I'll 'reveal' the deceptive-practice soon, but first ... That word (the 'built' one below)—there might be something more to that word ... something crucial that firms the foundation upon which the our lexicon stands ...
The word “Manipulate” is built on “|Hand + to |Fill” (a method of Digging for |Ore (|Handful) ... to |Skillfully |Manage- or |Handle People by |Mental |Influence (especially for |Greedy Purposes)).
I sse how Kenneth Copeland Ministries uses 'a trick of Satan.' I probably saw it 'as soon as I first saw them,' but it became clear to me when I read an article from an issue of the magazine linked-to above (the 'Manipulate'-link).
Kenneth Copeland 'quoted' The Great Commission ... just the way Satan quotes things. See, Satan always tells 'the truth,' but not 'the full truth.' For example: in the garden, he* told Eve that eating the forbidden fruit wouldn't kill her ... which was true—it didn't kill her, it just made her 'aware that she was doomed to die' (stealing the joy of thinking you'll live forever).
Copeland 'implies' that The Great Commission was when Jesus told His disciples to "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature ..."—which is sort of a lie (you can see, it was "Having gone into all the world" and "preach the gospel to all the creation" ... maybe 'the version Copeland used' phrased it the way he did, and Copeland's focus was more about "the power Christians get" and not "the mission the disciples fulfill"; but 'shifting your focus away from the original aim' makes it very easy to 'Sin' (literally "miss the mark").
KCM uses many such distractions to 'lead you astray.' Oh, I'm sure they are surely on The Path (Our Brother called it 'The Way, The Truth & The Life' and lived His life becoming The Path); but many of the rewards they prize are 'barely even secondary to the mission!'
I know KCM intends to lead you down The Path (the strait-&-narrow), but Jesus tells us that 'good intentions' pave the road to destruction* right after telling us of the strait-&-narrow path!
I guess the first place I should've recognized it was 'when they jumped onto The Prosperity Gospel'—I know they don't exactly "say" 'donating your money to us will get you great fortunes (huge mansions, private jetplanes, worldwide travel) like we at KCM have'; but they have no problem 'stating a partial truth & letting people make whatever assumptions compel you to donate more' (I joined thinking that–yes, the messages they're preaching all over the world are useful for spreading peace & comfort etc.–but I should also be due a cut of the profits (just like any other investor) for investing in such a good cause!)
I'm reminded of one of the ... I don't wanna say 'best,' but maybe "most-prominent" pictures of the satan Lucifer (who–you might remember–was an executive angel (like an archangel or one of God's highest circle of angels) who didn't understand some choices that God made, thought he would be a better god than God was, and thus became God's enemy).
I'll try to find another copy of it online, but the image is of an angel with partly-armored wings & a peekaboo haircut. That haircut is crucial to the satanic image (possibly more-than 'the horns' in the popular 'image of satan' you probably think-of), because it shows us that satan's 'not even looking at the whole situation (past, present, and eternal future ... like we know God watches-over).' Satan sees only what he needs to see to serve himself.
Kenneth Copeland (and family) see only what they need to see. It may be what you need to see as well (as they have seen a lot—rising from dirt-poor country-folk in Texas & Oklahoma to become abundantly cared-for international ministers!); but they can only show you 'the process they used to get there,' probably-not 'the process that'll work for you.'
They themselves are doing Our Heavenly Father's work (whether they call him by the former Watcher-angel's first-name, or Yahweh, or Jehovah, or El, Eleh, Elohim, Dio, etc.) ... and no, 'that work' probably isn't "winning souls to Jesus" or whatever-else Christians usually say our job is (though that is as 'fruitful' a way of passing the time as almost anything else); it goes back to The Great Commission ...
The version KCM used (The Gospel of Mark) seems to feature 'Jesus telling His disciples to go preach His Gospel,' but ... the version that stuck in my memory (a version I thought was more-prominent, but which I'm not finding in my general searches ... I'll have to specifically look for "make disciples"—probably on BibleGateway's- or BibleHub's search) says that Jesus told His disciples to Disciple (lots of translations phrase it "Go preaching, teaching & baptizing to Make disciples of all nations"; but a pastor told me (and my research confirms) that 'Disciple' was "the active verb" (the actual thing that the disciples were commissioned to do), and 'go preaching, teaching & baptizing' was "a passive verb" (things they were going to be doing anyway)).
