"Do not be misled by varied and strange teachings"
Many, many different peoples and kinds of people can be abusers.
An Abuser, a Control Freak, a Manipulator, a Legalist, just a plain old Meanie... can be your girlfriend, your boyfriend, your spouse, your mother-in-law, et al, your supervisor, your government, your_ _ _ _ _ __ can all be misleading you with any and all sorts of "varied and strange teachings".
Their "varied and strange teachings" could be telling you to hate certain people for whatever reasons they choose to proclaim - all the way to repeatedly telling you that you are stupid etc.
These persons can just be hurtful emotionally - all the way to physically dangerous for you or they could be using God's Word, twisted* to control you in any manner which is extremely, spiritually dangerous to you.
Icebergs:
You may have heard about icebergs from the infamous sinking of the ship, the Titanic in 1912. In a closer study, icebergs themselves are quite interesting and unique. They are also a perfect analogy for Abusers of any kind which I will speak of below.
Seemingly peaceful, icebergs live out their lives on the ocean, but their potential energy is extremely significant. This potential energy is deep within the bergs which can be released unexpectedly at any moment all along its path from its beginning to its end.
Bergs are known as the "Deadly Destroyers on the High Seas". Their season in the Atlantic is March through July. Each iceberg is unique as they break off of the west coast of Greenland then, laboriously float through ice flows full of every size of bergs.
The tonnage of the ice of which we can see above the ocean water is no measure of what is below the water level. This is why they are such a danger to the shipping industry. Since the Titanic disaster there have been many varied safety measures put into place including observations which are now very high tech.
As icebergs take their long travels in the Atlantic Ocean with all their bumping and scrapings, they split, fracture, melt, turn over and over, and constantly change their shape. It has been said “they are masters of disguise” because of these changes and their constant turning over.
Another factor with icebergs is how they were formed. It all began with normal snow, which eventually compacted with air bubbles included. These air bubbles have a great deal to do with the iceberg as it travels.
The air bubbles affect the melting, the fractures, the scrapings etc. making the iceberg even more fragile which makes the bergs turn over more often, changing their sizes and shapes as they travel.
Icebergs melt during their whole journey. They melt from the top because of the sun and they melt from the bottom with the ocean currents. This constant melting is the main reason bergs are always about to roll over.
The biggest icebergs are the ones which make it to the Atlantic shipping lanes, but on the way down these huge bergs can crash into the local waters of Greenland and cause devastating tsunamis for those who live and work in the waters there.
All along their waterway path there is melting, crashing, rolling collisions, waves, escaping air bubbles, cracking fissures, the deep ocean currents controlling their travels all of which also cause of the rolling motions. At one moment a berg looks small, then it is huge as it rolls over. It is the constant movements, the constant rollings which make these massive bergs so very dangerous and unpredictable.**
What we have learned is that icebergs are massive, highly unstable, always rolling, always changing, dangerous, unpredictable, with most of its bulk underwater.***
The analogy between icebergs and abusers:
As we live in this fallen world we learn that people are sinners. We are all sinners, but some people go beyond the "normal" sinning towards the evil side where they become highly deceptive. Their aims are mostly to "get" whatever it is they desire.
This is highly unfair, unrighteous, and ungodly. You already know this if you have ever been abused by anyone in any way.
As you have read the information about icebergs there were so many descriptive words concerning how they behave throughout their lifespan.
These words could also be used for Abusers, Manipulators, Controllers:
Seemingly peaceful (there is always an under current)
Potential energy unexpectedly released (dangerous)
Deadly Destroyers (they are #1, you are an underling)
Constantly changing (keeps you guessing what the "rules" are)
Masters of Disguise (their "nice" act is fake)
Always rolling over (Gaslighting)
Tsunamis (always causing troubles, traumas)
Deep ocean undercurrents (always emotional undercurrents)
Constant (never a "downtime")
Highly unstable (but always in control of you, even if only with words)
Unpredictable (keeping you always on edge)
Mostly under the surface (can hide their evil very well, masking it to keep you on your toes and controlled, always controlled.)
You can be free!
Ephesians 4:14-24
..."we are no longer to be children,
tossed here and there by waves and
carried about by every wind of doctrine,
by the trickery of people, by craftiness
in deceitful scheming;
but speaking the truth in love,
we are to grow up in all aspects
into Him who is the head,
that is, Christ, from whom the whole body,
being fitted and held together
by what every joint supplies, according to
the proper working of each individual part,
causes the growth of the body for
the building up of itself in love.
So I say this, and affirm in the Lord,
that you are to no longer walk just as the
Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their minds,
being darkened in their understanding,
excluded from the life of God
because of the ignorance that is in them,
because of the hardness of their heart;
and they, having become callous,
have given themselves up to indecent behavior
for the practice of every kind of
impurity with greediness.
But you did not learn Christ in this way,
if indeed you have heard Him
and have been taught in Him,
just as truth is in Jesus, that,
in reference to your former way of life,
you are to rid yourselves of the old self,
which is being corrupted in accordance
with the lusts of deceit, and that you are
to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
and to put on the new self,
which in the likeness of God has been
created in righteousness and holiness of the truth."...
Do this is to Glorify God!
****This pamphlet: see below
*evil people tend to twist God's Word to control others
**Glaciologists are the scientists who have accomplished these thorough studies of icebergs.
***One easy scientific experiment we can all do is pour ourselves a glass of water with ice. Where does most of the ice sit in the water? (below the surface)
****Received from local Women's Ministry
Information concerning icebergs is from the BBC documentary: The Iceberg that Sank the Titanic
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