Pride in a Nutshell

Pride through not knowing either whether a person is saved (or not), or predestinated (or not). I shan't continue from here to remind of all the other stuff; fear, praying for others but once in a while...
There IS a test for knowing whether someone is GENUINELY SAVED.
But; it's not getting someone to recite "Jesus is Lord" for, does not The Bible say that EVERY knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord ?
I learnt this amazing secret from another Christian group.
The above is a very poor rendering of the original Greek Scripture.
Even the KJV is not perfect translationally speaking (oh dear; more pride...).
I shall only give you a clue.
Their name is a "theme" which the JW's are so-very-fond of talking/drawing pictures ABOUT, but yet are they nothing to do with the JW's.
Now; if God wants you to know it, it will be revealed to you.
Trust me when I say I'M THE LAST PERSON WHO WOULD WANT YOU TO BE PUFFED UP, FOR I AM THE PERSON WHO CAN LEAST AFFORD TO BE...
Why. Don't know. Guess I'm complicated, like the guy in League of Extraordinary Gentleman said. I'm not proud OF it; but it can certainly be a great source OF pride...
Sometimes proud people start announcing loudly/angrily "We're all special..."
Yes we are; and God's children are all equally valuable in His site.
But; (and I make no special reference to myself here), some people are special even more so...
Don't worry about that. Doubtless that will come with it's own burdens.
The Bible says we must all carry our own crosses.
But; does anyone doubt but what some people's are "naturally" bigger than others ?
It's no coincidence that the same person who "wrote" (more correctly: "compiled) two-thirds of the NT was the very same individual who was the single worst enemy of the Spirit filled church at the time ?
Not as though that's any recommendation at attempting to "bottom out" in order that you attempt to get more glory to yourself/God in repenting. Such is foolish and proud.
No; but Paul too, as well as suffering some terrible things, had a thorn in the flesh because of his pride. Which, if you study it enough; points very heavily to being Alexander the Coppersmith, though all admit; he talks straight away about infirmities.
Perhaps he thought if he were fitter/bigger, he would have smashed him in.
As it was, even after being rid of the nasty fella, he said; The Lord reward him according to his actions, which seems to me to contradict Christ's admonitions to turn the other cheek. And so does vowing. For; whilst the thing only means "a prayer," yet for one it is impossible to lie to God, and furthermore, can there be no doubt but that by the shaving of his head he was altogether attempting the correct requirements for an OT vow, despite Jesus saying SWEAR NOT AT ALL.
HA ! That saying: I doubt if you could do any better ! For one thing; who said that I could ? For another, do you think Paul is going to be without his rewards in the kingdom of heaven for such things ? I tell you he will sit in the high places.
We should be fortunate, if that we are found to be sitting in ANY place...

Psychology.
Again. Just as there is evil KNOWLEDGE of GOOD, and good revelation knowledge, so too is their good and bad psychology.
Do you want proof ?
What then, would you call it where Jesus instructed His followers to be as WISE as serpents and as harmless as doves ?
The word here used for wise in the Greek, means intelligent.
And, who doesn't know but what that a serpent is a wily creature, being able to employ psychology in it's analogy of a situation ?
But, to use psychology as a WEAPON, especially in the fighting in an unrighteous cause, is a sin. And a particular pride, to confess.
Fear and/of greed and/of psychology.
That old devil.
Even if you were able to employ ever such a clever tactic in the defeating of sin, if it were the product of pride, to wit how "clever" we are/were at solving such and such a conundrum, then it is sin.
Yet; alternatively, God has ANY amount of intelligence at His disposal, and may use it and reveal it at ANY time, according as is His good pleasure.
God CANNOT sin. The Bible says so.
Neither should we be puffed up at the evolutionists.
For, who knows how long Eve were in the garden before she sinned ?
If God made the stars on such and such, and man a few later, how then did the light (which all admit takes billions of years to each earth) be visible to man when he was made (seeing as they were made in addition to the moon to give light at night time ?).
Uh. Good point. There IS (for the sakes of our pride) however; a way of saying this: God made the light "en situ" (or; "on route...). It might even mean "in place." Perhaps God "sped up" the light to a fifteen times 365 times a thousand times it's normal speed (to be able to see that which is 15,000 light years away in a day), so there is no lie in what we see; it is not a "projection." But; whatever God deems necessary in order to be telling the truth, I trust that He fulfilled that perfectly.
Would I be so far off the mark to say He simply rolled the stars out like a scroll ?
Seeing as the Bible says He's going to simply roll them together at the end ?
Wisdom is justified of it's children.
Ultimately, not only would being the most intelligent man on earth be WORTHLESS without Love, but also; without spiritual maturity (complete sanctification and infilling especially) there is no vindication from God, and that is the REAL "deal-breaker."
Fear and/of pride of slip, sliding away. For that; the nearer we approach our destination, the more acutely we feel all the reproaches that are only suffered for want of our having vindication and signs of approval from God... Which signs, The Bible tells us, accompany those that believe.
There are them who say that this is a group vindication.
If it were through pride of not having obtained, then perhaps the very thing of confessing it and praying for other's forgiveness might see you get grace in this very thing.
I suffer very much with this sin, I will confess. Of vindication; it is a "mixed bag of nuts." Sometimes the whole room fills up with the beautiful golden light of the Love of God (and, yes; of course I know the Scripture for satan and his sick fake light...).
Other times, I feel the lack of vindication ACUTELY. But, now that I'm getting a better handle on my sin, I both NEED IT LESS. CARE LESS. And, obtain it EASIER. That is the general rule of things... Grace can accomplish things we can only dream of (take the rapture for example...).

