Belief, Articulation, and Action Part One: Blackburn Murder

This is the first in several articles on the topic of "Belief, Articulation, and Action" that centers upon one's words revealing one's belief system, allowing us to adequately predict how someone may react in any given situation. 

This article focuses upon the murder of Amanda Blackburn and a recent statement by her husband, Davey Blackburn. 

He said that he was in the shower when God spoke to him and told him that Amanda died to give life to his church.  

It is critical to have a reference point for readers to understand what this means within Blackburn's own world.  In Statement Analysis, we do what we can to 'walk in the subject's shoes', to understand what he says, according to he believes.  

What we belief, we articulate and this is the best predictor of what may happen tomorrow.  

          "Amanda died so the church could live." 

 Christianity teaches that God is the Father, and that Christ died for His Church, that is, his people made up of both Jew and Gentile; and of people of all races and nationalities.  This message was then delivered to the men that Christ commissioned and has gone out through the world within history.  This is a central to their beliefs:  Christ died to give life to His people.  God is the Father.  

In this short video dated Sunday, November 29th, 2015, Davey Blackburn said he was not going to speak but his father in law told him to, and in this, he must obey his own "father" before he "speak to my own children", that is, his church (in full context).  

Rare is such visible linguistic display of narcissism but in this, he was only just getting started.   He began with stating he might not be able to "get through" speaking, but then went into the free editing process to speak without halting. 

What did the husband of murder victim Amanda Blackburn say, weeks after her murder?

Blackburn stated that "God" spoke to him while in the shower.  This was in a direct "Question and Answer" format. It began as a "thought" but quickly moved to direct quotes.  

For Christians, and for investigators regardless of belief, it is important to note his claim:

 God spoke to Blackburn outside the boundary of the Scriptures. 

This is important in understanding the murder in the context of religious belief of which the language is wrapped in.  It is important in understanding how cults are formed.  Once a boundary is broken, there is no telling how far it will go. The flood gate is open.  For some, it is immediate, while others, such as organizations, it can be generational.  

It is important in understanding the psychological need he is expressing. 

I.  Basic Background 

The Christian minister professes that the Bible is of Divine Authority and he is to declare it. There is no other Divine Authority than what is in Scripture.

 The most predominant feature of a cult is "control", something readily recognized by people, even without study of religions. 

This can be understood in religious context, or even in societal, or corporate context.  

In Protestantism, the stated belief is called a "Creed", and it is a "binding of the conscience to the Scripture alone." Every church has a creed; it is just that some do not write it down, but they have it.  Every human organization, such as a company, has a 'creed' or written standard.  
In Roman Catholicism, it is the same but with the addition of "sacred tradition" and Papal "ex cathedra" authority.  But since Blackburn reports to be "evangelical", we limit this to Protestantism. 

With the stated belief that the Bible is God's Word, a minister cannot be faithful to it if or when he decides to instruct or speak for beyond this authority.  

Even beginning it with "speaking to my heart" he still moved to direct quoting.  It would be no different than a president declaring a new law, without legislative procedure.  It is 'beyond' the scope of his authority and if accepted, there is no longer a limit in existence. This is the precise way a cult operates and a dictatorship operates.  

Authority is "beyond" that which is agreed to.   Once one has successfully gone beyond the set boundary (law, constitution, creed, mission statement, etc), the success may lead to more attempts.  

The scriptures, in fact, limit authority of government, church and family to the point where our founding fathers used it in forming the United States.  It allows for freedom which, historically, was without precedent in the early United States.  With this freedom comes responsibility and risk.  People can and have abused freedom, but with the belief system, corrections came along the way. Freedom and Tyranny are opposites.  

If the church states that its beliefs are from Scripture, it tells those who consider joining that they are limited to Scripture in authority.  


Cults, like tyrants, seek control and when people begin hearing what  is not found in the Scripture, creed, or by laws, but from "God", they take note that control is going "beyond the stated trusted boundary"and there is no telling where it will end.  

Let's say this is a library and not a church. 

The library organizes itself and has a board of directors and a mission statement and when people "join", they know "the rules."

