The arrogance of mankind has no boundaries. This arrogance stems from our inherent wicked nature. It is vital I highlight the wickedness of man in hopes that he will see his depravity the way God sees it - deplorable in His sight. As long as man thinks he is getting away with his sin, there is no stopping what he plans to do. The more evil he believes he can get away with, the more he wants. Our sin is worse than any addictive street drug - it provides a perverse pleasure that if not stopped will kill us dead (pun intended) in our tracks.
The word Narcissism comes from Greek mythology. It comes from the tale of Narcissus, a young man who was known for his good looks. He was loved by gods, mortals and nymphs, but he rejected all who admired him due to being so self-absorbed. Narcissus was cursed by the goddess of revenge Nemesis who led him to a pool of water where he saw the reflection of his own image. He was so enamored with himself that he could not look away. This curse of self-love along with the fact that his reflection could not love him back eventually led to Narcissus' demise. This cautionary tale provides a real life lesson. Today it means someone who is self-absorbed and who has an inflated sense of who they are. Some have called it a God Complex. The Bible calls this vanity. Being vain will lead to your demise just as it did Narcissus. The term has crossed over from being mythological to morphing into a psychological condition.
Now medical professionals love to psycho analyze everyone as having some kind of disorder so they can prescribe medication for it. Narcissism at its root is sin. People choose to be arrogant and self absorbed. Why? Many people believe, perhaps due to their pedigree, good looks, athleticism, education, success and money, that they are better than others who do not possess those things. Many believe people are where they are because some are lucky and others are not. Luck had nothing to do with it. YES! You heard me correctly! Luck had nothing to do with it.
Those that are successful in life have worked hard to get there and deserve what they have achieved. It did not come easy and it is not supposed to. Oftentimes those that have not reached a level of success have not worked very hard. Obviously this is not always the case. There are those that have worked very hard and tough breaks, setbacks have gotten in the way. Life is tough for most of us. Things do not always turn out the way we want them to. Equal opportunities does not always mean equal outcomes.
Sometimes even those who do not work as hard as their counterparts receive blessings beyond those who work harder. We call that favor. God is sovereign. He can bless one over the other for His reasons alone. God's grace should cause us to fall on our hands and knees and worship Him for having mercy on us. There is never any room for arrogance.
The Narcissist is a fool of fools. The reason I say this is because they believe they can match wits with God. Proverbs 21:30 tells us that there is no wisdom, understanding or counsel against the Lord. There would be no reason for the writer of Proverbs King Solomon to provide that caveat unless there are those who believe they are wiser than their Maker.
Paul said in Romans 1:22 regarding the Narcissist, "Professing themselves (italics mine, added for emphasis) to be wise they have become fools."
This writer cannot stand people like that. If you're an enemy of God, you are an enemy of mine. By the grace of God, I'm the praying kind - I war in the Spirit and not in the flesh. What does that mean? I pray for my enemies even when my wicked flesh tempts me not to.
The goal of this article is to wake those of you up who have been lulled to sleep due to narcissism. The word of God tells us to therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed less you fall (1Corinthians 10:12).
Scripture also tells us God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6).
King Nebuchadnezzar
Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon from 605-562 B.C. He ruled during the Neo Babylonian Empire. He was the king that invaded Israel in three sieges. The first one in 605 B.C., the second in 597 B.C., and final invasion in 587/586 B.C. He stole the money from the treasury, the holy articles, from the temple in Jerusalem and burned the temple and city to the ground. This was literally the death of a nation for 70 years. Jeremiah the prophet was the mouth piece of God during this era and was an eyewitness to the nation's destruction. That is why the Book of Lamentations is ascribed to him. Under King Cyrus (See the book of Ezra) about fifty thousand Hebrews in the year 538 B.C. return back home to the Jerusalem ruins to rebuild the temple which began in 536 B.C. This year marked the end of the 70 years of captivity (i.e. 605-536 = 70 physical years). The temple was finished 20 years later in 516 B.C.
