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Rape is nothing new:
"But the men would not listen to him. So the man seized his concubine and
brought her out to them; and they raped her and abused her all night until morning, then let her go at the approach of dawn."
(Judges 19:25)
Abuse is nothing new:
"Then Saul said to his armor bearer, "Draw your sword and thrust me through
with it, otherwise these uncircumcised will come and abuse me." But his armor bearer would not, for he was greatly afraid.
[1 Sam 31:4] Therefore Saul took "his sword and fell on it." (1 Chronicles 10:4; Judges 19:25)
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Violence is nothing new:
"Make the chain, for the land is full of bloody crimes and the city is
full of violence" (Ezekiel 7:23).
Due to the disobedience of the parents of Cain and Abel, Adam and Eve opened
the door to evil in their time extending to our present society.
Verbal abuse and insults are nothing new:
"These ten times you have insulted me; you are not ashamed to wrong me."
(Job 19:3)
"And above His head they put up the charge against Him which read, "THIS
IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS."
"And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads and
saying, You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come
down from the cross." In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him"…
"The robbers who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him with
the same words." (Matthew 27:37-44)
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Lies and deception are nothing new:
Just as the serpent planted seeds of doubt and lies about what God commanded,
many perpetrators of violence use the same tactics. Battered women will hear false affirmations such as, "It is your fault,
isn't it?" Or, "Tell your family that you bumped into a door. That is how you bust your lip, right?"
Sadly, too many women will fall into the trap of lies and deception. They
will tell their loved ones their busted lip was due to their clumsiness. They will learn a lifetime of lying for their batterers,
and try to cast doubt upon what really happened to them.
Over time, battered women learn the ways of their aggressors, fall into
the violence trap, and they are often sentenced to very long jail terms.
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Proverbs 22:24 and 25 gives us very sound advice:
"Do not associate with a man given to anger; Or go with a hot-tempered
man, or you will learn his ways and find a snare for yourself."
Anger and hot-tempers in a man should never be ignored, no matter how cute
he is, or deceptively charming he pretends to be. Snakes are charming, cunning, and very treacherous. When that little boy,
in the body of a man, cannot have his way with you or gain total control over you, you will pay the price.
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Domestic violence and abuse are escalating in our homes, because Satan
knows that his time is not long. He has always hated God and His creation. Saints, we are at war! The war that took
place in heaven is now the war on earth. Satan lost the war in heaven, but Jesus Christ won the final victory when He shed
His blood for us. Unfortunately, we have numerous causalities on our
side of the battle lines.
Why? For one thing, preachers do not preach the Word as they should. I
am not against prosperity preaching, for God delights in the prosperity of His children. But how will money benefit
a dying soul? How will money bring peace within our homes? How will money stop violent abusers from torturing their families?
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More preaching and teaching should be aimed at our struggles with the evil
forces of darkness, the unseen world that Satan controls. Volumes could and should be written and taught. Perhaps God will
use my mind to write about spiritual warfare as well. Let’s pray that He does.
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Hebrews 4:12
