Y'shua (Jesus) said, "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." Matthew 24:12As we've been living in the last of the last days, the love of many HAS waxed cold, as the bible tells us. Among the many escalating fulfillments of this prophecy is a scourge which, for the most part, has been SILENT AND SECRETIVE. Thanks be to God that more and more people are exposing this seeming epidemic for what it is and how dangerous it is: VERBAL ABUSE.
In one of her writings, author Patricia Evans points out that "unfortunately, verbal abuse rarely seems that horrible to those standing on the sidelines. Only the victim of verbal abuse knows how destructive it really is."
I found these advertisement photos on the web. They originate in Singapore. While they cannot fully portray the damage caused by verbal abuse, they certainly portray to some extent how UGLY and HATEFUL verbal abuse is. The text at the bottom of each frame reads:
"Verbal abuse can be just as horrible as physical abuse." Association of Women for Action and Research got these ads from Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore.
In reality, verbal abuse precedes physical abuse, and the vast majority of victims of domestic violence rate the verbal assaults as MORE DAMAGING than any physical assault. "The verbal abuse is the worst", they say.
Many times, when a woman is a target of domestic violence, she is held partially to blame by those, especially her abuser, who claim, "It takes two to tango."
Domestic violence is not limited to just physical violence. It includes mental, emotional, verbal, economic, and other forms of abuse; but all have to do with playing extremely harmful mind games with the target to make her think she is to blame for all that goes wrong. She is even blamed for the abuse itself.
"It takes two to tango" said the child molester to the child. NOT. Abuse happens because the abuser makes the conscious and unconscionable decision to abuse another human being, having no concern for the harmful effects to the victim, and only concern for his control over her.
I realize that there are some men who are verbally abused by women, but their numbers are low as compared to women who are verbally abused by men.
I'll be back later, the LORD be willing, to show you the many scriptures about how we are to order our speech, and how we are to disengage from those who are of disorderly and corrupt speech. Shalom.
Depart from evil, and do good; seek shalom, and pursue it.
Psalm 34:14
