Scott Allen Johnson wrote the first book that I ever read about abusers (domestic and/or sexual). It opened my eyes to what had been happening to me as a pastor for over 20 years at the hands of power and control seekers, spiritual abusers, all of whom used their wicked devices to discourage me and destroy my ministry. All of course were wearing pious, holy disguises and had everyone duped. I am convinced that the Lord put this book in my hands at just the right time, and the lights went on. Johnson was writing about the wicked people who I had been attacked by for years and now I understood the nature of this evil.
Look at this paragraph from Johnson’s book. He is writing here about the victim of sexual abuse by the victim’s father, but I am sure that you will all see that this scenario is exactly the same when a victim of domestic abuse of any kind blows the whistle:
Author: Jeff Crippen Page 60 of 88
Micah 2:1-2 Woe to those who devise wickedness and work evil on their beds! When the morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in the power of their hand. (2) They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them away; they oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance.
One of the most difficult obstacles standing in the way of a “normal” person (that’s you) coming to understand just who an abuser is in essence is coming to the realization of the thoroughness of these wicked ones. In part this is because we do not think like the abuser does, but our default setting in this regard is to believe that abusers DO think like we do. Wrong. The scripture quoted above from Micah goes a long way in helping us cross this hurdle.
We have now published my latest book and it is available on Amazon. Here is an Amazon affiliate link* to the paperback version. It is 351 pages. A Kindle version* is also available.
Here is the description I put on Amazon:
A very popular television series from years past announced that it was a program, “about nothing.” That series was a comedy, but this book is not written to make you laugh. It is, however, in a sense “a book about nothing.” Why? Because it’s subject, evil, is a kind of “nothing.” It is defined as a type of parasite. A leech riding upon that which is good and right. The words we use for it show what my meaning is: •Darkness – an absence of light. •Unrighteousness – the lack of that which is right. •Lawlessness – an absence of law. Nevertheless, this thing we call evil is not a nothing. It even has a king, the ruler of this present fallen world, the devil. And while it may be defined as an absence of that which is good, evil is a “nothing” that effects misery, harm, and death. In this book, based upon a series of sermons I preached in 2016 at Christ Reformation Church, I want to show you how this darkness works to disguise itself, creep in among us – especially among us in the Christian church – and work its destruction on the most vulnerable innocents it can find. It is past time for us all to become wise as serpents about evil, while remaining innocent as doves by not being duped into becoming its ally.
Many thanks from me to twbtc and Jessica and Verla for all the work they did to make the book available. And of course to all of you who have helped me become wiser to this evil among us.
So please spread the word to others. The only advertising we do is right here on the blog so you all can consider yourselves Justice Keeper Publishing’s field reps!
Oh, and we are working on publishing another book soon as well. It is going to be called Light for Dark Times and is a compilation of some 300 pages or so of blog posts from Unholy Charade. I thought it would be good to make posts available in printed book form as well as online. Thank you all!!
*Unholy Charade is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for website owners to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking Amazon.com and affiliated sites. See additional information here.
1 Corinthians 2:11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
I have written on this subject before but it has happened to me so often that I believe it is an extremely common tactic of wicked people – domestic abusers, spiritual abusers, and others. In an effort to accuse and disempower his target/victim, an evil man will use these kinds of statements as a weapon:
- I know why you did that
- I know why you enrolled in that class
- I know why you moved to that location
- I know why you said that to me
And guess what? He will go on to complete the sentence even if you don’t want him to. He will attribute an evil or a stupid or some other kind of bad motive to you. It is all about accusing, guilting, and shaming.
John 21:1-11 After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way. (2) Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. (3) Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. (4) Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. (5) Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.” (6) He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish. (7) That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. (8) The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off. (9) When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. (10) Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” (11) So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn.
As we work in this ministry to expose evil, specifically the evil of abuse, we should also take some “time-outs” as Jesus did. He would go off by Himself and talk with His Father, and that is not a bad thing for us to do as well. In fact, it is a necessity.
As evil as these days are, the Christian is a person of hope. Not just the “cross your fingers” kind of hope, but genuine hope of a real certainty. Christ has conquered sin and death. He has already initiated the New Creation in us. Our redemption draws closer and closer. On that Day, we will never know abuse nor the abuser again.
2 Timothy 4:14-15 Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. (15) Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message.
The Apostle Paul was wise about evil. Notice that in this warning to Timothy, Paul does not make any excuses for Alexander nor does he minimize his culpability. Paul does not tell Timothy to “pray” for Alexander or to urge him to repent.
The typical line that professing Christian people use on victims of domestic abuse is something like, “but I’m sure he is sorry. I’m sure he has changed. I just know that he loves you.” Blah, blah, blah. But here is my question for everyone who lays that kind of load on a victim:
Romans 8:16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
I know what it feels like. To have someone come up to you and tell you how much your abuser has changed for the good. After years of evil treatment at his hands, you finally were able to get away and start healing. But now, along comes some “well-meaning” person who has recently communicated with him and they just have to tell you that he is a changed person.
Now, they don’t have to complete the sentence. They have already said enough to let you know why they are telling you this. They think that you need to go see for yourself. No, they think that you need to forgive and forget now that the devil you knew is transformed into an angel.
Are these kind of people thinking that they are helping? I suppose in some cases. But the fact is that when someone does this to you, do you go away feeling encouraged? No! You feel triggered and re-traumatized. The thing is very DIS-couraging. People can be so, so, stupid, can’t they?
Exodus 23:8 And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.
Proverbs 17:23 The wicked accepts a bribe in secret to pervert the ways of justice.
If you search the Bible for the word “bribe” and its various forms, you will be surprised I think at how many times it is the subject of Scripture. This should tell us to be wise to this evil and very common tactic. In my previous post I talked about how the wicked use false witnesses against the righteous and mentioned that such liars are often recruited with a bribe.
So it is today.
In the last couple of weeks I have received some comments from a few friends who all have survived wicked abuse. I decided what they said is too valuable to keep to myself, so here they are for all of you. They don’t address one specific tactic or subject, but here they are all in one place: