8 Demonic Ways Narcissists Mess with Your Mind

We Must Choose Between this Apostate Generation or Christ

I remember a joke many years ago that described our culture very well.

There were two psychiatrists walking down the road together. They saw a man in the ditch broken and bleeding, having been beaten by a mugger. They looked at one another in dismay and said: "The man who did this really needs our help."

This is the way our culture is dealing with offenders, they are encouraging people to forgive an offender because he might be hurting, never mind that he leaves a wake of broken people behind him who have done nothing to him.

A rational reasonable and godly response to someone who has been victimized would be to weep over their pain and chastise the offender to repent and make amends. Then, rather than chastising the one who was harmed to forgive, we would comfort them as we become their "wing man", coming alongside to support and believe the offended party.

Our God is concerned about the victims and angry with the perpetrators, but our culture spends more time coddling the one who is rude and mean, thinking it will cause them to change their ways. This is the devil's lie.

When we coddle and comfort wrong doers we are enablers giving rise to more frequent and worse conduct.

Ephesians 5:11 "Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them."

We take part in the evil deeds of offenders when we refuse to chastise and discipline their behavior.

James 4:7 "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."

God never said to ignore the offenders, He said to "resist" them. Resisting something means to combat and withstand them. If the sin is done in the open then the rebuke should be in the open for all to see what happens when anyone harms others.

1 Timothy 5:20 "

Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning."

In our apostate generation preachers are chastising people to confront in private a sin that was public. They disallow someone in a church gathering from calling out wrong preaching as though the comfort of the people is more important than God's truth.

Preachers get away with a lot of false doctrines because the congregation is not allowed to speak openly during the teaching. In the Brehtren assemblies everyone is encouraged to interject as led by the Holy Spirit, no one is so prominent that everyone else is silenced. This is biblical, to silence others is not biblical.

Romans 12:9 "Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good."

When we hate evil we will be concerned about the victims of it more than the perpetrators of it.

The victims need our comfort and encouragement, the perps need our correction to learn bad behavior will not be tolerated in the body.

1 Corinthians 5:13 says, "Remove the wicked man from among yourselves".

In our day when someone is confronted about their attitude or rudeness the one who challenges them is the one who is chastised by the rest, this is the opposite of what God says to do and has caused arrogance and sin to grow in the body.

Isaiah 48:22 "“There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”

The wicked are allowed to remain as they are without challenge causing sin to grow within the body. We have more sinful attitudes and actions within the body in our day than we have righteousness because of this backward and perverted unbiblical stance of coddling the sinful person.

The more we focus on the principles of Christ and His love the more dark the sin appears.

Ephesians 6:13 "Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm."

We will cave to the dictates of this apostate generation when we do not stand strong no matter the consequences.

Are we more interested in having many people love us more than we care about what God thinks? We have to choose between our generation or Christ.

Hurt People Don't Hurt People, Mean People Hurt People

It is not true that "hurt people hurt people." Mean people hurt people. Many hurt people choose to be the opposite of those who have chosen rudeness and meanness to control others.

The purpose of hurting people to elevate self comes from the playbook of the devil. He couldn't stand that God loved Adam and Eve so much that He made a special garden for them to live in, and that the devil did whatever he could to ruin the relationship between The couple and God.

The devil's goal to was destroy the lovely relationship between God and His human beings because of the devil's jealousy toward mankind.

We see this in human relationships today. There are those who are jealous and controlling and attempt to interject themselves in the marriages of others to destroy the relationship between two people who love one another.

These people who are destroyers make up their own rules that God never made and impose them on everyone around them. Their goal is to appear superior and to cause division in relationships.

The destroyers cannot stand that others have love and kindness, empathy and goodness, they must do something to ruin what they themselves do not have.

Destroyers have all kinds of unbiblical advice and a sense of superiority but cannot take instruction from others. They are hypocrites.

I cannot count the number of times I have seen narcissistic family members attempt to place their own standards, which are not from God, on the marriages of others, as though they are the ultimate authority on marriage. These people must be removed from marriages, they destroy what God has built for no other reason than to control others.

Romans 8:6-8

"6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God."

Jealousy and envy are close cousins. Envy is when we want what someone else has and jealousy is when we don't want others to have what we want.

Both are destructive and both ruin all relationships they touch. Those who are jealous or envious lack good sense because neither element of ungodliness gets the possessor of them anything except temporary feelings that lead to death.

