A manipulator disrupts and neutralizes your disciple’s relationship with his family and friends. She subtlety drives a velvet wedge between your disciple and all his relationships. Relationships that once were strong are now strained. In the beginning the wedge is imperceptible so that it seems as if the manipulator wants a relationship with your disciple’s family and friends but then over time there grows a distance between him and all his relationships. A good manipulator deceives your disciple so well that when his relationships do become detached he believes that others are the problem, not him.
In Daniel chapter 6 we see how effectively a manipulator can neutralizes a relationship. King Darius loved Daniel and planned to promote him to rule over the whole kingdom. Yet manipulators who surrounded the king were so crafty that they were able to neutralize his relationship with Daniel even though Darius was the most powerful man in the world. (Never underestimate the shrewdness of a manipulator.)
The account states:
Then they (the manipulators) said to the king, “Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O King, or to the decree you put in writing. He still prays three times a day.” When the king heard this, he was greatly distressed; he was determined to rescue Daniel and made ever effort until sundown to save him. (Daniel 6 13-14)
In the end Darius was powerless to help Daniel.
Random closing thoughts:
- A parent who is a manipulator seeks to control his child and all the child’s relationships under the guise of “good parenting.”
- A mate who is a manipulator creates a distance between his wife’s relationship with her family and friends. He may not want children for fear that he will lose control of his wife or have to share her with someone else.
- A child who is a manipulator will drive a wedge between his mom and dad and will seek to control his parent’s relationships with his siblings.
- A friend who is a manipulator disrupts a person’s relationship with old friends and family.
- A new girlfriend should not disrupt a guy’s relationship with his parents or friends but actually she should be a catalyst to draw his family and friends closer together.
- A non-manipulator will fit into existing family and friend relationships.