- Home
- religion
- psychology
- Let Us Prey, Revised Edition
Let Us Prey, Revised Edition
The Plague of Narcissist Pastors and What We Can Do About It
by Darrell Puls
Imprint: Cascade Books
Jesus warned of wolves carefully disguised as shepherds coming into local churches as pastors. It is the perfect disguise for a predator to access and devour the flock one lamb at a time while proclaiming himself as their protector and guardian. The result is spiritual devastation, broken congregations, and even destroyed churches. Darrell Puls attests from experience that the enemy has infiltrated the North American church through pastors with dangerously high levels of narcissism. These pastors hide under layers of the sacred, but it is always an illusion of smoke and mirrors.
Puls has experienced this reality from the inside as a staff pastor under a narcissist, and from the outside as a church consultant. He carefully unpacks toxic narcissism in everyday terms, and lets the victims tell their own stories. Let Us Prey, Revised Edition is as real as it gets.
Darrell Puls is an organizational conflict analyst and interventionist with more than forty years professional experience, specializing in church conflicts since 1998. He also serves as the Dean of Academic Affairs at Gather 4 Him Christian College in Kennewick, Washington. Dr. Puls is the author of The Road Home: A Guided Journey to Church Forgiveness and Reconciliation (Cascade, 2013) as well as numerous articles and papers on toxic narcissism and church conflict.
“Jesus warned of wolves that would attack the church. Let Us Prey, Revised Edition is a much-needed book at a time when narcissist pastors in the church are on the rise. Puls provides an in-depth look at the devastating impact these ‘wolves in sheep’s clothing’ inflict upon their congregations. This book provides powerful stories, practical guidance, and a hopeful way forward. A must read for those in the church.”
—Michael Coggin, Associate Pastor, Grace Blue Ridge Presbyterian Church, Hendersonville, North Carolina
“Darrell Puls brings forth a much-needed prophetic voice to our modern church age. His writing and experience expose one of the greatest threats to congregations—the predator pastor bent on power and personal glory. This book is a must read for the church at large to help bring awareness and pragmatic strategies to churches dealing with or healing from the wrath of narcissistic pastors.”
—Michael Lillie, Licensed Therapist
“The hidden problem of narcissism in church leadership has been expertly uncovered in this insightful book by Dr. Darrell Puls. He has combined pertinent research, his personal experience in church conflict consulting, and numerous real-life stories from around the world to provide new insight into this very real problem troubling the church today. This book should be read by every denominational leader, seminary professor, pastoral search committee member, and any church member who seeks explanations for unhealthy behavioral patterns they see in their church leaders.”
—Michael Patterson, Chair of Social Sciences, Corban University
Related Titles
