Confronting One's Foe on His or Her Wicked Strategies

In Know Your Enemy: The Christian’s Critic I list and explain over 30 strategies that wicked critic’s use to get you off track when it comes to walking with the Lord and doing his will. Now in this book, I will provide suggestions on how you can deal with the difficult person when he or she approaches you.

When the wicked critic does the following, you stand by responding to his or her strategies like this:

Attempt to gain your trust – you will ask more questions about him or her and talk less about self.

Make an offer you won’t refuse – delay the request to make a commitment and pray about it.

Lay a trap – you will stand guard. Being careful not to prematurely sign or say anything or visit a home or office without a witness. Avoid talking about serious matters (especially involving others) over the phone when you can talk in person. Be mindful of someone spying on you, three party phone services and recording devices. Don’t say anything in writing ie.) email, text and mail that could be used against you later.

Look for trouble – when you are aware that you have an enemy, he or she will attempt to draw you into conversations or perform actions that may cause problems later for you at home, work, church or elsewhere. Therefore, don’t do or say anything without checking with management, partner, family, friends, workers, or others first.

Provoke you to anger – when you know that your heart is beating, heat is rising and head is pounding, excuse yourself, get busy or walk away. If the issue can be settled by using a third party, do it. If the situation is unnecessary and doesn’t require any action on your part, ignore this person. If he or she persists, get law enforcement involved.

Prey on the novice – time to start studying. When an enemy seeks to get you to do something you may not be knowledgeable about, you might want to learn why it is so important for her or him to involve you.

Tempt you again – you may have resisted the devil in the past, but he will come again. The next time have a plan of escape. Ask yourself, “What will I do/say when he tells me this? How might I get out of the situation? What can I do to protect myself and keep this person from bothering me again with the same issue?”

Pretend to love you – sometimes we can’t see when a person is acting like he or she cares about us. Test the spirit. Ask the kind of questions that relate to feelings. Do a few nice things for this person and watch how he or she responds.

Use those closest to you – people don’t know whether someone likes or dislikes you if you never say anything especially if your enemy is a good actor. Therefore, when the enemy attempts to “get in” with someone who is close to you, be sure that you expose him or her and provide proof whenever possible, so that the individuals who think “but he/she is so nice...” will be convinced that your enemy is definitely no friend of yours.

Act as if he/she knows you so well – it can be upsetting when someone acts as if he or she knows more about you than you know about yourself. When your enemy starts listing everything he or she thinks they know about you, do the following: smile and politely say, “I don’t want to talk about what you think or believe you know about me.” Of course, this person will want to encourage you to talk about each point they have brought up. Stick to what you have originally said and don’t agree or disagree with the enemy. For some people, depending on the situation, they just smile and say nothing.

Try to convince you that evil is good – when one is trying to persuade you to take a stance on something you may or may not agree with, consider this, “If I tell you that what you are doing is wrong, you will try to defend your actions and most likely attack my faith. If I tell you what you are doing is good, you will accuse me of being a hypocrite, so I will let you figure out whether your situation should be labeled evil or good through consequence.”

Create a plan that is void of Jesus – some people believe that if they leave religion out of their lives they will be alright when it comes to family, freedom, money, fame, etc. Most likely, they will (at least for a time). But when trouble strikes and after this life, their desire to live faithless will be quite a different story. So in the meantime, when one is adamant about you not talking about Jesus, praying to Jesus or doing anything else concerning Jesus as it relates to the wayward believer or unbeliever, keep your mouth closed and your feet distant from that person so that you will not be corrupted by him or her.

There is more to check out about an enemy's strategies, do check out Know Your Enemy: The Christian's Critic.

 

Nicholl McGuire