A
LESSON IN HUMILITY
PRIDE COMETH BEFORE THE
FALL
by Pastor Max Solbrekken, D.D.
Ed Murrow,
famous American commentator said, "Keep your perspective!
Remember that just because your voice reached halfway around
the world, you are no wiser than when it reached only to the
end of the living room." The technology that sends
a broadcaster’s voice thousands of miles across the globe is
not that person’s invention.
Certainly,
your ability to communicate got you in the position to release
your talent but it took a lot of other people's technical
ability, and other people's capital to assemble the equipment
that would transmit your voice.
No one is
self-sufficient and "no man is an island". We all
have something to contribute!
A HAUGHTY
SPIRIT GOES BEFORE DESTRUCTION!
Pride has a
subtle way of seeking to enter a person, especially after an
initial success. It is noticeable in many first and second
year university students. In their third and fourth years they
calm down and realize how much there is yet to learn.
And many
young people at age 21, are suddenly amazed at how much Mom
and Dad have learned during the past 5 or 6 years.
The real
truth is found in an old German proverb, "We get old too
soon and smart too late".
The Bible
says, "Pride goeth before a fall and a haughty spirit
before destruction". (Prov. 16:18) How true that is!
Pride causes overconfidence which triggers the downfall.
During the
Beatles' heyday, John Lennon stated that they were more
popular than Jesus Christ.
And
according to Abery Goldman's book 'The Lives of John Lennon',
the freaky John Lennon, while "tripping out on acid"
together with his close friend Pete Shotton said, "I
think I'm Jesus Christ"!
The next
afternoon, "the inner circle of the Beatles' organization
- Paul, George, Ringo and other Apple executives - met with
John and Pete in Lennon's office. All arrived in a mood of
keen expectation wondering what could have inspired the
normally passive Lennon to sound the alarm. John rose from
behind his desk and addressed his colleagues.
"I've
got something very important to tell you all", he began.
"I am Jesus Christ come back again. This is my
thing." He demanded that "Apple prepare a press
release immediately announcing His return."
SATAN IS
REALLY BUSY THESE DAYS. HE HAS HIS ‘DONKEYS’ CARRYING HIS
FILTH AND GARBAGE TO THE YOUTH OF OUR GENERATION.
Marilyn
Manson the weird, satanist pervert is making waves across
North America with his Shock Rock concerts!
This
self-proclaimed Satan worshipper often rips up the Bible,
denounces God and Christianity and appears on stage as an
awkward mix between a scantily dressed drag queen and a living
corpse!
But here’s
the irony of the whole farce - He’s as proud as a strutting
peacock! Please note: You don’t need to be beautiful,
talented, intelligent or rich to be proud! I’ve met some of
the ugliest, ignorant, clueless and poorest of people who were
proud!
PRIDE,
I REPEAT, IS THE SIN OF SATAN!
And the
worse manifestation of pride is a person’s refusal to humble
himself and receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour!
Recently,
commenting on his philosophy of life, Marilyn Manson, who
chose his name from Marilyn Monroe - Hollywood sex symbol who
committed suicide - and Charles Manson - the brutal, insane
serial killer - said, “Man is God”.
The Bible says, “The fool hath said in his heart there is no
God”. (Ps. 14:1) In the literal Hebrew, King David was
inferring that only a fool, imbecile or insane person would
say that there is no God!
And only a
bigger fool would say that weak, puny, temporary (here today
gone tomorrow) and dying humanity is God - omnipotent,
omniscient, omni-present and eternal! What a grand fool
Marilyn Manson is! He takes top honor
for fools.
And here’s
another nut case! According to Newsweek (July 21, 1997) Noel
Gallager commenting on the influence of his band, ‘Oasis’
said, “We’re more popular than Jesus Christ now...Some of
the pop stars I like are more important than God...I
hope we mean more to people than putting money in a church
basket and saying 10 Hail Marys on a Sunday”.
WHAT FOLLY AND
FOOLHEADED PRIDE!
