I grew up in the church-cult from Let Us Prey; here’s why abuse runs rampant in the IFB
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Let Us Prey: A Ministry of Scandal was released just a few days ago, exposing decades of coverup and abuse in the Independent Fundamental Baptist movement. If you haven’t watched it, understand that it’s gritty, raw and tear jerking. For many, it will be shocking.
For me, it wasn’t.
I grew up IFB. Many of the pastors exposed in the documentary, like Lester Roloff and Jack Hyles, were praised and platformed at the small country church I attended. Roloff, who ran many abusive boarding schools for rebellious IFB children, was a personal hero of mine. As a young teenager, I wanted to name my firstborn son after him. When I first started finding out about the abuse in the IFB movement, I thought it was isolated incidents and didn’t want to believe it.
Then it happened to me.
I sobbed watching Let Us Prey, memories of my own abuser haunting me. He fit the typical profile for an IFB predator: a leader in church ministry, much older than his victims and a groomer who had been playing the long game — for years. And sadly, his abuse was covered up by the church while I was forced to leave.
Why is abuse such a big problem in the IFB movement? Let’s go through a few of their core teachings that lend themselves to abuse. While not all these are found at every church, at least some of these teachings are present in most IFB churches. Keep in mind that IFB churches are “independent” and some of their churches are anomalies.
Content retrieved from: https://baptistnews.com/article/i-grew-up-in-the-church-cult-from-let-us-prey-heres-why-abuse-runs-rampant-in-the-ifb/.
