Monday, April 4, 2016

Exposing Deception (pre-sermon)

Deception comes in all levels and degrees of effectiveness. Some deception is obvious and can be discerned even without supernatural help.

Sometimes, however, Satan uses advanced strategies meant to bring havoc and deceive even the elect. That is when yielding to the gift of discernment is needed. I want to talk about a few strategies of advanced deception. That of a Master Manipulator or Master Deceiver.

If you or someone you know has been rocked by a master manipulator in a spiritual setting it is so important not to blame God!  It is normal to feel extreme let down or even violated. If you are currently affected, you may seek hands laid on you and or a season of counseling. The Spirit of deception on a clean child of God leaves a mark, a scent. An unclean odor that feels like it needs to be washed off.

Why?

A Master Manipulator uses deception and deception is a seducing spirit.

How do we spot a master manipulator so we are not deceived again ?


Education

The better informed people are with the techniques of deception, the more they can recognize them and protect themselves against them.

Here are a few
Effective rhetorical strategies of deception
by Claudia Moscovici, in
Dangerous Liaisons: How to Identify and Escape from Psychopathic Seduction

Learn them so that you can recognize this behavior.

● Glibness and Charm.
Master manipulators lie pretty easily and in a smooth fashion. They get you mesmerized by them not by what they are saying - distracting you by their charm.

● Slander
A Deceiver often slanders others, to discredit them and invalidate their truth claims. If a person cheats on their spouse they point out the spouses faults to draw attention away from "their" sin.

● Evasion
When you ask a straightforward question that requires a straightforward answer, they usually go round and round in circles or talk about something else altogether. They may also use flattery. Such distractions are intended to cloud your reasoning and lead you to forget your original question.

● Pointing Fingers at Others.
When you accuse a master manipulator of wrongdoing, he’s likely to tell you that another person is just as bad as him or that humanity in general is bad. The first point may or may not be true. At any rate, it’s irrelevant. It is childlike - Johnny did this or that too.

● Playing upon your Emotions.
Very often, when confronted with alternative accounts of what happened, master deceivers play upon your emotions. For example, If a concerned observer attempts to warn you of certain obvious things the manipulator replies “Who are you going to believe? Me or them?”


A tangled web of lies
 
Deception constitutes a very entertaining game for the master deceiver. They use one victim to lie to another. They use both victims to lie to a third. They spin their web of mind-control upon all those around them. They encourage antagonisms or place distance among the people they deceive, so that they won’t compare notes and discover the lies. Often they blend in aspects of the truth with the lies, to focus on that small grain of truth if they’re caught. Manipulators use both truth and lies instrumentally, to persuade others to accept their false and self-serving version of reality and to get them under their control.
 
A master manipulator usually has a string of co-dependants surrounding him. Thinking they are supportive they are actually hurting by enabling an ongoing destructive pattern.

John.12.4-6. MSG - (emotional plea tactic)
Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, even then getting ready to betray him, said, “Why wasn’t this oil sold and the money given to the poor? It would have easily brought three hundred silver pieces.” He said this not because he cared two cents about the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of their common funds, but also embezzled them.

Master Deceivers, like the father of deception himself, have no shame using bizarre ironic twisted analogies and metaphors. Imagine selling Jesus out for 30 pieces of silver yet right before pointing out how the so called wasted oil could have helped poor people. Finding fault with others is a deceptive tactic meant to distract. Leaving out important details is a form of lying and a major way they deceive. Master manipulators have seared consciences due to repetitive lying and therefore have tons and tons of nerve. After reading a teaching like this they would never see themselves in a negative light manipulating even themselves.


Using God's Holy Word  (Blasphemy- using God's Word in vain)
Luke 4.9-13
Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order his angels to protect and guard you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’ ” Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’ ” When the devil had finished tempting Jesus, he left him until the next opportunity came.

Using Scripture to "prove" lies is a most grievous sin. What the Spiritual manipulator is doing is tricking a child of God. Causing one of these little ones to stumble. Woah!
Mark 9:42
If anyone causes one of these little ones--those who believe in me--to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea.

If you were conned that is terrible. But not as terrible as the consequences to the one who does the conning.

Thinking about that fact will help you operate in mercy and intercede for the one who led you into deception.


Where does this spirit originate?
How to we practically triumph over it?

The originator of deception is Satan himself.

What is deception? Deception is a well orchestrated lie. It is used to manipulate people from the actual truth in order to obtain something.

When in doubt first check your spirit- something won't feel right.

Then remember this verse:
Proverbs 18:17
"The first person to speak always seems right until someone comes and asks the right questions." and this one:
Matthew 7:15
“Beware of false teachers who come disguised as harmless sheep, but are wolves and will tear you apart."

Always verify with Scripture. Does the end result of you falling for the deception line up with scripture?

Remember your mother's advice - All that glitters is not gold. If it sounds too good to be true it probably isn't true. And the biggie: Who benefits and who hurts by you believing their lies?

Third do some checking up i.e. - resumes, previous employers, previous breakups, background checks, etc.

The best things in life are real and free. The worst are fake and (eventually) extremely costly.


God's children need not be gullible

Protect yourself and your family by learning how to expose deception. The inner voice of your spirit will show you how. The ability is in you.

1 John 4:1-21
Do not believe every spirit. Test the spirit whether it is of God.

1 Cor 12: 1-31
● Now concerning spiritual [gifts], brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
God wants you to use the Gift of Discernment so you will not be ignorantly deceived.
● The manifestation of the spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
Profit withal = gain advantage over Satan. Not be fooled by a Master Deceiver

John 16:13
"And the Spirit is come, He will guide you into all...what?...truth." The Spirit of God leads you into all truth, these spirits lead you into all error. They seduce, they lure, they deceive and they are powerful.

So we have been given the gift to discern or see into the realm of the spirit (both good and bad) And to clearly tell the difference even when it is a very fine line.

Lastly, do not blame yourself if you have been fooled by a master manipulator. They are masters at it. Instead forgive yourself as well as the one who deceived you.

Nothing is impossible with God even the deliverance of such a person. God wants them set free from that satanic spirit.

Until then some good advice is to pray but stay away. Less you be tempted once again or those you introduce into the equation become additional victims.

Remember once you are saved the enemy works overtime to steal, kill, and destroy you or at least destroy your effectiveness as a believer.

He will use anything he can and unfortunately in a spiritual setting a master manipulator using advanced deceptive strategies meant to bring havoc on the church is one of his favorite choices.

Satan will use that tactic as long as Christians fall for it and it keeps working.

Be diligent in the washing of the word ask God for discernment and you will spot even the most crafty deception.

Then boldly resist it, expose it and decimate it.



pw

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