In the Bible the word “pride” is used 49 times, the word “proud” 48 times, and the word “proudly” 9 times, and never once are the words used in a “good” sense. In each and every case, the words are used to describe the wicked or those doing wickedly. In other words, in God’s eyes (or language) the words “pride” or “proud” are NASTY DIRTY words! And therefore, never ever should we try and use these words in a “positive” sense, like “I’m proud of my son or daughter” or “I’m proud to be a Christian”, etc.Satan is on a mission in these last days to blur lines, stir confusion, and mask Truth. He wants to call what is good evil and what is evil good. He doesn’t want you to have a FIRM understanding of God’s Word, for then you will have a sharpened sword to fight against him. It is for these reasons that God has asked me to write to you today and expound on the word “pride”. God STRONGLY desires that YOU have a FIRM understanding of what is good and what is evil, so you can speak words and work deeds pleasing in His sight.
Here’s the deal … pride is selfishness! Pride is what entered Lucifer’s heart in the Garden of Eden, puffed him up, and caused him to rebel (sin) against God and lie to Eve. Pride is the first step away from God. Pride is the soil in everyone’s heart that bears the evil fruit of disobeying God’s 10 Love Commandments! Truly, every single sin ever committed by mankind on planet Earth was committed because of a proud thought. The 10 commandment text written on the two stone tables on the 10LoveCommandments.com website are clickable links leading to summaries of each Love Commandment. I strongly urge you to visit this website and read through each of these summaries starting at commandment #1. This will be an eye-opening experience for you, teaching you how “pride” manifested through the “love of money (dirt)” is the root of all evil (sin).
Please folks, let’s learn to speak God’s language. Don’t ever say you are proud! Not of your child, country, school, or anything else. You can be pleased, you can be happy, you can be delighted, you can be grateful, but NEVER EVER proud: “Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished” (Proverbs 16:5). And that’s all I got to say about that.
Commandment #1 Summary
Commandment #2 Summary
Commandment #3 Summary
Commandment #4 Summary
Commandment #5 Summary
Commandment #6 Summary
Commandment #7 Summary
Commandment #8 Summary
Commandment #9 Summary
Commandment #10 Summary
In Christ’s enduring love,
Gabriel
Approximately 819 Weeks (Sabbaths) Remaining Till Christ's Return!
I think that there are not very many people who know this. I learned it right away and expected other Christians to understand this too, but they don't. No one really recognizes the pride within themselves. It takes time walking with the LORD to get rid of all pride, I think. Because it is a weapon for self-preservation. We use it w/o realizing it.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Dawn ... most people do not recognize the extreme selfishness (pride)-- which is sin! -- of their lifestyle. It is as if they have blinders on and just cannot (or do not want to!) see it. Take the pharisees of Jesus' day, for instance, they just couldn't see it!
DeleteThis is the reason I wrote the short (2 or 3 page) summaries of EACH commandment on the 10LoveCommandments.com website, because I wanted people to have a place to go and learn in detail how it is ALWAYS pride that causes a person to disobey one of God's 10 Love Commandments. In other words, it is ALWAYS pride that causes a person to NOT love!
This is a truth I long for everyone to know ... There is NO pride in love, and there is NO love in pride. Therefore, let us not EVER say we are prideful of anything!
I am so confused. I have always been proud of my children. I say it all the time. So you say I am sinning?
ReplyDeleteThere's no need to be confused, Becky. God's Word (the Bible) is our teacher, right? In fact, God's Word is really the ONLY thing we can trust as absolute Truth on this planet.
DeleteWith that in mind, God has dealt with me on this issue of the use of the word "pride" or "proud" in our speech for over a year now. It's really quite simple, as I made clear in the blog above ... God NEVER used (or uses) the word "pride" or "proud" in a "good" or "positive" fashion in His Word. Do you understand?
