"33 But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and *said, “Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”
Notice that Christ did not address Peter in His rebuke, He addressed Satan. The devil was using Peter's mouth and affecting his mind to influence Christ against what Christ knew was His purpose on earth.
It is clear to me now more than ever that the devil and his minions are busy twisting the minds of many people to do harm to and intimidate believers.
As believers we can "resist the devil", by using the word of God as Christ did when Satan tempted Him.
Matthew 4:1-7 "4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
2 And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He [a]then became hungry.
3 And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’”
5 Then the devil *took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple,
6 and *said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written,
‘He will command His angels concerning You’;
and
‘On their hands they will bear You up,
So that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’”
7 Jesus said to him, “[b]On the other hand, it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
It was the devil using Peter's mouth and it was the devil who tempted Christ in the desert. Christ used a tactic with him that we should be using regularly with those who are doing the same things to us. When someone is attempting to cause us to sin by their tricks, or trying to influence us in a way that God does not want us to go, or to influence us to go against what God is telling us to do, then we know who is behind it all....the devil and lean on the Scriptures to guide us.
The tactics of the devil are intimidation, mocking, lying and gaslighting. Gaslighting is the attempt to make us think we didn't see things the way the really are, that we need to do things and believe things the devil wants us to do and believe. The devil will even get us to question if God really said something by twisting the scriptures to fit his agenda.
One cannot reason with the devil, the only recourse we have and the best one is to repeat scripture to those who are being used by him and then walk away. When the devil is using the mouths of willing participants in his lies, we must resist him with God's word. It is also good to know the other scriptures that tell us to ignore the lies, do not respond to the evil done against us and keep these monstrous people out of our lives whenever possible.
James 4:6-8 "6 But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.…"
The devil attacks the mind of his target, if he cannot control the mind of a believer he goes after their friends to work against his target. If he can get the friends to apply pressure on the target, he might be able to influence them to act against God's will.
The devil who uses narcissists, are covert and sneaky, they poke at you continually in small ways until we lose our composure, however it doesn't have to work. When we know what the devil is doing through someone, we never have to react. Reacting is what Satan is trying to get us to do. Any reaction at all is validation for the narcissist to continue their attacks, even feeling justified in their abuse.
The only reaction I recommend to the narcissist is Scripture if there is going to be one. Most of the time nothing will work with these demonically controlled minds, the only recourse is to walk away without response, leaving them to God.
Narcissists are murderers in their heart. God said that if a man even so much as hates his brother, it's the same as having murdered him. When a narc has such contempt for a target that they work to harm them, it is hate and murder.
1 John 3:14-16 "…14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that eternal life does not reside in a murderer. 16 By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.…"
It is my contention that narcissists cannot be born again believers. The Holy Spirit convicts believers of sin to redirect their hearts. However, the narcissists has no conscience, no remorse and never apologizes, they only have manipulative tricks to control others emotions, these are strong indicators that the Holy Spirit does not live in such people.
Narcissists become worse when they are exposed because they have such hatred in their hearts that any challenge to them at all is unthinkable to them. 2 Timothy 3 describes them vividly and instructs us what to do in verse 5.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
"3 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,
4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these."
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