“Pride comes before destruction and a haughty spirit before the fall” (Prov. 16:18). Lucifer’s pride turned him against God. Pride caused Adam and Eve to follow in his spiritual footsteps. Pride–the godship of self–is the foundation upon which all false Christians have built their spiritual house (Mat. 7:26,27). Pride determines whether one accepts or rejects correction. There is no degree of acceptance or rejection. In the eyes of God, one is either with Him–accepts correction–or against Him–rejects correction. All of us must be corrected, for “all have sinned and (in so doing) come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Obedience to God brings glory to Him. Every one of us has robbed Him of glory by disobeying Him. It is important to note that it is written: “all have sinned,” not “all are born sinners.” See Human Nature. God’s true saints have only one goal, one focus, one agenda in this life–to glorify their Lord by obeying Him. We have all failed in this regard. We all need correction. Would that we all readily accept correction from God’s Holy Spirit, or when that fails, from other men.

Without exception, being corrected reveals the correctee’s true relationship with the Lord. One is quickly found to be sheep or goat, wheat or tare, wise or foolish virgin by one’s reaction to spiritual correction. God’s sheep will listen to his/her corrector, diligently study the corrective Scripture(s) (not church doctrine) to determine God’s Truth. If found to be in error, he/she will change directions, admit to being wrong, then stay the Scriptural course. On the other hand, a goat will become angry and refuse to consider the possibility of being wrong. He/she will dismiss the Lord’s corrective Truth with statements such as, “That’s not what I’ve always been taught,” or “That’s not what I believe,” or “That’s not what my denomination teaches.” I call this the “Stephen Syndrome” in reference to the reaction of the Jews after being corrected by Stephen–they stopped their ears, attacked him and stoned him to death (Acts 6:8-7:60). Stephen’s crime? He reminded them of what was written in the very Scriptures they professed to believe. Nothing has changed. It has been my experience that within the Institutional Church (Catholicism/Protestantism) goats/tares/foolish virgins outnumber sheep/wheat/wise virgins 99% to 1%. See The Church, The Gospel And The Goats.

Those extremely few saints who know, believe and obey God’s Word are intimately familiar with the emotional fallout that occurs when the Truth is injected into a spiritual situation. At best one is faced with deep resentment. In some cases, pure hatred rises to the surface. A day will come when such hatred will be unleashed legally. The Lord promised that the day would come when religious men would kill His messengers believing that they are doing Him a service (Jn. 16:2). See Simon Of Samaria: The Legacy. The violent deaths of Jesus Himself and nine of His apostles bear witness to this truth. Read Hebrews 11:36-38 to meet those who occupy exalted positions in what I call the Martyrs’ Hall of Fame. I will meet those giants one day. Then, as now, I will be unworthy to wash their feet. To be continued. L.J.