Matt S October 14th Part 10.
It is really interesting if I stand back and take a close look at what has been happening to me in this last week or two, I would have to say that I have been experiencing a good deal of disruption in almost every area of my life. As I come to this portion of my series I have even had trouble opening up the word document to start this article. It’s only really just hit me that I might be offending the individual that will be the subject of this article. I don’t believe in coincidence and I do believe that God is in control whatever the circumstances, so I am moving ahead with renewed determination to bring this information to you.
What I will discuss here today is not particularly new information; a Google search would confirm that. I’m not sure that I fully understand all the connections that I’ve made; I’m not particularly academic or a learned bible scholar either. What I do have is a deep desire for the truth, (as painful as that might be at times), and a deeper desire to pass that truth on to others.
I have spent thousands of hours, (yes you read right) thousands of hours researching narcissism, getting to know everything I can about it. For me this has affected my life very deeply and personally and I have been driven to find out everything I can about it. Also being a Christian I have the benefit of reading God’s Word and finding some disturbingly similar ideas and information contained in the bible. When you read a lot, you may understand that you start to build a general picture of things, ideas start to connect and you are left with an overall impression or sense of something. This is what has happened to me in reading on both narcissism and the Word of God. It has left me with a significant sense of something.
I have to say that I do not fully understand all of what I have found, and there are some connections that I am making that I won’t write about just yet, until I get a better understanding of them.
So let’s get at it!!
As I read about narcissism I started to make connections between this personality disorder and the character of lucifer/satan/the devil, hence the title the “lucifer complex”. You may have heard of the term “Messiah Complex”, well that essentially is just another name for narcissistic personality disorder.
So let’s see what the bible has to say about the character of lucifer.
Ω Lucifer places himself above all else in Isaiah14: 12-15. He magnifies himself above everything and places himself up there with God his creator with 5 “I wills’”, lucifer sees himself as something special in his own eyes, he is possibly delusional or psychotic, he has a false image of himself, he has made a choice.
Ω Lucifer is warlike was is filled with violence and had sinned in Revelation 12:7-9 he created war in heaven and is defeated and cast down to earth, and is a deceiver of the whole world. In Ezekiel 28:16 we see that lucifer was found to be filled with violence and was found with sin.
Ω Lucifer is a highly skilled and crafty deceiver, Genesis 3:1-24, This account in Genesis describes how the serpent or nachash in Hebrew (bright and shining one) deceives Eve in partaking of the fruit that God has forbidden, he creates doubt and then paints a false picture of what will happen and then Eve persuades Adam to take this fruit, and the rest is history.
Ω Lucifer disguises himself as an angel of light, 2 Corinthians 11:14
Ω Lucifer was created perfect and beautiful but clearly changed, Ezekiel 28:13 , Ezekiel 28:15
Ω Lucifer is a liar, a murderer and without truth, John 8:44
Ω Lucifer wants to rip you to bits and tear you down, 1 Peter 5:8
Ω Lucifer is proud and vain, Ezekiel 28:17
Ω Lucifer is a tempter, Matthew 4:3
We have quite a list of the characteristics of lucifer from the bible, so how does this compare to the characteristics of narcissists. Let’s do a comparison of the nine characteristics of lucifer listed above. (I won’t reference the narcissistic traits in the actual list below; this is included in the references in three separate listed URL’s and I encourage you to check them out anyway as I have already listed them in my previous articles on this subject)
β Narcissists see themselves as the center of the universe, and particularly overt narcissists let you know that they are. They put themselves above others and are arrogant and haughty. They see themselves as special and would appear to have a false image of their so called perfection.
β Narcissists are competitive, aggressive and can certainly be violent and murderous, they thrive on aggression, be it overt (in your face) or covert (knife in the back stuff). They enjoy creating strife and trouble. Narcissists are clearly sinners even though they strive to present as perfect and possibly see themselves as perfect.
β Narcissists are usually clever manipulators and deceivers, they are clever at twisting the truth to either get something from people, make themselves look good, deflect blame or just to create a bit of chaos. They are also very skilled at projecting their inner chaos onto others as well.
β Narcissists as mentioned like to clothe themselves in a good light, in an image of perfection, they may present this way physically and they will present a persona of love, confidence, caring and interest in others. This can be maintained for a while but eventually the cracks show. This is a façade, a disguise that entices people in like a moth to a flame (and what happens when the moth gets too close to the flame?)
β Narcissists were born with a sin nature as we all are, and maybe it could be argued some genetic predisposition, however after a great deal of training from their master narcissist I believe that these people make a choice, I believe that there is a turning point for them. Narcissists can very often be obsessed with image and physical bodily perfection and vanity. An area that is open for debate is for those that are raised by parents to think they are the center of the universe but are able to recognize their selfish behaviour and change; this is classic prodigal son mentality. We are also busily in the process of making a very large group of very narcissistic young folk in the current generation. I have seen too many instances of families where some of the siblings became narcissistic and some became enablers or some have escaped to a freedom of sorts. At the end of the day we are all born with a sin nature. We battle to bring that nature into submission, repentance, and surrender to God’s love, and the forgiveness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
β Narcissists are deceivers in everything they do, they lie, they cheat, they steal and they may even kill to get what they want, or take revenge on those they believe are a threat, or those that have slighted them. Sometimes they just do it for pleasure. They are strangers to the truth. From personal experience I have heard them proclaim that they never lie, covert narcissists go to extreme lengths to cover their imperfections. They deceive themselves also; they always struggle with the truth because it will expose them for what they are. They like to twist the truth to deflect blame or deceive others.
