MANIPULATION

I Was Just Thinking About - MANIPULATION.

Manipulation is a deliberate act of management and control. It can occur so subtlety that if one believes and trusts in the goodness of an individual, naivety and gullibility can be detected and utilized by the manipulator. As much as I hate to admit it, there have been times when I have fallen into the snare of a manipulator. It happened years ago when my family and I vacationed in a beautiful place in Wisconsin. Two godly families had made their Family Retreat Center available for godly people to have a place where they could enjoy the beauty on the Lord in a very peaceful setting.

Arriving at the Retreat Center, we were pleased to see some friends there and anticipated the time of fellowship with them. I did wonder why some of them had a “smirk” on their faces when one man who was vacationing there asked if I knew how to play Chess and would I be interested in taking time to play a game with him. It did not take long before the manipulation set in. No one gave me a ‘heads up’ that this man was a Chess Master who prided himself in being unbeatable. I quickly learned after my first initial moves that he had me Check Mated. Insult to the injury was that he had a book of various Chess Moves and wrote my name alongside of the moves he had trapped me into making. Setting up the Chess Board had taken longer than the actual competition. In three moves, I was defeated.

Thinking that was a fluke of sorts, I consented to try again. This time, he reached across the board and indicated that I had made the wrong move and showed me which move would’ve been better. Since I was already amid manipulation, I followed his counsel and this time I was Check Mated in six moves. Then, HE decided there was no need to continue. HE had manipulated and subsequently defeated every man present at the Retreat Center.

The sad thing is that it is becoming more common to see the presence of manipulation in the “Christian” Church by “leaders” who manipulate the governance and ministry of the church based upon their ideas. They are usually some of the wealthiest people and they gain manipulative management and control because people start to believe the church cannot survive if their money is withdrawn. Somehow, Philippians 4:19, “My God shall supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” gets lost in the cultural and carnal climate that exists within some “Christian” Churches.

Within the manipulative nature of an organization, caginess replaces forthrightness, and the “end justifies the means” becomes the acceptable mantra. It becomes easy to ignore James 5:12, “Let your “yes” be yes and your “no” no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.” And the words of Jesus Christ, Matthew 5:37, “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or “No’; anything more than this comes from evil.” Isaiah 55:8-9 could easily be the epitaph or Ichabod over many “Christian” Churches and “Leaders” – where the Lord declared: “MY thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways MY ways…For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are MY ways higher than your ways, and MY thoughts than your thoughts.” 

May the Lord delivers us from the ways we may have manipulated others for our own personal agenda and advantage. And – may He quickly bring us to repentance.

Prayerfully – Consider these things with me.