Tagged as: Choosing Love Today, Create Your World, Deborah White Dove, Dreams that Shape A Legacy, Getting Your Life Back, Living With a Sociopath, New Family Legacy, Unbuckle Your Christianity
Why Knowing Your Enemy Matters
Previous post: Step into the Light
Next post: When there Seems to be No Way
Knowing Your Enemy Matters
By: Susan Deborah Schiller
I was scared, depressed, and ready to give up. Middle of the night interrogations, gaslighting, and more made my home like a prisoner of war camp. No one saw what was happening, for it was all behind the doors of a "successful ministry" led by a popular evangelist, my abuser.
During that time I had a series of dreams that showed me how to escape to freedom. Not just safety, but freedom. It began with seeing my enemy in his truest form. The real enemy works behind the scenes, using people as puppets. My dream served to paint his portrait, and that changed my perspective!
Ever since, I have used the picture of the spindly, withered man as my "portrait of the devil". Even more important, however, is to see our enemy through God's eyes.
"Sham authority" is exposed. There is public exposure.
Contrary to Scripture, what do we do with predators in our midst? If you've read my story, you know that it's the same as every other survivor of sociopathic abuse: We were told, "Give them more grace. More love. More patience."
I love mercy and grace. I believe in loving the untouchables – the ones everyone else gives up on. But with this one difference – you cannot treat a pathological person as you would everyone else. They are "children of the devil" and Jesus modeled EXPOSURE and calling them out for who they really are.
John the Baptist did the same, calling the pretentious religious leaders "snakes" and "white-washed tombs" and "children of lies".
We know them by their fruit (Matthew 7)… rape, murder, lies, and spiritual deception.
They bear the image of their father, the devil. And this is his portrait:
What should be our response when we realize we have been duped, conned, charmed, and groomed for abuse?
Go public! Expose their dark deeds!
Silence abuses the abused!
Silence is Evil's accomplice.
It's going to take all of us.
We must go public. We dare not hide behind phrases like "just have more grace". "Look at his great anointing and all the miracles he's doing – just give him more grace – we need him!" We need you to tell your story.
Imagine what the world would be like today if we took Jesus at his word and just did as he did? What if you take what Jesus says is your inheritance as God's child:
What if you take those promises as your current reality? What would your life begin to look like? We defeat our enemy by knowing him for what he really is: a thief, liar, and murderer.
Likewise, we must remember who we are, as God's beloved child, sharing the same inheritance as His beloved son, Jesus Christ. And Jesus was not afraid to go public in exposing the sham leaders.
Are you afraid to write your story, to go public? I hope the words of Marvia Davidson encourage you today as much as she encourages me, in her story at "What It Took to Find Me in the Freedom Place".
My Full Story What I Believe Contact Me
With all my love,
Sue
Copyright © 2010 to 2015 Team Family Online, All rights reserved. For reprint permission or for any private or commercial use, in any form of media, please contact Susan Schiller.