Signs of the Dark Kingdom
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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[February 10, 2023: There have been some changes made to this post. For more information, read the Editors’ notes at the bottom of the post. Editors.]
I have often, as you have guessed if you have read many posts on this blog, thought that abuse is demonic to one extent or another, varying most likely from case to case. Thinking about this brought to mind the following Scripture. Let’s read it and then see what characteristics we can find here that point to the kingdom of darkness being involved:
(Mark 5:1-9 ESV) (1) They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. (2) And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. (3) He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, (4) for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. (5) Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. (6) And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. (7) And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” (8) For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” (9) And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.”
Luke adds —
(Luke 8:26-29 ESV) (26) Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. (27) When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs. (28) When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.” (29) For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.)
Ok, let’s see what we can derive from this account (other than the “fact” that this, as you may know, was “the origin of deviled ham.” Really! “My old Sunday School teacher told me so. The pigs, you know.”). What are the evidences here of the devil being involved —
- Demons are theists. No atheism here. They recognize Jesus and acknowledge who He is.
- They fear Christ. They know that their judgment is at hand.
- Rages and violence. People feared him. No one could subdue him.
- Nudity. Might this also be sexual perversions? Who wants to even think about the kind of stuff this guy would do.
- Preoccupation with death? He lived, of all places, among the tombs. And he was self-destructive, cutting himself. Suicidal?
Now, I am not trying to encourage our readers to set out on a demon hunt or trying to come up with some exorcism ritual to deal with their abuser. It is Christ, and Christ alone — His truth and His Spirit alone that can set those bound by Satan free. The Gospel is the sword of the Spirit we use. But I am suggesting that some of these kinds of qualities that were true of this demon-possessed man also crop up in many abusers. They fear Christ — especially the “religious” ones. They rage. They are given to sexual perversions and abuse. They talk about killing others, and of taking their own lives as well (and some of them do. You read about it just about everyday in the news.).
Have you ever wondered, as you read through Scripture, why there were so many demon-possessed people when Jesus was here in this world? Or, to put it another way, have you ever wondered if there are still lots of them today, but we don’t know how to spot them?
This much I can be sure of. Abuse is of the devil. He has his hand in it.
[February 10, 2023: Editors’ notes:
—For some comments made prior to February 10, 2023 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 February 10, 2023 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 February 10, 2023 that quoted from the post to the post as it is now (February 10, 2023), click here [Internet Archive link] for the most recent Internet Archive copy of the post.]
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- Posted in: Abusers
- Tagged: demonic influence, evil, identifying abusers, Jeff Crippen, Luke, Mark
A Cry For Justice 
I appreciate you tackling this here, Jeff. Lots of folks get really upset when anyone mentions the “d” word but I think its something we have to consider especially in light of some of the bizarre stuff that happens when no one is around except the discredited wife and the terrified children. After all, who’s going to believe them?
One thing I know from experience — greater is He who is within us than He who is in the world. Part of the trouble here is recognizing evil for what it is and calling it out. No more playing the religious victim in public, terrorizing the family in private. Once you recognize demonic activity, you don’t have to stand for it any longer.
I feel very much like the demon-possessed man. I believe in Jesus but in a fearful way. I am sure I am going to be condemned. I struggle constantly with anger and sexual perversion. How would I know if I had a demon and how would I get rid of it?
If you’re serious, there is only one way I know of.
You pray and you fast and you seek the face of God until He answers. There are no shortcuts. We use to call it “tarrying before the Lord”. Only He can save, only He can deliver, only He can forgive. And I’m not talking a one night prayer session. Seeking God takes patience and a perseverance few are willing to give to find peace and freedom.
And whether it is or is not demonic isn’t really important. Repent of sin, set aside everything that hinders you, humble yourself and seek God — for as long as it takes, until the heavens open.
God is still in the business of setting people free.
Jim, this is a late reply. I agree with Ida Mae. All her advice is good. I can only add a few Scriptures as well:
Resist the devil and he will flee from you (James 4:7).
Give no opportunity to the devil (Ephesians 4:27).
Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh (Romans 13:14).
