You are viewing a back issue of Darkness to Light Christian email newsletter.

Subscribe to this newsletter to receive future issues. Click here to view additional back issues.

Darkness to Light - Vol. XIX, No. 1

Darkness to Light
Volume XIX, Number 1
2021

Presented by Darkness to Light Website
Director: Gary F. Zeolla

In This Issue

Newsletter News

30^th Anniversary of Darkness to Light

Book Review of Understanding Religious Abuse and Recovery

Most Misused Passage in the Bible

New on my Christian, Fitness, and Politics Websites

You are currently registered to receive the Darkness to Light newsletter. This newsletter is published every other month, usually during the first week of odd-numbered months. To unsubscribe, use the link at the bottom of this newsletter. To subscribe to my FitTips for One and All newsletter, click here. It is published every other month, usually during the first week of even-numbered months. Comments on these newsletters are welcome. Just respond to this email. See the posted Privacy Policy for details on the handling of emails and related details.

God’s Sex Plan: Volume Two: What the New Testament Teaches About Human Sexuality - Many issues are discussed in this book that are related to sex, including but not limited to: monogamy, marital sex, polygamy, incest, homo-sexuality, premarital sex (fornication), extramarital sex (adultery), celibacy, transsexualism, reproduction, infertility, contraception, abortion, sexual harassment and assault, masturbation, pornography, gender roles, and school and other mass shootings (yes, those are related to this topic).

Newsletter News

      This is the first issue of this Darkness to Light Christian newsletter that I have published this year (2021). That is because I have been busy at work on a series of four politics books, and I just did not have the time to stop and work on an article for this newsletter. But I have now finished the first two of these books, so before I finish up work on the third book, I wanted to get back to publishing this newsletter.

      In addition, this month (July 2021) marks the 30^th Anniversary of Darkness to Light ministry, and I wanted to mark the occasion with a newsletter. I also hope to get back to my regular schedule of publishing this newsletter every other month, the first week of odd-numbered months.

      However, possibly preventing that from happening is I am currently dealing with a Rotator Cuff Injury. For various reasons I explain in the preceding article, I have lost much work time due to this injury. That is another reason I have not published an issue of this newsletter this year until now. And if I have to have surgery, then most likely I will miss at least one more issue due to not being able to type for some time afterwards.

30^th Anniversary of Darkness to Light
By Gary F. Zeolla

      July 2021 marks the 30^th Anniversary of Darkness to Light Christian ministry. I have written articles for previous five-year anniversaries, starting with the 15^th Anniversary. These are listed and linked to on the Information About Darkness to Light and Its Director page, under “About this Ministry.” Here, I want to update what has happened since the Silver Anniversary article. But I will start by backing up to the beginning for just a bit.

Domain Changes

      I began Darkness to Light ministry in July 1991 with the publication of a hardcopy newsletter. In July 1996, I first set up a website for the ministry as a user’s site with my ISP. Then I moved it to its own domain of www.DTL.org a couple of years later.

      Since then, I have added three additional websites: my fitness website on July 12, 2003 (Fitness for One and All), my personal website on May 5, 2009 (Zeolla.org), and my politics website on January 1, 2017 (Biblical and Constitutional Politics).

      But then a couple of years ago I needed to add SSL security to my websites. That is indicated by the “s” after “http” in the URL of a website. It was needed, as Google was going to stop indexing sites without SSL. But it was very time-consuming to do so, as I needed to update the html code on every page of every site.

      It was also rather expensive, especially since there would be a separate charge for each domain. That is when I decided to combine all of my sites under one domain. I had been thinking of doing so for a while to make things less complicated, and now it made even more sense to do so in order to save the extra expense of paying for hosting more than one domain with SSL security.

      The domain for my personal website is www.Zeolla.org, so I moved the other three sites as subdomains under that domain. Consequently, the URL for Darkness to Light (DTL) is now www.Zeolla.org/Chrisitan. The URL for Fitness for One and All (FOA) is now https://www.Zeolla.org/Fitness, and the URL for Biblical and Constitutional Politics (BCP) is https://www.Zeolla.org/Politics.

