Unholy Charade - Jeff Crippen

Unmasking the Domestic Abuser in the Church

Author: Jeff Crippen Page 15 of 85

The Key to a Clear Conscience

By

On October 30, 2023

In Biblical Teaching, Counseling

If we neglect the truth of justification (by faith alone in Christ alone), we lose everything. Therefore, it is most necessary that we teach and repeat this above everything else. We cannot have justification urged upon us too often or too much. Even if we learn it and understand it well, none of us grasps it perfectly or believes it with his whole heart. Our flesh is so frail and is often disobedient to the Spirit.

Martin Luther, Commentary on Galatians

When we have to deal with a RASN (reviler, abuser, sociopath, narcissist), we find ourselves under regular accusation, shaming, and condemnation. If that source of attack were not enough to overwhelm us, our own frail flesh, as Luther calls it, frequently calls our past sins to mind. At these times we do easily regress into what Luther calls an “active idea of righteousness” which is dependent upon our own works. And in that realm we will only find further condemnation and torment.

The righteousness of Christ is a passive righteousness. It is a righteousness before God which is not obtained through active working on our own to merit His approval. Rather, the approval of God which we call justification or being made right with God, ONLY comes from the performance and work of Jesus Christ. That righteousness is then, by faith and as a gift, credited or imputed to us. This is the only way to be made just before God.

Now, even genuine Christians – people who have truly been born again by faith alone in Christ alone – even we have difficulty grasping this amazing good news. When, as Luther points out, the enemy comes along accusing us and reminding us of our past sins, we can very easily slide into this active righteousness/works way of thinking. I think of the sins I have committed in my life, all of which Satan is very ready to remind me of, and I am ashamed and my conscience terrorizes me.

But while it is right to be ashamed of our sin – as Paul remembered he himself was the chief of sinners because he had persecuted the church – it is a great error to conclude that the Lord is disgusted with and ashamed of me due to the things I have done. Your RASN will happily feed such thinking through his accusations and guilting.

If you are a Christian, then you are not who you used to be. You have been born again and made a new creation in Christ. The Lord is now your Father and you are His beloved child. And most important – you are clothed with a perfect, flawless righteousness by which you have been declared justified before God. It didn’t come from your performance, but entirely from Christ’s perfect obedience to God’s Law for you. And it is a REAL righteousness truly given to you so that it is your own possession, given freely as a gift received by faith, unmerited.

So, we must run from that active, works based righteousness thinking whenever it rears itself up in our minds. Of course our performance in this world has been at times quite shoddy and shameful, and while we now must still battle against sin by the Spirit within us, nevertheless, my standing with God is not at all founded upon my own performance. Not by things which I have done – nope. But by all that Jesus has done. And therein you have the key to a conscience set at peace.

The Totalitarian Regime of the RASN

By

On October 28, 2023

In Abusers

Head on over to my blog at lightfordarktimes.com to read this important post – The Totalitarian Regime of the RASN

The Mantra “But We are All Sinners” is an Evil Statement

By

On October 25, 2023

In Biblical Teaching, Churches/Church Response, Evil, False Teaching, Supporting Victims

Rom 6:1-2 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? (2) May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?

A friend who is pretty fed up with the predominance of a false gospel and counterfeit churches sent this to me recently. It was a sign she saw in a place where a “church” apparently met under a second sign that said “Coffee and Church, the Perfect Blend.” But here is the sign she pointed out to me – “Always pray to have eyes that see the best in people. A heart that forgives the worst, a mind that forgets the bad, and a soul that never loses faith in God.” [Insert vomit mojie here] In other words, always pray that God will strike you with blindness to evil. So apparently these people regard themselves as better Christians that Jesus?

Some years ago when a denominational leader and his wife were visiting us, I outlined the main thesis of my book, Unholy Charade to them, explaining how the domestic abuser so often hides among us in disguise. I told them that this was a particularly wicked form of evil, quite different in its nature and hardness that the typical sinner. Without hesitation, they replied, “But we are all sinners. How can you say one kind is worse than another?” (Note: Jesus Himself said it, for example, when he told the people of Capernaum, and other such cities, that their sin was greater than that of Sodom).