Soon after Lennon’s blasphemous statement, the Beatles
disbanded and sometime later Lennon was dead, at the hands of
a former admirer. And a study of his life shows a streak of
madness, including many days he and Yoko Ono stayed in bed in
a "love-in for world peace" and appeared with Allan
Rock, Canada's former Justice Minister - at a university in
Toronto, clad only in his pajamas!
And get a
load of this garbage - he and other members of the Beatles sat
at the feet of the weird occultic Maharishi who is the
proponent of Yogi - leap frogging (flying) for world peace and
other deceptive Eastern Hindu occultic practices! WHAT LIES,
DECEPTION AND PRIDE!
It would be wise for us all to listen to the words of Ed
Murrow, which is in fact a call to humility.
St. Paul
stated, "Let no one think of himself more highly than he
ought". (Romans 12:3)
A STUDY OF
HISTORY REVEALS THAT PRIDE DOES PRECEDE A RUINOUS FALL!
A good
example is Adolph Hitler, who constantly raved about
conquering Great Britain, envisioning a 1000 year Nazi
dynasty!
Where did he
end up? Dead by his own hand in a bunker in a ruined Germany!
HIS NAME
WILL FOREVER BE SYNONYMOUS WITH SADISTIC, DEMONIC BRUTALITY,
AND INSANE LUST FOR POWER!
What of
Napoleon Bonaparte, the proud Emperor of France who crushed
every foe under his feet? When
he entered Milan, Italy, Napoleon summoned the archbishop of
the church and demanded, "Prove to me that there is a God
and the Bible is the Word of God".
The
archbishop never uttered a word but simply pointed to Napoleon’s
leading soldier, General Mesina, a Jew.
Proud as he
was, the Emperor recognized the truth of what the archbishop
had revealed, shouted a command, turned his horse around and
together with his troops gallopped away, without firing a
shot!
If there is no God there would no be Jew, for Abraham was 100
years of age and Sarah 90 when Isaac was born!
Where
did he end up? In exile and disgrace on the island of St.
Helena! Before he was poisoned, however, he confessed his
faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, to his trusted friend
General Bertrand!
Voltaire,
the atheist, almost destroyed France with his twisted
philosophies. He
was going to rid that nation of every Bible and dethrone God.
He boasted that within 100 years there wouldn't be one Bible
left in France, except in some dusty old museum.
BEFORE HIS
DEATH, VOLTAIRE BECAME DEMENTED AND THE NURSE ATTENDING HIM
DECLARED THAT FOR ALL THE MONEY IN FRANCE SHE WOULD NEVER
AGAIN NURSE ANOTHER DYING INFIDEL.
When the
doctor, nurse or friends entered his room he would shrink back
in his bed and shriek, "the Nazarene, the Nazarene"!
Just before his death Voltaire screamed, "Thou hast
conquered, Thou Nazarene"!
Ironically,
the very house in which Voltaire lived was purchased 100 years
later, and turned into a Bible Publishing House!
Soviet
communists had long scoffed at God, the Bible and the West,
but it was the USA and Canada's shipment of subsidized wheat
that kept the Soviet Union from starving during the Cold War!
Thirteen
minutes after Israel became a nation at 4:00 PM, May 14, 1948,
the American President recognized Israel as a free, sovereign
and independent state.
Joseph
Stalin refused to do so saying, "Israel is only a nation
on paper". Since the fall of the Soviet Union, about
800,000 Jews have left the bankrupt countries of Eastern
Europe to live in Israel! For several decades the USSR had
persecuted Jewish citizens and refused them permission to
leave.
It is
therefore ironic, that when the Russian Bear and her satellite
nations meet their doom, it will be at the hands of the little
nation of Israel. The prophecy is recorded in Ezekiel 38 and
39 and will surely come to pass!
PRIDE: THE SIN OF
SATAN
Pride has
properly been called 'The Sin of Satan', because it was this
sin that brought him down!
In a future
column I will share an in-depth study on this evil,
destructive and arrogant tendency which the human race has
inherited from the Master Deceiver himself.