We read in Daniel chapter 4 that Nebuchadnezzar has a dream of a huge tree that fills the earth and reaches to the heavens. All the animals reside in its shade along with birds living on its branches. All are fed from this massive tree. In his dream the king sees a holy one say cut down the tree, strip the leaves, cut off the branches, and get rid of its fruit and leave the stump and the roots in the ground. Let the stump get wet with the morning dew. Let the stump graze with beasts. Let his heart be changed from that of a man to that of a beast. Let seven times (or years) pass over him until he realizes that the Most High rules in the world of men, and the Lord gives power and authority to whomever He chooses. Nebuchadnezzar is troubled by the dream calls in his fortune tellers, dreamologists, wise men, astrologers and magicians, but none of them can interpret the dream except Daniel. Daniel loves the king, and wishes the fate of the king was reserved for his enemies (vs.19). Daniel explains to the king the massive tree is him, and urges the king to repent or else everything he saw in the dream will come true. Well, exactly a year later the dream is fulfilled. Nebuchadnezzar literally loses his mind and starts eating grass like an ox. This type of condition today is known as a psychosis called Boanthropy. Bo comes from the Greek Bous which means cow or ox, and Anthropos which is Greek for human. When you combine the terms its a human behaving like a cow or ox, crawling on the ground and eating grass. This was the life of the most powerful man on earth for seven years because he was a narcissist. He gave himself instead of God glory for his power, fame, success and wealth.
This was what Nebuchadnezzar said a year after Daniel interpreted his dream warning the king to repent. All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve months he was walking about the royal palace of Babylon. The king spoke, saying, "Is not this great Babylon that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?"
While the word was still in the king's mouth, a voice fell from heaven: "King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken, the kingdom has departed from you! And they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make you eat grass like oxen; and seven times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever He chooses. That very hour the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar; he was driven from men and ate grass like oxen; his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair had grown like eagles' feathers and his nails like bird's claws (Daniel 4:28-33).
It was at that point that Nebuchadnezzar went through his humiliation which was an extreme act of grace and mercy by the Lord. God had every right to strike him dead for his arrogance.
This is what Nebuchadnezzar said after his judgment was over:
And at the end of the time I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me; and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever;
For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand or say to Him, "What have you done?" At the same time my reason returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, my honor and splendor returned to me. My counselors and nobles resorted to me, I was restored to my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added to me. Now I Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the king of Heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to put down (vv 34-37).
This entire chapter of Daniel was written by Nebuchadnezzar. This address was sent to the entire known world at that time to declare to all the inhabitants of the earth how God dealt with him; from his great power, to his epic fall from that power, to being restored to majesty after the confession of his sin to the Lord.
While I can't prove it for certain, I believe Nebuchadnezzar went to heaven after he died based on his global confession of his sin and faith in the one true God of the universe. He was a pagan of pagans. He thought himself to be a god as he erected a gold image of himself which measured 90 feet high by 9 feet wide. He commanded all to worship the image or be put to death. This is what got Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego thrown in the fiery furnace because they refused to bow and worship the image. (Daniel 3). This event in antiquity is eerily similar to what will happen in the end times when the false prophet will force the world to worship the image of the beast/antichrist and take his mark of 666 in Revelation 13 or face death by decapitation.
Landing the plane
So, the moral of this story is Narcissism is satanic. Read what happened to Lucifer (now the devil and Satan) in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. I see this attitude in politics and even worse in our Churches. How many people, men and women running around claiming they are prophets and prophetesses declaring they have a new and fresh word from the Lord when they know they are lying? So, the codified Word of God isn't enough? Do we need new revelation today? How many of them are greedy for money? So many of them are bullies in the pulpit, belittling God's flock. And worst of all, most of them are Biblically illiterate. They cannot even exegete John 3:16 properly yet they claim the Lord is speaking to them? All of these charlatans need to shut their ministries down. They need to be educated in truth instead of mis-educating the masses with seeker sensitive falsehoods.
Therefore humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.
- 1 Peter 5:6