Ephesians 4:14 ESV so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

Hebrews 5:12-14 ESV For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, (13) for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. (14) But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Matthew 10:16-17 ESV “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. (17) Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues,

As most of you know from hard experience, one of the leading factors that keeps victims of domestic abuse in that abuse is the false teaching and commands of so many pastors, church leaders, “biblical” counselors, and the books they write. False religion, twisted scripture, and the evil people who lay them on us are instruments of evil. However “nice” they may seem, the enslaving and dangerous teachings they insist we must obey make them instruments of the evil one.

The scriptures I have quoted above (and many others – check out Galatians for instance), tell us that being children spiritually is a dangerous condition to remain in. When we are still in diapers, feeding off a bottle of milk, we are in a very perilous and vulnerable state. So it is in regard to Christian maturity – we must be certain to press on and to do so quickly. Growing up in Christ, becoming wise in His truth, will keep us from being “tossed to and fro” by these false teachings that blow at us.

Notice the Hebrews passage. We must become skilled in the word of righteousness – the Bible. Our powers of discernment must be trained so that we can distinguish good from evil. So that we can identify false teachings and false teachers. So that we can recognize an evil person parading as a Christian. So that we can reject the false, enslaving, gas-lighting lies that these servants of the devil throw at us.

I wrote a book titled Wise as Serpents: Growing Wise to the Evil Among Us*. I hope you all will get it and read it – not so I can sell books, but so that you will be helped to grow up, to become strong and wise and have an ever increasing ability to see evil when it comes at you camoflauged as God’s Word. Ultimately of course this wisdom and growth in Christ comes from His Spirit working in us by His Word, and I hope that my book will be a tool to help you see and understand His Word and sort out God’s truth from the lies being laid upon you.

One of the most common and wicked lies being thrown at us is that a domestic abuser certainly can be a Christian, and therefore we are required by God to forgive them, show them empathy and mercy, patiently endure their abuser because, after all, “we are all sinners.” Insert vomit and anger memes here. That is why I wrote (please excuse on more line of promotion here) another booklet called Who is a Christian?* Because most professing Christians have been taught and believe that even though a person is habitually walking in sin, without real repentance, we must honor their claim that they are saved. This lie also excuses the churches for allowing an evil person wearing a saintly disguise to remain in the church, take communion, or even serve in a ministry of some kind. The victim of course, if she/he refuses to “forgive, reconcile, be merciful,” will be castigated and thrown under the bus. I know what this is like, by the way. It happened to me in a church I started some 30 years ago. I exposed an evil man’s sin. Now, 30 years later, I am out and he remains a “fine, upstanding” leader in that church.

And now, all these years later, I know what happened. It is this knowledge of truth that frees us, that enables us to realize the truth of Jesus’ warnings given to us by Him for our encouragement: