Author: Jeff Crippen Page 23 of 89

I Cannot Teach this Scripture Too Often

On June 21, 2023

Heb 5:11-14 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. (12) For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, (13) for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. (14) But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

This is a kind of supplemental post to the one I wrote Monday, But I Just Want to Think Good About Everyone. What the Apostle is saying here is that those kind of people are at best babies in the faith. I say at best because they may well not even be saved at all.

Many professing Christians are dull of hearing God’s Word. You can’t even hardly talk to them about God’s Word. They don’t get it. They are dull and deaf to truth. And they may have been professing Christians for years and years – some were raised in Christian homes and cannot remember a time when they weren’t “Christians.”

But something happened. They kept sucking on their bottles. They choke on God’s Word that is anything beyond “believe in Jesus and you can go to heaven.” Their “Christianity” consists primarily of traditions handed to them, not from diligent digesting of God’s Word. They are still children.

Now, notice what maturity in Christ entails. It is to have our spiritual senses trained by constant chewing on the meat of the Word in order to be able to distinguish good from evil. Get it? There it is. Boast all they want about how mature they are in Christ, the fact is that they cannot see Satan when he is right in their face. In fact, they are so inept at discernment that this scripture tells us that they confuse good and evil. They will defend the evil one and condemn the righteous.

It is very dangerous to have babies leading local churches. All they can consume is milk and all they can serve up is milk. Everyone who says they are a Christian is to be believed no matter their fruit. Sound doctrine taught in-depth is just to divisive – they choke on it. So they stay in diapers and take many others with them.

Keep Away from a False Gospel

By Jeff Crippen

On June 20, 2023

In Evil

Act 2:40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.”

There are many professing Christians who do not wish to be full-blown hypocrites. They adhere to sound doctrine – to a point. But their half and half Christianity reveals itself when they are challenged to publicly renounce the errors and false teaching which characterizes the local church they are in. They balk. They have been in that church for many years. They have friends there. To depart would be accompanied by a heavy price.

I recently read a challenge to such people issued long ago by John Calvin. He was referring to people who acknowledged the false gospel of the Roman Catholic church, but who refused to separate from it. He said:

Must we not cry out, ‘Keep yourselves from this perverse generation,’ when we realize that everyone is going to hell?
Sermons on Acts

Further, we see the impudence of such [half and half preachers/Christians] when they accuse us of excessive severity and say, ‘You do not need to lash out this way against the pope and his people and call him Antichrist. You can preach the gospel well enough without such accusations. What good does it do to say that priests are ravenous wolves who will devour the flock of Jesus Christ and poison everyone with their false doctrine?’
Such men are really dreadful teachers. They should have been born sooner so they could have taught Peter how to preach and instruct him what to say.
Not so for us. We preach what we have been taught by God and if we wish to come to him through our Lord Jesus Christ, we must rid ourselves of this perverse generation. We cannot do that unless we separate ourselves from their lies and deceits.
Ibid

“But I Just Want to Think Good About Everyone”

By Jeff Crippen

On June 19, 2023

In Abusers, Churches/Church Response, Evil, Supporting Victims

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.
Gal 5:12 I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!
Tit 3:10-11 As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, (11) knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.

There are people, even and perhaps especially many professing Christians, who maintain that it is wrong and sinful to say or think anything negative about anyone. They hold to the notion that loving others means believing they are basically good, overlooking their sins, and always believing “the best” about them. These are the kind of people who will tell the abuse victim who begins to confide to them the abuse they are living in – “now, you shouldn’t talk about your spouse that way. If you just think the best about them, all will be well.” But it isn’t. And it won’t.

I have often wondered what makes such people “tick.” We living in an increasingly wicked world and yet if you point out the evils around us that are so obvious, this kind of a person will try to neutralize you observations. “Oh, well I choose to believe that there are a lot of good people in this world.” And yet,

Rom 3:10-12 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; (11) no one understands; no one seeks for God. (12) All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

Did Jesus ever “just think the best about everyone”? You know the answer to that –

Joh 2:24-25 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people (25) and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

So what does make these “always just think good about others” people tick? To some degree I think it is pride. It makes them feel superior to others. In other cases the motive is no doubt cowardice because to conclude that someone is evil quite often means having to take a stand against them. In still other cases the reason is ignorance. If we are ignorant of the nature and even the existence of evil, and of its tactics, then we are going to remain blind to it. In still other cases – perhaps the most common – the motive is plain old unbelief in God’s Word and refusal to obey Him.