In other words, God is NEVER proud! God is NEVER proud of ANYTHING! He is not proud of you, me, or anyone else. Nothing you or I could do could EVER make Him proud! And since He is our Father, and our teacher, we are to become as His little children striving to speak and act like Him. Thus, we too should NEVER say we are "proud" of anything, for "pride" is always evil.
I really don't know how else to say it. It's pretty simple. God would prefer that we never say we are "proud" of anything. Find another word, a "good" word, to use when showering your children with praise and gratitude, like some of the ones I mentioned in the blog above.
Honestly, this is a very easy thing to change in our lives so that we emulate our Father. But it is also a test of who's heart truly desires to please God, or who's heart says "Ah, I don't care about that, I'll speak however I want!" Can you hear the unteachable, rebellious heart?
I think if your children becomes proud people when they grow up, and it's because you feed them that food for the ego all the time, and you didn't teach them humility, and because of their pride they sin, you in part caused that. And like I said in my comment below, my nephew understood it so it's not impossible to let your kids understand them too, but you have to acknowledge how wrong it is first.
DeleteI hear ya sister (Becky). It's not easy to change our thinking but we can when we understand the biblical logic. I must admit that I was a bit shocked also with this teaching but it is 100% biblical. But many words and expressions people use in this world (Satan's world really) are wrong and we should avoid them and change our speech and encourage our loved ones also. This word is no exception and even though it seems innocent and that it can be used for right or wrong, I agree that this is not the case. This word is intended from the beginning to be used for the negative only, in every language. But in our language (most popular and growing in the world!), it just happens to have a unique spelling which is really a hint to us. It has an "I" right smack dead centre of it! Ever notice that? pr"I"de!!! The use of the word simply focuses on the "I" which is never good. When we use it we are constantly implying of what "I" have or own. Also, Please read my comment below.
DeleteMy 16-year old nephew got it right away when I told him about this. When his mother told him she's proud of him, he explained to her why it's wrong. Being proud is actually feeling good elevating yourself through yourself or your group (family, country, organization, etc) against others or other groups (family, country, etc). This kind of good feeling is absolutely selfish and even evil. It's always against "others",in comparison/relative to other individuals or other groups, which is why you can't say "I'm proud of being a Princetonian" if, hypothetically, all people on earth are Princetonians anyway. Being proud is contrary to what Jesus said about meekness, because you're differentiating yourself or your son or daughter from others who have less to be proud of, and imbibing that feeling of being higher than them. Let's not forget that none of us in reality has nothing to be proud of, because when the cards were dealt in the beginning of our life, we could have been born with a lower IQ, lower stature, uglier appearance and more timid temperament than what we have, or into a poorer nation or less privileged family or neighborhood, and whatever we are able to achieve are, in the first place, only made possible by what we received.
ReplyDelete"Being proud is actually feeling good ELEVATING YOURSELF through yourself or your group (family, country, organization, etc) AGAINST OTHERS or other groups (family, country, etc). This kind of good feeling is absolutely selfish and even evil."
DeleteWell explained, Chris. That's EXACTLY what "Pride" is. And this self-elevation is in direct opposition to everything God teaches us in His Word about how to live, like "Let nothing be done through strife or VAIN-GLORY; but in LOWLINESS OF MIND let each esteem others BETTER THAN THEMSELVES ... let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2:3-5).
And like you and Ramsey have been saying ... NO ONE has ANY REASON to be proud of ANYTHING or ANYONE, for we all owe our thanks and gratitude to God for anything we are or have. Thanks for the wonderful comments!
Amen, bro. Thanks and gratitude to the One who died in our place. Have a good day to you all :)
DeleteI do relate with Becky very much. It is very confusing to most of us at first, hearing something that goes against many years of what we were used to hearing and expressing. Great point Chris! That's a good way of looking at the matter and understanding it better. It is very hard for us adults to understand things most of the times, and it seems the older we get the more we become stubborn in our ways and thinking. Children on the other hand can change and adapt much easier cause they don't have the same amount of years under their belt (exposure to Satan's the world). Also, Children are far more aware of certain things in the world around them that adults often miss and don't realize. They learn and adapt much quicker (like languages for instance). The old saying is very true "Can't teach an old dog new tricks". So it is very hard I agree, but not impossible. We must become like "little children" and fear the Lord and be innocent and strive to please our Heavenly Father like Gabriel said.
