BP92
All of us have heard of the fictional character known as Superman. Most of us remember that his public persona was Clark Kent. Many of us are familiar with Kryptonite, the crystalline material originating from Superman’s home world of Krypton. There are many varieties of Kryptonite—some red, some gold, all of them causing varying degrees of detrimental effects on Superman. The green version of Kryptonite emits an especially powerful radiation that devastates Superman, bringing him to his knees.
Some of Superman’s enemies, such as the archvillain, Lex Luther, discovered the green Kryptonite and learned about its terrible impact on Superman. Subsequently, the evil Luther attempted to expose Superman to the green mineral in the hope that it would weaken the superhero and, ultimately, kill him. Annihilate him.
Like the fictional Superman, nonfictional humans—real people, like you and me–are also vulnerable to something akin to green Kryptonite. I’m not talking about the vulnerability of the body. I’m referring to the human spirit, the heart, the soul, the personality, the self—whatever you wish to call the nonmaterial part of men and women. The person who dwells inside our bodies is in danger of annihilation through exposure to the dangerous radiation exuded by the dark entity called evil.
Yes, evil strives to annihilate the human spirit. The dark personality in the universe and his devils have one goal, namely, to oppose God by destroying His beloved creatures–humans. We know this truth from John 10:10 where Jesus says that the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.
Jesus also tells us in John 8:44f, [Satan] was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Revelation 12:10 says, Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser [Satan] of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.
In summary, Satan lives to steal, kill, destroy, murder, lie, and accuse the sons of Adam and the daughters of Eve. Much of this ‘killing’ seems to be on the level of the human spirit that is susceptible to lies, accusations, and a dark spirit of shame that ultimately attempts to convince men and women that they are accidents in an impersonal universe and thus have no ultimate purpose. Indeed, they are unlovable creatures that should remove their insignificant selves from this world and save others the bother of worthless clutter.
Never discount the truth that Satan is a murderer who lives to annihilate the human personality.
Satan is not the only being capable of murdering the human spirit. Humans are also complicit in the destruction of the spirit of others, maybe not always by premeditated intention like Satan, but the results are often similar: murder of the human spirit. Annihilation.
This destruction of the human spirit by other humans can occur in many contexts but it is probably most common and devastating when parents or other adults—those who have the power, the giants–annihilate the personhood of a powerless child, the little ones.
Some of you may remember a quote from Scott Peck that I referred to in a previous post concerning the murder of a child by a parent.
In his book, People of the Lie, Peck writes, When I say that evil has to do with killing, I do not mean to restrict myself to corporeal murder. Evil is also that which kills spirit. There are various essential attributes of life . . . awareness, growth, autonomy, will. It is possible to kill or attempt to kill one of these attributes without actually destroying the body. Thus we may ‘break’ a horse or even a child without harming a hair on his head ~ pp. 42-43.
Peck talks a lot about how parents kill their child’s spirit through evil communication. This communication is not limited to words but is more of a global, insidious, Kryptonitic attitude that strives to narrow the child’s spirit, reduce it, control it so it does not get out of hand. Through blame, shame, rage, silent treatment, cold looks, abandonment, and projection (parents seeing their own evil in the child and then punishing her for it), the parent communicates to the child that she is bad, that she must shut herself down with all her needs and emotions and opinions, that she must die to her True Self.
Why do some parents murder their children with radiation known as the annihilation of the human spirit? Sometimes, it is because the parents have not dealt with something inside their own soul such as abuse or neglect from their own childhood that was accompanied by overwhelming and even dangerous emotions of sadness, loneliness, hopelessness, and rage.
For various reasons, the parents have chosen not to feel these emotions or heal them. Instead, they have declared a moratorium on the healing and growth of the True Self. They must, then, present a False Self to the world but most importantly to their own selves so they can maintain their coping skill of denial. They must also fend off anyone with a True Self who might mess with their denial.
More often, the parents are harboring sin within their own souls (they have not sought out Jesus for forgiveness and the cleansing of their souls). Consequently, they must hide these dark things from the eyes of others, maybe especially from their children who often observe so much with their vigilant eyes and ask questions that threaten to exhume the decaying cadaver of sin buried beneath. Peck believes that some parents are more invested in the concealment of their sin—or said positively, looking good to the world–than the healthy growth and survival of their children.
Parents might go so far as to deny a child’s reality to protect their own sin or to maintain an image of normalcy for the world to observe. For example, a daughter might come to her parents and confide that an uncle had fondled her. In order to preserve the outward image of a good family or to avoid unnecessary conflict or to avoid awakening memories of their own abuse or abusing of others, the parents will tell the child that she cannot be right, that she is imaging the event or misinterpreting the uncle’s intentions.
Evil has been committed against the child to preserve the parents’ view of how the world must be.
Annihilating parents will sacrifice the life of their own child if needed for their purposes. They will designate a specific child as the black sheep, the scapegoat, the problem child onto whom the sins of the parent will be deposited. I have seen parents commit such scapegoating with their children and it is an ugly sight.
