Member-only story

The Fundamentalist Christian Mindfuck, Part III

Coco Densmore
Deconstructing Christianity
4 min readJan 20, 2025
Photo by Francesco Alberti on Unsplash

Before you proceed, please be aware this is a very difficult read about the effects of spiritual abuse and childhood sexual abuse.

I stumbled upon another documentary on spiritual abuse, “The Way Down: God, Greed, and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin” on Amazon Prime Video.

It’s sad that at this point, there’s nothing that can be said that is surprising. In fact, Gwen Shamblin is almost a saint amongst the other “Christian” leaders of megachurches guilty of serious spiritual abuse.

Am I becoming desensitized? Maybe. And maybe that’s a good thing. I’m educated, now. I know how this whole cult of Evangelical Christianity works. I don’t have to be shocked any longer. I don’t have to think it only happened to me, or that my pain is the only pain, or the worst pain.

The kind of abuse I’ve experienced has happened to millions of others. Millions. I was duped, but I am in very very very good company. I should have known better, but I didn’t. And that’s not on me. Millions of others have fallen for the same sham, the same promises, the same lies. I can take comfort in that. And I do. Actually. I do.

I’m not any less intelligent, nor any less susceptible; I’m just as human as anyone else. And I take great comfort in that. No more self-condemnation, no more self-blame. It wasn’t…

--

--

Deconstructing Christianity
Deconstructing Christianity

Published in Deconstructing Christianity

Christianity has taken over American culture. As a result, many people have been abused and manipulated by it. The writers of this publication want that to change, so they write articles deconstructing Christianity and all of the harmful beliefs behind it.

Coco Densmore
Coco Densmore

Written by Coco Densmore

Coco Densmore writes about Embracing Her Single, being HSV-2+, living with bipolar mental illness, and overcoming childhood sexual abuse. www.cocodensmore.com.

Responses (2)