The Bible has much to say about the wicked and also much to say to Christians about how we are to deal with the wicked. We are not to associate with them – especially if they claim to be a Christian. We are to put them out of the church. We are to defend their victims. All of this requires paying a price. And so the “just think good about everyone always” crowd ignores much of the Bible, willfully disregarding God’s own Word and choosing to travel a path that makes them feel so good about themselves.

God, however, doesn’t feel good about them at all:

Deu 27:19 “‘Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

A Beautiful New Scripture Poster

By Jeff Crippen

On June 16, 2023

In Blog News

Our friends and faithful CRC members (the Austins) have their own business at graphicspaces.com They have been a huge encouragement to us these past years and several times they have designed Scripture posters for us which we display in the church building and at home. Recently I asked if they could design another poster to go along with the newest sermon series, God’s Power in Our Weakness, and they graciously did so. If you go to their website and select the “New” section, you will find it available for purchase. This is a great tool to remind us of a vital truth we dare not forget – when we are weak, then we are strong.

Perhaps the First RASN? – Cain

By Jeff Crippen

On June 14, 2023

In Abusers, Evil, Narcissist

1Jn 3:12 We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.
Gen 4:3-5 In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, (4) and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, (5) but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.

What fueled Cain’s murderous rage against his brother? Abel’s deeds were righteous and the Lord had regard for his offering. Cain’s offering was rejected. Cain, like Diotrephes (see 3 John) craved to be first. He demanded to have his ego fed. He was evil and his brother was righteous. So he killed Abel.

Cain, I suppose you could say, was the first narcissist (besides Satan). He was driven by self-worship, a vacuum of empathy, a profound sense of entitlement and superiority, and when that diabolic mixture met a righteous man who was approved by God, murder was the predictable outcome.

Cain would not confess his sin, even when directly confronted by the Lord. RASN’s as you know, are never wrong, never to blame – it was all Abel’s fault, it was all God’s fault. The punishment the Lord put upon him was excessive – just ask Cain and listen to him moan and demand to be pitied.

RASN’s are characteristically and intensely envious, jealous people. They regard themselves as gods and refuse to share the glory they insist is theirs with anyone else. Not even with God. This is one reason domestic abusers so often sabotage their victim’s successes. They cannot tolerate praise going to anyone else. That praise, by the way, may not even be real – but the RASN will imagine it to be so.

I suppose this is the reason Satan hates the Lord and the Lord’s people with such intensity. “I will be like the Most High” is the devil’s demand. You see it in the description of the Antichrist given in the book of Revelation. Bow down and worship his image, or else.

And sure enough, RASN’s are children of the devil. Jesus said so Himself.

Why Force a Spouse to Remain Married to You?

By Jeff Crippen

On June 12, 2023

In Abusers, Churches/Church Response, Evil, Getting Free, RASN

Exo 2:23-25 During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. (24) And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. (25) God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.

RASN’s in a marriage most typically try to force their victim/spouse to remain married to them. They resort to all kinds of tactics, most of which you all are sadly familiar with. One tactic is, they quote the Bible. Twisted and perverted of course, but they quote the Bible in order to claim God’s authority that the victim must remain in the marriage. They cite all kinds of books and pastors and others who claim God forbids divorce for abuse.

The motive in this of course is to maintain power and control. Threats are made. Bible verses are tossed into the mix (out of context). You know how this evil game works.

Now, here is the obvious question to put to such evil ones. Why in the world do you want to force your spouse to remain married to you? I mean, what kind of “marriage” is that? What are you (the RASN) accomplishing if you force them to stay with you? What twisted view of marriage do you have? If you have to force her/him to stay, what do you have? You have a master/slave scenario – but you certainly do not have a marriage.

And I would put the very same questions to pastors and others who try to force the victim to remain in this enslavement. Why? What have you accomplished if you force her to stay? Is it so you can go out and brag about how you “saved” a marriage?

