The Tale of Two Sisters: A Cautionary Tale
For the past eight weeks now, I have been out of my depth trying to help someone whose life was spiraling out of control. The story itself began a little over forty years ago. You see, I have an older sister. We are not quite two years apart, and we grew up in very close quarters. We shared a room and almost everything else. One August morning back in 1985, both my sister and I “walked the aisle” and accepted Jesus as our Savior. That same night, we were both baptized before the church. I remember at the time, some people were concerned that I did not understand what I was doing, and that I was just following my big sister. However, I can personally tell you I truly accepted Christ that day!
Anyhow, we grew up in a sleepy little town in the Midwest, so there’s not much to say. However, my sister grew up a little faster and left the nest early as she flew away to be an exchange student in Europe in high school. I vividly remember when she left. I cried for days. The sorrow I felt being separated from her was so intense. I was even sadder, however, when she returned over a year later, because the sister who left, one who had faith and loved God, is not the sister who had returned. I still, to this day, do not know what happened to her during her year abroad, but while away she made a choice to turn away from God, and instead she came back in full pursuit of something else, or perhaps she was just running away as fast as she could. During her first week home, we went to church together, and that night during the service, I saw it. In the service, she stiffened, turned her back, and she walked out never to return.
The parallels between our lives continued. We married the same year, and we each had three kids. Our sons were a year apart, our daughters were two months apart, and our third child, her son and my daughter, were but nine days apart. We both built homes, families, careers, and were living at similar paces. The only difference was our relationship with God. However, the outworking of these life building projects has yielded increasingly opposite results.
Over the last 15 years, our paths have diverged greatly. Mine has been a steady course of tending to my marriage, home, children, and living an increasingly busy and blessed life. In doing so, I basically eschewed any chance at a career. My sister’s has been the opposite. While she has enjoyed great success in her career and professional life, her private life has crumbled. She has gone through divorce, loss of her home, loss of her children, a second failed marriage, and now a weird relationship with a strange man. Through it all, however, she has had a great professional life because she has literally sacrificed everything for it.
Eight weeks ago, I first got the signal that something was wrong in an email. Then I received calls from her kids from the other side of the country asking me to check on her. I am the closest to her, yet she was still two hours away. That is when I stepped into something strange and bizarre that took me a few weeks to figure out. The rollercoaster ride of hospital visits, strange stories, and desperate calls for help has taken me for a loop. I finally had no other option but to check her into a mental hospital. They say she has a very serious mental disorder which has a delusional component. As of right now, her precious career, her idol, hangs in the balance as does her life as she knows it.
I sit here now, speechless. Well, I guess I’m not entirely speechless as I am able to write this. I cannot help but think of the stories of Saul and Nebuchadnezzar in Scripture. Both men rebelled against God and refused to acknowledge Him as the true King and in foolish pride tried to take the glory for themselves. In judgment, God turned them over to their folly, and they descended into madness. Even when we were checking her into the hospital, when asked her religious preference, my sister said “none. I have no god.”
In Five Aspects Theology of Man, in the section of Savior-Fallen, page 114, there is a small text box that contains a powerful teaching. The title is, Derangement, and it talks about the outworking of idolatry: delusion and madness. I am including it in its entirety here. I remember when I was editing the book and first encountered this text box. The potency of the content stunned and silenced me—as it is doing today.
I have been living this cautionary tale, and yet the message goes beyond my own current crisis. I see it openly at work in the world around me too. The type of madness, folly, stupidity, and delusion I see in the world at large is increasingly bizarre. And the message of 2 Thessalonians 2:9–12 is hitting home.
2 Thessalonians 2:9–12 (ESV)
The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
In judgment, God allows those who rebel against Him to be overcome by a strong delusion so that they believe what is false. The scary thing is this happens to the people around us. We are living amongst a growing rebellion that is being judged in our midst. We too must deal with the immediate consequences and ramifications of their descent into madness.
Through it all, it has not been lost upon me that in her descent into madness, my sister has a homing beacon—a place to run to that is safe. There seems to be one place that she recognizes: me. The place she has run to for refuge, the light in her deepest darkness is my home. Although she does not recognize it yet, I know the reason she came to and comes to me, and it is NOT ME! I know that even now, God is wooing her back to Himself. She sees a light, and she is grasping for it. My prayer is that she will finally turn back to the God she turned away from thirty years ago. And perhaps, like Nebuchadnezzar, she will be able to return to her life, a changed woman because she has finally acknowledged God. Whatever happens, I am determined to love her with the gracious and precious love of Christ that is my very own lifeline. Please pray for my sister.
