We all have heard this verse quote many times, but have we given it the proper thought? Do we know what pride exactly means or what it means to possess a haughty spirit? Do we know that God hates pride? Well, let’s find out, shall we?
Pride can be described as an extreme love of oneself and one’s achievements. Synonymous to pride is Narcissism. There lies an interesting myth in Narcissism. Its Greek origin lies with the myth of Narcissus who was a handsome boy, who refused the charms of nymphs. Nymphs were believed to be a large class of female nature spirits (thus demons), who where sometimes bound to a particular location (thus territorial spirits). These nymphs cursed Narcissus for his rejection of them and he became vain and self-loving instead. In other words he became prideful.
As a Christian you would ask naturally why I do quote Greek mythology. Well, I want to make an interesting point here. It is my belief that the apostles knew that the Greek had many myths and gods and that they worshipped these. These gods, from a Christian point of view are nothing other than demons. My point which I am trying to make here is that I think that pride is a demon that can either enter into a person by loving the ‘self’ too much, or it can be hereditary as seen in many royal houses for example, or one can be influenced by territorial spirits of pride, good example is Britain. English people are know to be quite prideful (sorry English friends, I mean nothing personal here). Why are some countries for example more prone to pride than others? Could it be that there is a territorial force of pride ruling that particular area? I do believe so. Paul not only contested in Ephesus the goddess Diana and her temple but also the principality of that area. He knew that areas have territorial spirits (Rom 8:23; Eph 3:10; Eph 6:12 to name but a few), and these areas are strongly influenced by them.
But this is a whole different kind of discussion. My point which I tried to make is clear, or so I hope. Let’s go further and study pride a bit more. Pride or vanity, according to Webster’Dictionary is “an often unjustified feeling of being pleased with oneself or with one's situation or achievements”. In my opinion this is exact the right definition. Pride or vanity is an unjustified feeling about oneself that has no basis for who you are or what you are and has therefore nothing to do with reality. Pride is an emotional state, a reaction to a deeper root, a root of low self-esteem, a root of utter evil, a demonic source that will utterly destroy you.
Have you noticed how prideful people like to boast about themselves and what they have or what they achieved in life? I have. Many definitions describe pride as a state of too much self-respect with an unhealthy obsession with one self and one’s achievements. Usually pride is accompanied by an eagerness to speak, usually evil of others, and by doing this, they often lie. Prideful people usually fall into these sins:
“For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips let them even be taken in their pride: and for cursing and lying which they speak” (Ps 59:12)
Why lying you may think? Well, because prideful people usually like to boast about themselves. We all know that people who boast do not always speak the truth, for they enhance the truth with all kinds of forms and colors to make it more beautiful. Often, these people look down on others. The tend to be harsh about the misfortune of others and thus making themselves guilty of this sin: “The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor…”(Ps 10:2a). Prideful people often look with contempt to people who have not made it in life as they have, or they look down on people who have not the same material things as they have. They think themselves better people because of their achievements or their birthright in life. This is utterly wrong! God hates pride and He has given us many verses in the Bible in which He tells us so. Let’s take a look on two of them:
“The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: PRIDE, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate”(Prov.8:13)
And
“Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy,PRIDE, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man”(Mk 7:22,23)
Have you ever noticed why Jesus put pride in the same row as thefts, covetousness, wickedness etc? Well, because they are all related in some way with pride. Let me explain. A prideful person steels worship from God, by idolizing himself (Ps 10:4). Pride enhances wickedness such as deceit, blasphemy. But pride also gives room for deception, for these people think too highly of themselves. In doing so, they are committing an act of utter foolishness, because in fact, they do nothing less than ridiculing themselves before others with such foolish prideful behavior. The high degree of competitions between prideful people opens the door for the evil eye, which in return makes them fall into the sin of lasciviousness.
“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 Jn 2:16)
That is exactly what pride is. Pride is against God and thus it is a sin. You must acknowledge that pride because it is the love of oneself, is nothing less than idolatry and this sin goes against the First and Commandments of God. Furthermore, pride as we have previously seen, makes the person one speak evil of others. This goes yet against another Commandment of God, the ninth Commandment to be precise: “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour”(Ex.20:16). Did you know that by speaking evil of others you are actually placing curses upon them? That is right and we are not allowed to curse. This is yet another sin. Do you get my point? Pride opens the doors to so many sins, once the door is open, it can be very hard to close it.
Pride is listed as one of the seven sins. According to Bishop Peter Binsfeld (1589) pride was associated with demons:
Lucifer: Pride
Mammon: Greed
Asmodeus: Lust
Leviathan: Envy
Beelzebub: Gluttony (lord of the flies)
Satan: Wrath
Belphegor: Sloth
All these listed demons are strong demons indeed.. All these above mentioned demons are usually found in prideful people. Pride opens the door for greed, for gluttony, for wrath (when pride is hurt, in some countries even murder for wounded pride) and for lust. Pride is what makes people hunger for power. Every person seeks power to enhance his status and his pride will be brought down by the Lord: “And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass”(Lev.26:19). God absolutely hates pride. Pride makes people exalt themselves upon measure. Pride also brings contention (Prov 13:10) which opens the door yet to more demons into your life. Do you now see the seriousness of this sin?
Have you now understood why God hates pride so much? In my view pride is often a way out of an unhealthy emotional feeling of low self-esteem. That’s right. People who know who they are, and are happy with themselves for whom they are, usually do not have to have pride to boast about themselves. They know that wherever they go, they will be accepted for whom they are. Prideful people are often looking for acceptance of others! They need to be exalted, to be idolized. This tells me that they suffer from a low self-esteem. Pride is the lid of the pan they do not want you to open for fear of what you might find inside. People who suffer from low self-esteem usually, but not always, tend to grasp pride as their mask. These people are so insecure and afraid of being rejected for whom they are, that they have put on a show to deceive others. They fear you finding out the truth about them.
On the other hand, there are people who are overly prideful and think too much of themselves. These people see nothing wrong with themselves and idolize themselves in an unhealthy manner. In their perception the world lies at their feet and everything must turn around them. These are in my opinion the more prone to demonic deception. These people tend to be spiritually blind and are the most difficult to bring back to their senses, and not only that, but deliverance from such demons can be quit arduous. Also, these are the ones that gossip and ridicule or lower other people. That is so contemptuous! They boast about their property, about their income etc. Everything they have is placed in such a way for everybody to see and admire. But does insecurity not lie here at the bottom of these people also? I always say to myself whenever I encounter such people (and believe me, I do more than I would like) what happens if you take away their possessions? Take away their earthly possessions and their whole earthly status is gone. Why? Because these people tend to rely on their possessions. Their possession and their income gives them their status in life and without them these people are nothing. These kinds of people never take a look in the mirror and face themselves by who they are as a person. They value everything according to material riches.
Whenever we encounter such people we need to show them that there is more than just earthly possessions. These can be taken from you at any time. But nobody can take away Jesus from you. Nobody! We see then, that pride can have many forms in people, and pride opens many, many doorways for more sins. That is why God hates pride. God does not hate sin just for fun. He hates it because sin will keep you in demonic bondage, and He wants you to be free. He sent His only beloved, begotten Son to die on the cross for you, for you to be free of sin! Remember that. Pride is often of demonic origin and it can be cast out through deliverance. If you suffer from pride seek help and get rid of it at once. Remember, pride made Satan what he is now, a fallen angel, doomed to an eternity in hell. He could have remained in heaven if it were not for pride. That is how serious and awful this sin is!