      There are redirects for DTL and FOA from the old URLs to the new ones. These will remain in place for at least a couple of more years. The BCP website was originally set up as a subdomain under my personal website, so it did not need to be moved.

      I’m not sure of the exact number of webpages on each website. But my best guess is there are well over 1,500 pages on DTL, over 500 pages on FOA, about 150 pages on BCP, and a handful of pages on Zeolla.org. Altogether, there are probably 2,000-2,500 pages. That’s all in the past 25 years.

Newsletters

      I stopped the hardcopy newsletter in the late 1990s for health reasons. But then I began this email newsletter in 2003. I also began a newsletter for my fitness website at the same time. I have continued to publish both newsletters to this time. I didn’t bother to start a newsletter for my politics site, as for it, I post items regularly and announce them on social media. I also announce about new issues of the newsletters and anything else new on the other three sites on social media.

      A couple of years ago, I had to change the email service for the newsletters from Mail Chimp to Send in Blue. Mail Chimp changed their pricing structure, so that it was no longer viable for my limited circulation newsletters. Plus, it went woke, refusing to send out newsletters that it considered to be offensive. Not wanting to risk having my newsletters being so censured, I switched to Send in Blue, which has a better pricing structure and no such censure policy.

      Another difference is Mail Chimp included a link in my newsletters to back issues of the newsletter as stored on its system. Send in Blue has no such service. But no matter, as I of course had copies of all of the back issues for both my Christian and fitness newsletters. Therefore, I posted all of them of the respective websites.

      Back issues for this newsletter are listed and linked to at Back Issues of Darkness to Light Christian Newsletter. Once I post this issue, there will be 135 back issues available. The back issues of my FitTips for One and All newsletter are listed and linked to at: Back Issues of FitTips for One and All Newsletter. There are 136 back issues of it available, making a total of 271 issues I have sent out this century.

      Posting these back issues on my websites rather than them being hosted on my email service’s site worked out better, as this way, all of these back issues are readily available for visitors to either of the websites. In addition, a link to these pages is on the subscription pages for each of these newsletters. I include a link to that subscription page whenever I post about a new newsletter on social media, to which I now turn.

Social Media

      For many years, I have had an account on Facebook and Twitter. My handle on both is GZeolla. More recently, I began to participate on Gab and Parler as well, both with the same handle.

      I am sure the reader has heard of the first two of these sites, but you might not have heard of the other two. That is because they are newer sites that were developed by conservatives in reaction to the other two sites “shadow banning” conservatives.

      I might have been so shadow banned of late, though I am not sure. I just know there have been many times I have posted comments on Facebook or Twitter that I thought would bring a significant reaction, but nothing, no response whatsoever. But even if I haven’t already, I am sure to be so in the future, as those sites crack down on conservative speech. That is why I set up accounts on Parler and Gab, to be sure I have a place to voice my opinions. These sites promise not to censor people’s comments, beyond what is required by law.

      Note also, I rarely post to Twitter due to its 280-character limit. Even Parler has a 1,000-character limit, which I also find a bit restrictive. If the reader hasn’t figured it out by now, given the length of many of my articles and books, I’m not good at being concise in my writings. However, by being so exhaustive, I thoroughly cover every topic I address, including presupposing possible objections to my position with responses thereto. And if the reader peruses all of my writings on a given subject, you will be well-versed on the topic at hand.

      That said, on these social pages, I post about new items being posted on my four websites and whenever I send out a new issue of either of my newsletters. I also post personal updates, such as about my powerlifting.

      I also post links to articles from Trib Live, with comments thereupon. Trib Live is the website for three Pittsburgh, PA area newspapers, including my hometown newspaper. I read their website every day. Trib Live is left leaning in its perspective, so my comments are often critical of its coverage.

      But note, I ignore all replies to my comments that utilize “foul” or indecent language. That means, if you reply to one of my posts using such language, I will not even read your comments, let alone respond to them. I also will not respond to ad hominem attacks.

      Simply put, if you cannot respond to the substance of my post in a civil manner, without resorting to name-calling, personal attacks, or foul language, you will not get a response. And if my post is a link to one of my articles or books, then please read that item before responding. If you do not, I will just refer you back to it, and that will be that. And that mention of comments and my books leads to the next section.

