As we embark upon the second week of Pride Month, let's take a look at a passage that highlights a major reason why people are deceived: pride in their hearts.
"The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD." (Obadiah 1:3-4)
If you wonder how people can believe all sorts of falsehoods, and be lured into all manner of crazy cults, and also how they often seem to refuse to see reason even when you lay everything out clearly for them, the Bible has the answer. The simple reason why so many people are so incredibly blind is because of pride in their hearts. Actually, pride in the heart can sometimes be a hindrance to born-again Christians too. Thanks be to God, we have spiritual understanding and discernment that we lacked prior to salvation, but that does not mean we can't be deceived. Indeed, there are a number of verses in the Bible that expressly command us not to be deceived! If it were no longer possible for us to be deceived after being saved and receiving the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth, there would be no need for such commandments.
The thing about pride is that it makes us think we know best, or at least better than the other person. So when someone comes along and says, "You're wrong about such-and-such", what tends to happen is that our pride gets wounded and then we retort, "No, I'M right and YOU'RE wrong!" I am being a bit simplistic, but these are the underlying attitudes of most religious arguments. In fact, this applies to pretty much any type of argument. Even when someone proves that their position is the correct one using reasoned arguments, logic and sound Scriptural references (if that someone is a Christian), pride will often make their opponent refuse to concede defeat. No matter how comprehensively their false doctrine has been proven as such, they find ways to cling onto it regardless. The problem at this point is not in the mind. It's the pride in the heart. That is what blinds people and keeps them in deception.
Many false doctrines appeal to pride. A good example is works salvation. If you could actually be saved by your own works, you would have something to be proud of. And this is why many people who think they are saved by works are also extremely proud and self-righteous. Hence the Bible tells us, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9) As beautiful a thing as salvation by grace is though, many people miss it because when you realise that salvation is a gift and there is nothing you yourself can do to earn it, your pride ends up getting hurt. You think, "Surely there must be something I can do to contribute to my own salvation!", and thereby you become vulnerable to all manner of heresy. This is what lures people into all sorts of false religions and cults. These things appeal to pride. And pride is what keeps them there too. After all, few things are guaranteed to hurt your pride more than to realise that you have been greatly deceived and perhaps even wasted a great deal of your life following that deception.
Pride in the heart also often prevents people from seeing their own sin. Have you ever met someone who refused to admit that they were at fault for anything? Even when it was patently obvious that they were? I know I have. Let's be honest, all of us can be that person sometimes, but there are nonetheless people who take it to extremes, in that they really believe they are never in the wrong at any time. It always has to be someone else's fault. Or if there is nobody to blame, then it must be the fault of circumstances. But their fault? How dare you even think such a thing, let alone say it out loud! Such people are, quite simply, deceived by the pride in their hearts. They just have more pride than the average person, I think. However, even a person with only average pride will still struggle to get on their knees and confess their sins to God. So even if they don't have so much pride that they cannot see when they have wronged other people, they may still be blind to their lost condition and remain oblivious to how much they have wronged God. Incidentally, there are many verses in the Bible instructing us to humble ourselves. Humility is a prerequisite for approaching God. You must be like the publican in Luke 18 crying out to God for mercy, and not like the Pharisee in the same chapter boasting about all his good works. But the pride in our hearts bucks against being like that publican. Confessing that you are a sinner, and confessing specific sins, really knocks pride for a six (or if you're American, hits it out of the park). We all like to imagine we're good people, and so acknowledging our sinfulness and need for a Saviour, facing the reality that we cannot save ourselves, is a hard thing to do precisely because of our pride.
As I said before, even when a person gets saved, pride can still be a problem sometimes. One of the ways in which a Christian can be uniquely affected by pride is when you study the Bible and God starts to reveal some truth to you. You grow in knowledge and understanding. This is a really good thing! However, if you're not on your guard, that knowledge can lead to pride. Indeed, the Bible warns us about this. "Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know." (1 Corinthians 8:1-2) I love that last part. It is a good reminder that even when we do gain some understanding, we still know very little about God and His ways, really.
Pride is also a hindrance to Christians when witnessing. It certainly has been to me. There have been times when, in my pride, I thought I could win someone to Christ by my powers of reasoning. I have actually thought that mere intellectual debate would do the job, not properly understanding the spiritual nature of it all. For example, I remember one time getting into quite a heated argument with a Mormon missionary who started on at me in the street, and you will not be surprised to learn that he did not get saved that day (although he didn't make me a Mormon either - it was a stalemate, basically). I have confessed it to God, and I confess it here, my attitude that day was frankly appalling. I was all puffed up and thought I knew it all, and that he was just not very bright for believing all that false Mormon doctrine. Indeed, part of the problem was that I thought I was cleverer than him and acted like a smug know-it-all. In this respect, frankly, I was no better that day than an atheist who scoffs at Christians and thinks themselves smart and rational, while they esteem the Christians to be gullible idiots who need the atheists to enlighten them. And why did I act like that? Because, pride. Which is also why scoffing atheists behave as they do.
There have sadly been other times when the pride of my heart made a mockery of attempts to witness to people. But the Bible does give us guidance on the right way to witness. This passage in particular is key: "And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will." (2 Timothy 2:24-26)
The word "strive" there means argue or quarrel. It is the verbal form of the noun strife. But while strife is still in fairly common use, strive has somewhat lost its old meaning and usually means something like "try really hard" nowadays. Mind you, the modern meaning has some application here too. Sometimes, you can try too hard to convince someone about the Gospel, and then striving in the older sense starts to happen. Closely related to strife is contention, and remember in a recent Pride Month post, I examined this verse in Proverbs: "Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom." (Proverbs 13:10) If you give into pride when witnessing, and the person you're witnessing to then gets puffed up in their own pride, contention and strife will soon follow.
Now, when we witness, we are guaranteed to come up against this roadblock: pride in people's hearts. This pride will make them resist the Gospel message. But if, at this point, we let our own pride take over, the battle will be lost then and there. Which is why it is so important to preach MEEKLY. Whatever knowledge and understanding we may have, we must instruct MEEKLY, and be GENTLE in the process. Even then, there is no guarantee that the person we are witnessing to will be saved. The pride in their hearts may be too great. However, if we are meek and gentle in our witnessing, they may just begin to see the truth. If we obey God and stay humble, He may use our meek demeanour to break down the pride in the hearts of those we witness to, or those who scoff at us. But if we get prideful, even a person who might have been open to the Gospel when we started talking will get completely turned off Christianity, maybe even forever. Pride can be catching sometimes. When one person gets puffed up, the person they are debating with tends to do likewise.
So if you have ever wondered why people seem to be so easily deceived, especially nowadays, well now you have your answer. It is because of the pride in their hearts. This pride makes the deception attractive in the first place, because the best deceptions usually appeal to pride in one form or another. It also makes people resistant to the truth of the Gospel, because to admit that your own belief system has been wrong and that you have lived your life based on lies is going to really, really hurt your pride. Admitting that you are a sinner deserving of God's judgement also stings the pride a lot, which is why so many don't want to ever make that confession. But pride can be a problem for Christians too sometimes, especially when witnessing. And just as pride in the heart leads to unbelievers being deceived, that same pride can cause Christians to be deceived by things as well if we're not careful.
Essentially, the more humble you are, the more truth God can teach you. Staying humble can also help you guard against deception, because if you start allowing pride to take root in your heart rather than praying about it and confessing it whenever you detect it, your chances of being deceived will skyrocket, while your chances of winning any souls to Christ will plummet. So if you don't want to be deceived, crucify that pride daily!
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