The Spirit of Intimidation

The other day on the Internet I came across an article on how to speak confidently and intimidate people. The article suggested that sometimes people will need to speak more confidently, whether for the purpose of intimidating others or to keep them from intimidating you. More – “speaking confidently to intimidate people involves having more confidence, authority and a sense of self-importance.”  I can’t say I agree with the last bit of that statement.  From what I’ve experienced of intimidators, they are full of self-importance, yes, but they’re far from confident and authoritative – only the appearance of being so.

According to the dictionary ‘Intimidate’ means: to force into or deter from some action by inducing fear – or – to frighten or threaten somebody so that they will do what you want.  This is only part of the picture, however, because a person who intimidates also manipulates, all so as he/she can dominate.  In a few posts here on this blog I speak of the un-holy trinity that rules the man-centered church system: religion, politics and control. Wherever this trinity can be discerned in such a church, intimidation, manipulation and domination will be right along side … simply another un-holy trinity.  Outside the church, the world system sees these things and defines them as human behaviors; some finding them admirable, others finding them repulsive.

I don’t define them as human behaviors, but rather, demonic behaviors. In other words, a person who intimidates is not a person in control, he or she is controlled; controlled by a demonic spirit of intimidation. One who manipulates is one who’s controlled by a demonic spirit of manipulation. One who dominates is one who’s controlled by a demonic spirit of domination. This is most important for a born again Christian to know and understand for two reasons. Reason one – if you detect that this is what you do, then you need to take it to the Lord and get released from these. Reason two – until you do so, you may be unable to see them in others, but certainly unable to deal with any situation when they come up to confront you.

As stated, these three spirits go hand in hand, but today I just want to talk about the spirit of intimidation. It is playing a major part in ruling the world; it always has done so but today it is on the march like no other time in history. Let’s take “rights” for example: animal rights, human rights, women’s rights, reproductive rights, children’s rights, refugee rights, indigenous rights, LGBT rights, prisoner rights, religious rights, moral rights, information rights, political rights, ???? rights. The issue here is not whether these things are right or wrong, valid or invalid; the issue is the “in-your-face” method being used by each group to get society to accept them, is one of intimidation – a spirit from the pit of hell and not heaven.

So frightened and fearful of being sneered at, snarled at, mocked and ridiculed, most people who have a different point of view on these things will never speak up and those who do so are demonized for their stand. Labels such as racist, intolerant, homophobe, Islamophobe, chauvinist,  religious fundamentalist, Bible-basher, hate-speech, ignorant, uneducated, moron, idiot, imbecile are thrown at them … all taking affect in such a powerful way in western society. From what I can gather in the United States, one reason the people are in shutdown over pursuing the validity of office for the current President is because the racist card gets pulled when they speak up.

I’m not in a position to know if this is true or not, but if it is, then those who pull such a card do so under a spirit of intimidation. That’s what a few of the loudest voices in the Aboriginal Community do here in this country. In spite of the injustices and ill-treatments they’ve wrongly suffered down through our short history, intimidation is the method they’re using to make people sit up and take notice of them. Not only that, but the leaders among them who don’t use intimidating methods are sneered at, snarled at, mocked and ridiculed by those who do. The best result for these people will never be realized because the use of wrong methods can never achieve right outcomes.

Intimidators are not confident people. They can be hard, harsh, cynical, aggressive, argumentative, stubborn, defiant and rebellious. They can suffer from anxiety, worry, depression, despair, hopelessness, pessimism, low self-image, inferiorities, insecurity, inadequacy, sadness, grief, sorrow, inability to communicate (except behind a pen or computer keyboard!), fear of failure, fear of other’s opinions. Continuing: Intimidators can be self-protective, self-centered, self-righteous and selfish. They are often critical, judgmental, envious, jealous, proud, egotistical, haughty, arrogant and emotionally immature. And the root cause of it all? The Bible reveals to us the root cause is rejection. Each one of us is born with a spirit of rejection too; we inherited it.

No wonder millions of intimidators have embraced the doctrine of moral relativism.  No wonder they want to believe there’s no God above who’s given us objective standards of right and wrong. No wonder they say everything is subjective, “it’s whatever you feel, if you feel it’s ok, go ahead; if that’s your opinion, that’s fine with me.”  No wonder they believe no opinion is better than any other opinion, “if you want to sexually pervert, steal or kill, who am I to say otherwise?” No wonder they love, “don’t be judgmental.” No wonder they say there’s no such thing as justice or injustice, “it’s whatever you think it is, whatever you want it to be.”

