In Sheep’s Clothing

A single mother of a teenage daughter moves into a quaint town in the country. She and her daughter begin attending a small church just down the road from their home, and find everyone welcoming and supportive of them.

The mother finds other women in the church who welcome her and her daughter into their close-knit community, becoming friends and spiritual mothers to the new mom and daughter.

Months pass, and the mom and daughter are both feeling strongly about joining the church. That is until they begin to have odd run-ins with a man who also has been attending the church. At first, he sees them in the grocery store, and think nothing of it, but when he seems to be getting closer and closer to them, the mother feels all sorts of red flags going up. So she starts looking for him at church to keep an eye on him.

But she doesn’t need to watch for him, because he always happens to be right there in whatever pew she and her daughter are sitting. And watching him almost makes the mother feel like she might be crazy, as she only sees this man act like some pious believer who is broken for God. Hands raised, singing with abandon and tears streaming down his face, at the altar every single morning she sees him… how could such a man be a threat?

The mother decides to let her guard down, second-guessing her initial concerns. Then, a year or so later, she finds herself treating him like a friend. Maybe even more like someone she and her daughter should look up to.

The man makes no effort to be humble about his endeavors, and is talking about how he feels called by the Lord to preach and go on missions. The daughter seems to take an interest in the man’s proud claims, and listens to him speak as if he were sent by God for good works. The mother begins to have her doubts raised again; should she trust her instincts and call it discernment?

Even though the mother tries to convince her daughter to limit her time around the man, he is now conveniently leading the young adults and teenagers group with the pastor’s wife, who happens to be his daughter. And the mother cannot win over her daughter to understand why she should be wary of him.

Then, in the next few months, the church announces a mission trip for the youth and young adults. It won’t be far; they will just go up to the mountains and help a small community there. The daughter of course wants to go, and the mother allows her to against her better instincts. The only reason being that the pastor and his wife would also be going. But then the mother finds out that the man she has been discerning bad intentions from is also going to be there. Along with a few other people who are leaders in the church. No way she can argue with her daughter now.

So the mother painfully holds back her fears and tries to prepare her daughter for anything before the trip. Talks about love and working heartily for the Lord, remaining pure in thought and affections, and anything else - yes, even the talk about inappropriate relationships. But it seems it all has fallen on deaf ears.

When the daughter leaves for her trip, she is a strong and beautiful young woman who knows her worth and wants in life. She is daring, but a good hearted girl and she has never known what fear or doubt would look like. She can speak up for herself and she knows how to handle difficult situations. But not this one she faces during her mission trip.

Upon return from the mountains, it’s like the daughter completely changed. The mother doesn’t even know what happened because her daughter will not say. Her mother’s worst nightmares have come true, except she doesn’t have any way to prove that the man she doubted from the beginning did something to her daughter.

No, he couldn’t have. Her daughter just keeps insisting that he is a godly man and his intentions would never be to hurt anyone. He’s just more mature than she is and that’s all. She must have mistaken what happened, and it could be completely innocent. Yes, that’s what the daughter insists is truth.

The mother, however, knows that this man is only dressed in sheep’s clothing to have his way.