Neither would I, that any should become puffed up either at the sheer NUMBER of sins, and of prides especially. I confess that Lord, and the fear of...
For; whilst it is written that God would that we should be simple regarding evil, and wise concerning good; tell me that these posts haven't "rung many bells" with all of you ? How then, do you suppose that I obtained this knowledge ? I am not trying to "pay back God" (yet ANOTHER sin of pride...), this is a GENERIC study that I simply cannot keep to myself, knowing the MASSIVE good that it's done me to confess all these things...
How can we confess that, for which we have no name ?
Practically everything I've said is in the Bible, I've just simply collected them together.
Furthermore; it is often missed out, that it were the tree of the KNOWLEDGE of GOOD and evil. Apparently, then; KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD CAN-BE-EVIL...
It is revelation knowledge we require.
Knowledge in accordance with the Spirit of the grace of God.
If you're not saved, don't read these posts. Go lay in the Spirit before The Lord confessing you're a sinner and calling upon the blood of Jesus Christ by faith for the payment He made for us through bearing our sin punishments in His own Holy body.
The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.
Some people though, have sought to evily twist this into something like:
Therefore, be thou' ignorant; and trust alone shall be enough to see you through and make you grow...
On the one hand, you can't know enough about that which needs confession.
On the other, stay away from obvious sources of pride, lest your increased knowledge serves to convict you all the more, and the grace which you would have obtained "turns to custard." They say I have a way with words. Am I proud of it ?
No; though I spoke like a king, and had no Love; would it profit me ought ?

There is an old cartoon of satan sat outside a church weeping sat in the gutter, with the caption "they blame everything on me in there..." Whilst it's true, that the cartoon has a point, yet there IS that where he IS to blame.
Fear of him putting the pride of his (or anyone doing likewise) predicament on us is a two-way thing. On the one hand, it is true that none of us know of an asurety neither what it is like to be somebody else, what things they've been through, nor what they have suffered...
Nevertheless, they have the same God (though whether they worship Him as such...) as us, and ultimately the same opportunities, grace, and luck (but Christians don't believe in "luck," they believe in God's providence, more sources for pride)...
After following certain certain precepts, it requires wisdom and discernment to know how much/when to accomodate other's in their folly, yea; even the hearing and listening to of such... For; were satan to get HIS way, we should all most likely be drowned in stories of others complaining, self-pity, bitterness, and every manner of complaint against God, and how that He "apparently" doesn't provide for this, solve that (despite they're neither being righteous yet, nor doing the works of God, which Jesus said one time was to "believe on God," though He were no stranger to the evocation to actually doing good works...)

There is a POTENT point in all of this:
Often times, we allow ourselves to become DISSATISFIED with our inability to reconcile the problems in our lives. This, then; must be a greater source of pride than we realise.
It is no lie to say that it is possible (even righteously) to answer ALL of our physical needs through spiritual power (given ENOUGH of it).
Sometimes; without a doubt (as old-timers will often tell you) what is needed is simply either hard work, common sense, or some or another different approach. In our pride, we can over-spiritualize our thoughts of how to solve a problem.
But; where there is no other way (such as with a mortal wound/sickness), then we can easily succumb to pride saying; Oh ! If only such-and-such a brother were here/still alive to pray for me ! Then I would get well of an asurety...
It is true, that (even as Jesus in The Bible), there is value in another "adding" their faith to ours, produces a better outcome, for then (despite Jesus having said "You're faith have made you whole...") were that not so, then would not have "all them that were brought to The Lord been healed...
So then, it is no sin or lie to believe He meant something like: although it were/is our faith which makes us whole, yet being in the presence of mighty faith "assists" us in the activation of our faith, and a transference is made...
Similarily; who does not know that power is given to the believer relative to the progress they make in working out their sins with fear and trembling before The Lord ?
And; of course, the receiving of faith, which cometh by hearing (and seeing, touching, tasting, and smelling also). If you hear a beautiful piece of music, are you not now much more believing that you too could create beautiful music ? Some of this is "common faith," yet; did not the Light of the Reformation produce all manner of marvellous and wonderful works of art ?
We can only accomplish that which is according to the proportion of faith allocated us at any given stage in our conversion.
Of course; the converse is not true: To wit: we can ALWAYS disbelieve and detract from that for which we can believe.
To feel rejected in that we cannot obtain TOO soon, is a pride. Pride of toosoonness.
Same with "putting the cart before the horse..." And a hasty spirit. Rash decisions. And spur of the moment impulses/fear of... Uh ! Lord. Wretched man that I am...

