Hardened in pride, down to a perfection

(new article tomorrow)

"In the Bible we learn the entire world is saturated with pride and we know why and we know why it hardens.

"The mind becomes implacable and it's hardened in pride. It's difficult to penetrate it with light and truth and understanding; they have no means of access," explains Richard Jordan.

"Satan is a king over all 'the children of pride,' says the Bible. The unsaved humanity is a mirror image of their father the devil and he is the reigning authority over all his children. Pride courses through their veins and because of that pride, there is this ungrateful response to the things of God. They're not thankful.

"Satan has this proudful ambition to usurp what is rightfully God's; what belongs rightfully to the Creator, and ever since Genesis 3, unsaved humanity falls right into the lap of that prideful desire to achieve, to ascend, to make a name for one's self.

"Did he not offer to Eve, 'Ye shall be as gods'? He's saying to her, 'You see, you don't have to be inferior, you don't have to play second fiddle; you deserve better.' 

"The same individuals who are lifted up in self-adoration, self-love (Paul says they are lovers of their own selves), they're boasters, a bunch of braggarts. They're haughty, and not only that, they're proud.

"When you study what pride is, and surely we could go to a dictionary, pride simply is a preoccupation with self. There is this excessive desire to be the attention, to be appreciated and adored. There's this unhealthy desire to be admired by others.

"When you find pride in the Bible, you find this lustful desire to be the center of attention. What often happens as a result is you will see a proudful person begin to look at others with contempt. That haughty spirit of puffed up arrogance will lead one to begin to look down on others. There is this false sense of conceited superiority that leads toward looking at others as being inferior.

"Pride, by Bible definition, is extremely deadly, extremely dangerous, and there is this link between pride and unthankfulness.

"In Romans 1, right off the bat, as the Apostle Paul indicts humanity, [21] Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. [22] Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, when they knew god they glorified him not as God.

"In their attitude of unthankfulness and ingratitude they rely upon their haughty sense of professing wisdom. Notice, neither were they thankful, but they became vain in their imaginations. They replaced that spirit of thankfulness. They displaced any gratitude that should have been expressed because of the creative power and wisdom of Almighty God, and what they did is they suppressed any attitude of thanksgiving with vain imaginations.

"II Corinthians 10:5 says, [5] Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

"The idea here is that humanity--they presume, they assume they know what's happening. They assume they know what's going on. They assume they know how man came into existence. They assume they know how God thinks in some ways as well.

"Paul says meekness is the capacity to bring into subjection every thought to the obedience of Christ. It's not so much bringing my thoughts so that I'm always obeying Christ, but rather, just like Jesus Christ in meekness chose to obey His Father. Meekness is not weakness. Rather, it's the ability to restrain power, ability, strength. To restrain one's prerogatives. He chose not to exercise His royal rights and prerogatives as an equal co-member of the godhead. He chose to restrict His divine abilities.

"Jeremiah 49:16: [16] Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill: though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the LORD.

"Pride deceives and convinces you of something that just simply isn't true. It distorts reality. By the way, the idea of vain imaginations--again, Paul, when he talks about the imagination and every high thing, it's talking about prideful understanding and wisdom. So when you think about the deception, it's all imaginary! A proudful person convinces themselves, 'I am right; you're wrong.' Pride convinces that person of things that just simply are not true.

"Psalm 73:6 says, 'Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment.' Pride is bondage; it makes you a slave. it's like a chain of enslavement.

Proverbs 13:10: [10] Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.

Proverbs 16:[5] Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.

[6] By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.
[7] When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.
[8] Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right.
[9] A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.

"Proverbs 6:16-17: [16] These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: [17] A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,

"By the way, that's No. 1 on the list. The No. 1 abomination is a proud look. When it says a proud look, it's not suggesting that somebody looks proud, or has the appearance of pride. It's talking about a pride-filled person who evaluates and sees everything or everyone as being beneath them, as being inferior; as being unworthy.

"It's not a, 'Look, man, he dresses proudly,' or, 'He looks proud,' but rather it's the way he evaluates, the way he perceives. The proud look is the way he interprets his surroundings. Again, there is that twisted sense of superiority of the one who has the proud look. He views things through the lens of that empty, vain, imaginative, haughty pride that would lift himself in exaltation against the knowledge of God; against what God is saying and against all that God is doing."

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II Peter 2: [9] The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

[10] But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.

"All of chapter 2 is about describing these false prophets and the kind of sin they'll be involved in," explains Richard Jordan. "They despise dignities; they throw them aside, they want no part of them. They have this covetous life that's focused on nothing but the sins of the flesh and when authority comes in . . . you see the self-life wants to do its own thing.

"It's when someone who's self-absorbed, self-willed and self-centered is opposed by authority that comes along and says, 'Don't do that.'

"You remember in Isaiah 3 where it says children are going to reign over you, and the reason you discovered is the people who are charged with the responsibility of passing on the traditions of society and the principals of a culture . . . 

Isaiah 3:[1] For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,

[2] The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient,
[3] The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counseller, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator.
[4] And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.
[5] And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.

"When nobody is there who will say to the kid, 'No, you can't do that; that's wrong and not in your best interest,' then they just go out willy-nilly and do whatever they want and they get addicted to that and that's what they want all the time.

"Well, these people in II Peter 2 are way down the road in self-will. We see them back in the first three verses: [1] But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

[2] And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
[3] And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.

"They completely throw off the things of God and want nothing to do with what God's doing and they just want to go out in that self-life that says, 'Just do your own thing.'

"In the Bible, when you lust after something that means you have a strong passion for it, and this is a lust of uncleanness; it's not a lust and passion for good things.

"It's that autonomous, 'I'm going to be my God and I'll be your God if you sit still long enough and I can get you in shackles.'

"These people in II Peter have that down to a perfection. This issue is really the ultimate goal of the satanic policy of evil and the course of sin he set for himself and for man.

Romans 1:22-24: [22] Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

[23] And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
[24] Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:

"They've turned their back on God and His Word and His authority and who He was and they decided they were going to strike out on their own and do their own thing.

Verse 25: [25] Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

"That verse crystallizes the whole lie program. It's the issue of idolatry, but it's more than just bowing down to an idol of wood or stone; it's the issue of taking the creature and making the creature God. The deification of the creature; making the creature equal or superior to the Creator."