Should someone in the library group have a very strong personality and begins to first suggest that he knows more than the bylaws, and then moves to demands, the remaining people can try to "hold him to the library's constitution and by laws" and if not, toss him out. They rightfully claim "tyranny" because they have a written standard. 

Our forefathers in the United States believed, religiously, in submission to authority and persuaded France to join the fight, specifically with this argument.  They were not in a "revolution", but a "resistance movement" because British Parliament did not represent them, and they had no legal authority to tax them.  They claimed that the oppressive taxes interfered with their Christian obligation which mandated that they had to provide for their families.  They made lengthy protests to the King stating, "you are obliged in our contract to stop Parliament who issues taxes while not representing us, and then enforcing the taxes with their soldiers.  You are legally and morally obligated to stop them. "

The king did not. The leaders took this to the people, who, many of them, took up arms against British soldiers.  Had England won, the very heroes we celebrate, would now be "villains" hung for treason.  When John Hancock signed the Declaration of Independence, the loss of the war would have meant death by hanging, and infamy in history.  

He did what he believed, as freedom has its risks.  

II.  Blackburn's statement is important because:

1.  It reaffirms why Amanda died.
2.  It affirms Blackburn is beyond the restraint of Scripture 
3.  He equates himself with God 
4.  He reveals delusional grander in his future plans.  

5.  For what it tells Criminal Psychologists 

1.  Amanda's death

Fox News highlighted that when Amanda was murdered, the initial statement of the husband looked suspicious:  no grieving, but a reminder that his work will go on.  This was shocking in itself, but what else was missing was any fear of the killers.  In a brutal murder where he found his wife with her head opened up and clothes removed is terrifying from top to bottom.  He indicated no fear, nor need for the killers to be caught.  

He used her death to advertise his church, repeatedly, even after public criticism.  He linked her death, verbally, to his success.   

But on November 29th, 2015, Amanda's death, which was consistently assigned to success in church growth, now was in a statement from God, Himself, to Davey Blackburn, himself, while "in the shower."

"In the shower" is an unnecessary detail which, in statement analysis means it is very important to the subject.  We would not care to know where he was or what he was doing when the Almighty spoke to him.  We would not care, but he cared enough to include this detail. 

Please note that in sexual homicides, references to water are frequently found in the language.  You may read about it here and in Amanda Knox' statement and in many other cases.    

Psychologically, there may be an element of 'washing' and we only highlight references to water (as well as lights and coverings) when they are unnecessary.  If one is asked, "Did you do the laundry?" a reference to water is expected.  

On the rape and murder of a teenager many years ago the suspect was a truck driver and his statement revealed the time of death:

"I was driving along Interstate 95 when I went south on 295, stopped and got gas.  Washed up, and then proceeded to..."

The unnecessary inclusion of "washing" pointed to the time of death, being just prior.  The need to 'wash' or 'cleanse' is in the language.  

It could be the language of the perpetrator, the victim of sexual abuse, or even enter the language of professionals who work with sexual abuse victims, but it is, when unnecessarily used, a linguistic signal to explore.  

It is interesting to note that when he claimed God "spoke" to him, he referenced specifically being in the shower, while:

a.  his wife was murdered and found with her clothing removed
b.  his mentor gave a detailed statement about Davey's 'sex appeal' at Amanda's service
c.  he frequently informed his followers that he has a strong heterosexual sex drive which Amanda failed to satisfy
d.  He "told a lie" which in high school caused both adults and peers to abandon him

2.   God "spoke to him" which now means this for Protestantism:

The insufficiency of Scripture.  

'God' addressed Davey directly, outside of Scripture in a Question and Answer format, in the shower.  God cannot be wrong.  God is eternal.  God's Word is eternal and even a single Word from God about a unique situation from 3,000 years ago, is seen in the Bible as having benefit for all mankind, for all time. 

Without 'God's words' to Davey, the Bible is insufficient.  There is something out there that needs to be added to it, and, in this case, it is 'really big news' of 'historical proportions.'

