This drawing was made by a young lady who has been growing wise to the evil that was committed against her when she was a little girl. She has realized that the little girl in her was so afraid that she pushed the memory of these things down and out of sight. But now she has grown older and wiser and courageous and is facing up to evil. I find the picture to be very powerful and she hopes that it will be a help to many of you too: “It’s ok, we’re safe now.”
Author: Jeff Crippen Page 62 of 88
In a matter of just a few days we have received donations totaling $2065! So our target of $2000 has been reached. I hope all of you are really encouraged by this, we certainly are. The need is met. Burden lifted from a sister in Christ who has suffered not only at the hands of an abuser but at the hands of her ex church as well. Most of you have walked that path too.
It is not our practice to ask for donations very often. The cost of operating this blog is very, very minimal. Numbers of people have plugged into Christ Reformation Church online and have contributed financially to help our small band of people here meet the typical costs of a local church. Those costs are low – our building is paid for and we focus our ministry on preaching and teaching, broadcasting live on Facebook, posting the sermons in video, audio, and pdf on Sermon Audio, and the sermon videos on Youtube. The rest of our ministry is this one right here – The blogs and publishing our books and interacting with abuse survivors and victims.
Thank you again for praying for this lady and for your donations. It is a good work you have done in Christ.
The Apostle Paul identifies very clearly the fundamental reason for idolatry:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. (Romans 1:18-25)
God has revealed Himself to His creation so clearly that all human beings are without excuse when it comes to their failure to honor Him as God/Creator and give Him thanks. Since the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, such people set themselves on a foolhardy course of foolishness characterized by the lie that the creature is God. Fallen man would sooner worship a snake than bow before God. Thus we see God justly handing these idolaters over to the depths of their evil and sin.
Now, what has all of this got to do with abuse? Certainly abuse is one result of life in a society that largely rejects God. But it is this matter of “by their unrighteousness suppressing the truth” that has jumped out at me this evening.
As you know, last Tuesday we announced a fundraising project to meet a $2000 need for an abuse survivor who we know well and can confidently attest for. The need is valid and we thank everyone who has contributed so far.
Via PayPal we have received $350 as of now, though no doubt there will be some checks mailed via the postal service which have not arrived yet.
As I promised though, I will keep you all updated on the progress. Many thanks to you all and blessings to you in Christ.
Jeff
Why the western world…chose to tear itself apart in 1939 is a story not so much of accidents, miscalculations, and overreactions…as of the carefully considered decisions to ignore, appease, or collaborate with Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany by nations that had the resources and knowledge, but not yet the willpower to do otherwise. [The Second World Wars by Victor Davis Hanson, p 16]
I continue to have parallels to domestic abusers (and other kinds of abusers) in our churches leap out from the pages of Hanson’s excellent book. I have to write about them. We can all learn and be greatly affirmed by these things because after all, evil is evil. Whether it be on a worldwide scale like the Axis powers in WWII, or hiding in our churches behind the disguise of piety.
Being neutral is by design, a choice, with results that either harm or hurt the particular beligerents in question — with neutrality almost always aiding the aggressive carnivore, not its victim. Or as the Indian statesman and activist V.K. Krishna menon cynically once put it, ‘there can be no more positive neutrality than there can be a vegetarian tiger.’
I’m no good at fund raising. Over the years, years ago, I have had people tell me “Pastor, you need to preach more on tithing. The giving in the church is down.” I don’t like that. I think if real Christians are made aware of genuine needs and if the Lord has provided the means for them to help, they will do so without me twisting their arm.
So, what I would like to do in this post is simply make you aware of a real need and if you can help, that is wonderful. I know full well that most of you have suffered wicked abuse and part of that abuse has been economic.
In this case, an abuse survivor, a genuine Christian who I have known for some years now, is in need. She has been ex-communicated by a “church,” she has been cheated by her abuser (now her ex thankfully), and she really is a “widow indeed” as the Bible says. I wish I were a millionaire – I would spend my days handing out and helping the oppressed. But I’m not, and neither are you.
My friend is also physically and seriously disabled, the result of all those years of evil treatment no doubt.
So, I would like to offer all of you an opportunity to help. We are trying to raise $2000 to pay a pressing bill and relieve some financial pressure from her. If you would like to help and are able to do so, you can send funds to –
- Christ Reformation Church, 7450 Alderbrook Rd., Tillamook, Oregon 97141
- or you can donate through Paypal – christreform@gmail.com
You can include a note to let me know that the funds are for this project.
Many blessings to you all. We look forward to the day in the New Creation when we will all “buy without money.” I will keep everyone informed as to the progress of the contributions.
(Update: This need has been met. Thank you to all who have been a blessing to this lady.)
One of the most difficult truths to grasp is the realization that the domestic abuser does not think like us. Your abuser’s thoughts are not your thoughts. Let me explain by illustration. Victor Davis Hanson, in his book The Second World Wars [Basic Books, 2017] a statement by the British statesman Anthody Eden is quoted. Eden said that very few Brits had, as Davis says, “ever encountered anyone quite like Hitler or Mussolini.” Eden said:
You know, the hardest thing for me during that time [leading up to the war] was to convince my friends that Hitler and Mussolini were quite different from British business men or country gentlemen as regards their psychology, motivations and modes of action. My friends simply refused to believe me. They thought I was biased against the dictators and refused to understand them. I kept saying, ‘When you converse with the Fuhrer or the Duce, you feel at once that you are dealing with an animal of an entirely different breed from yourself.’
Eden had it pegged, but as it is today in most cases, very few would listen. Most people felt that, like themselves, Hitler really didn’t want war. Why? Because they didn’t. And they assumed that ultimately everyone wanted peace.
But there are people in this world who do not want peace. They want power. They want control. And the attainment of those stations usually requires war, oppression, the making of victims, and the infliction of suffering.
Isa 1:16-17 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, (17) learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.
Evildoers target the defenseless. They look for the weak and helpless. This is why the Lord commands us to bring justice to the fatherless and to plead the widow’s cause – because they are the ones typically targeted by the wicked.
It has always been true and it is true in our day. Think for example of the kinds of targets these demonic mass shooters select: schools, churches, and other places where there are lots of people who are unarmed or in some way unable to defend themselves against the attacker.
Churches are often and even typically blind to the real nature and existence of evil. That sounds like an incredible statement, but it is true and if you have been the target of a domestic abuser for instance, you found this out very quickly when you went to your pastor for help. Myths and fictions are fabricated in the pulpit and in the literature and the people are convinced that these things are “Bible truth.”
We are told and we like to tell ourselves that if we just “love” the evil man enough, if we willingly suffer under his assaults as sacrificial victims, if we issue him adequate hugs, he will put down his gun, fall to his knees in prayer, and believe in Jesus. That is the very thing that domestic abuse victims are so often told by their churches and if they refuse, they are marked as unfaithful Christians and put out of the church. It’s true. I am not overstating the case. These things are examples of the failed policy of appeasement. Just give the devil what he wants and he will leave you alone.