Tried With Fire

Why, when confronted with violence or abuse in a home, have we often placed the burden on the victim to justify her actions or somehow prove that she did not "make" him do it, rather than on the abuser to confess his sins and demonstrate change? We have frequently overemphasized the response of the abused to the exclusion of confronting the behavior of the abuser. Are we afraid he will turn his anger on us? Do we fear confrontation? Do we fear we will be accused of not holding the marriage covenant sacred? Do we really think protecting a home full of sin is keeping that sacred covenant? Do we fear standing with the oppressed?  Suffering and the Heart of God , Diane Langberg, New Growth Press, 2015, pg. 259. I have found that victims experience incredible relief, if not disbelief, when they hear me say, "If you are telling the truth, I will know it because I know what abuse is, how it thinks, and how it acts. And I will believe you, no matter who your abuser is or...

A Cry For Justice: How the Evil of Domestic Abuse Hides in Your Church by Jeff Crippen and Anna Wood, Calvary Press, 2012, 335 pages. Abuse. We avoid this topic because we don't want to believe it can happen in Christian homes. Through our ignorance, it often flies below our radar. Even if abuse comes to the surface, a lack of proper understanding can cause the church to hurt those it intends to help. These are the very reasons, Jeff Crippen and Anna Wood have taken on this difficult subject.  A Cry For Justice seeks to open the eyes of pastors, counselors, and believers in the pews to the nature of abuse and abusers. What is abuse? Abuse, then, is a mentality of entitlement and superiority in which an abuser uses various tactics to obtain and enforce unjustified power and control over another person. The abuser thinks that he is absolutely justified in using these tactics to maintain this power and control over his victim. Abuse is effected in many ways: both physica...