It is no different than the 'date setting' that cult or cult like leaders have done, or the psychic 'finding of children' claimed.  

Thus the message of insufficiency without Davey Blackburn is the message to all who listen to him.  

His father in law is now in the presence of one of whom "God" speaks directly to and has even told this young man what is going to happen in the future in the United States.  

If you are not associated with religion, but can see this from the perspective of the "library" or legal organization, 

Davey Blackburn has just spoken with Divine Authority.  If his father in law goes against him and defends his church, is he speaking against Davey, his son in law, or is he speaking against 'God'?

If you want to hear from "God", you must hear what "God" told Davey Blackburn.  Since any Word from the Almighty is eternal and profits all, those who have not heard, need to, and those who do not heed, are in deficiency. 

 Davey Blackburn has just seized the opportunity of his wife's murder for cult leader status.  

He even used this to insult his father in law's church, without a rebuke from the father in law, as pastor, when he called them "dead" and "dry" and that "Amanda died to give them life!" which led those without discernment to applaud.  

How did he 'know' this?

He had a "vision."

There was no rebuke nor correction from the pastor who allowed his flock to hear the nonsense while being given a solid "performance" from one who attempted to sound 'upset' at first, yet without tears.  

Thus the cult leader's status is established and submission to one who is so close to 'God' as to have 'God' talk to him while in the shower, is publicly declared. 

Blackburn did not stop at the status of a "prophet" with visions and a direct two way conversation in the shower. 

3.  Davey Blackburn equates himself with God. 

Is this the mystery of the "we" he so often used?

Please note, he does not equate himself as a "prophet" in his language, but is vaulted to equality with God.  

If so, it is something that makes sense to not only hide guilt, but to show just how delusional he is. 

He has no wife and when asked what he would tell his son, he said,

"We will dialog" with Weston.  "We will shepherd his heart."

It would have been considered rude, but I would have asked, "Who is this 'we' you refer to, Mr. Blackburn?"

Davey  referenced his church as his "children."  

The use of "we" is well documented and it is closely associated with guilt, from childhood right up to career criminals; the guilty do not feel comfortable being alone. 

Davey Blackburn tells us that Amanda died to give his church life.  Blackburn said that God did not ask him about doing this trade, his wife for the church, ahead of time.  What would have Blackburn said?

"Of course", he said, he would not "give" Amanda's life for the church. 

"Of course" is something we note in Statement Analysis  as one will say when a subject does not wish, nor feel the need, to be questioned. The subject wants the assertion accepted without question.  

Blackburn's use of "of course" should have been unnecessary, but it was not.  

Amanda died for the church, who are Blackburn's children.  This is his own language which brings the correlation between himself and 'God.'  The Scripture says "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son..." not that Amanda gave her life for the church of whom Davey Blackburn is father.  Remember, this is his belief, and his articulation.  It is his verbalized perception of reality; not reality itself. 

Here, "God" told Davey that Amanda gave her life for the church, as he calls the church his children.  

This, alone, should send a chill down the spine of those investigating any connection between Blackburn and the gang who killed Amanda.  The reaction from Christians is predictable as it is from psychologists.  What is seen as outrageous, blasphemy, mental illness or personality disorder, received applause by those present.  This is consistent with his mentor's language about "Davey working a room" and what presence he has, yet, "something is wrong..."

4.  Blackburn's Delusion of Grander 

He said that "history books have not written" what greatness is about to happen through Davey Blackburn, because of Amanda's death.  

Over the years, I have noted many justifications by killers with most being subtle in the language.  Some have said that they killed their own children to spare them from future pain, but even there, the 'noble' or 'higher' motive reveals:

a.  The need to make the motive sound 'noble'
b.  It was not the truth, anyway. 

Susan Smith was depressed and wanted to spare her children future pain.  This was the illness justification and the 'noble' motive, yet we learned that she felt she, herself, had better romantic results without children.  

The need to assign motive, itself, is concerning. 

Even in his religious "vision", he leaves himself a way of blaming someone else:  "don't let this go to waste", so that if it does not happen, he can blame them.  The "revival" like never before, will not be because he was 'wrong' but because they let it waste. 

