I share this not because we are parents who reject a formal diagnosis, but because we are parents who, like all parents, have an inner compass about our kids and their health. While a definitive diagnosis can often help heal, a false diagnosis can yield further damage.

In JJ’s case, this is what has happened.

In 2023, our family’s world shifted on its axis. We began a traumatic journey of escaping a cult, transitioning from a life of isolation to becoming advocates for victims of abuse. For my daughter, JJ, the transition was brutal. She was “shunned,” losing the majority of her friends in a vicious, sudden stroke of social rejection.

Amidst this upheaval, a perfect storm was brewing. At school, she was learning about the food pyramid and healthy exercise. To a neurotypical child, these are simple lessons; to JJ’s ASD, ADHD, and OCD brain—which was already processing profound trauma—they became rigid blueprints for survival. What started as “healthy living” quickly spiralled into obsessive exercise and restrictive eating, eventually leading to the loss of her period.

The Medication Spiral

By mid-2025, JJ’s anxiety was peaking. Her long-term Fluoxetine dose was doubled in an attempt to stabilise her, but the results were catastrophic. She developed Akathisia—a movement disorder characterised by a distressing, internal sense of restlessness. She couldn’t stop moving; she was even running between classes just to satisfy the urge. Her weight plummeted to dangerous levels.

In November 2025, we consulted a pediatrician and began a transition to Sertraline. During the “washout” period—when the Fluoxetine was at its lowest—we saw a glimmer of the real JJ. She was calm. She chose painting over her compulsive walks. It lasted only a day.

As we crossed over to Sertraline and added Risperidone, the Akathisia returned with a vengeance. During a summer camping trip, the “rest” was anything but. JJ was pacing constantly, performing “sneaky exercise” behind the caravan, and screaming in distress when we tried to make her sit. We were told this was just the “medication change” settling in. We had no idea the worst was yet to come.

The Hospital Cycle

By the start of 2026, JJ weighed just 38kg. A school-mandated medical check revealed a heart rate of 31 beats per minute. She was immediately admitted to the Eating Disorder Ward at a Children’s Hospital.

While she gained weight initially, the environment was a nightmare for her sensory and psychological needs. JJ didn’t reject food; she ate everything given to her, albeit with the rigid timing dictated by her OCD. But the lack of fresh air and the forced inactivity were crushing her spirit.

After a brief discharge, her heart rate dropped again. Upon readmission, the medical team replaced her Risperidone medication with Olanzapine—the standard protocol for Anorexia. We begged them to consider Guanfacine, but our research and our voices were ignored.

A Mother’s Intuition vs. Clinical Rigidity

One moment stands out as a testament to the disconnect in her care. JJ was in a state of high distress, rocking and crying. I knew that movement—specifically being wheeled in a wheelchair—calmed her.

The Observation: On the telemetry monitor, her heart rate was spiking from 68 to over 100.

The Conflict: A nurse told her she had to stay in bed.

The Result: I took the risk. I told the nurse, “You can report me,” and I wheeled Jazzlyn down the hall while patting her head. Within one minute, her heart rate stabilised back to 68.

The Current Crisis and the Path Forward

We have since brought Jazzlyn home. The hospital cycle was a “merry-go-round” that refused to acknowledge the root of her issues: her heart rate and blood pressure are hereditarily low, and her movement is driven by Akathisia, not a desire to lose weight. Today, we are living under intense strain. We use an electric bike so she can feel the wind and movement without taxing her heart, and we provide “monitored normality” through clinical Pilates. But this is not sustainable without professional help.

When we realised what JJ needed, we quickly began the journey of advocacy

This involves, at present:

Accurate Rediagnosis: A full picture that accounts for her trauma, ASD/ADHD/OCD, and the physical reality of Akathisia.

Medication Adjustment: We have submitted DNA testing for medication compatibility to stop the guesswork that has caused her so much physical harm.

NDIS Support: Though previously classified as Level 1, JJ clearly requires Level 2 support to manage her complex needs.

A Different Hospital Plan: If she needs acute care again, it cannot be in a restrictive Anorexia ward that treats her movement as a behavioural choice rather than a neurological symptom.

We are fighting for JJ’s life and her right to be heard. We cannot keep going in circles. We need a team that looks at the child, not just the chart.

To our friends and supporters: Thank you for standing by us as we navigate this impossible terrain. We are desperate for a resolution that brings JJ back to health and back to the school environment she so deeply misses.

Update: We have begun adjusting meds timing with pharmaceutical assistance, and even the slight adjustments have already produced a very noticeable difference (and calmer) JJ than we’ve seen in many months. Reducing Akathisia symptoms through medication and timing changes is the first step in JJ returning to her ‘real self’. We finally have hope and physical proof that what we’ve been crying from the rooftops about has not been in vain.

If anyone else has experienced something similar and wants to reach out, we are here. We didn’t go through this for ‘no reason’, and we know our ongoing story will be an advocate for change in the future.

If you had asked me three years ago, I would have told you that fear was my only skin. It was so heavy, so all-consuming, that I lived in a constant state of imagined evaporation. I truly believed that if I happened to catch HIS silhouette on a crowded street, I would simply sink into a puddle on the pavement and never return. I was a ghost waiting for a confrontation to finally blow me away.

But time has a way of thickening the soul.

It has been three years now. In that thousand-day stretch, the “crazy stuff” became a backdrop to my life rather than the end of it. I’ve navigated the sharp edges of legal threats, the exhaustion of mental warfare, and the eerie, lingering shadows of proxy stalking. I have watched the tactics shift, and the pressure mount, but a strange thing happened: I stopped freezing.

I have found a new kind of strength—one that doesn’t need to beat its chest. I will not bow in fear, but I also refuse to lose myself in the noise. I won’t be silenced, yet I have learned that speaking up isn’t always the answer. There is a profound, holy power in knowing when to be calm, when to be quiet, and when to be unreachable.

I’ve come to realise that I’ve been trying to carry a weight that was never sized for my shoulders. This is God’s battle. For a long time, I thought I was the protagonist of this tragedy, fighting for a climax where the hero wins and the villain falls. But we are not the main characters. We are part of a much older, much larger story. We are the “case studies”—the living examples of endurance that contribute to a long-term change we might not even live to see.

I’ve had to make peace with a hard truth: Our story might never be resolved. There may be no courtroom scene where the truth is shouted from the rooftops. Our antagonist may walk through life without ever tasting the justice HE deserves, and we, the victims, may never feel the warm sun of public vindication.

And yet, the story is still important.

What we push through today is the fuel for someone else’s tomorrow. We are part of the solution simply by refusing to be destroyed. We are contributing our chapters to God’s narrative, trusting that even the loose ends have a purpose.

One day, the landscape will shift. The reason for this long, exhausting fight will finally be etched into the outcome, and the purpose of our pain will be made evident. On that day, the air will finally reach the bottom of our lungs.

On that day, we will finally breathe again.

It wasn’t about the mirror. It wasn’t a vanity project or a simple desire to get “skinny,” and it certainly wasn’t a sudden aversion to food. Instead, it was a slow, steady descent, a quiet fall into a rabbit hole of profound confusion. In a world that had become chaotic and unrecognisable, the only thing that felt solid was the clinical logic of the food pyramid taught in school. Strict adherence to those rigid “rules” became the only frequency loud enough to quiet JJ’s traumatised brain.

Outside of that control, her life had been hollowed out. She had lost her friends, her social rhythm, and the anchor that kept her steady in a storm. Her family wasn’t a refuge; it was a collective of broken spirits, a revolving door of victims crying in unison, mourning a tragedy that seemed to have no end.

There was no reprieve. There was no safety. Even the peers who might have understood her pain were kept at a distance—protected, as they rightfully should have been, by their own families from the devastation JJ’s family simply couldn’t avoid. In the vacuum left by that isolation, the rules of what to eat and what to avoid became more than just a diet. They became the only walls she had left to lean on when the rest of her world had collapsed.

Movement became the only release. Workouts grew more intense—harder, faster, never-ending—until the physical exertion was the only thing that could drown out the mental noise. By the time September rolled around, JJ’s health had plummeted. The compulsion to move was so relentless, so powerful, that words of peace could no longer reach her.

In early September 2025, we found ourselves trapped in the red tape of healing. To qualify for counselling funding—assistance necessitated by the trauma of having been part of “the cult” under Austin—JJ was required to meet with a representative from the CCC counselling trust. Let’s call her Julie.

I had begged the trust to provide assistance without the additional torture of forcing a child to regurgitate her trauma, but the process was unyielding. In desperation, I took JJ to the meeting with Julie. She sat there, vulnerable, sharing her story and her pain. But instead of providing a bridge to recovery, Julie directed JJ to lay the blame for her mental struggles squarely on us—her parents—and our involvement in victim advocacy.

JJ, navigating the complexities of ASD and then-undiagnosed ADHD, did what any suffering teenager would do in that high-pressure seat. She agreed. Yes, the family dynamics had taken a toll.

We walked out of that meeting with the “official assistance” we needed, but it came wrapped in a crushing weight of labelled guilt. The trust, born from the very damage Austin caused, had diagnosed us as the problem.

It was a blow that levelled me. For years, I had been running from the impact of JJ’s early childhood. I had served the mission; I had given everything, thinking I could carry the weight of everyone else’s damage. I thought I was saving people. I didn’t realise, in that blinding light of service, that I was neglecting my own daughter. To hear that failure codified by a counsellor representing the legacy of our trauma was almost more than I could bear.

Enough. But it wasn’t enough.

The spiral only deepened. As JJ’s medication challenges grew more volatile, the need for a specialist became desperate. Julie eventually emailed me a recommendation, though not before questioning if JJ even truly had an eating disorder—simply because she “looked so well.” It was the classic, dangerous assumption that physical appearance mirrors internal health.

