(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Hi, this is Pastor Roger Jimenez from Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento, California. Today I'm making a video to answer the question, what are some common tactics of a psychopath? We have made several videos on the subject of what the Bible teaches about psychopaths. We of course have our full length documentary called Psychopath Reprobates. I've also made a shorter video called how to identify a psycho church member and what is the difference between a psychopath and a sociopath. In this video what I'd like to do is give you five common tactics used by psychopaths against their targets. Now let me give this disclaimer that any normal person could use any one of these tactics in an attempt to manipulate someone. So just because you know someone that does one of these things does not necessarily mean they are a psychopath, they may just be trying to manipulate you. But if you know someone who is using multiple of these or using all of these, you are likely dealing with a psychopath. The first tactic you should be aware of is exaggerated flattery. Proverbs 26 and verse 28 says this, A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it, and a flattering mouth worketh ruin. This is one of many verses in the Bible that speaks negatively about flattery. Now I do want to make this clear that there is nothing wrong with a genuine compliment that comes from a heart of gratitude. When you genuinely appreciate what someone has done for you or if they've blessed you in some way, there's nothing wrong with communicating that to them and appreciating them for that. But when someone is giving cheap and exaggerated flattery, you need to know that they are trying to manipulate you. They are trying to butter you up either to get you to do something that they want or so that you will not look or become aware of the negative things that they are doing around you. The second tactic used by psychopaths is excessively going through something. This is the person who is chronically seeking pity. They are constantly going through something in their life. Now I'm not talking about someone who's legitimately going through something terrible in their life. Whether they're dealing with cancer or the death of a loved one. But these people will take anything in their life, even just minor things, and they'll make a big deal about it. They'll try to make sure that everybody knows that they are hurting or upset or sad or depressed. And they will use this constant and chronic pity to get people to feel bad for them so that nobody will call them out with all the gossip and the backstabbing that they are doing. The third tactic that you need to be aware of is exaltation of self. Third John chapter 1 and verse 9 says, I wrote unto the church, but diatrophes, who love it to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Often in church life you'll have people who want to exalt themselves, who want to have the preeminence among other people. And they'll even do it shamelessly. And oftentimes they accomplish this not just by putting themselves up, but by putting other people down. By making other people look bad. And it's usually the people they're trying to replace or the people that they have made a target. The fourth common tactic of a psychopath is being extremely connected with everyone. This is someone who's in constant contact with all of the people. Now it's normal in a church setting for you to be aware of most of the people in church and to be close friends with some of the people in church. To be friendly with almost everybody and to have a close friend here or there. But the psychopath will become a close friend of everybody in the church. This is someone that will go out of their way to get everybody's information. I've seen this in church life where these people will go to all of the first time guests and make sure they get their personal phone numbers and email addresses. They make sure that they are in contact with everyone and in constant contact with everyone. I remember when the whole Tyler Baker thing happened and Tyler Baker was exposed for who he was. People were often bringing up the fact that he'd call me every week and we'd talk for an hour. And then someone else would say he'd call me every week also and we'd talk for an hour. And there were so many people that would say that and you'd think, man, did this guy spend all week long just talking to people? His coworkers would say he'd just be out in his vehicle for hours on the phone talking with someone. And this is a tactic that psychopaths use. They'll be in constant contact and they'll make an effort to be in contact with everybody to the point where it's kind of extreme, it's not normal. But they do it because they want everyone to feel like they are their best friend. And again, in an attempt to blind people from seeing who they really are and to look the other way when they do negative things around them. The fifth tactic of a psychopath is excessive gift giving. In Deuteronomy 16 and verse 19 the Bible says this, thou shalt not rest judgment, thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift for a gift that blind the eyes of the wise and pervert the words of the righteous. The context of this verse is about someone who has to give judgment and how they should not take a gift because it will blind their eyes to the person that is giving them the gift. The Bible actually speaks well of giving gifts and especially using that as a people skill. But a psychopath will do this excessively. They'll do it to the point where it's exaggerated. A psychopath will be the type of person where they don't show up to church without a gift for someone. And if someone is just bringing a gift for someone every week or every service, there's a reason why they are doing that. And what psychopaths do is they use these manipulation tactics in order to win people's hearts or to steal people's hearts so that people will look past them when they are doing bad things, when they are doing wrong things, and even when they are called out for the sins that they are doing. In conclusion, I want to remind you that normal people can use these tactics as a manipulation tool. And if you know someone who does one of these, that does not necessarily mean that they are a psychopath. But if you know someone who does most of these or all of these, you may be dealing with a psychopath. If you'd like to learn more about what the Bible teaches about psychopathy, we'd love for you to watch our full-length documentary called Psychopaths Reprobates. And if you like these videos, we'd like for you to subscribe to our YouTube channel and to share these videos with your friends and with your family. If you have an idea of a video that we could make, we'd love to hear from you. If you've got maybe a question we can answer for you or something going on in current events, you can leave that in the notes section below. We hope that was helpful. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.