Here is an
outline of that important message:
-
Pride is
the basis of all rebellion against God!
-
Pride is
the root cause of secular humanism and false religion.
-
Pride is
the underlying reason for occultism, spiritualism and the
New Age Movement.
-
Pride
caused Satan's downfall and is perpetuated by his lying
spirits.
-
Pride is
the basic reason for the creation of an infidel science
and the evolutionary theory!
The
Archangel Lucifer, because of his great wisdom and beauty,
rebelled against God and was expelled from heaven. He is now
"the prince of the power of the air" and the world's
leading terrorist!
He said,
"I will ascend into Heaven; I will exalt My throne above
the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the
congregation in the sides of the north: I will ascend above
the clouds; I will be like the Most High". (literal Heb.
"I will be the Most High")
PRIDE WAS
HIS DOWNFALL!
What will be
his end? God spells it out in Ezekiel 28, Isaiah 14 and Rev.
20:10.
"And
the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire
and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and
shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever."
(Rev. 20:10)
It is
imperative that we guard against the spirit of pride! May we
all remain humble and flexible in the hands of God, as we
serve Him with joy and gladness.
The Premier
Sin of Sodom - for which God judged that city with fire and
brimstone - was PRIDE!
The other
four sins were fullness of bread, abundance of idleness, lack
of compassion for the poor and needy and the abominable,
perverse sexual practice of homosexuality! (Ez. 16:49)
After God
judged Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon declared: "Now
I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of
heaven, all whose works are truth, and His ways judgment: and
those that walk in pride He is able to abase". (Dan.
4:37)
The Bible
warns: "Love not the world, neither the things that are
in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the
Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust
of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,
is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world
passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will
of God abideth for ever". (1 John 2:15-17)
Let us remember the lesson we have learned from studying the
lives of Adolph Hitler, Napoleon Bonaparte, Voltaire, the
Russian communists, John Lennon and Lucifer himself .
-
Vladimir
Lenin boasted in
1917: "Religion is the opiate of the people. There is
no God, but woe unto us communists if there is one."
-
Joseph
Stalin declared:
"Give me 50 years and there won't be one Christian
left in Russia".
-
Nikita
Kruschev said,
"I will close the Churches with one blow".
-
Leonid
Brezhnev stated,
"By 1980 the Church will be dead in Russia".
-
Chinese
communist leaders
said in 1976, Decadent religion and capitalism is thriving
in Russia".
-
Mikhael
Gorbachev declared
in 1989, "Only Jesus Christ had all the solutions to
life's problems. I don't possess that skill".
Boris
Yeltsin said, "Communism is dead in Russia! We have lied
to you for 70 years. I promise you - NO MORE LIES"! What
a joy to hear the Russian president speak to the US Congress
and the American people by television in 1991.
Jesus Christ
said: "...I will build My Church and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it". (Matt. 16:18)
JESUS IS OUR
GREAT EXAMPLE
A study of
the Bible clearly shows us the beautiful spirit exemplified by
our Lord!
In order to
secure our salvation, God the Son humbled Himself and was
incarnated (God in human flesh), born of a virgin woman in
Bethlehem, and lived among men as the "Carpenter's
son".
He was
blasphemed, castigated, spat upon, scourged, condemned as a
common criminal and crucified in shame on a Roman cross, for
our sins!
TALK ABOUT
HUMILITY!
Jesus - the
Son of God - the Creator of the universe was put to death by
the very men He was giving life to! He died on the hill He had
created, between two common criminals!
St. Paul
writes, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in
Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not
robbery to be equal with God: But made Himself of no
reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was
made in the likeness of men:
"And
being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
"Wherefore
God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which
is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth, and
things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father." (Phil. 2:5-11)
WHAT MUST WE DO?
St. James admonishes: "Humble yourselves in the sight of
the Lord, and He shall lift you up". (James 4:10)
Again the
Bible says: "And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye
shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
“Likewise,
ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder.
"Yea,
all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with
humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the
humble.
“Humble
yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may
exalt you in due time:" (1 Peter 5:4-6).
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