... And; then proposed a spiritual (though unrighteous) solution to each.
Miraculously transform a stone. Levitate (like He did on water) or call upon the assistance of angels. Or receive a "spiritual" commission by idolatrous worship (which is, of course, ultimately a spiritual process itself...)

Notwithstanding; The Bible gives us a complete account of the most potent forms of temptations of that which satan attempted to provoke our Lord to pride with:

Pride of the weakness of the human condition (turn stone to bread...).
Pride of our inability to overcome nature (fly down off the ledge...).
Pride of our inability to control the governments of the world (bow down and I'll make you a ruler of all earth...).

Each had a PHYSICAL component, and a SPIRITUAL.
Typically, satan pointed out Christ's natural, physical inability to overcome these problems (interestingly, the first was because He was DRIVEN where there their WAS no food, the second did satan create by PUTTING Him on a ledge, and the necessity of ruling the world was MAN'S doing, renouncing the control given to Adam and Eve, attempting to exploiting what was no doubt Christ's righteous ambition to do good to all men...).

I don't know what this site's views are on "Once Saved, Always Saved" but; regardless of that, fear and/of pride of either not knowing which (I have my own view/belief), or else getting puffed up out of a fear of having lost your salvation...
A particular "hook" in the Scripture is found in the following consideration:
When Jesus said blasphemy of the Holy Ghost would not be forgiven, neither in this world or the next... did He mean:
(a) You'd be damned forever
(b) You could blaspheme the Holy Ghost at any time in the future...
Like I said; I think I know the answer, but it's the PRIDE consideration I'm wishing to convey...

Fear and/of pride of having to know everything.
I once spent weeks researching "Why Is God ?". Eventually; I felt like I was going mad, so I decided it was not a good thing to keep on about and let it go.
I've got MANY MANY thoughts on the subject, and so have many others, but nothing comes close to even beginning to answer the question.
Maybe the fault lies IN the question. Maybe, the answer's part of the things Paul talked about that he heard in heaven "things which were unlawful to utter" down here...
I don't know.
But, I get the feeling, if and when it's revealed to me I'm either gonna "fall off my perch" or else say "Is that IT !!" and roll over and go back to sleep...

I'm a bit of a stickler for HAVING TO KNOW EVERYTHING.
And; I always wondered why it was that our Lord had to be tried, Him being perfect; and there being no sin in Him.
Then one day, I happened to glance at a woman most beautiful, and she seemed to be saying to me; if you will bow down and worship me, I will give you all that you desire...
Straightaways it was revealed to me that we don't ACTUALLY know WHEN God started in His ministry to pay for our sins.
If you think it was limited to the cross only; THINK AGAIN...
For; it is evident that He began to be under (what was to become) the bulk of His suffering in the garden, a long whiles before (relative to trying to make a case against it) He was ANYWHERE NEAR THE CROSS.
Hmm.

I mean the term "having the Holy Ghost" means filled; NOT blasphemy is only towards them that ARE filled.
Of portions of infilling there are many thoughts, I'm not here to debate the fine points of doctrine whatsoever. Only trying to purge my own sins of pride and nail them to the cross which our dear Lord died on for our sins.
But so as by faith.
Saying that God is unholy, has a particular effect on His Holy Spirit.
For; It being the Neuma of life, it cannot abide wheresoever is THE LIE.
And, that lie; in speaking evil of Him, or saying He is that... causeth life to depart from out of the person, even the very vital seed Spirit which returns to God (according to Solomon) and they become as the animals whose life returns to the ground (again; according to Solomon). God can recreate any animal in heaven. After that He's through Annointing it, it is all as though it had a soul, notwithstanding there is no Scripture to support the having of a soul by an animal... we know (I was musing to God: I'm off topic. I sensed Him saying; no you're not; it's yet another, big source of pride...). So; likewise then, getting puffed up about this person or that person whether THEY are going to heaven or not... It's not for us to decide WHATSOEVER. It's enough to be CONCERNED about our own salvation, and pray/witness to others for theirs, without getting puffed up because we can't get our own way...