She pointed us toward a local counsellor who supposedly specialised in eating disorders, a professional vetted by both a Christian counselling network and the Butterfly Foundation. We hoped, finally, for a lifeline.

I reached out. I laid everything bare. I shared our history, the impact of the cult, and provided the resources to understand the depth of our situation.

She stayed quiet.

I know she read it; the digital receipts don’t lie. But she never responded.

I am tired now. We are still fighting every single day for JJ’s health and for our own sanity. But I will not stop telling this story. It will no longer be hidden. It will no longer be an enigma. We are stepping out of the shadows, even if we have to do it exhausted.

Rabbits.

Our daughter, JJ, was discharged from the hospital just a week ago—her second extended stint recently. So far this year, she has spent more time in a hospital bed than out of one. Her eating disorder has been so severe that it has physically damaged her heart, leaving her tethered to heart monitors for weeks on end.

The “how” and “why” of this illness is complex, but the catalyst is painfully clear: the trauma of the cult. From her initial entry into this world, to our eventual exit out of the cult, the experience triggered a downward spiral of uncontrollable exercise and rigid eating. To make matters worse, a doubling of her autism medication pushed her even further into a medical emergency zone. For the time being, our 25th anniversary remains uncelebrated; our focus is entirely on survival. But we will find our way back to that milestone. One way or another, we will get there.

Toward the end of last year, we reached a breaking point and sought urgent medication changes that only a pediatrician could authorise. Fluoxetine, which JJ had been taking since she was seven, had been doubled in mid-2025. Instead of easing her anxiety, the increased dose transformed her into a teen who simply couldn’t stop. She couldn’t sit still; she couldn’t stop moving; she couldn’t stop exercising. As her active stress levels spiked, her weight plummeted. We realised the medication was a major trigger in her decline, shifting her from a strong, sporty girl—the kind who would happily steal chips off your plate—into a waif-like figure, who could no longer play her favourite sports or participate and win the school cross-country.

Our first port of call was the pediatrician who had originally diagnosed her with ASD at age seven. But there was a significant hurdle: his new office location.

He was now consulting out of the very building that had destroyed us. It was the place that crushed us, a space haunted by a collision of good and bad memories. Still standing was the ramp where Pastor Austin had once struggled, angrily, to adhere the safety circles to the floor at the base of the ramp.

It was where, on the bottom level of the building, we had written our names and prayers on the bare concrete—words that remained, faded and dusty, even after the medical centre knocked down the interior walls and removed the floor tiles.

Those were the walls we had helped construct and paint; the very ones where we had once anchored our hopes and our entire future.

Building a hope and a future…

Now, those same walls seemed to hold the answers to our future peace once again, though in a radically different capacity. This time, the solution was medical, a path the “Master” had never really encouraged, favouring the mantra of “working it out through faith instead.”

I remember when Pastor Austin and his wife, Celia, dropped by our house unannounced during the COVID lockdowns. I had shared our struggles with them. How JJ desperately needed help and how her neurodivergence was being pushed to the limit by the absence of school. Back then, I only had a fraction of the picture; I didn’t yet know the full extent of her diagnosis.

Austin and Celia had recently completed a “brain pathways” course, having paid $3,000 to qualify as “brain neuro specialists.” When I mentioned how difficult it was to find a psychologist who truly understood JJ’s needs, they were quick to offer a solution. They told me they could simply sit down with her for a while and “fix her.”

No, thank you. Absolutely not.

Now, we were back at the ‘church not church’, standing in the very place where the walls had once groaned and shifted, eventually exploding and leaving us in a heap on the floor.

December 2025

We climbed the steps together, tracing the path of our own permanent imprints. JJ’s footprints had been here since birth. Somewhere behind the garden beds, a tiny, missing Nike baby shoe might still be hidden—last glimpsed while she sat on Pastor Austin’s lap on these very steps. We were back at the building we used to call home, but this time, we were just aliens in a place that no longer belonged to us.

The double doors slid open with a hauntingly familiar sound, the exact same cadence we had grown accustomed to over the previous decade. It was the rhythm of our old life: in and out, up and down, day and night, night and day. Every hiss of the sensor was a mechanical echo of 15 years spent within those walls.

JJ and I walked up the ramp, approaching our memories and facing each one with as much strength as we could muster. JJ asked to wait at the top of the steps, while I approached the front desk of the pediatrician. A kind, professional woman greeted me. I let her know we were here to see Dr Gall. She said he would be with us momentarily. By the time the Dr called us in, JJ had been standing quietly out in the foyer for more than five minutes. A short span of time, but long enough for the tears to be flowing from her eyes into puddles on that familiar floor. I gathered her up in my arms, understanding her pain, and guided her into the pediatrician’s office. The entire complex had been redesigned, but the memories remained. I knew where we stood. Somewhere on the boundary of Smitty’s office and the area where the kids had gathered together with Super Cameron at the beginning of each service. The roped off kids’ area. We were close to Pastor Austin’s keyboard, but probably sitting in the space where the fake plants and large lightstand adorned the stage.

As Dr. Gall began to speak, JJ’s tears wouldn’t stop. He paused, asking gently what was wrong.

“I miss my friends…” JJ trailed off, the ramp held memories of giggles and laughter shared after the service.

“It’s this place...” I exhaled, my own PTSD likely burning behind my eyes.

“What, the medical centre?” he asked, his voice tinged with genuine concern.

“No... this place,” I said, my voice hardening with more force. “Terrible things happened in this place.”

He blinked, a look of sudden, sombre understanding crossing his countenance, and we moved on with the appointment. We adjusted her medications and carved out a plan for the Christmas holidays, praying for a reprieve for our family and a physical turning point for JJ. As we prepared to leave, I caught JJ by the shoulders and asked her to wait a moment while I used the restroom.

The same restroom.

There on the wall was the baby change table—a strange monument frozen in time. I had funded it myself because the commercial versions were too expensive. I remember finding it on Gumtree and driving for many kilometres to collect it while heavily pregnant with JJ. I brought it back to the church where it lived then, and where it still lives now. JJ’s baby change table.

I washed my hands and pressed the button on the dryer. It was the exact same machine. It whirred with the same mechanical groan it had for over a decade, its last “test and tag” sticker acting as a dusty testament to its antiquity: 2010.

JJ was waiting for me as I stepped out of the time capsule. We descended the stairs we had trodden a million times before, passed through the double doors, and headed for the car. As we pulled away, the tyres hit the metal drain with a familiar kaplunk-kaplunk—muted now, fixed, not nearly as loud as it used to be. The crows cawed and screeched from their perch on the bins behind Chemist Warehouse as we drove past.

We tore out of that parking lot, desperate for change. Hopeful, despite everything, for a better year to come.

But it wasn’t to be so…

Part 2 coming soon. When I can bring myself to write. And formulate a few more words.

And breathe, breathe for just a little.

I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the moments when His voice has broken through. I have watched Him move the pieces on the chessboard of our lives with sacred precision. I have seen His love permeate the deepest recesses of our hearts during those seasons when we felt we truly couldn’t breathe.

But because I know the real, I have also learned to recognise the counterfeit. I am well aware that calling it out won’t make me popular. But I am choosing clarity over comfort.

For over two decades, we were subjected to “forced prophecy.” These weren’t moments of holy anticipation where one might wonder if God would speak; instead, they were instances of manufactured messages, shoved down our throats until we choked on them.

If we dared to hesitate or question, we were forced to “discuss” the word with the MASTER until our resistance was worn down. We were coerced until we had no choice but to accept its relevance to our lives. In this system, the burden wasn’t on God to fulfil His word; it was “our job” to force those prophecies into existence.

We were expected to make them happen, even if they broke us.

Even if they killed us.

These “words from God” were used to dictate every facet of our existence, often with devastating results:

• Financial Chains: We were told to “stay put” in financial bondage, convinced it was a sacrifice for the Master’s Kingdom.

• A Broken Dream: We were pressured to change our jobs and upend our lives to serve a vision that wasn’t ours, but a fragmented dream of another’s making.

• The Wedge of Isolation: We were proclaimed “broken.” We were told our family didn’t understand us—a complete lie. In reality, our family has been our rock amid this chaos.

• Identity Distortion: My husband was given “words” that completely contradicted his personality and skills—false readings based on what was “seen” rather than what was “known.”

On the surface, these prophecies looked real. They had just enough “detail” to seem godly. But looking back, the source was earthly, not heavenly. This information was harvested from social media and gleaned from private conversations by the one who wanted to control it all.

It was a brilliant, albeit cruel, strategy: use the “prophetic” to build one man’s kingdom while utterly decimating our own lives and our family.

I am choosing to speak now because the truth matters. God’s voice is meant to bring life, even when it challenges us. But when “prophecy” is used to bypass consent, ignore reality, and destroy families, it isn’t God speaking. It’s a counterfeit—and it’s time we called it by its name.

• FALSE PROPHET

• WOLF

Below is the first prophecy ever spoken over us by Gary and Sarah Morgan, dating back to 2009.

In the posts to follow, I am going to break this down. My intention isn’t to dismantle God’s truth, but to bring much-needed clarity to the works of man. This prophecy was false. It was empty, and it remains unfulfilled because it was never authored by God.

While Gary and Sarah’s “words” became eerily more specific in the years that followed, this first one was different. It was a mess—it always has been, and it always will be.

When we originally took this prophetic word to “The MASTER” to unpack it—explaining that it didn’t sit right in our spirits—we weren’t met with discernment. Instead, we were told it was our responsibility to bring THE WORD to fruition. The message was clear: it was up to us to force this prophecy to life.

