The enigma of an antisocial personality

The Bible describes an antisocial personality as a man or woman of sin. This refers to a character most misunderstood. The antisocial personality exists in families, in social groupings and across the world, as to be the instigator of wars. The antisocial personality is more focused on the self, rather than the welfare of his peers. He can be a member of the family or exist in any social grouping.

“Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshipped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 NIV).

The entourage of Jesus comprised twelve disciples. It would surprise some people how one, Judas Iscariot, could rise to betray Jesus. The goodness of Jesus had been displayed in Judas’ presence. But, how could Judas fail to know better? How could an enemy come from within, instead of coming from outside?

The origins of Zimbabwean problems, since 1980, have been caused by a few rabble-rousers presiding over ordinary people’s ignorance. Ignorant people are controlled by emotions, rather than reason. When using the reactive mind, unjustified anger can be aroused, to achieve desired results.

In the early New Testament Bible, (Acts 19:24-34), there is an anecdote about a silversmith named Demetrius. He made good business in crafting silver shrines of Artemis. This was a lucrative business, whose trade was attached to idol worshipping. The apostle Paul came into that area, preaching Jesus, granting wisdom to the ignorant worshippers of goddess Artemis.

Demetrius was not a worshipper of the goddess Artemis. He may have been clear of the superstitious tendencies of goddess Artemis worshippers. His religious attachment was business. He made good profits out of crafting the shrines of Artemis. He then resented Paul, not for anything, but that he disturbed his lucrative business of crafting images of goddess Artemis.

Demetrius could not confront Paul, just as it is always not easy to confront truthful people. The only thing a pretender can do is hate truthful people. Hence, Demetrius came up with an idea that would silence Paul forever. Rather than reason with those idolaters, proving whether idol worship had merit or not, he engaged their emotions. To Demetrius, their ignorance was valuable.

Ignorant people do not reason, but can be effectively manipulated emotionally. The method used to arouse the emotion of the Ephesians was in sympathizing with the goddess Artemis. “Great is Artemis of Ephesians!” Demetrius initiated the war cry. This resonated well with the idolaters.

The whole city was drawn into an uproar. The people seized Gaius Aristarchus, Paul’s travelling companions from Macedonia, and rushed as one man into the theatre. Paul had to be prevented to appear before the crowd, as this posed a great danger to his life. What makes that story interesting is that some people did not even know why they were there (verse 32).

Paul had just preached against idolatry. This presented an opportunity for those people to evaluate their commitment to the goddess Artemis, and yet Demetrius aroused them against Paul’s entourage. It had to be an educated town clerk, taking time to cool them down using reason. This describes a perfect example of why a lack of education ought to be regarded as criminality.

The antisocial personalities think more about themselves, without considering other people’s welfare. As long as the anti-social businessmen are allowed to freely operate, trouble reins. Good businessmen are those intending to solve people’s problems, more than personal wealth accumulation.

This world carries people who support confusion but generate fast wealth accumulation. There is no truth in that everyone aims at providing goodness to humanity. Although few in numbers, the rabble-rousers are excellent in causing ignorant people to carry out evil works on their behalf. The most effective tool at the disposal of antisocial personalities is propaganda.

Mixing truths with blatant falsehoods is the propaganda that is effective in perpetuating desired nefarious narratives. The antisocial personalities are fixated on generating profits for themselves, without benefitting ordinary people.

The funeral undertaking business is desirable, as helping bereaved families. Life would certainly be difficult without funeral undertakers. No one can deny that reality. But what happens, in the event of diminished deaths, depriving the funeral undertaking business?

If controlled by antisocial personalities, such noble businesses can cause devastation. Antisocial personalities can devise ideas to cause more deaths in societies. To them, that would be perfectly reasonable, as long as sustaining their business activities.

The lives of ordinary people can be endangered, devastatingly, as long as driven by antisocial characters. This is just as dangerous drugs are allowed to inflict human misery, as long as some people make profits from such businesses. The law-enforcement agents can be enlisted to become peddlers of such nefarious activities, allowing more criminals, to patronize by paying bribes.

An antisocial government can be lax on law enforcement, to ensure confusion reigns supreme. With disorder, corruption thrives. Under those circumstances, the safest people in societies become criminals. The most vulnerable people become those who maintain ethical conduct.

A nation is in serious trouble, as long as more people succumb to antisocial activities. This refers to those justifying corruption as a means of survival. Under those circumstances, a person who reports criminality gets jailed for reporting, instead of the criminal. A criminal becomes a friend of the law-enforcement agents. the criminal then becomes untouchable, to his victims.

Living in a corrupt country can be very difficult, but considered convenient, for those bent on criminality. Such people turn a blind eye when others face injustice, although quick to complain when facing vulnerability, themselves. Many things can be observed, as applicable to antisocial personalities.

Declaring to be a believer alone does not, necessarily, make one a social personality. This is just as Judas Iscariot was one of the disciples of Jesus, yet harbouring bad intentions. When aware of the attributes of an antisocial personality, one would be in control.

 Jesus was aware of Judas’ antisocial characteristics. He could not be caught unawares when the time came for Him to be sold out. When one is unaware of the antisocial characteristics of the person he gets into contact with, the person gets negatively affected.