Books

       In preparation for this 30^th anniversary of DTL, I gathered together all of my books to take pictures of me with them. More on that in a moment. But here, I will say, altogether, I have written a total of 40 books this century. That includes 30 Christian books, four fitness books, and six politics books.

      I’m not sure what the total page count would be, but figuring an average of 300 pages per book, that would be about 12,000 pages total. Add that to my up to 2,500 webpages and 271 newsletter issues, and that is a lot of writing.

      Through the years, I have received many positive comments about these writings. For instance, just this past week, I received two emails that are representative of many others I have received over the years.

      The first was an email from someone who had been inspired by my books on nutrition and the Bible, along with a scary diagnosis from his doctor, to lose 30 pounds via a change in diet in accordance with the recommendations in my books and by starting to exercise again for the first time in many years. He also said my prowess in powerlifting at my age (I’m 60) contributed to him deciding to change his lifestyle in order to enter a powerlifting contest himself someday.

      The other email was thanking me for my Bible versions book, saying it helped him work though that confusing issue. He said he would be recommending the book to others. Again, these two emails are indicative of many, many others I have reached over the years.

      Then there are the many reviews of my books on Amazon. Most all of them are positive, 4-5 stars, with most all of my books averaging 4-5 stars. Of course, not all of the comments or reviews have been positive. But the positive ones far outnumber the negative ones. And the negative ones are often based on a misunderstanding of the nature of the book, with the commenter or reviewing very obviously having not even read the book.

      I plan on following up this issue of this newsletter with an article in the next issue responding to these negative reviews of my Christian books on Amazon. I hope to write a similar article for my FitTips newsletter later this year responding to negative reviews of my fitness books on Amazon.

      But here, I want to say that by far, the book with the most reviews is the first edition of my Scripture Workbook. That is followed by my translation of the New Testament. That reflects the fact that those two books have always been my best-selling books. They are also older books, both having originally being written in the early 00s.

      Meanwhile, my more recent Christen books have few if any reviews. That reflects that they have barley sold at all. I express my frustration in that regard at the end of my article about my eight most recent Christian books in my article 3½ Years of Extensive Writing.

      Three of my books mentioned in that article are the book The LORD Has It Under Control and the two volume set God’s Sex Plan. The subtitles to those books are: What the Bible Teaches About the Sovereignty of God, What the Old Testament Teaches About Human Sexuality, and What the New Testament Teaches About Human Sexuality, respectively.

      Those similar substiles are due to those three books being the first of a planned series of “What the Bible Teaches About” books. I indicated the list of books in that planned series in an appendix in those books titled “Proposed Books.” That list was also posted on the DTL website. However, since those books hardly sold at all, I saw no reason to continue that series, and removed that page from the website. If you read those books, ignore that appendix.

      With my most recent Christian books not selling well at all, that is when I switched to writing books on politics. My first such book was Tearing the USA Apart, written in the fall of 2018. Since then, I have written five additional politics books and am currently working on two more.

      To be clear, my switch from writing about the Christian faith to politics is not because I think the latter is somehow more important than the former. It of course is not. I would have preferred to have continued to write Christian books, but with the sales of my more recent Christian books being so dismal, I had no choice but to try something else. I have bills to pay, just like everyone else. Moreover, it is hard to pour my heart and soul into writing a book, and then for hardly anyone to read it.

      However, I do try to quote at least one Bible passage in each of my politics books, even present the Gospel if I can work it in. That is often easy to do, as the Bible has much to say about issues relevant to politics. As such, I am still spreading Bible truth, even when I am not writing specifically about Christians issues.

      Sales of my six politics books have been a little better than my most recent Christian books, though still nowhere near as much as I would like, both for financial reasons and for the satisfaction of knowing people are being benefited by my writings.

Websites Updates

       As mentioned, in preparation for this 30^th anniversary of DTL, I gathered together all of my books. I then had my dad take pictures of me with the books, with all of them together and with just each of the types of books I have written, Christian, fitness, and politics.

      I have taken such pictures before. But this time, I had so many books, I could not lay them all out flat on my kitchen table like I had previously. I had to line them up like on a bookshelf and use two of my powerlifting trophies as bookends. But even at that, the books barely fit across the widest part of the round kitchen table. If I write any more books, I will need to line them up on the floor for such a picture.