But you have heard this thing over and over again, right? Here, for example, is a husband who is an abuser and a counterfeit Christian and his wife/victim comes to the pastor or to a supposed Christian friend and tells them what is really going on in her home behind the scenes. What is she told? “You know, you aren’t perfect either. Look to your own sin and be forgiving. We are all sinners.” And so the wicked one skates.

John Calvin addressed this very thing centuries ago in a sermon preached on Galatians 6:2-5. He said that this excuse for evil – “We are all sinners” – is actually just that – a statement that excuses everyone for their ongoing, habitual sin. Why do people so often say “we all sin”? It is because this claim excuses their own sin. Here is Calvin:

If I say, ‘This is the thing all are doing – everyone else does it, I am seeking to exempt myself from judgment. I am searching for substitutes who can make good for me before God. But who are they? This ‘everyone who is doing it?’ Each person has enough encumbrances of their own; they are all more than guilty already. How then, can they bear my burden when I throw it upon their shoulders? Is it not therefore, great folly to produce such people as my guarantors when I stand before God? ‘Look at them, Lord, everyone is doing it – so I am not so bad.’ Yet I am seeking to satisfy God by saying that I merely followed the common path, and thus seeking to exempt myself on account of all the rest.

When we say, ‘but we are all sinners,’ we have made ‘everyone’ shields to protect US from God. We act as if the outcome of defying God is in doubt as to who will win. Customs, habits, even lawful (according to man’s laws) practices, ancient rites – where do all these things come from? They exist because men want to be wiser than God, though they are carried along by wicked lusts and though they seek only to give themselves free rein and a license to do evil.

Sermons on Galatians, Banner of Truth Trust

Therefore, as Calvin points out, we cannot claim to have excuses through others who will, on the day when we all stand before God, step forward and in our supposed defense tell Him, “Oh yes, I did that too. We all did it. Don’t go so hard on this poor fellow. We are all sinners.”

Do you see how wicked this “But we are all sinners” business is? Let’s say it again – when someone recites this claim and tells the victim of abuse, for instance, that because “we are all sinners, you are a sinner just like your abuser,” the victim must forgive, be patient, stop judging – what they are really doing is excusing their own sin! They are, as Calvin observed, throwing sinful mankind in the face of God as their defense for their own sin. “God, this is the thing that is done in the world. We are all sinners. You know that. So cut me some slack. I am only human and human beings sin. It’s normal.”

This is why people cling to this horrible claim – “We are all sinners.” It is a facade by which they are trying to evade their own condemnation before God. If everyone is doing it, then it can’t really be that bad. “Go home,” they say to the victim, “and stop being so judgmental.”

This is a huge part of the reason why the visible church is filled with unregenerate people who are walking in sin without repentance, yet being assured that God loves them all no matter what. Preach that lie and you fill the pews. But the pews stink, and God sees it all.

Why do we Pretend?

By

On October 23, 2023

In Abusers, Counseling, Getting Free, Narcissist, RASN

1Sa 2:22-23 Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting. (23) He said to them, “Why do you do such things, the evil things that I hear from all these people?

Eli’s sons were extremely wicked, so much so that eventually the Lord killed them. But this evil had gone on for a long, long time. Even here in his old age, Eli still didn’t take the action God required of him. He weakly said, “Why do you boys do such things?” Eventually, the Lord severely rebuked Eli:

1Sa 2:29 ‘Why do you kick at My sacrifice and at My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling, and honor your sons above Me, by making yourselves fat with the choicest of every offering of My people Israel?’

Eli was guilty. He actually had been participating in their sins because he was honoring his sons above the Lord.

Now there are some parallels here which we ourselves need to face up to. When we are in a relationship of some type (marriage, friendship, etc) with a RASN (reviler, abuser, sociopath, narcissist), we most often pretend. By this, I mean that we overlook, we deny, we assume, we excuse. I have done this far more often than I would like to admit and I bet most of you have too.