Illnesses like High Blood Pressure are commonly caused by antisocial people, attached to such sickly people. Unfortunately, the antisocial person could be one’s spouse, one’s parent, sister or anyone closely attached to the individual, like a Church pastor.

Generally, such antisocial personalities are guided by self-benefits; more than what benefits other people. They cannot grant the beingness to other people. They love controlling, rather than being controlled. The aspect of doing unto others as they would like them to do to them does not exist in their viewpoint.

They feel intimidated by the successes of those they look down upon. The success of the person they invalidate is considered a serious threat to their existence, although without justification. Some people describe such behaviour as driven by jealousy. But careful analysis reveals that this is more of a mental illness than mere jealousness.

 The wife could feel intimidated by her husband’s promotion at work, for instance. Normally, the promotion of her husband or wife ought to be viewed as advantageous. But an antisocial personality would be aggrieved, at the mention of the promotion of her spouse.

She/he may come up with any falsehood, as a reason to express discontentment. This could include the accusation that the promoted husband/wife would be promiscuous or any other unrelated accusation. Although not communicated, the problem would be insecurity with the spouse’s promotion.

The person may, or may not even know what she would be doing. Imagine, Judas Iscariot, pretending to agree with everything that Jesus taught. Could it have been difficult for him to state his bone of contention, with Jesus? What could have caused Judas to harbour such a sinister motive of betraying his master?

This is just as it is impossible to know the reason for any person to spurn the grace of our Lord, opting for the hellfire. Without the knowledge of this technology, most people assume that God’s enemies are blatant sinners as known out there. The antisocial personalities are God’s enemies, and not, necessarily the known drug peddlers or adulterers out there. Hence Jesus warned:

“What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’  “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go. “Which of the two did what his father wanted?” “The first,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him” (Matthew 21:28-32 NIV).

The antisocial personality causes mayhem in societies. He/she can be the real source of problems in marriages, pretending to be friendly to either of the two spouses. A husband and wife could be separated because a mother-in-law is uncomfortable with the peaceful marriage of the couple, etc.

It would be generally unlikely for couples to suspect parents behaving in that manner, for instance. The couple could waste money attending to marital counselling, leaving the cause undetected. Unaware of this technology, the marriage of the couple could be floundered. Ignorance is commonly the cause of many problems.

In the political sphere, opposition parties have been accused of being Western puppets. Propaganda would be at play. But perhaps those from the East would be the instigator of problems. The antisocial personality, within, would not always be easily observable.

An antisocial personality could be the one regarded as an authority, regarded as highly respectable. Others may unsuccessfully, attempt to warn the affected person of the antisocial personality causing problems. But the person may fight in the corner of the antisocial personality.

In politics, some young people would be willing to die for unethical politicians. They may not even be aware of their future being affected, more than the person they defend. The antisocial personalities are ordinarily highly authoritative.

There are some hints, helpful in spotting antisocial personality characteristics. As long as one identifies them as such, it becomes easy to handle them, rather than succumbing to their suppressive behaviour. This does not mean quarrelling with them or telling them of their vice.

When hearing someone talking in generalities, chances are that you might be talking to an anti-social personality. Statements like: “The white people are racists,” or “black people are stupid”; such statements commonly come from anti-social personalities. Their common statements are general viewpoints.

The war involving Russia and Ukraine has created some interesting viewpoints, as exposing the anti-social personalities. Rather than consider details, to effectively make informed judgments regarding the warring factions, some people have just blindly taken sides, without facts.

A social personality is truthful, without creating opinions based on racial backgrounds, or group mentality. Those calling themselves Pan-Africanists appear excited to support Russia, even without facts. Russia is considered worth supporting, by most black people, as long as opposed to Western countries.

This describes people who support highly oppressive leaders in their own countries, under the banner of Pan-Africanism. They purport to know better than the rest of their other African brothers. The bottom line is that the antisocial personalities assume being wiser than everyone else, but without intellectual reasoning.

This syndrome is also found in Christianity, where one assumes all Christians subscribe to the teachings of Jesus. However, there may not always be the truth in that assumption. The antisocial personalities can be found to be more prevalent among Christians than could be the case with other groupings.

The general confusion in Christianity is caused by antisocial personalities. The idea of labelling other Christians as heretics is indicative of antisocial personalities in Christianity. Christians love labelling one another as fake, identifying themselves as more informed, but without taking time to address the misunderstanding of others.

The distinguishing factor is the failure to grant the beingness to other Christians. Romans 14 is helpful to those desiring to be social Christians. The Pharisees were the established antisocial personalities against Jesus. Rather than benefit from Jesus’ services, they sought to discredit Him. Discrediting other fellow humans is in the blood of antisocial personalities.

Andrew Masuku is the author of Dimensions of a New Civilization, laying down standards for uplifting Zimbabwe from the current state of economic depression into a model for other nations worldwide. A decaying tree provides an opportunity for a blossoming sprout. Written from a Christian perspective, the book is a product of inspiration, bringing relief to those having witnessed the strings of unworkable solutions––leading to the current economic and social decay. In a simple conversational tone, most Zimbabweans should find the book as a long-awaited providential oasis of hope.

The Print copy is now available at Amazon.com for $13.99

Also available as an e-copy at Lulu.com  for $6.99