All throughout my life, I was bullied around. I didn't talk very much and other children assumed I was 'dumb' and took advantage by bullying me around in a variety of ways.
I used to feel sorry for myself and thought that I was the only one experiencing this type of problem. Whenever I would think of giving my testimony, I always included this experience as part of it.
But the missing part that I forgot about was, I became the bully. By the time I was 13 or 14, I was tired of people bullying me around. I would actually pick fights with people and even beat people up. At 15 years of age, I was bullying others around.
Why am I sharing this? For the past 4 years, I have been studying Biblical counseling and have learned much about anthropology and the human nature which is a nature created in God's image, but also carries Satan's image. I think it is very confusing for us to figure us out!
People who are abused as children, many times, end up being a child abuser themselves. It is like a cycle, and unless it is broken, it usually continues. Of course, only the power of the blood of Jesus Christ is what can break the cycle.
We look at people and we ask ourselves, 'why are they doing that?'. I think of people who were once Godly men serving God, empowered by Him, and loving God and people, who are now hating and slandering other Christians and leaving their marriages to marry someone else. How can this happen? What went wrong? Were these people not saved to begin with? Or is there a better explanation?
After spending a year and a half with a person who came from a family who practiced Satanic Ritual Abuse on her, I learned a lot. Where do I begin?
First of all, when a person is Satanically Ritually abused, there is so much trauma they experience that they will be mentally affected. When they have their own children (if they survive to adulthood), they, in turn, will be abusing their own children (I know this doesn't always happen, but this cycle does seem to continue on for generations). A parent who practices Satanic Ritual Abuse is one who has experienced that kind of abuse from their own parents. No one in their right mind would just decide to start practicing Satanic Ritual Abuse.
Secondly, those who have been abused like this have dramatic stories to tell, and the average person has a hard time believing those stories are true. But ask yourselves this question; 'Why would someone make up those kinds of stories? If it is for attention, there are a lot of easier ways to get attention than by coming up with made up stories like their experiences tell. We tend to turn them away, because we can't believe that people can be that cruel to their children.
We might think to ourselves, 'who, in their right mind, would do such things to their children?' The answer is 'no one in their right mind would do such things.' The key is the word, 'right mind'. When a child has been traumatized, and not only by Satanic Ritual Abuse, but there are other means of trauma that children experience (for example, being abandoned by parents), that child will never really have a right mind. He or she will grow up with mental difficulties that are very perplexing to understand. We tend to look at people who are not in their right mind, with disdain.
Creating trauma for children is one of Satan's favorite weapons of destruction. If he can destroy the child's mind, he will destroy the minds of children for many generations.
Why am I writing all this? Simply because we deal with people and try to work with them, and we try to understand them, but our understanding is limited because of our lack of knowledge of the person's background and why he or she does the things that they do.
We think everything is in black or white. We tell a person to repent of their sins and they will be saved if they believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior. While that fact is true, trying to explain that to a traumatized person can be difficult. Let me explain further with an example.
This is based on a true story. A young woman got raped. She suffered because of the rape. Perhaps this is where the difference is in those who just expect people to repent and trust in the Lord, and others who want to help the lost by removing the baggage Satan has put on them, then helping them understand the Gospel and the freedom that only comes through Jesus Christ. The woman was traumatized and went for counseling. The counseling she received was simply to forgive and forget. Do you think a woman who went through the experience of being raped can just 'forgive and forget'? How is that helpful to her at this point?
People need to know that God is aware of what happened to them, and God cares. God promises to take vengeance on the offender. God also can bring a person peace in the midst of a terrible storm, when we introduce him or her to Jesus Christ.
I am amazed at how many people we know who were traumatized as children. I know a person who doubts God's love because of some painful situations that have come into this person's life. I also recently found out that this person's mother was a Satanic witch. This person is going to have a harder time understanding the truth of God being 'love'. When we meet people like this, we must be patient and not just give up on them or turn our backs on them by writing them off as false converts. A person who has gone through that kind of upbringing will need to be carried in prayer and also that person needs someone to stick with him or her, especially during difficult times. This person needs to see God's love displayed. That is what will change his or her heart.
The next time you see someone bullying someone else around, or a friend who was caught abusing his child, remember, the person's background does have an affect on how they respond to life. They might be totally blind to it, but we need to hold them up in prayer. Unless the cycle is broken, it will just continue for generation after generation. The blood of Jesus Christ is powerful enough to break every cycle and every addiction, and to heal the broken-hearted as well as heal those who are mentally unstable. Let's stop looking down on the mentally disturbed and let's bring the love of God to them, and minister the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them.