Now, there may well have also been elements of commendable motives in this pretending (ie, pretending that things aren’t so bad or that the red flags are imaginary) – commendable motives such as patience, love, forgiveness, and so on. But when the problem exists because we are dealing with a RASN, this all becomes pretending. Living a fiction – a lie, if you will. So, why is this? Why do we pretend?

I can tell you why I have pretended in the past – 1) I was naive as to the nature of evil – and this evil is so deceptive I didn’t see it, 2) I didn’t want to believe the person was a RASN, 3) I almost subconsciously realized that to confront the person would result in a blowup, a war – because RASN’s are always sending out wavelengths of “don’t ever cross me or say anything negative about me, or else,” 4) there were benefits to the relationship which would certainly dissolve if I didn’t keep up the pretense, 5)…….you can probably add to the list yourself.

It is not an easy thing to admit that a person who we believed was our friend, who we thought loved us, and who we depended upon for many things, is in fact wicked. A counterfeit. That the “love” was just a fiction and that if we confront the person with the evidence we have been ignoring for a long time, we are going to suffer great loss. Loss of friendship. Loss of perhaps even custody of children. Loss of our job. Loss of friendships of other people.

So is it any wonder that we pretend? Eli knew, and yet he pretended. And in the end he and his sons perished. Eli participated in his sons’ sin. I have known pastors’ wives who chose to pretend rather than to confront the hypocrisy and abuse of their husband. In so doing, they eventually become participants in the hypocrisy.

I have been guilty of this kind of pretending in years past. I have not said, for example, “you are trespassing in my life. You are violating the boundaries of my personhood by trying to have power and control which you have no right to.” With the Lord’s help, I do not intend to keep doing that.

Trust in the Lord at all Times

By

On October 19, 2023

In Abusers, Evil

Luk 18:7-8 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? (8) I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

Standing for Christ in a wicked world where RASNs (revilers, abusers, sociopaths, narcissists) and and all sorts of evil abound can be a lonely affair. In fact, we can be assured that it will be. In Noah’s day the church numbered, 8! And before Noah had children he lived for 500 years. In those days the church numbered, most probably, ONE! But Noah persevered in faith as the Lord sustained him.

Here are some great words from John Calvin for just such times as the days of Noah –

We need to note that we should not seek, as the world sees it, great solemnity or ostentation (ie, pretentious displays of wealth and glitter to impress others) in the church. And if on occasion the church is hidden and seems to be trodden under foot and we do not know where to find it, we must not be troubled or offended by that. Why not? Let us allow God to work in His own way. And let us not doubt that He will always keep for himself some people in whose midst He will be worshiped and served.

Calvin’s Sermons on Genesis, Banner of Truth Trust

There have been many times in history, and even at present, when we would think that there was no hope for the church. But God maintains and preserves His church – always. Here is Calvin again:

Therefore, let us put that teaching into practice when it pleases God to let the world go its way, and everyone is like wild animals, when all reject both bridle and yoke, when rebellion in the order of the day and they even throw themselves wildly into evil as if wanting to wage war against God and serve Satan.

When we see all those things taking place and we do not know where to look for faithful believers to keep fellowship with, let us always be convinced that God will take care of His church. So let us not linger among the vast majority. Let us not seek out what looks good; rather let us be content that God will not permit the church to be completely wiped out and that He will preserve some remnant for Himself.

ibid

Very fitting and appropriate words for us today. Elijah thought he was the only one left of God’s people. He was wrong. Seven thousand more had refused to bow to Baal.

Satan is the Deceiver

By

On October 16, 2023

In Abusers, Evil, Narcissist, RASN

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.

I have written on this subject numerous times in the past but it really cannot be repeated too often. Satan is a murderer and a liar. Not just a liar such as we think of someone being a liar. But the devil has NO truth in him. So that when he speaks, when his lips are moving, he is lying. Every time. And he gives birth to lies – he is the father of lies.

The Lord Jesus told his enemies that they were the children of the devil. That this liar was their father and therefore they operate in harmony with his nature, which they share.

RASNs (revilers, abusers, sociopaths, narcissists) lie. They lie all the time. As hypocrites they wear a lying disguise. When they gaslight someone, they are lying. Whey they accuse, they are lying. And we must wise up to this. You know the typical scenario in churches, for example. The RASN is believed and his victim is rejected. “Oh, I just cannot believe that he would do such things. I know him.” But you don’t know him. You only know the fake persona he presents.

RASNs can look right at the camera, crocodile tears streaming down their face, and lie. “Please, please help me find my wife,” he sobs. “I can’t go on without her.” And the truth? He murdered her and hid her body someplace. But people are taken in by his lies. Even when he is found out, there are people who still refuse to believe the undeniable evidence of his guilt.

RASNs lie. They speak, and they lie. If you aren’t wise, you will end the conversation just absolutely convinced that the thing is the victim’s fault, that the RASN is an eminently holy saint and he (or she) is the one who is the victim.

Joel Ripkin was a serial killer in the New York area. He murdered 17 women over quite a few years until he was finally caught driving on the highway with #17 in a tarp in the back of his pickup. He never showed any remorse at all. He calmly recounted the horrors he had committed. No empathy. No conscience.

The RASNs we encounter may not be serial killers, but they share the very same lying, murderous spirit of their father the devil. We MUST come to realize that a person can look right at you, calm and collected, and every word coming out of their mouth be a lie.

The Destructiveness of Selfish Ambition

By

On October 11, 2023

In Biblical Teaching, Evil, Narcissist, RASN

Gal 5:25-26 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. (26) Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

RASNs (Revilers, Abusers, Sociopaths, Narcissists) are driven by what the Apostle Paul calls, in the old term, “vain glory.” Pride. Selfish ambition. And he warns us against it more than once.

Php 2:3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Those who walk in this evil sin, who are characterized by it, seek a glory for themselves that is a vain glory. Empty. Listen to John Calvin on it in a sermon on this text:

In Scripture, all glorying is seen as vain and perverse, if men are seeking esteem for themselves by it. Pagans use the term ‘vainglory’ to refer to a poor fool who is trying to pass for a clever man, or a poor rascal who is pretending to be a rich man – when a man who is neither dextrous, hard-working, nor hones to any degree, wants to be arrogant and to play at being a wise man. When people deform and disguise themselves to this extent to deceive others, the pagans call this kind of glory vain and foolish.

But the Holy Spirit goes even further than this. He says that even if we have intelligent minds, or abundant wealth, or great virtue, or all that is possible to have to gain renown, and we take the credit for it ourselves, then our boasting is vain. Why? Because it is sacrilegious to rob God of the honor that is rightfully his.

John Calvin, Sermons on Galatians, Banner of Truth***

RASNs, for all of their counterfeit disguise as pious saints which so many of them wear, are astonishingly destructive. Why? Because they are driven by the foolish and evil craving to be exalted above others. It is, as Calvin says, “the deadliest plague that a person who is entrusted with the responsibility to teach others could ever have.” And he adds:

When people push themselves forward in society like this, and seek to be famous and to be applauded by men, it is impossible for them not to abandon themselves to all kinds of evil.

Ibid

“…to all kinds of evil.” This is the RASN’s fruit. Evil of all kinds. But just try to warn such a person against the snare of this trap. What they really are will soon be evident. If you are dealing with a real Christian who is on the precipice of falling to this selfish ambition, they will be convicted, repent, and thank you. But most commonly what we see is fangs when we point out a person’s vain glorying. To the RASN, you are nothing more than a supply for their ego and if you dare cease to give them praise or to call them to accounts, you will be met with murderous hatred. This is why Scripture tells us:

Gal 5:15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

It is all vanity, this evil selfish ambition. And one day every RASN is going to find out just how vain and empty his/her entire life has been. Standing before the Lord, the RASN will even attempt to use his Creator as a supply of praise for himself. It isn’t going to work.

Mat 7:22-23 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ (23) And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

***By the way, if you would really come to know the real John Calvin, read his sermons. He is well-known for his commentaries on almost the entire Bible, but his sermons really reveal his heart and I have grown to appreciate him greatly. Start with his sermons on Ephesians. You can find that volume at Banner of Truth Trust online.

