SPIRITUAL PRIDE KILLS

Spiritual pride is the worst form of pride. Why? It usurps what belongs to God for its own selfish purposes. It is also the supreme temptation. Its lips are soft and full, concealing its deadly fangs.

Spiritual pride wears pious robes. One robe is the robe of spiritual knowledge, even God’s knowledge. Pride takes God’s knowledge captive for its own selfish purposes:

·       Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. (1 Corinthians 8:1-3; ESV)

While we are free to eat food offered to idols, we use such knowledge as a way to exalt ourselves above our brethren (Romans 14:3). It “puffs us up,” making us think, “I am wiser and freer than you.” It also gives birth to lovelessness:

·       For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. (1 Corinthians 8:10-12)

The fruit of spiritual pride is sin and the wounding of those we are to love. It is more concerned for itself than for others. However, it seems to do more damage than other forms of pride. It can actually destroy “the brother for whom Christ died.”

What gives it such power? Two things – It wears the robes of spiritual wisdom and respected leadership. Consequently, carefully hidden, spiritual pride blindsides the “weak” in faith.

Spiritual pride is such a destructive evil that God humbles us to show us our true motives. He had instructed Ananias to lay hands on Paul to receive his sight. However, knowing that Paul was persecuting the Church, Ananias protested:

·       But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” (Acts 9:15-16)

And the Lord was true to His word. Suffering must precede service in order to expose our pride for what it is. Paul had explained his sufferings this way:

·       …far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. (2 Corinthians 11:23-25)

However, the Lord deemed that even this wasn’t enough to humble Paul:

·       So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. (2 Corinthians 12:7)

This is God’s testimony to the power of pride or conceit, and it needs to be kept under control.

Spiritual pride is a chameleon. It can manifest itself in many ways. Jesus had often criticized the religious leadership of His day regarding their pride. They had been so influential, that Jesus warned his disciples:

·       “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward…And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. (Matthew 6:1-2,16)

Jesus even instructed them to lock themselves in a closet when they prayed. Why? So that they would discover their prideful motivations! Were they praying to gain the respect of others? We all do. Therefore, our relationship to our Savior must always be clothed with confession and dependence upon Him.

Spiritual pride can even masquerade as love and tolerance, even to tolerate what is most abominable:

·       It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. (1 Corinthians 5:1-2)

This church had been tolerating this sin in their midst. Paul warned that by allowing it, they would allow its influence to corrupt the entire church (5:6). But why did Paul accuse them of arrogance? In the same verse, he also accused them of “boasting,” but boasting about what? They had been placing their own judgment above the Word of God. Paul had written them to not associate with those who were sexually immoral, and, evidently, they flaunted his instructions (5:9-12; along with the teachings of the Old Testament), convinced in their own judgment, that tolerating sin in their midst was more important than Scripture.

Pride convinces us that our judgment is superior to that of the Scriptures. Meanwhile, we use many pious rationalizations – “God is love, and so we will love and tolerate the sinner into the Kingdom,” or “The Holy Spirit will convert them as they sit under our love-soaked Gospel.”

Meanwhile, such a church accepts of the stubbornly unrepentant, while Jesus does not (Luke 13:1-5). Which posture represents love? Paul argued that the church’s non-acceptance, besides conveying God’s displeasure to the unrepentant, could possibly save the sinner:

·       …you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. (1 Corinthians 5:5)

Convinced of its own superiority and entitlement, spiritual pride knows no mercy. It will eventually kill its own. Ahithophel had been the wisest man of his times. However, his identity was invested in his wisdom and the respect it had won for him. What would happen when respect is withheld?

·       When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey and went off home to his own city. He set his house in order and hanged himself, and he died and was buried in the tomb of his father. (2 Samuel 17:23)

Spiritual pride is a killer. Ahithophel’s earthly wisdom was unmerciful, even to himself.

In contrast to spiritual pride, humility understands that it is helpless without the Savior (John 15:4-5; 2 Corinthians 3:5). Therefore, knowing its own corruption, it always is self-examining (1 Corinthians 11:28-30). It does not trust in its own understanding. Instead, it embraces God’s Word and cannot look down on anyone. Consequently, it is grateful for what it has and knows to pass on God’s mercy to others.

Humility also knows the power of spiritual pride and cries out for the help that comes only from above, while the proud are willfully blind to it and march on to its drumbeat, ignorant of its destination.