This man believes that the Creator of the world is not only talking directly to him, but he felt the need to say that it was in an intimate setting of "showering", something found in sexual homicides, and it was a message that contains information so great about him, that it is beyond historical precedence. 

Will many people be surprised if police announce an arrest?

He says that he would not have "chosen" this, but would have been happy to have a wife and 2 kids and a "church of a 120"

Interesting. 

The setting is rather 'dull' by comparison of a church so large that history hasn't conceived of it, and by context, he is portraying the church of over 100 members in the negative, as if their souls are less valuable. 

This is not the first time we heard this from him.  

Statement Analysis showed that linguistically he did not connect himself, personally, to the loss of Amanda. 

Yet, he records himself with linguistic personal emotional connection to "failure" to get 400 people out to his church.  If this is not convincing enough, he compares something else to this, to highlight his disappointment:  salvation of 16 souls.  Whereas Heaven may be described as "celebratory" over one lost soul returning, 16 times that amount brought personal emotional disappointment in language stronger than in losing his own wife to murder. While his wife lay dead, he quotes how many customers attended on line. 

What we believe, we articulate, and we act upon. 

You now are looking at a man who believes himself equal to God, and the church his "children" and he, too, has given someone to die for the church.  I do not write that he gave someone he loved because Blackburn specifically avoided this in his distancing language.  

The language of delusion is evident.  Being able, then, to adequately predict what actions will follow is not difficult:  

Expect to see him do "whatever it takes" to "fulfill" the "vision" he had.  

He is no different than a psychic claiming to have found a lost child, except he wraps his in religious language.  

I believe that he self reports a history of anti-social behavior, without empathy of its impact upon others.  This is why his language is void of any emotion about Amanda's death, or even about his son losing his mother.  

His language is the language of guilt and delusional thought, as one who is exploiting others, with religion as merely a tool to use to accomplish his "vision" of overseeing an empire so great that history books have yet to be written of such.  

His obsession with projecting his sex drive before his followers is done in context with humiliating the victim of the murder. This too, as projection, is part of this murder investigation.  His own mentor addressed this very topic instead of Christ's resurrection, or even tribute to the victim.  

Blackburn's language is the language of distance, guilt, and narcissism.  He is obsessed with success, and even under scrutiny, he is incapable of refraining his ambition.  

He has now openly declared "why" Amanda died and this came directly from "God" to him in the shower.  Previously, seated alone before a camera he said that "we" were "baffled" as to "why", but now it is clear.  

5.  The connection of sex

As many have commented upon, he is obsessed with sex in his performances, and it was a theme even of his mentor in the memorial service. In 'sermons' he uses himself, repeatedly, as the example for sex.   Note now, even when he is hearing a voice, the subtle context of sexuality is in play: 

He heard the voice of "God" in the shower; and held his own 
"Q &A" with the Almighty while naked in the shower.  Do not miss the connection with his other "Q&A" where sex is also a topic.  

He reveals this, even under the delusional pretext.  He wants his listeners to picture his "Q & A" literally, with him without his clothes on.  This is not something that was essential for the narrative, yet it so dominates his thinking that it enters his language. 

Amanda was found with her clothes torn off her.  

If tests show she was not sexually assaulted, was this possibly staging of the crime scene?  Was the perpetrator told, perhaps, what we, the public had been told about Amanda's 'sexual inadequacy' (according only to her husband)?

Is this just another in an extreme list of coincidence?

He did not have to tell us that he was, too, without clothing when he had a "Q & A" with "God", but he did.  It was on his mind, and important to him.  That he was not only naked (sex) but was in the shower (water) may suggest the desire to be cleansed. 

Who was with him in the shower?
It was "God" in the shower with him. 

Criminal Pyschologists will wonder if this is a cry to forgiveness, a 'cleansing' that we see enter the language of perpetrators.  

He saw an insulting "vision" of Amanda's father's church
He has been assigned this great task of "bringing the church, his children, to life" because 

"Amanda died, so the church could live."