When Abnormal becomes Normal

By

On October 11, 2023

In Abusers, Counseling

Pro 4:19 The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.

Sin has a blinding aspect to it. Its way is called “darkness” in the Bible. Sinners are blind to God’s truth. They are comfortable in the darkness, away from the light of the Lord, even though that darkness will be their ruin.

We live in a fallen, sinful world. This world is not normal. It isn’t what it was when the Lord created it. But because this world is all we have known, we grow accustomed to its darkness.

I primarily want to consider this in respect to Christians – to us who know the Lord. What was the family like which you grew up in? Christian, non-Christian? Functional, dysfunctional? I grew up in a professing Christian home (though my father never once spoke to me about the Lord, nor did I ever hear him pray). We went to church rather regularly and I heard the gospel, making a profession of Christ when I was about 8 years old.

But my family of origin was botched. My parents weren’t really Christians, though if pressed my father would claim to be. We didn’t communicate. There was never any parental instruction in the Lord and as a result I learned by unspoken example that to talk about the Lord was an embarrassment. Talk about anything else pretty much, but nothing of real import. There was no real instruction in righteousness, only anger and punishment if I did something wrong. And I did do plenty wrong.

Now, here is the point – I grew up believing without question that my family was normal. I cannot ever recall thinking, “our family is really messed up.” My sister and I fought. Everyone pretty much just went their own way through the day and spent the evenings still in our own little worlds. I remember my mother asking me a question one evening in the living room and I responded with the classic, “I dunno.” Something like “what did you do today?” “I dunno.” “But you must know what you did.” “I dunno.” My dad got rather riled and correctly observed, “he just doesn’t want to talk!” Which was true. But what they didn’t get is that they had taught this to me. By their example they taught me to never divulge too much about myself. If I had a crush on a girl, for instance, I would NEVER have told them. Why? Because I would be made fun of. So this was as I said, a botched family.

But I thought it was normal. After all, it was all the family I had known.

And here is the danger of this business – the abnormal, even the wicked, can over time become our normal. This has happened to many of you in a marriage for instance. You lived so close to that evil abuse, you just figured this was a normal marriage. Evil is blinding. If I, for instance, could go back in a time machine to a date when you were still in that abusive marriage, in its first half let’s say, and if I told you that you were being abused, you might even be offended. Why? Because you thought things were normal. They weren’t.

When we have RASNs in our lives, doing their evil reviling, abusing, sociopathing, and narcissicing, we most typically can remain blind to it for a long time. The abnormal becomes normal. RASNs depend upon this. They know exactly what they are doing and they will do all they can to push it off on us as normal.

I Believe in God the Father, Almighty

By

On October 9, 2023

In Abusers, Churches/Church Response, Evil

2Th 2:9-10 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, (10) and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.

When we consider the attributes of God, we soon come to that of His omnipotence. He is God All-mighty, maker of heaven and earth. He speaks, He wills, and it is done. Light comes into being out of darkness. From nothing, He created all that is. Merely by the power of His Word. By that Word the universe is held together (see Colossians 1) and our very life finds its source in Him. God has this infinite power, and by it He rules His universe. He decrees all that comes to pass and it comes to pass because He decreed it. As Paul told the Athenian philosophers, it is in Him that we move and exist and have our being. If God were to cease to exist for even a nanosecond (an impossibility of course), the universe would be no more.

Now, when the sinner covets this power and control for himself, he is headed down that same path Satan traveled so long ago, and still pursues today. Power. That is what he wants. Control, sovereignty, to be worshipped as God. This craving is really at the root of all sin, which is lawlessness. “I will make my own law and disregard the Law of God.” That is the twisted reasoning of sin.

Why do RASNs (revilers, abusers, sociopaths, narcissists) do what they do? For power. For control. They do their deeds of evil because, like their father the devil, they want to be God. To be worshipped. To be served. They are a law, as the saying goes, to themselves. When you are the target of a RASN, you can be sure of this. Their foundational motivation is to be God to you. To have omnipotence and sovereignty over you. If you examine the tactics of RASNs – the gaslighting, the double standards, the raging, assaulting, isolating, depriving – all of it has at its root this demand for power and control. This insistence upon being God.