I GOTTA BE A SOMEBODY

To prove that we have value and significance might be as great a driving force as hunger. In “The Significant Life,” George M. Weaver illustrates that we are so crazed to achieve significance, or at least name recognition, that we will commit acts that bring us condemnation rather than commendation:

·       In 2005 Joseph Stone torched a Pittsfield, Massachusetts apartment building… After setting the blaze, Stone rescued several tenants from the fire and was hailed as a hero. Under police questioning, Stone admitted, however, that he set the fire and rescued the tenants because, as summarized at trial by an assistant district attorney, he “wanted to be noticed, he wanted to be heard, he wanted to be known.” (44)

Evidently, our quest for significance is so powerful that it can overrule the moral dictates of conscience. One mass-murderer gunman explained in his suicide note, “I’m going to be f_____ famous.” (45)

This drive for significance can even override all other affections. On December 8, 1980, Mark David Chapman, a zealous fan of the Beatle, John Lennon, first obtained his idol’s autograph before gunning him down. He explained:

·       “I was an acute nobody. I had to usurp someone else’s importance, someone else’s success. I was ‘Mr. Nobody’ until I killed the biggest Somebody on earth.” At his 2006 parole hearing, he stated: “The result would be that I would be famous, the result would be that my life would change and I would receive a tremendous amount of attention, which I did receive… I was looking for reasons to vent all that anger and confusion and low self-esteem.” (47)

By attaching himself to someone greater, Chapman was able to elevate himself. Was it “low self-esteem” or merely Chapman’s own way to achieve what everyone else is trying to achieve – importance? Weaver reports that:

·       More than two hundred people confessed in 1932 to the kidnapping and murder of the infant son of famed aviator Charles Lindbergh. (50)

This is a testimony to human but desperate attempt to be a somebody. Our honor or self-respect is something that is more carefully guarded than our money. Disrespecting the wrong person can easily cost us our lives. Entire people groups are consumed by hatred towards those that they feel have deprived them of their due recognition and respect.

Is there not any release from this obsession? It seems that this is a thirst that is unquenchable. The richest man in the world, John D. Rockefeller had been asked “How much more money do you need to be happy?” His answer was highly revealing of our nature – “Always a little bit more.”

This suggests that we cannot give our neighbor what he needs to calm his soul. We can never give him enough affirmation or love, as most wives will gladly attest about their husbands’ egos. The need lies far deeper and is barely touchable by human hands and therapies.

Perhaps, instead, we have to lay aside the quest to prove our significance. Is there an alternative to this all-consuming obsession? Yes! We were made to find our significance and personhood within a relationship with the One who created us. We were never intended to float our own boat but to navigate His. Jesus put it this way:

·       "Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear for clothing?' For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:31-33; NASB)

If we put Him first, He will put us first. This pertains to all of our needs, not just the physical ones. Paul had written that if God is for us, nothing can be against us (Romans 8:31-32), not even our obsessive craving to validate our self-worth. Instead, His worth and righteousness becomes our worth and righteousness:

·       I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. (Galatians 2:20)

Therefore, look to Him, where our own value resides. Turn away from the self in which you will find no rest.

We might not yet feel that these truths fit. However, we must practice, digest, and clothe ourselves with them until the Spirit makes them fit as precisely-tailored garments. These have proven a great relief from the tsunami of our inner cravings.

HALLOWEEN, THE SUPERNATURAL AND THE PARANORMAL

Yesterday, I attended a secular discussion group on the subjects of Halloween and the supernatural. I was amazed to hear hardened skeptics speak about supernatural encounters that they had had. While they wouldn’t allow these experiences to interfere with their skeptical beliefs and commitments to naturalism and materialism (the denial of the spiritual), they couldn’t deny what they had seen.

Several finally concluded that there might not be any ultimate answers and that life was just about holding incommensurate beliefs in tension. One even remarked that we need this tension in order to be open to others and to experience.

But open for what reason? It reminded me of people who claimed that life was about seeking but also believed that there was nothing to find – no ultimate conclusions to embrace or overarching wisdom to live by. I remarked that we had to seek to attempt to harmonize what we know in hope of assembling an accurate roadmap of reality so that we can navigate it. In order to do this, we need to answer some basic questions like “Why am I here, and how should I live my life?” The discomfort was palpable.

Nevertheless, the consensus was that the spiritual world was real. However, they weren’t ready to consider the possibility that certain spiritual beings might be evil. I remember how gullible I had been when I first experienced the spirit beings through the Ouiji Board. Even though the spirits addressed my girlfriend and me in a vulgar way, I was always ready to give them the benefit of the doubt. After all, I was convinced that these were evolved superior beings, and such beings couldn’t do wrong. If I found their communications crude, it was only because I wasn’t as evolved as they.

These skeptics were also naïve about the spirit world. One older gentleman remarked that he had visited a witch but came away convinced that she only meant good. Why? Because she had been nice to him!

I began to think, “What if they asked me why they should believe in my God, whom they had never seen, rather than the spirits that they had encountered and the paranormal they had experienced.” What rational reasons could I give that could complete with what they had already experienced?

