Manipulation is a nasty thing. The definition of manipulation is “the action of manipulating someone in a clever or unscrupulous way.” Ways people put manipulation into practice are behaviors like passive aggressiveness, implicit threats, dishonestly, withholding information, isolating people, gaslighting, verbal abuse, and use of sex to achieve goals (google). We are all guilty of using manipulation. It is in our humanity to want to survive or keep ourselves safe, and manipulation has become an unconscious tool to achieve this goal. It’s not always unconscious, though. There is blatant outright manipulation going on all the time nowadays. Think of news media, media in general, the internet, biased schools, social media, and even religions.

When we boil it down, manipulation stems from our need or want to control things around us. If we could only control all things around us, life would be perfect, right? Hmm, let’s think about that statement. If we could control the people around us, we would have plenty of friends who adore us, we would have money and never struggle with it, we would never have any hardship, not even a cold or flu, and we would know what we need to know when we need to know it. If this were so, would we need God anymore?

Boiling it down further and simplifying it, manipulation is basically lying. Throughout the Bible, the Lord touches on this subject. For instance, 2 Timothy 3:6 says, “For among them are those who slip into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses” (NASB). Another example, one that introduced sin into the world, is how satan manipulated Eve; “Now the serpent was more cunning than any animal of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Has God really said, You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1). In both of these illustrations the Lord uses examples of women who are manipulated into sin by the use of temptations. Temptations that lead to the fulfillment of sins that we are all vulnerable to due to our sinful nature. For instance, Eve apparently had everything she ever needed but not everything she wanted. Satan made her question what she heard, and with the human condition of wanting more control, power, or knowledge, she was deceived and sinned along with Adam.

The woman in 2 Timothy presents a more complex case involving hidden and deep-seated manipulation. First, Paul points out that the manipulator gains the woman’s trust and respect. Her guard is not up because she is weighed down by her own sins, so she can’t recognize anothers. Our sins have a way of piling on top of each other in the end, producing pride because that is all one focuses on, either pride in their sin or the sin of pride in self-pity for being stuck in sin. This woman is also led by various impulses; impulses can be sexual or coping mechanisms that lead to addictions like drugs, alcohol, or gambling. Her manipulator knew her weaknesses and exploited them. Paul then mentions another thing about this woman: “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7). From what Paul describes of this woman is that she was always searching for truth of who she was, what she believed in but she never seemed to arrive at finding truth. God’s truth. Without truth, one is susceptible to manipulation and deceived by the world’s lies.

Have you asked God to reveal your weakness, so you are not like this woman? Psalm 139:23-24 “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.”

Do you find yourself searching for truth but never finding it? John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.

It is important to know truth and be able to recognize manipulation in this day and age. As we get deeper into this age of increasing confusion, destruction, hatred, persecution, and godlessness we need to keep our eyes fixed on Christ. Not allowing the manipulations that satan pushes to catch us off guard is vital. Turn your eyes upon Jesus!