What is Abuse

This Month I will be writing about different facts and statistics of emotional, physical, spiritul, and sexual abuse. 

• Abuse of any type occurs when someone has power over another and uses that power to hurt them.
• Physical abuse means that someone exercises physical power over another, causing physical wounds.
• Sexual abuse means that someone exercises sexual power over another, resulting in sexual wounds.
• And spiritual abuse happens when a leader with spiritual authority uses that authority to coerce, control, or exploit a follower, thus causing spiritual wounds.
• Spiritual abuse also happens the minute a child is abused. At that time the spirit of the child has been assassinated. 

49 Ken Blue, Healing Spiritual Abuse: How to Break Free from Bad Church Experiences (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), p. 559, retrieved from http://dallascult. com/?page_id=559/.

• Sexual abuse as outlined in Penal Code Section 11165 is defined as penetration or external touching of a child's intimate parts, oral sex with a child, indecent exposure, using a child for prostitution, the manufacturing of child pornography, or any other sexual act performed in a child's presence for sexual gratification.
• Child sexual abuse also includes the willful failure of a parent or caretaker to make reasonable efforts to stop child sexual abuse by another person.
• “Any touch or other behavior between the child and the adult that must be kept a secret will be considered abuse."

•    -Judith Lewis Herman- 

---