β Narcissists enjoy verbally abusing and ripping other people apart emotionally and sometimes physically, they look for a victim when in need of making themselves feel better, because that is in essence what they are doing. They may have been slighted or may just be feeling fragile and chaotic inside so they need someone to smack down in order to satisfy their need to feel better. They may also be jealous, envious and threatened by others and will work to either destroy that person or drive them away.
β Narcissists are prideful and haughty people, especially cerebral narcissists who see themselves as well above others almost seem to float, and you can just about see it oozing out of them. In the case of somatic narcissists (they are seen at the gym almost every day honing that physique). They are always very well dressed and adorned with the latest fashion trend; they have the best car, the best home and they hang out with the best people (not really).
β Narcissists are tempters and they will tempt others into their clutch with sex, money, charm and the illusion of a perfect life. They are expert at creating and reading your need and then tempting you into the trap in order to get what they want. They want you to worship them and in Luke 4:5-8 lucifer attempts to get Jesus to worship him, lucifer wants to be worshipped and narcissists will tempt others in in the same way to get their admiration and worship.
So please think about this! From the two lists provided is there sufficient evidence from the bible around lucifer’s characteristics and enough documented observations around narcissistic behaviour to make a case for a connection? For me personally I believe there is, it all sounds much like luciferian personality to me.
I am not sure quite what all this means or indeed how they are connected. You might argue that it comes from our fallen sin nature, and that could well be true in part. You might argue that it is purely demonic or fallen angelic influence and that might also be true in part. There may also be other reasons. I do have other ideas about possible reasons for narcissism but they lack substance and fit into the realms of science fiction at this time, and would not be willing to broach these ideas until I have a little more evidence to support them.
There are just too many similarities between lucifer’s fallen personality and the traits of narcissists. This is a disturbing thing that we should see so many of these behaviours in humans. The accounts of Jezebel and Ahab in the book of Kings highlight that Jezebel was a crazy roaring narcissist by any standard and that Ahab was an enabler. Jesus also mentions the name of Jezebel in the book of Revelation, Revelation 2:18-29.
So when we look at lucifer from a biblical perspective we find an individual that was perfect in his beauty when he was made, with a very impressive role in God’s order of creation. At some point he changed to something very ugly, very treacherous, murderous, deceitful, vain, completely selfish, arrogant, and rebellious. I don’t know if God gave him the chance the repent, I cannot find any studies or references to this from biblical scholars. What I do know is that there has been a war being waged for thousands of years possibly longer involving God, us (human beings) and lucifer and his minions. If you think about it, it is the whole reason for us being where we are today, The war between God and lucifer with us in the middle, yep that’s just the way it is. Adam and Eve were persuaded by lucifer to go against God but unlike lucifer we have a means for returning to God. God was clear that he was going to provide a “means” for fallen mankind to come back to him to return to our pre fall inheritance as sons and daughters of God.
The “means” was through God’s son the Lord Jesus Christ who provided the sacrifice, the way for us to return to our Father God, through repentance of our sins and the forgiveness and love that comes with that. Lucifer hates us because of this so he is leading as many as he can away from Jesus, lucifer wants us to follow him and worship him and he has persuaded a good many people to do just that. He is tireless and will stop at nothing to get his way. Lucifer makes light of Jesus at every opportunity, he is constantly looking to neutralize and destroy Christians at every turn. Why? Because he knows that Christians are his biggest threat, especially Christians who are aware of his schemes and wiles and know their authority from God to repel and defeat him. They also know who he is and what his plans are through the Word of God.
It probably should not be any great surprise that those that choose lucifer either willingly or unknowingly will start to take on attributes of his personality. If I was to sum this article up and attempt to explain the connection between lucifer and narcissism, it would be that those that do choose lucifer or his ways become like him, just as those who choose to follow Jesus and read his word and ask him for change also become more like Jesus.
So calling narcissism “the lucifer complex” may be a more accurate description of this personality disorder.
I don’t think that the vast majority narcissists are aware of who they might be emulating, I’m not even certain they are any more demonized than anyone else would be. I am becoming more convinced that they do make some kind of choice at some point to be the way they are. Personally I have not ever know any narcissist to change, it seems to have a hugely powerful grip on people. I have read that narcissists can moderate some of their behaviour if they choose to do so, but CAMELS and NEEDLE EYES come to mind in this regard.
If you know someone who is a narcissistic personality, the best thing you can do is pray that God will intervene in their lives, most if not all of these folk do not like any criticism constructive or otherwise. I have not ever seen any willingness to change, any remorse or genuine apology for the chaos and damage they cause.
Next week I will discuss what the bible has to say about narcissism and how our narcissism epidemic may have been predicted in the bible. God bless you, I hope that this may help you understand a possibility of where narcissism may have originated and some food for thought.
Research.
https://www.google.co.nz/#safe=active&q=what+does+the+bible+say+about+the+nature+of+satan
https://www.openbible.info/topics/lucifer
http://www.narcissisticabuse.com/characteristics-of-the-narcissist/
http://psychcentral.com/disorders/narcissistic-personality-disorder-symptoms/
http://thinklikeablackbelt.com/blog/signs-and-traits-of-emotional-predators/
https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Bible-Verses-About-Jezebel/
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%202:18-29
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