      That in fact is what I had to do when I also had my dad take pictures of me with all of my powerlifting trophies on that same day.

      Gathering together all of my books and all of my trophies from where I have them scattered around my home was quite a chore. It took about an hour and a half to gather them together, set them up for the various pictures, then put them all back. And I was exhausted afterwards.

      In any case, the various pictures of me with my books are posted at Me and My Books: 2000-2021 on my personal website. The various pictures of me with my trophies are posted at Me and My Powerlifting Trophies 2003-2021 on my fitness website.

      Also in preparation for this 30^th anniversary of DTL, I updated the autobiography posted on my personal website. I updated all of the information and added new pictures and a new section at the end on “My Daily, Weekly, and Monthly Schedule” which explains my health situation and what my life is like in general.

      Finally, I added new pictures on the home pages of all four of my websites. 

Conclusion

      As can be seen. I’ve gotten a lot of work done over the past thirty years, continuing over the past five years. But I’ve been slowed down the past few months due to a rotator cuff injury. Details on it can be found in the article Rotator Cuff Injury, posted on my fitness website.

      The rotator cuff injury is just the most recent of many health problems I have dealt with over these many years. These are listed near the end of my autobiography. But I thank the LORD that He has enabled me to accomplish this incredible amount of writing despite the problems. Here’s praying I am able to continue to add this volume of work over the next five years. 

Book Review of Understanding Religious Abuse and Recovery

Author: Patrick J. Knapp

Reviewed By Gary F. Zeolla

       Understanding Religious Abuse and Recovery: Discovering Essential Principles for Hope and Healing is a new book by Patrick J. Knapp. It is available in paperback, hardback, and Kindle eBook formats from Amazon. It is 218 pages total in the hardcopy versions and 173 pages in the Kindle edition. All quotes and page numbers from this book in this review are from the Kindle edition.

      I first met Pat Knapp when I was living in Denver, CO while attending Denver Seminary in 1988-90. At that time Pat had only recently come out of an abusive religious group, having been in one from 1970-85. He also was attending Denver Seminary, but with a full-time job and a wife and four children, he could only attend part-time. That is why he did not graduate until 2000 with a master’s degree in philosophy of religion, the same degree I had been working towards, so we had many of the same professors.

      Pat later earned his PhD in pastoral psychology in 2019. This book is adapted from Pat’s doctoral dissertation. As such, it is somewhat technical and not real easy reading, but it is not too difficult either.

      The first part of this book overviews various opinions on why people join cults or abusive religious groups. Those varying opinions then lead to different approaches as to how to help people to leave such groups and then how best to help them to recover from the emotional, psychological, and spiritual trauma caused by having been involved in such a group.

Pat defines religious abuse as follows (quoting himself from an earlier publication):

      By religious or spiritual abuse, I mean: actions or beliefs that damage pervert or hinder one’s understanding of and relationship with God. It is fundamental to our nature that we are created in God’s image and designed to get our meaning from Him. The spiritual abuser encourages one to replace God by something or someone as the source of ultimate personal fulfillment. This misrepresents what it means to be made in the image of God. It strikes at the very core of who we are (pp. 15-16).

      Pat then overviews both Christian and secular approaches to helping people leave and recover from abusive groups, with many examples of those who advocate each approach. As such, this book is more for the counselor or other professional looking to understand how to best help such people than the former members themselves. Although, the latter would probably benefit from this book, in that it could help them to understand the various approaches and decide which would be personally most beneficial.

      In this book, Pat overviews the “four fundamental theoretical perspectives on religious abuse and recovery:” They are:

      ... a mind-control, victimization approach; a deliberative or Conversionist conceptualization...; a psychosocial, needs-based understanding, and finally, a dynamic-systems approach. These four perspectives include adherents who self-identify as both religious and as primarily secular. I summarize relevant literature and clearly organize the varying opinions (p. 19, Kindle Edition).

