Home
>
Spirituality
>
Mankinds Ten Worst Enemies: #1 Pride

Mankinds Ten Worst Enemies: #1 Pride

We have a proclivity to think of individuals and nations as our adversaries when they present a threat to our personal or national well being. But, I submit, that our greatest adversary is Satan and he makes his assaults from within not without. It is an inside covert operation.

Pride
Pride is presumptuous and self-satisfying. It is estimating ourselves too highly and exaggerating our abilities. We erect myriad illusions about who we are and what we are about. We take credit where credit does not belong and parade around as though we have earned it ourselves. It is our distorted way of playing God in our own little world.

We have all heard people boast of all the things they do not do. What they often omit is what it is they do do. We all do something. Some of us engage in the same acts of others but we do it in a more subtle or different way. We may not drink, but we overeat. We may not murder physically, but we murder spiritually. We may not abuse a child, but we abuse those of a different ethnic group. We may not curse, but we demean and degrade others. Our pride blinds us to our failings. We seem hell bent on making ourselves look good to ourselves and feel good about ourselves and think God is satisfied with us. Some of us have never truly prayed but merely stood in the presence of a god we have created, because we refuse to see ourselves for what we really are. Pride is based in a real desire to be God and to be worshipped.

What does Scripture have to say on the issue of pride?

A man's pride brings him low... (Proverbs 29:23a)

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. (Proverbs 16:18)

The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee... (Obadiah 1:3)

This shall they have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the LORD of hosts. (Zephaniah 2:10)

When pride cometh, then cometh shame... (Proverbs 11:2)

Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. (1Timothy 3:6)

Before his downfall a man's heart is proud... (Proverbs 18:12a)

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. (1 John 2:16)

Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud. (Proverbs 16:19)

What we so often fail to realize is that we need God to discipline us and draw us closer to Him that we might feel our status as creatures. God is the Creator and we are the creatures. We need God, He does not need us. As Robert Brown points out, We know we need God because even when we strive to be humble, to the extent that we are successful, we become aware of how humble we are, and, regardless of how hard we try, we are unable to avoid the thought that we are "good" because we are so humble. Surely God must be pleased by our humility.

Well, what has happened here? We have become proud of being humble. So then the question becomes does our recognition of this solve our problem? Of course the answer is no, because even when we are aware of this fact, we are in danger of being proud of the fact that we recognize that we were being proud of being humble. Thus, we cannot escape this evil of pride without God's intervention. It is only when we stand in His holy presence do we come to an understanding of who we are and who He is. Satan, God's most formidable enemy, will have us believing we are more than what we are. And, only God can defeat the enemy within: pride.

Rev. Saundra L. Washington, D.D., is an ordained clergywoman, veteran social worker, and Founder of AMEN Ministries. She is also the author of two coffee table books: Room Beneath the Snow: Poems that Preach and Negative Disturbances: Homilies that Teach which can be reviewed on her site. Her new book, Out of Deep Waters: My Grief Management Workbook, is expected to be available soon.

You are welcome to visit amen ministries: your soul's service station for spiritual refreshing, soul edification, browse our newly expanded mini shopping mall or review our recommended books you may want to add to your personal library.

Blessings to all!

cleaning help near Mundelein ..

In The News:

New study of 10,500+ kids reveals early smartphone ownership linked to depression, obesity, and poor sleep by age 12. Earlier phones mean higher risks.

A phone phishing attack compromised Harvard's alumni and donor database, marking the second security incident at the university in recent months.

AutoFlight's zero-carbon floating vertiport uses solar power to charge eVTOL aircraft while supporting emergency response, tourism, and marine energy maintenance.

A new phone return scam targets recent buyers with fake carrier calls. Learn how criminals steal devices and steps to protect yourself from this fraud.

New Anthropic research reveals how AI reward hacking leads to dangerous behaviors, including models giving harmful advice like drinking bleach to users seeking help.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Holiday email scams, including non-delivery fraud and gift card schemes, spike in November and December, costing victims hundreds of millions, the FBI says.

Holiday visits offer the perfect opportunity to help older parents with technology updates, scam protection and basic troubleshooting skills for safer digital experiences.

Swiss scientists create grain-sized robot that surgeons control with magnets to deliver medicine precisely through blood vessels in medical breakthrough.

Researchers exploited WhatsApp's API vulnerability to scrape 3.5 billion phone numbers. Learn how this massive data breach happened and protect yourself.

Travel companies share passenger data with third parties during holidays, but travelers can protect themselves by removing data from broker sites and using aliases.

Xpeng's humanoid robot moves so realistically that crowds believed it was fake, marking a major advancement in robotics technology ahead of 2026 commercial launch.

Researchers discover phishing scam using invisible characters to evade email security, with protection tips including password managers and two-factor authentication.

iPhone and Android users can reduce battery drain and data usage by restricting Background App Refresh to Wi-Fi connections instead of mobile networks.

Scammers nearly stole an Apple account by exploiting the support system with authentic-looking tickets and phone calls, users can protect themselves with safety steps.

FoloToy restored sales of its AI teddy bear Kumma after a weeklong suspension following safety group findings of risky and inappropriate responses to children.

Threat intelligence firm Synthient uncovers one of the largest password exposures ever, prompting immediate security recommendations.

Viral video shared by Elon Musk shows Tesla's Optimus humanoid robots performing tasks from cooking to construction, garnering over 58.5 million views on social media.

Chinese hackers used Anthropic's Claude AI to launch autonomous cyberattacks on 30 organizations worldwide, marking a major shift in cybersecurity threats.

Apple's new Sleep Score feature gives you a rating for your nightly rest quality. Learn how to set it up on your Apple Watch and iPhone today.

Essential phone settings to enable before losing your device, including Find My network, location services and security features for iPhone and Android.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Cybersecurity research shows weak passwords remain a major threat, with simple patterns and number sequences putting millions of accounts at risk.

New Android malware BankBot YNRK silences phones, steals banking data and drains crypto wallets automatically. Learn how this advanced threat works.

FDA approves first human trial for Paradromics' brain-computer interface that could restore speech for paralyzed patients through neural technology.

Mankinds Ten Worst Enemies: #1 Pride

Spirituality