspected that those involved in my story would easily recognize themselves and others.

I hadn’t spoken to the man more than twice or three times since I left his church fifteen years previously, and I was surprised that he had called, for I was sure he would adopt his default position, one of ‘dignified detachment’. I agreed to see him, but suggested that if it was Savage Shepherds he wanted to talk about it might be an idea to wait until he read it.

‘No, I want to talk to you about this press release,’ he said curtly, and that was that; so we agreed on a time and place.

The power of the manipulative mind can be rooted in the demonic, and so while the prospect of his visit held no fear for me, I felt unsettled in my spirit. There were times when I had been fascinated by this very man’s teaching on Jezebel, the scheming wife of King Ahab – and the ‘Spirit of Jezebel’ was a popular topic for discussion in the River of Life Fellowship, allegedly evident when a person uses cunning to get their way. The implication was that the only way to ‘get your way’ is by the exercise of legitimate authority; God’s delegated authority by a shepherd over his sheep.

It is perhaps one aspect of human relations that I tend to over-react to for some reason. There was one occasion when I said to Tom, ‘I will never ever allow myself to be manipulated, by anyone.’ And the strange thing is he replied by saying something like, ‘Mmmm, I’m not sure that it’s always wrong.’ I confess I’m still not sure what he meant…




EXTRACT TWO:
My wife and I prayed about Tom’s visit; we were both perturbed, especially during the couple of hours before he was due to arrive. How could we expect anything approaching a positive purpose? Even if I wanted to – and I didn’t – I could not un-publish the book that threatened such annoyance.

People were now starting to come out of the woodwork, and I was reminded – and I needed reminding because I had quite forgotten the trauma it could be to sit under ministry that teaches little of God’s unconditional love – that the man appeared to have no understanding of the priceless value of grace to those who struggle to please God by observing the law.

For example, an ex-elder in his church called me, having received a copy of the book direct from the publisher, and in conversation said, ‘If the secret gets out that the Christian life is all about grace and love and all that mushy stuff, then Tom and the likes of him are out of a job.’

And so my wife and I prayed that the meeting would be productive, that there would be no conflict, just humility and a desire for reconciliation, maturity and a sense of moving on. But still I was troubled, and I decided not to be drawn into a blow by blow analysis of the book. ‘He’s good at controlling a conversation by confusion,’ said another. ‘If you get involved in justifying yourself, or explaining your conclusions in detail, you’ll end up going round in circles.’

Another ex-member who had once been relatively close to Tom advised that I create a six-foot bubble around myself, ‘Don’t let him get in.’

In due course he arrived and after initial pleasantries I cut to the chase by saying that I was intrigued as to why after all these years, he was prompted to visit me now.

However, I began as I’ve done a hundred times when discussing the book, by saying that while Savage Shepherds is based on my real experience in a real church, the River of Life Fellowship, it is principally about spiritual abuse, a phenomenon that has always been with us. And while I sincerely regret any ‘collateral damage’, spiritual abuse must be exposed, for it can only flourish in the shadows. I reminded him that Ezekiel addressed it two thousand seven hundred years ago, and Jesus warned his listeners against it, as recorded in Matthew chapter 23.

But Tom brushed my comments aside – and I could sense his ‘How dare you lecture me’ attitude…



EXTRACT THREE:
Since Savage Shepherds was published I have encountered a small number of people who remain supportive of the shepherding movement and who have been extremely vocal in their attempts to rubbish Savage Shepherds. By seizing on this single ‘factual inaccuracy’ perhaps Tom hoped he could discredit the book as being ‘based on a flawed premise’.

I apologised for the technical error. ‘But,’ I insisted, ‘changing the label did nothing to alter the way things were run. I was there from 1980 until 1991 and I saw no major changes. We still called the pastors “shepherds”, submission to a specific shepherd was still a condition of membership and we still had to tithe.

‘And in any case,’ I went on, ‘if there had been a fundamental shift in the way the church was run, there would have been a public apology, as Derek Prince and Bob Mumford had the wisdom and courage to do.’

But there never had been an apology from Tom despite his assertion that he’d be the first to put up his hand and say sorry, there had been no acknowledgement that pain had been inflicted, no appeal for forgiveness and no attempt to bring healing. True, a letter had been circulated at one stage – I was shown a copy although I never received one – but it was more of an explanation than an apology…




EXTRACT FOUR:
Tom had the bit between his teeth; ‘You must tell me specifically what it was that you had so much difficulty in forgiving me for.’ In the quietness of my mind I was sure I had to do no such thing, as far as I was concerned his bullying days were over. But I still wondered why he came to see me, for it was obvious that we were getting nowhere. The purpose of his call was not to demonstrate brotherly love, nor was it to apologise for the evils that had been inflicted on my family and me. No, it was all about Tom.

And I wasn’t expecting him to grovel, really I wasn’t. Closure wasn’t on my mind either, for with the revelation of God’s grace and unconditional love for his creation, I had long since shaken off the shackles of unforgiveness. Two things I had come to understand; God loves me totally, recklessly and unconditionally, and God loves the abusers totally, recklessly and unconditionally.
But we were beginning to generate more heat than light, and so I drew things to a conclusion. As politely as I could I said, ‘Tom, we’re getting nowhere here. There’s nothing more to talk about. This meeting is over, and I’d now like you to leave.’