This too, will not be lost on police investigating this crime.  

*Is he involved in orchestrating the murder of Amanda Blackburn for his own success?

or

*Is he so sociopathic and narcissistic that he is incapable of human empathy and sees her death only in terms of how he can manipulate media and audiences for his own success?


Analysis Conclusion:


Davey Blackburn did not have a "Q & A" session in the shower with God.  His need to tell his audience that he was in the shower is significant.   

Move past the cult leader status, and past the claim of a "vision" that will propel him into the history books, and even move beyond equating himself with God, giving in death so others could live. 

Listen to him.  Listen to his need.  

When a little boy comes to school and the teacher has to prompt him to wash his hands before snack, this is normal and unremarkable.  

Should the same child come to school and the teacher notice that he is obsessively washing his hands, she will become concerned that something is very wrong with him, and will wonder if he is a victim of child abuse.  

In many investigations, the same is seen in the language.  

Victims and perpetrators both use references to water, in some form, in cases involving sexual abuse including sexual homicide.  

Both victim and perpetrator can show a  'need to wash' or be cleansed.  

I once had a nursing student make an unnecessary reference to water and asked me why this was.  I simply asked her a few questions which revealed:  She had just come from a class on sexual abuse of children and was shocked and felt a desire to take  shower.  The connection made sense to her. 

In investigating allegations of sexual abuse where the victim was mentally retarded and non-verbal, behavioral patterns are observed. Some victims refused to leave the home and wanted to take a shower every few hours.  Others became incessant hand washers.  Even when their words could not express it, their behavior did. 

For Blackburn, he is putting himself with 'God', the one who can 'wash' him, together, as having a conversation, literally with Questions and Answers, where he, himself can be 'cleansed.' This is why the location of God talking to his "heart" is important enough for him to tell the audience. 

He now places himself, with a desperation to be historically relevant; he is so important that 'God' is speaking intimately to Davey and making Davey of immense importance. 

It is easy to become angry at one who is taking a cult leader status, but listen to his words; listen to the choice of words he uses to convey the message:

He needs to be cleansed; 
He is without his clothes on;
He is the single most important person in that large room where this was spoken; all eyes were on him and the Almighty did not speak to any of them,
just Davey. 

The message makes Davey of "historical importance" and center of all that is about to happen.  He and God both, are the "father" of the church.  

Yet, in the words he chooses, we see the connection to the need of cleaning, specifically related to sexual abuse or sexual homicide. 

Blackburn has a need to be relevant that is so powerful that it literally overruled all the normal grieving reactions that any man would have who's wife was murdered. He 'sees' what was not what his eyes saw.  

If he is not connected to his wife's murder, the guilt would have to be explained in some other way, yet, what did he tell us in this video appearance at his father in law's church?

This is the language of guilt but even in the language of delusion of his future 'history making' acclaims, there is something very wrong with him and readers should consider not only the connection with sexual homicide or sexual abuse, but the fact that 

Davey Blackburn is broadcasting a need to be 'cleansed.'

He has a need to justify Amanda's death. 
He has a desperate need to be important, above all others, even to the point of making history.  

He has a need to be cleansed from sexual abuse, either as victim, or as perpetrator is not yet known, as it could be both.  

He has gone so far as to equate himself equal with God, as both he and God know what it is like to have their loved one die so the church could 'live.' Amanda's "breathe" was taken from her and put into the "church" to become an army for God.  

Blasphemous?  Yes, to the Christian, but to the Criminal Psychologist,  it is the words of a man terribly troubled and it must be learned if he orchestrated his wife's demise to profit from it and make himself the center of soon to be written history, or simply is one drive to profit from it.  He is calling out his own guilt.  

Listen to him:  

'I am the most important person here. I am of historical importance. Even the Creator has addressed me personally.  I and He are on the same level in having given one for the life of others. 

I am naked.

I am in a location of washing.'

God is present with me.  



It is true that many have made such grandiose claims, but we ask:  did those claims come on the heels of a murder?  The context of these delusions is murder.