PROPHETIC WORD - GARY AND SARAH MORGAN - 2009

Amen. Let’s remind me names - Karen and… Stuart and Karen. Father, we, we thank you for Stuart and Karen. We thank you for their heart. We thank you for their life. Yeah. And this fits you both, but it’s, um, it’s seen in, in, in both of you in different ways. It’s like, um, God’s gonna invade your ical.

It’s almost like everything is being set in order. This is how it’s gonna happen. This is when it’s gonna happen, and this is how it’s gonna happen. And, and really God’s invaded it because things you you’d sort of said would happen in certain times, haven’t happened in certain times, and then you’ve almost been in a place of saying, God, it’s almost like we’re on pause.

God. It’s like we, we, it’s like it’s things are not playing out. It’s like, God, the, the tape’s being screwed. God, my Ical isn’t, isn’t aligning your plan isn’t aligning with my plan. And God says he’s invading your, your Ical He’s invading your schedule because your schedule is not his schedule.

That’s right. And and I really believe for you is, is, um, Carolyn, Karen, Karen, Karen for you. I really believe the Lord really wants to, to say, um, hope deferred makes the heart sick. And, and even though sometimes it’s, it’s almost like. There’s, there’s been a hope in your life that’s, that’s been deferred.

You’re constantly being deferred and the Lord saying, I’m bringing something out right now that isn’t gonna cause your heart to be sick no longer, but it’s gonna allow your heart to be a wellspring of life that is gonna even be seen in your continence as the Lord. And God says, you’re, you’re literally, you’re gonna walk in an atmosphere of possibilities, not an atmosphere of impossibilities.

And I want to declare over you right now, the report of Man is Not the Report of Heaven the same way as the timing of man is not the timing of heaven. And I just want to declare over you right now, and I just saw, I just, and this is how I see it, is I just saw like God just drop, just dropping, just dropping as truth is being dropped in your life right now.

And, uh, God wants to release that truth in and through you. And I really believe Karen God is, is gonna start, not to just delight himself in you, but he’s gonna delight himself around you. I saw a massive suitcase next to you and it’s all almost like, people call it baggage, but I also saw it inside that suitcase.

There’s a lot of dreams and there was a lot of hopes that you felt you had to put down. Particularly when you guys got married, it’s almost like you, you put some stuff down and God’s saying there’s a season coming where you’re gonna pick them up, but you’re not, you are not gonna pick them up. You guys are gonna pick them up.

Yeah. And I really believe there’s gonna be hopes and dreams that are gonna become reality because it’s, it’s like you guys have walked in promise, but now it’s time to walk in fulfillment. It’s like, it’s almost like you’ve got fed up in hearing the word. Don’t tell me. I know you’ve got fed up in hearing the word.

Now it’s time to, to move from promise to fulfillment and God’s realeasing. And I think you need to know that more than this guy. But there’s some things that this guy needs know as well. And Stuart, I really believe the Lord is, is um, is starting to fashion you, uh, really in a way of, um, I saw people have have molded you, but it’s like God’s fashioning you.

And God says, don’t allow mold to become a fashion. But I allow the fashions of the Lord to be something that is established within your life. Yeah. And I really saw you like, um, yeah, it’s, you’re like a Peter, but you’re also like a Thomas. You know, you’re ready to step out when there’s a bit of a doubt there.

And it’s like sometimes just like, God. Yeah. Yeah. Well, wait a minute. I’ve gotta, I’ve gotta analyze this. And God is, is taking a a, a left brain sort of person and creating a right brain environment. He’s taking someone who is, who is trying to work it out to begin to walk it out. Lemme say that again. God is taking you from a place of working and it out to walking it out.

And I really believe that’s gonna be a truth that’s gonna be established in your life right now. And I also felt for you is, is um, yeah, God is, is gonna give you a solid identity. You are gonna know who you are and whose you are, you’re gonna know where you’re from. That is, it’s not the, the, the bloodline of this world, but it’s, it’s a heavenly inheritance and I really felt You have an older brother.

Yeah. Okay. There’s, there’s something between you and your older brother that God’s gonna begin to start dealing here with, and it, it’s almost like there’s not a shadow anymore, and it’s everything that you felt that is, is contrary to conflicting with. And it’s almost like, God, I just wish you would just sort it out.

I just wish you would just put it to peace or, or whatever that that entails. God’s gonna start working from the inside out in you. But even though you’ve tried to change everything on the outward, God is saying, I’m gonna start changing it from the inward that is gonna cause that which is on the outward to change.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Father, right now I just declare whatever his older brother is right now. I declare an arresting in the spirit. Father, right now I declare an invasion of your glory, an invasion of your presence, father, an invasion of your truth and your grace Lord to envelope whatever situation and circumstances he’s in right now.

And I just declare a shift. Father God, I just declare him to come, Lord, that you haven’t given him a spirit of fear, but one of love, power and a sound mind. I declare a sound mind over him right now. I declare a, is this something to do with his mind? I just see something with his mind, the way he thinks, not just the way he thinks, but also his way.

It’s about himself. And I saw the Lord just shifting now within him, it’s almost like his thinking pattern, the way he thinks has totally shifted around. Yes Lord, and God’s gonna take the worry that is on your heart and he’s gonna turn it into worship. He’s gonna take the concern and he’s gonna reveal his covenant.

So Father, right now. Lord for both Stuart and Karen, I just declare your fullness right now. Yes, Lord in Jesus name. I just declare. And as I know in the natural this move you’re gonna take, I just declare over that, that favor and open doors will take place. Amen. That, that you will, you would find yourself short in no good thing.

But I declare an abundance over you right now. Yes, Lord. In Jesus name. Lord, I thank you for the balancing. Lord, I thank you for the scales that are over their lives. And Lord, I thank you. You are the one that’s balancing them. Yeah. Not man. Balancing them, Lord. Lord. Everything that doesn’t add up and the natural adds up.

Yeah. In your counting system. Father, I thank you for the balance even between the two of them. Lord, I thank you. Things will balance. Lord, the vision will balance Lord, the, the, the unity between them will balance. Lord, father, I just thank you for the wow, for the balance that’s coming to their lives, Lord, things that wow Lord, the circumstances that have almost outweighed the things of what you’ve asked them to do.

Father, I thank you. For the promise. Yeah. Lord, I thank you for the promise that you’ve given them. Yeah, Lord, I thank you for the manifestation of that promise. Lord, thank you for the fulfillment that’s on their lives. And Lord, I just thank you for justice. Lord, I thank you. Anything that’s been wrong, they’ve been done hard by Father, I thank you that you’re restoring them.

Father right now in Jesus, name.

I just see a really divine unity between you guys and I don’t know, and that’s the balance I keep seeing, but I really believe God’s gonna cause a unity between you that is gonna speak to couples and to um, families like. It’s, it’s a miraculous supernatural marriage. It’s not only a marriage of convenience or a marriage of, Hey, I like you and you like me.

Let’s get married. There is a supernatural marriage. There is a purpose, yeah. That God has put upon your lives. And it’s not just ‘cause you guys thought it was a good idea. It was a God idea. There is an approval upon your marriage. And of your covenant that no man can separate. Yeah. Father, I thank you for that.

Lord, I thank you for the destiny upon their lives, Lord, not just Stuart’s life and not just Karen’s life, but their life as one father. And I bless that unity, and Lord, I bless that marriage, Lord, that is a match made in heaven Father, and I just say, Lord, I thank you that you are gonna cause them to prosper in everything, even as their soul prospers, Lord.

Amen. Lord, I thank you that they will be fruitful in everything they put their hand to. Yeah. Thank you Lord, in Jesus’ name. Thank you Lord. Amen. Amen.

In my future posts, I will clarify the sheer absurdity of these words. I’ll explain why they weren’t just false, but were actively detrimental—shaping our past in ways that nearly sabotaged our future.

We were young, eager, and deeply committed to the vision of our church. When our leader, Pastor Austin, sat us down to share what he called a “divine strategy,” we didn’t see a financial contract; we saw a spiritual calling. He told us we were like the Israelites standing on the edge of the Jordan River. The “Promised Land” was a $2.8 million property, a massive headquarters that would put our movement on the map.

But there was a problem. The church had no savings. No collateral. No earthly way to secure a loan of that magnitude.

The Word from “The Prophet”

To bridge the gap between reality and the dream, Pastor Austin introduced us to The Prophet.

The Prophet was a man of influence in “New Apostolic” circles, years before any of us had even heard the term “NAR.” He was a master of the stage, known for his uncanny accuracy, his clever, rhythmic wordplay, and an almost eerie ability to “see” into a person’s future.

During a casual coffee meeting between Pastor Austin, another local pastor, and The Prophet, a “word” was released. It wasn’t just a suggestion; it was a mandate that Pastor Austin gripped tighter than a captain at the helm of the Starship Enterprise. He treated that prophecy like a warp-speed command to propel us into a new frontier, ignoring the structural integrity of the ship—and the lives of the crew—to chase a vision that had been validated by a “pirate” of the prophetic world.

• You will be given an offer, and ‘dude’, it’s large.

• You will sign three specific documents.

• Do not trust in the “economy of man,” but trust in the “economy of heaven.”

For the more senior leaders with serious concerns, this word was the ultimate silencer. To question the math was now seen as questioning God. To ask for a financial audit was to have a “spirit of fear.”

The Joshua Narrative

Pastor Austin leaned heavily into the story of Joshua and the Twelve Spies. He told us that the older leaders who were “hesitant” were like the ten faithless spies who saw giants and wanted to retreat. He turned to us, the young, loyal elders, and asked if we had the “Spirit of Caleb.”

He told us he wouldn’t move forward without “unity.” It sounded like he was giving us a choice, but the pressure was invisible and crushing. If we said no, we were the ones stopping the move of God. We were the ones “blocking the heavens.”