Kristine Vermillion
April 2026
Derangement (Five Aspects Theology of Man, p. 114).
Because idolatry is the root of all delusion and unreality, God turns idolaters over to every type of mental and spiritual darkening as judgment. Idolaters are released to madness, so that they may be judged and so that their idols will be discredited. Scripture multiplies words to describe the derangement of sinners. They are blind, unnatural, mad, insane, stupid, drunk, and strongly deluded. Numerous passages describe this dynamic such as Deuteronomy 28:28; Ecclesiastes 9:3; 10:13; Isaiah 43:8; 44:18; 56:10; 59:10; Jeremiah 4:22; 10:14, 21; 51:17; Lamentations 4:14; Zephaniah 1:17; Matthew 15:14; 2 Thessalonians 2:7–12. Once again, the proverb is truly fulfilled. There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death (Proverbs 14:12; 16:25).
Deuteronomy 28:28–29 (ESV)
The Lord will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of mind, 29and you shall grope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. And you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you.
Ecclesiastes 9:3 (NASB95)
This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one fate for all men. Furthermore, the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives. Afterwards they go to the dead.
Isaiah 44:18 (ESV)They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand.
Proverbs 14:12; 16:25 (ESV)There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.
Calm Women in Turbulent Times 2nd Edition
I think my story about my sister is a great segue into this section about the release of the new second edition of Calm Women in Turbulent Times! The first edition came out in 2008, and I know I say this every time, but I remember when this book came out and the impression that it made on me personally. The lesson titled “Hannah After Triumph” was the one that hit home in the most profound way for in it, I learned something about Hannah and God that I had not yet put together. Hannah gave Samuel back to the Lord at a young age when she took him back to the tabernacle to serve alongside Eli. That would have been such a hard thing to do! Yet I had not realized that after Eli and his sons were judged and wiped out, the place that Samuel went and the place where God set up His temporary spiritual abode was in Ramah. This is what is so beautiful, Ramah is where Hannah lived. Ramah is the home that Samuel came from. In essence, God not only gave Samuel back to Hannah, but He also moved His tabernacle to her hometown as well. This truth has stuck with me, and I treasure it.
In each lesson, we dive into the stories of the women that were living during the time of the judges in Israel. That era of their history was a very tumultuous time filled with conflict, oppression, war, as well as the deliverance and provision of God. Through studying the stories of these women, Mrs. Manoah, Ruth, Naomi, the women of Bethlehem, and Hannah, we are privy to see how God was at work in the private spheres of home and family life to bring about His next great work, the next phase, in the story of His people and the plan of His great salvation.
The original insight and powerful teaching of the first edition remain, but we have reworked the content and beefed it up a bit. I can honestly and boldly say that this work is just as relevant and needed today as it was when it came out 18 years ago. In this project, I was personally edified and strengthened in profound ways, and I highly recommend this Bible study. I believe that it will continue to bear great fruit.
Through the stories of Mrs. Manoah, Naomi, Ruth, and Hannah, this 7-lesson study reveals how ordinary faithfulness—intelligent submission, resilient hope, diligent work, and persevering prayer—builds God’s kingdom even when everything seems to crumble. Learn to stay calm in the “heat of the day,” nurture homes that shape the future, and intercede for godly men in shaky seasons. Perfect for women’s groups or personal devotion. Find peace that anchors you in every storm. Your calm faithfulness matters—Available NOW!
Five Aspects of Women and the More to the Story Podcast with Molly White
In early January, I sat down with Molly White, former member of the Texas House of Representatives, to record a two-part series podcast on the Five Aspects of Women. Normally, Molly’s podcast is about pro-life issues and abortion policy. However, when she contacted me, she told me that she wanted to take time this year to go beyond talking about the problems and the policy, and get, instead, at the heart of the issue: human sexuality. However, she didn’t just want to talk about the problem, but rather, to teach what the Bible has to say about it.
Last month I shared the link for the first podcast episode. If you missed it, here it is.
This month, I am sharing with you the link for the second episode.
