The Root of Abuse

Jeff Crippen ♦ 9th January 2012 ♦ Leave a comment

UPDATE Sept 2021: I have come to believe that Jeff Crippen does not practise what he preaches. He vilely persecuted an abuse victim and spiritually abused many other people in the Tillamook congregation. Go here to read the evidence. Jeff has not gone to the people that he spiritually and emotionally abused. He has not apologised to them, let alone asked for their forgiveness.

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[October 8, 2022: There have been some changes made to this post. For more information, read the Editors’ notes at the bottom of the post. Editors.]

One of the most common ways that a Christian is persecuted today is in the scenario of a Christian who is married to a non-Christian. Very often the unsaved spouse, the abuser, parades himself or herself as an eminent Christian, but is really only a Saul. And at the root of the abuse is a fear of Christ, as the abuser sees that the Spirit of Christ is in the victim, and a hatred for Christ and thus for the victim.

As I am contacted by abuse victims who are Christians — and usually it is the wife — I am learning this to be true. And it is something that the victims often have not yet realized. Here is the root cause of the abuse —

(John 15:25  ESV) But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’

(1 John 3:10-13  ESV)  (10) By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.   (11) For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.  (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.  (13) Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, you can be sure of this — no matter what an abuse victim does, no matter how much she alters her appearance or her behavior or her words in an attempt to appease her abuser, it will not work! He will not change. Why? Because nothing can change the fact that the victim is a Christian and he is not. And that is what is at the very root of the conflict. Learn this well, and be wise!

[October 8, 2022: Editors’ notes:

—For some comments made prior to October 8, 2022 that quoted from the post, the text in the comment that was quoted from the post might no longer be an exact match.
—For some comments made prior to October 8, 2022 that quoted from the post, the text in the comment that was quoted from the post might no longer be found in the post.
If you would like to compare the text in the comments made prior to October 8, 2022 that quoted from the post to the post as it is now (October 8, 2022), click here [Internet Archive link] for the most recent Internet Archive copy of the post.]