In the end, the older leaders with the most experience walked away, unable to stomach the risk. That left us, young, idealistic, and financially green. Pastor Austin looked at us and said that since the church had no collateral, we would need to be the personal guarantors on the $2.8 million loan.

Guided by the “Prophet’s” word and Pastor Austin’s “apostolic authority,” we were led to the edge of a cliff. Even when our own legal counsel stepped in, explicitly advising against the move and highlighting the massive personal risk, the spiritual pressure overrode the professional warnings. We were told to have "faith over fear," and so, despite the red flags waving in our faces, we signed under duress.

When the “Heavenly Economy” Crashes

Years later, the curtain has been pulled back.

The Prophet, whose words we treated as scripture, has been publicly called out by international watchdogs and prophetic councils alike. It turns out his “revelations” weren’t coming from the throne of God, but from data mining and psychological manipulation. The “three documents” weren’t a miracle; they were just the standard paperwork of any commercial real estate deal.

As the building project began to buckle under the weight of its own debt, the narrative changed. When things were “good,” the glory went to the Prophet’s word and Austin’s vision. But when the stress became unbearable and the lack of funding reached a crisis point, the blame shifted downward.

Suddenly, it was my fault because I had “found the building.” The Pastor who had coerced us into signing was now washing his hands of the “building stress,” leaving the young loyal amour bearers to carry the weight of a $2.8 million mistake.

The Lesson

This is the hallmark of spiritual abuse in the New Apostolic NAR movement:

1. Weaponised Prophecy: Using “words” to bypass common sense and due diligence.

2. Forced Unity: Making dissent feel like a sin.

3. Risk Transfer: The leader gets the “vision” and the platform, while the followers take the legal and financial liability.

If you are told to ignore your “natural mind” or the “economy of man” to sign a document that puts your family’s future at risk, stop. God gave you a mind to discern and a spirit to sense danger. True shepherds protect their sheep from the wolves; they don’t use the sheep as collateral to build their own empires.

The Promised Land doesn’t require you to sign away your soul, or your credit score, to a man who claims to speak for God but won’t take the risk himself.

Below is the digital trail of a disaster: the email that locked us into millions of dollars of debt and a decade of spiritual confusion.

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Until a public statement was made by an Australian Church and Ministry Organisation.

Gary and Sarah, if you're reading this, you know I could have spoken up earlier. I could have shouted from the rooftops. Because you know, we tried to talk to you. You know that we sought communication with you.

But you rejected us and protected an abuser.

Thank you (@Australian Prophetic Conference and @Glorious Gospel Church) for publicly sharing your investigation and statement.

Australian Prophetic Conference and Glorious Gospel Church

Dear Church,

We have some news to share with you regarding a guest speaker we had minister at our church last year, including ministry at the Australian Prophetic Conference we hosted. The primary reason we feel we must make a statement to our church, and our online audience, is because we platformed this minister- and may have been the gateway to many of you now following his ministry.

We don’t take sharing this news lightly; scripture teaches us to be delicate with such situations:

1 Timothy 5:19-20

Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses. But those elders who are sinning you are to reprove before everyone, so that the others may take warning.

What we want to bring to the church, is simply what reports had come to us. We ourselves feel unable to make a truth claiming statement about the situation, because of how far removed we are; however after receiving reports we found concerning, we felt it would be irresponsible for us to not at least allow what we’ve heard to be presented to the church we had introduce to his ministry. We present the report as an opportunity for discernment; allowing saints to weigh up the situation themselves and consider how to respond to the situation.

6-7 Weeks ago we received some reports from seemingly credible ministers against Gary Morgan. The report was that, 7-10 years ago, Gary Morgan was accused of using Facebook as a means to gain information on someone before prophesying over them.

As the report goes: there was a couple following Gary’s ministry that noticed a unique recurrence - many times during this year, those being prophesied over were also Facebook users that had RSVP’d or interacted with Facebook Events / Posts leading up to the event Gary was ministering at. To test this theory, this couple decided to create a dummy Facebook account. They used this Facebook account to engage with posts leading up to another conference Gary was ministering at. The report claims that during the conference, Gary gave a “word of knowledge” for a person matching the details of this dummy Facebook account; calling out their name and birth date.

At this point the couple worked with the local leadership to confront Gary. Gary was surprised by the accusation, and maintained he never used Facebook to gather information on attendees for words of knowledge / prophecy. From what we understand, at this point he was removed from the Australian Prophetic Council. We were told he was willing to surrender his electronic devices for forensic investigation, but would only do so if the couple who brought the accusation forward would also surrender their devices (we are unsure why this condition was in place). Later on we discovered that this offer to surrender Gary’s electronic devices for investigation was only given 3 months after the incident took place. According to Gary’s team, the couple who brought the accusation were unwilling to surrender their devices, and so Gary’s devices were also not surrendered for forensic investigation. However according to the couple, they were indeed willing to surrender their devices.

When the reports came to us (only parts of the story above), we immediately reached out to Gary.

We believe it is important we not simply receive accusations, but also reach out to the accused, to hear both sides of the story.

About 4 weeks ago, we engaged in a zoom call with Gary, and what seemed to be two of his ministry elders.

In the call, they maintained that Gary never used Facebook to prophesy over anyone, and this was an isolated accusation; one that is now 7-10 years old.

They were not willing to share the full details of the incident, however they encouraged us to reach out to other parties involved and finish our investigation. In this meeting however, Gary’s team requested to be informed by the end of day if we wanted to keep Gary booked for ministry in 2026. We decided that it would be irresponsible for us to clear Gary for ministry in our circles prior to completing our investigation, in light of what had been brought to us - so we cancelled all bookings with Gary that same day.

Over the last few weeks, in the process of reaching out to other parties involved, and having the number of testimonies from seemingly credible witnesses only increase (including reports from ministers such as Ben Fitzgerald) - it became harder to simply take Gary at his word over the word of several others; others in ministry that carry a seeming weight of credibility, people we would consider to “know” as well as we “know” Gary. It was during this time of reaching out to others, that we finished piecing together the report we gave above.

We ourselves feel it became difficult to land on a truth claim for a situation we were removed from, however we feel responsibility to bring the testimony to the church- rather than keep things hidden.

Ultimately we pray those more closely involved would complete the Matthew 18 journey, and bring a warning to the church if they believe there is warning to be brought. If these accusations are falsified in any way, we pray that the falsification would also be brought to light.

Our counsel to GGC is this: that upon hearing both sides of the story, we ourselves believe wisdom would be to walk in caution; and until a resolution or public testimony has been provided- it seems right for us to part ways with Gary’s ministry. This event has reminded us how valuable and important it is to engage in ministry through relationship - and not just “ministry association”. There are many ministers we walk in deep relationship with, that we also enjoy the deep trust and integrity of. In a season where it can feel like a struggle to trust others in ministry, we must lean into deeper relationships as the vehicle for ministry operation.

There is more behind the decision we’ve made, that we don’t believe is yet necessary to disclose; including more details to the wider story - but we encourage you to lean into our counsel on the matter. Upon considering reports from both sides, events surrounding the incident, and even how we encountered people on the different sides of this situation, we were left with a sense that this is something we have responsibility to bring to the church.

After approaching one of the witnesses in our investigation, it seems they came to a realisation that they should’ve been more public with this previously - so they reached out to a YouTuber Mike Winger, and since then news of this has begun going more public.

One of our disappointments: is that if what Gary was accused of is true, why those involved did not feel responsible to make known what took place, to warn the church. However, as we have come towards the end of our investigation, there seems to be a context to the way things were done - whether right or wrong.

We only finished our investigation this past Friday (13th March 2026) at our most recent elders meeting; and have now had the opportunity to bring it to you the church.

We want to be clear: we did not know of this accusation prior to inviting Gary for ministry, and within weeks of finding out made moves to reach out, and subsequently remove association with him. We have since made a statement to our leaders, our church, and now the church beyond our local context; those who’ve been in partnership with GGC through ministry, or conferences we’ve hosted.

The reason we bring this news to you:

1. GGC / APC will be taking caution around Gary’s ministry, and at least seasonally be parting ways.

2. This is not a call to write-off any words you have received from Gary; but we do encourage you to reprocess them in the light of this news, with the appropriate parties (scripture, leaders, church family, and so on)

3. We invite you to be praying for Gary, and his family - and the circles of churches and ministries more closely involved with this situation. Ultimately Gary, and those who have brought reports against him (we believe in confidence), are our brothers/sisters in Christ - family. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, so let us expose darkness, wherever it is- that our brothers would be redeemed and Jesus would be glorified.

We love Gary. We love the church. We pray that in all of this; Jesus would be glorified and the church would only grow in maturity, and unity, into the full stature of Christ.

With Love,

The GGC Eldership Team

There is a reason why people are unable to go public or seek help — primarily because they are kept in the dark. They are controlled by a ‘higher authority’ that protects ‘the prophet,’ perpetuating a cycle of abuse and control. I have a story, but I can’t tell it all right now, and this isn’t because of a lack of trying. I’m also shocked by the response from Gary Morgan’s board, one of whom was and is deeply involved in our own church investigation and its outcome over the past few years.

https://garyandsarah.org/statement

Statement Regarding Recent
Claims About Gary Morgan

Recently, concerns about Gary Morgan and his ministry have been shared publicly online. We recognise that for many, this conversation has been unsettling and has stirred up real pain. Because those statements are now part of the public conversation, we want to respond to ensure that those who are trying to make sense of what they’ve heard have a fuller picture.

Before anything else, we want to speak directly to people who may be sitting with pain, confusion, or disorientation right now. If you have followed Gary’s ministry and are uncertain what to make of these claims, we understand. If you received a word from Gary and are now questioning what that meant or whether it was real, your uncertainty is legitimate and deserves to be taken seriously. These are not
small questions. They touch people’s faith, their experiences of God, and their sense of safety in
Christian community.

We also want to acknowledge those who have brought concerns forward. Coming forward is costly. It requires courage. Whatever questions remain about the process or its outcome, we honour that courage, and we do not take it lightly.

Our hope in everything that follows is to add clarity in the midst of uncertainty, not to shut down legitimate questions.

We want to say clearly: the fraudulent use of social media to manufacture prophetic words is a genuine and serious problem in parts of the charismatic church. We do not condone it. We would not defend it. The integrity of prophetic ministry matters deeply to us, and that conviction shapes everything that follows.

It is precisely because this issue is serious that the process for examining accusations must also be serious; careful, fair, and resistant to the pressure of public momentum. What we offer below is not a defence of prophetic ministry in general, or of Gary’s innocence as a settled matter. It is a commitment to ensuring the record is accurate and the process is fair.

In light of the questions that have arisen following these posts, we want to address two issues:

1. The accusation that Gary used social media to data mine personal information and present it as revelation from God.

2. Past boundary violations in Gary’s life.

A claim circulating online suggests that Gary used social media to gather personal information about individuals and then presented that information as prophetic revelation.

The situation referenced occurred in 2016, while Gary was ministering at a church service. During a time of ministry, he shared several words of knowledge, including calling out a name and date that no one in the room responded to. He continued by sharing what he believed was a prophetic word, in case the individual was watching the event online.

After this session, the pastor told Gary that a member of staff had brought an accusation against him. This staff member had created a fake Facebook profile with the same name and date that Gary called out, believing this was evidence that Gary had used social media to identify them in advance. Gary denied that accusation.

Despite his denial, the accusations escalated, and others were brought in to investigate. The investigation concluded without finding evidence to support the accusations. Gary’s accusers chose not to proceed to the examination of his electronic devices (an examination Gary actively invited), and the process ended there. We are left with an unresolved accusation and Gary’s consistent denial. We recognise that for some, this will not be satisfying. We share that same desire for greater clarity, and we remain open to any process that could provide it.

In the ten years since this accusation, we have not received additional concerns about the integrity of Gary’s ministry. Even so, allegations involving ministry leaders should be examined carefully. If anyone has information that should be reviewed, we invite them to come forward. We would welcome the involvement of independent leaders along with the board so that any review is conducted transparently and with appropriate accountability. Our commitment as a board is to pursue truth, to honour the name of Christ, and to uphold integrity in ministry.

We recognise that when discussing any moral failure publicly, several complexities require careful consideration. Our first concern in situations like this is the dignity, well-being, and privacy of third parties affected. This limits the facts that can be shared, which we acknowledge can look like an attempt to cover up, minimise, or otherwise obscure what actually happened. Further, when context (or detail) is shared, it can also sound like an appeal to excuse intent or minimise sin.

With these complexities acknowledged, we share this in a wholehearted effort to be transparent about what took place, not to excuse what happened. We want to be clear that Gary held no leadership role in this woman’s life. We name this not to minimise his sin, but to ensure the facts are stated plainly so nothing is hidden through imprecise language. Gary and his wife, Sarah, have shared information about this situation publicly several times and have requested that it be shared now, but we recognise this may be new information for many.

In 2008, Gary acted inappropriately with a married woman. Their interactions crossed physical and emotional boundaries. While no sexual intercourse or oral sex took place, the nature of those interactions constituted sexual sin and moral failure. Gary confessed what had happened to his wife, Sarah and to the leaders in their lives at that time. While Gary and Sarah followed the advice given by their leaders, unfortunately, it was unhelpful. They were effectively told not to speak about this anymore and to forgive, forget, and simply move on with their lives.

Ten years later, in 2018, Gary and the same woman began messaging each other on social media and in private. While there was no physical contact between the two, they did exchange flirtatious and inappropriate messages. After three weeks of messaging, Gary confessed to Sarah again, and then brought the matter to Peter McHugh, Gary and Sarah’s pastor. Through his conversations with Peter, Gary came to understand that the messaging was rooted in the events from a decade earlier.

Gary began weekly counselling with a licensed psychologist and remained in therapy for more than two years. Peter met with Gary and Sarah consistently for one year in a pastoral context. In addition, Gary and Sarah received ministry through Restoring the Foundations, a ministry focused on prayer, inner healing, and deliverance. During this time, Gary ceased all international travel and reduced his ministry involvement to helping teach at their school, which Sarah oversaw. In 2019, with Peter’s supervision, Gary returned to limited national and international ministry.

Gary names his actions as they are: sexual sin and moral failure. He has confessed these sins to his wife, his leaders, his close friends, and, most importantly, to Jesus. In addition, he has sought care from licensed professionals, ministry from seasoned believers and lives openly and humbly, sharing these failures when teaching on the mercy of God.

We recognise that statements like this cannot resolve every question. Our hope is that the facts shared here help bring clarity, and that any remaining concerns can be examined carefully and honestly wherever the truth leads.

Gary & Sarah Morgan - Founders, School of Prophets
Peter McHugh - Founding Pastor, Stairway Church, Melbourne
Alyn Jones - Senior Pastor, Goodly Church, Nashville

It’s shocking that Gary’s past remained undisclosed, especially given how deeply he impacted our lives in a manipulative way, in partnership with our abuser. To be told to TRUST someone who concealed this is unbelievable. They held the keys to victim statements, deep traumatic memories, and fears, yet they continue to be part of that process, with their connection and protection linked to another perpetrator involved in our abuse.

The public sharing has also revealed hidden secrets within Gary’s ‘board.’ Knowledge that he was prophesying over our own church and us, and over our dangerous leader and friends, while secretly dealing with sexual sin and moral failings in his marriage, is truly frightening.

Moreover, as he continued to be the ‘go-to prophet’ and the ‘substitute pastor’ from 2009 until 2023, when our own pastor was asked to resign by the elders but refused is more than terrifying.

To watch Gary publicly elevate our abusive, dangerous CEO pastor while victims watched from a safe house was heartbreaking. We tried reaching out to Gary, hoping that after so many years of knowing us as friends and church leaders, he would seek out the victims’ stories instead of siding with the abusive leaders’ narrative. Instead, he didn’t reach out; when I tried multiple times, in my broken and traumatised state, to initiate a conversation, he attacked me privately and removed me from his Facebook.

I hadn’t been able to share this — and much more — publicly due to legitimate fears, reasons, and the need for self-protection.

The public post by the Australian Prophetic Conference has given me the courage to share this small part of our devastation. I’ll leave it there. While I appreciate people like Mike Winger reaching out privately and welcome his contact, beyond that, I must protect my family and myself from further attacks and stress, especially at a time when our focus needs to be on their safety and well-being.

More can be found here (I have no involvement in this publication or what is posted): https://churchwatchcentral.com/2026/03/21/australian-prophetic-council-and-the-prophetic-grift-of-gary-morgan-exposed/

God is shining a bright light into the spaces where counterfeit LEDs were glowing.

Tonight, for my birthday, we had dinner at my parents' house. My dad proudly showed off their new ‘skylight’ he’d installed over the weekend. We looked up into a blue sky and saw a bright light. But then he showed us the remote control. He switched off the ‘skylight’ completely. It went from ‘daylight’ to nothing. It was fake. The lights inside, along with the mirrors and effects, only mimicked daylight. My dad even demonstrated how the colour temperature could change from daylight to sunset.

Cool gadget. But not real.

The light that shone was counterfeit. Just like this… everything. Every rock is being overturned. Every false prophet, false teacher, false pastor.

God’s truth is unveiling the fake skylights.

It’s been another three weeks of hospital beds. Three weeks of trying to breathe and the constant feeling that I’m about to completely lose my mind.

But we had to stay solid for her. She’s in the fight of her life right now. She’s winning—she will win—but not because the hospital system “got” her. They didn’t (quite). She’s winning because we fought for her. Because we demanded the right diagnosis and some actual understanding. They kept her “physically safe,” sure, but she left a shell. Just a broken pot waiting for someone to finally sweep up the pieces and try to put her back together.

Home. Now.

The road ahead is still long. We still have to keep her safe, but we’re doing it differently now, in the light of who she actually is and what she actually needs. One day, what she’s going through is going to change someone else’s world.

She’s a warrior.

We’re a family of warriors. Broken, exhausted, and under attack, but still standing. Just... quietly standing. We’re right on the edge of fainting, but we haven’t dropped yet.

We have our family back. The tornadoes are still screaming around us, and they aren’t stopping, but we’re just holding on. Holding so tight, together.

Tonight we finally rest and breathe as a family reunited.

But I led her inside regardless. Because what else is there? Only the hope of a hug. The necessity of love. The bridge of support. The lifeline of friendship.

Read more

At 31/32 years old, we were stepping into the unknown—we had no idea if this would be a safe or risky pregnancy. We were in the “danger zone” of the first trimester, that delicate window where every stressor feels like a threat to the heartbeat we were only just beginning to trust.

Read more

3rd June 2011 - The Mansion

She was born under a haze of conflict and confusion, an infant initiated into a cult she never signed up for. I was a mother perpetually braced to put out fires, …

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My mind is exploding; my pen is ice. My heart cycles through breaking and mending so fast I can hardly feel the difference anymore.

I understand so much more now, but the realisation has turned me to ash. I am authoring, but the pages stay hidden.

Writing happens here, in the hospital room, in the slivers of time next to her bed.

The truth is too clear to be real. I’m speaking in lines that feel written for a screen, living a tragedy that feels like a movie based on a story I used to know.

And now, there is only the rhythm of the watch. Tick. Tock. The seconds are heavy.

She charts the minutes and hours between meals.

I am the silent witness to the second hand’s crawl, praying for the sentence that ends this exile and turns the 'patient' back into my daughter.