Since the time of this first recording, Molly and I have recorded three more podcasts focused on the content of our wonderful book, Men, Women, & Marriage: Seven Biblical Principles. We had fascinating conversations! And at the end of this month, Steve Ramey, our faithful board member, is sitting down with Molly and her crew and doing a podcast set on Five Aspects of Men. I will send links for these podcasts as I receive them. In the meantime, please pray that these messages will go out strong, and the people that need to hear it will tune in.
Addendum to March’s Communique: A Walk Through the Valley of the Shadow
In our last Communique, I told the story of how Barbara Mouser and I were both being oppressed and overwhelmed with negative thoughts and accusations. A time of fellowship and a walk through the graveyard were key in our becoming aware of the spiritual warfare at play and our strategy to continue.
At the end of the story, I wrote that the accusations were silenced that day, and they were. However, after speaking with Barbara on the phone several weeks later, we continued our conversation. Both of us have experienced the attempted return of the negative thoughts and accusations, and I loved the way that Barbara talked about how she was handling them, and I want to share. When talking about the return of the attack with her daughter, her daughter told her that she needed to give them the “side eye.” To perform a proper side eye, one must turn one’s head to the side a bit, squint one’s eyes, and stare a menacing stare. The stance is intimidating to anyone who might dare mess with you. I laughed and asked her how that was working for her, and she said it was working great. I decided to try it out on my own.
Unfortunately, I had the opportunity to do just that not long after. On an early Sunday morning as I was preparing to go serve on the worship team, I was bombarded with another wave of intense negative thoughts and emotions. Then I remembered the “side-eye.” I stopped what I was doing and struck my pose. I am pleased to report, that the “side-eye” is surprisingly effective. Of course, it is a must that it is followed by prayer and focusing on the truth, but it is an effective response to get the course correction going.
I thank you for all the calls and encouraging emails to our “A Walk Through the Valley of the Shadow.” An alarming number of you were experiencing the same type of attacks. Try the “side-eye.” I was also surprised by how many people were encouraged by our story. What I really want to say is that God is so good and so very kind to those who are His. I am grateful to be a part of the body of Christ.
Talarico Training
While this segment is not about politics, it begins with a foray into the current political field here in Texas. I don’t know if you have heard about the 2026 race for a Texas Senate seat, but the race is on, and the candidates are … interesting. What I want to talk about is taking place on the democratic ticket. In the primaries, James Talarico took the lead and will face off against the yet to be determined republican candidate in November.
Why do I bring Talarico up? Well, my first exposure to him was through his own words. The first is a speech where he argued that “God is nonbinary.” Another quote is that “God is both masculine and feminine, and everything in between.” Right now, I am going to leave it with that, however, if you look at his argument using the story of the immaculate conception to claim God is for abortion rights it should make your blood boil.
Talarico’s God talk, just so you know, is not something new. In fact, his views are often taught in mainstream, conservative denominational churches. We know this here at the International Council for Gender Studies, because we have been in the conversation and in the fight for solid Christian doctrine area on this front since our inception 35 years ago. So, what I want to do right now is take the time to do a little doctrinal leg work with you because we here at ICGS – Five Aspects Ministries believe that this issue really matters.
Below is an outline of our teaching on the masculinity of God. Below the outline are links to the teaching material that goes with the outline. Please take this issue seriously, because as a mere perusal of the outline indicates, the matter at hand is the very veracity of the Bible itself.
An Outline of Evidence for Why God is Masculine
How We Know God is Masculine
He is always called "He" in the Bible. He is never called “She.”
God identifies Himself in masculine roles and offices.
Jesus is male and masculine.
Jesus unites many “polarities” in Himself, but never masculinity and femininity.
The masculinity of God and Christ have always been confessed by Jews or Christians in history.
Objections to the Masculinity of God
God is compared to females.
God is a genderless spirit.
The Bible shows a patriarchal bias.
Why God’s Masculinity Matters
The Bible reveals a masculine God. If He is not masculine, then the Bible is wrong.
The Bible reveals a male and masculine Jesus.
The real issue is the trustworthiness of the Bible.
Please refer to the link below for our powerful teaching on this question: https://www.fiveaspects.com/teaching/articles/is-god-masculine/
One of our strongest and most succinct works on this topic is found in the little book, The Story of Sex in Scripture. The first chapter, the chapter from which the above article was taken, is already included on the website. Please refer to this free download of chapter one for an even more robust teaching on this matter.
In Christ,
Kristine Vermillion
Editor and Director of Women’s Ministry
Five Aspects Ministries