Joh 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
RASNs (revilers, abusers, sociopaths, narcissists) are of their father the devil. Everyone born into this world is a child of wrath, a slave of the devil, but RASNs are way down the spectrum in the kingdom of darkness. These are people with no conscience, haters of good, people who see themselves as the center of the universe. And because they share a heavy dose of their father’s DNA, we should not be surprised to find that satanic quality of murder in them.
Now, let’s be very accurate here. ALL of us, the moment we are born into this world, are dead in sin. By nature we are (were, if you are a Christian) sinners, haters of God, opposed to Christ. And as such we have all been guilty of murder via hatred for others. Jesus said so in the Sermon on the Mount. But not all of us actively seek to literally murder another human being. RASNs often do. Some simply take a weapon and literally kill. You see this far too often in domestic violence.
But RASNs are crafty. They like to murder but they want to have plausible deniability. And so they can choose to devise some kind of “set up” for death. Let me explain.
I have seen domestic abusers act in ways which endanger their spouse or children. These tactics can be rather subtle – and thus deniable. Refuse to put safe tires on the wife’s car. Let her drive then in an unsafe vehicle. Send her on errands to places where a loving husband would at least accompany her. Even promote a “martyrdom” attitude in the family so that they make unsafe decisions. I have seen cases like these where a woman, for instance, does something that is dangerous because her abuser encouraged it. All of this is fueled by a murderous intent.
A loving husband will guard his wife. He will regard her as the weaker vessel and step up to his duty before God to protect his wife. He will not let her take chances which put her in a dangerous situation. The RASN, in contrast, can often be seen actually encouraging these kinds of choices. I wonder how many women have died because of these very kind of tactics?
Steph
We live in a rural area and would travel to the “city” to shop. I used to ask my husband all the time to grocery shop with me and he refused. I would have to go when he was off work and hit four stores, often until late. I’d wonder what I was doing in one of the most dangerous cities in America at night.
I also wonder back when we got a travel trailer and one night at dinner he said, “ why don’t you take the kids to that camp you used to work at when you were in college? You can make the trip this summer”. It was a 3000 mile cross country trip.
I did it. My kids saw and did things that were wonderful, but it was quite an undertaking. But to this day, they believe I took them away from home and their dad for six weeks just because I wanted to.
You’ve never felt danger until you spend a night in Albuquerque New Mexico! God protected us when we had blown out tires, when our truck broke down, when I got stuck in the mud and in torrential downpours.
I can tell many more instances where my ex sent us in to danger instead of protecting us. I often wondered why he was trying to get rid of us.
Jeff Crippen
Thankyou. Yes, yours are perfect examples of the evil I was writing about here. No loving husband will just sit back while his wife goes somewhere alone that is not absolutely safe. He might be tired, he might like to just stay home and relax, but he will be driven by concern for the safety of his wife and children. I have known cases where the husband let his wife drive across multiple states in a beater pickup with a little baby. That kind of thing is just a setup for danger. And we as church leaders should call out any spouse who does such a thing.
Sarah
This makes so much sense. Thank you for writing. When a wife died of a man that is a pastor but is a known abuser my thought was he killed her through the stress. Stress kills and that is a major tactic.
Jeff Crippen
Yes, abuse is murder in slow motion.