Moral relativist intimidators who reject the Genesis account of Adam and Eve, the serpent in the Garden and sin give evidence of its truth anyhow, in spite of it all! How come? They believe themselves to be their own god just as those two did when they got seduced by the lie, “ye shall be as gods” Genesis 3:5. And God will use that very Scripture against them when they stand before Him at the Great White Throne Judgment Revelation 20:11. That’s not hate-speech, but it is truth-speech and I am commanded to bring it forth here. The spirit of intimidation manifests much of the serpentine behavior of its ruler, Satan, in that it is a liar, a hypocrite, it is deceptive, cunning, subtle, slippery and always questioning.

In their numerous endeavors to trap biblical Christians, intimidators love to quote and misquote Scriptures out of their intended context. When responding to their arguments with Scriptures just as Jesus did it, they love to tell us that quoting such is not helpful in the discussion because verses can be interpreted in many ways. As Christians, we must never fall for that Satanic trick. It is the word of God only that “is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword…piercing…a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” Hebrews 4:12. It was the word of God Jesus used to shut Satan’s mouth and it’s the word of God we must use to shut the mouth of the intimidator.

Others deny the Bible to be God’s word because they see it as full of contradictions, errors and outrageous assertions. Such intimidators see themselves as clever, but God sees them as foolish; and the foolish are perishing. So, when it comes to interpreting 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 for example, there is only one way to do so and that is to take it literally. The same applies to Romans 1:18-32 and 2 Thessalonians 2:7-11. There’s only one interpretation for these too. These intimidators are fond of saying that we Christians are deluded, but no, no, no, that boot is on their foot – not ours! God deludes them! So strongly does He do so, they believe their own lies to be truth. Scary stuff. 

But that’s not half their problem in the first place. The Bible is a closed book to Christ-hating, truth-hating intimidators. It’s not an academic book it’s a spiritual book.  That means only the spiritually enlightened can understand what God is on about, from Genesis to Revelation and God’s pathway to spiritual enlightenment is one of humility – child-like faith, not academic sophistication, cleverness and arrogance. That’s why Jesus told well-educated and very intelligent Nicodemus, “unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God …cannot enter the kingdom of God…Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again” John 3:1-7. Praise God, Nicodemus humbled himself after that incident and became a Christ-one.

So instead of trying to match these people with clever arguments, we’ll be much more productive in taking the example of the Lord – and the apostles, and proclaim the word of God. Ours is a spiritual battle not a person/people battle and the results lie with God, not with us. We would also be wise to wait on the Lord, pray and be led by the Holy Spirit before we make any responses. It matters not one iota what the intimidator says about the Bible, it only matters what God says about it. And if we are blessed one day to learn of a convert who got released from the demonic spirit of intimidation, it was the word of God that did the work, not the word of ourselves.

Conversions will be extremely rare, however. We are coming close to the end of this age and Satan knows that. So does the spirit of intimidation, but not necessarily the dupe that it controls. And if they do sense something is in the wind, they do not sense the wind of the Holy Spirit who’s bringing it all about. They’re more worried about out-of-control deficits, the economy, global warming, earthquakes, rouge nations, war, terrorism, crime, health, unemployment, the housing market and such. Too, they have no say and control over those things, which simply adds to their dilemmas. That’s what makes them fight, scratch and shout for that which they believe they do have say and control over.

Men and women controlled by the spirit of intimidation are a threatened people.  In spite of everything they say to the contrary, they don’t know the ins and outs of God, Jesus, the Bible and Christ-ones, but that spirit does. It knows. That spirit knows we are a threat to it, just as its ruler, Satan the devil knows; that’s why it has its dupes busily working overtime in their attempts to shut us down. What to do then? Remember that the person who intimidates is not our real enemy, only the spirit of intimidation controlling them. So, in prayer, we bless the person, take authority over the spirit in Jesus’ name and release the person into God’s hands. 

Having said everything that I have so far, it is also wise for us to keep in mind what Jesus said about not giving that which is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine.  Intimidators thrive on attempts to shut Christians down often by pulling the “judge not, that you be not judged” card, or similar Matthew 7:1.  Don’t forget Jesus is speaking to hypocrites in that passage, not His servants standing up proclaiming Him.  So when they pull such a card, you pull the dogs/swine card to balance up the whole deal Matthew 7:6.  The Lord will be with you in it. Want proof? “If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified” 1 Peter 4:14.