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It’s about 15 minutes before the new year on the West coast and here they are –
The 10 most clicked on links from 2014. Starting with #10:
Some within popular leaders in the homeschooling community continued to defend Doug Phillips and even put blame on the victim.
‘Last week, I received an e-mail from “Lauren,” a victim of domestic violence, “Christian Domestic Discipline” or “wife spanking”’
#8 Lourdes Torres-Manteufel vs Doug Phillips Lawsuit Informational Resource Page
Spiritual Sounding Board had a considerable amount of coverage on the Doug Phillips sex abuse story with accounts from people closely connected with Doug Phillips/Vision Forum.
Harvest Bible Chapel’s former long-time elder Dave Corning releases public letter to expose Pastor James MacDonald of abuse of power, lack of accountability, and personal financial gain.
#6 Wife Undermines Her Husband’s Authority in Front of Children, He Disciplines Her
Husband beats wife with paddle for disrespecting him and not addressing him as “sir” in front of their kids.
#5 Lourdes Torres, Alleged Victim in the Doug Phillips (Vision Forum) Sex Abuse Scandals Files Lawsuit
#4 Six Homeschool Brothers Arrested for Alleged Sex Abuse against Younger Sister
Six brothers from a large homeschool family were arrested for allegedly sexually violating their younger sister for 10 years. Parents, John and Nita Jackson, were also charged for failing to report. Two of the brothers were members of Scott Brown’s (NCFIC) Hope Bible Church.
#3 Bill Gothard’s New Program/Ministry: Total Success Power Teams
Bill Gothard began a new program after stepping down from IBLP without any oversight and without making things right with his victims.
#2 The Christian Patriarchy Movement’s Dark Secret of Wife Spanking
As Doug Phillips and his Vision Forum ministry is sinking, stories of abuse among Christian Patriarchy are surfacing: domestic violence, wife spanking, etc, among other well-known circles such as RC Sproul Jr., etc.
The popularity of this article was a surprise to me because there weren’t as many comments as other articles, but it shows was a celebrity Bob Coy was within the Calvary Chapel franchise of churches.
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A few notes about the top 10 articles of the year:
The #7 article regarding former Harvest Bible Chapel’s elder, Dave Corning, was written in 2013, but is still in the top 10 for most popular posts of 2014.
Three of the top 10 articles had to do with the Doug Phillips sex abuse scandal.
Three of the top 10 articles had to do with wife spanking “Christian Domestic Discipline” which really should be called domestic violence. Wife spanking continues to be the single most common keyword search for the blog. That makes me want to gag. The #2 post on Christian Patriarchy and wife spanking also had the most comments of the year – close to 700.
Three of the posts had to do with leaders with sexually immoral behavior among Christian pastors/leaders: Bob Coy, Bill Gothard, Doug Phillips.
The overall themes were: Patriarchy, domestic violence (wife spanking), sex abuse by Christian leaders, spiritual abuse by Christian leaders, sex abuse within homeschooling circles (Doug Phillips and six homeschool brothers story).
Although so many of these stories are horrific, it’s clear that word is getting out about abuse in the church. I suspect there will be more lawsuits against churches and pastors who fail to report sex abuse crimes.
I also hope that the social media attention on domestic violence “wife spanking” makes a big impact on this horrific crime that some are trying to claim is Biblical.
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Happy New Year! Thanks for joining me in giving victims a voice and encouraging survivors along their recovery journey.
photo credit: The Wandering Angel via photopin cc
Spiritual Sounding Board 
I’d like for them to point out the chapter and verse where the Scripture ordains a man to spank/beat his wife. I have yet to find it.
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waitingforthetrumpet2 Did you miss the chapter that says take scripture out of context and manipulate to suit yourself. It has to be there somewhere because so many church leaders do it. Maybe try ‘Google’ or even an old fashion concordance. You will probably find it between the lines in 1st Timothy or possibly Titus.
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Must have missed that commandment. I was foolishly led to believe in truth. 😉
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Happy New Year to Julie Anne, and to everyone here! May 2015 bring much healing and comfort to all of those who have suffered from abuse of any kind.
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Julie Anne, you’ve done a great job in 2014! Here’s to a good 2015!
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Hey Julie. Out of curiosity what sort of trends/stories do you think you’ll be covering in the new year that will be big stories? Any idea/hopes what they might be?
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That’s funny, Dustin. You’re in my draft post I’m working on right now 🙂
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Dustin, the post is up.
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