      I would probably fall in the Conversionist approach, with its emphasis on the false theology taught in the cult or abusive religious group and the need for members to recognize the faulty nature of this theology as part of how to leave the group and then to learn correct theology as part of their recovery. Pat gives Walter Martin and Hank Hanegraaff (of “The Bible Answer Man”) as early examples of notable figures who advocate such an approach.

      However, Pat explains that such an approach ignores the emotional and felt psychological needs (for love and companionship) aspects of cultic involvement and recovery. But then the more common psychosocial/ needs-based understanding puts an emphasis on the emotions and psychological needs, while ignoring the theological component. It is clear Pat believes recognizing intellectual, emotional, and psychological needs aspects of cultic involvement are important.

      Pat begins with an overview of religious abuse described in the Bible. The prophets in the Old Testament and Jesus in the New Testament in particular decried the religious abuse seen in their times. Jesus’ condemnations of religious abuse can be seen in His many condemnations of the Pharisees and Sadducees. They used their positions of religious power to cheat people out of money and to keep them in religious bondage, by making legalistic rules that no one could possibly follow but which the people were told they must follow to be right with God.

      This is the same pattern seen in the leaders of abusive religious groups today. It enables them to keep their flock under their control. And that loss of control over one’s own life is part of what religious abusive entails. It leaves people in a childlike state, as Pat details in this book. Learning how to take control of one’s own life, while trusting in a God who saves not by rules but by grace is part of what is needed to fully recover from being so abused.

       In the end, Pat recommends his own approach, which he calls SECURE. “The purpose of the SECURE approach is both to avoid the limitations of other perspectives while retaining their strengths, and to provide an improved context for understanding religious abuse and recovery” (p. 101). He then explains what each letter in the acronym means in short then in detail.

    Pat then uses another acronym, “ASCRIBED, as a mnemonic device to briefly identify eight core recovery needs” (p. 114). He again explains what each letter in the acronym means in short then in detail and applies them to the recovery process.

      Finally, Pat lists and explains “A Seven-Stage Process of Recovery” (p. 124). He then reviews all of this material in a more academic manner, with further elaboration of each point of each acronym and how they relate to the various approaches previously covered.

      Pat concludes the book with a series of appendixes, a Glossary, a subject index, and lists of helpful resources for studies in religious abuse and recovery. Among these resources is my Darkness to Light website. But note, he gives the old URL of www.DTL.org. It is now https://www.Zeolla.org/Christian/. But no matter, since, as noted in my 30^th Anniversary article, the old URL redirects to the new one.

      Overall, this is a good book for those wishing to understand religious abuse, for those working with survivors of religious abuse, and for the survivors themselves. But given its academic nature, it can get a bit tedious at times, but it is worth the effort for the important information contained in it.

      Again, Pat Knapp’s book Understanding Religious Abuse and Recovery is available from Amazon.

Most Misused Passage in the Bible

Luke 21:1-4

      A Bible passage Pat Knapp does not cite in his book in regard to religious abuse is Luke 21:1-4. But that is in fact what this verse is about. I am sure the reader has heard many sermons preached on this passage as an example of “sacrificial giving.” But that interpretation completely misses the point of the verse. It is in fact part of Jesus’ condemnations of the Scribes and Pharisees and their religious abuse of those under their authority. I explain this in my book God’s Sex Plan: Volume Two. The passage is excerpted below:

Luke 21:1-4:

      ¹Now having looked up, He [Jesus] saw the rich [people] putting their offerings into the treasury [fig., collection boxes]. ²Then He saw also a certain poor widow putting [in] there two lepta [or, two very small copper coins]. ³And He said, “Truly I say to you*, this poor widow put [in] more [than] all. ⁴For all these out of their abundance [or, surplus] put into the offerings for God, but this [woman] out of her poverty, all her livelihood which she was having, she put [in].”

Matthew 23:13:

            ¹³“But how horrible it will be to you*, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you* devour the houses of the widows [fig., illegally cheat widows’ out of their property] and in pretense [or, with a false show] are long [in] praying, because of this you* will receive more severe judgment [or, condemnation].” (ALT3).

      Luke 21:1-4 is one of the most commonly misused passages in the Bible. It is often quoted as an example of sacrificial giving, with the preacher who is quoting it using it to encourage his hearers to do the same. But in fact, Jesus is advocating nothing of the sort. To aid the reader to understand what Jesus is actually teaching, I have quoted a parallel passage from Matthew.

