Odessa and the Professor is a story of church abuse through Scripture use. A leader of a prayer circle tells manipulative lies and attributes them falsely to prophetic gift. She cruelly deceives a disciple faithful to her, but God enables the deceived to recover through prayer and wise counsel. The essential message of the book is the hope it gives to others similarly deceived, to break the yoke of deception and to experience through exercise of Christian forgiveness genuine closure. In subtle ways, Satan blinds persons caught up in "small group abuse through scripture use." They live in...