Child Abuse

Child Abuse & Neglect

What Does God say about abusers?

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Abuse in any form is not only harmful and detremential to the abuser and the abused; but it is also a sin. It is a sin of the worst kind. I Corinthians 6:9-10 speaks of abusers and how the Lord feels regarding

this matter:"Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived; neither fronicators, nor idolators,nor adulterers, nor effiminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,nor

thieves,nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers,nor extortioners, shall enter the kingdom of God." Those who abuse others will pay the price - albeit here on earth or at their judgment before God. The next question that we must ask ourselves is what about the Victims of abuse? What is to become of them? Who will help them overcome the abuse they

suffered?

I. Child Abuse

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Most of us are familiar with the detrimental affects of child abuse. Examples of physical abuse include overt harmful behaviors such as: hitting, biting, shaking, choking, kicking, burning, or throwing

objects. None among us would defend or tolerate such behaviors. Then there’s emotional abuse which might include behaviors such as the following: verbal assaults such as screaming, intimidating, rejecting,

or blaming; humor that is sarcastic or detrimental to the child’s self-image; teasing, taunting, belittling, or ridiculing; name calling; ignoring or treating the child with indifference; deliberately setting

up a competitive situation in which the child is sure to lose; overpowering a child, so that they feel helpless or captive, such as tickling until breathless; and constant family conflict. But what of the child that is going thru the abuse?

As a former victim of horrendous child abuse by my adopted father, I can tell you that it is a helpless and lonely place to be. This is my testimony:(I have abbreviated it as much as possible since it covers 16

years of abuse.) My sister and I were adopted when I was two and she was one. By the time she was four, she was already placed in a sanitarium because of it. As for me, I must have been stronger of mind and spirit;

because I went through 16 years of it. For all those sixteen years that I had to endure being thrown around (by my hair) like a ragdoll, being sexually molested night after night, being pushed down the cellar stairs

and locked in it for hours on end, being considered nothing more than a maid, gardner and snow-shoveler and being tied to a water pipe in the cellar,having my clothes ripped off and being horse-whipped for his own

pure satisfaction, I remained pretty strong in the spirit. To this day I do not know how, except for one thing... Jesus. I did have my spirit broken, but my mental health remained somewhat solid.

A moment ago I said I remained fairly strong in the Spirit, because of one thing..Jesus. To a child, like me who was unloved and abused it was a welcome comfort for me. To most adults, it is a child’s wild imaginings or an imaginary friend. But for me The very presence of Jesus, whom I had no idea what His significance and importance was, meant everything to me. Each night after the daily and nightly abuse was over, I would go and hide in my closet and cry until I feel asleep. On one of these occassions, when I was about 7 years old. I heard someone order me out of the closet and into bed and being too terrified to disobey, I did. I had curled up into a ball, praying that my father wouldn’t come back, when a hand touched my shoulder and I screamed,

silently. I heard a voice say, "be not afraid." When I opened my eyes there was a light in the room that was undescribable. In the center of that light stood a man who literally glowed with love. I was afraid and

I stuttered the words out of "who are you?" He replied, "I am Jesus and I am here for you." Then He sat down on the edge of my bed and took me in His arms and I cried for all it was worth.

When I had finished crying, He said,"I will always be with you and one day you will understand who I am and you will be my messenger. I didn’t understand then what He was talking about, muchless who He was. I just

thought he was an angel and I knew of angels from other kids...but I had never heard of God or His Son Jesus then. From that night on He was with me at the foot of my bed or to hold me in His arms and comfort me