The jealous or envious person gains nothing from their bitterness and tactics of ruin. And yet, the devil convinces those who are bitterly angry about the good that happens to others that they should have that good and the others do not deserve it.

It is jealousy and envy that drives the attitudes and actions of those who must have control over others.

One of the signs of a kind and loving person is their happy reaction to the blessings God gives others. Those who have the love of Christ feel joy deeply when their friend is blessed by God. Those who have the love of Christ feel deeply when someone else is hurting. We are invested in the hearts of our friends, so much so that we are willing to grieve with them and rejoice with them. They are Spiritually a part of us because we are both in Christ, He is the motivator for all this love.

Romans 12:15

"15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep."

An envious and jealous person will hate the good that happens to others. They will discount and dismiss the heartaches that others encounter. Their goal is to cause deep unwarranted sorrow in the one they hate, and yes, it is hatred.

What is love?

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

"4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant.

5 It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered,

6 it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

We know what the love of Christ looks like when we see it and we know what the false love of the devil looks like when we see that.

The devil will pretend to love to disarm a believer, he will use covert rudeness disguised as concern to further agitate the target of his hatred. They will use false guilt to make someone feel inferior or lacking in strength. Dismissiveness and rude tones of voice are used to make us think we have done something wrong when nothing was wrong.

The devil will also place in the minds of those he controls that every good deed had a bad motive or that every thought expressed was to harm, even when the expressions were natural, normal and acceptable to anyone with a normal mindset.

When someone hates us every single utterance is interpreted in the mindset of the one who hates, they can never be accurate about discussions or interactions.

2 Corinthians 2:11

"11 so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes."

1 John 4:1 "Testing the Spirits

"4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."

The devil will send those who operate as though they are the authority in our lives to intimidate us into following them. Remember there is only one Authority in our lives and that is the Holy Spirit Who lives in us. The controlling person wants to take the place of the Holy Spirit, demanding all kinds of things God never said to do.

2 Corinthians 11:13-15

"13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds."

These false believers will attempt to force a friendship on their terms, shaping us into their mold unbiblically dominating others.

If we are sensing pressure to do things we know God never told us to do, this is the time to rebuke the person doing it and if they will not listen remove them.

Those who are attempting to interject into your marriage with unbiblical rules will pull us away from the guidance of the Holy Spirit. They are attempting to be the Holy Spirit for us, ignoring much of scripture to justify their control over others.

Never allow intimidation to have its root. When someone attempts to intimidate, mock, demean or disrespect us, these are clues we are dealing with a devil and must remove them from our lives.

Proverbs 14:12

"12 There is a way that appears to be right,

but in the end it leads to death."

When someone is attempting to drag you back into legalism with the purpose of controlling your emotions, this is a very important clue that they must be removed from your life.

Remember legalism is following man's rules God never commanded, it is obedience that leads us to follow God's principles from the Bible.

We will notice that those who have misinterpreted the bible to fit their desired narrative will coerce, punish, and gossip against anyone who does not obey them.

So many people think they need to help God out by going beyond what He commanded to keep people in line. No human being should attempt to keep others in line, it is the Holy Spirit Who does that work. Yes, we can express our concerns but we have no business battering others to do things our way when God never commanded what we believe.

Matthew 4:8-11 shows how the devil will work to ruin what God is doing in your life by sending demons to accuse you and torment you with doubt. We don't have to give in to the fleeting thoughts of doubt, when we walk with Christ we can see easily with discernment when a devil is doing this and can simply reject it.

"Religious" spirits are those who have rules and regulations they want you to follow but have no use for scriptural proof, these are those we should avoid.

May we be strong in the Lord, so much so that the tactics of the devil have no effect, and even make us more powerful in our walk with Christ.

Unbound: A Narcissist's Passive Aggression Is Still Aggression

How A Narcissist's Love Of Power Becomes Abusive

Faith and Works Two Sides of the Same Coin

We can have faith without deeds that are not faith at all and we can have deeds without faith that are useless.

James 2:18 "

But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

If we are walking with Christ Faith comes first and then deeds will follow. Christ will always work in us to do what glorifies Him.

Those who have only deeds are promoting themselves, those who have both faith and deeds will glorify God.

Matthew 5:15-16 "…15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. Instead, they set it on a stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."

Remember we can "say" anything we like, but it is not the evidence of what is true. The evidence of what is true is in the actions and attitudes displayed when no one is looking.