The hospital is a cage, but our old home is a ghost. I am standing in the wreckage of two worlds, waiting for a third one to begin.

Home is the sound of paws on the porch and the feeling of the sun breaking through. It’s the messy, loud, living grace of a family reunion on our own ground.

This coming moment—the doorstep, the dogs, the light—will be a joyous reprieve in the script of our lives.

I’ve learned to trust the Author; He has already designed the ending. And while every good film has its sequels, I am learning to find my breath in the breaks between the scenes.

By now, the whiplash should be second nature. Yet, we remain a magnet for the monumental—the plot twists that leave us pale white and the soaring highs that keep us breathing. It seems 'quiet' isn't in our current vocabulary; we are living in the thick of a grand, unfolding epic script.

I need to write…

Eventually, the house lights will come up, and the full screenplay will be yours to read. For now, I am living the scenes; one day, I will tell the whole story.

Buy Unmasking Wonderland in eBook or Paperback: https://amzn.asia/d/0fIEXSBC

Unmasking Wonderland was just the beginning…

CNN Story Link

For decades, Philip Yancey’s What’s So Amazing About Grace? served as the North Star for a generation weary of legalism. He taught us that grace is “a gift that costs everything to the giver and nothing to the receiver.”

I didn’t just read it; I championed it. Back when I worked in a prominent Christian bookstore, I sold that book by the hundreds. I was the one who hung the posters in the windows and pressed them into the hands of seeking customers, believing Yancey’s message was the antidote to the “ungrace” of the world.

But as the news of his eight-year affair breaks, that legacy feels like a hall of mirrors. We are forced to ask a gut-wrenching question: When does the “scandal of grace” turn into a shield for systemic deception?

The Architecture of the Double Life

When a leader lives in sin for nearly a decade while continuing to profit from the message of holiness and forgiveness, they aren’t just “falling”—they are building. This is the calculated construction of a double life.

In the evangelical world, we have become experts at accepting “Cheap Grace.” We’ve created a culture where:

• The Brand is Protected: The platform is prioritised over the person’s soul.

• The Narrative is Controlled: Confessions are timed for damage control rather than genuine repentance.

• The Vocabulary is Hijacked: Terms like “brokenness” are used to deflect the weight of “betrayal.”

From “Amazing” to “Abused”

The irony is sharp enough to draw blood. The very author who taught us that grace is the most powerful force in the universe has now provided the ultimate case study in its misuse. If grace is used to bypass the consequences of an eight-year lie, it isn’t the grace of the Cross; it’s the grace of the Evangelical Country Club—comfortable, enabling, and utterly devoid of the power to transform.

When we promote authors based on their prose rather than their character, we participate in the very “un-grace” Yancey warned us about. We offer a “false grace” that comforts the perpetrator while silencing the victims of their deception.

Is it possible to keep the message and discard the messenger, or does a decade of deception poison the well of the teaching itself?

The Mechanics of “Cheap Grace”

In his book, Yancey famously quoted Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s concept of “cheap grace.” Ironically, we are now seeing it play out in real-time. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without discipline, and Communion without confession.

In the ecosystem of celebrity evangelicalism, a specific pattern has emerged for leaders “living in sin”:

1. The Hidden Life: Maintaining a public brand of holiness while systematically violating their own teachings for years.

2. The Strategic Confession: Admitting to the sin only when exposure is imminent or when the “season” of the affair has naturally concluded.

3. The Grace Card: Using the language of brokenness to silence critics, effectively weaponising the Gospel to bypass accountability.

When Leaders Weaponise the “Broken” Narrative

There is a subtle, dangerous shift happening in how we view pastoral failure. We have moved from a biblical standard of “above reproach” to a cultural standard of “relatably broken.”

When an author or teacher lives a double life for nearly a decade, it isn’t just a “stumble”—it is a sophisticated architecture of lies. To apply “grace” immediately without addressing the shattered trust of the spouse, the family, and the readers is not being Christ-like; it’s being an accomplice.

The Difference Between True and False Grace

• True Grace: Acknowledges the depth of the wound, demands truth, and walks through the long, painful fire of restoration.

• False Grace: Smothers the victim’s pain with platitudes, rushes to “forgive and forget,” and prioritizes the leader’s platform over the community’s health.

The Cost of the “Grace Brand”

The tragedy here is that “false grace” actually makes the real thing harder to believe. When leaders treat grace as a “get out of jail free” card for a decade of deception, the world looks at the Church and sees a protected class of influencers rather than a body of believers.

If Yancey’s message was that grace is amazing because it reaches the unlovable, we must now grapple with a darker reality: sometimes the people who talk most beautifully about grace use it to hide the very things that make grace necessary.

As someone who once hung the posters and filled the endcaps with the latest “must-read” spiritual memoir, I know the weight of the Christian bookstore’s influence. We weren’t just retail workers; we were the theological gatekeepers for the average person in the pew.

When we stocked a book, we weren’t just selling paper and ink—we were issuing a stamp of credibility. But the Yancey revelation, following on the heels of so many others, proves that our current “hit-maker” model is broken. It prioritises the gift over the giver, and the platform over the person.

How do we move toward a “character-first” approach? It starts with changing the way we value the voices we amplify.

We have treated the “message” as if it exists in a vacuum. We’ve said, “The book is good, even if the man is flawed.” But when the book is specifically about Grace, Integrity, or Purity, the author’s life is the primary evidence for the argument.

Publishers and retailers need a “Moral Crisis” protocol that doesn’t just involve pulling books from shelves after the fact, but involves deeper due diligence before the posters ever go up. They need to stop treating authors like celebrities and start treating them like the deacons and elders the Bible describes: people who must first be “tested” (1 Timothy 3:10).

The Cost of Truth

Moving to a character-first model will mean fewer “blockbusters.” It might mean thinner profit margins and less flashy marketing campaigns. But if the alternative is selling a “False Grace” that eventually shatters the faith of the person buying the book, the cost of the status quo is far too high.

Publishers can no longer afford to be a “middleman” for a lie. If they are going to sell the message of the Cross, they have to ensure the messengers aren’t actively making a mockery of it behind the scenes.

Does the message of a book survive the moral failure of its author? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments on whether we should separate the art from the artist in the pews.

My instincts kicked in immediately. Drawing on years of video training, I raised my phone to record—not out of curiosity, but to ensure there was an objective record of whatever was unfolding. To my side, I could feel my daughter watching. I knew that, in this moment, my reaction would become her blueprint for handling conflict.

The tension centred on two blonde girls who had been roaming the aisles. They were loud, bold, and broadcast their conversation on speakerphone, their faces set with a sharp, aggressive “attitude.” Then, the target of their attention appeared: a young Muslim girl who had raced into the store.

She looked small and incredibly vulnerable, dressed only in her pyjamas. She could have been a teenager or a young woman in her twenties, but she was visibly broken. A mix of fear and a desperate need for justice.

It became clear that this wasn’t a random scuffle; it was an ambush. The two girls began descending on her, their verbal aggression turning into a physical confrontation. The young Muslim girl seemed trapped by a cocktail of PTSD and raw anxiety, her pain radiating through the store. As I held the camera steady, I watched the stark contrast between the calculated hostility of the two attackers and the sheer, desperate terror of a girl who had clearly been pushed to her breaking point.

The store, usually a quiet sanctuary of craft supplies and bargains, had transformed into a theatre of raw, ugly aggression. I kept the camera steady, my professional training taking over as a shield against the adrenaline. Beside me, I could feel my daughter’s stillness. A solemn, wide-eyed silence. I knew she wasn’t just watching a fight; she was watching me to see how a person responds to hate.

“Are you crying?” one of the blonde girls sneered, her voice dripping with a cruel, mocking edge. She stepped into the Muslim girl’s personal space, weaponising her ‘attitude’ like a physical blow.

The young girl in the pyjamas backed away, her hands trembling, her voice thin and fractured. “You came to my house! You stalked us! You hurled racist comments at my sister.”

The second blonde girl stepped forward, her eyes cold. “Racist? We are not racist!” she declared, almost bored, as if admitting to it was a show of power.

“You need to stop!” the Muslim girl cried out, her voice rising in a desperate plea for a boundary the law hadn’t yet provided. “You ripped off my sister’s hijab! You don’t know how bad that is!”

The denial was instant and practised. “She pulled it off herself,” the blonde girl lied, her face inches from the victim’s. “I didn’t touch her. I didn’t touch it.”

“I saw you!” the girl screamed back, her pain deep and visceral. “The cameras saw you!”

I felt a surge of protective instinct. I shifted my position slightly to ensure the camera captured the aggressors’ faces clearly. Another bystander spoke directly to the girl in the pyjamas, their voice a sharp contrast to the shouting. “Stay with me,” they told her. “You are safe.”

But the terror vibrating off her was too deep for a stranger’s words to heal. “No,” she sobbed, her eyes darting toward her tormentors with the look of a trapped animal. “We don’t feel safe in our own house! We’ve called the police ten times... ten times for these attacks! They’re not helping us!”

The blonde girls didn’t flinch. If anything, they seemed to grow taller, emboldened by the systemic silence that had left this family defenceless.

Then, something snapped. Driven by a desperate, protective strength that transcended her small frame, the Muslim girl lunged. She vaulted over the store aisles with a manic energy, a girl who felt she had no choice but to fight for her family’s survival because the world had failed to do so. An intense, chaotic scuffle erupted—a collision of raw, broken pain against cold, calculated aggression.

The bystanders' passive silence shattered as they surged forward to intervene. They moved as one to pull the girls apart, but then they did something more: they pivoted, their bodies forming a human wall that blocked the blonde girls’ exit.

“You’re not leaving,” the crowd challenged, the air thick with a sudden, collective demand for accountability.