Now of course the elephant-in-the-room question in all this is what is the reason the victim wants to be free? That is, what is the reason she/he does not want to remain married to the RASN? I can tell you. Because the RASN is a RASN!

If Pharaoh had succeeded in making the Israelites return to Egypt, what would he have accomplished? Restoration of slavery. And that is all.

This Week’s Video Links

By Jeff Crippen

On June 9, 2023

In Biblical Teaching, Blog News, Sermons

Here are the links to the Sunday morning class, the sermon, and the mid-week Bible studies.

Sunday School – Christiana (Part 2 of Pilgrim’s Progress) – https://youtu.be/Elpx8BMbV5E

Sermon – Pt 3, Will We See Sadie Again? https://youtu.be/DcNPP-Xh5aY

Ephesians Study – https://youtu.be/qRVB9dw_ef8

Revelation Study – https://youtu.be/IJA1bpB2E0g

Help from Job – Will we Take the Good but not the Bad?

By Jeff Crippen

On June 7, 2023

In Abusers, Narcissist, RASN

Job 2:10b Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

When the Lord tested Job, and it was a severe test as you know, his wife faltered and essentially told him to give up. In response, he recalled all the very good things the Lord had given them before and acknowledged the Lord’s right to withdraw them.

Job’s words reminded me of a very common and repeated scenario I have experienced. Emphasis on “repeated.” It is a characteristic of the wicked, especially of RASN’s. It goes like this: Those the RASN targets are so often very longsuffering and do all kinds of good things for their persecutor (not fully realizing just what kind of person they are up against). They are regularly giving and giving and giving good things to the oppressor, sensing (in a kind of subconscious way) that they can win the favor of the wicked one if they just continue to do nice things.

I say “subconscious” because I think what happens is that we somehow sense that there is this kind of tension in the relationship which must be fed or it will turn on us. I bet you know what I mean. Here you are almost daily giving and giving and giving and getting nothing good in return. But you just keep on giving. Why? Because your relationship is entirely one-sided. You give, they take.

Now, let’s come to a crucial and revealing point in all this. As you awaken to what is really going on and you begin to learn the nature of the RASN, you begin to voice truth. You point out the selfishness, the coldness, the void of empathy. And when you do, what happens? Does the RASN remember all of the kindness you have shown them? Is he saddened that he/she has been so selfish and unkind? You know the answer – NO! Most certainly, NO! It is as if all those many, many kind gifts and acts never even took place. They are completely disregarded. The RASN curses you for the admonition and wipes the slate entirely of the whole history of good that you have shown them.

RASNs then are guilty of the very sin which Job rejected. They accept and take the good, but no one better criticize, admonish, correct, or communicate truth to them about their sin. Or else.

If these things resonate with you, if you are in a relationship in which the giving is all on your part, if you are under a daily urging to give and give and give, ask yourself, “why?” Because surely something is very wrong.

Say it: There IS a Reward for the Righteous

By Jeff Crippen

On June 5, 2023

In Counseling

Say there is a reward for the righteous.
Psalm 58:11

The Lord tells us in this Scripture that we must always come to this conclusion: When you see things in such confusion that all order is turned upside down and God favors the wicked and hates the good, or that only chance rules, that God is asleep in heaven, that he no longer governs the affairs of this world, you must continue to be convinced that the righteous will reap the fruit of their labors.

So it is true there can be no worse temptation than to think we waste our labor when we serve God, bless his name, and submit to him, but we must be persuaded that God does not intend to disappoint those who honor and serve him.

If we do not have that assurance, we cannot ever have the least desire to devote ourselves to God. If we think that God turns his back on us, that he mocks us when we labor here below, that he closes his eyes, and that we waste our time living with great care, who among us can apply himself to well-doing?

Therefore, because those who serve God and draw nearest to him have that conviction, he rewards those who fear him. We see that the worst and deadliest temptation that Satan can place before us is to make us think we waste our time when we pray to God and have recourse to him. All the more must we be vigilant against that temptation, seeing that it is so dangerous and destructive.

[John Calvin, Sermons on Job, Vol 1 pp 105-6, Banner of Truth Trust]