Let's Grow and not Regress

The nation is full of narcissists now who accuse others of doing what the narcissists are doing and those they accuse are not doing. Satan is very clever, weak-minded people are easily manipulated by lies, seeing only what they want to see.

Lot was vexed daily by the sin all around him. He was not perfect but he had a heart for God and because of his heart God rescued him from Sodom before He destroyed it. There must have been relatives of Lot in Sodom and Gomorrah when God took Lot out.

Noah was a righteous man in the eyes of God, because of this God rescued him from God's wrath when He flooded the earth. We know Noah must have had many relatives in the water while he was in the ark.

We are in a similar state now, surrounded by "religious" people who are not born again, some even expecting to be rescued in the rapture but have no heart for Christ or any of His fruit.

Galatians 5:22-23 - "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."

Many of us are experiencing the angst of people who claim to have "religion" but have nothing of God's love, all the fruit of God's Spirit is dependent on the Love of Christ, the first fruit.

Lot was surrounded by wicked people who wanted to abuse and use His angel guests. Noah was ignored and rejected by all his kinsmen when he preached for 120 years and the only ones taken out of the flood were his immediate family.

Lot and Noah left behind many family members, just as is happening to most born-again believers today. God said that most will follow the wide road to hell while few will follow the narrow road to heaven.

Count it joy when you are reviled and rejected by family. Not that they are lost but that their rejection means you are following on the narrow road and those who are on the wide road will hate you for it.

James 1:2-4

"2 Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

I have actually been accused of giving my opinion when all I did was quote God from His word. When I show them I only quoted God they accuse me of "the way I said it." When an unsaved rebellious person doesn't like the truth, no matter how gently you say it they will begin to attack your character instead of addressing exactly what you said.

The most hated thing among rebellious people is anything or anyone who exposes their sin, even if it isn't written about them personally.

Rebellious hearts don't see that they give themselves away through their anger. Their overt and covert tactics of demeaning language and withholding love is what exposes them but they cannot see that they exposed themselves.

1 Corinthians 2:14 "

"But a natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned."

We cannot change the heart of one who resists God, we can only tell the truth and walk away leaving them to God.

The devil will continually torment us in our thoughts that we did something wrong. We must fight his lies with the scriptures. In order to do this we must know the scriptures, believe them, and live them. The devil has no defenses against a person who knows God's Word and is living it.

The devil uses thoughts and enticements the same as he did with Eve. If we know the truth we can quickly dismiss the lies avoiding mocking intimidation and false guilt.

False guilt can silence the truth, it is vitally important that we know the difference between false guilt and conviction of the Holy Spirit. If we know the scriptures and walk in the Spirit we will know.

We are in what I call; "Spiritual bootcamp" in this life. We are in training for when we will rule in the Millennium with Christ. The harder things are for Spiritual muscles to grow strong if we are focused on Christ.

Remember the principle we learned about in weightlifting? In order to make muscles stronger we must first tear the muscles, then as they grow back they are bigger and stronger as they mend, than before they were torn.

God has to break our own will to replace it with the will of Christ. Those who refuse to be broken by Christ do not grow stronger, they grow weaker as the pressures of the world around them diminish their resolve to stand for Christ.

Those who are not born-again do not grow wise merely by becoming older, they grow weaker because they no longer feel a need to pretend anymore. Pretense is hard work and cannot last when the one without the power of Christ can no longer withstand the pressure of the world around them. They revert to what comes naturally and easily to them and that is their baser human nature, without God's principles and righteousness.

Have you ever heard words like this; "that old man used to be so kind but lately he seems mean and rude."? I have, I used to think it was just life getting someone down because of ailments, but now I believe it is because the trials of life have revealed the real inner self when there is no longer strength to pretend anymore.

Trials bring out the real us, that's why God allows them in our lives. He wants us to see His power in us and He wants us to discover ourselves, what is real in us, whether there is still sefl-will or whether we have been trusting Christ. Our reactions to life will tell us a lot.

This doesn't mean we don't weep when things are difficult, or that we never get discouraged, it just means where we focus our hope shows us what our mindset is, if on Christ then we grow, if on self, then we become weaker.

Hebrews 12:11-13 "…11 No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields a harvest of righteousness and peace to those who have been trained by it. 12 Therefore strengthen your limp hands and weak knees. 13 Make straight paths for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed."

Let's be growing healed believers who are far different at the end of our lives than we were at the beginning of our Salvation in Christ.

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