I watched through my phone screen as the two girls finally faltered. The predatory “attitude” they had worn like armour evaporated, replaced by a flickering, wide-eyed shock. They were no longer the hunters; they were facing a room full of people who had finally, decisively, drawn a line in the sand.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the shopkeeper pressed against the phone, urgent whispers directed at emergency services. The police station was literally across the road. I knew that building well—I’d sat in those sterile waiting rooms many times over the past few years, supporting survivors escaping our former high-control church. I knew it wouldn’t take long for them to arrive.

It didn’t. As the patrol cars rocked up, the blonde girls made a desperate break for the exit, but they didn’t get far. The muffled sounds of a radio and firm commands from the sidewalk confirmed they had been apprehended.

A kind-faced, blonde officer entered the store, her presence instantly cooling the heated air. She rallied the witnesses and began speaking with the Muslim girl. I finally lowered my phone and clicked the camera off. The role of the witness was done; now, it was time to be a human. I sat down beside her, offering what little comfort I could, and encouraged her to tell her story.

The other bystanders stayed close, forming a protective circle around the fragile young woman as she began to describe a living nightmare. For two months, her family had lived under siege. Reckless nighttime attacks. Security cameras ripped from walls and stolen. Fences bashed down. Most hauntingly, she spoke of how the attackers filmed her family—even capturing her mother without her hijab, a profound violation of their faith and privacy.

She didn’t know why. She only knew they were being targeted for being Muslim. The ringleader was only fourteen, attending the same school as the victim’s younger sister.

Fourteen. My daughter’s age.

My daughter approached us then. I could see the wheels turning in her head, the desperate urge to fix something that felt fundamentally broken. “Mum,” she whispered, “can I buy her something? Can I give her something to help?” It was a child’s instinctive response to a world-sized problem, but she saw the truth clearly: what this seventeen-year-old and her family were enduring was wrong. It was the evidence of a system that had failed to protect them.

I sighed, a heavy weight settling as I thought back to my own dealings with the law. Too often, it feels as though the perpetrators win while the victims are left to fend for themselves in the wreckage. I looked at this girl and decided: I don’t want this to be her story anymore.

The officer finished her initial questioning just as the girl’s mother raced into the store, her face a mask of tears and terror. She spoke of the immense threat they faced in their own backyard, right here in the middle of Australia. They had fled Afghanistan, hoping to find refuge and safety, only to find a different kind of war zone fueled by hate and fear.

They were broken, scared, and utterly unprotected.

Before we left, I exchanged numbers with them. I felt a fierce, burning resolve take root. I will not rest until they are safe. If the system won’t help them, then we, the locals, the neighbours, the people who are supposed to love and protect, have to do something.

To my fellow locals: we cannot afford to look away. What we witnessed in that store wasn't just a "kids' scuffle"—it was the boiling point of a family being terrorised in their own neighbourhood. This family fled Afghanistan in search of peace, only to find themselves under siege in the very place we call home. When the system fails, and the police are stretched thin, it is up to us to be the safety net. We must decide what kind of community we are: one that stays silent, or one that stands at the gate and says, "Not here, and not to them." If you see something, speak up. If you see a neighbour under threat, stand with them. Let’s prove that in this town, protection isn't just a legal obligation—it’s a neighbourly promise.

There are some books that arrive not as mere stories, but as companions for the ones who lived through what others still struggle to believe. Unmasking Wonderland is one of these books, a testament not only to what happened inside a high-control church, but also to the human cost of systems that trade spirituality for power, and belonging for control. It is a book born from truth-telling, and truth-telling in the wake of betrayal is an act of courage, reclamation, and care.

I write this foreword as someone who knows the terrain well. I spent decades inside a high-control Pentecostal church, slowly shaped into someone who served tirelessly, obeyed unquestioningly, and rarely paused long enough to hear my own voice beneath the demands of the “vision.” Like many survivors, I did not enter that world naïve; I entered it hopeful. I believed in community, purpose, and the possibility of goodness. And like many, I became a leader within a system that required my loyalty long before it ever cared about my well-being.

That is the insidious nature of spiritual abuse: it hides beneath the language of calling, sacrifice, honour, and obedience. It masquerades as faithfulness while quietly eroding your intuition, your agency, and sometimes your sense of self.

Reading through these pages, including the documented patterns, testimonies, internal accounts, and the careful narrative layering Karen has created, I felt the familiar ache of recognition. The psychological and spiritual dynamics she captures are not abstract, they are lived realities corroborated by countless survivors around the world, and thoroughly reflected in the extensive evidence and testimonies underpinning this book. And yet Karen handles these stories not with sensationalism, but with reverence. Her care is palpable; her integrity unmistakable. She has chosen, again and again, to protect survivors above protecting institutions. This is a rare and radical act in the landscape of church-based harm.

As a mental health practitioner who supports individuals emerging from coercive control, cultic systems, and high-control religious environments, I want to say this plainly: What happened to the survivors in this book matters. Their pain is real, their confusion is understandable, and their trauma is valid.

The grief that follows spiritual betrayal is unlike any other. It is the grief of losing your community, your sense of safety, sometimes your family, and often your entire framework for meaning. It is a grief that can feel like exile from the life you once trusted. Survivors are left navigating the wreckage while still holding the deep, human need to belong.

That is why books like this are necessary.

They make the invisible visible.

They return language to those who were silenced.

They honour the courage of every survivor who stepped forward, signed declarations, relived memories, and risked being disbelieved, all so the truth could be known.

Karen holds these stories with fierce gentleness. Her work demonstrates what trauma-informed storytelling can look like: truthful without being exploitative and grounded without being hopeless. She writes as someone who has borne the cost of leadership betrayal personally, and who has chosen, even while carrying her own wounds, to create a safe container for others.

To the survivors whose voices echo through these pages: Your stories do not sit in a vacuum. They sit among thousands of others who have walked this same disorienting and devastating path. You did not deserve to be harmed. There is nothing naïve about trusting people who promised to shepherd you.

And to Karen: Thank you for your courage, your steadiness, your integrity, and your determination to tell the truth, even when doing so cost you deeply. Thank you for honouring every survivor entrusted to you, for creating a narrative that makes room for nuance, heartbreak, and hope.

This book is an invitation to survivors, to their loved ones, to faith communities, and to anyone seeking to understand how coercive control hides behind charisma and theology. May it serve as a lantern for those still finding their way out of the rabbit hole, a companion for those rebuilding their sense of self, and a witness to the truth that healing - slow, nonlinear, humanising - becomes possible when our stories are finally allowed to be spoken.

Elise Heerde - Survivor, Melbourne, Australia

Mental Health Practitioner - Religious Trauma & Cult Recovery

In this isolation, we found a strange safety net: the “others.” Former members of the same high-control church, scattered like seeds hours from home. Yesterday, we sat for tea with those “who know.” We shared dinner with a family who was there at the very beginning—people who understand the specific ache of a twenty-year exit.

I quipped with pirates that we don’t have “normal” friends, but it wasn’t a joke. When your life is consumed for two decades, meaningful connection only exists with those who shared the cage. Now, those bonds are laced with remorse and the quiet solidarity of shared trauma.

We forgot to take photos. We were too busy managing the frayed nerves of a child caught between new medications and the confusion of a life uprooted. In this “shaded paradise,” we are all screaming for a finale.

I write this to the rhythm of rain on the roof and the distant crash of the tide. We are waiting for a generator to restore power, but I wonder if that is just what life has become: a series of waits. Waiting for a reprieve. Waiting for an infill. Waiting for rest.

2025 is done and dusted. As 2026 approaches, my prayer is simple: Freedom. Safety. Stability. Justice.

Goodnight from the dark.

Tomorrow is the final day of 2025, and we bid it farewell.

This year, the festive lights feel a little dimmer. We are acutely aware of friends’ domestic situations that have been pounding on their door, threatening to boil over, even as we march toward December 25th. It is a heavy realisation. We celebrate a Saviour who came to seek and save the lost, yet so often, we leave the “bleeding sheep” alone in the pasture because their pain is too loud or too inconvenient for our holiday aesthetic.

The Reality Behind Our Doors

It’s not easy to open a home that feels like it’s cracking at the seams. If you walked into our house, you wouldn’t find a curated magazine spread. You’d find a place navigating the daily challenges of eating disorders, anxiety, and high-octane stress. Our home is not a sanctuary of perfect peace; it is a landscape of confusion and chaos, where we try to survive one day at a time.

For years, we’ve lived behind a fortress. Our own history of damage—and the “HE” who abused our trust so often—forced us to build protective walls. We stayed closed in, guarded and safe. We didn’t cause the craters in the lives of those around us, but we have to be honest: our past silence or “complicit delusions” may have paved the way for some of the pain our friends are navigating now.

Tearing Down the Walls

But I think it’s time for a change.

Perhaps it’s time to let go of the history that told us we had to stay hidden to stay safe. Maybe the very damage we’ve sustained is what makes us uniquely qualified to sit with others in their ruins.

We are lowering the drawbridge. At the very least, we want to be there for those who find themselves without a family this Christmas. Because the truth is, you don’t need a perfect home to offer a seat at the table. You just need a place where someone else is allowed to be as “messed up” as you are.

So, here is our promise: We will be family.

We won’t be the family in the matching pyjamas with the perfect smiles. We will be the broken, damaged, navigating-recovery, “stinkin’ crazy,” weirdo family. We are a group of people who don’t have it all figured out, but we have enough room for one more.

Maybe that’s what Christmas is actually about. It’s not about the polished tradition; it’s about a God who entered into the dirt and the chaos of a stable because that’s where the help was needed most.

Beyond the traditions and the tinsel, this year is about two things: the relentless love of Jesus and an open door for anyone who needs a place to belong.