These things mean you should firmly remove from your life and your daily routines all things that lead to temptation. Even if it means getting stuff out of your house, walking a different way so you don’t go past a certain shop, not turning on the computer, or whatever is necessary to put up walls and stick to vows to “not go there”.
And if you can find a good male Christian counsellor who can help you confront and work through any underlying issues, it may help. But don’t waste your and their time unless you really want to renounce the habits of sin. And don’t think you can address the issues without being fully honest and transparent about what’s hiding inside of you.
This post is now nearly four years old. Have you noticed how much / fast things have changed in the past four years? The curse words that are allowed to be aired on main stream TV have become more obnoxious. Nudity and sexual topics that in the past would have been considered lewd are also now mainstream themes. But something I’d like to point out is how “morphed” people are looking, and how this look is accepted as something normal and even beautiful.
Celebrities are having plastic surgery done to where they look like, well, DEMONS. Many have had so much work done that they don’t even resemble their former selves, and the most amazing thing is that others want to LOOK just like them! Blown out lips, bulging cheeks, out-of-proportion features that detract from appearance rather than enhance it. But nobody seems to notice. Demons no longer have to disguise themselves as angels of light or beauty, they can go out looking like evil itself, and people will accept them and be attracted to them.
I’ve shared with you that God had us live in an area of the U.S. that hated Christianity. God showed us MANY things while we lived there although it was only for a relatively short time (less than a year). (To those who haven’t had this wisdom given to them I pray you never have to learn it first hand.) As soon as we moved there, people started following us — strangers. And at stores, within a minute of entering them, someone would come deliberately looking for us. We’d rarely see people actually eating, they’d be in restaurants but nobody seemed to actually EAT. These people that followed us sometimes just seemed to disappear. The heavy depression we felt while we lived there was indescribable. (This state has had the highest suicide rate many, many times over the years. I can totally see why.)
Now, I want to assure you that we initially thought we were imagining things, so we started paying closer attention. And God showed us that what we were seeing was true. We were an anomaly there, REAL CHRISTIANS, so the spirit of the Lord lived in us, and apparently we were extremely rare. (It felt like the demons who lived there wanted to get a gander at us, like they hadn’t been in the presence of the Lord for a while and wanted to see us.) Whether these were people possessed by demons or demons themselves, we don’t know for sure but my daughter and I learned to stay together. Whenever we were apart from each other the depression was overwhelming and these people would come out in droves. (It was never the same people.) There was one area in particular that seemed to make us immediately suicidal but we had to go there — it couldn’t be avoided (although we only had to go every other month). We learned to pray well ahead of time for protection and that God would go before us and prepare the way but stay near us at the same time. (This is easy for Him to do.) We also looked up the history of this area and sure enough, in the past it had been known as the most evil place west of the Mississippi.
The SECOND that God allowed us to leave that state we FLEW out — leaving most everything we owned behind just to leave earlier than we should have. It took two years before we finally felt safe again. The PTSD from the spiritual abuse of that place coupled with the emotional abuse of psychopaths, nearly did us in.
But, God has a plan. What is His plan for me? I don’t know all of it, but I know this. What He’s shown me is meant to be shared with my brethren — those who belong to Him. It’s to be used to bless them and to care for them and to show them that He cares and is with them and that He knows what’s taking place. What He has shown me is only a foreshadowing, I believe, of how bad things will become in the near future.
Jeff and Barb, please feel free not to post this if you think it’s over the top or not biblically sound. But I always pray that everything God teaches me, He also allows me to share with the brethren. So if you think this will bless others through Him, then post it.
[Paragraph break added to enhance readability. Editors.]
Pastor Jeff wrote:
And if the “c”hurch welcomes the abuser, they also welcome the devil.
And once the devil gets a foothold, the games begin….
From Barb’s reply to Jim:
It requires making choices, and some are really, really hard.
It requires humility, admitting to sin, risking vulnerability.
It requires surrendering willfulness for willingness.
It requires true repentance, not a surface-level makeover.
It requires acknowledging when “willpower” is not enough, and humbly turning to Christ.
Read the story of Jeff Crippen and his church, how they dealt with the infestation.
‘Nuff said.