I have felt rage less than a dozen times in the clinical setting and it has always occurred when I encountered a parent who was willing to put the personhood of their child to death for some selfish reason—usually to make the parent look good and the child bad.
Peck goes so far as to say about these individuals (who he calls the people of the lie), Revulsion is a powerful emotion that causes us to immediately want to avoid, to escape, the revolting presence. And that is exactly the most appropriate thing for a healthy person to do under ordinary circumstances when confronted with an evil presence; to get away from it. Evil is revolting because it is dangerous. It will contaminate or otherwise destroy a person who remains too long in its presence.
It is like Kryptonite.
Often, the child cannot escape the dangerous radiation and has no recourse but to endure it and find unconventional ways to survive. Later, in adulthood, these survival skills must be identified and dismantled, or they will become an additional type of Kryptonite for the individual.
Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease.
I believe some of the main ingredients in the annihilation of the human spirit are anger, rage, even hatred. Does Satan possess any of these destructive emotions? Chillingly, yes. In Revelation 12:12 it says, Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!
Great wrath. Large, strong, loud wrath. Rage and hatred are always driving forces in the annihilating campaign Satan wages day and night against humans. Do not think that Satan is mildly opposed to you and your personhood. On the contrary, he rages against you and hates you because you are made in the image of his adversary who he will wage war against to the bitter end.
So, never forget, behind the annihilating attitude of Satan with all his lies and accusations is wrath, rage, hatred, a spirit of murder.
Can people direct anger, rage, and hatred toward other humans? Certainly. What did Jesus say about human anger? He said, You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire ~ Matthew 5:21ff.
In this passage, I see Jesus paralleling murder of the body with murder of the spirit. When we insult others or call them names like fool (which means ‘empty-headed’), Jesus says that we sin against someone’s personhood. Such behavior is tantamount to murder and deserves the harshest punishment of the law. Annihilating parents and bullies, beware.
Do you think Jesus is simply judging the words that come out of the human mouth? No. He is addressing the spirit from where the words emerge. He is pointing to the anger, the rage, the hatred, and the annihilating attitude that produces the annihilation.
In fact, Jesus says in Matthew 18, But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person.
How many of us have committed murder without touching the hair on someone’s head?
What is one takeaway from this post? Be aware of the murder of the human spirit. Murder is about annihilation, and annihilation is about the destruction, the erasing, the utter killing of another person’s inner self.
Satan is the ultimate murderer. He lives to annihilate with lies (e.g., your True Self is unlovable, so create a False Self instead), accusations (e.g., your ongoing sin is clear evidence that you will never be good enough for God so why even bother to follow Him), shame (e.g., you don’t just keep making mistakes, you are a mistake—and God cannot tolerate a mistake in His family).
Humans can also annihilate the personhood of others. Anybody can participate in this annihilation. It might be sibling on sibling. It can happen through teasing and bullying 5th grade classmates. It can be instigated by parents who must kill the autonomy, will, and emotions of their child because they cannot tolerate a living person to come too close to their hidden sin or memories or intense emotions that are one triggering interaction from being exposed.
Even gaslighting can be an ingredient in the annihilation of the God-created human spirit.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines gaslighting as psychological manipulation of a person usually over an extended period of time that causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts, perception of reality, or memories and typically leads to confusion, loss of confidence and self-esteem, uncertainty of one’s emotional or mental stability, and a dependency on the perpetrator. Gaslighting can be a very effective tool for the abuser to control an individual.
Humans are even capable of annihilating their own spirits, their own True Selves–suicide without stopping their beating hearts. This soul suicide, I’m certain, is aided by the voice of the terrible prosecuting attorney known as Satan. Sometimes, it is facilitated by the internalized voice of a critical parent or adult who has an annihilating spirit. Whatever the source or cause, it is a type of assisted self-murder.
Be aware of the evil annihilation of the human spirit.
Satan is the thief who strives to steal, kill, and destroy the human spirit. His Kryptonite wielded directly by himself or by the people he has taken captive to do his will, is a tool of annihilation that poisons the human heart through lies, accusations, shame, and sin. Even those who walk with Jesus can be crippled by it to the point where they deconstruct their faith.
So, love those around you who have experienced the murder of their spirits when they were children. Listen for the internalized voices of shame and condemnation that might still capsize their faith in darker seasons. Be an ambassador of Jesus to them who will invite them to come out of their safe fortresses and heal them with the love of the Savior. Set self-defining boundaries with them that will help them know where they end and you begin so that they can grow into the self that their Creator wants them to be.
Pray for them, yes. Share scripture with them, certainly. Worship with them, for sure. But also be available for them because they may need your predictable presence and loving patience. They might need a friend with skin on to be Jesus to them for a while.
Who knows (God knows), through your consistent compassion and faithful servanthood, they might see Jesus Himself abiding in you and come to trust His love that eventually reverses all the effects of evil annihilation.
Replace the thief’s murderous Kryptonite with the One who brings abundant life.
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us ~ 1 John 4:11
And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will ~ 2 Timothy 2:24ff