And this is why one of the best ways to detect a RASN in a relationship (in marriage, in the workplace, in the church…) is to watch for this exercising of power and control in arenas where there is no right to have it. Under the disguise of “biblical saintliness” for example, a man might dictate to his wife how much, to the dollar, she is allowed to spend on groceries or clothing for the kids. He may insist that she have his permission to have a friend or to…well, to do just about anything. I have seen such a man actually tell his wife that she needed to come with him now, rather than go to the restroom in the store. HE will tell her when she can go!

Power and control. Power and control. I am God, you are my servant. If you fail to serve, I will punish you.

I have said before (and the observation is certainly not original with me) that RASNs are trespassers. They violate personal boundaries and work to break down personhood in others. This is why, in this evil world, we need to learn about boundaries and personhood. We need to realize, when it happens, that a person is trespassing into an area of our life where they have no right to be. As a pastor, I have had just such a person attempt to dictate to me where I am allowed to buy a house, what I am to preach, how I am to relate to others, and so on. And these people are always ready to punish when they perceive that they aren’t being obeyed. These kind are not rare. They are everywhere. Virtually every church has one or more.

Stories abound of women (less often, but sometimes, men) being murdered by their spouse when the woman realized she had to get out of the marriage. So wickedly intense is the RASNs insistence upon power and control, he will rather kill her than lose that power over her. It happens daily. This is why people who are in the know about domestic violence warn that leaving is a dangerous time. Even for the children. So satanic are such people that sometimes they will rather murder the children as well rather than see them in the custody of their mother. This power and control dynamic is what is at the root of these ongoing court battles of child custody. The RASN MUST win. They really don’t care about the children.

The Apostle John was wise to this business:

3Jn 1:9-10 I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. (10) So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church.

It is long past time that we were wise to it as well.

Superiority and Entitlement are Demonic

By

On October 4, 2023

In Evil, Narcissist, RASN

Jas 3:14-16 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. (15) This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. (16) For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.

Most all of us know now that RASNs (revilers, abusers, sociopaths, narcissists) regard themselves as better. As superior. As entitled. Everyone else is inferior, undeserving, and certainly not better. That is how these children of the devil think. This is what drives their actions and words.

The truth is that ALL of us enter this world dead in sin, hostile to God, selfish, and fleshly. Only by the new birth in Christ can we be set free of that old man and the devil. But the person who is propelled by bitter jealousy and selfish ambition (the RASN), that kind of person is demonic. Fleshly. Devoid of the Spirit. They create chaos, disorder, and their practices are vile. They may disguise themselves as a child of God, but in fact they are servants of Satan.

This is why James warns us so carefully about this business. He tells us to first look to ourselves and understand that we were born in sin just like all the rest. Paul reiterates the same in Ephesians 2. We must not exalt ourselves above our brethren in Christ. But just think carefully – how many professing Christians in your church (or in your past church) exalted themselves. There is that professional man who regards himself as far above the blue collar worker. Or that attorney. Or the lady with all the Bible answers – head of women’s ministries. This disease is ubiquitous. (Had to use that word. I think it means everywhere).

What right do any of us have to see ourselves as better than our fellow believers? And Scripture is warning us that if this arrogant superiority is the pattern of life in a person, that person is animated by demons. No, that is not an overstatement. It is what God’s Word says.

One of the things we watch for in our church now, having learned hard lessons, is that a true Christian, led by the Spirit, is humble. They look to serve others out of real love. They are teachable. They are open to biblical correction. They are not divisive – quite the contrary.

Here then is a really excellent biblical test to see if someone who claims to be a Christian, really is. Just watch for this demonic “wisdom” which is from below. Watch for that jealousy and selfish ambition. These things are some of the very earliest warning signs that someone is not at all what they appear to be.

Page 15 of 85

Previous

Next