ReplyDeleteAlso what you said, that we shouldn't ever be proud of anything because we had no control over the cards dealt when and where we were born, is absolutely right! I agree very much with this logic. It reminded me of John 19:10-11 when Pilate PROUDLY reacted to Jesus' silence and boasted of his high position/class saying:
"Do you refuse to speak to me?" Pilate said. "Don't you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?"
Jesus answered, "You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above."
So yes, we NEVER have a reason to be proud of anything we own or have and yes this includes our children - even biological ones are not really ours but are temporarily entrusted to us in this life which comes and goes in an instant (compared to eternity). Also, MANY people are not able to have biological children (but want badly) nor afford to adopt any so the rest that do have could have easily been born into that situation also.
It's all logical. The same logic as Jesus' when he rebuked Pilate.
Brother, what a perfect part of the Bible to prove it! See that, how Jesus rebuked Pilate, how truth came from the Lord's mouth, like a sting in Pilate's mind if he ever died unsaved and realized the horror of his pride and how powerless he really was like Jesus said. I heard a pastor said once, that if ever somebody who's so angry at God, his head up and looking at the sky cursing Him, and his arm raised and fist clenched as if to threaten God - he was only able to do that, to raise that arm and clench that fist, because of God's power. The man who's doing that doesn't realize he owes everything to God, including that little bit of energy that enables him to curse the very God who gave him his life. It's very true, we don't own anything.
DeleteSo if you're 6'8" and very talented in shooting the basketball that you're drafted #1 in the NBA, or if you have a daughter who's so beautiful, intelligent and sociable everybody likes her, what have you to be proud of, other than the fact that you or your child happened to not have been born a quadriplegic or an anemic little baby with a hole in his heart in a Bombay slum to uneducated parents? No wonder in Jesus' parables the least privileged, the ones who have nothing to be proud of, seemed to please God more. And although many of us often disregard Jesus' sermon on the mount (Blessed are the poor, blessed are the meek, etc. for they will inherit the Kingdom of God...) it will turn out to be true because the Lord never lied.
So sometimes I wonder, who has more luck? It seems like the underprivileged are infinitely luckier than those who happen to have something here and there to be proud of, considering the infinity of the afterlife and the shortness of earthly life. But as paradoxical as it may sound, in reality it's about God's will and not about luck, and what we are here for is to please God whatever cards we're dealt with in the beginning of the "game," because not only are we made by Him but we are made for Him. And it certainly doesn't please Him if we're being proud or teaching our children to be proud, not only because it's the cause of many sins but also because by being proud we are in effect being presumptuous before God, just like Pilate.
But yeah, like Dawn, sometimes I expect other Christians to understand this right away, that being "proud of my father/son/self/countryman/etc" is just plain wrong, without realizing that people like Becky might get confused why it is so. I guess I was like that too I just don't remember.
It all goes back to the good old question when we were debating in the homosexual Blog, "who is your father?" Or as it is often heard and joked about on the street or in the media "whose your daddy?" But this question is no joke but something dead serious as it directly is tied in to our eternal destiny. Are we to follow and mimic Satan and be prideful or loving and humble in sprint like our Lord. It's another test. We should try our best to live, love, think and yes even talk like the ultimate godly example we were given long ago, our Lord Jesus (blessed be his name) and I don't think we should ever mention a word that represents Satan's main characteristic which was the cause of his downfall along with mankind's as well. Thanks for commenting guys (and gals). Very interesting topic. Thanks Gabe! Bless and love you all!
ReplyDelete"Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!" Isaiah 5:20
ReplyDelete"They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills (or hates) you will think he is offering service to God." John 16:2
"If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me."
John 15:18-21