Mcleanministries.org

I had a very damaging experience with Clay McLean a long time ago. I was in an extremely desperate situation, didn't know what to do, and was earnestly seeking hope. And I thought that he might have been able to help me. Well, not only did McLean not help me, he was incredibly verbally abusive and condemning. The Bible says that ministers are to be gentle and slow to anger, but McLean was anything but that. In fact, he seems to have a hair-trigger temper. He was also extremely condescending. Starting off with a token "I feel your pain," he then basically proceeded to berate me and tell me what a horrible sinner I was. I was absolutely stunned—his spiritual and verbal abuse was the last thing I was ever expecting. It was obvious that he didn't care one bit about helping me. The whole incident was unbelievably confusing--it felt like an assault. In fact, it was spiritual terrorism. I believe that there was a demonic element to McLean's behavior as well. He actually made Job's friends look like saints. And it felt as though I had merely been casting pearls before swine. As Jesus pointed out, "By their fruits you will know them." The Bible also says that Satan is the accuser of the brethren. Looking back, I can see that McLean was actually projecting his own issues onto me. In other words, every thing that he accused me of was, I believe, a serious problem in his OWN life. I suspect that he was struggling with a lot of self-hatred. What's more, his vicious verbal abuse almost drove me to suicide. It's a miracle, in fact, that I survived the abuse. It's also interesting that, as a so-called Christian minister, McLean did not ONCE offer to pray for me! Addressing similar situations in her book "Sealed Orders," Christian author Agnes Sanford wrote that she knew of four instances in which a deeply troubled person went to a minister for help, failed to receive any prayer at all, and then never came home again. And unlike McLean, those ministers weren't necessarily abusive—they just did not pray for those seeking help. Well, think about how much worse it would be to receive abuse on top of that! Trust me—it's absolutely horrific. I think it's highly ironic that, far from being able to help me, McLean actually needed a whole lot of help himself, it seems. One thing's for sure—happy people don't act the way he did. Maybe he's in the wrong profession and would be much happier doing something else. He'd probably be a lot *better* at something else too. One time, in an interview, author Leanne Payne stated that if McLean (who was one of her associates) hadn't gotten healing, then: "He'd be dead or would have killed somebody." Well, from what I experienced with him, I can totally believe he would've killed somebody! Whatever "healing" he may have experienced, it was nowhere near enough. McLean is the most abusive minister I've ever dealt with—and he should never have been allowed anywhere near a "ministry." I mean, have you ever heard of anybody else in the ministry with murderous tendencies like that? I sure haven't. And ever since my traumatic encounter with him, I've found it extremely difficult to trust any other minister. Spiritual abuse also makes it difficult to trust God again. Ezekiel 34:2–4 sums up my experience with him: "Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock. The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them." In addition, 1 Peter 5:3 says, in its advice to the shepherds of God's people: "Not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock." Well, McLean did exactly the opposite. He was basically just a big bully—and deep down inside, bullies are insecure cowards. What's more, spiritually abusive ministers like McLean usually have a "Jekyll and Hyde" personality. In other words, they're public saints, but private sinners. They can change colors just like a chameleon, without missing a beat, whenever it suits them. In fact, they're experts at it. That's why when many folks hear tales of spiritual abuse, they go into denial about it, with predictable reactions like: "It's not possible. I've known this minister for YEARS. He couldn't possibly do such a thing." Yeah, riiiiiiight. As author Patricia Evans, an expert on verbal abuse, points out: "'Nice and friendly' is the persona of many an abuser." I'm pretty sure that if there had been an audience, McLean would've never said the abusive things that he did to me, because he would've looked like an ogre. As we all know, one of the hallmarks of Christ's teaching was the Golden Rule. If McLean himself had been in an extremely desperate place, seeking some ray of hope, would he have wanted to be treated the same way he treated *me*? I can say without hesitation that the answer is a big fat NO! Another thing to keep in mind is that McLean named his ministry after himself. Well, that's the epitome of narcissism. Whenever ministers do that, they are basically promoting *themselves*, not Christ. I've never seen an exception to this. Why do so many ministers do this kind of thing? The sin of pride, of course. So, that's one more red flag—stay away from ministers who name their ministries after themselves. And besides the outright narcissism, they are actually the CEOs of their own organizations, meaning they answer to NO ONE but themselves. However, all ministers are supposed to be accountable to other leaders in the Church, so such a "ministry" is completely unbiblical. In fact, it's really nothing more than a business. Ka-ching! And in John 10:13, Jesus warned about the hireling, who cares nothing about the sheep. The only thing the hireling cares about is money—and himself. Ronald Enroth, who wrote the book "Churches That Abuse," puts it like this: "All that is needed for abuse is a pastor accountable to no one and therefore beyond confrontation." That describes McLean exactly. I mean, what other leader in the Church is he directly accountable to? In another of her books, Agnes Sanford offers this humorous advice: "If we pray for the gift of wisdom, we may know by God's grace what manner of praying people to avoid. Yes, I do avoid some of them. I flee as from the plagues of Egypt." Well, McLean is one of those people to flee from! Jesus had much to say about wolves in sheep's clothing, and sadly, McLean seems to be one of them. Abusive Christians like him should not be trusted with any kind of spiritual power. So, please stay far away from McLean and his "ministry." While I forgive him for his abuse, I definitely want to warn others. Obviously, I can't change what happened, but at least maybe I can help prevent something similar from happening to someone else. As I said in the beginning, my experience with McLean happened a long time ago, so hopefully he's matured and worked through a lot of his issues since then. Nevertheless, according to author Jeff VanVonderen, the symptoms of spiritual abuse mirror, point by point, those of incest. In other words, no matter how long ago it happened, the trauma—and confusion—is not something you ever really forget.