For those interested I thought this was an interesting study. Do you know what the Bible calls it when a person uses manipulation and coercion to set forth their agenda? Many times a spiritual leader will use manipulation and coercion to get their followers to comply with their agendas. Much like how the serpent deceived Eve, in the Garden of Eden, he twisted the scriptures and reworded them to get a specific response out of Eve. He manipulated/beguiled her.
Manipulation: to control or play upon by artful, unfair, or insidious means especially to one's own advantage: to change by artful or unfair means so as to serve one's purpose.
Synonyms exploit, play (upon) Related Words engineer, finagle, jockey, maneuver; beguile, bluff, cozen, deceive, delude, dupe, fool, gull, hoax, hoodwink, kid, snow, take in, trick; intrigue, machinate, plot, scheme; arrange, contrive, devise, finesse, mastermind; cheat, chisel, defraud, fleece, gyp, hustle, swindle
Coercion: to restrain or dominate by force : to compel to an act or choice .
Here is an example from the Bible of a situation where the people were deceived by a spiritual leader. Simon was known throughout the town as a great 'man of God'. Can you imagine how difficult it must be to identify a false preacher when he is already known as a 'great man of God'? The verse below is from the book of Acts and God doesn't candy coat the fact that Simon was using manipulation in his leadership. As a matter of fact, God uses very blunt powerful words to describe what Simon was doing.
Acts 8:9 "But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: 10 To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God. 11 And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries."
God said it very plainly, Simon used sorcery to bewitch the people. Simon had bewitched the people a long time! When you are under the leadership of a manipulative person over a long period of time, the more difficult it is to identify them as false and to escape seems impossible.
This is why we are warned many times about false prophets. Jesus wants to make sure we know how to identify a wolf in sheep's clothing. First of all notice that Jesus said they 
will come in His name. That's why they are in sheep's clothing. They appear to be one of us, but in fact they are not. He cautions us and informs us how to identify them and to stay away from them. If they appeared in their natural wolf clothes, we would know right away that they are up to no good. But we know the enemy appears as an angel of light.
Matthew 24: 4 "And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many."
He didn't say "Many will come in my name saying they are Christ" He said "Many will come in my name, saying, I am Christ."
For how would God's people be deceived by someone saying they are Christ? We would KNOW he wasn't Christ. He said they will come in HIS name and they will agree that Jesus is Christ.
Please make sure you know what kind of person you are trusting to teach you God's Word. God's gifted leaders are gifted by the Holy Spirit, and those who are not of God will appear to be His messengers, but those wolves do sneak in when you are not aware.
If you have ever been manipulated then you know how it feels when it happens. It's just like those old soap operas. When a woman sets it in her mind to get what she wants and she uses words to flatter the victim. Flattery is a form of witchcraft. A cunning craftiness of speech. Many salesmen do the same thing.
Another form of manipulation is when someone tells you that someone else has wronged them. They do so in a way only to tell you their side of the story. They say it in such a way that you would not even think to question the other person. This kind of wolf wants to make sure that you don't ask! They want you to join their pity party and be loyal to their 'pain'. You need to remember that you have the RIGHT to question someone. Any time someone teaches you something they claim is in the Bible, ask for the scripture reference and if they have any other verses to help support their teaching. When you look up those verses, read the entire chapter the verse is from and make sure it was used in the context of their message.
When you find that their teaching doesn't fit with the context of what they taught, ask them to clarify. Show them what you found in the Bible and ask for more references that support their teaching. If they become agitated, defensive, or uncorrectable in spirit, then they are under the control of the wrong spirit. We are told in the Bible that this spirit is the spirit of the antichrists.
1 John 2:18, "Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time."
2 John 1:9, "For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist."
There are many antichrists, they appear as sheep, when in fact they are wolves in disguise. Many times these wolves are not aware that they are wolves. This is a battle over their soul. The greatest thing you can do is to pray that wolf has it's eyes opened to the truth so they can become a true sheep. In the meantime, avoid them!
More to come!
Sisterlisa is a homeschooling mom of four children and married to a ministry leader of a Rescue mission. She is the owner of Growing in Grace Magazine and AGMinistries.
John 10:4, "And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice."
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