Rev 12:10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.

Zec 3:1-2 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. (2) And the LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, O Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?”

Have you ever been accused of something falsely? If you are someone who has experienced being the target of the wicked, such as a domestic abuser spouse, then I am certain that you have. As you can see from the Scriptures quoted above, accusing is the devil’s business. Particularly accusing Christ’s people. This is why Satan loved the Law. While God’s Law is holy and righteous and good, Satan pointed at all who broke it (which was all of us) and demanded our death. Christ rescued us from the curse of the Law and thus removed the basis for the devil’s accusations:

Gal 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us–for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”–

Col 2:13-15 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, (14) by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. (15) He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

Satan therefore no longer has a basis for accusing Christ’s people. The curse that was upon us for our own sin, Christ took upon Himself on the cross and paid our debt in full. Begone, Satan!

But in this fallen world, Satan and his servants still use this tactic of accusing. Sometimes they focus on times that we have sinned and though we confess it and repent and Christ forgives us, these wicked ones try to convince us and others that we stand guilty and condemned. We must reject such lies.

1Jn 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

More often than not however, wicked people such as domestic abusers make accusations that are false. They accuse their victims themselves and they voice these accusations to others.

• She is not a good mother.
• She is a rebellious wife
• She wastes my money
• She never cleans the house
• She flirts with other men
• She lies about me all the time

And on and on it goes.

Now, think carefully on this. Where does the power of this accusation tactic lie? The charges are false, yet they have power to destroy. Why? What is it that energizes them? I can tell you: false accusations gain their diabolic power when they are believed. There it is.

What has been the source of your pain and suffering at the hands of your accuser? Why does he love this method of oppressing you? Because he knows that people will believe the accusations. And I will take this a bit further – he knows that YOU to some degree will believe his accusations. It’s true, right? The wicked can level a completely false accusation against us and we “know” it is false, yet….it stings. We start to be troubled by it. We think and wonder…”maybe he’s right?” And so the abused wife will often resolve to “do better.” Evil men know that the righteous have a conscience, and they strive to use our conscience against us.

Of course it is no pleasant thing to have these false accusations believe by others either. Here is where the abuser causes so much suffering to his target. He accuses her to her church, he accuses her to her friends, he accuses her to her children and to her parents and siblings. And they very often believe the false charges. That hurts. It hurts a lot. “At least,” they say, “she must be somewhat to blame.”

Being accused hurts, even when the accusations are false. And this is why one of the most helpful things you can do for the victim of abuse, for the person who has been spurned and condemned by her pastor and church members, for the woman whose own parents have been influenced against her by wicked, false accusations, is to believe her. That, I have found, is the fundamental and most powerful help that we give to abuse victims here in blog world. We tell them, “I believe you.” We assure them, “Your abuser, like his father the devil, is a liar. You are not guilty of those accusations. Excommunicated by your church? Never mind. The charges are false and the Lord knows it.”