How the Devil Works to Control People

Turn to the list of the works of the flesh in Galatians chapter 5, verses 19 and 20. Now, I want to say that in various translations, different words are used. Some translations say witchcraft, some say sorcery, and so on. In just a little while, I’ll give you a delineation of the three main branches of witchcraft. That’s witchcraft, divination, and sorcery.

But you find here in this passage, some translations say witchcraft, some say sorcery. Let me say they’re really just different names for the same power. So, Paul says in verse 19 of Galatians 5,

“Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery,”

but the old King James says witchcraft. So, there, right in the middle of the list of the works of the flesh, are idolatry and witchcraft.

That is, they’re the expression of man’s carnal, fallen nature. And I say that’s the way the flesh, the fallen nature is. We, in our fallen nature, desire to control people. We desire to get people to do what we want. And very often, we use illegitimate means to get that.

Now, this kind of operation, I say, has three key words. And I want you to listen carefully, because wherever you encounter these operations, you are encountering witchcraft. And it may be you’ve never realized it up till now. The three key words are: manipulate, intimidate, and dominate.

Now, the end purpose is dominate, control people, make them do what you want. There are two alternative routes. One is manipulate, the other is dominate. And it depends on the situation and the purpose which route a person will follow. But whether they use manipulation or whether they use domination, the end purpose is control. It’s domination.

Now, in the natural, we’re not talking anything about anything supernatural yet. In the natural, witchcraft, as a work of the flesh, operates really in every area of society. Some of you are going to come out of here, and you’re going to see things in a very different light. I hope the first thing you’ll do is look in the mirror.

Before you point out your husband, or your wife, or your grandmother, or your mother-in-law, or whoever it may be, just check on yourself, okay? Let me give you a few examples. For instance, in the family life. Now, whether people like it or not, God has ordained a certain order in the family. The husband is the head of the wife. People can stand the family up on its head, but God hasn’t changed the order.

And beneath the authority of husband and wife, there is children, who are, in God’s order, subject to the authority of their parents. Now, what witchcraft will do, is use either manipulation or intimidation to set aside the divine authorized order. Let’s take children first. Children are master manipulators. You don’t have to be old. A child of 5 can be a master manipulator.

All right, suppose mother has guests to tea or coffee, depending on the social situation. And there are biscuits or cookies, depending on your vocabulary. And the little child of 5 knows that mama doesn’t want her to have cookies, biscuits. But she knows that when the guests are there, it’s going to be very difficult for mother to say no. So, when the guests are there, she comes in and says, “Mama, may I have a cookie?” And you know, what is the mother going to do? Well, she probably gives way. She’s been manipulated.

Years and years ago, my first wife and I lived next to a Pentecostal family, father, mother, and I think the daughter was about 3 years old. Now, in those days, people used to go grocery shopping on Saturday nights. So, when they dressed up to go out grocery shopping on Saturday night, the little girl was a little angel. She toddled along, happy. When they wanted to go to the Sunday school on Sunday morning, that little creature would lie on its back and scream, with their legs in the air, to prevent the parents getting to the place where they needed to be.

Now, that little girl didn’t reason, but there was a force in her that had no objection to the parents going to the grocery store, but strongly rejected the parents going to the place where they could hear the word of God. So, you begin to work that out. A fellow preacher of mine said, a little baby of 6 weeks is in its cot, and it’s wet. It needs to have its diaper or its nappy changed. So, it cries. Along comes mother, picks up the little baby, changes him, and then cuddles it, which, of course, the baby loves.

Well, next time the baby wants to be cuddled, it cries, even when its nappy isn’t wet. You see, what’s that? It’s manipulation. See, this is something natural to fallen man. Well, it’s not only children. It can be mothers and fathers. Now, the normal way for a woman to operate is manipulation. The possible way for a father to operate is intimidation. See? But each of them has the same aim, control the other.

So, the wife doesn’t get her way, she throws a tearful fit, burns the food, and makes her husband’s life miserable. So, in the end, what does he do? He gives way. Or, it’s the husband. Now, there’s many different ways this can happen, but the husband may be a brute. He may be a strong man with a bad temper. And if he doesn’t get his way, he shouts, and becomes violent, and threatens. And the whole family tiptoes around. The one thing they want to avoid is another fit of temper by daddy. What’s he doing? He’s intimidating. What’s his aim? To get his way.

You see, it can well be that a husband and wife have differences. The divine order is that they talk it out face to face, prayerfully, and seek God. But manipulation never faces the real issue. It always goes round behind. The real issues are never brought out into the light. And there are, who knows, who knows how many millions of married couples, even in this land, that never really bring their differences out into the open. But each tries to go round behind the other to get what he or she wants. That’s manipulation.

You take the church. There’s many, many examples of manipulation in the church. We’ll take a Pentecostal congregation, and I think I don’t think there’s much I don’t know about Pentecostals. I mean, I’ve been an Anglican, and I’m a Pentecostal, and I think, basically, I know how they operate. I may be a bit out of date with Anglicans, but I mean, there are all sorts of other people I don’t know much about. But anyhow, let’s take a little Pentecostal congregation. There’s a young pastor. It’s his first pastorate. There’s only about 100 people in the congregation. And he’s a little bit nervous and timid. And there’s two very spiritual sisters. I mean, not just spiritual, but super spiritual. And they know how the church ought to be run. They don’t sit down prayerfully and talk it over with the pastor, but one of them gets a tongue, and between them, they tell the pastor what to do. You think that doesn’t happen? I can tell you, it certainly does. What is that? Manipulation. That’s right.

Many other areas, business. People manipulate one another. The boss may manipulate his secretary, or the secretary may manipulate her boss. I can’t take a lot of time this evening, but you can see what I’m talking about is something that’s natural to fallen man. This is witchcraft as a work of the flesh. And its three trademarks are: manipulate, intimidate, and dominate. And I would like to say, wherever you encounter those things, behind them is the power of witchcraft. Power of witchcraft.