This sent me into a flurry of note-taking, but I also realized that without God’s intervention, there was nothing I could say that would make a difference. Nevertheless, here is the essence of my notes:

1.    An assembly of spirit beings could not provide an adequate explanation of this harmonious and benign world. Instead, this cosmos would reflect a patchwork of their competing objectives.

2.    Spiritistic cultures are not only backward, but they are also highly violent and self-destructive. If these spiritual powers were benign and supremely powerful, we should expect that the cultures which call upon them would be the most advanced and benign.

3.    In contrast, post-Christian Western nations still remain the most advanced.

4.    Jesus proved His love for humanity by willingly suffering the worst imaginable death on the Cross, proving that He is the true Shephard.

Nevertheless, I knew that this answer would be inadequate. However, I saw something else. Although they were impressed by their experience, they were also spooked by them and seemed to be determined to maintain a healthy distance. They were older and therefore more hesitant to embrace this exciting world then they would have been in their youth. They talked about mediums and witches but were not ready to go to one themselves.

However, this would change. Jesus prophesied that, in the end, there will be a proliferation of spiritistic manifestations. Times will be so difficult and the manifestations so profound that all will be deceived, except for those who are prepared (Matthew 24:21-24).

POPE FRANCIS, UNIVERSALISM, AND A DEADLY BUT APPEALING HOPE

If God is love, wouldn’t He save everyone? This is the logic of universalists, and an increasingly receptive audience seems to be listening.

Even Pope Francis has added his voice to support this popular heresy:

·       “The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’… Everyone! And this blood makes us children of God of the first class! We are created children in the likeness of God and the blood of Christ has redeemed us all!” https://www.charismanews.com/world/39644-is-pope-francis-endorsing-universalism

This is a popular heresy. It compliments what is now fashionable – a gospel which will not exclude anyone, perhaps not even the devil. However, this “gospel” undermines the entirety of the Christian faith. Think of it – why bother to obey and trust in Christ, to restrain and confess sin, to repent, to champion justice, to evangelize, to even bother with anything that the Bible teaches if everyone will be saved for all eternity! Instead, we might as well squeeze out of this life anything that feels good – eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we all go to heaven.

There are a multitude of verses that contradict this unbiblical hope. However, there is a group that calls themselves “evangelical universalists” (EUs) who have tried to conform universalism to the Bible by teaching that some will first have to pay for their sins in a purgatory before entering heaven.

This is a form of self-atonement, which minimizes Christ’s atonement. Besides, there is no verse that gives us the slightest indication that some will undergo purgatory before all will enter heaven.

Consequently, I will not appeal to the verses that merely say something like “the wicked will be punished” or “thrust into outer darkness.” Why not? Because EUs insist that this condition is only temporary. Therefore, I will just appeal to those verses that teach that punishment is eternal.

Please understand that I do not relish the idea of eternal punishment. Instead, I find it disturbing. For one thing, if it wasn’t for God’s grace, I too would be going there. Consequently, I am no more deserving than anyone else. Besides, I do not have any indications that my dearest family members have escaped this horrid fate.

Why then do I believe in it? For one thing, it is the teachings of God’s Word. Secondly, I believe that God is just and also love, even though he allows people to choose this horrid fate.

Is eternal punishment self-chosen? Does it entail annihilation at some point? Will this be an option to those in hell? I will not try to answer these questions. Instead, I will merely provide some Scriptural proof that there will be an eternal punishment:

·            “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” (Daniel 12:2)

·            “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” (Matthew 3:12) 

·            “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels... And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:41, 46)

·             “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.” (Mark 3:28-29)

·            “Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” (John 5:28-29) (There is no indication that this “resurrection of judgment” is any less permanent than the “resurrection of life.”)

·            Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?... But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. (Romans 6:16, 21)

·            For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. (Romans 8:13) 

·            What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction. (Romans 9:22) 

·            You are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. (1 Corinthians 5:5) (This suggests that this man will not be saved unless he is handed over to Satan.)

·            Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)

·            For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. (2 Corinthians 7:10)

·            I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:21)

·            For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:8) Only those who sow to the Spirit will “reap eternal life.”)

·            For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. (Ephesians 5:5-6) 

·            …and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. (Philippians 1:28) (“Death” and “destruction” suggest finality.)

·            “Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.” (Philippians 3:19 )

·            They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. (2 Thessalonians 1:9)

·            For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? (Hebrews 10:26-29) 

·            And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. (2 Peter 2:3)

·            But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction. (2 Peter 2:12, 17)  (Not destined for eternal life.)

·            But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. (2 Peter 3:7)

·            We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. (1 John 3:14-15)

·            …wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever. (Jude 1:13)

·            “And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.” (Revelation 14:11)

·            “and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever." (Revelation 20:10 )

This is not a pleasant paper to write. However, love sometimes requires us to warn against what is clearly a false but temporarily comforting hope. I therefore pray that those who have invested in this false hope will cry out for the Lord’s mercy and repent.