There are those who are clean in their own eyes but are not washed of their filth. There are those–how lofty are their eyes, how high their eyelids lift! There are those whose teeth are swords, whose fangs are knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, the needy from among mankind. (Proverbs 30:12-14)
The wicked, the narcissist, the sociopath, the abuser, is clean in his own eyes. He is covered with the filth of his evil, but he sees himself as spotless. Justified. Yes, he raged and threatened last night, but he had a right to it. He had to do it. Any guilt lies elsewhere. Like the Pharisees whom Jesus rebuked, this fellow sees himself as white and clean, all the while inside he is filthy, filthy, filthy with the corrupt evil of his own heart.
Look at him. See how lofty his eyes are? He is proud of himself and even boasts of his evil to those whom he oppresses. He is never wrong. Never guilty. Always right. Blame never rests upon him.
But when he speaks, his sword and fangs go to work. His words are uttered with the purpose of destroying and devouring his victims off the face of the earth. He is a bully, picking on the weak. And even if you were to record his words, the slashes of his sword-tongue, and play them back to him, he would admit no wrong. “You made me. I had to do it. You deserved to be punished.”
He is clean in his own eyes, yet dripping with his own moral filth. One Day. One Day, finally, his mouth will be shut. No excuses possible. Because the One Who charges him on that Day is pure truth whose Word cuts far more deeply and cleanly than any sword the wicked might have used. And everyone will see it. Everyone. To the glory of God.
Finally Free
Typical abuser logic. What they fail to explain is that if they truly believe that their victim is so “stupid” that they have be violent in order to get their point across, why stay with someone that “stupid” in the first place? Victims get blamed for staying, but nobody asks the abusers why they stay.
Also free
This is the abuser to a T. He bragged about his behavior but did it in such a way that his evil and violent attacks – even the multiple and permanent injuries he inflicted – where somehow justified and supported by “Christians”, and non alike.
Pastor Crippen you recount of the abusers’ deceitful, evil, self righteous moves as if you had walked a mile in these very survivor shoes – or perhaps those that have survived an abuser, you included, cannot help but write with such vivid truth of what they have seen and know. The Lord will have the last stand on this and the abusers will be exposed.
Jeff Crippen
Also free – I have learned these things like you – I experienced it. For many years as a pastor I was targeted in every church by evil, control, power-seeking people who paraded as most holy Christians. And no one would see it or do anything about it if they did. Almost no one stood up for me. I could take you through every single room in our present church building and tell you a story of an abuser’s reviling attacks that I experienced there. But it took a long, long time for the lights to go on. Now that I see clearly, I will never tolerate such evil again. And that is why we have a very, very small group of people left here locally in our church.
Most “Christians”….aren’t.