But (I'll include this because of the prevalence with which satan tries to provoke to pride through the fear OF going to hell) just to clarify, the only sin which cannot be forgiven (apart from sheer unbelief permanently) is to speak a word against the Holy Ghost.
And so too, does it seem; against those who are in possession of the Holy Ghost (although though, that term is strictly reserved in The Bible for them that are "full" of the Holy Ghost, yet I spare you...).
To criticise a particular teaching/s of a Holy Spirit filled person (whilst best left until we definitely have such ourselves) is not in itself, a sin; The Bible clearly stating that it is after we receive that we shall be lead into all truth, and that most obviously takes time, some more; some less...
But to say a person is/has a devil who is filled (for was that not the very issue which raised the subject in the first place with our Lord in The Bible ? is to count God's Holiness as a common thing. Why can't this be forgiven ? I don't of a right know...
But one thing I DO know, for heaven's sakes (more correctly, for the sake of heaven...) don't get puffed up because you don't know the answer.
Nor, Why Is God ? Nor anything we don't know the answer to, simply trusting (and confessing if we have been ought otherwise, though pride maketh blind...) God that all things work for the good of them that believe...

It's possible (as well as for gain and the seeking of mutual consolation)
to use Mutual Pride Reinforcement as a weapon, and I was going to
say I seriously recommend you don't do that as I have a sneaky
feeling it will back-fire, then it was revealed to me; Yes;
you'll get sent to hell all the sooner...

Mutual Pride Reinforcement.
I suppose, as with all things it's possible to have a fear of it and
also to eventually develop a pique spirit or "liking" for it too...

In short; allowing satan's hatred of mankind to manifest
through you in pride and/or putting pride on others...
Of course; as well as "blabbering" on in your puffed
up state, it is possible to induce pride through
any number of evil acts. Probably with fear
as a catalyst, or ignorance/naivety all
playing their part. God have mercy...

Fear and/of enacting revenge through the [+forcing] of pride/dissemination [+on an innocent victim].
In other words; "I'M" puffed up, so I'm gonna make you puffed up too...
I'm going down, so I'm gonna take you with me... (Sound like ANYONE/people you know ?)...
[alternatively +/or concomitant with "because you were made by the same
Creator" or "because you were made by the Person that judged them"
or you come from the same family, or you were found not guilty
(innocent or otherwise) or you were forgiven, despite them
believing they didn't have a choice (whether truth-
fully or otherwise is a doctrinal consideration...)

Fear and/of Forced Pride Projection etc.
This sin is NASTY. Sometimes the pur-
portrators either don't realise what
they're doing, or else don't mean
to; but it can give rise to the
most hideous of sins...
Trust...

Fear and/of Pride Projection/Dissemination
(which this post may have been
guilty of it it hadn't included the
"cure" AND been included in a
CHRISTIAN website...)

Fear of Pride/Pridevocation (Provocation to pride...)

Hmm. Look's like a pyramid. A truly very, very powerful pyramid indeed...
Perhaps then it should have been called "The Pyramid of Pride"

Pridevocation through unacknowledged (perceived or otherwise[and/or granting of]) knowledge, power, position, honour and/or gain
Pridevocation through total emasculation by the police, welfare state and/or the government
Pridevocation through all/any of the above by a spiritual body and/or family/loved ones

Three very important prides.

Pride of Bitterness.
Pride of Folly.
Pride of Jealousy.

Three types of pride:

Pride of Self (leaning to own understanding/strength/judgement etc.)
Pride of Rejection (leading to invisible "puffed up" feeling)
Pride of Self (Over exactness, fussiness, hygiene, standards etc.).

Step 1. Consider the problem carefully in view of the above 9 combinations. Example: Pride of stalking. It could be a feeling of being rejected as having received a lack of correct respect in observing correct behavioural norms. Alternatively; a stalker may actually be "proud" of their stalking abilities...
Step 2. Repent/Confess to God, and possibly the individual concerned. Confession to entire churches are normally seen as being most required where the sin/s are TO the entire church... Love covereth.
Step 3. Forgive. Always from your heart. But; back into your company/the exact same freedoms/responsibilities as before depends upon how repentant the offender is. It is not a sin to decide you cannot accommodate any manner of abuse continuously to the detriment of your entire life, for nought...
Step 4. Pray for your "enemy's" forgiveness even as our Lord instructed us to do, and set us an ensample on the cross.'
Step 5. Pray for all people everywhere that you may be in receipt of still more grace.