      What both of these passages have in common is Jesus is chiding the religious leaders for taking advantage of the vulnerable in the society, which includes widows. In the Matthew passage, the religious leaders are taking advantage of widows by cheating them out of their property. In the Luke passage, they are cheating widows out of their money.

      Think about it. How would you react if your widowed aged mother told you she just donated every penny she had to a televangelist? Would you commend her for her great faith and sacrificial giving, or would you immediately get upset, knowing she had just been cheated out of her life savings, all that she had to live on? It most certainly would be the latter. In fact, you would probably hire an attorney and sue the televangelist to try to get her money back and to keep the televangelist from scamming other vulnerable poor widows. And that is what Jesus is doing in these passages.

      Jesus is showing His compassion for women once again by trying to protect them when they are at their most vulnerable, when they have lost their husbands and are subject to scam religious leaders who are trying to bilk them out of their property and money.

The Context:

      When I wrote the preceding for my Sex Plan book, I failed to take the next important step in Biblical interpretation, that of checking preceding and following context. But when I did so later, it reinforced that my interpretation of Luke 21:1-4 was in fact correct, while the “sacrificial giving” interpretation was completely off base.

      The preceding context is in fact the parallel to the passage I quoted from Matthew. The final verses of Luke chapter 20 are:

            ⁴⁵Now all the people hearing, He [Jesus] said to His disciples, ⁴⁶“Be watching out for [or, Beware of] the Scribes, the ones desiring to be walking about in long robes and affectionately loving greetings in the marketplaces and [the] first seats [fig., most important places] in the synagogues and [the] first couches [fig., places of honor] at the banquets, ⁴⁷the ones devouring the houses of the widows [fig., illegally cheating widows’ out of their property], and in pretense [or, with a false show] are long [in] praying. These will receive more severe judgment [or, condemnation].”

      Here, Jesus is clearly condemning the religious leaders for their religious abuse, for them being excessively “showy” in their religious devotions for personal attention, while again, bilking widows out of their property. As such, would it make any sense that Jesus would then commend a widow for giving every penny she has, all that she has to live on, to these very same abusive religious leaders? I think not.

      Some might respond by saying the widow was not donating her last pennies to the religious leaders per se, but to the upkeep of the temple, and that is an important and valid spiritual consideration.

      However, starting in the very next verse, Luke 21:5, Jesus begins a long discourse predicting the destruction of the temple. Thus, I must ask, would Jesus commend a poor widow for giving everything she had to live on to the upkeep of a temple He knew would soon be destroyed anyhow? Again, I think not.

      It makes much more sense that Jesus first condemns the religious leaders for their extreme showiness in their religious devotions, then He condemns them for cheating widows out of their property, then He condemns them for cheating widows out of their money, then He predicts the destruction of the center of the religious system that those abusive religious leaders had corrupted to benefit their own vanity and financial profit (Luke 19:46).

New on Darkness to Light Website

Below are new articles on my Christian website that have been posted since the last issue of this newsletter was published.

New on Fitness for One and All Website

Below are new articles on my fitness website that have been posted since the last issue of this newsletter was published.

New on Biblical and Constitutional Politics Website

Below are new articles on my politics website that have been posted since the last issue of this newsletter was published.

Why I Decided to Get Vaccinated (Refuting Covid Anti-Vaxxers) is a new four part article.
5/21/21

God’s Sex Plan
Volume One
What the Old Testament Teaches About Human Sexuality

Also by Gary F. Zeolla:

Zeolla.org is the personal website for Gary F. Zeolla.
Author of Christian and of fitness books, Web sites, and newsletters,
and a top ranked and multi-record holding powerlifter.

Fitness for One and All website and FitTips for One and All newsletter.
“Helping people to attain their health, fitness, and performance goals,
with an emphasis on powerlifting.”

Biblical and Constitutional Politics
“Political articles and commentary from a conservative Christian and politically conservative perspective”

All material in this newsletter is copyrighted © 2021 by Gary F. Zeolla or as indicated otherwise.

7/1/21