As I probably say on my 'Disciple'-post, a disciple's purpose is to carry-on the work of their lord—to essentially 'take their lord's place when the lord moves on to a new position.' 'The work He came to do' (whether you phrase it 'to fulfill the Law' or 'to bring peace' or 'to let His hearers have life more abundantly' or whatever) is now 'what we (His disciples) do.'
You can see I'm "passing rumors on" as well: at-least 5 translations don't even name the serpent "Satan" in Genesis ch. 3 (although maybe later tellings of 'The Fall of Man' name it in later books of The Bible); I almost-did what many preachers do and -said "the road to Hell is paved with good intentions"; and there are probably lots of other places where preachers 'use our wished-for ideas to fill in the gaps that past Scripture left blank.'
I guess the first place I should've recognized it was 'when they jumped onto The Prosperity Gospel'—I know they don't exactly "say" 'donating your money to us will get you great fortunes (huge mansions, private jetplanes, worldwide travel) like we at KCM have'; but they have no problem 'stating a partial truth & letting people make whatever assumptions compel you to donate more' (I joined thinking that–yes, the messages they're preaching all over the world are useful for spreading peace & comfort etc.–but I should also be due a cut of the profits (just like any other investor) for investing in such a good cause!)
I'm reminded of one of the ... I don't wanna say 'best,' but maybe "most-prominent" pictures of the satan Lucifer (who–you might remember–was an executive angel (like an archangel or one of God's highest circle of angels) who didn't understand some choices that God made, thought he would be a better god than God was, and thus became God's enemy).
I'll try to find another copy of it online, but the image is of an angel with partly-armored wings & a peekaboo haircut. That haircut is crucial to the satanic image (possibly more-than 'the horns' in the popular 'image of satan' you probably think-of), because it shows us that satan's 'not even looking at the whole situation (past, present, and eternal future ... like we know God watches-over).' Satan sees only what he needs to see to serve himself.
They themselves are doing Our Heavenly Father's work (whether they call him by the former Watcher-angel's first-name, or Yahweh, or Jehovah, or El, Eleh, Elohim, Dio, etc.) ... and no, 'that work' probably isn't "winning souls to Jesus" or whatever-else Christians usually say our job is (though that is as 'fruitful' a way of passing the time as almost anything else); it goes back to The Great Commission ...
The version KCM used (The Gospel of Mark) seems to feature 'Jesus telling His disciples to go preach His Gospel,' but ... the version that stuck in my memory (a version I thought was more-prominent, but which I'm not finding in my general searches ... I'll have to specifically look for "make disciples"—probably on BibleGateway's- or BibleHub's search) says that Jesus told His disciples to Disciple (lots of translations phrase it "Go preaching, teaching & baptizing to Make disciples of all nations"; but a pastor told me (and my research confirms) that 'Disciple' was "the active verb" (the actual thing that the disciples were commissioned to do), and 'go preaching, teaching & baptizing' was "a passive verb" (things they were going to be doing anyway)).
As I probably say on my 'Disciple'-post, a disciple's purpose is to carry-on the work of their lord—to essentially 'take their lord's place when the lord moves on to a new position.' 'The work He came to do' (whether you phrase it 'to fulfill the Law' or 'to bring peace' or 'to let His hearers have life more abundantly' or whatever) is now 'what we (His disciples) do.'
You can see I'm "passing rumors on" as well: at-least 5 translations don't even name the serpent "Satan" in Genesis ch. 3 (although maybe later tellings of 'The Fall of Man' name it in later books of The Bible); I almost-did what many preachers do and -said "the road to Hell is paved with good intentions"; and there are probably lots of other places where preachers 'use our wished-for ideas to fill in the gaps that past Scripture left blank.'
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