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.
***
About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way. For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen. These he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth. And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods. And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship.” When they heard this they were enraged and were crying out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” So the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s companions in travel. (Acts 19:23-29)
Have you ever been confused about the reaction of so many churches and church leaders and professing Christians when you called attention to the evil of abuse hiding behind a facade of Christianity? Why do so many people, people who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, totally freak out when you point out the existence of evil among them? The thing is widespread. We are not talking about some rare anomaly, but something that really is, well, the norm.
I have seen it and so have most of you. When I first started to really wake up (or rather be woken up by the Lord) to this wickedness lurking in the pews, I was excited about all this truth coming my way. It was extremely freeing because I was being freed from so much of the bondage that had been worked against me for so many years by abusers. But on more than one occasion when I shared what I was learning, here are some of the reactions by one or two “pillars” of the church that tried to shut me down:
- “That is gossip! Don’t ever talk to me about this again!”
- “No! No! No! What is this anyway? You are wrong. You have no evidence. Stop it right now!”
I have no doubt that if these people could have driven me away from our church, they would have done so in a minute. By God’s grace that did not happen. Such people always try to recruit a crowd, like Demetrius did, but this time round it didn’t work. It was the Lord protecting us.
But what is this? Why this instant flare up and rage? I think I can confidently answer that question. It is the result of the very same cause that fueled the riot in Ephesus. At the root of these rioters’ religion was idolatry. “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” Their religion, their money, their entire worldview was all wrapped up in an idol. The gospel is a severe threat to false gods and to the people who worship them. Light was shining and the darkness hated it.
And so it is today.
Many local churches, many “eminent saints” in local churches, actually worship an idolatrous “Jesus” fashioned by their own hands. When someone is being set free of the bondage to that idol by the work of the Spirit of Christ in them showing them His truth, well, the Artemis worshipers don’t like it at all. That truth is a threat to everything that they call Christianity. The rank patriarchy. The legalism. The distortions of Scripture regarding forgiveness, reconciliation, love, submission, and mercy. Those perversions of God’s Word start teetering when truth begins to shine. The local church that is so “perfect” turns out to be an idol factory full of wickedness — the whitewashed tomb full of dead, rotten corpses Jesus spoke of. And the idolaters hate this exposure. “Great is our ‘Jesus’! Great is our doctrine of marriage and family and parenting and ‘purity’ and ‘holiness.’ ” These things have long brought “no little business” to these people who are just certain they are serving Christ, so watch them rage and riot in confusion and madness with gnashing teeth when God’s freeing truth comes in among them.
You see, to admit that in fact old Jack over there, a long time pillar of the church and model father/husband, is in fact a wicked, evil man who puts on a convincing disguise at church but is a terror to his wife at home, is to admit that we have been wrong about many, many things. Wrong about evil. Wrong about Jack. Wrong about his wife (we have been blaming her for any problems). Wrong about who a true Christian really is. Wrong about the “health” of our fine church. Turns out that in fact these words of Christ are a more fitting description of our church:
For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. (Rev 3:17)
Once in a very great while, there will be real repentance. But far more often? A riot like Ephesus with idolaters shouting the praises and defenses of their false Jesus.
Where abuse and evil are exposed and where the reaction is that of a riot, you can be sure that the root cause is that you are dealing with idolaters.
***
A Cry For Justice 
Nobody seems to be able to see the horror of evil except those of us thrown into the sea or it and set adrift with no boat, buoy or life jacket. Those of us woken up to the truth of this evil by the Lord who appear to be worthless nobodies that aren’t worth the time to listen to. But God has shown us that this is the opposite of true. We are the ones that actually see the truth and try to do right by turning around and helping the brethren. We have also found that there are very few brethren who want the truth and we end up seeing yet MORE truth because these people were never our brethren in the first place.
And yet we are always so surprised. Who are we that God should show US so much truth? I mean, there are lots of people more educated, more confident, with more stories of how God has performed miracles of deliverance in their lives. I am merely a wife and mother with no connections or great (worldly) accomplishments and no desire to be known by anyone except the Lord and to be a blessing to my family. Why does God even bother with me?
Because we are the ones who hear his voice and follow it. God has done to us what he did for David, “You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.” When God takes away all the props in our lives, props the church provided and told us were things we should value like worshiping our husband and family and the idol of marriage, we are often left with just Him. Only Him and his word.
The surprise and shock we feel is due to the lies and twisting of scripture that we REALLY believed at the time, which appeared to be so right and true. Now that we see God’s truth through his word and in our lives, we doubt it because we were SURE we’d had it right previously. Make sense? Is it heartbreaking? Oh yes, as such lies should be. It’s devastating because the lies have been perpetuated in a place that should have been inhabited by people who love the Lord and who’d desired above all things to know his truth through his word. So when we find instead evil and lies and the evil one masquerading as a being of light, we are rightly shocked and wonder if it’s our perception that’s off. Nope. Just the harsh light of truth exposing evil lurking within the dark tombs of death.
Thank you again Jeff for shining a light on another gem in the Bible. The end times are addressed in both the old and new testament and perfectly describe what we are going through. The internet has sped everything up hasn’t it? Sped up the ability to access evil for those who so desire to participate in it. Sped up access to information for those of us attending school or desiring truth. And yet humans are no smarter, happier or better are they? It’s all the same as from the beginning of time. The heart is what we are judged by and what leads us, and for those who belong to the Lord we are to “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” Our heart is what the evil one desires to reach and to destroy, but for those who belong to Jesus, this heart belongs to Him. He is VERY protective of it and will go to great lengths to ensure that we know that he loves us and that he hates evil. He will never leave you and never stop working in your life and holding you as he shows you more truth. This is why we feel things so deeply and are so offended by the lies, we have the heart of Jesus, and this is how HE feels. You are his and you are loved deeply by him.
Yes Anomyous,
thank you for offering this deep truth in words.
I have always known this, but it is very validating to have it expressed in writing.
Wow, I have just received two healing cups of sparkling cool water for my spirit 🙂 Well written…Thank you Pastor Jeff and Anonymous…. Have a blessed day, I know we will 🙂
The current reaction concerning the wife of the pastor freed in Iran fits this well:
Naghmeh Abedini Reveals Why She Filed Domestic Relations Case Against Pastor Saeed [Internet Archive link]
The comments against her make me sick.
I am very grateful that my entire family together SAW the evil of the abuser in our lives, and though we also heard some of the things directed at Naghmeh, and I knew we would lose our church and friends and business opportunities, we knew we had each other and that we were not crazy, morally wrong, or mistaken. I set my face like a flint, remembering that their blindness was my own a few short years ago. And God brings us onward into newness.
Yes!!
To Pastor Jeff and Anonymous…
(……insert appropriate net-speak for wordless appreciation here……)
Finding Answers – Your comments on so many posts, from many different dates and topics, has been a BLESSING to me. It’s under 2 years since I found ACFJ, and there are still MANY wonderful posts I haven’t read. This is one of them. It SO speaks to my recent circumstances. Thank you! And I’m praying for you, my sister. You are in God’s tender and powerful Hands.
You know what I find truly wonderful, Gany T.?
I have received a bucket-load of Scriptural truth in my journey through the posts and the comments they generate. Far, far more than any bricks-and-mortar “c”hurch I attended.
Not only is God’s word / Word clarified and untwisted, but practical, reality-based application is presented! What joy!
Without everyone on ACFJ, I would still be lost. In this, I include the victims / survivors who lurk and read.
The community here is much more complex than can be represented by a single exegesis or secular tome. The uniqueness of one perspective may be the missing component to another’s solution.
If having this post brought to your notice has been a blessing, the glory goes to God. May you continue to receive them.
And knowing this, I, too, am blessed.
So true – ACFJ is a very special community of believers…providing amazing, unique ministry to each other and to other readers. (I’d include, and a prophetic witness to the ‘c’hurch.) I have felt more connection with other believers and learned more living / applicable truth here than in most of my decades as a believer combined. God is so good.