This sentiment is often delivered with a mask of grace, yet it serves only to hinder the light. It demands that we sit on the fence, refusing to call out the damage for what it is. It treats the Truth as something fractured and plural.

We must stop pretending that every “story” has equal validity when one side is built on the broken lives of others. God is not divided against Himself. He does not offer a different reality to the oppressor than He does to the oppressed. In the pursuit of a spotless Church, we must realise that while there are many opinions, there is only one Truth. In the realm of justice and spiritual authority, there are no grey spaces.

When our own church world exploded three years ago, we were met with a familiar refrain, often from those closest to the leadership: “There are always two sides to a story. We hear yours, but you don’t understand HIS.”

At the time, we couldn’t find the words to respond. The tragic reality is that we understood HIS side all too well. We had lived in it. We had made excuses for it. We had protected it, pursued it, and—to our deepest regret—we drew others into it. We were the engineers of HIS narrative.

But HIS story was a mirage—a narrative built on half-truths that shattered marriages and collapsed families. For three years, we have been unravelling those twists, seeing finally the false reality we once championed because of HIS spiritual authority. Now, the glitter has faded, and all we are left with is the dust and the rubble. We now know the Truth: the real story that was ground into sand and sprinkled over a foundationless vision.

We honour the victims now, the pain left in the wake of HIS false truth. Perhaps there are always two sides, but one is light, and the other is dark; one is real, and the other is a lie. We may never convince those still basking in the glow of HIS “Wonderland,” but we repent for the years we spent blinded. We are so sorry we did not see the reality staring us in the face. It is a confronting place to stand—knowing the scales on our eyes hid every broken heart.

There are, indeed, two sides to every story: Truth and Lies.

I want to be clear about my intent. I am not seeking vengeance or acting out of bitterness, regardless of the narrative being spun. I write because I have a responsibility to do so. I write because I prioritise victims over perpetrators and refuse to be shamed into silence.

My heart breaks for “Celia” and the rest of the family. I believe this is “Austin’s” attack, not hers, despite her name appearing on the document. However, I will not stay silent. This book is for the world—to shine a light on red flags and systemic issues with pure honesty and without coercion.

In early September 2025, I received a legal threat from “Austin and Celia” (pseudonyms) intended to scare me into submission. That ends now. No more, Austin.

Here is the letter.

2 September 2025

BY EMAIL

Dear Ms Alsop — Deep Dive Book and Willow Tree Blog

Reminder of legal obligations

Please be advised that this letter requires your prompt attention.

Failure to respond as specified below may result in further legal consequences.

1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 We act for our ‘clients’.

1.2 - In around February 2025, our clients became aware of an upcoming book entitled ‘Deep Dive’, which was due to be published sometime in 2025.

1.3 - We understand that you are the author of the upcoming book ‘Deep Dive’ 1 which relates to events allegedly occurring at the ‘church’ during your tenure as a volunteer, elder and employee between approximately 2005 and 2023.

1.4 - The premise of the book, as set out on your Willow Tree blog

2 , is: Deep Dive is, at its core, a personal exploration. It’s my journey through the wreckage left by narcissistic leadership—leadership I once followed wholeheartedly, believing I was serving a God-ordained vision. It’s a deep, painful dive into what I missed. The people I didn’t see. The pain I was blind to. The voices silenced under his reign, now echoing loud and clear. … The individuals in this story—the pastors, the personalities—aren’t the focus. They are case studies in a far bigger issue: a global epidemic of dysfunction within independent evangelical churches. Their names don’t matter. Their actions do. Because what we experienced is not unique. It’s systemic. It’s widespread. And it is not of God. It is a man-made structure disguised as divine order. 1 The Willow Tree - Karen Alsop (The Willow Tree) | Facebook 2 https://thewillowtree.substack.com/p/why-deep-dive 2 12269214v1

1.5 As at the date of this letter, we understand the book has not been published, but you are in discussions with publishers.

1.6 - Given this, we are instructed to write to you to remind you of your legal obligations towards our ‘clients’, prior to publication.

2. ALLEGED DEFMATORY CONDUCT

2.1 Based on content which has been published on your blog, our clients hold genuine concerns that your book may contain defamatory statements about them or their leadership of the Church.

2.2 Defamation is the publication of material that may lead an ordinary reasonable reader, viewer, or listener to lower their opinion of an individual. The publication may not expressly or literally state the defamatory meaning but may, nevertheless, convey imputed meanings to the ordinary reasonable reader.

2.3 If you communicate or publish defamatory material to a third party (meaning someone other than the aggrieved person), and that the material relates to, concerns, or identifies an individual, without lawful justification you will be liable in defamation.

2.4 Defamatory material may include blatant falsehoods, imputations, or false representations. A communication is considered defamatory if it causes serious harm to an individual’s reputation because of its publication.

2.5 Defamatory content does not need to appear in mainstream media to be actionable. Although high-profile defamation cases often relate to print, radio, or television, such material can also be published on blogs, social media posts, emails, and online reviews.

2.6 Defamation may still occur even if the material does not directly identify the person. If a reasonable person believes the material refers to an unnamed individual, it can be regarded as defamatory.

2.7 Defamation may result in serious legal, reputational and financial consequences. In 2023, the District Court of Queensland awarded $279,000 in damages after defamatory comments were posted in a Facebook group, despite the post being visible for only 90 minutes.

3 Alleged defamatory comments

2.8 You are formally on notice that your publications may be defamatory towards our ‘clients’.

2.9 While your blog and book precis do not directly name our ‘clients’, the content appears to centre on the Church’s leadership. Our clients are concerned that they may easily be identified as the primary subject of your blog or book.

2.10 Examples of concerning statements from your blog include:

2.10.1 references to the subject as being the “PASTOR”, and/or the “MASTER”, a “MONSTER”4 and “HIM/HIS”;

5 3 Rodgers & Anor v Gooding [2023] QDC 115 4 https://thewillowtree.substack.com/p/new-beginnings https://thewillowtree.substack.com/p/wounded-soldiers, https://thewillowtree.substack.com/p/fear-of-man

2.10.2 descriptions of the subject as being a “case study” and “a living exhibit of what happens when power is given to the unqualified, the unaccountable, and the unrepentant”; and

2.10.3 allegations that the subject was controlling, manipulative, and who was also described an “abuser”, a “groomer”; someone who “controls others for his own personal ego”

2.11 Your blog and your book have the potential to cause serious harm to our clients’ reputation. No findings of any wrongdoing have been made against ‘clients’ or the Church. Further, an attempt to remove ‘The Senior Pastor’ from the Church, instigated by you in 2023, was unsuccessful.

2.12 Under Victorian law, the mere fact that individuals are not named does not prevent a finding of defamation if they can be reasonably identified. Courts will assess whether the publication would likely lower the person’s reputation in the eyes of others.

2.13 For clarity, our clients maintain that your ongoing allegations are false, misguided and unjustified. The allegations have or will have the potential to injure our clients’ reputation and standing within the Church and broader community.

3. REQUESTED ACTION

3.1 In the circumstances, we are instructed to demand that you:

3.1.1 immediately stop making disparaging and defamatory statements about our ‘clients’ (whether direct or indirect) in your blog, in your book, or in any other forum (including social media);

3.1.2 provide to our ‘clients’, for their review, a pre-publication copy of your upcoming book to ensure there are no defamatory statements which could render you subject to legal action; and

3.1.3 provide a copy of this letter to your publisher, who may also be liable in an action for defamation.

3.2 Failure to take the above steps may result in our clients commencing further legal action against you.

4. CONCLUSION 4.1 — This letter does not constitute the commencement of legal proceedings and it is not a concerns notice under Division 1 of the Defamation Act; our clients genuinely wish to resolve this matter amicably and without litigation.

4.2 However, if you do not respond to our clients’ satisfaction (including by taking the steps set out above) we are instructed that our clients may take further action against you, potentially without further notice, to protect their standing and reputation. These steps may include commencing legal proceedings against you, seeking injunctive relief, or seeking other relief such as damages for defamation.

https://thewillowtree.substack.com/p/the-case-study https://thewillowtree.substack.com/p/wounded-soldiers, https://thewillowtree.substack.com/p/fear-of-man, https://thewillowtree.substack.com/p/he-is-watching

4.3 Please send an advance copy of your book to me at the address above, or by email.

4.4 We reserve our clients’ rights to rely on this letter in relation to any proceedings.

Yours faithfully — Lawyers

I did not respond to the letter. I wanted to, but while they have access to the church’s wealth to fund their silence, I am standing on my own. Thankfully, kind and generous lawyers have stepped up to advise me.

I’m sharing this because the era of staying quiet is over. This book is a mission to bring light to a broken world, and I know there are others out there who feel just as isolated as I once did. Please know: we are not alone.

I don’t believe for a second that “Celia” is behind this; this is HIS attack. If HE wants to challenge my words, let’s do it publicly for everyone to see. I’m not afraid to talk. But more importantly, I will not stop standing for survivors—even as I sit with the weight of my own past complicity.

I am so, so sorry.

I am so, so sorry.

I love you all so much. This book is for you. I will not bow to fear any longer.

Pre-release book available here:

16th May, 2021 - Austin Bradley

 You know, church, this morning I’m gonna be sharing on the Secret Place. It’s becoming a, a favorite topic of mine in this season, and it’s, and I’ve entitled it… You’ve heard me say this before, but I’m gonna say it again. Rediscovering intimacy in Christ, you know. And as I, as I was typing that rediscovering intimacy in, in Christ, it came out as rediscovering intimacy with (My Wife’s Name) something, Oh God, what a typo.

And then I thought, hmm, is this what God is saying? To also possibly do that….

This substack is M-rated. Not because I chose this, but because HE did.

This post is protected… Because it’s M-rated. Thanks Austin…

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